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bmw to recall faulty diesel cars bmw is to recall all cars equipped with a faulty diesel fuel-injection pump supplied by parts maker robert bosch. the faulty part does not represent a safety risk and the recall only affects pumps made in december and january. bmw said that it was too early to say how many cars were affected or how much the recall would cost. the german company is to extend a planned production break at one of its plants due to the faulty bosch part. the dingolfing site will now be closed all next week instead of for just two days. the additional three-day stoppage will mean a production loss of up to 3 600 vehicles bmw said adding that it was confident it could make up the numbers later. bosch has stopped production of the part but expects to restart by 2 february. the faulty component does not represent a safety risk but causes the motor to stall after a significant amount of mileage. when asked if bmw would be seeking compensation from bosch the carmaker s chief executive helmut panke said: we will first solve the problem before talking about who will pay . audi and mercedes benz were also supplied with the defective diesel fuel-injection pumps but neither of them have to recall any vehicles. a spokesman for daimlerchrysler parent company of mercedes benz said it will however have to halt some production. it is to close the mercedes factory in sindelfingen on monday and tuesday. audi said it had been hit by production bottlenecks due to a shortage of unaffected bosch parts. | 1 | business |
rapper snoop dogg sued for rape us rapper snoop dogg has been sued for $25m (£13m) by a make-up artist who claimed he and his entourage drugged and raped her two years ago. the woman said she was assaulted after a recording of the jimmy kimmel live tv show on the abc network in 2003. the rapper s spokesman said the allegations were untrue and the woman was misusing the legal system as a means of extracting financial gain . abc said the claims had no merit . the star has not been charged by police. the lawsuit filed in los angeles on friday says the woman s champagne was spiked and she was then assaulted. the rapper s spokesperson said: snoop will have the opportunity to prove in a court of law that [the alleged victim] is opportunistic and deceitful. we are confident that in this case [the alleged victim s] claims against snoop dogg will be rejected. the lawsuit names snoop dogg - real name calvin broadus - plus three associates the walt disney company and its parent company abc inc. the woman waited two years to sue because she was trying to negotiate a settlement with the media companies her lawyer perry wander said. disney and abc failed to provide a safe working environment for my client he said. the legal action comes after the rap star sued a woman who claimed they tried to blackmail him to keep quiet about an alleged assault. the 32-year-old rapper has enjoyed six us top 10 albums since bursting onto the music scene with hit songs like what s my name and gin and juice in 1993. | 3 | entertainment |
mixed signals from french economy the french economy picked up speed at the end of 2004 official figures show - but still looks set to have fallen short of the government s hopes. according to state statistics body insee growth for the three months to december was a seasonally-adjusted 0.7-0.8% ahead of the 0.6% forecast. if confirmed that would be the best quarterly showing since early 2002. it leaves gdp up 2.3% for the full year but short of the 2.5% which the french government had predicted. despite the apparent shortfall in annual economic growth the good quarterly figures - a so-called flash estimate - mark a continuing trend of improving indicators for the health of the french economy. the government is reiterating a 2.5% target for 2005 while the european central bank is making positive noises for the 12-nation eurozone as a whole. also on friday france s industrial output for december was released showing 0.7% growth. the numbers are good said david naude economist at deutsche bank. they send a positive signal of a rebound in output... and open the way for a continuation in that trend into the new year. service sector activity improved in january hitting a seven-month high. but unemployment remains high at about 10%. | 1 | business |
german bidder in talks with lse deutsche boerse bosses have held constructive professional and friendly talks with the london stock exchange (lse) its chief has said. werner seifert met lse chief executive clara furse amid rumours the german group may raise its bid to £1.5bn ($2.9bn) from its initial £1.3bn offer. however rival suitor euronext also upped the ante in the bid battle. ahead of talks with the lse on friday the pan-european bourse said it may be prepared to make its offer in cash. the paris-based exchange owner of liffe in london is reported to be ready to raise £1.4bn to fund a bid. the news came as deutsche boerse held its third meeting with the lse since its bid approach in december which was turned down by the london exchange for undervaluing the business. however the lse did agree to leave the door open for talks to find out whether a significantly-improved proposal would be in the interests of lse s shareholders and customers. in the meantime euronext which combines the paris amsterdam and lisbon stock exchanges also began talks with the lse. in a statement on thursday euronext said any offer was likely to be solely in cash but added that: there can be no assurances at this stage that any offer will be made. a deal with either bidder would create the biggest stock market operator in europe and the second biggest in the world after the new york stock exchange. however neither side has made a formal offer for the lse with sources claiming such a step may still be weeks away. deutsche boerse could also face mounting opposition to a bid at home. among sweeteners reported to have been discussed by mr seifert with ms furse were plans to move the management of its cash and eurex derivatives market to london as well as two members of its executive board. but hans reckers a board member of germany s central bank the bundesbank said that cash trading should also remain in frankfurt something deutsche boerse could move to the uk. it is not just the headquarters of the boerse but also important market segments that must stay permanently in frankfurt. this has special importance for the business activities of the banks and the consultants he said. local government officials in frankfurt s state of hessen have also spoken out against the move. it is our wish that the headquarters stay here to maintain frankfurt s standing as the number one financial centre in continental europe alois rhiel its minister for economic affairs added. | 1 | business |
queen recruit singer for new tour the remaining members of rock band queen are to go on tour next year with former free and bad company singer paul rodgers taking freddie mercury s place. guitarist brian may has said he expects to be on the road with rodgers and drummer roger taylor from april. may said: suddenly the queen phoenix is rising again from the ashes and will take precedence over... our lives. queen have played with many different singers since mercury s death in 1991 but have reportedly not toured. may performed with rodgers at a concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the fender stratocaster guitar in london in september. we were both so amazed at the chemistry that was going on in [free hit] all right now that suddenly it seems blindingly obvious that there was something happening here may wrote on his website. they teamed up again for a concert to mark their induction into the uk music hall of fame and were joined by taylor. the show went so incredibly well from our point of view and we got so many rave reactions from out there we decided almost then and there that we would look at a tour together may wrote. queen went to number one in 2000 with a version of we will rock you sung by boy band 5ive and they have also played with robbie williams will young and bob geldof. queen bassist john deacon has currently retired from the stage. rodgers was singer with early 1970s rockers free who had a global hit with all right now before forming bad company a successful supergroup with members of king crimson and mott the hoople. he has also been in the firm with led zeppelin s jimmy page and the law with the small faces and the who drummer kenny jones. | 3 | entertainment |
yeading face newcastle in fa cup premiership side newcastle united face a trip to ryman premier league leaders yeading in the fa cup third round. the game - arguably the highlight of the draw - is a potential money-spinner for non-league yeading who beat slough in the second round. conference side exeter city who knocked out doncaster on saturday will travel to old trafford to meet holders manchester united in january. arsenal were drawn at home to stoke and chelsea will play host to scunthorpe. the only other non-league side in the draw are hinckley united who held brentford to a goalless draw on sunday. they will meet league one leaders luton if they win their replay against martin allen s team at griffin park. a number of premiership teams face difficult away games against championship sides on the weekend of 8/9 january. third-placed everton visit plymouth liverpool travel to burnley crystal palace go to sunderland fulham face carling cup semi-finalists watford bolton meet ipswich while aston villa were drawn against sheffield united. premiership strugglers norwich blackburn west brom are away at west ham cardiff and preston north end respectively. southampton visit northampton having already beaten the league two side in the carling cup earlier this season. middlesbrough were drawn away against either swindon or notts county while spurs entertain brighton at white hart lane. arsenal v stoke swindon/notts co v middlesbrough man utd v exeter plymouth v everton leicester v blackpool derby v wigan sunderland v crystal palace wolves v millwall yeading v newcastle hull v colchester tottenham v brighton reading v stockport/swansea birmingham v leeds hartlepool v boston milton keynes dons v peterborough oldham v man city chelsea v scunthorpe cardiff v blackburn charlton v rochdale west ham v norwich sheff utd v aston villa preston v west brom rotherham v yeovil burnley v liverpool bournemouth v chester coventry v crewe watford v fulham ipswich v bolton portsmouth v gillingham northampton v southampton qpr v nottm forest luton v hinckley/brentford matches to be played on weekend of 8/9 january. | 2 | sport |
regiments group in poll move a regiments campaign group is to target nine marginal labour seats at the general election. save the scottish regiments will also field a candidate against armed forces minister adam ingram in east kilbride. the group which is unhappy at defence merger plans is endorsing opposition candidates in nine seats. the marginals are aberdeen south dumfriesshire dundee east and west south west edinburgh ochil stirling east renfrewshire and western isles. the campaigners unveiled a huge poster featuring black watch soldiers fighting the war in iraq before they announced their election plans. former scots guardsman allan hendry will challenge mr ingram. the group said it is well organised with 350 volunteers and will be announcing at least one other candidate later. it added that it can only be stopped from inflicting serious damage on labour if the government reverses its plan to merge the six scottish regiments. scotland s only conservative mp peter duncan said the save the scottish regiments had done a superb job in fighting against defence cuts. he added: their actions have reflected the pride that most people in this country have in our troops and have shown a steely determination to make labour pay for their betrayal. i have been honoured to speak at their rallies throughout scotland. scottish national party leader alex salmond said it had received a big boost from the campaign s decision to endorse snp candidates in four marginal seats. labour s arrogance has been their undoing. in trying to get rid of scotland s historic regiments labour mps will end up being scrapped themselves he said. however labour mp george foulkes said the campaigners would not make any difference to the outcome of the election and would not win the argument. a serving soldier knows that what labour is proposing is right he said. as well as their election move save the scottish regiments will join other campaigners at a rally in london in the spring. defence secretary geoff hoon announced last year that scotland s regiments would be combined into a single unit. the move was part of overall army reforms. | 4 | politics |
egypt to sell off state-owned bank the egyptian government is reportedly planning to privatise one of the country s big public banks. an investment ministry official has told the reuters news agency that the bank of alexandria will be sold sometime in 2005. the move is seen as evidence of a new commitment by the government to reduce the size of public sector. the official said the government has not yet decided whether the sale will take the form of a public flotation. the most important thing to decide now is the method - whether by selling shares to the public or to a strategic investor from abroad he said. analysts say the public-sector banks have suited the government s monetary credit and exchange policies. nevertheless the egyptian government has spoken for years about privatising one of the big four state banks - banque misr national bank of egypt banque du caire and bank of alexandria. it had been expected one of the smallest of the four big public banks - bank of alexandria or banque du caire - would be sold first. the announcement reinforces the hopes of investors and international financial bodies for a revival of egypt s privatisation programme. about 190 state-run companies and facilities were sold off from the early 1990s to 1997. the appointment of mahmoud mohieldin a reform-minded technocrat to the new post of investment minister in july was taken as a sign that more sell-offs were on the way. both the imf and world bank have urged egypt to remove obstacles to the development of the private sector which they say has a vital role to play in reducing poverty by expanding the economy. | 1 | business |
us gives foreign firms extra time foreign firms have been given an extra year to meet tough new corporate governance regulations imposed by the us stock market watchdog. the securities and exchange commission has extended the deadline to get in line with the rules until 15 july 2006. many foreign firms had protested that the sec was imposing an unfair burden. the new rules are the result of the sarbanes-oxley act part of the us clean-up after corporate scandals such as enron and worldcom. section 404 of the sox act as the legislation is nicknamed calls for all firms to certify that their financial reporting is in line with us rules. big us firms already have to meet the requirements but smaller ones and foreign-based firms which list their shares on us stock markets originally had until the middle of this year. over the past few months delegations of european and other business leaders have been heading to the sec s washington dc headquarters to protest. they say the burden is too expensive and the timescale too short and some particularly the uk s cbi warned that companies would choose to let their us listings drop rather than get in line with section 404. the latest delegation from the cbi met sec officials on wednesday just before the decision to relax the deadline was announced. i think this signifies a change of heart at the sec cbi director-general sir digby jones told the bbc s today programme. they have been listening to us and to many overseas companies who have reminded america what globalisation really means: that they can t make these rules in isolation. the sec said it had taken into consideration the fact that foreign companies were already working to meet more onerous financial reporting rules in their home countries. the european union in particular was imposing new international financial reporting standards in 2005 it noted. i don t underestimate the effort (compliance) will require... but this extension will provide additional time for those issuers to take a good hard look at their internal controls said donald nicolaisen the sec s chief accountant. | 1 | business |
bt offers free net phone calls bt is offering customers free internet telephone calls if they sign up to broadband in december. the christmas give-away entitles customers to free telephone calls anywhere in the uk via the internet. users will need to use bt s internet telephony software known as bt communicator and have a microphone and speakers or headset on their pc. bt has launched the promotion to show off the potential of a broadband connection to customers. people wanting to take advantage of the offer will need to be a bt together fixed-line customer and will have to sign up to broadband online. the offer will be limited to the first 50 000 people who sign up and there are limitations - the free calls do not include calls to mobiles non-geographical numbers such as 0870 premium numbers or international numbers. bt is keen to provide extra services to its broadband customers. people already using bt communicator have found it by far the most convenient way of making a call if they are at their pc said andrew burke director of value-added services at bt retail. as more homes get high-speed access providers are increasingly offering add-ons such as cheap net calls. broadband and telephony are attractive to customers and bt wants to make sure it is in the first wave of services said ian fogg an analyst with jupiter research. bt communicator had a quiet launch in the summer and now bt is waving the flag a bit more for it he added. bt has struggled to maintain its market share of broadband subscribers as more competitors enter the market. reports say that bt has lost around 10% of market share over the last year down from half of broadband users to less than 40%. bt is hoping its latest offer can persuade more people to jump on the broadband bandwagon. it currently has 1.3 million broadband subscribers. | 0 | tech |
ad sales boost time warner profit quarterly profits at us media giant timewarner jumped 76% to $1.13bn (£600m) for the three months to december from $639m year-earlier. the firm which is now one of the biggest investors in google benefited from sales of high-speed internet connections and higher advert sales. timewarner said fourth quarter sales rose 2% to $11.1bn from $10.9bn. its profits were buoyed by one-off gains which offset a profit dip at warner bros and less users for aol. time warner said on friday that it now owns 8% of search-engine google. but its own internet business aol had has mixed fortunes. it lost 464 000 subscribers in the fourth quarter profits were lower than in the preceding three quarters. however the company said aol s underlying profit before exceptional items rose 8% on the back of stronger internet advertising revenues. it hopes to increase subscribers by offering the online service free to timewarner internet customers and will try to sign up aol s existing customers for high-speed broadband. timewarner also has to restate 2000 and 2003 results following a probe by the us securities exchange commission (sec) which is close to concluding. time warner s fourth quarter profits were slightly better than analysts expectations. but its film division saw profits slump 27% to $284m helped by box-office flops alexander and catwoman a sharp contrast to year-earlier when the third and final film in the lord of the rings trilogy boosted results. for the full-year timewarner posted a profit of $3.36bn up 27% from its 2003 performance while revenues grew 6.4% to $42.09bn. our financial performance was strong meeting or exceeding all of our full-year objectives and greatly enhancing our flexibility chairman and chief executive richard parsons said. for 2005 timewarner is projecting operating earnings growth of around 5% and also expects higher revenue and wider profit margins. timewarner is to restate its accounts as part of efforts to resolve an inquiry into aol by us market regulators. it has already offered to pay $300m to settle charges in a deal that is under review by the sec. the company said it was unable to estimate the amount it needed to set aside for legal reserves which it previously set at $500m. it intends to adjust the way it accounts for a deal with german music publisher bertelsmann s purchase of a stake in aol europe which it had reported as advertising revenue. it will now book the sale of its stake in aol europe as a loss on the value of that stake. | 1 | business |
reliance unit loses anil ambani anil ambani the younger of the two brothers in charge of india s largest private company has resigned from running its petrochemicals subsidiary. the move is likely to be seen as the latest twist in a feud between mr ambani and his brother mukesh. anil 45 has stepped down as director and vice-chairman of indian petrochemicals corporation (ipc). the company was not available for comment. ipc is 46%-owned by reliance industries which in turn is run by mukesh. mukesh has spoken of ownership issues between the two brothers who took over control of the reliance empire following the death of their father in july 2002. reliance s operations have massive reach covering textiles telecommunications petrochemicals petroleum refining and marketing as well as oil and gas exploration insurance and financial services. the brothers spat has hogged headlines in india during recent weeks despite a denial from the family that there was anything wrong. speculation has been rife about what has triggered the stand-off with some observers blaming anil s political ambitions others the heavy investment by mukesh and reliance in a mobile phone venture. shares of ipc dipped on the news in mumbai but recovered to trade almost 6% higher. reliance shares added 1.7% while reliance energy headed by anil jumped 7%. | 1 | business |
virus poses as christmas e-mail security firms are warning about a windows virus disguising itself as an electronic christmas card. the zafi.d virus translates the christmas greeting on its subject line into the language of the person receiving infected e-mail. anti-virus firms speculate that this multilingual ability is helping the malicious program spread widely online. anti-virus firm sophos said that 10% of the e-mail currently on the net was infected with the zafi virus. like many other windows viruses zafi-d plunders microsoft outlook for e-mail addresses and then uses mail-sending software to despatch itself across the web to new victims. to be infected users must open up the attachment travelling with the message which bears the code for the malicious bug. the attachment on the e-mail poses as an electronic christmas card but anyone opening it will simply get a crude image of two smiley faces. the virus subject line says merry christmas and translates this into one of 15 languages depending of the final suffix of the e-mail address the infected message has been sent to. the message in the body of the e-mail reads: happy holidays and this too is translated. on infected machines the virus tries to disable anti-virus and firewall software and opens up a backdoor on the pc to hand over control to the writer of the virus. the virus is thought to have spread most widely in south america italy spain bulgaria and hungary. the original zafi virus appeared in april this year. we have seen these hoaxes for several christmases already and personally i prefer traditional pen and paper cards and we recommend this to all our clients too said mikko hypponen who heads f-secure s anti-virus team. | 0 | tech |
analysis: no pain no gain he called it his masochism strategy in the run-up to the iraq war and now tony blair has signed up for another dose of pain. the idea is simple - the prime minister goes head to head with an often hostile group of real voters in the full spotlight of the television cameras. the theory is that talking to the great british public even if they are the great unwashed is better than having the media filter what voters hear from politicians. it is also the most effective way of showing that he is aware of real people s concerns and - on occasions - of their outright fury. mr blair used the tactic before the iraq war to try to show he really was engaging with public concerns and you can expect to see it much more in the run-up to the election. labour knows it has been damaged by accusations of spin control freakery and over-slick presentation - sometimes from within the ranks of its own mps. tony blair himself has said people complain he does not listen. mr blair s latest bout of flagellation came with a series of questions sessions on five television throughout wednesday. the trouble began on the wright stuff show with maria hutchings marching up to him saying tony that s rubbish as she tried to complain about her autistic son s school being threatened with closure. a few don t worries as mrs hutchings was led back to the audience averted a public slanging match - he spoke to her privately after the show. but that was only the start and later sessions produced the type of grilling not even the toughest television interviewer could produce. writer neil coppendale from west sussex asked of the iraq war: tens of thousands of innocent men women and children died - how do you manage to sleep at night on immigration london teacher diane granger said: where are you going to put everyone and can you imagine even jeremy paxman putting the question posed by brighton nurse marion brown: would you wipe somebody s backside for £5 mr blair tried to use the questioners first names - and sometimes threw them off their stride by asking what they would do about the problems. many of the newspapers have branded the exercise a pr stunt which backfired. indeed there is a danger mr blair simply ends up looking embattled . conservative michael howard and liberal democrat charles kennedy are to be offered chances to appear in similar slots on the channel next month. labour strategists believe more of the sessions will mean the hecklers no longer become a story and the real issues take prominence. james humphreys ex-head of corporate communications at number 10 says the strategy shows frustration with the media. they feel they don t get their voice across and going direct to people is clearly their game on this occasion he says. there are risks but the prize is tackling the trend of lower turnouts at the polls he argues. the prime minister knows full well the potential hazards . he must remember with gritted teeth his confrontation with sharron storer the birmingham woman who harangued him over the state of her local hospital in the 2001 election campaign. all you do is walk around and make yourself known you don t do anything to help anybody she told mr blair before stomping off refusing his pleas to discuss the issue privately. former downing street media chief alastair campbell has described the episode as a bit of a disaster as it meant the launch of labour s election manifesto received little coverage. but it was seen as one of the few moments when that election campaign came alive not least because it coincided with john prescott s even more direct contact - when he punched an egg-throwing protester. former prime ministers too have come to grief at the hands of a persistent member of the public. the undoubted highlight of years of election phone-in shows was margaret thatcher discomfort on nationwide in 1983 when viewer diana gould put her on the spot about the sinking of the belgrano in the falklands war. john major reaped the benefits of street campaigning during the 1992 election campaign with his famous soapbox. it may have left him splattered with eggs and engine oil at times but he felt it added fizz to his campaign. in his memoirs he also argues the strategy contrasted with neil kinnock s contrived photo opportunities and attempts at an artful campaign. he wanted to look like a prime minister. i was prime minister and i wanted a flesh and blood fight says mr major. mr blair told prospective labour mps on thursday that taking part in phone-ins and public meetings could enthuse and engage and give the public a sense of empowerment . but he also wants to counter complaints that he has spent too much time on international affairs and foreign trips. mr blair recalls how bill clinton once advised him: always remember that what people see of you in the news in the evening is how they think you spend your day. his hope must be that voters watching him on the rack will bear out for labour the old maxim: no pain no gain. | 4 | politics |
uk directors guild nominees named martin scorsese and clint eastwood are among the nominees for the top prize at the directors guild of great britain awards now in their second year. the oscar rivals will compete for the international film prize at the ceremony to be held at the curzon mayfair cinema in london on 20 march. other nominees include bill condon for kinsey and michel gondry for eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. mike leigh s vera drake is among the nominees for best british film. the awards will see eastwood and scorsese once again competing for the directing prize following last weekend s oscars. clint eastwood won best director for million dollar baby beating scorsese who was nominated for a fifth time for the howard hughes biopic the aviator. mike leigh will compete for the british film prize with shane meadows for dead man s shoes roger michell for enduring love and my summer of love director pawel pawlikowski. nominees for best foreign film include spain s pedro almodovar for bad education and hong kong director wong kar-wai for 2046. in the tv categories comedy series early doors and the alan clark diaries will compete for the best directing award for a 30-minute television show while the directors of shameless hustle and bodies are all nominated for the 60-minute television prize. the directors of omagh and sex traffic are among the nominees for a television movie or mini-series. american beauty s sam mendes will receive a lifetime achievement award for his work in film and theatre while theatre director simon mcburney will be given an award for outstanding directorial achievement. | 3 | entertainment |
indonesians face fuel price rise indonesia s government has confirmed it is considering raising fuel prices by as much as 30%. millions of indonesians use kerosene for basic cooking and prices have been heavily subsidised for years. president susilo bambang yudhoyono s government has said it wants to curb fuel subsidies and direct the money into aid programmes for the poor. but critics argue cutting subsidies will hurt the poorer families that his government says it wants to help. millions of people were left homeless in indonesia aceh s region following the earthquake and tsunami disaster in late december. indonesia pays subsidies to importers in order to stabilise domestic fuel prices but higher oil prices have forced the government to spend more on holding prices down. it spent 59.2 trillion rupiah ($6.58bn; £3.5bn) on fuel subsidies in 2004 a sum far in excess of its original projection of 14.5 trillion rupiah. since president yudhoyono s government came to power in october it has indicated its intention of raising domestic fuel prices by cutting subsidies. the (january to march) quarter of this year is the best time for us to increase fuel prices said sri mulyani indrawati state minister for national development planning. we are still considering if a 30% hike is suitable at the moment. the sooner the better for the state budget. the bbc s correspondent in jakarta rachel harvey told world business report that there was likely to be a strong public reaction to any price rise. the big question is whether they go for one big short sharp shock and raise prices between 20% and 30% or whether they try to stagger it she said. indonesia s previous government led by president megawati sukarnoputri also attempted to cut subsidies in 2003 but was forced to back down in the face of public protests. | 1 | business |
pixies take on reading and leeds pixies foo fighters and iron maiden will headline this summer s leeds and reading festivals. the trio of rock heavyweights will top the bill for the three-day events at bramham park near wetherby and at richfield avenue reading. they are the pixies and iron maiden s only uk festival gigs while foo fighters are also at t in the park. the killers razorlight and queens of the stone age are also playing the twin festivals to be held on 26-28 august. other acts in this year s line-up include the charlatans marilyn manson and kings of leon. pete doherty s band babyshamblers will appear on the nme/radio one stage along with kasabian black rebel motorcycle club and bloc party. organiser mean fiddler said more acts were still to be confirmed for the summer event. we are all very excited to be going back to reading and intend to have a fantastic time said iron maiden s bruce dickinson. we re sure fans will too. it will the first time the veteran british metal band have played reading in 23 years. at leeds iron maiden will headline the first day of the festival on the friday pixies will follow on saturday and the foo fighters will close the event on sunday. the pixies will headline the first day of reading while foo fighters will play on sunday and iron maiden will close the event. weekend tickets are now on sale priced at £125 each. | 3 | entertainment |
business confidence dips in japan business confidence among japanese manufacturers has weakened for the first time since march 2003 the quarterly tankan survey has found. slower economic growth rising oil prices a stronger yen and weaker exports were blamed for the fall. december s confidence level was below that seen in september the bank of japan said. however september s reading was the strongest for 13 years. the economy is at a pause but unlikely to fall the economy minister said. it will feel a bit slower (next year) than this year and growth may be a bit more gentle but the situation is that the recovery will continue said economy minister heizo takenaka. in the bank of japan s december survey the balance of big manufacturers saying business conditions are better minus those saying they are worse was 22 down from 26 in september. japan s economy grew by just 0.1% in the three months to september according revised data issued this month. with the recovery slowing the world s second biggest economy is now expected grow by 0.2% in 2004. the tankan index is based on a survey of 10 227 firms. big manufacturers were even more pessimistic about the first quarter of 2005; their views suggest the march reading could go as low as 15 - still in positive territory but weaker. the dollar s decline has strengthened the yen making japanese exports more expensive in the us. china s attempts to cool down its fast-growing economy have also hit japanese industry s sales abroad. confidence among non-manufacturers was unchanged in the final quarter of 2004 but it is forecast to drop one point in the march survey. nonetheless japanese firms have been stepping up capital investment and the survey found the pace is quickening. companies reported they expect to invest 7.7% more in the year to march 2005 than the previous year - up from expectations of 6.1% increase in the september tankan. | 1 | business |
actress roberts takes spider role actress julia roberts will play the part of a spider in a new film version of children s classic charlotte s web. she will voice charlotte who teams up with a girl to save their friend wilbur the pig in the story by eb white. the film - a mix of live action and animation - will be roberts first project since the birth of her twins hazel and phinnaeus two months ago. oprah winfrey will voice a goose john cleese will voice a sheep and steve buscemi a rat in the 2006 film. ten-year-old dakota fanning will play fern the girl at the centre of the story in the film to be directed by 13 going on 30 film-maker gary winick. filming is due to begin in melbourne australia later this month. charlotte s web has sold 45 million copies since it was published in 1952. an animated version was made in 1973 but this will be the first live action film. the actor who will voice wilbur the pig has yet to be revealed. | 3 | entertainment |
x factor show gets second series tv talent show the x factor is to return for a second series after being recommissioned by itv. judges simon cowell louis walsh and sharon osbourne are in discussions to sign up for the new series. the final of the first series will take place on 11 december. last saturday s show was beaten in the ratings by the bbc s strictly come dancing. working on the x factor has been a blast... i predict series two will be even better said cowell. i think the production team have done an amazing job he added. the pop idol-style show votes off a group or contestant every week - the two that receive the lowest public vote have to perform a second time before the judges make a final decision. rowetta satchell steve brookstein tabby callaghan and group g4 are the remaining finalists. itv s controller of entertainment claudia rosencrantz said she had no hesitation in recommissioning the show. there s much more to come this series as we build towards the final next month and it s great to have secured this terrific format for our viewers for another series she said. | 3 | entertainment |
m&s cuts prices by average of 24% marks & spencer has cut prices in london and the regions by an average of 24% according to research from a city investment bank. dresdner kleinwort wasserstein said: in spite of the snow in the uk it still feels very early to be cutting prices of spring merchandise. stuart rose head of m&s said last year its prices were too high. we are bringing in ranges at new price points to compete against mid-market retailers like next said m&s. next is one of m&s s biggest competitors and the move may force it to lower prices. drkw said the cuts are either to clear stock or could indicate a longer term step change in pricing in certain areas at m&s. either way this cannot be good news for m&s margin it added. we have brought in quite a lot of new clothing at new price points as part of stuart rose s strategy of quality style -and price said the m&s spokesman. many analysts believe february is proving to be a difficult month for retailers and british retail consortium figures due in a few weeks are expected to reflect the tough trading environment. separately investment bank goldman sachs produced reseach showing that a basket of 35 m&s goods is now 11% above the high-street average compared with 43% higher last year. it has been a strange week for m&s which on tuesday received a statement from philip green the billionaire bhs owner confirming he was not rebidding for the company. this was followed the same day by mark paulsmeier a south african financier issuing a press release saying his paulsmeier group was interested in m&s. a sudden spike in m&s s share price followed. however an m&s spokesman said on sunday it had no evidence that mr paulsmeier had lined up sufficient finance for a bid. he also said the takeover panel and the uk s financial watchdog the financial services authority had been in touch with m&s at the beginning of the week to find out what it knew about the paulsmeier developments. | 1 | business |
mobiles rack up 20 years of use mobile phones in the uk are celebrating their 20th anniversary this weekend. britain s first mobile phone call was made across the vodafone network on 1 january 1985 by veteran comedian ernie wise. in the 20 years since that day mobile phones have become an integral part of modern life and now almost 90% of britons own a handset. mobiles have become so popular that many people use their handset as their only phone and rarely use a landline. the first ever call over a portable phone was made in 1973 in new york but it took 10 years for the first commercial mobile service to be launched. the uk was not far behind the rest of the world in setting up networks in 1985 that let people make calls while they walked. the first call was made from st katherine s dock to vodafone s head office in newbury which at the time was over a curry house. for the first nine days of 1985 vodafone was the only firm with a mobile network in the uk. then on 10 january cellnet (now o2) launched its service. mike caudwell spokesman for vodafone said that when phones were launched they were the size of a briefcase cost about £2 000 and had a battery life of little more than 20 minutes. despite that they were hugely popular in the mid-80s he said. they became a yuppy must-have and a status symbol among young wealthy business folk. this was also despite the fact that the phones used analogue radio signals to communicate which made them very easy to eavesdrop on. he said it took vodafone almost nine years to rack up its first million customers but only 18 months to get the second million. it s very easy to forget that in 1983 when we put the bid document in we were forecasting that the total market would be two million people he said. cellnet was forecasting half that. now vodafone has 14m customers in the uk alone. cellnet and vodafone were the only mobile phone operators in the uk until 1993 when one2one (now t-mobile) was launched. orange had its uk launch in 1994. both newcomers operated digital mobile networks and now all operators use this technology. the analogue spectrum for the old phones has been retired. called global system for mobiles (gsm) this is now the most widely used phone technology on the planet and is used to help more than 1.2 billion people make calls. mr caudwell said the advent of digital technology also helped to introduce all those things such as text messaging and roaming that have made mobiles so popular. | 0 | tech |
venezuela and china sign oil deal venezuelan president hugo chavez has offered china wide-ranging access to the country s oil reserves. the offer made as part of a trade deal between the two countries will allow china to operate oil fields in venezuela and invest in new refineries. venezuela has also offered to supply 120 000 barrels of fuel oil a month to china. venezuela - the world s fifth largest oil exporter - sells about 60% of its output to the united states. mr chavez s administration which has a strained relationship with the us is trying to diversify sales to reduce its dependence on its largest export market. china s quick-growing economy s need for oil has contributed to record-high oil prices this year along with political unrest in the middle east and supply bottlenecks. oil prices are finishing the year roughly 30% higher than they were in january 2004. in 2004 according to forecasts from the ministry of commerce china s oil imports will be 110m tons up 21% on the previous year. china has been a net importer of oil since the mid 1990 s with more than a third of the oil and gas it consumes coming from abroad. a lack of sufficient domestic production and the need to lessen its dependence on imports from the middle east has meant that china is looking to invest in other potential markets such as latin america. mr chavez who is visiting china said his country would put its many of its oil facilities at the disposal of china. chinese firms would be allowed to operate 15 mature oil fields in the east of venezuela which could produce more than one billion barrels he confirmed. the two countries will also continue a joint venture agreement to produce stocks of the boiler fuel orimulsion. mr chavez has also invited chinese firms to bid for gas exploration contracts which his government will offer next year in the western gulf of venezuela. the two countries also signed a number of other agreements covering other industries including mining. | 1 | business |
gardener battles to narrow win jason gardener fought all the way to the line to narrowly claim the men s 60m title at the norwich union indoor trials and aaas championships. the world 60m champion got off to a rolling start and had to dig deep to dip ahead of mark findlay and darren chin who both set personal bests. it was a close race admitted gardener. i stumbled out the blocks but my experience told through. i still feel there s more life in me and i believe i can go faster. gardener s performance in sheffield could have been affected by the news which he heard before his semi-final that his european record had been broken frenchman ronald pognon who will be a real threat at the european championships set a new time of 6.45 one-hundreth of a second faster than gardener s previous mark. favourite delivered a powerful performance to take the women s 60m title in 7.27 seconds. you ll see me in madrid and i feel there is a lot more to come along said the 22-year-old. katherine endacott battled hard to take second and dip under the european qualifying mark. defending champion joice maduaka had pulled out of the final with a chest infection. was on record-breaking form as she stormed to the women s 60m hurdles crown. the 25-year-old set a new british record for the second time in seven days clocking 7.96 seconds to finish ahead of rival diane allahgreen. i m so happy a tearful claxton told bbc sport. all the years i ve been running and i m getting recognition. claxton s time was also good enough to qualify for the european championships. the men s 800m went to form in sheffield as dominated the race from start to finish. the northern ireland athlete went off at a startling pace but had to hold off the challenge of welshman jimmy watkins over the final 200m to win in one minute 47.96 seconds. both mcilory and watkins who set a life-time best of 1:48.32 had already booked their places in madrid and were again well within the qualifying time. i had to go out and go through all the gears before the europeans and i won t run again until then said mcilroy. could not reach the european mark in the women s race as she crossed the line to win in 2:04.45. olympic bronze heptathlon medallist rounded off a useful weekend with two more personal bests in sheffield. the 28-year-old reached 1.80m in the high jump and clocked 8.47secs in the heats of the 60m hurdles. i ve surprised myself said sotherton. i m starting to thrive on the pressure but if i don t perform then it s not the end of the world. pole vaulter made a winning return to major competition after a drugs ban. the trafford athlete who has served a two-year ban after testing positive for anabolic steroids clinched the title with a championship record 4.25m. also set a new championship mark in the men s triple jump title in sheffield. the 26-year-old who has been training in australia over the winter landed 17.30m with his final effort - the longest leap in the world this year. i didn t have a clue said idowu. i ve not jumped indoors before and i just wanted the qualifying mark. but this isn t a bad start and hopefully i ll come back from madrid with a gold medal. nathan douglas continued his steady progress this season as he set a life-time best of 16.76m in second while jonathan moore took third. and resumed their rivalry in the long jump competition both achieving the european standard. commonwealth champion morgan reached a personal best of 7.96m on his very first jump and then promptly retired with a bruised heel. olympian tomlinson tried to play catch up with his six jumps but had to settle for a season s best jump of 7.91m. i was advised not to jump by my doctor and so i m pleased to come here and get the qualifying mark said tomlinson. now based at loughborough sprinted past front runner catherine murphy in the final 100m to steal the women s 400m title. the 21-year-old ran a personal best of 53.45 seconds to win her first indoor title. wall s time was just short of the qualifying mark - something murphy already has. ireland s took the men s title in 46.46 ahead of promising channel islands decathlete dale garland. sudanese 18-year-old rabah yusuf who is seeking british citizenship showed his raw talent as he burst through in third. cleared the required 1.90m to qualify for the european championships and claim the aaas title in the women s high jump. in the men s 3 000m powered to a new personal best of seven minutes 56.86 seconds to defend his aaas title in style. it was the first time in 11 years the eight-minute barrier has been broken at the championships and was just within the european mark. took the women s 1500m aaas title in the absence of kelly holmes. her time of 4:19.11 was not good enough to qualify for madrid but ovens had already opted out of the championships. the men s race was won by who had to fight off a closing pack to claim the title in 3:45.87. | 2 | sport |
o driscoll out of scotland game ireland captain brian o driscoll has been ruled out of saturday s rbs six nations clash against scotland. o driscoll was originally named in the starting line-up but has failed to recover from the hamstring injury he picked up in the win over italy. his replacement will be named after training on friday morning. fellow centre gordon d arcy is also struggling with a hamstring injury and he will undergo a fitness test on friday to see if he can play. kevin maggs would be an obvious replacement at centre while shane horgan could also be moved from wing. ulster wing tommy bowe could also be asked to travel with the squad to scotland as a precautionary measure. the only other change to the ireland side sees wasps flanker johnny o connor replacing denis leamy. o connor will be winning his third cap after making his debut in the victory over south africa last november. : murphy horgan tbc d arcy hickie o gara stringer corrigan byrne hayes o kelly o connell s easterby o connor foley. : sheahan horan o callaghan miller g easterby humphreys dempsey. | 2 | sport |
moya suffers shock loss fifth seed carlos moya was the first big name to fall at the australian open as he went down to fellow spaniard guillermo garcia-lopez on monday. moya began the year with victory at the chennai open but looked out of sorts from the start in the melbourne heat. garcia-lopez ranked 106 in the world dominated from the outset and withstood a third-set rally from moya to hang on for a 7-5 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory. the 21-year-old plays kevin kim or lee hyuung-taik in the second round. garcia-lopez was delighted with the victory in only his third ever grand slam match. i think this was the most important win of my life as carlos is one of the best players in the world he said. this has given me a lot of confidence. now i feel i can beat all these players. moya said: i was playing well before i came here. it was the perfect preparation but something was wrong today. four-time champion andre agassi began what could be his last australian open with a convincing win over german qualifier dieter kindlmann. the 34-year-old american who had been struggling with a hip injury earlier in the week stormed to a 6-4 6-3 6-0 win. agassi will play france s olivier patience or germany s rainer schuettler - the man he beat in the 2003 final - in the next round. no one was more concerned (about the injury) than myself said eighth seed agassi. i d worked hard to be down here and ready. but the last few days i ve pushed through the injury and it seemed to do pretty good. in other matches world junior champion gael monfils made use of his wild card with a magnificent 1-6 6-3 6-4 7-6 (8-6) win over american robby ginepri. the 2002 champion thomas johansson fought back to beat peter luczak 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-3 4-6 6-0 and french open champion gaston gaudio beat justin gimelstob 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 6-3. seeds dominik hrbaty ivan ljubicic and mario ancic made comfortable progress but former french open champion albert costa lost to bjorn phau. | 2 | sport |
call for action on internet scam phone companies are not doing enough to warn customers about internet rogue-dialling scams according to premium phone line regulator icstis. it has received 45 000 complaints in recent months about dial-up internet connections diverting to premium rate numbers without users knowledge. phone companies refuse to pay compensation because they say calls must be paid for. they must warn people earlier about possible fraud icstis said. people who use dial-up connections can be affected by the scams. without realising a program can be downloaded which diverts internet calls via a premium phone line. victims often fail to notice until they receive an unusually high bill. icstis spokesman rob dwight said: phone companies should get in touch with their customers sooner. if my bill goes over the usual £50 a month i want to know about it straight away - i don t want to be told when it s hit £750. phone companies had the systems in place to spot fraudulent activity and artificially-inflated traffic he said. we alert them to the numbers that we have under investigation and they should be looking out for these numbers he added. telecoms ombudsman elizabeth france said: certainly i would not be surprised to find my credit card company phoning me if i do something out of the ordinary. so i would expect phone companies to be looking to see if they can have a similar approach. the biggest phone company bt says it is doing what it can to monitor fraud and warn people about rogue dialling. its advice to customers is to use call barring if they want to prevent calls to premium lines because under the current system once the call has been made there s little that can be done. gavin patterson group managing director for bt consumer said we do look at customer s calling patterns and we do make interventions when they are out of the ordinary. we re looking at the moment at whether we can improve this. but as bt handled 180 million calls a day monitoring was quite a task in itself he added. the government has ordered a review of premium line services and is likely to say icstis should have more power to deal with rogue diallers in future. at the moment it cannot demand pay-outs on the behalf of customer - it can only close illegal services down. i use free anti-virus software (avg) and free firewall protection (zonealarm). both of these tools have prevented unauthorised access and outgoing calls inadvertently and innocently caused by my daughter s love of music sites. how about isps informing all customers of such facilities the responsibility clearly falls with the customer but many fall prey through simply not knowing how to avoid these issues. ignorance is and always has been an expensive business. does any one know what happens once this fraud has been committed and recognised the phone companies pay the people who obtaining money fraudulently so are these people followed up and prosecuted these diallers are mainly downloaded from sites offering illegal mp3s porn and pirated software. if people didn t visit such sites they d be considerably less at risk. whatever happened to personal responsibility it seems everyone has to be a victim these days! part of the blame has to rest with the manufacturers of home computer operating systems. a secure system should not allow a web page or email to download and install anything without the user s knowledge. these scams are illegal and telephone companies should have nothing to do with them. they should refuse to pay money over to the perpetrators. or are they themselves receiving such good returns that it is in their interest to keep the scam going why don t bt et al block all premium numbers by default and only turn it off at the customer s request to anyone who falls foul of this scam - refuse to pay your telephone provider for these calls. after you notify your telephone provider of these fraudulent transactions they cannot insist on you paying the bill. to do so would be to knowingly assist the fraudsters to commit the fraud. no customers have yet been taken to court for refusing to pay these bills. disable or remove your modem and use broadband instead - then you have nothing to worry about. or buy some decent firewall software and anti-virus. you would not walk out in the freezing cold without a coat - you would not drive your car without any insurance - so why not protect your pc stop blaming the phone companies - it s not their fault! i was very impressed with our phone company recently. i had kept ringing a hotline number for kylie tickets and next day they rang back to ask if i was aware there were 40-odd calls to the same number. great service. and i got the tickets as well! i have a colleague who has fallen victim to this kind of scam. he informed the phone company about it they subsequently put a block on premium rate numbers. three months later another huge bill of over £1 000 came in - the block apparently didn t work and he still has to pay for it even though a block was in place. phone companies are probably quite happy for their customers to be hit with a huge bill otherwise they d be taking extra steps to prevent this kind of problem. i have been scammed of £139. the operator will do nothing about this and to add insult to injury i was charged vat by the government. premium rate numbers have been subject to various scams ever since they were invented. one example was where thieves would set up a premium rate number and then dial it day and night from phones whose quarterly bills were never paid. the telephone company was the victim here and you can bet that loophole was blocked very quickly. i know people who have run up large bills despite being it-literate. from talking to bt in belfast i believe that they will shortly be giving out a free application that can stop you dialling expensive numbers without knowing. it s not the fault of phone companies and at last they are doing something about it. it s about time that the profiteering by the legitimate phone companies came to an end mainly by doing away with dial-up altogether and bring broadband down to the same price as dial-up! not only will this ruin things for the dialler scammers but also allow people to update and upgrade their security more easily and quickly. i haven t fallen victim to a rogue-dialling scam but i think you re seriously remiss in not pointing out that the vast majority of these scams arise from people trying to access services purporting to provide free pornography. in most cases the user is entirely at fault which is probably why the telephone companies are rightly unwilling to refund them. my telephone supplier did not inform me that my monthly bill had risen from its normal £3 to £5 to £320. this was because of the scam. they simply billed me. what particularly galls me over and above having over £300 stolen is that the supplier and the government (through vat) are profiting from this crime and will not reimburse me their portion of my losses. how about an automatic monthly cap of say £20 on premium rate calls that you would have to contact your provider to have lifted that way you could use legitimate premium rate numbers while limiting fraudulent usage. at least any disputed amount would be limited far easier for a telecoms operator to write off £20 than it is £750. a few years back i was also the target of such scams but thank god i have already upgraded to broadband and nothing was connected to my modem so all i heard was the sound of an attempted connection. how about home users take some responsibility and ensure their anti-virus and firewall software is up to date that should prevent the vast majority of these scams. | 0 | tech |
sideways dominates spirit awards the comedy sideways has dominated this year s independent spirit awards winning all six of the awards for which it was nominated. it was named best film while alexander payne won best director and best screenplay along with writing partner jim taylor. it also won acting awards for stars paul giamatti thomas haden church and virginia madsen. sideways is tipped to do well at sunday s oscars with five nominations. the awards now in their 20th year are given to films made outside the traditional studio system and are traditionally held the day before the oscars. other winners included catalina sandino moreno who took best actress for her role as a drug smuggler in the colombian drama maria full of grace. moreno is also nominated for best actress at the oscars. the best first screenplay award went to joshua marston for maria full of grace. scrubs star zach braff won the award for best first feature for garden state which he wrote directed and starred in. oscar-nominated euthanasia film the sea inside from spain won best foreign film while metallica: some kind of monster was awarded best documentary. actor rodrigo de la serna took the best debut performance prize for the motorcycle diaries. the awards are voted for by the 9 000 members of the independent feature project/los angeles which includes actors directors writers and other industry professionals. last year s big winner lost in translation went on to win the oscar for best original screenplay for writer-director sofia coppola. | 3 | entertainment |
no seasonal lift for house market a swathe of figures have provided further evidence of a slowdown in the uk property market. the council of mortgage lenders (cml) british bankers association (bba) and building societies association (bsa) all said mortgage lending was slowing. cml figures showed gross lending fell by 4% in november as the number of people buying new homes fell. elsewhere the bba added underlying mortgage lending rose by £4m in november compared to october s £4.29m. the cml said that loans for new property purchases fell 25% year-on-year to 85 000 - the lowest total seen since february 2003. data from the cml showed lending fell to just over £25bn in november from £25.5bn a year earlier. separate figures from the building societies association showed the value of mortgage approvals -- loans agreed but not yet made -- stood 32% lower than at the same time last year at a seasonally-adjusted £2.98bn. the figures come hot on the heels of new data from property website rightmove which suggested owners must indulge in a winter sale and slash prices by up to 8%. miles shipside commercial director at rightmove said sellers would have to be more realistic with their asking prices to tempt buyers. the average asking price of a home fell by more than £600 from £190 329 in november to £189 733 in december while the length of time it takes to sell a home rose to 81 days from 53 in the summer. rightmove said estate agents were set to enter 2005 with a third more properties on their books than a year ago. even once the quieter holiday period is over sellers will find themselves competing with a lot of other properties on the market. in any business excess supply and low demand means one thing - cut prices mr shipside said. the proof is that some properties that have been appropriately discounted are selling even in the current market. overall asking prices have fallen 3.3% from their july peaks as the equivalent of £6 500 has been cut from an average property. a host of mortgage lenders and economists have predicted that property prices will either fall or stagnate in 2005. what is apparent is a picture of a slowing market but one that should remain stable as we return to more normal volumes of lending over 2005 as a whole cml director general michael coogan said. it s a fairly consistent picture showing that mortgage demand has fallen back again which is consistent with a continuing correction in the housing market investec economist philip shaw said. however the figures do suggest only a modest weakening and we stand by our view that the property market will remain in the doldrums for some time though a collapse is still unlikely. | 1 | business |
leeds v saracens (fri) headingley friday 25 february 2000 gmt the tykes have brought in newcastle prop ed kalman and tom mcgee from the borders on loan while fly-half craig mcmullen has joined from narbonne. raphael ibanez is named at hooker for saracens in one of four changes. simon raiwalui and ben russell are also selected in the pack while kevin sorrell comes in at outside centre. - friday s game at headingley got the go-ahead on friday after passing an early pitch inspection. leeds: balshaw; rees christophers bell doherty; mcmullen dickens; mcgee rawlinson gerber; murphy palmer (capt) morgan parks popham. replacements: kalman regan hyde rigney mcmillan rock vickerman. saracens: bartholomeusz; castaignede sorrell harris vaikona; jackson bracken; yates ibanez visagie; raiwalui fullarton; randell russell vyvyan (capt). replacements: cairns lloyd broster chesney johnston rauluni little. | 2 | sport |
ukraine trims privatisation check ukraine is to review dozens of state asset sales as the country s new administration tackles corruption. the figure announced by president viktor yushchenko is less than the 3 000 cases mentioned last week but will cover many of the biggest deals. ukraine recently ousted long-serving leader leonid kuchma and has said it wants closer european union links. in a separate statement the eu said that the us should back ukraine s entry into the world trade organisation. the comments came as viktor yushchenko prepared to head to brussels to meet with us president george w bush and other north atlantic treaty organisation (nato) leaders. he is the only non-nato member leader invited to attend the summit. mr yushchenko recently defeated moscow-backed presidential candidate and prime minister viktor yanukovych at the polls and has made no secret of his wish to fight corruption and make ukraine more transparent. earlier this month new prime minister yulia tymoshenko said as many as 3 000 firms may have their privatisations put under the spotlight. her comments raised concerns among a number of investors and mr yushchenko was seen on monday as trying to soothe their frayed nerves. we acknowledge that business in ukraine is now shaped and 98% of privatisations were carried out according to the law mr yushchenko said on monday. we have trust in this business and want to defend it by law he continued adding that any review would focus on dozens of companies not hundreds or thousands . he cited last year s sale of ukrainian steel producer krivorizhstal as one that had raised concerns. it was sold in june 2004 to a consortium that included viktor pinchuk son-in-law of former-president kuchma and rinat akhmetov the country s richest man for $800m (£424m) - despite other higher offers. vice-prime minister oleg rybachuk called on the eu to recognise the steps that ukraine was taking fearing that should the country not be rewarded for its efforts there may be a backlash against closer relations with brussels. he said that while he understood that ukraine was not ready for eu membership the country needed to see progress on topics such as trade and visa requirements. we deserve an honest response mr rybachuk told the associated press in an interview. we understand the difficulties. we refuse to understand double standards. ukraine may find it has a sympathetic ear in brussels the eu has reiterated that we support (ukraine s) fast accession to the wto and if possible we would like that to happen some time during the year said claude veron-reville a spokesman for eu trade commissioner peter mandelson. we have said as much to the americans. we feel that it is important for us all to pull together for ukraine to be allowed into the wto. mr yushchenko was careful not to turn his back on russia which borders the country to the east saying it was important to maintain pragmatic ties with moscow. russia is ukraine s eternal strategic partner mr yushchenko said. | 1 | business |
oscar host rock to keep it clean oscar host chris rock said he will steer clear of bad language when he fronts the awards on 27 february. the comedian who recently got into trouble for poking fun at the ceremony is renowned for his heavy use of expletives during his stand-up routine. the live ceremony will be broadcast with a transmission delay on us network abc to ensure swear words are removed. i ve been on tv and been funny not cursing he said during an interview for cbs network s 60 minutes show. as far as content is concerned i will talk about the movies. i m not really worried about it. i m sure abc might be more worried about it than me he added. the 40-year-old comedian caused a furore when he said in an interview with us magazine entertainment weekly recently that he hardly ever watched the oscars and labelled awards ceremonies idiotic . the show s producers defended rock and confirmed that he would still be presenting the oscar ceremony saying his comments were humorous digs . meanwhile the academy has announced that oscar-nominated actress natalie portman will present an award at the ceremony. portman who has been nominated for a best supporting actress gong for her role in mike nichols closer joins a growing list of stars set to bestow an award at the ceremony including dustin hoffman drew barrymore renee zellweger and british-born actress kate winslet. | 3 | entertainment |
actor foxx sees globe nominations us actor jamie foxx has been given two nominations for golden globe awards with meryl streep morgan freeman and cate blanchett also up for prizes. the stars were shortlisted on monday for supporting roles with the main nominations still to come. foxx has starred in collateral and ray. clive owen david carradine and natalie portman are also up for awards. the golden globes hollywood s second most prominent awards are the first major nominations to be announced. last year the lord of the rings: the return of the king was named best drama movie while lost in translation won best musical or comedy. sean penn charlize theron tim robbins and renee zellweger all won acting awards - mirroring the eventual oscars outcome. the golden globes ceremony will take place on 16 january with the oscars following on 27 february. | 3 | entertainment |
serena ends sania mirza s dream sania mirza the first indian woman to reach the third round of a grand slam tennis event has lost to women s favourite serena williams. the 18-year-old mirza who got a wild card entry into the australian open in melbourne lost to williams 1-6 4-6 in the third round. williams took just 56 minutes to defeat mirza and sail into the fourth round. the only other indian woman to win a match at a grand slam is nirupama vaidyanathan. vaidyanathan made it to the second round of the australian open in 1998. playing the biggest match of her life mirza made little impact on williams in the early stages of the game. but the teenager showed more confidence in the second set and engaged the seventh-seeded williams in some well contested rallies. mirza a junior wimbledon doubles title winner became the first indian woman to reach the third round of a grand slam tennis event when she beat hungarian petra mandula on wednesday. i m really excited. i was confident but i didn t think it was going to be that easy mirza said after her second round win. my aim was to win a round here. when i did that i was so relieved there was no pressure. tennis is not a particularly popular sport in india but a number of indians watched the live telecast of the match between mirza and williams. mirza who lives in the southern indian city of hyderabad known for producing a host of top indian cricketers turned professional two years ago. she says she was considered too small when she went for her first tennis classes as a six-year-old girl. then finally [the coach] called my parents up and said the way she hits the ball i ve never seen a six-year-old hit a ball like that mirza told the associated press. | 2 | sport |
manufacturing recovery slowing uk manufacturing grew at its slowest pace in one-and-a-half years in january according to a survey. the chartered institute of purchasing and supply (cips) said its purchasing manager index (pmi) fell to 51.8 from a revised 53.3 in december. but despite missing forecasts of 53.7 the pmi number remained above 50 - indicating expansion in the sector. the cips said that the strong pound had dented exports while rising oil and metals prices had kept costs high. the survey added that rising input prices and cooling demand had deterred factory managers from hiring new workers in an effort to cut costs. that triggered the second successive monthly fall in the cips employment index to 48.3 - its lowest level since june 2003. the survey is more upbeat than official figures - which suggest that manufacturing is in recession - but analysts said the survey did suggest that the manufacturing recovery was running out of steam. it appears that the uk is in a two-tier economy again said prebon yamane economist lena komileva. you have weakness in manufacturing which i think would concern policymakers at the bank of england. | 1 | business |
parmalat boasts doubled profits parmalat the italian food group at the centre of one of europe s most painful corporate scandals has reported a doubling in profit. its pre-tax earnings in the fourth quarter were 77m euros (£53m; $100m) up from 38m in the same period of 2003. less welcome was the news that the firm had been fined 11m euros for having violated takeover rules five years ago. the firm sought bankruptcy protection in december 2003 after disclosing a 4bn-euro hole in its accounts. overall the company s debt is close to 12bn euros and is falling only slowly. its brands well-known in italy and overseas have continued to perform strongly however and have barely lost revenue since the scandal broke. but a crucial factor for the company s future is the legal unwinding of its intensely complex financial position. on tuesday the company s administrator turnaround expert enrico bondi sued morgan stanley its former banker to return 136m euros relating to a 2003 bond deal. that brought to 49 the number of banks that mr bondi has sued a mass of legal action that could bring in as much as 3bn euros. the company has also sued former auditors and financial advisors for damages. and criminal cases against the company s former management are proceeding separately. | 1 | business |
video phones act as dating tools technologies from e-mail to net chatrooms instant messaging and mobiles have proved to be a big pull with those looking for love. the lure once was that you could hide behind the technology but now video phones are in on the act to add vision. hundreds have submitted a mobile video profile to win a place at the world s first video mobile dating event. the top 100 meet their match on 30 november at london s institute of contemporary arts (ica). the event organised by the 3g network 3 could catch on as the trend for unusual dating events like speed dating continues. it s the beginning of the end of the blind date as we know it said graeme oxby 3 s marketing director. the response has been so promising that 3 says it is planning to launch a proper commercial dating service soon. hundreds of hopefuls submitted their profiles and special booths were set up in a major london department store for two weeks where expert tips were given on how to visually improve their chances. the 100 most popular contestants voted by the public will gather at the ica in separate rooms and meet by phone. dating services and other more adult match-making services are proving to be a strong stream of revenue worth millions for mobile companies. whether it does actually provide an interesting match for video phone technologies remains to be seen. flic everett journalist and dating expert for company magazine and the daily express thinks technology has been liberating for some nervous soul-mate seekers. there are currently about 1.3 million video phones in use in the uk and three times more single people in britain than there were 30 years ago with more people buying video mobiles 3g dating could be the basis for a successful and safe way to meet people. one of the problems with video phones is people don t really know what to video. it is a weird technology. we have not quite worked out what it is for. this gives it a focus and a useful one she told bbc news. i would never have thought online dating would take off the way it did she said. lots of people find it easier to be honest writing e-mail or text than face-to-face. lots people are quite shy and they feel vulnerable. when you are writing it comes directly onto the page so they tend to be more honest. but the barrier that comes with sms chat and online match-making is that the person behind the profile may not be who they really are. scare stories have put people off as a result according to ms everett. many physical clues body language odd twitches are obviously missing with sms and online dating services. still images do not necessarily provide all those necessary cues. it could really take off because you do get the whole package. with a static e-mail picture you don t know who the person is behind it is. so checking out a potential date by video phone also gives singletons a different kind of barrier an extra layer of protection; a case of wlts before wltm. if you are trapped in real-life blind date context you can t get away and you feel embarrassed. with a video meeting you really have the barrier of the phone so if you don t like them you don t have to suffer the embarrassment. there is a more serious side to this new use of technology though. with money being made through more adult-themes content and services which let people meet and chat the revenue streams for mobile carriers will grow with 3g thinks paolo pescatore mobile industry specialist for analysts idc. wireless is a medium that is being exploited with a number of features and services. one is chatting and the dating element is key there he said. the foundation has been set by sms and companies are using media like mms and video to grow the market further. but carriers need to be wary and ensure that if they do launch such 3g dating services they ensure mechanism are in place to monitor and be aware who is registers and accesses these services on regular basis he cautioned. in july vodafone introduced a content control system to protect children from such adult content. the move was as a result of a code of practice agreed by the uk s six largest mobile phone operators in january. the system means vodafone users need to prove they are over 18 before firewalls are lifted on explicit websites or chat rooms dealing with adult themes. the impetus was the growing number of people with handsets that could access the net and the growth of 3g technologies. | 0 | tech |
ring of fire hit co-writer dies merle kilgore co-writer of the country hit ring of fire has died of congestive heart failure aged 70. he started out as a singer and songwriter before going into music management looking after country star hank williams jr. he wrote ring of fire with june carter cash the future wife of johnny cash who went on to score his most popular hit with the track. kilgore had heart surgery in 2004 and was also diagnosed with lung cancer. his death has been attributed to treatment he was undergoing for the cancer. his first self-penned top 10 hit was dear mama in 1959. one of the first songs he wrote for other artists was wolverton mountain which sold 10 million copies when recorded by claude king. he then wrote ring of fire with june carter cash which was about her unrequited love for johnny who she later married. it was first recorded by her younger sister anita carter before johnny went on to make such a success of it. june carter cash previously said it upset her husband when kilgore talked about the song without crediting her and believed he should not have been credited on it. last year kilgore turned up an awards dinner in a wheelchair expecting to honour hank williams jr but instead he was the surprise recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the international entertainment buyers association. | 3 | entertainment |
india calls for fair trade rules india which attends the g7 meeting of seven leading industrialised nations on friday is unlikely to be cowed by its newcomer status. in london on thursday ahead of the meeting india s finance minister lashed out at the restrictive trade policies of the g7 nations. he objected to subsidies on agriculture that make it hard for developing nations like india to compete. he also called for reform of the united nations the world bank and the imf. palaniappan chidambaram india s finance minister argued that these organisations need to take into account the changing world order given india and china s integration into the global economy. he said the issue is not globalisation but the terms of engagement in globalisation. mr chidambaram is attending the g7 meeting as part of the g20 group of nations which account for two thirds of the world s population. at a conference on developing enterprise hosted by uk finance minister gordon brown on friday he said that he was in favour of floating exchange rates because they help countries cope with economic shocks. a flexible exchange rate is one more channel for absorbing both positive and negative shocks he told the conference. india along with china brazil south africa and russia has been invited to take part in the g7 meeting taking place in london on friday and saturday. china is expected to face renewed pressure to abandon its fixed exchange rate which g7 nations in particular the us have blamed for a surge in cheap chinese exports. some countries have tried to use fixed exchange rates. i do not wish to make any judgements mr chidambaram said. separately the imf warned on thursday that india s budget deficit was too large and would hamper the country s economic growth which it forecast to be around 6.5% in the year to march 2005. in the year to march 2004 the indian economy grew by 8.5%. | 1 | business |
celts savour grand slam prospect the six nations has heralded a new order in northern hemisphere rugby this year and wales and ireland rather than traditional big guns france and england face a potential grand slam play-off in three weeks time. but before that game in cardiff wales must get past scotland at murrayfield while ireland face the not insignificant task of a home fixture with the mercurial french. no-one knows what mood france will be in at lansdowne road on 12 march - sublime as in the first half against wales or ridiculous like in the same period against england at twickenham. but how the mighty have fallen. england sat on rugby s summit 15 months ago as world champions and 2003 grand slam winners. but they have lost nine of their 14 matches since that heady night in sydney. and they face the ignominy of what could amount to a wooden spoon play-off against italy in a fortnight. england are enduring their worst run in the championship since captain richard hill was dumped in favour of mike harrison after three straight losses in 1987. coach andy robinson who took over from the successful sir clive woodward in september has lost a phalanx of world cup stars. and he is enduring the toughest of teething problems in bedding down his own style with a new team. the same year that england ruled the roost a woeful wales lost all five matches in the six nations. and they won only two games against scotland and italy in 2004. wales most recent championship title was in 1994 and their last grand slam success came in 1978 in the era of gareth edwards phil bennett jpr williams et al. but welsh rugby fans remain on permanent tenterhooks for the blossoming of a new golden age. after several false dawns coach mike ruddock may have come up with the team and philosophy to match expectations. the fresh verve is inspired by skipper gareth thomas now out with a broken thumb accurate kicking from either fly-half stephen jones or centre gavin henson a rampant martyn williams leading the way up front and exciting runners in the guise of henson and shane williams. ireland coach eddie o sullivan and captain brian o driscoll have got their side buzzing too and they are close to shedding the nearly-men tag that has dogged them for the past few years. the men from the emerald isle have been six nations runners-up for the past two years to france and england. but they have not won the title since 1985 and last clinched a grand slam in 1948. as for scotland they have struggled this decade and the 2004 wooden spoon winners have not been in the top two since they lifted the title in 1999. italy continue the elusive search for their first six nations away win and can still only account for the scalps of scotland (twice) and wales since joining the elite in 2000. coach john kirwan is a passionate and dedicated believer in the azzurri but is lacking in raw materials. and so to france. brilliant one minute inept the next. but the reigning champions could quite easily turn on the style in dublin and end up winning the title through the back door. ireland though have won three times in their last five meetings. welsh romantics would probably prefer a glorious victory in the celtic showdown to crown their grand slam. but given that ireland have beaten wales in four of their last five meetings the welsh legions are likely to be behind les bleus on 12 march. | 2 | sport |
alicia keys to open us super bowl r&b star alicia keys is to open february s super bowl singing a song only previously performed there by ray charles and vicki carr. keys who will sing america the beautiful will be accompanied by 150 students from the florida school for the deaf and the blind. charles who died last year attended the school as a child in 1937. keys said she was very excited describing charles as an artist i admire miss and respect . i know that this is going to be a very touching and memorable moment she said. it will be her first performance at the super bowl which will be watched by millions in the us on 6 february. sir paul mccartney will provide the half-time entertainment in the slot filled by janet jackson last year. organisers have promised there will be no repeat of her nipple-baring incident that sparked thousands of complaints on us tv s most-watched broadcast. a national football league spokesman said they were comfortable this show would be acceptable to a mass audience. the game and show were watched by 144 million people in the us in 2003. twenty cbs-owned tv stations were fined $550 000 (£300 000) by the country s tv regulatory agency after more than 542 000 complaints were made about janet jackson s wardrobe malfunction . sir paul said: there s nothing bigger than being asked to perform at the super bowl. we re looking forward to rocking the millions at home and in the stadium. | 3 | entertainment |
apple mac mini gets warm welcome the mac mini has been welcomed by apple fans industry experts and pc users. the release of the tiny low-cost machine is seen as a good move for apple which currently has a small share of the desktop computer market. mac watchers and some analysts say the mac mini will go a long way to help apple appeal to the mass of consumers. they speculate that the mac mini will be bought by ipod owners and those wanting an easy-to-use and administer second home computer. it s the bravest move they have made yet said jonny evans news editor at macworld magazine. mr evans said the combination of low cost small size and huge numbers of ipod users could make it a big success. he thought that the machine would appeal to those that like apple technology but who before now have balked at paying high prices for its hardware. it s deeply affordable he said. plus you know that you do not get viruses or all of the associated problems. already he said pc owning friends had declared that they would be buying one. interest in the new products launched at macworld expo was so strong that websites for apple s store and the show struggled to cope with demand. according to response statistics gathered by netcraft many visiting the apple store in the wake of mr jobs speech suffered lengthy response times. the macworld expo site was completely overwhelmed and went offline. i think fundamentally it s a good idea because it s cheap even for a pc said nick ross deputy labs editor at pc pro. apple s work on making things easy to use would also help the mac mini win fans he said. i think people expect it just to work now and really it should hesaid. the mac mini could find a role in homes that need a second computer that is easy to install and administer he said. for browsing the web e-mail and all kinds of basic duties it s going to be absolutely adequate said mr ross. ian fogg broadband and personal technology analyst at jupiter research agreed that the mac mini could be very popular. apple has been hoping that sales of the ipod will have a halo effect on the sales of the mac he said. before now he said apple has been seen as a premium brand. but he said the mac mini changed that perception. it s a particularly good price when you see that it s apple that is doing it he said. apple expects the mac mini to sell for £339 in the uk and $499 in the us. adding extras such as a larger hard drive more memory and networking options will increase the basic price. it will go on sale from 22 january. for consumers interested in style design and small size - which is what the majority of ipod customers are interested in - it s a natural next step said mr fogg. apple has traditionally done well in the market that the mac mini is aimed at said mr fogg who also expected many pc makers to release copycat devices in reaction. his only misgivings were over how easy other consumers other than ipod owners would find using the machine. he said anyone wanting to use the mac mini with the peripherals from an old computer may find it odd to have something so small and sleek next to a hulking monitor. they d be much more likely to pair a mac mini with a lcd or flat panel monitor which increases the upgrade cost he said. those with flat screens and lcd monitors are likely to have bought them recently and not be in the market for a new machine. there are also questions over whether the mac mini will work with very old peripherals such as display keyboard and mouse. the mac mini also fell short of being a media server that can be a video recorder as well as a store for all the digital music movies and images people accumulate said mr fogg. the mac mini is not quite ready for that yet he said. it does not have the right connectors that fit a tv screen or enough storage. said mr fogg: it s very much a computer. one dissenting opinion came from brian gammage vice-president of research at analysts gartner. he said: i don t think it changes the world. although the mac mini was very cheap for an apple computer it was still expensive compared to many pcs. also he said it appealed in categories that few consumers care about when buying a home computer. the pc world is a pile-em-high sell-em-cheap market he said and all of them are pretty interchangeable. since the days when apple ruled the personal computing world its market share has been on a long slow decline he said. every few years it does something to give its market share a kick then it starts to go back down again said mr gammage. the release of the mac mini fit perfectly with this trend he said. | 0 | tech |
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. | 2 | sport |
microsoft plans safer id system microsoft is planning to make windows and internet explorer more secure by including software to give people more control over personal information. info cards will help people manage personal details on their pcs to make online services safer said microsoft. microsoft s two previous programs passport and hailstorm aimed to protect users but were criticised. id fraud is one of the uk s fastest-growing crimes with criminals netting an estimated £1.3bn last year. a quarter of uk adults has either had their id stolen via hi-tech or other means or knows someone who has a recent report by which magazine found. microsoft is developing a new version of internet explorer browser and its operating system windows which has been code-named longhorn. michael stephenson director in microsoft s windows server division would not confirm however whether the new info cards id system will be built into the current windows xp version or longhorn. we re trying to make the end-user experience as simple as possible mr stephenson said. the system would differ from its previous attempts to make online transactions more secure said microsoft. while passport and hailstorm stored user information centrally on the net the latest system will store data on a user s pc. it s going to put control of digital ids into the hands of an end-user the end-user will be in full control said mr stephenson. hailstorm was criticised by privacy campaigners for putting too much sensitive information into the hands of a single company. passport provides a single log-in for more than one website and stores basic personal information. but its popularity suffered after security scares. up to 200 million passport accounts were left vulnerable to online theft and malicious hackers after a flaw in the system was exploited in 2003. online auction site ebay stopped supporting it in january 2005. although the flaw was fixed microsoft has come under regular criticism for the number of security loopholes in internet explorer. last year it released a major security update for windows service pack 2 to combat some of the security concerns. longhorn is due to be released commercially in late 2006 but an updated version of internet explorer is due for release later this year. | 0 | tech |
india unveils anti-poverty budget india is to boost spending on primary schools and health in a budget flagged as a boost for the ordinary citizen. india s defence budget has also been raised 7.8% to 830bn rupees ($19bn). the priority for finance minister palaniappan chidambaram is to fight poverty and keep the government s communist allies onside. but his options are limited by a new law which makes him cut the budget deficit which he said would be 4.5% of gdp in the year to march 2005. the country s overall deficit is thought to be more than 10% if the spending of india s 35 states and territories is included. under the fiscal responsibility law mr chidambaram has to trim the deficit by 0.3 percentage points each year a target he says he has now met for the current year. but the heavy spending on poverty reduction means the 2005-6 target for the deficit will be 4.3% mr chidambaram said - falling short of the new law s requirement. i was left with no option but to press the pause button vis a vis the act he said. the following year though would have to be back on track he warned. i may add that we are perilously close to the limits of fiscal prudence and there is no more room for spending beyond our means he said. the coming year s reduction has meant bringing more of the businesses in india s burgeoning services sector into the tax system and restructuring the personal tax system although there are numerous corporate tax and duty reductions built into the budget. presenting his budget in the lower house of parliament mr chidambaram said the indian economy was performing strongly and that inflation has been reined in. he said india s economy grew 6.9% in 2004. in his budget mr chidambaram has: - increased spending on primary education to 71.56bn rupees ($1.6bn) - increased spending on health to 102.8bn rupees ($2.35bn) - announced that 80bn rupees ($1.8bn) will be spent on building rural infrastructure - pledged 102.16bn rupees ($2.3bn) for tsunami victims - increased flow of funds to agriculture by 30% - announced a package for the sugar industry in addition up to 100bn rupees ($2.3bn) to be spent on infrastructure will be sourced by borrowing against the country s foreign exchange reserves keeping budgeted spending under control. given the resilience of the indian economy... it is possible to launch a direct assault on poverty mr chidambaram said. the whole purpose of democratic government is to eliminate poverty. the new indian government led by the congress party was voted into power last may after it pledged to introduce economic reforms with a human face . the finance minister says he is committed to continue reforming india s tax system while expanding the tax base. as part of his reforms he has announced: - duty cuts on capital goods and raw materials - expanded service tax net - raised the income-tax threshold to 100 000 rupees ($2 300) - reduced income tax for those earning less than 250 000 rupees ($5 700) to 20% - reduced corporate tax rates to 30% an annual economic survey released on friday said india needed to ease limit restriction on foreign investment reform labour laws and cut duties apart from widening the tax base for long-term economic growth. but mr chidambaram is under pressure from the communist parties to focus on increasing social spending. the communists are also hostile to measures seeking to increase foreign investment and allow companies to hire and fire employees at will. in recent months they have expressed their displeasure at the government s economic reform plans including increasing foreign direct investment in telecommunication and aviation. in his last budget mr chidambaram had pledged billions of dollars for improving education and health services for the poor as well as special assistance for farmers. | 1 | business |
holmes is hit by hamstring injury kelly holmes has been forced out of this weekend s european indoor athletics championships after picking up a hamstring injury during training. the double olympic champion said: i am very disappointed that i have been forced to withdraw. i can hardly walk at the moment and i won t be able to do any running for two or three weeks although i ll be keeping fit as best i can. holmes will have now have intensive treatment in south africa. the 34-year-old made a cautious start to the season but looked back to her best when she stormed to the 1 000m title at the birmingham grand prix 10 days ago. after that race and more progress in training holmes revealed she had decided to compete at the european indoors before her plans were wrecked last weekend. on saturday night i pulled my hamstring running the last bend on my final 200m of the night said holmes. i was going really really well when i felt a massive spasm in my left leg and my hamstring blew. i saw the doctor here and he has said it is not serious but it s frustrating missing madrid when i knew i was in great shape. holmes has now been advised by her coach margot jennings not to rush back into training and it is unlikely she will compete again until the summer. helen clitheroe now goes to madrid as the only british competitor in the women s 1500m while there will be no representative in the 800m. | 2 | sport |
ethnic producers face barriers minority ethnic led (mel) production companies face barriers in succeeding in the film and television industries research has suggested. the study commissioned by pact and the uk film council included interviews with industry experts and individuals. they indicated that career progression and a lack of role models are among the main problems within such companies. the research indicated that about 10% of independent production companies in the uk are minority ethnic led. a minority ethnic led company is defined as one in which the majority of decision-making power rests with an individual or individuals from a minority ethnic group. the report also explored the problems faced by such companies when attempting to compete within the film and tv industries. it said they are often smaller than other companies and lack the resources so are often squeezed out of the market by bigger firms. the research recommended that minority ethnic led companies could benefit from such positive actions as career training and business advice plus improved communication within the film and tv sectors. the uk has a rich and diverse culture and it is essential that it is reflected on film and television said arts minister estelle morris of the findings. i welcome this report which i hope will lead to more doors being opened and all businesses in our film and television industries being given the same opportunities. | 3 | entertainment |
england children s tsar appointed the first children s commissioner for england has been appointed. great ormond street hospital professor of child health al aynsley-green was chosen by the government and will start the £100 000-a-year job immediately. he will oversee a £2.5m annual budget and have the power to look into any matter relating to the interests and well-being of children . prof aynsley-green has also been the national clinical director for children in the department of health. he promised to make sure that children s opinions count . i will be drawing on my experience of working with children and young people to help ensure that those with the power to improve children s lives do live up to their responsibilities. i want all children and young people to know that they can approach me to discuss any matter that affects them knowing that i will value their opinion. education secretary ruth kelly said prof aynsley-green would strengthen the voice of children and young people . prof aynsley-green was a lecturer at oxford university trained at guy s hospital medical school university of london; oriel college oxford; and in switzerland. he is described as a proud grandfather of four. scotland wales and northern ireland already have children s commissioners. | 4 | politics |
cabs collect mountain of mobiles gadgets are cheaper smaller and more common than ever. but that just means we are more likely to lose them. in london alone over the past six months more than 63 000 mobile phones have been left in the back of black cabs according to a survey. that works out at about three phones per cab. over the same period almost 5 000 laptops and 5 800 pdas such as palms and pocket pcs were left in licensed cabs. even the great and good are not immune to losing their beloved gadgets. jemima khan reportedly left her ipod phone and purse in a cab and asked for them to be returned to her friend who turned out to be hugh grant. as the popularity of portable gadgets has grown and we trust more of our lives to them we seem to be forgetting them in ever larger numbers. the numbers of lost laptops has leapt by 71% in the last three years. this has left londoners or those travelling by cab in the capital as the world s best at losing laptops according to the research by the licensed taxi drivers association and pointsec a mobile-data backup firm. more than twice as many laptops were left in the back of black cabs in london as in any of the nine other cities (helsinki oslo munich paris stockholm copenhagen chicago and sydney) where the research into lost and found gadgets was carried out. by contrast danes were most adept at losing mobile phones being seven times more likely to leave it behind in a cab than travellers in germans norwegians and swedes. top of the range phones can carry enormous amounts of data - enough to hold hundreds of pictures or thousands of contact details. given that few people back up the data on their pc it is a fair bet that even fewer do so with the phone they carry around. you could be losing a fair chunk of your life in the back of that cab not least because many people collect numbers on their phone that they do not have anywhere else. equally phones let you navigate through contacts by name so many people have completely forgotten their friends numbers and could not reconstruct them if they had to. this growing habit of losing gadgets explains the rise of firms such as retrofone which lets people buy a cheap old-fashioned phone to replace the tiny shiny expensive one they have just lost. briton s growing love of phones has also led to the creation of the mobile equipment national database that lets you register the unique id number of your phone so it can be returned to you in the event of it being lost or stolen. according to statistics 50% of all muggings and snatch theft offences involve mobiles. millions of gadgets are now logged in the database and organisations such as transport for london regularly consult it when trying to re-unite folk with their phones and other gadgets. for the drivers finding a mobile in the back of their cab is one of the more pleasant things many have found. the survey of what else has been left behind included a harp a dog a hamster and a baby. | 0 | tech |
healey targets england comeback leicester wing austin healey hopes to use sunday s return heineken cup clash with wasps as a further springboard to an england recall for the six nations. healey who won 51 caps prior to the 2003 world cup has been in good form in the tigers resurgence this season. i definitely still have ambitions to play for england healey told the bbc. we will have to see what happens after the previous (autumn) tests but when i look at the current squad i definitely feel there is a place there for me. healey who has also played both half-back positions and full-back during his career has reverted to the wing where he won most of his england caps. after recovering from a trapped nerve in his back sustained at the end of september the 31-year-old is relishing his role in the tigers revival. i had six weeks out but fortunately i have resumed the sort of form i had before he said. i am basically playing where it best suits leicester. obviously i can play scrum-half fly-half or full-back at a moment s notice. but playing on the wing actually gives me a bigger free role to come in where i am not expected and influence things. that has been apparent in parts one and two of the wasps-leicester trilogy in recent weeks. first healey came off his flank with an angled run to score an injury-time try that earned the tigers a 17-17 draw in their premiership meeting on 21 november. then in the first of their heineken cup double header last sunday healey slotted in at stand-off and delivered a superb cross-kick for martin corry to score the tigers third try. i caught cozza s eye a couple of phases before that and was hoping to get it to him on the full but fortunately even with the bounce he managed to score healey recalled. healey twice a heineken cup winner believes last sunday s match was up there with some of the biggest club contests he has played in. it was a very intense occasion and a very destructive game he recalled. there was not a huge amount of rugby played but it was a great game to be involved in. after about 15 minutes i thought we might stride away with it but wasps really came back into it and in the last couple of minutes it could have gone either way. the same outcome this sunday would put leicester in pole position to top their heineken pool with a home game against biarritz and away trip to calvisano to come. but healey insists the tigers must summon the same desire if they are to deliver the knockout blow in what has been dubbed rugby s version of rocky ii . there was a lot of satisfaction in the dressing room aftewards but it is really only a case of a job half done he added. it was the first of a two-leg trip and if we lose at welford road it will negate all the positives we can take from result. i think it came down to who wanted it more and in the end i think we did. we have got to show the same desire again this week. | 2 | sport |
malik rejects all-black mp lists a call for ethnic minority shortlists to boost the number of black and asian mps has been rejected by one of labour s most senior asians. shahid malik who is on labour s ruling nec accepted people s frustration but said there should be targets not lists to boost representation of minorities. just 13 of britain s 659 mps are from ethnic minority groups he added. commission for racial equality chief trevor phillips argued on sunday the time had come for such shortlists. that came after it emerged that one of britain s most ethnically diverse constituency west ham was to get a women-only shortlist for the next election following an nec ruling. mr phillips said changes to the race relations legislation might allow political parties to reserve seats for under-represented groups. for example in west ham this might allow only women and minorities to seek to be candidates. if we get to the other side of the general election and find that minorities are not represented we have to say that after 20 or 30 years of talking about this we cannot go on the same way he said. he added: it would be terribly disappointing if in the least white constituency [west ham] in the whole of europe we didn t have a minority candidate. appearing on bbc radio 4 s today programme mr malik who is himself running for the seat of dewsbury acknowledged that so far women-only shortlists had failed to deliver a boost in the number of ethnic minority candidates. but he argued: i do think that there currently things that parties can do and which they aren t doing... for example setting targets to ensure that existing democratic structures are more reflective. labour mp diane abbot who backs mr phillips proposal of shortlists said she had been elected along with three other ethnic minority mps - keith vaz paul boateng and bernie grant - in 1987 but it took another 10 years before another black woman was able to win a seat. that was a rate of progress ms abbott described as painful . i am a little older than shahid and served on the national executive committee in the 1990s - i was the first black person on the nec ... crossing our fingers and hoping we are going to get more black and asian mp hasn t worked she said. the shortlist strategy works for women and i believe that it can be made to work for black and asian people. on tuesday labour chairman ian mccartney said his party was ambitious to improve black and asian representation. we haven t ruled out all-black shortlists and welcome a debate in the party about this he said. | 4 | politics |
europe asks asia for euro help european leaders say asian states must let their currencies rise against the us dollar to ease pressure on the euro. the european single currency has shot up to successive all-time highs against the dollar over the past few months. tacit approval from the white house for the weaker greenback which could help counteract huge deficits has helped trigger the move. but now europe says the euro has had enough and asia must now share some of the burden. china is seen as the main culprit with exports soaring up 35% in 2004 partly on the back of a currency pegged to the dollar. asia should engage in greater currency flexibility said french finance minister herve gaymard after a meeting with his german counterpart hans eichel. markets responded by pushing the euro lower in the expectation that the rhetoric - and the pressure - is unlikely to ease ahead of a meeting of the g7 industrialised countries next week. early on tuesday morning the dollar had edged higher to 1.3040 euros. the yen meanwhile had strengthened to 102.975 against the dollar by 0730 gmt. | 1 | business |
nigeria to boost cocoa production the government of nigeria is hoping to triple cocoa production over the next three years with the launch of an ambitious development programme. agriculture minister adamu bello said the scheme aimed to boost production from an expected 180 000 tonnes this year to 600 000 tonnes by 2008. the government will pump 154m naira ($1.1m; £591 000) into subsidies for farming chemicals and seedlings. nigeria is currently the world s fourth-largest cocoa producer. cocoa was the main export product in nigeria during the 1960s. but with the coming of oil the government began to pay less attention to the cocoa sector and production began to fall from a peak of about 400 000 tonnes a year in 1970. at the launch of the programme in the south-western city of ibadan mr bello explained that an additional aim of the project is to encourage the processing of cocoa in the country and lift local consumption. he also announced that 91m naira of the funding available had been earmarked for establishing cocoa plant nurseries. the country could be looking to emulate rival ghana which produced a bumper crop last year. however some farmers are sceptical about the proposals. people who are not farming will hijack the subsidy said joshua osagie a cocoa farmer from edo state told reuters. the farmers in the village never see any assistance he added. at the same time as nigeria announced its new initiative ghana - the world s second largest cocoa exporter - announced revenues from the industry had broken new records. the country saw more than $1.2bn-worth of the beans exported during 2003-04. analysts said high tech-production techniques and crop spraying introduced by the government led to the huge crop pushing production closer to levels seen in the 1960s when the country was the world s leading cocoa grower. | 1 | business |
fantasy book wins hollywood deal a british author has had the film rights to her children s bestseller snapped up for a seven-figure sum with ridley scott set to direct. michelle paver s wolf brother a fantasy set 6 000 years ago is the first in a planned series of six books. film studio fox has bought the rights for around $4m (£2.13m) for scott s company scott free to develop. the director said he was thrilled with the project. wolf brother is an enchanting book he said. paver who lives in london and previously worked as a lawyer began writing the book in 1982 while studying biochemistry at oxford university. she was an established author of love stories when she turned the work-in-progress into a children s novel. it was published in 2004 with paver earning an advance of $5m (£2.8m) - the highest sum ever paid for a debut children s book. wolf brother tells the story of torak a 12-year-old hunter who lives in the forest. after his father is killed he teams up with a wolf cub and sets out to rid the forest of an evil force. paver is currently writing the second book in the series. michelle paver lives and breathes the worlds she writes about said a spokesman for the author. i ve told her about the film deal but at the moment she is writing the second book and her mind is 6000 years away deep in the primeval forest. | 3 | entertainment |
microsoft launches its own search microsoft has unveiled the finished version of its home-grown search engine. the now formally launched msn search site takes the training wheels off the test version unveiled in november 2003. the revamped engine indexes more pages than before can give direct answers to factual questions and features tools to help people create detailed queries. microsoft faces challenges establishing itself as a serious search site because of the intense competition for queries. google still reigns supreme as the site people turn to most often when they go online to answer a query keep up with news or search for images. but in the last year google has faced greater competition than ever for users as old rivals such as yahoo and microsoft and new entrants such as amazon and blinkx try to grab some of the searching audience for themselves. this renewed interest has come about because of the realisation that many of the things people do online begin with a search for information - be it for a particular web page recipe book gadget news story image or anything else. microsoft is keen to make its home-grown search engine a significant rival to google. to generate its corpus of data microsoft has indexed 5 billion webpages and claims to update its document index every two days - more often than rivals. the microsoft search engine can also answer specific queries directly rather than send people to a page that might contain the answer. for its direct answer feature microsoft is calling on its encarta encyclopaedia to provide answers to questions about definitions facts calculations conversions and solutions to equations. tony macklin director of product at ask jeeves pointed out that its search engine has been answering specific queries this way since april 2003. the major search providers have moved beyond delivering only algorithmic search so in many ways microsoft is following the market he said. tools sitting alongside the msn search engine allow users to refine results to specific websites countries regions or languages. microsoft is also using so-called graphic equalisers that let people adjust the relevance of terms to get results that are more up-to-date or more popular. the company said that user feedback from earlier test versions had been used to refine the workings of the finished system. the test or beta version of the msn search engine unveiled in november had a few teething troubles. on its first day many new users keen to try it were greeted with a page that said the site had been overwhelmed. | 0 | tech |
real will finish abandoned match real madrid and real socieded will play the final six minutes of their match which was abandoned on sunday because of a bomb scare. the bernabeu was evacuated with the score at 1-1 and two minutes of normal time remaining in the game. the teams will now play the final two minutes plus four minutes of injury time on 5 january. brazilian ronaldo and england captain david beckham had to wait in the street in their kit after the abandonment. real sociedad president jose luis astiazaran said: we thought the best thing was to play the time remaining. hundreds of fans streamed across the pitch on their way to the exits after the game was called off. tourists and fans took advantage of the opportunity for a photograph between the famous stadium s goalposts. the two clubs met the spanish fa on monday and astiazaran added: we thought about giving the game as concluded but after talking with the fa we decided there was no precedent for that and the best thing was to play the time that was remaining. real madrid director of sport emilio butragueno praised the spectators inside the ground for their conduct. i d like to highlight the behaviour of the fans who showed great maturity and it was an example of good citizenship he said. butragueno confirned before confirming that tuesday s charity match - which has been billed as ronaldo s friends against zidane s friends - will go ahead as planned. i d also like to take the chance to say that tomorrow s game will take place butragueno declared of the partido contra la pobreza (game against poverty). he added: football is important for society and we want to show that. we also think that football should be a fiesta we had programmed and people deserve to enjoy the game. | 2 | sport |
terror powers expose tyranny the lord chancellor has defended government plans to introduce control orders to keep foreign and british terrorist suspects under house arrest where there isn t enough evidence to put them on trial. lord falconer insists that the proposals do not equate to a police state and strike a balance between protecting the public against the threat of terrorism and upholding civil liberties. but thriller writer frederick forsyth tells bbc news of his personal response to the move. there is a mortal danger aimed at the heart of britain. or so says home secretary charles clarke. my reaction so what it is not that i am cynical or just do not care. i care about this country very much. but in the 66 years that i have been alive there has not been one hour of one day of one month of one year when there has not been a threat aimed at us. my point is the british have always coped without becoming a dictatorship. we have coped with fear without becoming a state based on fear; we have coped with threat without turning our country into a land of state threat. but that is what the blair government now seeks to do - create a tyranny to defend us from the al-qaeda tyranny. i was born on 25 august 1938. the mortal threat back then was a scruffy little austrian called adolf hitler. a week after my first birthday the threat had become reality. we were at war. my father wore a uniform for five years. after 1945 we yearned for peace at last. but in 1946 winston churchill told us - from the baltic to the adriatic an iron curtain has descended across europe. behind the iron curtain another genocidal psychopath another threat. josef stalin triggered the cold war with the berlin blockade in 1948. my whole generation was blighted by it. we were threatened by the nuclear holocaust the nuclear wind the nuclear winter. we built shelters that would have sheltered nothing. we spent our treasure on weapons instead of hospitals. we took silly precautions. some fought it; some marched futilely against it. some pretended it was not there. the cold war lasted 43 years but we remained a parliamentary democracy. by the early seventies it was terrorism as well. al fatah black september red brigades but most of all for us the ira and the inla. thirty more years; 300 policemen and women over 600 soldiers more than 3 000 civilians dead but we won because even ira bombs could not force us to become a tyranny. that was why the tyrants lost. civil rights were infringed as little as humanly possible. evidence had to be taken in secret to protect covert sources; yes and one judge no-jury courts had to be instituted when juries were terrorised. informants had to be given immunity from their own crimes to win the bigger battle. but habeas corpus did not die; right of appeal was not abolished. now the threat is islamic fundamentalism. its leaders want to destroy our society; so did the ira. it is based and funded abroad; so was the ira. it has sleeper fanatics inside our society; so did the ira. it is extremely hard to penetrate with our agents; so was the ira. the prime movers are not easy to bring to trial; neither were the ira. but we did. and without becoming a tyranny. now the blair government proposes the law system of fascism and communism. the citizen can be arrested and held without charge or trial not even on the careful consideration of an experienced judge but the whim of a political activist called a government minister. to be protected from terror the government says we must become a tyranny. but a tyranny is based on the citizen s terror. this is not victory; this is defeat before a shot is fired. an interesting article - its good to see widening participation in the debate - but i suggest we move one step further. our own bombs and bullets will can only shatter peace because invading foreign nations imprisoning the innocent and hunting in the shadows cannot destroy an evil of the mind and hatred within the heart. rather than focusing upon effect we should consider the cause because terrorism does not begin with bombs. why not try a foreign policy of compassion it can only enhance our democracy and share our freedom. i agree with frederick forsyth. we really can t deal with terrorism by turning britain into a fascist state. what we really need is more honesty from our security services and our politicians. if they do not have evidence to bring these people to trial there probably isn t any. our security services behave like the detective who having decided that a certain person is guilty rakes over all kinds of obscure and flimsy evidence to try and prove it while the real villain gets away. remember there were no wmd in iraq. just because a person may have made some stupid and naive decisions in life does not make them a terrorist. in this overly politically correct society it is good to see someone like mr. forsyth speak out. yes there has been oppression by the british government in the past and overstepping the mark in places like ireland but yes we are still a democracy where it is rare to be arrested without charge/trial etc. (apart from a number of prisoners in belmarsh goal for example).this country signs up to human rights and then pretends that they only apply to the people with nothing to fear the innocent people (defined by whom ). when id cards become mandatory the data collected will not be protected by the data protection act and will be readily available to people like gchq with no control by the person whose id is being checked. the threat now is new. you cannot compare the threats of past years with now. forsyth says 3000 died over 30 years or terrorism; 3000 people died in one morning in ny on september 11th 2001. the threat today is that terrorists will acquire nuclear or biological technology. a kilo of semtex will flatten a building a kilo of plutonium will flatten a city. you now have a combination of people who will perform terrorist acts with technology that is rapidly becoming accessible. i agree the government is probably encouraging a degree of mass-hysteria and talking up the threat; but talking-down the threat and doing nothing is unacceptable too. the problem with this issue is not that it isn t important but the fact that in general we brits can be so politically apathetic some times that we will just let this go without telling the government no. however as the nation that gave the world the common law and a true sense of the rights of individual liberty i hope this will prove to be one step too far. as somebody of chinese origin i can say that this country used to be a good place to migrate and start a new life. whilst life wasn t perfect we could make better for ourselves. now we are riddled with red tape and be told what we can or cannot do. we have to be politically-correct and we are not allowed to have beliefs or opinions. we have a prime minister who spends too much time meddling in us politics and affairs which have little to do with the lives of british citizens at home or abroad. mr forsyth has done a good job in voicing his opinions. let s hope the bbc doesn t get gagged for letting people express their views. the people have the right to know and the bbc s role is to inform educate and entertain... i agree. terrorists intend to spread fear but in reality it is the government which has spread the fear by its constant publicising of the this invisible enemy so dangerous that we must allow them to ride roughshod over our rights and liberties. in the end the very thing we seek to protect is what we are giving up in the name of safety from this invisible enemy. the terrorists have already won. i absolutely agree with frederick forsyth. yes we have to defend ourselves against terrorism but existing laws seem to be more than adequate. the idea that the new terrorism demands new powers is erroneous. the evidence of any real terrorist capability in the uk is scant. ricin for example is a dangerous poison but it is not a weapon of mass destruction. what is really worrying is the enthusiasm of mr blair and his government for authoritarian reactions and attempts to manipulate the electorate through fear. if the government has its way with id cards tracking and so on then totalitarianism has won and as such it then matters little whether we give in to the terrorists demands or not. we will have lost the precious freedom which bush and blair constantly tells us we have and that they seek to bring to others. i agree wholeheartedly with mr forsyth. i am shocked at the ease with which this government is prepared to wipe out a major portion of the liberties that british people have enjoyed for centuries - the right not to be deprived of our liberty without a trial in open court. that goes right back to magna carta and ordinary people have spilled their blood to enforce that right against governments who thought they knew best . when you look at today s britain you realise george orwell was only wrong about one thing: the date. frederick forsyth puts it beautifully. the government is seeking to introduce a police state. the new powers of home internment without trial follow a pattern which includes the introduction of surveillance via compulsory id cards and the linking of data bases together with the un-british idea that we will have to swear allegiance to the state at the age of 18 years. we are sleep-walking into this. wake up! an interesting view but missing two crucial facts of this new threat: 1) if these terrorists acquire weapons of mass destruction they will use them without fear of mutually assured destruction that kept the cold war in a state of tense balance. these people will use devastating force against us without fear of any consequence. 2) the terrorists are prepared to use suicide bombers which means they could kill innocent people on the london underground and we could do very little to stop it. because these terrorists are potentially so deadly we have to come up with new tougher responses. it will be a little late in the day when people outside london wake up one morning to find out that london has been nuked. we won t have much of a society left to debate ! he s correct in most of what he says. mind you he does seem to have forgotten that disgraceful internment policy in northern ireland which probably caused many idealistic if misguided young catholics to join the ira. administrative detention of muslims could have a similar effect now. surely we the public would be better protected if the security services rather than alerting a suspect terrorist by placing them under house arrest (and for how long )they were to place suspect terrorist under surveillance and maybe acquire sufficient evidence to prosecute or even better prevent a terrorist attack. i don t usually have much time for mr forsyth s largely right wing views but this time he has got it spot on. there is no doubt that there are terrorist organisations who would like to do harm to the u.k. but it is very doubtful whether al-qaeda is a global organisation co-ordinating this. the rise of surveillance cameras id cards the plan to charge for road use by tracking every vehicle at all times this is the stuff of nightmares. add to this this new legislation which effectively means that the protection of the law will be removed from anyone at the whim of the home secretary and i genuinely wonder what sort of world my two children will inherit. where will this end. as it stands terrorists do not need to attack the u.k. it s government will soon have it s people terrorised more that they could very achieve with a few bombs. mr forsyth has expressed exactly what my gut fears and reservations were about this proposed legislation but could not verbalise. thank you. mr forsyth seems to forget that killings in the troubles occurred on both sides of the religious divide and was carried out by killers from both sides. he also forgets basic human rights were suspended then as now. experienced judges sat over some of the greatest miscarriages of justice during those times. for very little return and maximum alienation. these laws and the emphasis on the islamic threat will just do the same. forsyth is wrong. the nature of the current threat is new. it is no longer to our armed forces as the soviet threat in the eastern bloc was. it is to you and i. the terrorist aim to kill indiscriminately. the best comparison is therefore the blitz 1941. at this time let us not forget suspects (foreign and british were routinely rounded up and interned for the duration of the war without any complaints from the public. we must not forget we are at war. i d say that that the likelihood of an attack by a sleeper cell of fundamentalist lunatics against a major uk target is a when not an if probability. i ll bet any money you like that the day after any such attack freddie forsyth will be saying that the government didn t do enough to protect the uk. people like forsyth can only see one side of any argument and for him it is the side that is opposite new labour and tony blair. i agree wholeheartedly with mr forsyth. the very reason this country has been such a wonderful place to live is under attack not from terrorists but from this government. the perpetuation of the perceived terrorist threat is not because of what the alleged terrorists are doing but from our own government. i believe what this government is doing is at the very least highly questionable and at worst sinister. at what point will they feel they have enough control over every single person in the british isles; when we are all tagged and monitored constantly our freedom is being craftily and surreptitiously whittled away by this government and we are gaining nothing. it should be of great concern to everyone. i am slightly older than mr forsyth and therefore have lived through the same history as him. i am against a police state and would not like to think that i lived in one. i think that the attack on iraq made the international situation worse and may have provoked further acts of terrorism. how true. there are extremely worrying parallels between britain now and germany during the 30 s. i never thought it would be so easy to take over a country from within. mr forsyth has forgotten one key point; the terrorists who threaten britain today are well aware that hitler stalin and the ira all failed. as a result modern day terrorists are willing to do things their predecessors did not. that does not mean that the civil liberties of modern britain must be eroded to counter the threat; that should always be the absolute last resort. but to meet the new threat to defeat the sinister fanaticism of today s terrorists we may need to do things a little differently. let us hope not. frederic forsythe s comments seem to me to be a well-thought-out analysis of why we (human society as a whole and britain in particular) should resist the temptation to over-protect through fear. it is this fear which enables terrorists to succeed in the end and terrorists can come in all forms as mr. forsythe s opening comments suggest. i am reminded of a quote attributed to thomas jefferson. a nation that limits freedom in the name of security will have neither. the government are faced with an incredibly difficult task and have made a policy to deal with it. it s all very well criticising that policy but if mr forsythe can t draw on his years of experience to offer an alternative i say so what to his opinions. frederick forsyth s rhetoric is absurd and his conclusions laughable. he distorts reality to serve his own prejudice against new labour. this government seeks to balance protection of our democracy with minimum loss of civil rights. it is frederick forsyth who is the extremist because he does not appreciate the need for balance. i rarely find myself agreeing with my forsyth but in this instance i think he is correct. the rule of law must prevail civil liberties are worth defending. if the government can hold suspects without charge or trial what s next i agree absolutely. by introducing fascist type laws we loose the moral high ground in our fight against terror. our democratic system is not perfect but as churchill points out it is better than all the others that have been tried . terrorist attacks will take place but for many reasons we should take that personal risk in return for personal freedom. i do not usually agree with mr. forsyth but he is spot on here. the single biggest threat we face is that of a government dedicated to acting illegally and manipulating international and national law to suit its own purpose. totalitarianism always requires an outside threat justifying a range of extraordinary powers leaders want. the british government is a far greater threat that and terrorist organisation. although in principle i agree with him frederick forsyth fails to address one key point- al-qaeda attacks (though obviously there have been none yet in the uk) seek to kill the maximum number of people. the ira wanted to limit the death toll of their attacks so as to maintain support among the republican movement. yes i agree with mr. forsyth s views. i do not believe the government s plans are justified. there is over reaction to and the negative influence of the us president s interpretation of democracy and freedom. he uses the same arguments that were current before the wwii the wars to liberate iraq afghanistan with syria and iran to come. we are leaving a poor inheritance for the future generations. mr forsyth is a wonderful writer and should keep his fiction where it belongs. the british government is not going down the road that mr forsyth suggests. sadly comments such as his will make a lot of people believe that they are governed by people who are fast becoming tyrants instead of being genuinely committed to stopping tyranny even if the method employed to do that is at the moment alien to the british people who have lived in a democracy protected by tony blair and others of like mind who mr. forsyth seems to be putting along side the scruffy little austrian. thomas hobbes would be smiling in his grave at labour s propositions. like new labour he called himself a libertarian. like new labour he believed he was promoting the people s best interests. but as forsythe criticises this government hobbes has been criticised by most subsequent philosophers for arguing his way into the hands of the totalitarians. simply put he argued that in favour of the ultimate liberty - the liberty to live - man should be prepared to surrender all other liberties to a supreme sovereign as protection against his fellow barbaric man. hobbes has been roundly condemned by posterity and rightly so. i hope new labour suffers the same treatment. i agree with mr forsyth s views. the governments approach is totally against the spirit of british democracy. they must not be allowed to get away with it. of course frederick is wrong about britain winning the war against the ira and he s wrong too about the country not becoming a tyranny. has he forgotten about shoot to kill torture internment without trial collusion with loyalist death squads etc my background is somewhat similar to freddie s so i am persuaded to agree with many of his sentiments. we can have no moral justification for imposing our system of government on anyone while we are systematically depriving our own citizens of basic individual and collective freedoms. whilst the principle of keeping potential terrorists under house arrest might seem superficially attractive it is unfortunately also the first step towards totalitarianism. who is to decide whom is a suspect why should we believe them who can have faith in the honesty integrity and competence of our intelligence services and politicians in light of the events of recent years what is to stop false denunciations what of those falsely accused who will lose their careers who will support their families will their children still go to school it smacks to me of the methods of nazi germany stalin s russia ceausescu s romania - the list goes on. it looks as if a new dark age is coming. i see that opinion on mr forsyth s remarks are divided. the problem i see is that those who support imprisonment without trial believe it will never happen to them or their family only to people they don t like or are scared of. but history has shown that if you have laws like that they always get abused by those in power. after all today you may be scared of the same people as those in power but someday those in power may be scared of you! and that day you ll be the one imprisoned without the chance of justice. our laws are such that you cannot just be imprisoned at the whim of our police forces you have to be shown to be deserving of it. if we imprison people without trial for an indeterminate period we are no better that those we are fighting. i never thought it possible for me to agree with a single word uttered by frederick forsyth but i m in wholehearted agreement with him on this one. we as a nation are in grave danger of being duped by pro us propaganda which of course also means we ll inherit most if not all of their total paranoia and allow our governments of any political persuasion incidentally to gradually and insidiously impose a police state by well tried & tested back door methods. i grieve for the future of my children it s no wonder they re adamant they don t ever want any of their own. this government with much fanfare signs us up to the european convention on human rights but now wants to introduce indefinite house arrest without trial. this puts it on a par with the government of burma. like many of your respondents i wouldn t usually think of mr forsyth as someone whose views i share but in the instance of opposing charles clark s proposals for house arrest i agree wholeheartedly with mr forsyth/ i agree with mr forsyth. just look at the facts - our government (along with the us) invaded another sovereign country (iraq) by selecting intelligence that backed it s case based on fear. the facts turned out to be very different. if individuals are treated in the same distorted way then we ve done ourselves more damage than any terrorist organisation could with bombs. we become animals too. i agree in many ways with what mr forsyth has said - if we are to be respected and have influence within the world we must be seen to be walking the walk as well as talking the talk - how can we accuse countries such as zimbabwe and burma of human rights abuses when we are locking up people who may be totally innocent it is hypocrisy of the highest order. mr forsyth links islamic fundamentalism to the new threat . however it appears that he has misunderstood the term islamic fundamentalism . it should be pointed out that a muslim who adheres to the true fundamentals of the qur aan and the teachings of the last prophet muhammad is an islamic fundamentalist. this person does not commit suicide in any shape or form nor does she/he kill innocent women men and children. this person is self-reflective and constantly tries to better her/his actions by being good to others. the people who mr forsyth labels the new threat are those who do not follow the correct teachings of islam. they have arrived at their own interpretations and assumptions with regards their actions. on top of that they claim to be following islam in its true form! i accept that the intentions of these policies are to make britain a safer place but i cannot think of a single example from history where doing this sort of thing has ever made any difference - in northern ireland internment certainly didn t achieve anything - the bombings didn t stop and it could be argued that all it achieved was to just supply the ira with yet more angry and resentful republicans willing to take up arms against the british. being eight years older than frederick forsyth and a survivor of the blitz on london it is easy to agree with him he is absolutely spot on. during the ira bombings there were massive explosions in canary wharf to the right of where i write this and also to the left in the city of london. notwithstanding these and the attempted and nearly successful assassination attempts on prime minister thatcher in brighton and on later occupants of 10 downing street there was no retaliatory blitz on belfast or dublin as there has been on afghanistan and iraq. even when england was in true peril in 1940 apart from some detentions there were no wholesale derogation of habeas corpus and the like. we have to see off these latest attempts on our liberties including id cards which winston churchill decided had to go since he said the average bobby on the beat could not be relied on to not be tempted to take undue advantage against the citizen going about their lawful activities (incidentally i can still remember my old id card number). hence it is clear that the far too great police state powers set for the statute books have to be resisted and neutered. what can i add to mr. forsyth s eloquently put arguments... except applause! well done that man for standing up and being counted in the war against tyranny . | 4 | politics |
uk net users leading tv downloads british tv viewers lead the trend of illegally downloading us shows from the net according to research. new episodes of 24 desperate housewives and six feet under appear on the web hours after they are shown in the us said a report. web tracking company envisional said 18% of downloaders were from within the uk and that downloads of tv programmes had increased by 150% in the last year. about 70% were using file-sharing program bittorrent the firm said. it s now as easy to download a pirate tv show as it is to programme a vcr said ben coppin from envisional. a typical episode of 24 was downloaded by about 100 000 people globally said the report and an estimated 20 000 of those were from within the uk. fans of many popular us tv programmes like 24 usually have to wait weeks or months until the latest series is shown in the uk. but in some cases said the report people were able to watch the new episodes in britain before us audiences on the west coast of the country. missing a television show presents little problem to anyone with a basic knowledge of the internet explained mr coppin. two clicks and your favourite programme is downloading. in effect the internet is now a global video recorder. exact figures are difficult to pin down but it is thought that about 80 000 to 100 000 people in the uk download tv programmes. some may just want the odd episode others are downloading regularly. many broadcast analysts agree that the net is radically altering the way people get content like tv programmes. this presents a challenge to broadcasters who are concerned that channel schedules may become less important to people. it is also of concern to them because advertisements are usually cut out of the downloaded programmes. the industry has coined the term time-shifting to describe this trend of being able to watch what you want when you want. the increased popularity of personal digital video recorders tivo-type boxes which automatically record programmes like sky+ have also contributed to the trend. there are also numerous programs available on the net which automatically search and store tv programmes for viewers effectively creating a personal video recorder on a computer. within half an hour recorded episodes can be uploaded - or posted - onto file-sharing networks or other download sites. because they tend to be shorter then full-length films they can be processed - digitised - quickly. more people with high-speed broadband connections in the uk also means that episodes can be downloaded quickly. according to jupiter research 40% of homes with broadband say it helps them pick and choose the programmes they want to see or that friends have recommended. the envisional reports said that the tv industry should consider offering a legal way to download shows. the bbc ran a trial of what it calls the interactive media player (imp) last year which was based on a peer-to-peer distribution model. it let people download programmes it held the rights to up to eight days after they had already aired. it is looking to do a more expansive trial later this year. the bbc already allows radio fans to hear programmes they missed online up to a week after broadcast. about six million people in the uk now have a fast always-on net connection via cable or phone lines. | 0 | tech |
junk e-mails on relentless rise spam traffic is up by 40% putting the total amount of e-mail that is junk up to an astonishing 90%. the figures from e-mail management firm email systems will alarm firms attempting to cope with the amount of spam in their in-boxes. while virus traffic has slowed down denial of service attacks are on the increase according to the firm. virus mail accounts for just over 15% of all e-mail traffic analysis by the firm has found. it is no longer just multi-nationals that are in danger of so-called denial of service attacks in which websites are bombarded by requests for information and rendered inaccessible. email systems refers to a small uk-based engineering firm which received a staggering 12 million e-mails in january. the type of spam currently being sent has subtlety altered in the last few months according to email systems analysis. half of spam received since christmas has been health-related with gambling and porn also on the increase. scam mails offering ways to make a quick buck have declined by 40%. january is clearly a month when consumers are less motivated to purchase financial products or put money into dubious financial opportunities said neil hammerton managing director of email systems. spammers seem to have adapted their output to reflect this focussing instead on medically motivated and pornographic offers presumably intentionally intended to coincide with what is traditionally considered to be the bleakest month in the calendar he said. | 0 | tech |
india s deccan seals $1.8bn deal air deccan has ordered 30 airbus a320 planes in a $1.8bn (£931m) deal as india s first low-cost airline expands in the fast-growing domestic market. air deccan was set up last year and wants to lure travellers away from the railway network and pricier rivals. the potential of the indian market has attracted attention at home and abroad. beer magnate vijay mallya recently set up kingfisher airlines while uk entrepreneur richard branson has said he is keen to start a local operation. the country has a population of more than a billion people and many observers feel that it is underserved by airlines. recently however the booming economy has boosted personal spending power and helped swell the middle classes and the corporate sector. india s government has given its backing to cheaper and more accessible air travel. the days of flying being a symbol of only maharajas or the rich are over the minister for civil aviation praful patel said earlier. infrastructure is being built to handle the expected increase in demand and on tuesday agence france presse reported that a group led by germany s siemens won the contract to build a private airport near bangalore. india s airports authority and the state government will own 13% each of the finished transport hub. for its part air deccan set up by army officer and silk farmer gorur gopinath plans to increase its fleet to 60 aircraft within five years. to help finance the expansion the company may sell a 25% stake to an investor for about $50m. when it was set up the firm offered tickets that were 50% cheaper than other indian airlines. it said it was basing its business model on european firms such as ireland s ryanair. | 1 | business |
souped-up wi-fi is on the horizon super high-speed wireless data networks could soon be in use in the uk. the government s wireless watchdog is seeking help on the best way to regulate the technology behind such networks called ultra wideband (uwb). ofcom wants to ensure that the arrival of uwb-using devices does not cause problems for those that already use the same part of the radio spectrum. uwb makes it possible to stream huge amounts of data through the air over short distances. one of the more likely uses of uwb is to make it possible to send dvd quality video images wirelessly to tv screens or to let people beam music to media players around their home. the technology has the potential to transmit hundreds of megabits of data per second. uwb could also be used to create so-called personal area networks that let a person s gadgets quickly and easily swap data amongst themselves. the technology works over a range up to 10 metres and uses billions of short radio pulses every second to carry data. at the recent consumer electronics show in las vegas products with uwb chips built-in got their first public airing. currently use of uwb is only allowed in the uk under a strict licencing scheme. we re seeking opinion from industry to find out whether or not we should allow uwb on a licence-exempt basis said a spokesman for ofcom. companies have until 24 march to respond. in april the ec is due to start its own consultation on europe-wide adoption of uwb. the cross-europe body for radio regulators known as the european conference of postal and telecommunications administrations (cept) is carrying out research for this harmonisation programme. early sight of the cept work has caused controversy as some think it over-emphasises uwb s potential to interfere with existing users. by contrast a preliminary ofcom report found that it would be quite straight-forward to deploy uwb without causing problems for those that already use it. the ofcom spokesman said it was considering imposing a mask or set of technical restrictions on uwb-using devices. we would want these devices to have very strict controls on power levels so they can not transmit a long way or over a wide area he said. despite the current restrictions the technology is already being used. cambridge-based ubisense has about 40 customers around the world using the short-range radio technology said david theriault standards and regulatory liaison for ubisense. he said that uwb was driving novel ways to interact with computers. it s like having a 3d mouse all the time he said. he said that european decisions on what to do with uwb allied with ieee decisions on the exact specifications for it would help drive adoption. prior to its adoption as a way for gadgets and computers to communicate uwb was used as a sensing technology. it is used to spot such things as cracks under the surface of runways or to help firemen detect people through walls. | 0 | tech |
injury doubts beset wales squad wales have a clutch of injury worries before wednesday s international friendly against hungary in cardiff. west ham s gavin williams (ankle) looks certain to be out so uncapped wrexham defender stephen roberts is drafted in. defenders danny gabbidon and gareth roberts plus ryan giggs have hamstring concerns while there are also doubts over robbie savage (groin). however manchester united winger giggs is expected to recover in time to earn his 50th cap at the millennium stadium. there were also doubts over gabbidon s fellow cardiff defender rhys weston but the full-back appears to have shrugged off the knock he picked up in the bluebirds 1-0 loss to west ham on sunday. the news leaves wales boss john toshack short in defence for his first game in charge with aston villa s mark delaney injured and james collins with the under-21s. that could clear the way for new faces danny collins and dave partridge to make their wales debuts. coyne (burnley) jones (wolves) roberts (wrexham) collins (sunderland) edwards (wolves) gabbidon (cardiff) page (cardiff) partridge (motherwell) ricketts (swansea) roberts (tranmere) weston (cardiff) davies (tottenham) fletcher (west ham) giggs (man utd) koumas (west brom) robinson (sunderland) savage (blackburn) williams (west ham) bellamy (newcastle) earnshaw (west brom) hartson (celtic). | 2 | sport |
world tour for top video gamers two uk gamers are about to embark on a world tour as part of the most lucrative-ever global games tournament. aaron foster and david treacy have won the right to take part in a tournament offering $1m in total prize money. the cash will be handed out over 10 separate competitions in a continent-hopping contest organised by the cyberathlete professional league. as part of their prize the pair will have their travel costs paid to ensure they can get to the different bouts. the cpl world tour kicks off in mid-february and the first leg will be in istanbul. all ten bouts of the tournament will be played throughout 2005 each one in a different country. at each stop $50 000 in prize money will be up for grabs. the tournament champion for each leg of the cpl world tour will walk away with a $15 000 prize. the winner of the grand final will get a prize purse of $150 000 from a total pot of $500 000. winners of each stage of the tour automatically get a place at the next stop. the world tour stops are open to any keen gamer that registers. online registration for the first stop opens this weekend. some pro-players are winning a spot at the tour destinations through qualifying events organised by cpl partners. winners at these qualifiers get seeded higher in the elimination parts of each tournament. mr foster and mr treacy get the chance to attend the world tour as members of the uk s four-kings gaming clan. towards the end of 2004 four-kings staged a series of online painkiller competitions to reveal the uk s top players of the pc game. the best eight players met face-to-face in a special elimination event in late december where mr foster and mr tracey proved their prowess at painkiller. as part of their prize the pair also get a contract with four-kings intel which is one of the uk s few pro-gaming teams. there are a lot of people who take gaming very seriously and support their local or national team with the same passion as any other sport said simon bysshe who filmed the event for four-kings and intel. more than 80 000 people have downloaded the movie of the tournament highlights. professional gaming is here to stay and will only grow in popularity he said. | 0 | tech |
us box office set for record high ticket sales at the us box office are predicted to break records this year with figures expected to reach $9.4 billion beating 2002 s all-time high. overall figures could be dampened by the lack of a christmas hit like last year s oscar-winning lord of the rings. traditionally ticket sales during the festive season account for 20% of the annual total. although admissions have actually fallen this year the predicted high is down to increasing ticket prices. according to exhibitor relations president paul dergarabedian the average cost of a cinema ticket could be as high as $6.25 in 2004 compared to $5.80 in 2002. this year some of the biggest hits such as the passion of the christ and fahrenheit 9/11 came from outside the major studios which are usually responsible for the key blockbusters. many of the films that did well (with audiences) are not necessarily the films that made a lot of money said mr dergarabedian. he added that surprise hits had come from some of the more art-house offerings such as napoleon dynamite and critical hit sideways. sony pictures responsible for hits like spiderman 2 and the grudge are expected to top domestic market share for the second time in three years with $1 billion-plus in sales for the third consecutive year. sony pictures entertainment vice chairman. jeff blake said: we had a really diverse slate this year and... certainly we pulled off one of the surprises with grudge. horror movie the grudge cost sony $10 million to make but brought in $110 million. it s the latest in a recent trend for hollywood studios to back the upper and lower ends of the market whilst ignoring the middle. warner inc are likely to end the year in second place on market share with around $1.25 billion with disney at number three. | 3 | entertainment |
blair rejects tory terror offer tony blair has rejected a conservative compromise offer that could have eased the passage of anti-terror legislation. the tories wanted a sunset clause inserted in the anti-terrorism bill that would have forced ministers to revisit it in november. mr blair said the bill which brings in house arrest for terror suspects had time limiting safeguards already. the tories say they will vote against it unless changes they want are agreed. the lib dems also oppose the plans. the government has already given way over the role of judges in house arrest cases. mr blair s refusal to accept the tories sunset clause proposals means that the government faces concerted opposition from all sides in the lords. peers begin three days of detailed deliberation on the bill on thursday. the bill proposes control orders which as well as placing terrorism suspects under house arrest could mean curfews tagging or bans on telephone and internet use. these would replace current powers to detain foreign terror suspects without trial which the law lords have ruled against as a breach of human rights. the tories want judicial oversight of all control orders not just house arrest. shadow home secretary david davis told bbc radio four s the world at one his primary concern was potential miscarriages of justice. he said if someone was wrongly given a control order it would act as a recruiting sergeant for terrorists. he went on to say: if we don t get the amendments we regard as essential including the sunset clause we will vote against the bill. in the commons mr howard said it would be far better if the whole of the legislation was subject to a sunset clause so parliament could consider it all in a proper way instead of it being ramrodded through . mr blair said the house arrest powers were already going to be subject to a sunset clause because it was annually renewable. the second less stringent type of control orders would be subject to a court appeal within 14 days and there would be a three-monthly report on their use by an eminent and independent person . i believe (the new powers) are a proper balance between the civil liberties of the subject and the necessary national security of this country that i will not put at risk said mr blair. the lib dems plan to oppose the bill in the lords on thursday. lib dem home affairs spokesman mark oaten said: there s a lot of talking left. i would be uneasy about supporting a very bad bill even if it was just for eight months. a spokeswoman for human rights watch said it was a basic principle that people should only be punished after a fair trial. she added: having a judge impose those punishments without a trial does not sanitise them either. | 4 | politics |
go-ahead for balkan oil pipeline albania bulgaria and macedonia has given the go ahead for the construction of a $1.2bn oil pipeline that will pass through the balkan peninsula. the project aims to allow alternative ports for the shipping of russian and caspian oil that normally goes through turkish ports. it aims to transport 750 000 daily barrels of oil. the pipeline will be built by the us-registered albanian macedonian bulgarian oil corporation (ambo). the 912km pipeline will run from the bulgarian port of burgas over the black sea to the albanian city of vlore on the adriatic coast crossing macedonia. the project was conceived in 1994 but it was delayed because of the lack of political support. by signing the agreement on tuesday the prime ministers of bulgaria albania and macedonia have overcome the problem. this is one of the most important infrastructure projects for regional eu and euro-atlantic integration for the western balkans said albanian prime minister fatos nano. according to pat ferguson president of ambo work on the pipeline will begin in 2005 and it is expected to be ready in three or four years. he added that the company had already raised about $900m from the overseas private investment corporation (opic) - a us development agency - the eximbank and credit suisse first boston among others. the project has also the support of the european union. analysts have said that oil companies like chevrontexaco exxon mobil and british petroleum would be happy to find alternative routes to the bosphorus and dardanelles straits. | 1 | business |
radcliffe enjoys winning comeback paula radcliffe made a triumphant return to competitive running with victory in the new york marathon. the briton running for the first time since dropping out of the olympic marathon and 10 000m held off kenyan susan chepkemei in a thrilling finish. the pair were locked together for the last few miles before radcliffe finally sprinted clear to win in two hours 23 minutes and 10 seconds. it s a good way to end the year she said. i m ready for a good rest now. radcliffe decided only recently to run in the race and many had doubted whether she had sufficiently recovered from her olympic ordeal just 11 weeks ago. but the world record-holder was prominent at the head of the field for the whole race as her rivals slowly dropped off the pace. just chepkemei and radcliffe were left in contention as the race came into the final few miles. the kenyan put in several bursts of speed to throw off radcliffe but the briton managed to hang in. both runners looked to be suffering as they reached the final mile in central park. but it was radcliffe who managed to dredge up a final sprint to see off chepkemei in the closest finish in the race s history and in the process make a huge step in erasing the disappointment she suffered in athens. | 2 | sport |
when invention turns to innovation it is unlikely that future technological inventions are going to have the same kind of transformative impact that they did in the past. when history takes a look back at great inventions like the car and transistor they were defining technologies which ultimately changed people s lives substantially. but says nick donofrio senior vice-president of technology and manufacturing at ibm it was not the thing itself that actually improved people s lives. it was all the social and cultural changes that the discovery or invention brought with it. the car brought about a crucial change to how people lived in cities giving them the ability to move out into the suburbs whilst having mobility and access. when we talk about innovation and creating real value in the 21st century we have to think more like this but faster mr donofrio told the bbc news website after giving the royal academy of engineering 2004 hinton lecture. the invention discovery is likely not to have the same value as the transistor had or the automobile had. the equivalent of those things will be invented or discovered but by themselves they are just not going to able to generate real business value or wealth as these things did. these are not altogether new ideas and academics have been exploring how technologies impact wider society for years. but what it means for technology companies is that a new idea method or device will have to have a different kind thinking behind it so that people see the value that innovative technology has for them. we are in a different phase now when it comes to technology argues mr donofrio industry week s 2003 technology leader of the year. the hype and over-promise is over and now technology leaders have to demonstrate that things work make sense make a difference and life gets better as a result. in the dotcom era there was something that was jumping up in your face every five minutes. somebody had a new thing that would awe you. you weren t quite sure that it did anything you weren t quite sure if you needed it you weren t quite sure if it had value for it but it was cool. but change and innovation in technology that people will see affecting their daily lives he says will come about slowly subtlety and in ways that will no longer be in your face . it will creep in pervasively. nanotechnologies will play a key part in this kind of pervasive environment in all sorts of ways through new superconducting materials to coatings power and memory storage. i am a very big believer in the evolution of this industry into a pervasive environment in an incredible network infrastructure says mr donofrio. pervasive computing is where wireless computing rules and where jewellery clothes and everyday objects become the interfaces instead of bulky wires screens and keyboards. the net becomes a true network that is taken for granted and just there like air. people will not have to do anything to stay connected. people will know their lives are just better says mr donofrio. trillions of devices will be connected to the net in ways people will not know. natural interfaces will develop devices will shape your persona and our technologically underused voices could be telling our jewellery to sort out the finances. ultimately there will be says mr donofrio no value in being computer illiterate . to some it sounds like a technological world gone mad. to mr donofrio it is a vision innovation that will happen. behind this vision should be a rich robust network capability and deep computing says mr donofrio. deep computing is the ability to perform lots of complex calculations on massive amounts of data and integral to this concept is supercomputing. it has value according to ibm because it helps humans work out extremely complex problems to come up with valuable solutions like how to refine millions of net search results finding cures for diseases or understanding of exactly how a gene or protein operates. but pervasive computing presumably means having technologies that are aware of diversity of contexts commands and requirements of a diverse world. as computing and technologies become part of the environment part of furniture walls and clothing physical space becomes a more important consideration. this is going to need a much broader range of skills and experience. i am confident that the set [science engineering and technology] industry is going to be short on skills he says. if i am right about what innovation is you need to be multidisciplinary and collaborative. women tend to have those traits a lot better than men. eventually women could win out in both life and physical sciences he says. in the uk a dti-funded resource centre for women has set a target to have 40% representation on set industry boards. ibm according to mr donofrio has 30%. our goal is for our research team to become the preferred organisation for women in science and technology to begin their career. the whole issue of global diversity is as much a business matter as it is a moral and social concern to mr donofrio. we believe in the whole issue of global diversity he says. our customers are diverse our clients are diverse. they expect us to look like them. as more and more women or underrepresented minorities succeed into leadership positions it becomes and imperative for us to constantly look like them. | 0 | tech |
game firm holds cast auditions video game firm bioware is to hold open auditions for people to become cast members for future games. the company which makes role playing games such as knights of the old republic and neverwinter nights is seeking people aged 18 to 99. the canada-based company says it was looking for a wide variety of people to use as face models for characters . everyone chosen to appear in a video game will receive a performer s fee for the use of their image. the company is inviting people to come along to a shopping mall in west edmonton alberta on friday and saturday bringing along a piece of photo identification. there are hundreds and hundreds of characters in a typical bioware game said shauna perry bioware s audio and external resources producer. those people live in any city and village and so we need ordinary people people with interesting faces. she added: not everyone is a model in the world so we don t want just models in our games. people chosen to appear in a game will have their head scanned in three dimensions. hundreds of photos of the person s head are taken so that a model of the head can be generated in 3d. the 3d model will look exactly like the person - it s really quite incredible how detailed they are said ms perry. she said chosen participants will have no control over how the image is used in a computer game. we cannot give people any control over how the images are used. but their face could be used in multiple games - so they could be the hero in one the villain in another and just a merchant in a third. | 0 | tech |
rover deal may cost 2 000 jobs some 2 000 jobs at mg rover s midlands plant may be cut if investment in the firm by a chinese car maker goes ahead the financial times has reported. shanghai automotive industry corp plans to shift production of the rover 25 to china and export it to the uk sources close to the negotiations tell the ft. but rover told bbc news that reports of job cuts were speculation . a tie-up seen as rover s last chance to save its longbridge plant has been pushed by uk chancellor gordon brown. rover confirmed the tie-up would take place not very far away from this time . rover bosses have said they are confident the £1bn ($1.9bn) investment deal would be signed in march or early april. transport & general worker s union general secretary tony woodley repeated his view on friday that all mergers led to some job cuts. he said investment in new models was needed to ensure the future of the birmingham plant. this is a very crucial and delicate time and our efforts are targeted to securing new models for the company which will mean jobs for our people he said. saic says none of its money will be paid to the four owners of rover who have been accused by unions of awarding themselves exorbitant salaries the ft reports. saic is extremely concerned to ensure that its money is used to invest in the business rather than be distributed to the shareholders the newspaper quotes a source close to the chinese firm. meanwhile according to chinese state press reports small state-owned carmaker nanjing auto is in negotiations with rover and saic to take a 20% stake in the joint venture. saic was unavailable for comment on the job cuts when contacted by bbc news. rover and saic signed a technology-sharing agreement in august. | 1 | business |
bmw reveals new models pipeline bmw is preparing to enter the market for car-style people carriers the firm s chief has told bbc news. speaking at a bmw event ahead of the geneva motor show helmut panke predicted demand for such crossover vehicles would soar in europe. in contrast he said the popularity of van-style seven-seat vehicles and traditional saloon cars would fade. customers are moving out of the mini-van (and) traditional concepts are not as attractive anymore he said. we have decided that bmw will enter the [crossover] segment he said in the clearest indication yet about the car maker s intentions. mr panke praised the honda accura as the best execution yet of a crossover vehicle. we have decided that the bmw brand will enter the segment he said. a decision on just how bmw will manage its entry into the new market is due in the first half of 2005. typically it takes about three years from when a decision is taken before a new model hits the streets mr panke said implying that a bmw crossover could be on the market by 2008. the coming switch is driven in part by the need for successful carmakers to stay aware of trans-atlantic differences in the car market mr panke insisted. while in the us drivers tend to prefer sports utility vehicles (suvs) such as the bmw x5 and its sibling x3 in europe demand for crossover vehicles is likely to be considerable mr panke said. there s a growing market here he said. we are going to go that way. | 1 | business |
elvis fans hold birthday bash elvis fans around the world have been marking the legendary singer s 70th birthday on saturday. a three-day elvis convention took place in blackpool england over the weekend with the aim of finding the best european elvis impersonator. his graceland tennessee home was the focus for us celebrations with four days of events including a concert by the memphis symphony orchestra. elvis single jailhouse rock became the uk s number one on sunday. fans in france celebrated with a tribute concert by elvis cover bands and a special exhibition of memorabilia is on display in bonn germany. jailhouse rock is now the 999th number one single in uk pop history. record company sonybmg are releasing elvis 18 number one singles at the rate of one a week in britain complete with original artwork and a collector s box. hit single one night will follow next week - with the chance of becoming the 1 000th number one as interest surrounding elvis birthday grows. hmv spokesman gennaro castaldo said: it would be a fantastic and truly fitting way to celebrate elvis landmark birthday. | 3 | entertainment |
teenager tait picked for england newcastle s teenage centre mathew tait has been named as a centre in england s team to face wales in the six nations opener in cardiff on saturday. the 18-year-old will play alongside falcons team-mate jamie noon in england s midfield. scrum-half matt dawson is also recalled despite been left out of the initial squad after a row over clashing tv and training commitments. bath lock danny grewcock will also start pending a possible citing. england coach andy robinson has also awarded gloucester flanker andy hazell his first six nations start. in another change to the side that lost to australia in november leicester lock ben kay replaces bath second row steve borthwick. robinson was already without jonny wilkinson mike tindall stuart abbott richard hill and will greenwood while mike catt had been left out of england s squad. j robinson (sale sharks capt); m cueto (sale sharks) m tait (newcastle) j noon (newcastle) j lewsey (wasps); c hodgson (sale sharks) m dawson (wasps); g rowntree (leicester) s thompson (northampton) j white (leicester) d grewcock (bath) b kay (leicester) l moody (leicester) a hazell (gloucester) j worsley (wasps). replacements: a titterrell (sale sharks) p vickery (gloucester) s borthwick (bath) j forrester (gloucester) h ellis (leicester) o barkley (bath) b cohen (northampton). | 2 | sport |
france starts digital terrestrial france has become the last big european country to launch a digital terrestrial tv (dtt) service. initially more than a third of the population will be able to receive 14 free-to-air channels. despite the long wait for a french dtt roll-out the new platform s backers hope to emulate the success of its uk free-to-air counterpart freeview. recent figures from the uk s regulator ofcom showed freeview was more popular than the sky digital satellite service. in the three months to september 2004 almost five times as many people signed up to the uk s free-to-air dtt service compared with sky. almost 60% of uk households have gone digital on at least one television set through cable satellite or freeview. the french dtt platform is known as tnt which stands for tv numerique terrestre or digital terrestrial television. but it is being branded as television numerique pour tous or digital television for all . tnt is a joint venture between public broadcaster france televisions and a handful of cable and satellite operators. digital terrestrial tv will launch as a free-to-air platform to start with adding pay-tv channels later. thirty-five contenders have bid for an additional eight frequencies on top of the 14 already allocated. a couple of years ago dtt had a bad image said olivier gerolami chief operating officer of tnt. but everyone s impressed with dtt in the uk italy and germany and they realise it is a very good idea. france is the poorest market in europe in terms of free-to-air national channels so it has the potential to be one of the biggest dtt markets mr gerolami added in remarks quoted by the us entertainment industry paper variety. tnt aims to reach 35% of france s population at launch from 17 transmission sites. the transmission area will initially include paris lille lyon and toulouse. eventually there will be 115 sites reaching over 80% of homes. digital terrestrial set-top boxes are available from as little as 70 euros (£50). a recent survey by mediametrie found that 70% of people interviewed were aware of dtt and 25% were planning to buy a digital receiver. consumer electronics companies such as nokia sagem sony and thomson are gearing up for production. the conseil superieur de l audiovisuel (csa) the french broadcasting regulator said: following the recent success of freeview in the uk some manufacturers are optimistic about sales prospects . media analysts believe that initially the majority of viewers will buy inexpensive set-top boxes that are unable to support interactive services. the csa said the current aim of reaching 85% of the population by 2007 was achievable but the future of the remaining tv viewers required action by the public sector. for the most part they are people living in mountainous or border areas which will remain beyond the reach of digital terrestrial tv for years. up to 15 pay-tv channels will launch on dtt between september 2005 and march 2006. leading pay-tv operators canal plus and tps have submitted bids to market bouquets of channels. free-to-air services will be broadcast in mpeg-2 format. but pay-tv operators will be allowed to broadcast in mpeg-4 - a much better compression technology - which will potentially allow for high-definition (hd) subscription services in the future. tnt expects between 700 000 and one million dtt set-top boxes to be sold in 2005. it is difficult to tell how quickly it will take off said mr gerolami but we re optimistic that it will revolutionise television in france. other analysts were less optimistic predicting consumers would now be less likely to sign up for pay-tv subscriptions. we think free dtt could put brakes on the underlying growth of pay-tv in france said henri de bodinat vice-president of the arthur d. little consultancy. | 0 | tech |
singer knight backs anti-gun song r&b star beverley knight said she sang on an anti-gun single after being haunted by the fatal 2003 shooting of two teenage girls in birmingham. knight and drum n bass star roni size have released no more in a bid to reduce gun use among young people. she said she was horrified by the deaths of charlene ellis 18 and letisha shakespeare 17. size whose new forms album won the 1997 mercury music prize said gun use was nothing to be glamorised . there were more than 10 500 firearms offences and 70 gun crime deaths in england and wales between june 2003 and 2004 according to home office figures. knight said the scale of the problem became clear to her after the 2003 shootings in aston near knight s birmingham home. it haunted me to be honest it haunted my sleep she said. size became involved after two friends donna small and asha jama were shot in his bristol hometown in october. jama 25 lost her sight in one eye while 22-year-old small suffered serious head injuries. size said he collaborated on the single which was released on monday because he has a bird s eye view of what s going on . over the last 10 years i have seen a lot of things happen and it is nothing to be glamorised it really isn t he said. | 3 | entertainment |
buyers snap up jet airways shares investors have snapped up shares in jet airways india s biggest airline following the launch of its much anticipated initial public offer (ipo). the ipo for 17.3 million shares was fully sold within 10 minutes of opening on friday. analysts expect jet to raise at least 16.4bn rupees ($375m; £198m) from the offering. interest in jet s ipo has been fuelled by hopes for robust growth in india s air travel market. the share offer representing about 20% of jet s equity was oversubscribed news agency reuters reported. jet which was founded by london-based travel agent naresh goyal plans to use the cash to buy new planes and cut its debt. the company has grown rapidly since it launched operations in 1993 overtaking state-owned flag carrier indian airlines. however it faces stiff competition from rivals and low-cost carriers. jet s ipo is the first in a series of expected share offers from indian companies this year as they move to raise funds to help them do business in a rapidly-growing economy. | 1 | business |
kennedy s cautious optimism charles kennedy is far too canny to make any grand claims about how his party may fare at the general election. in his 22 years in the commons he has seen his fair share of such claims dashed on the rocks of bitter experience and he might say the uk s political and electoral system. but even his caution cannot hide the fact that this is a party and a leader that believes it may well be on the way to something special in a few months time. look i have already said i am not going to put any artificial limits on our ambitions this time around he said. he still seems to accept that the most likely outcome is another labour victory of some sort. and his general election pitch is designed around the notion of the lib dems as the real opposition. but doesn t that lead to the jibe that his is a party actively bidding to come second he is prepared to go this far: a clear conclusion has been reached including by conservatives that the conservatives are not going to win this election. therefore the potential is there for the liberal democrat advance to be one of the big stories of the election given that we have the capacity to take on labour and win as well as take on the conservatives and win. this is really going to be the first modern three party uk election that we have all experienced . but haven t we been here before with suggestions in the 1980s that labour was finished. won t voters looking for an alternative to labour still naturally gravitate to the conservatives the problem is that geographically the conservative party has melted away in about a third of britain. we have supplanted them as the main alternative to labour in whole tracts of mainland britain. and they are a party with an ageing and declining membership base and they just do not look vibrant or vital or in touch any longer with contemporary britain . mr kennedy is also eager to dispel any impression his party is the new party of the left and is likely to attract mostly disillusioned labour voters. he insists his three headline commitments to be financed from a 1% tax increase on those earning over £100 000 a year will appeal right across the political spectrum. they are to replace the council tax with a local income tax provide free long term care for the elderly and scrap student fees. he also believes being the only major party promising to increases taxes will not land him in the same trouble a similar policy did to old labour. i think the tax argument has moved on a lot in british politics particularly in the context of the forthcoming general election he said. under a labour government the tax burden would have to rise while the tories plans to increase spending in some areas while also reducing taxes is just incredible he claims. we are being straightforward with people saying you know there is likely to be an increase in the tax burden we are only recommending one specific tax rise for the top end of income scale earners to fund three specific policies . that is a clear cut choice for people one i am very comfortable with and i think will distinguish us from the others . as to his own future he is clear. if as expected his party increases its showing at the election he intends to go into the next parliament on the front foot with a view to leading it right through that parliament into the next election because i see that as the decisive opportunity for us . that last remark reflects a view gaining ground in westminster that if the tories do as badly as some fear the election after next might really see that historic breakthrough by the third party. perhaps then mr kennedy will be ready to put some of the caution to one side. | 4 | politics |
safin slumps to shock dubai loss marat safin suffered a shock loss to unseeded nicolas kiefer in round one of the dubai tennis championships. playing his first match since winning the australian open safin showed some good touches but was beaten 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 by the in-form kiefer. the german got on top in the first-set tie-break striking a sweet forehand to win the first point against serve. and he maintained the momentum early in the second set breaking the russian with the help of an inspired volley. spain s feliciano lopez lined up a second round clash with andre agassi by beating thailand s paradorn srichaphan. lopez who lost in three sets to roger federer in last year s final won 6-2 3-6 6-3. former champion fabrice santoro of france was beaten 6-3 6-0 by sixth seeded russian nikolay davydenko. there were also wins for two other russians igor andreev and seventh seed mikhail youzhny. | 2 | sport |
lewsey puzzle over disallowed try england s josh lewsey has claimed he was denied a late try in his side s six nations loss to ireland. the wasps wing insisted he grounded the ball when he was bundled over the line and said referee jonathan kaplan had made a wrong decision. i m positive i touched the ball down over the line lewsey told bbc sport. it certainly wasn t a turnover. i was driven over and i put the ball on the ground. the whistle went and i let go of the ball. lewsey added: one of the irish players scooped it back after the whistle and to our surprise the referee then gave a turnover. as far as i m concerned that incident and mark cueto s effort from charlie hodgson s cross-field kick that led to what looked like a good try were the two key elements in the game. cueto was also puzzled as to why his try had been disallowed by kaplan. i don t think i could have been offside for without a doubt i was behind the ball said the sale player. the move was a planned technique it was not off the cuff. we rehearse it time and time again. i wouldn t say we were robbed some decisions go with you and some go against you. today they went against us and that s tough at international level. | 2 | sport |
why cell will get the hard sell the world is casting its gaze on the cell processor for the first time but what is so important about it and why is it so different the backers of the processor are big names in the computer industry. ibm is one of the largest and most respected chip-makers in the world providing cutting edge technology to large businesses. sony will be using the chip inside its playstation 3 console and its dominance of the games market means that it now has a lot of power to dictate the future of computer and gaming platforms. the technology inside the cell is being heralded as revolutionary from a technical standpoint. traditional computers - whether they are household pcs or playstation 2s - use a single processor to carry out the calculations that run the computer. the cell technology on the other hand uses multiple cell processors linked together to run lots of calculations simultaneously. this gives it processing power an order of magnitude above its competitors. whilst its rivals are working on similar technology it is sony s which is the most advanced. the speed of computer memory has been slowly increasing over the last few years but the memory technology that accompanies the cell is a huge leap in performance. using a technology called xdr created by american firm rambus memory can run up to eight times faster than the current standard being promoted by intel. perhaps more important than any of the technology is the cell s role in the imminent war on living rooms . the big trend predicted for this year is the convergence of computers with home entertainment devices such as dvd players and hi-fis. companies like microsoft and sony believe that there is a lot of money to be made by putting a computer underneath the tv of every household and then offering services such as music and video downloads as well as giving an individual access to all the media they already own in one place. microsoft has already made its first tactical move into this area with its windows media center software which has been adopted by many pc makers. sony had a stab at something similar with the psx - a variation on the playstation - last year in japan although this attempt was generally seen as a failure. both companies believe that increasing the capabilities of games consoles to make them as powerful as pcs will make the technology accessible enough to persuade buyers to give them pride of place on the video rack. sony and ibm want to make sure that the dominance of the pc market enjoyed by microsoft and intel is not allowed to extend to this market. by creating a radically new architecture and using that architecture in a games console that is sure to be a huge seller they hope that the cell processor can become the dominant technology in the living room shutting out their rivals. once they have established themselves under the tv there is no doubt that they hope to use this as a base camp to extend their might into our traditional pcs and instigate a regime change on the desktop. cell is in fact specifically designed to be deployed throughout the house. the links between the multiple processors can also be extended to reach cell processors in entirely different systems. sony hopes to put cells in televisions kitchen appliances and anywhere that could use any sort of computer chip. each cell will be linked to the others creating a vast home network of computing power. resources of the cells across the house can be pooled to provide more power and the links can also be used to enable devices to talk to each other so that you can programme your microwave from your tv for example. this digital home of the future depends on the widespread adoption of the cell processor and there are as with all things a number of reasons it could fail. because the processor is so different it requires programmers to learn a different way of writing software and it may be that the changeover is simply too difficult for them to master. you can also guarantee that microsoft and intel are not going to sit around and let cell take over home computing without a fight. microsoft is going to be pushing its xbox 2 as hard as possible to make sure that its technology not sony s will be under your tree next christmas. intel will be furiously working on new designs that address the problems of its current chips to create a rival technology to cell so that it doesn t lose its desktop pc dominance. if cell succeeds in becoming the living room technology of choice however it could provide the jump-start to the fully digital home of the future. the revolution might not be televised but it could well be played with a videogame controller. | 0 | tech |
japanese growth grinds to a halt growth in japan evaporated in the three months to september sparking renewed concern about an economy not long out of a decade-long trough. output in the period grew just 0.1% an annual rate of 0.3%. exports - the usual engine of recovery - faltered while domestic demand stayed subdued and corporate investment also fell short. the growth falls well short of expectations but does mark a sixth straight quarter of expansion. the economy had stagnated throughout the 1990s experiencing only brief spurts of expansion amid long periods in the doldrums. one result was deflation - prices falling rather than rising - which made japanese shoppers cautious and kept them from spending. the effect was to leave the economy more dependent than ever on exports for its recent recovery. but high oil prices have knocked 0.2% off the growth rate while the falling dollar means products shipped to the us are becoming relatively more expensive. the performance for the third quarter marks a sharp downturn from earlier in the year. the first quarter showed annual growth of 6.3% with the second showing 1.1% and economists had been predicting as much as 2% this time around. exports slowed while capital spending became weaker said hiromichi shirakawa chief economist at ubs securities in tokyo. personal consumption looks good but it was mainly due to temporary factors such as the olympics. the amber light is flashing. the government may now find it more difficult to raise taxes a policy it will have to implement when the economy picks up to help deal with japan s massive public debt. | 1 | business |
debate needed on donations cap a cap on donations to political parties should not be introduced yet the elections watchdog has said. fears that big donors can buy political favours have sparked calls for a limit. in a new report the electoral commission says it is worth debating a £10 000 cap for the future but now is not the right time to introduce it. it also says there should be more state funding for political parties and candidates should be able to spend more on election campaigning. there were almost £68m in reported donations to political parties in 2001 2002 and 2003 with nearly £12m of them from individual gifts worth more than £1m. the rules have already been changed so the public can see who gives how much to the parties but the report says there are still public suspicions. the commission says capping donations would mean taxpayers giving parties more cash - something which would first have to be acceptable to the public and shown to work. while we are not in principle opposed to the introduction of a donation cap we do not believe that such a major departure from the existing system now would be sensible says its report. if there was to be a cap it should be £10 000 - a small enough amount to make a difference but which would have banned £56m in donations between 2001 and 2003. even without changes the commission does urge political parties to seek out more small-scale donations and suggests there should be income tax relief for gifts under £200. it also suggests increasing state funding for parties to £3m so help can be extended to all parties with at least two members in the house of commons european parliament scottish parliament welsh assembly or northern ireland assembly. and it suggests new ways of boosting election campaigning seen as a way of improving voter turnout. all local election candidates should be entitled to a free mailshot for campaign leaflets says the watchdog. and there should be a shift in the amount of money allowed to be spent at elections from a national level to a local level to help politicians engage better with voters. the report suggests doubling the money which can be spent by candidates while cutting national spending limits from £20m to £15m. the commission also says the spending limits for general elections should cover the four months before the poll - as happens with other elections. electoral commission chairman sam younger said: there is no doubt that political parties have a vital role to play in maintaining the health of our democracy and for this they need to be adequately resourced. our research has shown that people want to be more informed about party politics and that they want politicians to be more visible and accessible. the public are reluctant for the state to fund parties but at the same time are unhappy with large private donations. he called for a wider public debate on party funding to find the consensus needed for radical changes to the current system. | 4 | politics |
a november to remember last saturday one newspaper proclaimed that england were still the number one side in the world. that statement was made to look a little foolish by events later that afternoon at twickenham. but it illustrated the wonderful unpredictability of test rugby at the highest level at the end of a richly entertaining autumn series. the final weekend threw the world pecking order into renewed confusion with australia s triumph in london followed by france s capitulation to new zealand. clearly there is no number one side in the world at the moment declared wallabies coach eddie jones on arrival back in sydney. there are four five or probably six sides all competing at the same level and on any given day the difference between one side and another is only about 1%. while that bodes well for rugby as a whole it also sharpens the sense of excitement ahead of what could be the most open six nations championship for a decade. while the wallabies all blacks and springboks hit the beach before turning their attention to super 12 matters in the new year europe s finest have less than 10 weeks before they return to the international fray. and for the first time in more than a decade it will not simply be a straightforward choice between england and france for the six nations title. that owes much to ireland s continued progress and the belief that wales are on the verge of delivering a major scalp to cement the promise of their autumn displays. who secured a first triple crown in 19 years last season could go one better and win their first five/six nations title since 1985. they start with away games against italy and scotland before england and france come to lansdowne road. their momentous victory over the springboks can only bolster ireland s self-belief while ronan o gara s late drop goal to deliver victory over argentina was further proof that eddie o sullivan s side can now close out tight games. not that england or france who have won nine of the last 10 six nations titles between them will lay down quietly. dismantling of the springboks suggested that even after the loss of such influential figures as martin johnson and lawrence dallaglio they still have the personnel to prosper. the narrow defeat to australia was a timely reminder that not everything is blooming in the red rose garden but the fresh shoots of post-world cup recovery have been sown by new head coach andy robinson. a fresh desire to regain former heights is evident and if england emerge triumphant from an opening six nations engagement in cardiff a fourth title in six years is within reach. are in familiar revival territory but this time it appears there is substance behind the rediscovered style. while south africa s over-confidence in cardiff made for a closer scoreline than expected wales could legitimately claim to have had victory within their grasp against the all blacks in one of the best tests in recent memory. if mike ruddock can coax a reliable set-piece platform from his pack there is no reason why victories should not ensue come february. the last fortnight has left in a state of bewilderment after an autumn series that began with a superb victory over australia. a stunning defeat to argentina their first loss since the world cup could have been attributed to trademark french inconsistency. but the manner of new zealand s 45-6 demolition job in paris has coach bernard laporte bemoaning a lack of young talent coming through to replace the old guard. fortunately for the french the opening match of the six nations sees them entertaining in paris. after two reasonable performances against australia the scots humbling by the springboks forced coach matt williams to reassess his belief that a win over one of the major nations was imminent. while individuals such as chris cusiter and ali hogg enhanced their reputations a lack of top-class players will continue to undermine their best efforts. who start with home games against ireland and wales before travelling to scotland are also hopeful of registering more than one victory for the first time in the championship. as autumn gives way to winter and the heineken cup prepares to resume centre stage meantime the joy of six will keep the home fires burning until february. | 2 | sport |
jarre joins fairytale celebration french musician jean-michel jarre is to perform at a concert in copenhagen to mark the bicentennial of the birth of writer hans christian andersen. denmark is holding a three-day celebration of the life of the fairy-tale author with a concert at parken stadium on 2 april. other stars are expected to join the line-up in the coming months and the danish royal family will attend. christian andersen s fairy tales are timeless and universal said jarre. for all of us at any age there is always - beyond the pure enjoyment of the tale - a message to learn. there are year-long celebrations planned across the world to celebrate andersen and his work which includes the emperor s new clothes and the little mermaid. denmark s crown prince frederik and crown princess mary visited new york on monday to help promote the festivities. the pair were at a manhattan library to honour us literary critic harold bloom the international icon we thought we knew so well . bloom recognizes the darker aspects of andersen s authorship prince frederik said. bloom is to be formally presented with the hans christian andersen award this spring in anderson s hometown of odense. the royal couple also visited the hans christian anderson school complex where queen mary read the ugly duckling to the young audience. later at a gala dinner danish supermodel helena christensen was named a hans christian andersen ambassador. other ambassadors include actors harvey keitel and sir roger moore athlete cathy freeman and brazilian soccer legend pele. | 3 | entertainment |
uk set to cut back on embassies nine overseas embassies and high commissions will close in an effort to save money uk foreign secretary jack straw has announced. the bahamas east timor madagascar and swaziland are among the areas affected by the biggest shake-up for the diplomatic service for years. other diplomatic posts are being turned over to local staff. mr straw said the move would save £6m a year to free up cash for priorities such as fighting terrorism. honorary consuls will be appointed in some of the areas affected by the embassy closures. nine consulates or consulates general will also be closed mostly in europe and america. they include dallas in the us bordeaux in france and oporto in portugal with local staff replacing uk representation in another 11. the changes are due to be put in place before the end of 2006 with most savings made from cutting staff and running costs. some of the money will have to be used to fund redundancy payments. in a written statement mr straw said: the savings made will help to underpin higher priority work in line with the foreign and commonwealth office s strategic priorities including counter- proliferation counter-terrorism energy and climate change. some of the savings will also be redeployed to strategic priority work within certain regions where we are closing posts. in africa for instance we plan to create new jobs to cover these issues across the region with a new post in nairobi to help support our work on climate change one in nigeria to cover energy and one in pretoria to cover regional issues more generally as well as covering maseru and mbabane. the foreign office currently has about 6 100 uk-based staff. it has opened major new missions on baghdad and basra in iraq kabul in afghanistan and pyongyang in north korea since 1997 in response to what the government says are changing needs. since 1997 10 overseas posts have been closed - excluding wednesday s cuts - but 18 new embassies or consulates have been opened. the shake-up is aimed at helping making £86m in efficiency savings between 2005 and 2008. the chancellor has demanded all government departments make similar savings. shadow foreign secretary michael ancram said there was a constant need to ensure value for money from foreign missions. but the government must give a far clearer reason for making the dramatic changes it has announced and must show that british commercial interests and the interests of britons abroad will not be adversely affected he said. | 4 | politics |
us peer-to-peer pirates convicted the first convictions for piracy over peer-to-peer networks have been handed down in the us. new yorker william trowbridge and texan michael chicoine have pleaded guilty to charges that they infringed copyright by illegally sharing music movies and software. the two men faced charges following raids in august on suspected pirates by the fbi. the pair face jail terms of up to five years and a $250 000 (£130 000) fine. in a statement the us department of justice said the two men operated the central hubs in a piracy community organised across the direct connect peer-to-peer network. the piracy group called itself the underground network and membership of it demanded that users share between one and 100 gigabytes of files. direct connect allows users to set themselves up as central servers that act as co-ordinating spots for sharers. users would swap files such as films and music by exchanging data over the network. during its investigation fbi agents reportedly downloaded 84 movies 40 software programs 13 games and 178 sound recordings from the five hubs that made up the larger piracy group. the raids were organised under the umbrella of operation digital gridlock which was aimed at fighting criminal copyright theft on peer-to-peer networks . in total six raids were carried out in august. five were on the homes of suspected copyright thieves and one on a net service firm. the department of justice said that both men pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit felony copyright infringement. they also pleaded guilty to acting for commercial advantage. the two men are due to be sentenced on 29 april. | 0 | tech |
takeover offer for sunderland fc bob murray chairman of sunderland fc has launched a £1.5m ($2.8m) bid for the club after buying broadcaster bskyb s stake in the business. mr murray is already sunderland s leading shareholder holding a 37.6% stake and now hopes to take full control of the championship side. mr murray said the club would find it easier to attract more investment by having a single majority owner. sunderland delisted its shares from the stock market in august. a lifetime sunderland supporter and board director since 1984 mr murray agreed to buy bskyb s 4.76% holding in the wearside club on tuesday - taking his stake to 42.3%. under stock market rules mr murray is required to make an offer for the remaining shares that he does not already own at the same price paid for the bskyb holding of 31p a share. should the offer be fully accepted mr murray said he expected to pay a maximum of £1.53m for the remaining shares. he also stressed that fans who wanted to keep in touch with the club s financial affairs could retain a small number of shares enabling them to attend annual meetings. the football sector is experiencing significant changes and uncertainty mr murray said in a statement. the recent speculation surrounding malcolm glazer and manchester united has shown the unsettling effect possible where there are a number of disparate interests he added. i believe that this offer will strengthen the company and remove the potential for that type of uncertainty. sunderland were relegated from the premiership in 2003 but are currently pushing for promotion. the club managed to reduce its losses last year from £20.6m to £1.2m after selling a host of leading players. however the club s turnover dropped sharply from £42.5m to £28.5m over the same period because of a fall in broadcast revenues. bskyb bought its stake in sunderland in 1999 as part of a five year media partnership deal. the deal expired last month. | 1 | business |
oscar nominees gear up for lunch leonardo dicaprio jamie foxx and hilary swank are among those due to attend this year s oscar nominees luncheon on monday. they will join more than 100 nominees from the 24 oscar categories at the annual event which will take place at the beverly hilton hotel los angeles. british hopefuls including kate winslet imelda staunton and sophie okonedo are also expected to attend. this year s oscar ceremony will be held on sunday 27 february. martin scorsese s the aviator is leading the field at this year s oscars with 11 nominations while other multiple nominees include million dollar baby and sideways. oscar nominees swank and foxx were among the winners at the screen actors guild awards at the weekend one of the many ceremonies held in the run-up to the oscars. swank won best actress for million dollar baby while foxx triumphed for his performance as ray charles in the biopic ray. sideways was also among the winners taking the prize for best cast performance. the next major film award ceremony of the season is the bafta awards which take place at london s odeon leicester square on 12 february. many of those nominated for oscars including dicaprio foxx and staunton - an oscar nominee for her performance in vera drake - have also been nominated for baftas. | 3 | entertainment |
germany nears 1990 jobless level german unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month in december - making the year s average jobless total the highest since reunification. the seasonally adjusted jobless total rose a higher than expected 17 000 to 4.483 million the bundesbank said. allowing for changes in calculating statistics the average number of people out of work was the highest since 1990 - or a rate of 10.8%. bad weather and a sluggish economy were blamed for the rise. the increase was due primarily to the onstart of winter labour office chief frank-juergen weise said. unadjusted the figures showed unemployment rose 206 900 to 4.64 million - with many sectors such as construction laying off workers amid bad weather. the three years of stagnation in the german economy came to an end in 2004. but the upturn is still not strong enough to boost the labour market mr weise added. news of the rise came as government welfare reforms came into force a move that is expected to see unemployment swell still further in coming months. under the hartz iv changes the previous two tier system of benefits and support for the long term unemployed has been replaced with one flat-rate payout. in turn that means more people will be classified as looking for work driving official figures higher. be prepared for a nasty figure for january 2005 about five million unemployed on a non-seasonally adjusted basis warned hvb group economist andreas rees. but he did add that the numbers should subside throughout the year to remain near 2004 s level of 4.4 million jobless. i don t expect a strong and lasting turnaround until 2006 german economy minister wolfgang clement said. by 2010 however the hartz iv reforms should help cut the average jobless rate to between 3% and 5% he added. europe s biggest economy has been too weak to create work as it struggles to shake off three years of economic stagnation. in recent months companies such as adam opel - the german arm of us carmaker general motors - and retailer karstadtquelle have slashed jobs. | 1 | business |
beer giant swallows russian firm brewing giant inbev has agreed to buy alfa-eco s stake in sun interbrew russia s second-largest brewer for up to 259.7m euros ($353.3m; £183.75m). alfa-eco the venture capital arm of russian conglomerate alfa group has a one-fifth stake in sun interbrew. the deal gives inbev the world s biggest beermaker near-total control over the russian brewer. inbev bought out another partner in august 2004. inbev brands include bass stella artois hoegaarden and staropramen. it employs 77 000 people running operations in over 30 countries across the americas europe and asia pacific. the leuven-based brewery said it would own 97.3% of the voting shares and 98.8% of the non-voting shares of sun interbrew. the deal is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2005. inbev was formed in august 2004 when belgium s interbrew bought brazilian brewer ambev. sun interbrew which employs 8 000 staff owns breweries in eight russian cities - klin ivanovo saransk kursk volzhsky omsk perm and novocheboksarsk. there are also three breweries in ukraine in the cities of chernigov nikolaev and kharkov. | 1 | business |
bbc leads interactive bafta wins the bbc and the national theatre have led the field at this year s interactive bafta awards. the national theatre s stagework website picked up the prize for best learning as well as top factual site. the bbc collected three awards including best online entertainment for the hitchhiker s guide to the galaxy adventure game. spooks interactive took the best interactive tv prize. the annual awards recognise the best in digital media. bbc sport interactive fought off competition from cbbc newsround and the guardian to take home the best news and sport trophy for its coverage of england s exit from euro 2004. it was recognised for its groundbreaking use of animation. bafta s grant dean chair of bafta s interactive entertainment committee said all the entrants had been of outstanding quality and that judging had been enormously difficult . without a doubt 2005 has been a landmark year for the bafta interactive awards he added. many of the top awards this year have gone to the companies we most commonly associate with traditional entertainment showing how the gap between new media film and television is closing. awards were given out in 12 different categories including interactive tv film music design as well as technical and social innovation at a london ceremony. the top music award was given to sseyo minimixa a mobile music sequencer designed to let people write edit and share compositions. warner bros was given two prizes for its inspiring efforts in film and dvd interactivity. the chaplin collection beat oasis really bend it like beckham shaun of the dead and the day today in the dvd category and trauma won best film. elsewhere fashionista and clothes designer alexander mcqueen took the accolade for the best-designed website. the awards have been running since 1997 but in 2002 the british academy of film and television decided to split them into separate games and interactive ceremonies. on tuesday half-life 2 dominated the games prizes. it collected six baftas including best game and best online game. | 0 | tech |
survey confirms property slowdown government figures have confirmed a widely reported slowdown of the uk s housing market in late 2004. house prices were 11.8% higher on the year in the last quarter of 2004 down from 16.3% in the july-to-september quarter the land registry said. the average house price in england and wales was £182 920 down from £187 971 in july-september. the volume of sales between october and december dropped by nearly a quarter from the same period in 2003. the government figures are the first official confirmation of falls in the market at the end of 2004. land registry figures are less up to date than those of banks and building societies since they record completions not mortgage approvals. however the figures are viewed as the most accurate measure of house prices as they include all property transactions including cash sales. the cost of buying a home fell in seven out of 10 regions between the third and fourth quarters of 2004. the biggest annual gains were made in wales where house prices were up by 23% in the fourth quarter. house prices rose the slowest in greater london being up by 6%. in the capital the volume of sales fell by 23% from 36 185 in 2003 to 28 041 for the same period in 2004. there was also a decline in the number of million-pound properties sold in the capital with 436 properties over £1m sold compared to 469 for the same period in 2003. although the figures point to a slowdown in the market the most recent surveys from nationwide and halifax have indicated the market may be undergoing a revival. after registering falls at the back end of 2004 halifax said house prices rose by 0.8% in january and nationwide reported a rise of 0.4% in the first month of the year. members of the bank of england s rate-setting committee will make their latest decision on interest rates on thursday. | 1 | business |
tory expert denies defeat warning the conservatives campaign director has denied a report claiming he warned michael howard the party could not win the next general election. the times on monday said australian lynton crosby told the party leader to focus on trying to increase the tories commons presence by 25 to 30 seats. but mr crosby said in a statement: i have never had any such conversation... and i do not hold that view. mr howard later added there was not one iota of truth in the report. the strategist helped australia s pm john howard win four elections. mr howard appointed mr crosby as his elections chief last october. mr crosby s statement said: the conservative party has been making an impact on the issues of lower tax and controlled immigration over the past week. it added: the labour party will be wanting to do all they can to distract attention away from the issues that really matter to people. | 4 | politics |
lost doors frontman movie found historians in florida have discovered a 40-year-old clip of a clean-cut jim morrison appearing in a promotional film for his university. the 1964 film shows the doors frontman who died aged 27 in 1971 playing the part of a young man who had been rejected by florida state university. morrison is seen quizzing a college administrator on why he was refused. but what happened how come my parents and the state and the university didn t look ahead he is seen asking. it s incredible. he s so clean cut and soft-spoken said florida state archivist jody norman. we know he was at florida state university for a period of time and he did some acting when he was there norman added. the doors were one of the most influential bands of the 1960s with hits including light my fire and riders on the storm. morrison was notorious for his wild lifestyle - and was accused of exposing himself and simulating a sex act at a miami concert in 1969. he was found dead in the bath of his paris apartment and died from heart problems aggravated by alcohol. a coroner recorded a verdict of death by natural causes and his grave at the city s pere lachaise ceremony has become a shrine for fans. | 3 | entertainment |
j&j agrees $25bn guidant deal pharmaceutical giant johnson & johnson has agreed to buy medical technology firm guidant for $25.4bn (£13bn). guidant is a key producer of equipment that combats heart problems such as implant defibrillators and pacemakers. analysts said that the deal is aimed at offsetting johnson & johnson s reliance on a slowing drug business. they also pointed out that more mergers are likely because the drug and healthcare industries are fragmented and are under pressure to cut costs. a number of johnson & johnson s products are facing patent expirations while the company is also battling fierce competition from generic products. meanwhile demand for defibrillators which give the heart a small electric shock when an irregular heartbeat or rhythm is detected is expected to increase analysts said. the move by johnson & johnson has been widely expected and the firm will pay $76 for each guidant share 6% more than wednesday s closing price. analysts say that us antitrust regulators could force the firms to shed some overlapping stent operations. stents are tubes that are used to keep an artery open after it has been unblocked. | 1 | business |
boogeyman takes box office lead the low-budget horror film boogeyman has knocked robert de niro thriller hide and seek from the top spot at the uk box office. the film in which a young man is forced to revisit a traumatic childhood experience took £788 439 in its first three days on release. hide and seek which was knocked off the top of the us box office by boogeyman last month fell one place. oscar nominee hotel rwanda was also a new entry in the chart at number five. the film which scored oscar nominations for don cheadle and british actress sophie okonedo made £507 596 in its first week of nationwide release. comedy sequel meet the fockers and shall we dance starring jennifer lopez and richard gere completed the top five. clint eastwood s million dollar baby re-entered the charts at number eight following its recent success at the oscars. the boxing drama which won four awards including best film and best director has made £4.4m to date. two other new entries a remake of the 1965 film flight of the phoenix and the teen comedy harold and kumar get the munchies debuted outside the top 10. | 3 | entertainment |
bellamy fined after row newcastle have fined their welsh striker craig bellamy two weeks wages - about £80 000 - following his row with manager graeme souness. but bellamy 25 has not been put on the transfer list although he did not train with the first team on tuesday. magpies chairman freddy shepherd told the newcastle evening chronicle: it is not about money. it is about a player thinking he is bigger than this club. no individual is be it the chairman the manager or a player. souness dropped bellamy for sunday s game against arsenal claiming the welshman had feigned injury after being asked to play out of position. when i heard what the manager was saying i was in shock bellamy said. i thought not only has he gone behind my back he s lying he said in response to souness remarks. and the wales international refused to apologise. i won t apologise because i have done nothing wrong he told the evening chronicle. there s no doubt about it i am out of here. the difficult relationship between souness and bellamy boiled over at the weekend and has led to a war of words in the media. bellamy s claim that souness had lied about the background to the bust-up was strongly denied by shepherd who accused the striker of cheating the club. i wish to put the record straight regarding the bellamy situation said shepherd. craig walked off the training ground saying his hamstring was tight (on friday) but what he failed to reveal was that he had told other members of the squad before training that he intended to feign injury. when graeme discovered this he immediately ordered bellamy to attend a meeting in my office. at that meeting bellamy admitted to graeme and i that he had told the players that he was going to fake an injury in training and walk off. he also agreed at that meeting to apologise to his team-mates for his behaviour. he didn t do this which resulted in the action taken by the manager at the weekend which i fully support. in my book this is cheating on the club the supporters the manager and his own team-mates. he is paid extremely well and i consider his behaviour to be totally unacceptable and totally unprofessional. bellamy s latest outburst would appear to make his chances of a first-team recall remote. but even before newcastle said the player would not be sold bellamy insisted he had no intention of handing in a transfer request. i don t want the fans to think for one minute that i wouldn t play for this club he said. i d play anywhere for this club even in goal. it s a very difficult situation for me at the moment but i d never ask to leave this club. this club means so much to me. i couldn t do it because i know i couldn t come back here and play against newcastle. it would hurt too much. | 2 | sport |
s korea spending boost to economy south korea will boost state spending next year in an effort to create jobs and kick start its sputtering economy. it has earmarked 100 trillion won ($96bn) for the first six months of 2005 60% of its total annual budget. the government s main problems are slumping consumption and a contraction in the construction industry . it aims to create 400 000 jobs and will focus on infrastructure and home building as well as providing public firms with money to hire new workers. the government has set an economic growth rate target of 5% for next year and hinted that would be in danger unless it took action. internal and external economic conditions are likely to remain unfavourable in 2005 the finance and economy ministry said in a statement. it blamed continuing uncertainties such as fluctuating oil prices and foreign exchange rates and stagnant domestic demand that has shown few signs of a quick rebound . in 2004 growth will be between 4.7% and 4.8% the ministry said. not everyone is convinced the plan will work. our primary worry centres on the what we believe is the government s overly optimistic view that its front loading of the budget will be enough to turn the economy around consultancy 4cast said in a report. the problem facing south korea is that many consumers are reeling from the effects of a credit bubble that only recently burst. millions of south koreans are defaulting on their credit card bills and the country s biggest card lender has been hovering on the verge of bankruptcy for months. as part of its spending plans the government said it will ask firms to roll over mortgage loans that come due in the first half of 2005 . it also pledged to look at ways of helping families on low incomes. the government voiced concern about the effect of redundancies in the building trade. given the economic spill over and employment effect in the construction sector a sharp downturn in the construction industry could have other adverse effects the ministry said. as a result south korea will give private companies also will be given the chance to build schools hospitals houses and other public buildings. it also will look at real estate tax system. other plans on the table include promoting new industries such as bio-technology and nano-technology as well as offering increased support to small and medium sized businesses. the focus will be on job creation and economic recovery given that unfavourable domestic and global conditions are likely to dog the korean economy in 2005 the ministry said. | 1 | business |
gb select holmes for double bid kelly holmes has been chosen for both the 800m and 1500m at next month s european indoor championships - despite not yet confirming her availability. the double-olympic champion is still undecided about whether to compete in her first european indoors in madrid. but uk athletics chief max jones believes it is likely holmes will race. he said: it s worth a punt isn t it she s gone back to training. if she s confident she will pick one (distance). the programme does not permit both. if holmes does take her place in the gb side she has already indicated that 1500m will be her favoured distance. under championship rules she does not have to decide until 24 hours before the event begins in madrid on 4 march. jones added: she was pleased with her run in birmingham (at last weekend s grand prix). i am inclined to think she will (compete). it could depend on how training goes and she will have to be close to top form. and he admitted holmes presence would be a great boost to the rest of the norwich union gb team. she is a very good team member and is very good to have there he added. meanwhile there is no surprises in the rest of the great britain team announced on tuesday. defending 60m champion jason gardener is included and will be chasing his third successive gold medal. he will be joined in the event by mark lewis-francis - runner-up behind him three years ago in vienna - and new boy darren chin. kelly sotherton has been invited by championship organisers to compete against carolina kluft in the pentathlon. sotherton finished third in the olympic heptathlon in athens where the swede took gold. there are 16 newcomers at this level of competition in gb s 46-strong team. the championships will be the last to be attended by jones before he retires to be succeeded by dave collins. jones said: the olympic games is the overwhelming target for uka and therefore it is beneficial to start the next four-year cycle with a not-so-pressurised major games. the european indoor championships always provide a chance for the young and inexperienced to make a name for themselves and the current indoor season has produced some exciting new talent. madrid is the first small step on a long journey to beijing and the 2008 olympics but for some of the emerging athletes this will be a very important step. 60m: d chin (belgrave harriers) j gardener (wessex and bath) m lewis-francis (birchfield harriers). t abeyie (woodford green with essex ladies) c lambert (belgrave harriers). d garland (channel islands ac). j mcilroy (windsor slough eton and hounslow ac) jimmy watkins (cardiff aac). ed jackson (aldershot farnham and district) n speaight (belgrave harriers) j thie (cardiff aac). a baddeley (harrow ac) m farah (windsor slough eton and hounslow ac) j mayock (barnsley ac). d greaves (newham and essex beagles) a scott (shaftesbury barnet harriers) a turner (notts ac). b challenger (belgrave harriers). pole vault: n buckfield (crawley ac). n morgan (birchfield harriers) c tomlinson (newham and essex beagles). l achike (shaftesbury barnet harriers) n douglas (oxford city ac) p idowu (belgrave harriers). d cossins (birchfield harriers) r davenport (gloucester ac) d garland (channel islands ac) r preddy (gloucester ac) g warburton (cardiff aac). k endacott (city of plymouth ac) j kwakye (woodford green with essex ladies) j maduaka (woodford green with essex ladies). k wall (basildon ac). k holmes (ealing southall and middlesex ac). h clitheroe (preston harriers) k holmes (ealing southall and middlesex ac). j pavey (exeter harriers). d allahgreen (trafford ac) s claxton (belgrave harriers). j crane (sale harriers manchester) s jones (trafford ac). j whitlock (trafford ac). j johnson (herne hill harriers). k sotherton (birchfield harriers). d fraser (croydon harriers) l mcconnell (shaftesbury barnet harriers) c murphy (woodford green with essex ladies) m purkiss (southampton ac). | 2 | sport |
straw to attend auschwitz service foreign secretary jack straw will visit auschwitz for the 60th anniversary of the former nazi concentration camp s liberation it has been announced. prince edward will also join the uk delegation in poland for national holocaust memorial day on 27 january. between 1.1 and 1.5 million people mainly jews were killed at auschwitz. the tories said they were glad mr straw had been shamed into going having earlier criticised the decision to send a lower-ranking official. shadow foreign secretary michael ancram said: i am glad the foreign secretary has finally been shamed into representing britain at this important act of commemoration. once again this government has shown crass insensitivity until it has been forced by public opinion into doing what it should have done in the first place. in britain the queen and prince philip will lead the nation s commemoration at a service in westminster hall london. the queen will also host a reception for holocaust survivors at st james s palace. altogether some six million people mainly jews perished in the holocaust. the queen s grandson prince harry sparked outrage earlier this week after photographs of him wearing a nazi uniform at a costume party emerged. the prince 20 apologised but critics have called for him to go to auschwitz for the commemoration of the soviets 1945 liberation of the camp. prince harry should see for himself the results of the hated symbol he so foolishly and brazenly chose to wear rabbi marvin hier founder of jewish human rights group the simon wiesenthal center said. | 4 | politics |