record year for chilean copper chile s copper industry has registered record earnings of $14.2bn in 2004  the governmental chilean copper commission (cochilco) has reported.  strong demand from china s fast-growing economy and high prices have fuelled production  said cochilco vice president patricio cartagena. he added that the boom has allowed the government to collect $950m in taxes. mr cartagena said the industry expects to see investment worth $10bn over the next three years.   with these investments  clearly we are going to continue being the principle actor in the mining of copper. it s a consolidation of the industry with new projects and expansions that will support greater production.  australia s bhp billiton - which operates la escondida  the world s largest open pit copper mine - is planning to invest $1.9bn between now and 2007  while state-owned codelco will spend about $1bn on various projects. chile  the biggest copper producer in the world  is now analyzing ways of to keep prices stable at their current high levels  without killing off demand or leading customers to look for substitutes for copper. the copper price reached a 16-year high in october 2004. production in chile is expected rise 3.5% in 2005 to 5.5 million tonnes  said mr cartagena. cochilco expects for 2005 a slight reduction on copper prices and forecasts export earnings will fall 10.7%.


smart search lets art fans browse if you don t know art but know what you like  new search technology could prove a useful gateway to painting.  artgarden  developed by bt s research unit  is being tested by the tate as a new way of browsing its online collection of paintings. rather than search by the name of an artist or painting  users are shown a selection of pictures. clicking on their favourite will change the gallery in front of them to a selection of similar works.  the technology uses a system dubbed smart serendipity  which is a combination of artificial intelligence and random selection. it  chooses  a selection of pictures  by scoring paintings based on a selection of keywords associated with them. so  for instance a whistler painting of a bridge may have the obvious keywords such as bridge and whistler associated to it but will also widen the search net with terms such as aesthetic movement  19th century and water. a variety of paintings will then be shown to the user  based partly on the keywords and partly on luck.  it is much more akin to wandering through the gallery   said jemima rellie  head of the tate s digital programme. for richard tateson  who worked on the artgarden project  the need for a new way to search grew out of personal frustration.  i went to an online clothes store to find something to buy my wife for christmas but i didn t have a clue what i wanted   he said. the text-based search was restricted to looking either by type of garment or designer  neither of which he found helpful. he ended up doing his present shopping on the high street instead.  he thinks the dominance of text-based searching is not necessarily appealing to the majority of online shoppers. similarly  with art  browsing is often more important than finding a particular object.  you don t arrive at tate britain and tell people what you want to see. one of the skills of showing off the collection is to introduce people to things they wouldn t have asked for   he said. the tate is committed to making its art more accessible and technology such as artgarden can help with that  said ms rellie. she hopes the technology can be incorporated on to the website in the near future. bt research is looking at extending the technology to other searching  such as for music and films.


japan bank shares up on link talk shares of sumitomo mitsui financial (smfg)  and daiwa securities jumped amid speculation that two of japan s biggest financial companies will merge.  financial newspaper nihon keizai shimbun claimed that the firms will join up next year and already have held discussions with japanese regulators. the firms denied that they are about to link up  but said they are examining ways of working more closely together. smfg shares climbed by 2.7% to 717 000  and daiwa added 5.3% to 740 yen.  combining smfg  japan s third-biggest lender  and daiwa  the country s second-largest brokerage firm  would create a company with assets of more than $1 000bn (£537bn). smfg president yoshifumi nishikawa said that the companies needed to bolster their businesses.  both companies need to strengthen retail and other operations   he said  adding that  it s an issue we have in common . daiwa said that  although it is true that the two groups have been engaging in various discussions to enhance cooperation  there are no plans to enter into negotiations to consolidate the two businesses . analysts said that consolidation in japan s financial sector was likely to continue and that it was likely to have a positive impact on earnings.  cross-selling opportunities between banks and brokers are increasing thanks to deregulation  so we can expect the relationship to get even stronger   said heronry nozaki  an analyst at nikkocitigroup. the merger  would be a good move   he added.


blues slam blackburn over savage birmingham have confirmed blackburn made a bid for robbie savage - but managing director karen brady has called it  derisory .  rovers have reportedly offered £500 000 up front for the wales star  30  with the fee rising to £2.2m. but brady told the sun the bid was  a waste of fax paper and my time . she added:  the way things are going all this could affect the relationship between the clubs. they ve got into robbie s head. but he s not for sale.  savage s future at birmingham has been the source of speculation for several weeks  with some fans criticising his performances for the club earlier in the season. however  good displays against west brom and aston villa have impressed blues fans.  the crowd gave me a massive standing ovation when i came off on saturday which was nice   he said.  it was fantastic even though i was criticised by a number of them in recent weeks and on saturday it showed how much i mean to them.  it s not for me to say (about transfer rumours)  it s between the two clubs.  i haven t created the speculation myself  i haven t phoned every national newspaper saying   blackburn are trying to buy me . it s not up to me.  birmingham manager steve bruce insists he does not want to sell savage.  a lot is said and written about sav but he has been terrific for birmingham city the last two and a half years   he said.   the fans love him because he epitomises them. he works hard  they like people like that and there are not many like him.  and why the hell should i sell him to someone else  i am not interested.


nortel in $300m profit revision telecoms equipment maker nortel networks has sharply revised downwards its profits for the 2003 fiscal year.  in a long-awaited filing  nortel said it had made $434m (£231m)  compared to the previously reported $732m. but the figures - revised after an audit which led to the sacking of the canadian firm s chief - showed revenue was about 4% higher than first thought. nortel shares  which have lost nearly 50% of their value since last year  climbed 1.46% in toronto on tuesday. nortel s head frank dunn and two other executives were fired in january last year after the company announced it had conducted the internal audit. securities and police authorities in both the us and canada are still conducting inquiries into the accounts.  nortel also issued new figures for the 2001-2002 period  which they had previously indicated had understated losses.  with the completion of our restatements we have a solid foundation on which to move forward with our business   said nortel president and chief executive bill owens.  the restatement has been a monumental task  both complex and demanding.  the company also said 12 senior executives - none of whom were involved directly in the accounting of the revised figures - have voluntarily agreed to repay to bonuses awarded in 2003 totalling $8.6m. nortel added:  these members of the core executive team share the board s deep disappointment over the circumstances that led to the restatement.


gm  ford cut output as sales fall us car firms general motors (gm) and ford have been forced to cut production in the face of falling car sales.  us sales at gm sank 12.7% in february compared to a year ago while ford sales dropped 3% as foreign rivals took a bigger share of the market. meanwhile  asian carmakers fared well - toyota sales jumped 11% while rival nissan notched up a 10% increase. overall. sales across the industry also fell to 1.25 million vehicles from 1.27 million a year earlier.  gm and ford blamed high fuel prices for low sales of big trucks and gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles (suvs) - the vehicles that provide the biggest profits.  gm added that us truck sales fell 9% in february while car business tumbled 17%  however it did acknowledge that some new products - such as the pontiac g6 and chevrolet cobalt - had put in solid performances.  the calendar year is starting off slower than expected  both for gm and the industry   said mark laneve  gm s vice president for north american sales  service and marketing. the slump in sales prompted the group to cut production in north america by 3% - it has already reduced output by around 9% in the face of growing stockpiles. meanwhile  ford which posted its ninth consecutive drop in monthly us sales  said it was cutting first-quarter north american production by another 10 000 vehicles  or 1.2%. chrysler  the us unit of germany s daimlerchrysler  was the only detroit based automaker to boast an increase in market share during the month - with sales rising 8%.  but america s loss was its foreign rivals  gain as they continued to nibble away at the us market. while japan s top car maker toyota and nissan saw sales accelerate  even the smaller suzuki motor corp snapped up a more business with sales improving 17.6% on a year ago. in 2003  the firm launched an ambitious plan to triple us sales by 2007 as it seeks to become a bigger player in the asian assault on the us market. korea s hyundai was another big gainer  turning in a 19% surge in february sales. toyota put its rise in sales down to strong results for its redesigned avalon sedan and a 120% surge in sales of its gas-electric prius hybrid mid-size sedan as petrol-price conscious consumers looked to vehicles that were cheaper to run.  as gas prices continue their upward march  fuel efficiency catches the public eye   jim press  vice president and chief operating officer of toyota s us sales arm  said in a statement.


juninho demand for o neill talks juninho s agent has confirmed that the player is hoping for talks with martin o neill as the brazilian midfielder comes closer to departing celtic.  brian hassell says no official approach has been received from manchester city but that the english club had been earmarked as a possible destination. but it was being stressed to bbc sport that juninho would prefer to remain with the scottish champions. juninho wants assurances that he will return to o neill s first-team plans. he has become frustrated with his lack of first-team action since his move from middlesbrough in the summer. hassel says juninho  who has just bought a new home  would  desperately like to stay at celtic  but will seek a move if it is made clear that he is not wanted.  the agent also stressed that nothing should be read into the 30-year-old s father being in scotland and talk of a move back to botafogo in brazil. juninho s father was simply in the country to see his son and grandchildren.  i know there is interest from a brazilian club  but i know juninho doesn t want to go there   said hassel.  he wants to stay in britain. in fact  he wants to stay at celtic.  hassall made it clear that a move to manchester city  who are badly in need of a midfield play-maker  was more of a possibility than botafogo  or mexican outfit red sharks veracruz  who also expressed an interest.  it was a thought at one stage   he said.  if you are not going to get a game under one manager  you look for another whose style of play suits you.  he is a fan of kevin keegan s style of play. it would not be a bad move for him.  juninho had earlier told the daily record:  the manager has had a lot of chances to put me in his team but it hasn t happened.  if that is the case then this is the opportunity for me to go. that would be good for the club and good for me.  if i have no part in his plans  there is no point in remaining here waiting for a chance that never comes.  the attacking midfielder also claims he has not had the backing of boss martin o neill since his move to celtic park.  i can t understand why i am in this situation   he continued.  when a manager brings a new player to the club  he gives that player support.


t-mobile bets on  pocket office  t-mobile has launched its latest  pocket office  third-generation (3g) device which also has built-in wi-fi - high-speed wireless net access.  unlike other devices where the user has to check which high-speed network is available to transfer data  the device selects the fastest one itself. the mda iv  released in the summer  is an upgrade to the company s existing smartphone  the 2.5g/wi-fi mda iii. it reflects the push by mobile firms for devices that are like mini laptops. the device has a display that can be swivelled and angled so it can be used like a small computer  or as a conventional clamshell phone. the microsoft mobile phone  with two cameras and a qwerty keyboard  reflects the design of similar all-in-one models released this year  such as motorola s mpx.  one in five european workers are already mobile - meaning they spend significant time travelling and out of the office   rene obermann  t-mobile s chief executive  told a press conference at the 3gsm trade show in cannes. he added:  what they need is their office when they are out of the office.  t-mobile said it was seeing increasing take up for what it calls  office in a pocket  devices  with 100 000 mdas sold in europe already.  in response to demand  t-mobile also said it would be adding the latest phone-shaped blackberry to its mobile range. reflecting the growing need to be connected outside the office  it announced it would introduce a flat-fee £20 ($38) a month wi-fi tariff for people in the uk using its wi-fi hotspots. it said it would nearly double the number of its hotspots - places where wi-fi access is available - globally from 12 300 to 20 000.  it also announced it was installing high-speed wi-fi on certain train services  such as the uk s london to brighton service  to provide commuters a fast net connection too. the service  which has been developed with southern trains  nomad digital (who provide the technology)  begins with a free trial on 16 trains on the route from early march to the end of april. a full service is set to follow in the summer. wi-fi access points will be connected to a wimax wireless network - faster than wi-fi - running alongside the train tracks. brian mcbride  managing director of t-mobile in the uk  said:  we see a growing trend for business users needing to access e-mail securely on the move.   we are able to offer this by maintaining a constant data session for the entire journey.  he said this was something other similar in-train wi-fi services  such as that offered on gner trains  did not offer yet. mr obermann added that the mobile industry in general was still growing  with many more opportunities for more services which would bear fruit for mobile companies in future. thousands of mobile industry experts are gathered in cannes  france  for the 3gsm which runs from 14 to 17 february.


scots suffer another injury blow scotland s back row crisis has worsened ahead of the rbs six nations with news that scott gray will miss out on the opening matches.  the borders flanker has a knee injury and joins donnie macfadyen and allister hogg on the sidelines. star number eight simon taylor will miss at least the first two games after damaging an ankle during his comeback. scott macleod (ankle ligaments) and jon petrie (cartilage) are also doubtful for the opener in paris on 5 february. gray  26  who won his first cap against australia at murrayfield last year  was hurt in club action at the weekend. scotland doctor james robson said:  a scan has shown damage to the medial ligaments of scott s right knee ruling him out of the first part of the championship.  we will seek further specialist advice in due course to determine just how long scott may be out for.  another potential option  glasgow flanker andrew wilson  has been ruled out for a month after damaging ligaments in both knees against northampton recently.  flanker jason white and prop tom smith have also been suffering from flu and missed this week s training sessions.  we have got plenty of good  young players coming through and we have got to look at the opportunities it represents for them  rather than the negatives   williams added. williams could now turn to edinburgh pair alasdair strokosch and simon cross. leeds tykes flanker jon dunbar also trained with the squad but is still awaiting verification of his eligibility to qualify for scotland.


dvd copy protection strengthened dvds will be harder to copy thanks to new anti-piracy measures devised by copy protection firm macrovision.  the pirated dvd market is enormous because current copy protection was hacked more than five years ago. macrovision says its new ripguard technology will thwart most  but not all  of the current dvd ripping (copying) programs used to pirate dvds.  ripguard is designed to... reduce dvd ripping and the resulting supply of illegal peer to peer   said the firm. macrovision said the new technology will work in  nearly all  current dvd players when applied to the discs  but it did not specify how many machines could have a problem with ripguard. some bbc news website users have expressed concerns that the new technology will mean that dvds will not work on pcs running the operating system linux. the new technology will be welcomed by hollywood film studios which are increasingly relying on revenue from dvd sales.  the film industry has stepped up efforts to fight dvd piracy in the last 12 months  taking legal action against websites which offer pirated copies of dvd movies for download.   ultimately  we see ripguard dvd... evolving beyond anti-piracy  and towards enablement of legitimate online transactions  interoperability in tomorrow s digital home  and the upcoming high-definition formats   said steve weinstein  executive vice president and general manager of macrovision s entertainment technologies group. macrovision said ripguard would also prevent against  rent  rip and return  - where people would rent a dvd  copy it and then return the original. ripguard is expected to be rolled out on dvds from the middle of 2005  the company said. the new system works specifically to block most ripping programs - if used  those programs will now most likely crash  the company said. macrovision has said that rip guard can be updated if hackers find a way around the new anti-copying measures.


tv s future down the phone line internet tv has been talked about since the start of the web as we know it now.  but any early attempts to do it - the uk s home choice started in 1992 - were thwarted by the lack of a fast network. now that broadband networks are bedding down  and it is becoming essential for millions  the big telcos are keen to start shooting video down the line. in the face of competition from cable companies offering net voice calls  they are keen to be the top iptv dogs. software giant microsoft thinks iptv - internet protocol tv - is the future of television  and it sits neatly with its vision of the  connected entertainment experience .  telcos have been wanting to do video for a long time   ed graczyk  director of marketing for microsoft iptv  told the bbc news website.  the challenge has been the broadband network  and the state of technology up until not so long ago did not add up to a feasible solution.  compression technology was not efficient enough  the net was not good enough. a lot of stars have aligned in the last 18 months to make it a reality.   last year  he said  was all about deal making and partnering up; shaping the  iptv ecosystem . this year  those deals will start to play out and more services will come online.  2006 is where it starts ramping up and expanding to other geographies - over time as broadband becomes more prevalent in south america  and other parts of asia  it will expand   he added. what telcos really want to do is to send the  triple-play  of video  voice  and data down one single line  be it cable or dsl (digital subscriber line). some are talking about  quadruple play   too  with mobile services added into the mix. it is an emerging new breed of competition for satellite and cable broadcasters and operators. according to technology analysts  tdg research  there will be 20 million subscribers to iptv services in under six years.  key to the appeal of sending tv programmes down the same line as the web data  whenever a viewer wants it  is that it uses the same technology as the internet. it means there is not just a one-way relationship between the viewer and the  broadcaster . this allows for more dvd-like interactivity  limitless storage and broadcast space  bespoke channel  playlists   and thousands of hours of programmes or films at a viewer s fingertips. it potentially lets operators target programmes to smaller  niche or localised audiences  sending films to bollywood fans for instance  as well as individual devices.  operators could also send high-definition programmes straight to the viewer  bypassing the need for a special broadcast receiver. perhaps most compelling - yet some might say insignificant - is instantaneous channel flicking. currently  there is a delay when you try to do this on satellite  cable or freeview. with iptv  the speed is 15 milliseconds.  that gets rounds of applause   according to mr graczyk. microsoft is one of the companies that started thinking about iptv some time ago.  we believe this will be the way all tv is delivered in the future - but that is several years away   said mr graczyk.  as with music  tv has moved to digital formats.  the things software can do to integrate media into devices means a whole new generation of connected entertainment experiences that cross devices from the tv  to the mobile  to the gaming console and so on.  the company intends its microsoft s iptv edition software  an end-to-end management and delivery platform  to let telcos to do exactly that  seamlessly. it has netted seven major telcos as customers  representing a potential audience of 25 million existing broadband subscribers. its deal with us telco sbc was the largest tv software deal to date  said mr graczyk.  iptv is about more than telcos  though. there are several web-based offerings that aim to put control in the hands of the consumer by exploiting the net s power. jeremy allaire  chief of brightcove  told the bbc news website that it would be a flavour of iptv that was about harnessing the web as a  channel .   it is not just niches  but about exploiting content not usually viewed   he said.  we are focussed on the owners of video content who have rights to digitally distribute content  and who often see unencumbered distribution.  for them to do it through cable and so on is price-prohibitive   he said. this type of iptv service might also be a distribution channel for more established publishers who have unique types of content that they cannot offer through cable and satellite operators - history channel archives  for instance. what is a clear sign that iptv has a future is that microsoft is not the only player in the field. there are a lot of other  middleware  players providing similar management services as microsoft  like myrio and c-cor. but it will up to the viewer to decide if it really is to be successful.


cudicini misses carling cup final chelsea goalkeeper carlo cudicini will miss sunday s carling cup final after the club dropped their appeal against his red card against newcastle.  the italian was sent off for bringing down shola ameobi in the final minute of sunday s match. blues boss jose mourinho had promised to pick cudicini for the final instead of first-choice keeper petr cech. the 31-year-old will now serve a one-match suspension commencing with immediate effect.  cudicini kept a club record 24 clean sheets last season for chelsea  but petr cech has established himself as first choice for mourinho since moving to stamford bridge in summer 2004. the 22-year-old czech republic international has set a new premiership record of 961 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal  a mark which is still running. but mourinho has used cudicini regularly in the carling cup  and the italian has only let in one goal in his four appearances during chelsea s run to the final.


markets fall on weak dollar fears rising oil prices and the sinking dollar hit shares on monday after a finance ministers  meeting and stern words from fed chief alan greenspan.  the london ftse fell 0.8% while tokyo s nikkei 225 dropped 2.11%  its steepest fall in three months. g20 finance ministers said nothing about supporting the dollar  whose slide could further jeopardise growth in japan and europe. and mr greenspan warned asian states could soon stop funding the us deficit.  on monday afternoon  the euro was close to an all-time high against the dollar at above $1.30. oil pushed higher too on monday  as investors fretted about cold weather in the us and europe and a potential output cut from oil producers  group opec  although prices had cooled by the end of the day. in london  the benchmark brent crude price closed down 51 cents at $44.38 a barrel  while new york light sweet crude closed down 25 cents at $48.64 a barrel. the slide comes as the us has been attempting to talk up the traditional  strong dollar  policy.  the latest to pitch in has been president george w bush himself  who told the asia pacific economic co-operation (apec) summit in chile that he remained committed to halving the budget deficit. together with a $500bn trade gap  the red ink spreading across america s public finances is widely seen as a key factor driving the dollar lower. and last week us treasury secretary john snow told an audience in the uk that the policy remained unaltered. but he also said that the rate was entirely up to the markets - a signal which traders took as advice to sell the dollar. some had looked to the g20 meeting for direction. but mr snow made clear exchange rates had not been on the agenda.  for the us government  letting the dollar drift is a useful short-term fix.  us exports get more affordable  helping perhaps to close the trade gap. in the meantime  the debt keeps getting bigger  with congress authorising an $800bn rise in what the us can owe - taking the total to $8.2 trillion. but in a speech on friday  federal reserve chairman alan greenspan warned that in the longer term things are likely to get tricky. at present  much of gap in both public debt is covered by selling bonds to asian states such as japan and china  since the dollar is seen as the world s reserve currency. similarly  asian investment helps bridge the gap in the current account - the deficit between what the us as a whole spends and what it earns. but already they are turning more cautious - an auction of debt in august found few takers. and mr greenspan said that could turn into a trend  if the fall of the dollar kept eating into the value of those investments.  it seems persuasive that  given the size of the us current account deficit  a diminished appetite for adding to dollar balances must occur at some point   he said.


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


bad e-mail habits sustains spam the  bad behaviour  of e-mail users is helping to sustain the spam industry  a new study has found.  according to a survey conducted by security firm mirapoint and market research company the radicati group  nearly a third of e-mail users have clicked on links in spam messages. one in ten users have bought products advertised in junk mail. clicking on a link in a spam message can expose people to viruses and alert spammers to live e-mail accounts.  the fact that one in ten e-mail users are buying things advertised in spam continues to make it an attractive business  especially given that sending out huge amounts of spam costs very little  the report concludes.  this preliminary data is surprising and somewhat shocking to us   said marcel nienhuis  market analyst at the radicati group.  it explains why e-mail security threats including spam  viruses and phishing scams continue to proliferate   he said  accusing users of  bad e-mail behaviour . spammers are increasingly hooking into whatever happens to be flavour of the month  according to security firm clearswift. it has recently seen a rise in the number of spam messages offering phoney sony psp giveaways. and  in perhaps a nod to the popularity of the american drama series desperate housewives  it has also seen a dramatic rise in junk mails purporting to give details of women looking for casual sex. but rather than finding a companion  users who click on such mail will find themselves redirected to porn sites  where they run the risk of downloading spyware on to their pc. clearswift has seen a 180% rise in sex-related spam over the course of the last month.  without casting aspersions  those likely to respond to these kind of adverts will be invariably hoping that  one thing leads to another  but aside from the fact that these mails are bogus  clicking on any link within a spam mail can lead to a whole host of unwanted problems   said alyn hockey  clearswift s director of research.  sexually explicit terms make up 14% of security firm sophos  top 50 word that spammers most commonly try to disguise in order to beat anti-spam filters. spammers will deliberately misspell a word or use digits instead of letters in an attempt to by-pass anti-spam software  said graham cluley  senior technology consultant for security firm sophos.  the list of words most commonly hidden by the spammers from anti-spam software reveals that most spam is about the old favourites: money  drugs and sex   said mr cluley. but anti-spam filters can only be part of the solution to the menace of junk e-mail.  people must resist their basic instincts to buy from spam mails. spammers are criminals  plain and simple. if no-one responded to junk e-mail and didn t buy products sold in this way  then spam would be as extinct as the dinosaurs   he said.


robots learn  robotiquette  rules robots are learning lessons on  robotiquette  - how to behave socially - so they can mix better with humans.  by playing games  like pass-the-parcel  a university of hertfordshire team is finding out how future robot companions should react in social situations. the study s findings will eventually help humans develop a code of social behaviour in human-robot interaction. the work is part of the european cogniron robotics project  and was on show at london s science museum.   we are assuming a situation in which a useful human companion robot already exists   said professor kerstin dautenhahn  project leader at hertfordshire.  our mission is to look at how such a robot should be programmed to respect personal spaces of humans.   the research also focuses on human perception of robots  including how they should look  and how a robot can learn new skills by imitating a human demonstrator.  without such studies  you will build robots which might not respect the fact that humans are individuals  have preferences and come from different cultural backgrounds   professor dautenhahn told bbc news online.  and i want robots to treat humans as human beings  and not like other robots   she added.  in most situations  a companion robot will eventually have to deal not only with one person  but also with groups of people. to find out how they would react  the hertfordshire cogniron team taught one robot to play pass-the-parcel with children.  showing off its skills at the science museum  the unnamed robot had to select  approach  and ask different children to pick up a parcel with a gift  moving it arm as a pointer and its camera as an eye. it even used speech to give instructions and play music. however  according to researchers  it will still take many years to build a robot which would make full use of the  robotiquette  for human interaction.  if you think of a robot as a companion for the human being  you can think of 20 years into the future   concluded professor dautenhahn.  it might take even longer because it is very  very hard to develop such a robot.   you can hear more on this story on the bbc world service s go digital programme.


china had role in yukos split-up china lent russia $6bn (£3.2bn) to help the russian government renationalise the key yuganskneftegas unit of oil group yukos  it has been revealed.  the kremlin said on tuesday that the $6bn which russian state bank veb lent state-owned rosneft to help buy yugansk in turn came from chinese banks. the revelation came as the russian government said rosneft had signed a long-term oil supply deal with china. the deal sees rosneft receive $6bn in credits from china s cnpc.  according to russian newspaper vedomosti  these credits would be used to pay off the loans rosneft received to finance the purchase of yugansk. reports said cnpc had been offered 20% of yugansk in return for providing finance but the company opted for a long-term oil supply deal instead. analysts said one factor that might have influenced the chinese decision was the possibility of litigation from yukos  yugansk s former owner  if cnpc had become a shareholder. rosneft and veb declined to comment.  the two companies [rosneft and cnpc] have agreed on the pre-payment for long-term deliveries   said russian oil official sergei oganesyan.  there is nothing unusual that the pre-payment is for five to six years.   the announcements help to explain how rosneft  a medium-sized  indebted  and relatively unknown firm  was able to finance its surprise purchase of yugansk. yugansk was sold for $9.3bn in an auction last year to help yukos pay off part of a $27bn bill in unpaid taxes and fines.  the embattled russian oil giant had previously filed for bankruptcy protection in a us court in an attempt to prevent the forced sale of its main production arm. but yugansk was sold to a little known shell company which in turn was bought by rosneft. yukos claims its downfall was punishment for the political ambitions of its founder mikhail khodorkovsky. once the country s richest man  mr khodorkovsky is on trial for fraud and tax evasion.  the deal between rosneft and cnpc is seen as part of china s desire to secure long-term oil supplies to feed its booming economy. china s thirst for products such as crude oil  copper and steel has helped pushed global commodity prices to record levels.  clearly the chinese are trying to get some leverage [in russia]   said dmitry lukashov  an analyst at brokerage aton.  they understand property rights in russia are not the most important rights  and they are more interested in guaranteeing supplies.   if the price of oil is fixed under the deal  which is unlikely  it could be very profitable for the chinese   mr lukashov continued.  and rosneft is in desperate need of cash  so it s a good deal for them too.


turkey-iran mobile deal  at risk  turkey s investment in iran s mobile industry looks set to be scrapped after its biggest mobile firm saw its investment there slashed by mps.  iran s parliament voted by a large majority to cut turkcell s stake in a new mobile network from 70% to 49%. the move  which was justified on national security grounds  follows an earlier vote by mps to give themselves a veto over foreign investments. turkcell said the decision  increases the risks  attached to the project. although the company s statement said it would continue to monitor developments  observers said they thought turkcell was set to pull out of the $3bn deal.  the possibility of carrying out this project is next to zero   said atinc ozkan  analyst at finans investment in istanbul. if turkcell does back out  mtn - the south african firm which lost out in the original tender - may well be back in the running. the company has said it is prepared to accept a minority stake if iran will award it the mobile deal.  turkcell s mobile deal is the second turkish investment in iran to run into trouble. turkish-austrian consortium tav was chosen to build and run tehran s new imam khomeini international airport - but the army closed it just hours after it opened in may 2004. in both cases  the justification has been national security  amid allegations that the turkish firms are too close to israel. the hardline posture taken by parliament  which is dominated by religious conservatives  could yet impact other inward investments.


fast lifts rise into record books two high-speed lifts at the world s tallest building have been officially recognised as the planet s fastest.  the lifts take only 30 seconds to whisk passengers to the top of the 508m tall tfc 101 tower in taipei  taiwan. the guinness book of records has declared the 17m per second speed of the two lifts the swiftest on earth. the lifts also have a pressure control system to stop passengers  ears popping as they ascend and descend at high speed.  in total  the tfc tower has 61 lifts  34 of them double-deckers  and 50 escalators to shuttle people around its 106 floors. the tfc 101 tower is due to be officially opened on 31 december.  the super-fast lifts can speed up to 24 passengers to the tip of the tower in about 30 seconds  while ascending their 382m track. the 17m/s top speed of the lifts translates to about 38mph (61km/h). curiously the lifts take longer to descend and spend almost a whole minute returning to ground level from the top of the tfc tower. the key new technologies applied in the world s fastest elevators include:    - a pressure control system  which adjusts the atmospheric pressure inside a car by using suction and discharge blowers  preventing  ear popping    - an active control system which tries to balance the lift more finely and remove the sources of vibrations   - streamlined cars to reduce the whistling noise produced by running the lifts at a high speed inside a narrow shaft      the certification of our elevators as world record-holders by the authoritative guinness world records is a great honour for us   said masayuki shimono  president of manufacturer toshiba elevator and building systems which installed the lifts. the first record for the world s fastest passenger elevators was published in the first edition of the guinness book of records in 1955.  as such  it is an interesting indicator of how technology has advanced in the 50 years since that first edition  when the record was 426m per minute  or 25.6 km/h  less than half the speed of the new record   said hein le roux  specialist researcher at the guinness world records. taipei s tfc 101 tower is more than 50m taller than the petronas towers in kuala lumpur  malaysia - formerly the world s tallest skyscraper.


singapore growth at 8.1% in 2004 singapore s economy grew by 8.1% in 2004  its best performance since 2000  figures from the trade ministry show.  the advance  the second-fastest in asia after china  was led by growth of 13.1% in the key manufacturing sector. however  a slower-than-expected fourth quarter points to more modest growth for the trade-driven economy in 2005 as global technology demand falls back. slowdowns in the us and china could hit electronics exports  while the tsunami disaster may effect the service sector.  economic growth is set to halve in singapore this year to between 3% and 5%. in the fourth quarter  the city state s gross domestic product (gdp) rose at an annual rate of 2.4%. that was up from the third quarter  when it fell 3.0%  but was well below analyst forecasts.  i am surprised at the weak fourth quarter number. the main drag came from electronics   said lian chia liang  economist at jp morgan chase. singapore s economy had contracted over the summer  weighed down by soaring oil prices. the economy s poor performance in the july to september period followed four consecutive quarters of double-digit growth as singapore bounced back strongly from the effects of the deadly sars virus in 2003.


poll explains free-kick decision referee graham poll said he applied the laws of the game in allowing arsenal striker thierry henry s free-kick in sunday s 2-2 draw with chelsea.  keeper petr cech was organising his defensive wall when henry s quick free-kick flew in  which angered chelsea.  the whistle doesn t need to be blown. i asked henry  do you want a wall  . he said  can i take it please   he was very polite. i said  yes    said poll.  i deal with the laws of the game. i deal with fact.  poll added:  i gave the signal for him to take it. that s what he did.  the same thing happened when i refereed chelsea against west ham in an fa cup replay two years ago - when jimmy floyd hasselbaink scored - and i don t remember them complaining about that.  henry explained why he paused before striking the ball for the goal  which put arsenal 2-1 ahead.  henry told bbc radio five live:  the ref asked me if i wanted 10 yards or if i wanted to take it straight away and i said that i wanted to take it straight away. he said to me   go .  it looks a bit strange because i took my time. i was waiting for eidur gudjohnsen to move and give me some space.  at one point  he turned and that s when i tried it.  former referees  chief philip don backed poll s decision to allow the strike.  the advantage should go to the non-offending team. on this occasion it was arsenal   don told bbc radio five live.  referees have been told to ask the player  do you want to take the quick free-kick   or  do you want me to get the wall back 9.15 metres    if they say  quick   the referee tends to move away and allow the kick.  don was head of the referees for the premier league and revealed all clubs were informed of free-kick options.  we spoke to all the premier league clubs as well as all the football league clubs in the summer of 2003 explaining what the situation was   he added  we gave them the option of either the quick free-kick or the  ceremonial  free-kick. players and clubs were aware of what referees were doing.


bellamy under new fire newcastle boss graeme souness has reopened his dispute with craig bellamy after claiming the welshman was  not good enough  for the magpies. bellamy left newcastle to join celtic on loan after a major row with souness. souness - who refused to refer to the 25-year-old by name - said bellamy did not score enough goals  the chap that s just gone has scored 9.3 goals a season in his time in senior football - half of those weren t even in the top flight   said souness.  that s not good enough for a striker at a club like this.  we need to have two strikers who are near 20 goals on a regular basis.   bellamy turned down a move to birmingham in favour of joining celtic after a disagreement about the welsh international playing out of position quickly escalated. earlier in the week  souness had said that he risked losing the confidence of the players and damaging his own reputation if he had not taken a hard line after bellamy accused him of lying.   there are certain things you can forgive and forget   said souness.  but if i d been seen to be weak in this case there was no future for me with the players in the dressing room or any job i have after newcastle.  he could then return to st james  park - and he says that he wants to. however  it would seem unlikely he will play for newcastle again as long as souness remains in charge.


clijsters hope on aussie open kim clijsters has denied reports that she has pulled out of january s australian open because of her persistent wrist injury.  open chief paul mcnamee had said:  kim s wrist obviously isn t going to be rehabilitated.  but her spokesman insisted she had simply delayed submitting her entry.  the doctors are assessing her injury on a weekly basis and if there is no risk she could play. but if there s the least risk she will stay away.  despite being absent from the wta entry list for the tournament  which begins on 17 january  clijsters would be certain to get a wild card if she requested one. clijsters is still ranked 22nd in the world despite only playing a handful of matches last season. the belgian had an operation on her left wrist early in the season but injured it again on her return to the tour. meanwhile  jelena dokic  who used to compete for australia  has opted out of the first grand slam of the season. dokic has not played in the australian open since 2001 when she lost in the first round. but the 21-year-old would have had to rely on a wild card next season because her ranking has tumbled to 127th. four-time champion monica seles  who has not played since last year s french open  is another absentee because of an injured left foot.


ajax refuse to rule out jol move ajax have refused to reveal whether tottenham s boss martin jol is on the dutch champions  shortlist to become the amsterdam club s new coach.  jol  who has coached in his native holland  has guided spurs to the premiership s top eight. an ajax spokesman told bbc sport:  the coach must fit our profile - a coach who understands the dutch league and offensive and distinctive football.  we need to find a solution soon  so someone is in place for next season.  ronald koeman quit as ajax boss last week after their exit from the uefa cup. jol has been linked with the vacant post at ajax  with reports saying he has fallen out with spurs  sporting director frank arnesen. but in a statement on spurs  website  jol said:  i m happy here  i m not in discussion with anyone else  i don t want to go elsewhere.  ajax have enlisted the help of dutch legend johann cruyff  currently a consultant at barcelona  to help find a new head coach. cruyff has admitted he has been impressed by the way former rfc waalwijk coach jol has turned round spurs  fortunes since taking over from jacques santini. tonny bruins slot and ruud krol are currently in charge of ajax  who are third in the dutch league.


golden rule boost for chancellor chancellor gordon brown has been given a £2.1bn boost in his attempts to meet his golden economic rule  which allows him to borrow only for investment.  the extra leeway came after the office for national statistics said it had been measuring road expenditure data wrongly over the past five years. it comes just weeks ahead of the budget and an expected general election. shadow chancellor oliver letwin said:  at best the timing of these changes is very convenient for the government.   a review by the ons found it had made a mistake by  double counting  some spending on roads since 1998/9. correcting the error would mean reducing current expenditure and increasing net investment  thus helping mr brown to meet his  golden rule  of borrowing only to invest over the economic cycle. economists speculated that it might also allow for some vote-catching measures in the budget.  the changes by the ons increase the current budget measure for the past five years by £2.1bn in total. mr letwin said:  this is a very murky area... there will inevitably be suspicions that the figures are being fiddled.  the conservatives also said mr brown would still be forced to raise taxes after the general election to fill an annual £10.5bn  black hole  in the nation s coffers. but the treasury said there would be no relaxation of economic discipline and the golden rule would be met even without the data revisions.  in january the independent institute for fiscal studies (ifs) said mr brown would need to raise taxes to get public finances onto the track predicted in last year s budget. it also said the government might narrowly miss its  golden rule  if the current economic cycle ended in 2005/06. after the ons announcement  economists said there could also be a proportionate boost to the current budget in 2004/05 of about £400m.  none of this changes the big picture of a dramatic deterioration in the overall fiscal position over the last four or five years   said jonathan loynes  chief uk economist at capital economics.  accordingly  it seems very likely that some form of fiscal consolidation will be required in due course.


gerrard happy at anfield liverpool captain steven gerrard has reiterated his desire to stay at anfield and win trophies with the club.  the 24-year-old england midfielder is determined to see out his contract  despite reported interest from chelsea. he said:  i m signed here for this season and another two so there is no situation. there s a lot of speculation but that s not down to me.  as club captain all i want to do is help us get back up the table and into the champions league again.  gerrard looked set to move to chelsea during the summer and speculation of a switch to stamford bridge has again arisen  with the january transfer window approaching. he raised doubts about his reds future when he said he wanted the club to prove they were title challengers in the very near future or he might leave. liverpool boss rafael benitez has insisted that gerrard has promised him he wants to stay at anfield. benitez said:  i said to steven that i was sure he wanted to stay here and he said  i do .   i then said to him  look  if you want to win titles  you want medals and you want liverpool to have these things then i am going to need your help .  i really think he wants to stay so now what we must do is make the squad stronger for him.  meanwhile  gerrard has urged the anfield board to sign real madrid striker fernando morientes in the january transfer window. morientes  28  has already expressed a willingness to come to england. gerrard added:  he s a great player. he scores goals in the league  in cup competitions and also in the champions league.  i don t think he d be able to play for us in europe this season but if we are able to get hold of him  we d be getting ourselves a great player.   he d have spanish coaches  a spanish manager and we have got three or four spanish players here now so they ll help him settle in.  rafael benitez knows what he wants and he knows how to strengthen the squad he s got and if the right players become available at the right price i am sure we will strengthen.  it would certainly be nice to see a few new faces in january to freshen things up.


us airways staff agree to pay cut a union representing 5 200 flight attendants at bankrupt us airways have agreed to a new contract that cuts pay by nearly 10%.  the deal will help the carrier  trying to survive by cutting costs by nearly $1bn (£530m) a year  save about $94m. more than two thirds of its 28 000 staff have now accepted wage cuts. but talks are still continuing with a union representing mechanics  baggage handlers and cleaners  which has so far failed to negotiate a new contract. the seventh largest carrier in the us sought bankruptcy protection for a second time in two years last september. it had been one of the quickest to deal with difficulties faced by the aviation industry after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. but it emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy in march 2003 to face competition from low-cost carriers and higher fuel costs. us airways management has said it may need to start liquidating assets if it does not receive concessions from all staff by the middle of this month.


roche  turns down federer offer  australian tennis coach tony roche has turned down an approach from roger federer to be the world number one s new full-time coach  say reports.  melbourne s herald-sun said roche  troubled by a hip complaint  did not want to travel full-time again. however  roche is happy to work with the swiss star on a casual basis and is helping him prepare for next month s defence of his australian open crown. federer has been without a coach since splitting with peter lundgren in 2003. roche  a former davis cup player for australia  won the french open  reached the wimbledon and us open finals and won five wimbledon doubles titles with john newcombe.  he also coached former number one ivan lendl and pat rafter to grand slam victories and has worked with australia s lleyton hewitt. some reports claim federer initially wanted andre agassi s australian coach darren cahill  before agassi confirmed he would play on in 2005. federer was named swiss sportsman of the year on saturday  to add to the bbc overseas sportsman and european sports journalists association awards he has already won.


honda wins china copyright ruling japan s honda has won a copyright case in beijing  further evidence that china is taking a tougher line on protecting intellectual property rights.  a court ruled that chongqing lifan industry group must stop selling honda brand motorbikes and said it must pay 1.47m yuan ($177 600) in compensation. internationally recognized regulation is now a key part of china s plans for developing its economy  analysts said. beijing also has been threatened with sanctions if it fails to clamp down.  chinese firms copy products ranging from computer software and spark plugs to baby milk and compact discs. despite the fact that product piracy is a major problem  foreign companies have only occasionally won cases and the compensation awarded has usually been small. still  recent rulings and announcements will have boosted optimism that attitudes are changing. earlier this week china said that in future it will punish violators of intellectual property rights with up to seven years in jail. and on tuesday  paws incorporated - the owner of the rights to garfield the cat - won a court battle against a publishing house that violated its copyright. other firms that have taken legal action in china  with varying degrees of success  include yamaha  general motors and toyota.  the problem of piracy is not limited to china  however  and the potential for profit is huge. the european union estimates that the global trade in pirated wares is worth more than 200bn euros a year (£140bn; $258bn)  or about 5% of total world trade. and it is growing. between 1998 and 2002  the number of counterfeit or pirated goods intercepted at the eu s external borders increased by more than 800%  it said. last month the eu said it will start monitoring china  ukraine and russia to ensure they are going after pirated goods. other countries on the eu s hit list include thailand  brazil  south korea and indonesia. any countries that are not making enough of an effort could be dragged to the world trade organisation (wto)  a step that could trigger economic sanctions  the eu warned.


us bank  loses  customer details the bank of america has revealed it has lost computer tapes containing account details of more than one million customers who are us federal employees.  several members of the us senate are among those affected  who could now be vulnerable to identity theft. senate sources say the missing tapes may have been stolen from a plane by baggage handlers. the bank gave no details of how the records disappeared  but said they had probably not been misused. customers  accounts were being monitoring and account holders would be notified if any  unusual activity  was detected  bank officials said.  bank of america said the tapes went missing in december while being shipped to a back-up data centre.  we  with federal law authorities  have done a very robust  thorough investigation on this and neither we nor they would make the statement lightly that we believe those tapes to be lost   alexandra tower  a spokeswoman for the north carolina-based bank  told time magazine. but although there was no evidence of criminal activity  the bank said  the secret service - a federal agency whose brief includes investigations of serious financial crime - is said to be looking into the loss. new york senator charles schumer said he was told by the senate rules committee that the tapes were probably stolen from a commercial plane.  whether it is identity theft  terrorism  or other theft  in this new complicated world baggage handlers should have background checks and more care should be taken for who is hired for these increasingly sensitive positions   the democrat senator said. details of his vermont colleague pat leahy s credit card account are among those missing  senator leahy s spokeswoman tracy schmaler said. about 900 000 military and civilian staff at the defence department are among the 1.2 million affected  according to a pentagon spokesman.


man utd stroll to cup win wayne rooney made a winning return to everton as manchester united cruised into the fa cup quarter-finals.  rooney received a hostile reception  but goals in each half from quinton fortune and cristiano ronaldo silenced the jeers at goodison park. fortune headed home after 23 minutes before ronaldo scored when nigel martyn parried paul scholes  free-kick. marcus bent missed everton s best chance when roy carroll  who was later struck by a missile  saved at his feet.  rooney s return was always going to be a potential flashpoint  and he was involved in an angry exchange with a spectator even before kick-off. and rooney s every touch was met with a deafening chorus of jeers from the crowd that once idolised the 19-year-old. everton started brightly and fortune needed to be alert to scramble away a header from bent near the goal-line. but that was the cue for united to take complete control with a supreme passing display on a goodison park pitch that was cutting up. fortune gave united the lead after 23 minutes  rising to meet ronaldo s cross from eight yards after the portuguese youngster had been allowed too much time and space by the hapless gary naysmith. united dominated without creating too many clear-cut chances  and they almost paid the price for not making the most of their domination two minutes before half-time. mikel arteta played a superb ball into the area but bent  played onside by gabriel heintze  hesitated and carroll plunged at his fee to save. united almost doubled their lead after 48 minutes when ronaldo s low drive from 25 yards took a deflection off tony hibbert  but martyn dived to save brilliantly. and martyn came to everton s rescue three minutes later when rooney s big moment almost arrived as he raced clean through  but once again the veteran keeper was in outstanding form. but there was nothing martyn could do when united doubled their lead after 57 minutes as they doubled their advantage. scholes  free-kick took a deflection  and martyn could only parry the ball out for ronaldo  who reacted first to score easily. everton s problems worsened when james mcfadden limped off with an injury. and there may be further trouble ahead for everton after goalkeeper carroll required treatment after he was struck on the head by a missile thrown from behind the goal. rooney s desperate search for a goal on his return to everton was halted again by martyn in injury-time when he outpaced stubbs  but once again martyn denied the england striker.  - manchester united coach sir alex ferguson:  it was a fantastic performance by us. in fairness i think everton have missed a couple of players and got some young players out.  the boy ronaldo is a fantastic player. he s persistent and never gives in.  i don t know how many fouls he had he gets up and wants the ball again  he s truly a fabulous player.  everton: martyn  hibbert  yobo  stubbs  naysmith  osman  carsley  arteta  kilbane  mcfadden  bent. subs: wright  pistone  weir  plessis  vaughan. manchester united: carroll  gary neville  brown  ferdinand  heinze  ronaldo  phil neville  keane  scholes  fortune  rooney. subs: howard  giggs  smith  miller  spector. referee: r styles (hampshire)


johnson uncertain about euro bid jade johnson is undecided about whether to contest next month s european indoor championships in madrid despite winning the aaas long jump title on saturday.  the 24-year-old delivered a personal best of 6.50m to win the european trials but had to wait until her final jump after four failures.  i don t want to go if i am not going to get a medal   said johnson.  i will have to see how i am jumping in the next competition and i ll have to have a conversation with my coach.  johnson  who finished seventh in last year s olympic games  has not competed indoors since 2000. and the commonwealth and european silver medallist believes her lack of experience in the early part of the season has knocked her confidence.  it s the stress   said johnson.  i am not used to feeling this  this early. i am just used to training.  but if i m doing this kind of thing  then i will have to see how it goes.  johnson next competes in the high-class birmingham grand prix on 18 february.


us budget deficit to reach $368bn the us budget deficit is set to hit a worse-than-expected $368bn (£197bn) this year  officials said on tuesday.  the cost of military operations still needs to be factored in  with analysts saying the deficit could end up a further $100bn in the red. past congressional budget office (cbo) forecasts said there would be a $348bn shortfall in the 2005 fiscal year. in recent months  the dollar has weakened amid market jitters about the size of the budget and trade deficits. in november  the gap between us exports and imports widened to more than $60bn  a record figure. the cbo says it envisages a further  orderly  decline in the greenback over the next two years as the twin deficit drives dollar investors away. but the non-partisan fiscal watchdog notes the declines will help exporters and boost us economic growth.  the budget deficit hit a record $412bn in the 12 months to 30 september 2004  after reaching $377bn in the previous fiscal year. the cbo also forecast a total shortfall of $855bn for the years from 2006 to 2015  an improvement on previous projections. however  analysts say the new figures fail to take into account the potential $2-$3.8 trillion costs of the president s plan to revamp state pensions and extend tax cuts. the figure could also be worsened by any further military costs. republicans have blamed the size of the deficit on slow economic conditions after the 11 september attacks and ongoing military operations in iraq and afghanistan. one of president george w bush s election pledges was to halve the budget deficit within five years. but democrats have accused the president of excluding iraq-related costs from previous budgets to meet the aim of reducing the deficit  a charge which the administration denies. on tuesday  the us administration asked congress for additional funds for military operations.


wilkinson to lead england fly-half jonny wilkinson has been named as england s new rugby union captain for the three november tests.  the 25-year-old newcastle star takes over from lawrence dallaglio  who retired from internationals in august. england s acting head coach andy robinson said:  he is a natural leader  holds the respect of the squad and is a formidable talent on the pitch.  and he consistently demonstrates the energy and commitment i feel is essential to be captain of england.  robinson added:  there are several players in the squad i would feel comfortable in calling upon to be england captain but for me jonny is in every way the right player to take on this challenge.  captaincy offers a challenging environment for any player  especially following in the footsteps of lawrence dallaglio and before him the world cup captain  martin johnson.   but i am confident jonny has what it takes to do an outstanding job as we look ahead towards the next rugby world cup in france and i look forward to working with him.  wilkinson  who has scored 817 points in 52 internationals  kicked the winning drop-goal in the final seconds of extra-time in england s 2003 rugby world cup triumph against australia. but he then missed the entire 2004 six nations campaign while recuperating from shoulder surgery  before making his comeback for newcastle in the zurich premiership in august.  it s the ambition of so many players to one day be captain of england and today i have realised a dream   he said.  i m honoured andy wants me to be his captain  and to follow lawrence and martin means a lot to me as they are inspirational men who have given so much to england rugby over many years.   getting my first england cap against ireland six years ago was something i ll never forget because to play for your country is very special. taking on the captaincy is another important step in my career and i do so with immense pride.  wilkinson made his international debut in the 1998 six nations championship against ireland when he came off the bench to replace paul grayson.  he has been a regular in the england starting line-up ever since  played in all three lions tests in 2001 and all but one of england s games in the 2003 world cup. he becomes the 117th captain of england since fred stokes held the position in 1871. england s first autumn test is against canada on 13 november  followed by the visit of tri-nations champions south africa a week later and then a world cup re-match with australia.


french wine gets 70m euro top-up the french government is to hand its struggling wine industry 70m euros ($91m) in aid to help it battle falling sales and damaging overproduction.  the financial package is aimed at assisting vintners in financial trouble and improving how its wine is marketed. the french wine industry  the world s second largest  has been hit by declining consumption at home and the growing popularity of new world wines. wine makers  however  claimed the support did not go far enough. the package was announced by agriculture minister dominique bussereau after talks with vintners  representatives.  the bulk of the money - about 40m euros - will be offered in the form of preferential loans to heavily indebted producers to enable them to reschedule their payments. a further 15m euros will be made available to wine cooperatives  which make up the majority of french producers  in low interest loans. efforts to promote french wine abroad are to be boosted by an extra 3.5m euros in funding. france fell behind the  new world  producers of australia  chile and the united states for the first time in 2003 in terms of exports.  domestic consumption  accounting for 70% of sales  has suffered from strict restrictions on advertising and tough drink-driving laws.  the aid package would  create a positive climate around french viticulture   mr bussereau said. however  wine makers and farmers said the support was much less than they had been hoping for.  i am afraid the resources are not up to the ambitions   jean-michel lemetayer  from the fnsea agricultural union  told the associated press news agency. in an effort to tackle overcapacity  the government will agree that vines can be destroyed in areas where growers give their unanimous consent  while 500 vintners will be helped to take early retirement. the government will also seek european union approval to distil about 250 million litres of excess wine into alcohol  with vintners receiving compensation. production is currently outstripping demand by about 30%. the support is designed to make french producers more competitive in the face of increasing global consolidation across the wine industry. wine makers in france s best-known regions  such as burgundy  have found it hard to invest in new technology and to create recognisable brands to appeal to overseas buyers.


argonaut founder rebuilds empire jez san  the man behind the argonaut games group which went into administration a week ago  has bought back most of the company.  the veteran games developer has taken over the cambridge-based just add monsters studios and the london subsidiary morpheme. the argonaut group went into administration due to a severe cash crisis  firing about half of its staff. in august it had warned of annual losses of £6m for the year to 31 july.  jez san is one of the key figures in the uk s games industry. the developer  who received an obe in 2002  was estimated to have been worth more than £200m at the peak of the dotcom boom.  he founded argonaut in 1982 and has been behind titles such as 1993 starfox game. more recently it was behind the harry potter games for the playstation. but  like all software developers  argonaut needed a constant flow of deals with publishers. in august it warned of annual losses of £6m  blaming delays in signing new contracts and tough conditions in the software industry. the group s three subsidiaries were placed in administration a week ago  with mr sans resigning as the company s ceo and some 100 staff being fired. after the latest round of cuts  there were 80 workers at argonaut headquarters in edgware in north london  with 17 at its morpheme offices in kentish town  london  and 22 at the just add monsters base in cambridge. mr san has re-emerged  buying back morpheme and just add monsters.  we are pleased to announce the sale of these two businesses as going concerns   said david rubin of administrators david rubin & partners.  this has saved over 40 jobs as well as the substantial employment claims that would have arisen had the sales not been achieved.  mr rubin said the administrators were in talks over the sale of the argonaut software division in edgware and were hopeful of finding a buyer.  this is a very difficult time for all the employees there  but i salute their commitment to the business while we work towards a solution   he said. some former employees are angry at the way cash crisis was handled. one told bbc news online that the staff who had been fired had been  financially ruined in the space of a day .


half-life 2 sweeps bafta awards pc first person shooter half-life 2 has won six bafta awards  including best game and best online game.  the title  developed by valve  was released last year to universal acclaim - receiving special praise for its immersive plot and physics engine. the game also won baftas for best action adventure  best pc game  art direction and animation. burnout 3 won three awards in the categories for racing  technical direction and best playstation 2 game. grant dean  chairman of the bafta games awards  said at a ceremony in london on tuesday:  the last year has been a great year for the interactive entertainment industry.   these awards reflect the enormous achievements  progress and diversity that we have seen in that time.  halo 2 won the best xbox game category  while prince of persia: warrior within was adjudged the best gamecube title. the sports award went to konami s pro evolution soccer 4. bafta said the  significant feature  of this year s awards was the number of  non-traditional games . the originality award was won by playstation 2 title singstar while the children s award went to gamecube bongo rhythm game donkey konga. the handheld award went to colin mcrae rally 2005 while the mobile category was won by blue tooth byplanes. the audio award was won by call of duty: finest hour and hitman: contracts won the music award.


xbox power cable  fire fear  microsoft has said it will replace more than 14 million power cables for its xbox consoles due to safety concerns.  the company said the move was a  preventative step  after reports of fire hazard problems with the cables. it affects xboxes made before 23 october 2003 for all regions but mainland europe - and consoles in that region made before 13 january 2004. microsoft said it had received 30 reports of minor injury or property damage due to faulty cables. the firm said fewer than one in 10 000 consoles had experienced component failures. the recall affects almost three quarters of all xboxes sold around the world since its launch in 2001.  in a statement  it added:  in almost all instances  any damage caused by these failures was contained within the console itself or limited to the tip of the power cord at the back of the console.  but in seven cases  customers reported sustaining a minor burn to their hand. in 23 cases  customers reported smoke damage  or minor damage to a carpet or entertainment centre.  this is a preventative step we re choosing to take despite the rarity of these incidents   said robbie bach  senior vice president  microsoft home and entertainment division.  we regret the inconvenience  but believe offering consumers a free replacement cord is the responsible thing to do.  consumers can order a new cable from the xbox website or by telephoning 0800 028 9276 in the uk. microsoft said customers would get replacement cords within two to four weeks from the time of order. it advised users to turn off their xboxes when not in use. a follow-up to xbox is expected to released at the end of this year or the beginning of 2006.


prop jones ready for hard graft adam jones says the wales forwards are determined to set the perfect attacking platform for the backs by dominating the powerful france pack in paris.  the prop said:  if we get stuffed in the front five our backs have had it.  the mentality of the french is  scrum  scrum  scrum . we will see how good france are and the scrum is the key.  i just hope [the backs] carry on where they left off against italy. it s just up to us in the forwards to win the ball and give them the opportunity.  wales have won two of their last three visits to stade de france  having secured back-to-back wins under graham henry in 1999 and 2001. and with the likes of shane williams and gavin henson finding top form at the right time  mike ruddock s team is now one of international rugby s most potent attacking threats.  gavin is ridiculously talented. he has been bouncing around the place this week  so he is up for it   warned jones.  france have been criticised for their uncharacteristic one-dimensional play in their victories over scotland and france. captain fabien pelous has acknowledged his side needs to show more attacking flair  but stressed the game with be won or lost up front. the lock believes the welsh forwards are not big enough to trouble his side in the scrum or line-out  but jones insisted his fellow front-row colleagues have nothing to fear.   gethin [jenkins] won t be intimidated tomorrow  none of us will   said jones  who will be facing france for the first time.  we will go out there and front up and hopefully get the ball out to the backs.  me and gethin are quite young so it is good to have someone of mefin s experience in there.  mefin is a good thinker who puts things across. but what is the saying  if you are good enough you are old enough and gethin certainly is.  he is a really good player and i imagine he will be on the lions tour [to new zealand this summer].


navratilova hits out at critics martina navratilova has defended her decision to prolong her tennis career at the age of 48.  navratilova  who made a comeback after retiring in 1994  will play doubles and mixed doubles events in 2005.  women s tennis is really strong   she said  dismissing suggestions that the fact she could still win reflected badly on the women s game.  all i can say is i m that damn good. i m sorry but i really have to blow my own horn here. i m still that good.  navratilova has won three grand slam mixed doubles titles since she came out of retirement. and she was so encouraged by her form that she decided to resume playing singles  winning two of her seven matches. she was knocked out in the first round of the french open but reached the second round at wimbledon. navratilova will partner nathalie dechy in the doubles event at the uncle toby s hardcourts tournament on australia s gold coast  which begins on sunday. she will then link up with daniela hantuchova for the australian open doubles  and play in the mixed doubles with leander paes.  i might be playing some singles events this season  depending on the surface   she added.


federer forced to dig deep top seed roger federer had to save two match points before squeezing past juan carlos ferrero at the dubai open.  the world number one took two hours 15 minutes to earn his 4-6 6-3 7-6 victory  saving match points at 6-4 in the tiebreak before claiming it 8-6. federer made a number of unforced errors early on  allowing ferrero to take advantage and claim the first set. but the swiss star hit back to reach the quarter-finals  where he will face seventh seed russian mikhail youzhny. the russian beat germany s rainer schuettler 7-5 6-4. federer was not unduly worried despite being taken to three sets for the third consecutive match. the world number one was forced to go the distance against ivan ljubicic in the rotterdam final and against ivo minar in the first round in dubai.  i definitely had a slow start again and to come back every time is quite an effort   he said.  i haven t been playing well  but i ve been coming through. i m winning the crucial points and that shows i m on top of my game when i have to be.


when technology gets personal in 2020  whipping out your mobile phone to make a call will be quaintly passé. by then phones will be printed directly on to wrists  or other parts of the body  says ian pearson  bt s resident futurologist.  it s all part of what s known as a  pervasive ambient world   where  chips are everywhere . mr pearson does not have a crystal ball. his job is to formulate ideas based on what science and technology are doing now  to guide industries into the future. inanimate objects will start to interact with us: we will be surrounded - on streets  in homes  in appliances  on our bodies and possibly in our heads - by things that  think . forget local area networks - these will be body area networks. ideas about just how smart  small  or even invisible  technology will get are always floating around. images of devices clumsily bolted on to heads or wrists have pervaded thinking about future technology. but now a new vision is surfacing  where smart fabrics and textiles will be exploited to enhance functionality  form  or aesthetics. such materials are already starting to change how gadgets and electronics are used and designed.  so mp3 players - the mass gadget of the moment - will disappear and instead become integrated into one s clothing  says mr pearson.  so the gadgets that fill up your handbag  when we integrate those into fabric  we can actually get rid of all that stuff. you won t necessarily see the electronics.  wearable technology could exploit body heat to charge it up  while  video tattoos   or intelligent electronic contact lenses  might function as tv screens for those on the move. however  this future of highly personal devices  where technology is worn  or even fuses with the body itself  raises ethical questions. if technology is going to be increasingly part of clothing  jewellery  and skin  there needs to be some serious thinking about what it means for us as humans  says baroness susan greenfield. at a recent conference for technology  engineering  academic and fashion industry experts  at the royal society in london  neuroscientist baroness greenfield cautioned we  can t just sleepwalk into the future .  yet this technology is already upon us. researchers have developed computers and sensors worn in clothing. mp3 jackets  based on the idea that electrically conductive fabric can connect to keyboard sewn into sleeves  have already appeared in shops.  these  smart fabrics  have come about through advances in nano- and micro-engineering - the ability to manipulate and exploit materials at micro or molecular scale. at the nanoscale  materials can be  tuned  to display unusual properties that can be exploited to build faster  lighter  stronger and more efficient devices and systems. the textile and clothing industry has been one of the first to exploit nanotechnology in quite straightforward ways. many developments are appearing in real products in the fields of medicine  defence  healthcare  sports  and communications. professional swimming suits reduce drag by incorporating tiny structures similar to shark skin. nanoscale titanium dioxide (tio2) coatings give fabrics antibacterial and anti-odour properties. these have special properties which can be activated in contact with the air or uv light. such coatings have already been used to stop socks smelling for instance  to turn airline seats into super stain-resistant surfaces  and applied to windows so they clean themselves. dressings for wounds can now incorporate nanoparticles with biocidal properties and smart patches are being developed to deliver drugs through the skin. but baroness greenfield is concerned about how far this more personal contact with technology might affect our very being. if our clothing  skin  and  personal body networks  do the talking and the monitoring  everywhere we go  we have to think about what that means for our concept of privacy. mr pearson picks up the theme  pointing out there are a lot of issues humans have to iron out before we become  cyborgian . his main concern is  privacy .  we are looking at electronics which are really in deep contact with your body and a lot of that information you really don t want every passer-by to know.  so we have to make sure we build security in this. if you are wearing smart make-up  where electronics are controlling the appearance  you don t want people hacking in and writing messages on your forehead.  as technology infiltrates our biology  how will our brains function differently   we cannot arrogantly assume that the human brain will not change with this   warns baroness greenfield. there have already been successful experiments to grow human nerve cells on circuit boards. this paves the way for brain implants to help paralysed people interface directly with computers. clearly  the organic  carbon of our bodies and silicon is increasingly merging. the cyborg - a very familiar part-human  part-inorganic science fiction and academic idea - is on its way.


high fuel costs hit us airlines two of the largest airlines in the us - american and southwest - have blamed record fuel prices for their disappointing quarterly results.  american airlines  parent amr reported a loss of $387m (£206m) for the fourth quarter of 2004  against a $111m loss for the same period a year earlier. meanwhile  southwest airlines saw its fourth-quarter 2004 profits fall 15% to $56m  against $66m a year earlier. both said high fuel bills would continue to pressure revenues in 2005. american  the world s biggest airline by some measures  said it expected to report a loss for the first quarter of 2005. southwest  which has the highest market value of any us carrier  said it would remain profitable despite high fuel prices.  amr s shares were flat in wednesday morning trading on the new york stock exchange  as the results were slightly better than analysts had anticipated. amr s chief executive gerard arpey said the airline s difficulties reflected the situation within the industry.  amr s results for the fourth quarter of 2004 reflect the economic woes that plagued the airline industry throughout 2004 - in particular  high fuel prices and a tough revenue environment   he said. for the full year  amr posted a loss of $761m  lower than 2003 s $1.2bn loss and an indication that the airline has successfully cut costs. amr added that as part of its cost cutting measures  it is postponing the delivery of 54 boeing jets. shares in southwest fell 65 cents to $14.35 as analysts voiced their disappointment.  the results came in below our already conservative estimate for the quarter   said ray neidl  an analyst at calyon securities. both american and southwest have been squeezed by cut-throat competition in the us airline industry  as a glut of available seats has led to fierce price reductions.


uk economy ends year with spurt the uk economy grew by an estimated 3.1% in 2004 after accelerating in the last quarter of the year  says the office for national statistics (ons).  the figure is in line with treasury and bank of england forecasts. the ons says gross domestic product (gdp) rose by a strong 0.7% in the three months to 31 december  compared with 0.5% in the previous quarter. the rise came despite a further decline in production output and the worst christmas for retailers in decades.  the annual figure marked out the best year since 2000  and was also well ahead of the 2.2% recorded in 2003. growth in the final three months of 2004 marked the 50th consecutive quarter of expansion.  on the basis of the latest information the uk has entered 2005 on course to continue its record period of growth   said paul boateng  chief secretary to the treasury in a statement.  the ons said the services sector  which accounts for nearly three-quarters of the uk economy  grew 1.0% in the quarter. the strong services figure was welcomed by analysts  given lacklustre retail sales in december and across the christmas holiday period.  the fact that other services components are doing so well suggests to me that we are back to trend (growth) and i am not particularly concerned about any further slowdown   said ross walker  uk economist at rbs financial markets.  however  output in the production sector contracted 0.5%  the second quarterly fall in row and a state of affairs that some economists classify as a recession. however the ons would not comment on the definition of a recession and whether the manufacturing recovery was over. but steve radley  chief economist at the manufacturers  organisation eef  said:  these figures remain at odds with what is actually happening on the ground.  whilst companies may be experiencing tougher conditions this year   recession  is not a word that manufacturers would currently recognise.  the ons said a sharp fall in mining and quarrying  which was driven by oil and gas extraction  was primarily responsible for the overall contraction in manufacturing production figures.  simon rubinsohn  chief economist at gerrard  said:  this outturn (of 0.7%) was well ahead of the market expectations and cast doubt on the scare stories doing the rounds surrounding the current state of the uk economy.  and he said the gdp figures may help to  push interest rate expectations a little higher along the curve .  the suggestion from the money markets is that the next move is now more likely to be in an upward rather than a downward direction. this is consistent with our own thinking   said mr rubinsohn. the bank of england s nine-strong rate-setting committee voted unanimously earlier this month to keep interest rates steady at 4.75%  minutes of the meeting showed on wednesday.


card fraudsters  targeting web  new safeguards on credit and debit card payments in shops has led fraudsters to focus on internet and phone payments  an anti-fraud agency has said.  anti-fraud consultancy retail decisions says  card-not-present  fraud  where goods are paid for online or by phone  has risen since the start of 2005. the introduction of  chip and pin  cards has tightened security for transactions on the high street. but the clampdown has caused fraudsters to change tack  retail decisions said.  the introduction of chip and pin cards aimed to cut down on credit card fraud in stores by asking shoppers to verify their identity with a confidential personal pin number  instead of a signature. retail decisions chief executive carl clump told the bbc that there was  no doubt  that chip and pin would  reduce card fraud in the card-present environment .  however  it is important to monitor what happens in the card-not-present environment as fraudsters will turn their attention to the internet  mail order  telephone order and interactive tv   he said.  we have seen a 22% uplift in card-not-present fraud here in the uk... since the start of the year.  fraud doesn t just disappear  it mutates to the next weakest link in the chain   he said.  retail decisions  survey on the implementation of chip and pin found that shoppers had adapted easily to the new system  but that banks  performance in distributing the new cards had been patchy  at best.  the main issue is that not everyone has the pins they need   said mr clump. nearly two thirds - 65% - of the 1 000 people interviewed said they had used chip and pin to make payments. of these  83% were happy with the experience  though nearly a quarter said they struggled to remember their pin number. however  only 34% said they had received replacement cards with the necessary  chip  technology from all their card providers. furthermore  16% said that none of their cards had been replaced  while 30% said only some had. uk shoppers spent £5.3bn on plastic cards in 2003  the last full year for which figures are available from the association of payment clearing services (apacs). altogether  card scams on uk-issued cards totalled £402.4m in 2003. card-not-present fraud rose an annual 6% to £116.4m  making it the biggest category even then. within this  internet fraud totalled £43m  apacs  figures show.


s korean consumers spending again south korea looks set to sustain its revival thanks to renewed private consumption  its central bank says.  the country s economy has suffered from an overhang of personal debt after its consumers  credit card spending spree. card use fell sharply last year  but is now picking up again with a rise in spending of 14.8% year-on-year.  the economy is now heading upward rather than downward   said central bank governor park seung.  the worst seems to have passed.  mr park s statement came as the bank decided to keep interest rates at an all-time low of 3.25%. it had cut rates in november to help revive the economy  but rising inflation - reaching 0.7% month-on-month in january - has stopped it from cutting further. economic growth in 2004 was about 4.7%  with the central bank predicting 4% growth this year. other indicators are also suggesting that the country is inching back towards economic health. exports - traditionally the driver for expansion in asian economies - grew slower in january than at any time in 17 months. but domestic demand seems to be taking up the slack. consumer confidence has bounced back from a four-year low in january  and retail sales were up 2.1% in december. credit card debt is falling  with only one in 13 of the 48 million cards now in default - down from one in eight at the end of 2003. one of its biggest card issuers  lg card  was rescued from collapse in december  having almost imploded under the weight of its customers  bad debts. the government last year tightened the rules for card lending to keep the card glut under control.


hamm bows out for us women s football legend mia hamm has played her final game.  hamm  32  who officially retired after this year s athens olympics  took to the field for the last time to help the us claim a 5-0 win over mexico. hamm ends her career as the most prolific scorer - male or female - in international football  with 158 goals in 276 games for the us. she was twice fifa women s player of the year and won the world cup in 1991 and 1999 and two olympic golds. on her retirement  hamm said:  there are mixed emotions. there are things in your life that you have had to put on the back-burner and you can focus more time and energy on that now.  i have to see what is out there and not commit to everything at the beginning.  the friendly also saw the end of julie foudy and joy fawcett s us careers. hamm will now embark on a new life with husband  chicago cubs shortstop nomar garciaparra  who was in the stands to watch her final game. he has just agreed a new deal with the cubs after joining them in july.


venus stunned by farina elia venus williams suffered a first-round defeat for the first time in four years at the dubai championships.  sylvia farina elia  who had lost all nine of her previous meetings with the american fifth seed  won 7-5 7-6 (8-6). former wimbledon champion conchita martinez and india s sania mirza  the oldest and youngest players in the draw  also reached the second round. martinez  32  beat shinobu asagoe 6-4 6-4 and 18-year-old mirza beat jelena kostanic 6-7 (7-2) 6-4 6-1. mirza  the first indian woman to win a wta tour title this month on home ground at hyderabad  will now face us open champion svetlana kuznetsova.  but she is remaining confident.  she (kuznetsova) is a great player   she said.  but everyone is beatable and i am looking forward to a great match.  williams though blamed her defeat by farina elia on injuries.  blisters were a factor  but mostly my stomach wasn t that great   she said.  i did it in the last tournament in the semi-finals  and i was serving at 40% in the final.  the first time i served again was sunday and there wasn t a lot i could do out there. when your serve isn t good it throws the rest of your game off too.  she will wait to see how she recovers before deciding whether to take part in the nasdaq-100 open in miami  starting on 21 march.