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broadband challenges tv viewing the number of europeans with broadband has exploded over the past 12 months with the web eating into tv viewing habits research suggests. just over 54 million people are hooked up to the net via broadband up from 34 million a year ago according to market analysts nielsen/netratings. the total number of people online in europe has broken the 100 million mark. the popularity of the net has meant that many are turning away from tv say analysts jupiter research. it found that a quarter of web users said they spent less time watching tv in favour of the net the report by nielsen/netratings found that the number of people with fast internet access had risen by 60% over the past year. the biggest jump was in italy where it rose by 120%. britain was close behind with broadband users almost doubling in a year. the growth has been fuelled by lower prices and a wider choice of always-on fast-net subscription plans. twelve months ago high speed internet users made up just over one third of the audience in europe; now they are more than 50% and we expect this number to keep growing said gabrielle prior nielsen/netratings analyst. as the number of high-speed surfers grows websites will need to adapt update and enhance their content to retain their visitors and encourage new ones. the total number of europeans online rose by 12% to 100 million over the past year the report showed with the biggest rise in france italy britain and germany. the ability to browse web pages at high speed download files such as music or films and play online games is changing what people do in their spare time. a study by analysts jupiter research suggested that broadband was challenging television viewing habits. in homes with broadband 40% said they were spending less time watching tv. the threat to tv was greatest in countries where broadband was on the up in particular the uk france and spain said the report. it said tv companies faced a major long-term threat over the next five years with broadband predicted to grow from 19% to 37% of households by 2009. year-on-year we are continuing to see a seismic shift in where when and how europe s population consume media for information and entertainment and this has big implications for tv newspaper and radio said jupiter research analyst olivier beauvillian.

gardener wins double in glasgow britain s jason gardener enjoyed a double 60m success in glasgow in his first competitive outing since he won 100m relay gold at the athens olympics. gardener cruised home ahead of scot nick smith to win the invitational race at the norwich union international. he then recovered from a poor start in the second race to beat swede daniel persson and italy s luca verdecchia. his times of 6.61 and 6.62 seconds were well short of american maurice greene s 60m world record of 6.39secs from 1998. it s a very hard record to break but i believe i ve trained very well said the world indoor champion who hopes to get closer to the mark this season. it was important to come out and make sure i got maximum points. my last race was the olympic final and there was a lot of expectation. this was just what i needed to sharpen up and get some race fitness. i m very excited about the next couple of months. double olympic champion marked her first appearance on home soil since winning 1500m and 800m gold in athens with a victory. there was a third success for britain when edged out russia s olga fedorova and sweden s jenny kallur to win the women s 60m race in 7.23secs. maduaka was unable to repeat the feat in the 200m finishing down in fourth as took the win for russia. and the 31-year-old also missed out on a podium place in the 4x200m relay as the british quartet came in fourth with russia setting a new world indoor record. there was a setback for jade johnson as she suffered a recurrence of her back injury in the long jump. russia won the meeting with a final total of 63 points with britain second on 48 and france one point behind in third. led the way for russia by producing a major shock in the high jump as he beat olympic champion stefan holm into second place to end the swede s 22-event unbeaten record. won the triple jump with a leap of 16.87m with britain s tosin oke fourth in 15.80m. won the men s pole vault competition with a clearance of 5.65m with britain s nick buckfield 51cm adrift of his personal best in third. and won the women s 800m with britain s jenny meadows third. there was yet another russian victory in the women s 400m as finished well clear of britain s catherine murphy. chris lambert had to settle for fourth after fading in the closing stages of the men s 200m race as sweden s held off leslie djhone of france. france s won the men s 400m with brett rund fourth for britain. took victory for sweden in the women s 60m hurdles ahead of russia s irina shevchenko and britain s sarah claxton who set a new personal best. italy grabbed their first victory in the men s 1500m as kicked over the last 200 metres to hold off britain s james thie and france s alexis abraham. a botched changeover in the 4x200m relay cost britain s men the chance to add further points as france claimed victory.

rap boss arrested over drug find rap mogul marion suge knight has been arrested for violating his parole after he was allegedly found with marijuana. he was arrested in barstow california on saturday following an alleged traffic offence. he is expected to be transferred to a state prison while a decision is made on whether he should be released. mr knight founder of death row records served a 10-month jail term in 2004 for punching a man while on parole for an assault conviction. police said mr knight was stopped on saturday after performing an illegal u-turn and a search of his car allegedly found marijuana. he is also accused of not having insurance. a 18-year-old woman in the car was arrested for providing false information and having a fake id card. she was later released. it was his second alleged violation having previously served half of a nine-year sentence for breaking the terms of his parole. mr knight 39 was jailed in october 1996 following his involvement in a fight with a rival gang just hours before rapper tupac shakur was killed in a las vegas drive-by shooting. he was driving shakur s car at the time and was shot in the head. at the time he was on probation for assaulting two musicians. mr knight a former bodyguard set up death row records in the early 1990s with shakur and dr dre among his protegees. but the label has always been dogged by allegations it supports gang culture and fuels the east and west coast rap rivalry.

amnesty chief laments war failure the lack of public outrage about the war on terror is a powerful indictment of the failure of human rights groups amnesty international s chief has said. in a lecture at the london school of economics irene khan said human rights had been flouted in the name of security since 11 september 2001. she said the human rights movement had to use simpler language both to prevent scepticism and spread a moral message. and it had to fight poverty not just focus on political rights for elites. ms khan highlighted detentions without trial including those at the us camp at guantanamo bay in cuba and the abuse of prisoners as evidence of increasing human rights problems. what s a new challenge is the way in which this age-old debate on security and human rights has been translated into the language of war she said. by using the language of war human rights are being sidelined because we know human rights do not apply in times of war. ms khan said such breaches were infectious and were now seen in almost very major country in the world. the human rights movement faces a crisis of faith in the value of human rights she said. that was accompanied by a crisis of governance where the united nations system did not seem able to hold countries to account. the amnesty secretary-general said a growing gap between the perceived influence of human rights group and what they could actually achieve was fuelling scepticism. public passivity on the war against terror is the single most powerful indictment on the failures of human rights groups she said. ms khan said the movement had failed to mobilise public outrage about what was happening to the human rights system. there needed to be a drive to use simpler language talking about the basic morality of the issues rather than the complexity of legal processes. such efforts could make the issues more relevant to people across the world she said. the human rights groups also had to recognise there were new groups which had to be tackled in new ways as power dripped away from state governments. al-qaeda for example was not going to be impressed by a traditional amnesty letter writing campaign. more also needed to be done to develop a human rights framework for international business corporations. amnesty international members voted in 2001 to extend the organisation s work from political and civil rights to cover social and economic rights too. ms khan said the human rights movement would make itself irrelevant if it turned away from the suffering caused by economic strife. we would be an elitist bunch working for the elites for those who cannot read the newspaper of their choice rather than those who cannot read she said. despite her concerns ms khan dubbed herself a hope-monger saying she was confident the passions of the human rights movement could overcome the new challenges.

player burn-out worries robinson england coach andy robinson says english rugby has to act now to prevent injury destroying players careers. he will be without a host of big names for the six nations as the intensity of professional rugby union hits players. injuries are part of the sport but we have to have a look at the amount of injuries that occur in the english season robinson told bbc sport. i think players are probably going to have three or four years taken off their careers. robinson will be missing an entire midfield for the six nations with the likes of jonny wilkinson mike tindall and will greenwood injured. rugby union has become far more physically demanding since the game went professional nearly 10 years ago. as a result three of the major stakeholders in english rugby have launched an injury audit to find out how players are coping. the audit is jointly funded by the professional rugby players association the rugby football union and premier rugby. as far as robinson is concerned its findings must not be ignored. i think there s an injury audit coming out in march that s got some great information in there that i think everybody in the english game has got to look at he said. if we don t the situation is going to get worse and not better so i think rugby as a whole has got to look at this.

hanks greeted at wintry premiere hollywood star tom hanks was in london s leicester square for the uk premiere of polar express. the west end landmark was turned into a festive landscape complete with snow and carol singers to celebrate the arrival of the animated film. this is leicester square like you ve never seen it before said hanks who plays five roles in the movie. polar express is based on a children s book which tells the story of a young boy s journey to meet santa claus. the 48-year-old actor crossed a three-metre high bridge built in the square which he said was almost impossible to get across . hundreds of fans greeted the star all wearing santa hats and mince pies were on offer. hanks said that the new film has an elegant message . christmas is a special time of the year and you get out of it what you put into it added the two-time academy award winner. i believe in the spirit of christmas and i think that s embodied in santa claus he said. polar express uses technology similar to that used in lord of the rings to bring gollum to life. the performance capture technique enables hanks to play a number of roles including the eight-year-old boy who is at the centre of the story and father christmas. it is directed by robert zemeckis who has previously worked with hanks on forrest gump and castaway.

hearts of oak 3-2 cotonsport hearts of oak set up an all ghanaian confederation cup final with a 3-2 win over cameroon s cotonsport garoua in accra on sunday. the win for hearts means they will play asante kotoko in the two-leg final after the kumasi team qualified from group a on saturday. in the other group b game cameroon s beat of south africa 3-2 in douala neither side could have qualified for the final. hearts of oak started the game needing a win to qualify for the final while cotonsport only needed to avoid defeat to go through. louis agyemang scored the first two goals for hearts either side of half time before ben don bortey scored the third. hearts looked set for a comfortable win but cotonsport staged a late fight back scoring twice late on. first of all boukar makaji scored in the 89th minute and then 3 minutes into injury time at the end of the game andre nzame iii was on target. but it was too little too late for the cameroonians and hearts held on to win the game and a place in the final. the first leg of the final will be played in accra on the weekend of 27-28 november and the second leg two weeks later on the 11 december in kumasi. in the other group b game cameroon s sable batie took the lead in the 35th minute through kemadjou before santos equalised on the hour mark thanks to thokozani xaba . bernard ngom put sable ahead just five minutes later and then ernest nfor settled the game on 68 minutes. ruben cloete scored the south african sides consolation with just three minutes left on the clock.

redford s vision of sundance despite sporting a corduroy cap pulled low over his face plus a pair of dark glasses robert redford cuts an unmistakable figure through the star-struck crowds at sundance. it s a rare downtown appearance for the man who started the annual festival in park city utah back in the 1980s. now in its twenty-first year sundance continues to grow. some 45 000 people are estimated to have descended on this small ski town with nothing but movies on the mind. it s an opportunity to meet and make deals. redford wanted sundance to be a platform for independent film-makers but the commercial success of many showcased films have led to criticism that the festival is becoming too mainstream. smaller festivals like slamdance and xdance which take place during the same week in park city are competing for sundance s limelight. but redford is not worried. the more the merrier he says. the point was to create opportunities for people who may not have them. once independent film had a place where the work could be seen suddenly the merchants came. with them the celebrities came then the paparazzi - and suddenly it began to take on a whole new tone explains redford. people started to say we had gone mainstream and hollywood but actually hollywood came to us because suddenly there was good business in independent film he adds. international film-makers have always been celebrated here but 2005 is the first year a dedicated world dramatic and documentary competition is being held. redford wants the festival to encompass viewpoints he believes the american media fails to reflect particularly how the us is perceived internationally. he has never hidden the fact that he is a democrat. but he reserves particular disdain for the current republican administration. it s the ability to maintain the importance of dissent in a democratic system which right now is under threat with the attitude of this administration he says. i think many voices are being shut down or accused of being unpatriotic if they want to express another point of view. that s very unhealthy and very dangerous. if we take that policy into the world there will be the same victims and the same consequences. sundance isn t just one big screening. there are discussion panels and q&a sessions with directors tackling controversial topics like america s culture wars and the iraq war. while redford wishes the festival to be a forum for dissent the profile of the audience is fairly monolithic. educated middle class and predominantly white americans comes sundance with views from the same end of the political spectrum - anti-war and socially liberal. but redford knows this and started the sundance tv channel in an effort to reach a wider audience. when you look at the films here what we are presenting is very much egalitarian. and it s about good films and good story-telling be it african america asian women gay lesbian. sooner or later we will do away with those stereotypical labels and people will say it s just a film by so-and so .

sir paul rocks super bowl crowds sir paul mccartney wowed fans with a live mini-concert at american football s super bowl - and avoided any janet jackson-style controversies. the 62-year-old sang hey jude and other beatles songs in a 12-minute set at half-time during the game in florida. last year jackson exposed a breast during a dance routine causing outrage among millions of tv viewers and landing the cbs tv network a fine. sir paul however did nothing more racy than remove his jacket as he sang. organisers were widely considered to be playing it safe this year by booking 62-year-old sir paul for his second super bowl show. three years ago he was invited to perform at the first super bowl after the september 11 attacks and performed his specially-written song freedom. this time he started off the show at the alltel stadium in jacksonville florida with the beatles numbers drive my car and get back. he then performed a mellow version of live and let die the james bond theme he recorded with the band wings. finally he closed the show with a rousing version of hey jude. the former beatle resisted any temptation to refer to janet jackson s headline-grabbing performance last year instead keeping banter between songs to a minimum in order to squeeze as much music as he could into his slot. the singer removed his black jacket halfway through the show - but any fans hoping for a second nipple-gate were to be disappointed as he kept his red sweatshirt on underneath. earlier the black eyed peas and alicia keys had provided the night s other high-profile entertainment by performing in a pre-game show. black eyed peas singer fergie was dressed in a tight orange top and purple hotpants but nothing in her performance was likely to upset tv watchdogs. after the controversy last year - which saw cbs fined a record $550 000 (£292 000) by federal regulators - super bowl organisers had turned to producer don mischer to oversee this year s half-time show. his previous production credits included olympic opening and closing ceremonies. the super bowl is watched by an audience of 144.4 million in the us with many of the people watching are said to tune in specifically to see the entertainment put on around the event. michael jackson aerosmith diana ross gloria estefan and phil collins are among the stars who have previously graced the super bowl stage.

mauresmo opens with victory in la amelie mauresmo and maria sharapova won their opening matches at the tour championships in los angeles. france s mauresmo routed vera zvonareva 6-1 6-0 while wimbledon champion sharapova was a 6-1 6-4 winner over fellow russian svetlana kuznetsova. american serena williams also won edging russian elena dementieva 7-6 7-5 for her second victory of the event. the event is split into two groups of four with the top two from each advancing to the semi-finals. mauresmo s win was her ninth in a row as she tries to overtake lindsay davenport for the number one spot. mauresmo spent five weeks at number one after the us open before injury ushered davenport back in front. since then i feel very confident on court and my game is there. i want to get the ranking back but it s very different than before i was number one. it was an obsession but now i take it in a relaxed way. mauresmo completed her first match in the season-ending championship in 54 minutes as russia s zvonareva struggled to return her serve and failed to achieve a single break point. she got mad a little bit and i played some great tennis said mauresmo who was runner-up to kim clijsters in last year s final. zvonareva has lost both her games so far having crashed 6-2 6-4 kuznetsova in the staples centre on wednesday. sometimes not everything works she said. it was lots of pressure. maybe that is why i couldn t do 100%. but i was fighting. sharapova who lost 6-2 6-2 to kuznetsova in beijing in september said: in beijing she was coming off such a big winning streak [14 matches] and she was unstoppable. this time it was important to start off well and put some pressure on her. the tournament debutant added: i love it here. the atmosphere is great. to be here where the lakers play you just feel that excitement. i love basketball. williams admitted she is still some way off her best form but remained positive after two wins in two days. it s hard to go out there and get it right but i m fighting and i m hoping said williams. what makes me happy is the effort. i had a really good effort today. i m trying to add new dimensions to my game.

india to deport bollywood actress india has ordered the deportation of iranian-born model and actress negar khan to norway after saying she was working illegally on her visa. khan has had raunchy roles in music videos and bollywood films over the past two years. the distressed actress told media she was being driven straight to the airport after a routine appointment at the bombay immigration office. immigration officials said she had been warned about her visa last year. khan told an indian news channel on her mobile phone: they are not even letting me go home to get my bags. i have no clothes or money on me. they did not give me any notice. i don t know why they are taking me away like this. there is nothing wrong with my visa. it says i work here... they are not allowing me to even call a lawyer. bipin bihari deputy police chief in bombay said khan was being sent back to norway from which she holds a passport on the first available flight. she was on a visitor s visa but she has engaged in several commercial ventures he said. we issued notices last year in view of which she had gone back to norway but she has returned again this year to work. one of khan s biggest successes was the steamy hindi song chadti jawani (rising youth). khan was involved in controversy when topless photos alleged to be of her appeared in a norwegian magazine.

fosters buys stake in winemaker australian brewer fosters has bought a large stake in australian winemaker southcorp sparking rumours of a possible takeover. fosters bought 18.8% of southcorp the global winemaker behind the penfolds lindemans and rosemount brands for 4.17 australian dollars per share. a bid at that price would value the company at a$3.1bn ($2.4bn; £1.25bn ). fosters said it was currently in discussions which may lead to a major corporate announcement . in a separate statement southcorp confirmed the brewer had asked for talks. both firms asked the sydney stock market to suspend trading in their shares until monday. southcorp s shares were suspended at a$4.25. fosters bought the 18.8% stake from reline investments the family investment firm for the oatleys who founded the rosemount estates label and sold it to southcorp in 2001. robert oatley and his son sandy oatley have both resigned from southcorp s board following the share deal. southcorp employs 2 700 people and is the largest single investor in rural australia according to its website. the prospect of fosters launching a major acquisition startled investors as the brewer said last summer that it was not looking to expand through a big buy in the near future. it has cash available after getting a$846m from selling property business lensworth but it has been widely expected to return cash to shareholders. people will scratching their heads over this one. fosters has done a back-flip said shawn burns a fund manger at deutsche asset management. southcorp s shares have risen in recent months on speculation that it could become a takeover target. it spent two years in the red returning to profit in 2004. consolidation in the wine industry is being driven by constellation the world s biggest winemaker. it seized the top spot when it bought australian firm brl hardy for just over $1bn in 2003. since then it has paid $1bn for us wine maker robert mondavi bought last month. fosters main wine business is beringer blass wine estate. its best known brand is fosters lager though it makes a clutch of beer brands and spirits. analysts were divided on thursday about whether fosters was more likely to go for a takeover or merely wanted to take a big enough chunk of southcorp to prevent it falling to a rival. currently i think the strategic position is more sensible rather than an outright takeover said one analyst quoted by the agence france presse news agency. however matt williams a fund manager at perpetual trustees said taking the stake is definitely a precursor to a takeover .

mutant book wins guardian prize a book about the evolution of mutants and the science of abnormality has won the guardian first book award 2004. armand marie leroi a lecturer at london s imperial college scooped the £10 000 prize for mutants: on the form varieties and errors of the human body. it is profoundly cultured and beautifully written in the very best tradition of popular science writing today said judge claire armistead. the award recognises and rewards new writing across fiction and non-fiction. a panel of literary experts including novelists hari kunzru and ali smith director sir richard eyre and comedian alexei sayle chose the winner from a five-strong shortlist. the shortlist included susanna clarke s jonathan strange and mr norrell a novel about the magic arts at the turn of the 19th century and the places in between rory stewart s account of his trek on foot across afghanistan. what we found so impressive about armand marie leroi s book was the scope of its reference its elegance and its inquisitiveness said ms armistead chair of the judges and the guardian literary editor. while the subject matter of mutants unsettled some involved in the judging process the overwhelming majority found it fascinating she added. her words were echoed by iris director sir richard eyre who called marie leroi s work extraordinarily thought provoking . the award for first time authors is open to books from genres including fiction poetry biography memoir history politics science and current affairs. previous winners include white teeth by zadie smith in 2000 which went on to become a bestseller.

jp morgan admits us slavery links thousands of slaves were accepted as collateral for loans by two banks that later became part of jp morgan chase. the admission is part of an apology sent to jp morgan staff after the bank researched its links to slavery in order to meet legislation in chicago. citizens bank and canal bank are the two lenders that were identified. they are now closed but were linked to bank one which jp morgan bought last year. about 13 000 slaves were used as loan collateral between 1831 and 1865. because of defaults by plantation owners citizens and canal ended up owning about 1 250 slaves. we all know slavery existed in our country but it is quite different to see how our history and the institution of slavery were intertwined jp morgan chief executive william harrison and chief operating officer james dimon said in the letter. slavery was tragically ingrained in american society but that is no excuse. we apologise to the african-american community particularly those who are descendants of slaves and to the rest of the american public for the role that citizens bank and canal bank played. the slavery era was a tragic time in us history and in our company s history. jp morgan said that it was setting up a $5m scholarship programme for students living in louisiana the state where the events took place. the bank said that it is a very different company than the citizens and canal banks of the 1800s .

aids and climate top davos agenda climate change and the fight against aids are leading the list of concerns for the first day of the world economic forum in the swiss resort of davos. some 2 000 business and political leaders from around the globe will listen to uk prime minister tony blair s opening speech on wednesday. mr blair will focus on africa s development plans and global warming. earlier in the day came an update on efforts to have 3 million people on anti-aids drugs by the end of 2005. the world health organisation (who) said 700 000 people in poor countries were on life-extending drugs - up from 440 000 six months earlier but amounting to only 12% of the 5.8 million who needed them. a $2bn funding gap still stood in the way of hitting the 2005 target the who said. the themes to be stressed by mr blair - whose attendance was announced at the last minute - are those he wants to dominate the uk s chairmanship of the g8 group of industrialised states. other issues to be discussed at the five-day conference range from china s economic power to iraq s future after this sunday s elections. aside from mr blair more than 20 other world leaders are expected to attend including french president jacques chirac - due to speak by video link after bad weather delayed his helicopter - and south african president thabo mbeki whose arrival has been delayed by ivory coast peace talks. the ukraine s new president viktor yushchenko will also be there - as will newly elected palestinian leader mahmoud abbas. showbiz figures will also put in an appearance from u2 frontman bono - a well-known campaigner on trade and development issues - to angelina jolie a goodwill campaigner for the un on refugees. unlike previous years protests against the wef are expected to be muted. anti-globalisation campaigners have called off a demonstration planned for the weekend. at the same time about 100 000 people are expected to converge on the brazilian resort of porto alegre for the world social forum - the so-called anti-davos for campaigners against globalisation for fair trade and many other causes. in contrast the davos forum is dominated by business issues - from outsourcing to corporate leadership - with bosses of more than a fifth of the world s 500 largest companies scheduled to attend. a survey published on the eve of the conference by pricewaterhousecoopers said four in ten business leaders were very confident that their companies would see sales rise in 2005. asian and american executives however were much more confident than their european counterparts. but the political discussions focusing on iran iraq and china are likely to dominate media attention.

howl helps boost japan s cinemas japan s box office received a 3.8% boost last year with ticket sales worth 211bn yen (£1.08bn). the surge was led by animated movie howl s moving castle which took 20bn yen (£102m) to become the biggest film in japan in 2004. it is expected to match the 30.7bn yen (£157m) record of hayao miyazaki s previous film spirited away. japan motion picture producers figures showed that 170 million cinema admissions were made in japan in 2004. the last samurai starring tom cruise was the biggest foreign movie hit in japan last year taking 13.8bn yen (£70.7m). it was followed by harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban finding nemo and the lord of the rings: the return of the king. the second highest-grossing japanese film was romantic drama crying out love in the centre of the world followed by be with you and pocket monsters advanced generation. japanese films accounted for 37.5% of japan s box office total last year with foreign films taking the remaining 62.5%. this represented a 4.5% gain for the proportion of japanese films in 2004 compared to 2003. the number of japanese films released rose to 310 in 2004 from 287 the previous year. sales of movies on dvd and video amounted to 497bn yen (£2.54bn) for the year.

kennedy predicts bigger turnout voters pent up passion could confound predictions of a low turnout in the coming general election charles kennedy has said. the liberal democrat leader predicted concerns over iraq and other international and domestic issue would express themselves during the campaign. his comments come as an inquiry looks at how best to boost voter turnouts. ex-foreign secretary robin cook said people were not apathetic but fed up of pager politics and not being heard. he like mr kennedy pointed to the hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrated against plans for the iraq war. mr cook who is giving evidence to the power inquiry into voter turnout rates told bbc radio 4 s today programme it was not fair to blame the public who were more interested in politics than ever before . they are turned off by the way we do politics in britain. there s a message there for politicians. he urged politicians to avoid negative campaigning and to speak more from the heart . we should be not so afraid to say what we stand for. he also criticised the cult of personality politics: there s far too much interest in celebrities. politics are in danger of becoming another branch of the celebrity industry. the government has tried a number of things in an attempt to boost voter turnout which fell to 59% in the last general election in 2001. this has included bringing in directly elected mayors to head local authorities and trialling postal voting.

ocean s twelve raids box office ocean s twelve the crime caper sequel starring george clooney brad pitt and julia roberts has gone straight to number one in the us box office chart. it took $40.8m (£21m) in weekend ticket sales according to studio estimates. the sequel follows the master criminals as they try to pull off three major heists across europe. it knocked last week s number one national treasure into third place. wesley snipes blade: trinity was in second taking $16.1m (£8.4m). rounding out the top five was animated fable the polar express starring tom hanks and festive comedy christmas with the kranks. ocean s twelve box office triumph marks the fourth-biggest opening for a december release in the us after the three films in the lord of the rings trilogy. the sequel narrowly beat its 2001 predecessor ocean s eleven which took $38.1m (£19.8m) on its opening weekend and $184m (£95.8m) in total. a remake of the 1960s film starring frank sinatra and the rat pack ocean s eleven was directed by oscar-winning director steven soderbergh. soderbergh returns to direct the hit sequel which reunites clooney pitt and roberts with matt damon andy garcia and elliott gould. catherine zeta-jones joins the all-star cast. it s just a fun good holiday movie said dan fellman president of distribution at warner bros. however us critics were less complimentary about the $110m (£57.2m) project with the los angeles times labelling it a dispiriting vanity project . a milder review in the new york times dubbed the sequel unabashedly trivial .

carry on star patsy rowlands dies actress patsy rowlands known to millions for her roles in the carry on films has died at the age of 71. rowlands starred in nine of the popular carry on films alongside fellow regulars sid james kenneth williams and barbara windsor. she also carved out a successful television career appearing for many years in itv s well-loved comedy bless this house. rowlands died in hove on saturday morning her agent said. born in january 1934 rowlands won a scholarship to the guildhall school of speech and drama scholarship when she was just 15. after spending several years at the players theatre in london she made her film debut in 1963 in tom jones directed by tony richardson. she made her first carry on film in 1969 where she appeared in carry on again doctor. rowlands played the hard-done-by wife or the put-upon employee as a regular carry on star. she also appeared in carry on at your convenience carry on matron and carry on loving as well as others. in recent years she appeared in bbc mini-series the cazalets and played mrs potts in the london stage version of beauty and the beast. agent simon beresford said: she was just an absolutely favourite client she never complained about anything particularly when she was ill she was an old trouper. she was of the old school - she had skills from musical theatre and high drama that is why she worked with the great and the good of directors. she didn t mind always being recognised for the carry on films because she thoroughly enjoyed making them. she was a really lovely person and she will be much missed. her last appearance on stage was as mrs pearce in the award-winning production of my fair lady at the national theatre. previously married she leaves one son alan. her funeral will be a private family occasion with a memorial service at a later date.

uk broadband gets speed injection broadband s rapid rise continues apace as speeds gear up a notch. an eight megabit service has been launched by internet service provider uk online. it is 16 times faster than the average broadband package on the market and will pave the way for services such as video-on-demand and broadband tv. the service is possible due to a new regime which allows other operators to use bt s exchanges and will initially only be available in towns. it represents a big leap forward for broadband said chris stening uk online general manager. the service comes with a hefty £39.99 monthly price tag but will mean users can download mp3s in seconds and offers tv-quality video streaming. the service includes wifi as standard meaning users can connect multiple pcs laptops and game consoles from any room in the house. not everybody will be able to take advantage of the service as it will be restricted to metropolitan areas. the service will initially be available to users within 2km radius of 230 telephone exchanges in areas such as london birmingham glasgow and cambridge. that represents about 4.4 million households. the service is possible due to a decision to loosen bt s strangle-hold on telephone exchanges. the process known as local loop unbundling was put in motion by the now defunct telecoms watchdog oftel but has only proved popular in recent months due to falling costs. uk online is looking at the possibility of bundling services such as cheap net telephone calls video-on-demand and tv by 2005 if the service proves popular. the service is twice as fast as any other service on offer in the uk and 16 times faster than most broadband services said mr stening. it takes a big leap for broadband and we are very excited about it he said. countries such as south korea and france have found the advantage of upping the speeds of broadband. in south korea video-on-demand over the net is cheaper than renting a dvd and online gaming is huge. mr stening believes the service will appeal to people in multi-occupancy buildings as well as easing family arguments. a typical family with two adults and two children is currently sharing a 512 kilobit service. this will basically give them 2 megabits each he said.

lions blow to world cup winners british and irish lions coach clive woodward says he is unlikely to select any players not involved in next year s rbs six nations championship. world cup winners lawrence dallaglio neil back and martin johnson had all been thought to be in the frame for next summer s tour to new zealand. i don t think you can ever say never said woodward. but i would have to have a compulsive reason to pick any player who is not available to international rugby. dallaglio back and johnson have all retired from international rugby over the last 12 months but continue to star for their club sides. but woodward added: the key thing that i want to stress is that i intend to use the six nations and the players who are available to international rugby as the key benchmark. my job along with all the other senior representatives is to make sure that we pick the strongest possible team. if you are not playing international rugby then it s still a step up to test rugby. it s definitely a disadvantage. i think it s absolutely critical and with the history of the lions we have got to take players playing for the four countries. woodward also revealed that the race for the captaincy was still wide open. it is an open book he said. there are some outstanding candidates from all four countries. and following the all blacks impressive displays in europe in recent weeks including a 45-6 humiliation of france woodward believes the three-test series in new zealand will provide the ultimate rugby challenge. their performance in particular against france was simply awesome said the lions coach. certain things have been suggested about the potency of their front five but they re a very powerful unit. with his customary thoroughness woodward revealed he had taken soundings from australia coach eddie jones and jake white of south africa following their tour matches in britain and ireland. as a result woodward stressed his lions group might not be dominated by players from england and ireland and held out hope for the struggling scots. scotland s recent results have not been that impressive but there have been some excellent individual performances. eddie in particular told me how tough they had made it for australia and i will take on board their opinions. and scotland forward simon taylor looks certain to get the call provided he recovers from knee and tendon problems. i took lessons from 2001 in that they did make a mistake in taking lawrence dallaglio when he wasn t fit and went on the trip. every player has to be looked at on their own merits and simon taylor is an outstanding player and i have no doubts that if he gets back to full fitness he will be on the trip. i am told he should be back playing by march and he has plenty of time to prove his fitness for the lions - and there are other players like richard hill in the same boat.

protect whistleblowers tuc says the government should change the law to give more protection to employees who raise health and safety concerns about their workplaces the tuc has said. it said data from employment tribunals suggested 1 500 safety whistleblowers had lost their jobs since 1999. some firms found it cheaper to sack a worker than to improve buildings or change working conditions it said. the health and safety executive said it was trying to get workers more involved in helping to make workplaces safer. the tuc figures were drawn from unfair dismissal cases at tribunals were health and safety were the main issue. safety representatives were often ignored when raising concerns because there was no legal duty to respond claimed the union organisation. general secretary brendan barber said: it shouldn t be a firing offence to object to unsafe work. workers should not be placed in the situation where they are forced to choose between risking their job or risking their personal health and safety. mr barber who said the problem is far worse than official statistics show called for a legal system that protects safety whistleblowers . he added that workers who are not in a union as well as casual and migrant workers stand little chance of redress. rory o neill editor of union-backed hazards magazine which conducted the research said: giving union safety reps more rights in more workplaces is the ultimate win-win. death and injuries at work increased last year for the second time since the turn of the century. it would be a fatal mistake not to take full advantage of the union safety effect. the tuc has called on the government to appoint roving safety reps and to increase spending on health and safety work inspections. the health and safety executive had said that it had launched an initiative to make factories and offices safer with more worker involvement.

speech takes on search engines a scottish firm is looking to attract web surfers with a search engine that reads out results. called speegle it has the look and feel of a normal search engine with the added feature of being able to read out the results. scottish speech technology firm cec systems launched the site in november. but experts have questioned whether talking search engines are of any real benefit to people with visual impairments. the edinburgh-based firm cec has married speech technology with ever-popular internet search. the ability to search is becoming increasingly crucial to surfers baffled by the huge amount of information available on the web. according to search engine ask jeeves around 80% of surfers visit search engines as their first port of call on the net. people visiting speegle can select one of three voices to read the results of a query or summarise news stories from sources such as the bbc and reuters. it is still a bit robotic and can make a few mistakes but we are never going to have completely natural sounding voices and it is not bad said speegle founder gordon renton. the system is ideal for people with blurred vision or for those that just want to search for something in the background while they do something else. we are not saying that it will be suitable for totally blind people although the royal national institute of the blind (rnib) is looking at the technology he added. but julie howell digital policy manager at the rnib expressed doubts over whether speegle and similar sites added anything to blind people s experience of the web. there are a whole lot of options like this springing up on the web and one has to think carefully about what the market is going to be she said. blind people have specialised screen readers available to them which will do the job these technologies do in a more sophisticated way she added. the site uses a technology dubbed panavox which takes web text and converts it into synthesised speech. in the past speech technology has only been compatible with broadband because of the huge files it downloads but cec says its compression technology means it will also work on slower dial-up connections. visitors to speegle may notice that the look and feel of the site bears more than a passing resemblance to the better known if silent search engine google. google has no connection with speegle and the use of bright colours is simply to make the site more visible for those with visual impairments said mr renton. it is not a rip-off. we are doing something that google does not do and is not planning to do and there is truth in the saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery he said. speegle is proving popular with those learning english in countries such as japan and china. the site is bombarded by people just listening to the words. the repetition could be useful although they may all end up talking like robots said mr renton.

lennon brands rangers favourites celtic s neil lennon admits rangers could be considered slight favourites for the old firm cis cup clash but insists his side can still win. lennon concedes rangers are in good form at the moment but they have failed to beat celtic in their last seven meetings. rangers are on the up and have been on a good run in recent weeks he said. but it s a game we believe we re capable of winning if we play our best he told the evening times. all the boys are looking forward to it because they are brilliant games to be involved in. without playing at the top of our game we have still been winning matches. at the minute we are at the top of the league and still in with a chance of staying in europe so i don t think it is the crisis people have been trying to make out. of course it is a concern when you are losing goals because we have been notorious for being a team that is hard to beat and keeping clean sheets but hopefully we are over that wee run. considering we lost henrik larsson at the end of last season we have still been scoring a lot of goals which is pleasing.

bbc to pour £9m into new comedy the bbc is to invest £9m in developing new comedy and entertainment programmes outside london. the changes come as part of a shake-up of several departments to create shows that appeal to a wider range of people. changes are also being made to teams in the factual and daytime departments outside london. director of television jana bennett said the changes were about getting the best ideas on screen as efficiently and effectively as we can . the new structure in each genre is designed to ensure that happens she said. a number of new roles are being created in each department including a head of comedy commissioning based in glasgow. the new person will be in charge of the £9m budget and their role will be to develop shows outside the capital both within the bbc and with independent production companies. jane lush controller of entertainment commissioning said entertainment and comedy are incredibly important to our audiences; i m confident these changes will help us get the very best programmes on screen. similar positions will also be created in the other departments with the new commissioning editor for documentaries based in bristol and the daytime commissioning editor in birmingham. ms bennett said the new roles would benefit those making programmes within the bbc as well as those making shows for the channel independently. a strong independent sector and a flourishing in-house production base are not mutually exclusive and will stimulate the competition that will deliver the best ideas to the audience she said.

unilever shake up as profit slips anglo-dutch consumer goods giant unilever is to merge its two management boards after reporting unsatisfactory earnings for 2004. it blamed the poor results on sluggish decision making a rise in discounted retailers and a wet european summer. the company also cited difficult trading conditions and a lack of demand for goods such as its slimfast range. unilever which owns brands including dove soap said annual pre-tax profit fell 36% to 2.9bn euros (£1.99bn). shares fell 1% to 510.75 pence in london and dropped by 1.2% to 50.50 euros in amsterdam. under the restructuring plans patrick cescau the uk-based co-chairman will become group chief executive. dutch co-chairman antony burgmans will take on the role of non-executive chairman. we have recognised the need for greater clarity of leadership and we are moving to a simpler leadership structure that will provide a sharper operational focus mr burgmans said. we are leaving behind one of the key features of unilever s governance but this is a natural development following the changes introduced last year. the company which has had dual headquarters in rotterdam and london since 1930 will announce the location of its head office at a later date. unilever is not alone in trying to simplify its business. oil giant shell last year dismantled its dual-ownership structure after a series of problems relating to the size of its oil reserves that hammered its share price and led to the resignation of key board members. the best part of the news this morning was that the company announced a structure simplification said arjan sweere an analyst at petercam. the company said the organizational changes would speed decision making and it also may make further changes. the company said its main focus will be on improving profits and it is planning to accelerate and increase investment in its 400 main brands. while it is certainly the case that markets have been tougher in the past eighteen months than we had expected we have also lost some market share said mr cescau. we let a range of targets limit our ability flexibility and did not adjust our plans quickly enough to a more difficult business environment. our objective is to reverse the share loss that we experienced in some markets in 2004 and return to growth. unilever said european sales fell 2.8% last year dragged down by below part sales at its beverage division where revenues dipped by almost 4%. sales of ice cream and frozen food dipped by 3.4% in the us last year revenue grew by 1.5% despite disappointing sales in slimfast the company said. in asia leading products came under attack from rivals such as procter & gamble. unilever took a 1.5bn euro one-time charge in the fourth quarter including a 650m euro write-down on slimfast diet foods. sales of slimfast products have been hit in recent years by the popularity of the atkins diet. but looking ahead unilever said it was optimistic about prospects for its slimming products saying that demand is on the wane for rival low-carbohydrate diets. the company also said it planned to spend 500m euros this year buying back shares.

gerrard plays down european hopes steven gerrard has admitted that liverpool have little chance of winning the champions league this season. the 24-year-old reds skipper spoke out ahead of tuesday s first leg at home to bayer leverkusen in the last 16 which he will miss through suspension. let s be realistic there are some fantastic teams left in the champions league he told bbc radio five live. we are just going to try to stay in as long as possible but we realise that maybe it is not our year this year. gerrard has made no secret of his desire to be involved in europe s premier club competition. last season he described qualification for the champions league as the be all and end all - and rumours persist that he will leave anfield if the reds fail to secure a place in the competition. he has consistently been linked with a move away from liverpool with chelsea the favourites to snap up the england midfielder. and blues boss jose mourinho backed gerrard s view that rafael benitez s team could struggle to progress this season. rafa has still time in front of him to build an even better team maybe he s a little bit behind (right now) he told bbc radio five live. gerrard who fired liverpool into the last 16 of this season s competition with a brilliant goal in december s win over olympiakos insisted he was still fully focused on helping liverpool to glory this season. the reds are currently fifth in the premiership table five points off the crucial fourth spot which brings champions league qualification - and they face chelsea in sunday s carling cup final. it s big couple of months for liverpool he added. we re fighting for the fourth spot for the champions league for next season but we are still involved in two cup competitions which are very important. we are confident we can upset chelsea in the carling cup final and get to the last eight of the champions league because financially it is big for the club and personally for myself it is very good.

games firms face tough future uk video game firms face a testing time as they prepare for the next round of games consoles the industry warns. fred hasson head of tiga which represents independent developers said that more uk firms would go under due to greater risks in making new titles. three leading uk video game companies also predicted that more firms would close as they struggled to adapt. microsoft sony and nintendo are expected to release new consoles in the next 18 months. microsoft has said repeatedly that it wants to be first to the market and some analysts predict that xbox 2 will be released in the us before the end of 2005. the new machines will all have much greater processing and graphical power which will have a huge impact on development of next generation games. mr hasson said: in the last four years we have probably lost a third of independent developers. he said there were about 150 independent developers left in the industry and more were likely to close. once the cull has finished its likely to present those still standing with great opportunities he said. mr hasson said the industry was predicting that developments costs and teams were likely to need to double in order to cope with the demands of the new machines. that figure was endorsed by three independent companies contacted by the bbc news website - codemasters climax and rebellion. as consoles get more powerful the content gets more detailed and that means more cost said gary dunn development director at codemasters which develops games in house and also publishes titles. jason kingsley chief executive of rebellion said the transition from the current generation of consoles to the new machines was difficult because the production quality expected by consumers will be that much bigger . he added: we have been through five technology transitions and survived so far. each one has involved the death of some people. all companies said they were investing in new tools - called middleware - in order to try and avoid staff numbers spiralling out of control. simon gardner president of climax s action studio said: we are investing in superior tools and editors. we are investing upfront to generate this content without the need for huge teams. it s vital we avoid huge teams. he said climax was already directing about 20% of its resources to preparation for next generation titles. mr dunn warned that companies could face a short supply of programming development and artistic talent. if companies are hiring bigger and bigger teams at some point the talent is going to run out. mr hasson said games developers were beginning to realise that they had to be more business-like . there are still some developers who were involved in games from the bedroom coding days. some of them are still making games for peer group approval - that has to stop.

pearce keen on succeeding keegan joint assistant boss stuart pearce has admitted he would like to succeed kevin keegan as manager at manchester city. keegan has decided to step down as city manager when his contract comes to an end in 18 months. you don t have to be einstein to realise there will be a manager s job available at a really good club pearce told bbc gmr. i will certainly be applying for it although whether the board deem me good enough to take it i do not know. pearce initially joined city as a player under keegan in 2001 before becoming part of the coaching staff. he was promoted to joint assistant-manager following the departure of arthur cox last summer. the former england defender had a year as player-boss with nottingham forest eight seasons ago but has made no secret of his desire to have another crack at the job. he was linked with the manager s job at oldham and keegan has stated he would not get in the way if pearce wanted to leave. but it now appears pearce is keen to wait for his chance at city. he added: by that time i will have been here for five years so at least they will have had a good look at me and they are aware of my feelings with regard to being kevin s successor. obviously the issue is out of my hands but it is a fantastic job for anybody - i just hope it will be me.

cactus diet deal for phytopharm a slimming aid made from a southern african cactus is set to be developed by uk firm phytopharm and unilever. anglo-dutch food giant unilever will help the pharmaceutical firm develop the snacks containing hoodia extract. phytopharm shares jumped 10.7% on the news with analysts saying sales of $600m (£309m) a year were possible. the plant licensed to phytopharm in 1997 has been used for thousands of years by the sans bushmen of the kalahari desert to stave off hunger. studies have reportedly shown the plant curbs appetite instead of reducing calorific intake like many existing products. phytopharm will receive an initial fee of £6.5m from unilever - out of a potential total of £21m - as well as future royalties on product sales. under the deal production of the hoodia cactus at phytopharm s nursery in south africa will also rise from eight million plants to potentially hundreds of millions said phytopharm chief executive richard dixey. the firm had initially hoped to market a slimming drug from hoodia with pfizer. but the research collaboration came to an end in 2003. analysts said unilever could launch the new products in 2007. this deal goes a long way to restoring the market faith in phytopharm s pipeline after the pfizer exit said analyst erling refsum at nomura.

conservative backing for id cards the tories are to back controversial government plans to introduce id cards. the shadow cabinet revealed its support ahead of next week s commons vote on a bill to introduce compulsory id. the decision follows a tough meeting where some senior tories argued vociferously against the move party sources told the bbc. the bill which ministers claim will tackle crime terrorism and illegal immigration is expected to be opposed by the liberal democrats. they have said the scheme is deeply flawed and a waste of money. sources within the conservative party told the bbc michael howard has always been in favour of id cards and tried to introduce them when he was home secretary. the party has been agnostic on the issue until now but had now decided to come off the fence the tory source said. despite giving their backing to id cards the conservatives insisted they would hold ministers to account over the precise purpose of the scheme. they said they would also press labour over whether objectives could be met and whether the home office would deliver them. and they pledged to assess the cost effectiveness of id cards and whether people s privacy would be properly protected. it is important to remember that this bill will take a decade to come into full effect a spokesman said. it will do nothing to solve the immediate problems of rising crime and uncontrolled immigration. lib dem home affairs spokesman mark oaten said: this has all the signs of michael howard overruling colleagues concerns over id cards. the tories should have the courage to try and change public opinion not follow it. the new chairman of the bar council guy mansfield qc warned there was a real risk that people on the margins of society would be driven into the hands of extremists. what is going to happen to young asian men when there has been a bomb gone off somewhere they are going to be stopped. if they haven t [id cards] they are going to be detained.

buffy creator joins wonder woman the creator of buffy the vampire slayer is to take on a new female superhero after signing up to write and direct the wonder woman movie. joss whedon described the dc comics character as the most iconic female heroine of our time . in a way no one has met her yet he said. what i love most about icons is finding out what s behind them exploring the price of their power. linda carter played the character in the 1970s tv series. the character of wonder woman famed for her red and gold costume was born on paradise island and was blessed with the powers of strength and flight. the film is being produced by joel silver producer of the matrix trilogy. there s no one better than joss to adapt the legendary wonder woman comic book character created in the 1940s into a dynamic feature film for 21st century audiences said silver. wonder woman was the first great female superhero to emerge from comic books and later inspire millions of fans in her television incarnation... but this groundbreaking heroine has yet to be reinvented for the feature film arena. whedon created the character of buffy in the screenplay for the 1992 film. he distanced himself from the movie because of the direction it eventually took and the film bombed. but he did not give up on the slayer and went on to write and executive produce seven seasons of the cult tv series. he also produced the spin-off angel series. he is currently directing the film serenity based on his short-lived sci-fi series firefly.

playstation 3 processor unveiled the cell processor which will drive sony s playstation 3 will run 10-times faster than current pc chips its designers have said. sony ibm and toshiba who have been working on the cell processor for three years unveiled the chip on monday. it is being designed for use in graphics workstations the new playstation console and has been described as a supercomputer on a chip. the chip will run at speeds of greater than 4 ghz the firms said. by comparison rival chip maker intel s fastest processor runs at 3.8 ghz. details of the chip were released at the international solid state circuits conference in san francisco. the new processor is set to ignite a fresh battle between intel and the cell consortium over which processor sits at the centre of digital products. the playstation 3 is expected in 2006 while toshiba plans to incorporate it into high-end televisions next year. ibm has said it will sell a workstation with the chip starting later this year. cell is comprised of several computing engines or cores. a core based on ibm s power architecture controls eight synergistic processing centres. in all they can simultaneously carry out 10 instruction sequences compared with two for current intel chips. later this year intel and advanced micro devices plan to release their own multicore chips which also increase the number of instructions that can be executed at once. the cell s specifications suggest the playstation 3 will offer a significant boost in graphics capabilities but analysts cautioned that not all the features in a product announcement will find their way into systems. any new technology like this has two components said steve kleynhans an analyst with meta group. he said: it has the vision of what it could be because you need the big vision to sell it. then there s the reality of how it s really going to be used which generally is several levels down the chain from there. while the playstation 3 is likely to be the first mass-market product to use cell the chip s designers have said the flexible architecture means that it would be useful for a wide range of applications from servers to mobile phones. initial devices are unlikely to be any smaller than a games console however because the first version of the cell will run hot enough to need a cooling fan. and while marketing speak describes the chip as a supercomputer - it remains significantly slower than the slowest computer on the list of the world s top 500 supercomputers. ibm said cell was os neutral and would support multiple operating systems simultaneously but designers would not confirm if microsoft s windows was among those tested with the chip. if cell is to challenge intel s range of chips in the marketplace it will need to find itself inside pcs which predominantly run using windows.

search wars hit desktop pcs another front in the on-going battle between microsoft and google is about to be opened. by the end of 2004 microsoft aims to launch search software to find any kind of file on a pc hard drive. the move is in answer to google s release of its own search tool that catalogues data on desktop pcs. the desktop search market is becoming increasingly crowded as google aol yahoo and many smaller firms tout programs that help people find files. microsoft made the announcement about its forthcoming search software during a call to financial analysts to talk about its first quarter results. john connors microsoft s chief financial officer said a test version of its desktop search software should be available for download by the end of the year. we re going to have a heck of a great race in search between google microsoft and yahoo he said. it s going to be really fun to follow. microsoft is coming late to the desktop search arena and its software will have to compare favourably with programs from a large number of rivals many of which have fiercely dedicated populations of users. the program could be based on the software microsoft owns as a result of its purchase of lookout software in early october. on 14 october google released desktop search software that catalogues all the files on a pc and lets users use one tool to find e-mail messages spreadsheets text files and presentations. the software will also find webpages and messages sent via aol instant messenger. many other firms have released desktop search systems recently too. companies such as blinkx copernic enfish x1 technologies and x-friend all do the same job of cataloguing the huge amounts of information that people increasingly store on their desktop or home computer. apple has also debuted a similar search system for its computers called spotlight that is due to debut with the release of the tiger operating system. due to follow are net giants aol and yahoo. the latter recently bought stata labs to get its hands on search software that people can use. microsoft is also reputedly working on a novel search system for the next version of windows (codenamed longhorn). however this is not likely to appear until 2006. the recent activity in the search industry shows that there is a need to move beyond simple keyword-based web search said kathy rittweger co-founder of blinkx. finding information of our own computers is becoming as difficult as it is to find the relevant webpage amongst the billions that exist. desktop search has become important for several reasons. according to research by message analysts the radicati group up to 45% of the information critical to keeping many businesses running sits in e-mail messages and attachments. jf sullivan spokesman for e-mail software firm sendmail said many organisations were starting to realise how important messaging was to their organisation and the way the work. the key thing is being able to manage all this information he said. also search is increasingly key to the way that people get around the internet. many people use a search engine as the first page they go to when getting on the net. many others use desktop toolbars that let them search for information no matter what other program they are using. having a tool on a desktop can be a lucrative way to control where people go online. for companies such as google which relies on revenue from adverts this knowledge about what people are looking for is worth huge amounts of money. but this invasiveness has already led some to ask about the privacy implications of such tools.

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

apple mac mini gets warm welcome the mac mini has been welcomed by apple fans industry experts and pc users. the release of the tiny low-cost machine is seen as a good move for apple which currently has a small share of the desktop computer market. mac watchers and some analysts say the mac mini will go a long way to help apple appeal to the mass of consumers. they speculate that the mac mini will be bought by ipod owners and those wanting an easy-to-use and administer second home computer. it s the bravest move they have made yet said jonny evans news editor at macworld magazine. mr evans said the combination of low cost small size and huge numbers of ipod users could make it a big success. he thought that the machine would appeal to those that like apple technology but who before now have balked at paying high prices for its hardware. it s deeply affordable he said. plus you know that you do not get viruses or all of the associated problems. already he said pc owning friends had declared that they would be buying one. interest in the new products launched at macworld expo was so strong that websites for apple s store and the show struggled to cope with demand. according to response statistics gathered by netcraft many visiting the apple store in the wake of mr jobs speech suffered lengthy response times. the macworld expo site was completely overwhelmed and went offline. i think fundamentally it s a good idea because it s cheap even for a pc said nick ross deputy labs editor at pc pro. apple s work on making things easy to use would also help the mac mini win fans he said. i think people expect it just to work now and really it should hesaid. the mac mini could find a role in homes that need a second computer that is easy to install and administer he said. for browsing the web e-mail and all kinds of basic duties it s going to be absolutely adequate said mr ross. ian fogg broadband and personal technology analyst at jupiter research agreed that the mac mini could be very popular. apple has been hoping that sales of the ipod will have a halo effect on the sales of the mac he said. before now he said apple has been seen as a premium brand. but he said the mac mini changed that perception. it s a particularly good price when you see that it s apple that is doing it he said. apple expects the mac mini to sell for £339 in the uk and $499 in the us. adding extras such as a larger hard drive more memory and networking options will increase the basic price. it will go on sale from 22 january. for consumers interested in style design and small size - which is what the majority of ipod customers are interested in - it s a natural next step said mr fogg. apple has traditionally done well in the market that the mac mini is aimed at said mr fogg who also expected many pc makers to release copycat devices in reaction. his only misgivings were over how easy other consumers other than ipod owners would find using the machine. he said anyone wanting to use the mac mini with the peripherals from an old computer may find it odd to have something so small and sleek next to a hulking monitor. they d be much more likely to pair a mac mini with a lcd or flat panel monitor which increases the upgrade cost he said. those with flat screens and lcd monitors are likely to have bought them recently and not be in the market for a new machine. there are also questions over whether the mac mini will work with very old peripherals such as display keyboard and mouse. the mac mini also fell short of being a media server that can be a video recorder as well as a store for all the digital music movies and images people accumulate said mr fogg. the mac mini is not quite ready for that yet he said. it does not have the right connectors that fit a tv screen or enough storage. said mr fogg: it s very much a computer. one dissenting opinion came from brian gammage vice-president of research at analysts gartner. he said: i don t think it changes the world. although the mac mini was very cheap for an apple computer it was still expensive compared to many pcs. also he said it appealed in categories that few consumers care about when buying a home computer. the pc world is a pile-em-high sell-em-cheap market he said and all of them are pretty interchangeable. since the days when apple ruled the personal computing world its market share has been on a long slow decline he said. every few years it does something to give its market share a kick then it starts to go back down again said mr gammage. the release of the mac mini fit perfectly with this trend he said.

dozens held over id fraud site twenty-eight people including a briton have been arrested after a global operation against a website allegedly involved in identity fraud. those arrested are accused of operating shadowcrew.com which investigators claim was a global clearing house for criminals involved in credit card fraud. a 19-year-old man from camberley surrey was arrested by the national hi-tech crime unit but has been bailed. operation firewall led by the us secret service involved seven nations. the british teenager was arrested on wednesday but details only emerged on friday. he has now been bailed to return to a surrey police station in december. all 28 people detained globally are suspected of being involved in an internet-based network which stole people s identities and used computers and websites to defraud credit card companies. the authorities in the us who have indicted 19 people in newark new jersey estimate the fraud caused losses of more than $4m. assistant us attorney scott christie said several people had been arrested in argentina bulgaria canada estonia poland and sweden. mr christie said one of the ringleaders was believed to be a russian anatoly tyukanov. investigators from 30 law enforcement agencies worldwide spent 15 months looking into the activities of three websites - shadowcrew carderplanet and darkprofits. the us secret service was first tipped off in july 2003. an nhtcu spokeswoman said the american investigators went undercover on the shadowcrew website and discovered some of the site s 4 000 members were using it for organised crime purposes. she said criminals were using the websites to traffic counterfeit credit cards and false identification information and documents such as credit cards driver s licences passports and birth certificates. the websites shared tips on how to commit fraud and provided a forum by which people could buy the information and tools they needed to commit such crime she said. the shadowcrew site which has now been taken over by the us secret service listed several discussion groups in english and russian including one on hacking spam and online anonymity tools. the head of the nhtcu acting detective chief superintendent mick deats said: this investigation has resulted in the significant disruption of organised criminals using the internet for profit. we believe that the suspects have trafficked at least 1.7 million stolen credit card numbers leading to losses by financial institutions running into the millions. chief supt deats went on to warn: the internet offers huge legitimate benefits for modern society; however with it brings powerful opportunities for those seeking to abuse those benefits for criminal gain. your identity is one of the most precious commodities. criminals who try to steal the personal and financial information of ordinary citizens as well as the confidential and proprietary information of companies engaged in e-commerce will be targeted by law enforcement.

europe backs digital tv lifestyle how people receive their digital entertainment in the future could change following the launch of an ambitious european project. in nice last week the european commission announced its networked & electronic media (nem) initiative. its broad scope stretches from the way media is created through each of the stages of its distribution to its playback. the commission wants people to be able to locate the content they desire and have it delivered seamlessly when on the move at home or at work no matter who supplies the devices network content or content protection scheme. more than 120 experts were in nice to share the vision of interconnected future and hear pledges of support from companies such as nokia intel philips alcatel france telecom thomson and telefonica. it might initially appear to be surprising that companies in direct competition are keen to work together. but again and again speakers stated they could not see incompatible stand-alone solutions working. a long-term strategy for the evolution and convergence of technologies and services would be required. the european commission is being pragmatic in its approach. they have identified that many groups have defined the forms of digital media in the areas that nem encompasses. the nem approach is to take a serious look at what is available and what is in the pipeline pick out the best bring them together and identify where the gaps are. where it finds holes it will develop standards to fill them. what is significant is that such a large and powerful organisation has stated its desire for digital formats to be open to all and work on any gadget. this is bound to please if not surprise many individuals and user organisations who feel that the wishes of the holder of rights to content are normally considered over and above those of the consumer. many feel that the most difficult and challenging area for the commission will be to identify a solution for different digital rights management (drm) schemes. currently drm solutions are incompatible locking certain types of purchased content making them unplayable on all platforms. with the potential of having a percentage of every media transaction that takes place globally the prize for being the supplier of the world s dominant drm scheme is huge. although entertainment is an obvious first step it will encompass the remote provisions of healthcare energy efficiency and control of the smart home. the 10-year plan brings together the work of many currently running research projects that the ec has been funding for a number of years. simon perry is the editor of the digital lifestyles website which covers the impact of technology on media

kennedy predicts bigger turnout voters pent up passion could confound predictions of a low turnout in the coming general election charles kennedy has said. the liberal democrat leader predicted concerns over iraq and other international and domestic issue would express themselves during the campaign. his comments come as an inquiry looks at how best to boost voter turnouts. ex-foreign secretary robin cook said people were not apathetic but fed up of pager politics and not being heard. he like mr kennedy pointed to the hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrated against plans for the iraq war. mr cook who is giving evidence to the power inquiry into voter turnout rates told bbc radio 4 s today programme it was not fair to blame the public who were more interested in politics than ever before . they are turned off by the way we do politics in britain. there s a message there for politicians. he urged politicians to avoid negative campaigning and to speak more from the heart . we should be not so afraid to say what we stand for. he also criticised the cult of personality politics: there s far too much interest in celebrities. politics are in danger of becoming another branch of the celebrity industry. the government has tried a number of things in an attempt to boost voter turnout which fell to 59% in the last general election in 2001. this has included bringing in directly elected mayors to head local authorities and trialling postal voting.

van gogh festival film withdrawn murdered director theo van gogh s controversial film submission has been pulled from the rotterdam film festival because of security fears. it was one of three of his works to be shown as part of a freedom of expression event in tribute to the late film-maker s life. the film is critical of the treatment of women under islam. its tv screening is thought to have led to his murder. the 10-day dutch festival begins on wednesday. submission was made with liberal somali-dutch politician ayaan hirsi ali and was due to be shown on 30 january. van gogh was shot and stabbed to death in november 2004 several months after receiving death threats following submission s first broadcast on dutch television. two of van gogh s other films will be shown as planned including the theatrical world premiere of his last feature 06/05. festival director sandra den hamer said: the festival reflects what happens around us and within cinema itself. the festival opens with the french film the 10th district court moments of trials made by raymond depardon. the event sees 14 films competing to win three top tiger awards which aim to introduce promising new talent. new sections added to this year s festival include cinema of the future and cinema of the world with special focus on russian and south-east asian productions. there is also an iraqi-german offering entitled underexposure which looks at life in iraq after saddam hussein.

chancellor rallies labour voters gordon brown has issued a rallying cry to supporters warning the stakes are too high to stay at home or protest vote in the next general election. the chancellor said the poll - expected to fall on 5 may - would give a clear and fundamental choice between labour investment and tory cuts. he told his party s spring conference the tories must not be allowed to win. the conservatives and lib dems insisted that voters faced higher taxes and means-testing under labour. to a packed audience at gateshead s sage centre mr brown accused shadow chancellor oliver letwin of plotting cuts that were the equivalent of sacking every teacher gp and nurse in the country. laying into the conservative s record in government he said: i give you this promise - with labour britain will never return to the mistakes of erm and 10% inflation 15% interest rates £3bn in lost reserves 250 000 repossessed one million in negative equity and three million unemployed. never again tory boom and bust. this will be the central dividing line at the election between a conservative party taking britain back and planning deep cuts of £35bn in our services and a labour government taking britain forward which on a platform of stability will reform and renew our hospitals schools and public services and i am proud to say spend by 2008 £60bn more. turning to the economy the chancellor promised to continue economic stability and growth in a third term in power. he also pledged to continue the fight against child and pensioner poverty. and he promised help to get young people on the property ladder. my message to the thousands of young couples waiting to obtain their first home is that housing is rightly now at the centre of our coming manifesto he said. and the next labour government will match our low mortgage rates with a new first-time buyers initiative. in the speech which prompted a standing ovation he also promised to end teenage unemployment within the next five years. he also highlighted plans for 100% debt relief for the world s poorest countries a national minimum wage for 16 and 17-year-olds the creation of a network of children s centres and flexibility in maternity leave. responding to the speech shadow chief secretary to the treasury george osborne said: this was more talk from gordon brown. we ve heard it all before. instead of talking about the future he kept on talking about the past. he completely failed to say which taxes he would put up to fill the black hole in his spending plans. there will be a simple choice at the election - value for money and lower taxes with the conservatives or more waste and higher taxes under tony blair and gordon brown. liberal democrat shadow chancellor vince cable warned the picture was not as rosy as mr brown would like to portray it. for all his trumpeting of labour s management of the economy gordon brown s record is very mixed he said. gordon brown has created a system of massive centralisation and bureaucracy a system which subjects millions of people to means testing and a system of taxation which is extremely complex. for all his positive words gordon brown is faced with economic problems looming on the horizon not least the unprecedented levels of personal debt facing the nation. also in gateshead the prime minister took questions sent in by e-mail text message and telephone as part of labour s attempt to engage the public in their campaign. mr blair told the audience he believed the iraq war would have made britain a safer place if its emerging democracy succeeded and that he wanted to bring troops home as soon as possible but not before the job was done. he also said he wanted to carry on as pm because i still think that there are big changes our country needs .

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

savvy searchers fail to spot ads internet search engine users are an odd mix of naive and sophisticated suggests a report into search habits. the report by the us pew research center reveals that 87% of searchers usually find what they were looking for when using a search engine. it also shows that few can spot the difference between paid-for results and organic ones. the report reveals that 84% of net users say they regularly use google ask jeeves msn and yahoo when online. almost 50% of those questioned said they would trust search engines much less if they knew information about who paid for results was being hidden. according to figures gathered by the pew researchers the average users spends about 43 minutes per month carrying out 34 separate searches and looks at 1.9 webpages for each hunt. a significant chunk of net users 36% carry out a search at least weekly and 29% of those asked only look every few weeks. for 44% of those questioned the information they are looking for is critical to what they are doing and is information they simply have to find. search engine users also tend to be very loyal and once they have found a site they feel they can trust tend to stick with it. according to pew research 44% of searchers use just a single search engine 48% use two or three and a small number 7% consult more than three sites. tony macklin spokesman for ask jeeves said the results reflected its own research which showed that people use different search engines because the way the sites gather information means they can provide different results for the same query. despite this liking for search sites half of those questioned said they could get the same information via other routes. a small number 17% said they wouldn t really miss search engines if they did not exist. the remaining 33% said they could not live without search sites. more than two-thirds of those questioned 68% said they thought that the results they were presented with were a fair and unbiased selection of the information on a topic that can be found on the net. alongside the growing sophistication of net users is a lack of awareness about paid-for results that many search engines provide alongside lists of websites found by indexing the web. of those asked 62% were unaware that someone has paid for some of the results they see when they carry out a search. only 18% of all searchers say they can tell which results are paid for and which are not. said the pew report: this finding is ironic since nearly half of all users say they would stop using search engines if they thought engines were not being clear about how they presented paid results. commenting mr macklin said sponsored results must be clearly marked and though they might help with some queries user testing showed that people need to be able to spot the difference.

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

security warning over fbi virus the us federal bureau of investigation is warning that a computer virus is being spread via e-mails that purport to be from the fbi. the e-mails show that they have come from an fbi.gov address and tell recipients that they have accessed illegal websites. the messages warn that their internet use has been monitored by the fbi s internet fraud complaint center. an attachment in the e-mail contains the virus the fbi said. the message asks recipients to click on the attachment and answer some questions about their internet use. but rather than being a questionnaire the attachment contains a virus that infects the recipient s computer according to the agency. it is not clear what the virus does once it has infected a computer. users are warned never to open attachment from unsolicited e-mails or from people they do not know. recipients of this or similar solicitations should know that the fbi does not engage in the practice of sending unsolicited e-mails to the public in this manner the fbi said in a statement. the bureau is investigating the phoney e-mails. the agency earlier this month shut down fbi.gov accounts used to communicate with the public because of a security breach. a spokeswoman said the two incidents appear to be unrelated.

man utd to open books to glazer manchester united s board has agreed to give us tycoon malcolm glazer access to its books. earlier this month mr glazer presented the board with detailed proposals on an offer to buy the football club. in a statement the club said it would allow mr glazer limited due diligence to give him the opportunity to take the proposal on to a formal bid. but it said it continued to oppose mr glazer s plans calling his assumptions aggressive and his plan damaging . many of manchester united s supporters own shares in the club and the fan-based group shareholders united is strongly opposed to any takeover by mr glazer. about 300 fans protested outside the old trafford ground two days ago. rival local club manchester city has pleaded with visiting fans not to protest inside its ground when the two teams play a televised match on sunday. manchester united s response comes as little surprise as the board made clear. any board has a responsibility to consider a bona fide offer proposal the club said in its statement. should it become a firm offer it should be at a price that the board is likely to regard as fair and on terms which may be deliverable . but it also stressed that it stayed opposed to mr glazer s proposal. the board continues to believe that mr glazer s business plan assumptions are aggressive the statement said and the direct and indirect financial strain on the business could be damaging. whether or not the bid is attractive in monetary terms in the case of manchester united many investors hold the stock for sentimental rather than financial reasons. at present mr glazer and his family hold a 28.1% stake making them manchester united s second biggest shareholders. they own the successful tampa bay buccaneers american football team based in florida. if the family makes a formal offer they will need the support of the club s biggest shareholders. irish horse racing millionaires jp mcmanus and john magnier own 29% of united through their investment vehicle cubic expression and have yet to express a view on the bid approach. a group of five mps are calling on the department of trade and industry to block any takeover of the club by the us football magnate on public interest grounds. they have signed a house of commons motion and tony lloyd the manchester central mp whose constituency includes the club s old trafford ground has pledged to take the matter to tony blair if necessary . the commons motion says any takeover designed to transform the club into a private company would be against the interests of those supporters and football . however the dti has dismissed the proposal. a spokesman said the department did not believe there was a case for changing the enterprise act so that takeovers of football clubs could be looked at on non-competition grounds. mr glazer s offer values the club at £800m ($1.5bn). pitched at 300p per share it also relies less on debt to finance it than an earlier approach from the us tycoon which was rejected out of hand. manchester united shares closed at 270.25p on friday down 3.75p on the day.

imf cuts german growth estimate the international monetary fund is to cut its 2005 growth forecast for the german economy from 1.8% to 0.8% the financial times deutschland reported. the imf will also reduce its growth estimate for the 12-member eurozone economy from 2.2% to 1.6% the newspaper reported. the german economy has been faltering with unemployment levels rising to a seventy-year high of 5.2 million. its sluggish performance continues to hamper the entire eurozone. the imf s draft world economic outlook - due to be published in april - would point to a marked deterioration in germany s economy the ft report said. in september the imf had said that german growth for the current year would be 1.8%. the imf has also revised eurozone forecasts the paper said taking into account high oil prices the strength of the euro and weak demand in many of the world s leading economies. europe s economic difficulties have been highlighted by the organisation for economic co-operation and development which argued in a report published on tuesday that the continent could only achieve us living standards by freeing up its labour markets. the eurozone does not look like it has a self-sustaining recovery james carrick an economist with abn amro told the newspaper. it is too dependant on the rest of the world.

incredibles win animation awards the incredibles movie has beaten shrek 2 to the main prizes at hollywood s animation awards the annies. the superhero film was named best animated feature while brad bird won best director writer and voice actor for his role as designer edna mode. the incredibles won a total of 10 awards - but shrek 2 which had seven nominations went home empty-handed. the two movies will compete with shark tale in the best animated film category of the oscars at the end of february. the incredibles awards came despite shrek 2 s greater box office success. shrek 2 took $881m (£468m) around the world compared with $576m (£306m) for the incredibles. spongebob squarepants was named best animated tv show while tv comedy king of the hill picked up two prizes including one for actress brittany murphy s voice work. tom kenny who provides the voice for spongebob squarepants hosted sunday s ceremony at the alex theater los angeles. the awards are handed out by the international animated film society. finding nemo won nine annies last year.

quiksilver moves for rossignol shares of skis rossignol the world s largest ski-maker have jumped as much as 15% on speculation that it will be bought by us surfwear firm quiksilver. the owners of rossignol the boix-vives family are said to be considering an offer from quiksilver. analysts believe other sporting goods companies may now take a closer look at rossignol prompting an auction and pushing the sale price higher. nike and k2 have previously been mentioned as possible suitors. rossignol shares touched 17.70 euros before falling back to trade 7.8% higher at 16.60 euros. european sporting goods companies have seen foreign revenues squeezed by a slump in the value of the us dollar making a takeover more attractive analysts said. companies such as quiksilver would be able to cut costs by selling rossignol skis through their shops they added. the boix-vives family is thought to have spent the past couple of years sounding out possible suitors for rossignol which also makes golf equipment snowboards and sports clothing.

ea to take on film and tv giants video game giant electronic arts (ea) says it wants to become the biggest entertainment firm in the world. the us firm says it wants to compete with companies such as disney and will only achieve this by making games appeal to mainstream audiences. ea publishes blockbuster titles such as fifa and john madden as well as video game versions of movies such as harry potter and the james bond films. its revenues were $3bn (£1.65bn) in 2004 which ea hoped to double by 2009. ea is the biggest games publisher in the world and in 2004 had 27 titles which sold in excess of one million copies each. nine of the 20 biggest-selling games in the uk last year were published by ea. gerhard florin ea s managing director for european publishing said: doubling our industry in five years is not rocket science. he said it would take many years before ea could challenge disney - which in 2004 reported revenues of $30bn (£16bn) - but it remained a goal for the company. we will be able to bring more people into gaming because games will be more emotional. mr florin predicted that the next round of games console would give developers enough power to create real emotion. it s the subtleties the eyes the mouth - 5 000 polygons doesn t really sell the emotion. with ps3 and xbox 2 we can go on the main character with 30 000 to 50 000 polygons he said. with that increased firepower the finding nemo video game looks just like the movie but it will be interactive. mr florin said that more than 50% of all ea s games were sold to adults and played by adults but the perception remained that the video game industry was for children. our goal is to bring games to the masses which bring out emotions. ea said the video game industry was now bigger than the music industry. nobody queues for music anymore. you can t ignore an industry when people queue to buy a game at midnight because they are so desperate to play it he said referring to demand for titles for such as grand theft auto: san andreas and halo 2. jan bolz ea s vice president of sales and marketing in europe said the firm was working to give video games a more central role in popular culture. he said the company was in advanced stages of discussions over a reality tv show in which viewers could control the actions of the characters as in its popular game the sims. one idea could be that you re controlling a family telling them when to go to the kitchen and when to go to the bedroom and with this mechanism you have gamers all over the world playing the show said mr bolz. he also said ea was planning an international awards show similar to the oscars and the grammys which would combine video games music and movies. mr bolz said video games firm had to work more closely with celebrities. people will want to play video games if their heroes like robbie williams or christina aguilera are in them. mr florin said the challenge was to keep people playing in their 30s 40s and 50s. there s an indication that a 30 year old comes home from work and still wants to play games. if that s true that s a big challenge for tv broadcasters - because watching tv is the biggest pastime at present.

sir paul rocks super bowl crowds sir paul mccartney wowed fans with a live mini-concert at american football s super bowl - and avoided any janet jackson-style controversies. the 62-year-old sang hey jude and other beatles songs in a 12-minute set at half-time during the game in florida. last year jackson exposed a breast during a dance routine causing outrage among millions of tv viewers and landing the cbs tv network a fine. sir paul however did nothing more racy than remove his jacket as he sang. organisers were widely considered to be playing it safe this year by booking 62-year-old sir paul for his second super bowl show. three years ago he was invited to perform at the first super bowl after the september 11 attacks and performed his specially-written song freedom. this time he started off the show at the alltel stadium in jacksonville florida with the beatles numbers drive my car and get back. he then performed a mellow version of live and let die the james bond theme he recorded with the band wings. finally he closed the show with a rousing version of hey jude. the former beatle resisted any temptation to refer to janet jackson s headline-grabbing performance last year instead keeping banter between songs to a minimum in order to squeeze as much music as he could into his slot. the singer removed his black jacket halfway through the show - but any fans hoping for a second nipple-gate were to be disappointed as he kept his red sweatshirt on underneath. earlier the black eyed peas and alicia keys had provided the night s other high-profile entertainment by performing in a pre-game show. black eyed peas singer fergie was dressed in a tight orange top and purple hotpants but nothing in her performance was likely to upset tv watchdogs. after the controversy last year - which saw cbs fined a record $550 000 (£292 000) by federal regulators - super bowl organisers had turned to producer don mischer to oversee this year s half-time show. his previous production credits included olympic opening and closing ceremonies. the super bowl is watched by an audience of 144.4 million in the us with many of the people watching are said to tune in specifically to see the entertainment put on around the event. michael jackson aerosmith diana ross gloria estefan and phil collins are among the stars who have previously graced the super bowl stage.

m&s cuts prices by average of 24% marks & spencer has cut prices in london and the regions by an average of 24% according to research from a city investment bank. dresdner kleinwort wasserstein said: in spite of the snow in the uk it still feels very early to be cutting prices of spring merchandise. stuart rose head of m&s said last year its prices were too high. we are bringing in ranges at new price points to compete against mid-market retailers like next said m&s. next is one of m&s s biggest competitors and the move may force it to lower prices. drkw said the cuts are either to clear stock or could indicate a longer term step change in pricing in certain areas at m&s. either way this cannot be good news for m&s margin it added. we have brought in quite a lot of new clothing at new price points as part of stuart rose s strategy of quality style -and price said the m&s spokesman. many analysts believe february is proving to be a difficult month for retailers and british retail consortium figures due in a few weeks are expected to reflect the tough trading environment. separately investment bank goldman sachs produced reseach showing that a basket of 35 m&s goods is now 11% above the high-street average compared with 43% higher last year. it has been a strange week for m&s which on tuesday received a statement from philip green the billionaire bhs owner confirming he was not rebidding for the company. this was followed the same day by mark paulsmeier a south african financier issuing a press release saying his paulsmeier group was interested in m&s. a sudden spike in m&s s share price followed. however an m&s spokesman said on sunday it had no evidence that mr paulsmeier had lined up sufficient finance for a bid. he also said the takeover panel and the uk s financial watchdog the financial services authority had been in touch with m&s at the beginning of the week to find out what it knew about the paulsmeier developments.

double injury blow strikes wales wales centre sonny parker and number eight ryan jones will miss saturday s game with italy because of injury. parker has not recovered from a trapped nerve in his neck that kept him out of the win over england and tom shanklin is expected to continue at centre. jones damaged his collar bone after coming on as a replacement against england and joins flanker colin charvis (foot injury) on the sidelines. meanwhile mike ruddock may make gavin henson his first-choice kicker in rome. the centre was wales hero in the 11-9 six nations win over england landing a huge late penalty from wide out to clinch the game. first-choice kicker stephen jones handed over responsibility because of henson s greater kicking range but the fly-half had already missed a number of shots at goal. our first aim was to get gavin settled into the team but giving him the kicks is something we ll talk about in selection this week wales coach mike ruddock told bbc sport wales. henson himself says he is relishing all the media hype that has been heaped on him since last saturday s game. i thrive on it and think it makes me perform better he said. i m glad it s a short week before the italy game. there was so much build-up before england but we fly out to rome on thursday and we ll be back playing again.

steady job growth continues in us the us created fewer jobs than expected in december but analysts said that the dip in hiring was not enough to derail the world s biggest economy. according to labor department figures 157 000 new jobs were added last month. that took 2004 s total to 2.2 million the best showing in five years. job creation was one of last year s main concerns for the us economy. while worries still remain the conditions are set for steady growth in 2005 analysts said. the unemployment rate stayed at 5.4% in december and about 200 000 jobs will need to be created each month if that figure is to drop. it was a respectable report said michael moran analyst at daiwa securities. payroll growth in december was a little lighter than the consensus forecast but we had upward revisions to the prior two months and an increase in manufacturing employment. manufacturing is a cyclical area of the economy and if it s showing job growth it s a good indication that the economy is on a solid growth track. that means that the federal reserve is likely to continue its policy of raising interest rates. the fed lifted borrowing costs five times last year to 2.25% citing evidence the us economic recovery was becoming more robust. job creation was one of last year s main concerns for the us economy and proved to be a main topic of debate in the us presidential election. while demand for workers is far from booming the conditions are set for steady growth. overall compared to the previous year it looks great it just keeps going stronger and stronger and i expect that to be the case in 2005 said kurt karl economist at swiss re in new york. meanwhile economists cautioned against reading too much into data from the federal reserve showing an unexpected $8.7bn drop in consumer debt in november. a fall in consumer spending which makes up about two-thirds of all us economic activity could help limit the extent of any future interest rate rises. but economists said there could be a number of reasons for a fall in the borrowing which include credit cards and personal loans while noting that such figures can vary on a month-to-month basis.

new foot and mouth action urged a senior tory mp has criticised agriculture department defra s lackadaisical approach to planning for a future foot and mouth outbreak. public accounts committee chairman edward leigh was giving his reaction to a report by a government watchdog on lessons to be learnt from the crisis. the national audit office said defra had improved its capacity to deal with future livestock disease outbreaks. but mr leigh said the department was dragging its heels . that comment referred to the setting up of a scheme to share any future compensation costs with industry. he also said defra had been dreadfully slow in paying some of its bills dating from the foot and mouth crisis. the outbreak which began in 2001 led to the slaughter of 6.5 million animals devastated many farms and rural businesses and is estimated to have cost the uk up to £8bn. four years after the outbreak defra is yet to begin its planned review of some of its contractors costs and £40m of invoices remain unpaid mr leigh said. mr leigh also pointed out that the introduction of an it system to help control future outbreaks had been delayed. in november it emerged european commission compensation amounted to just over a third of the money the uk government had hoped to get as reimbursement for the billions lost through the foot and mouth crisis. ministers had hoped to get £900m from the european union vet fund to help with animal slaughter and other costs but in the end was granted £349m. that was because the uk had valued the culled animals at between two and three times the commission s assessment of their likely market value. national audit office chief sir john bourn said a new compensation scheme was now being looked at. on the issue of the unpaid invoices sir john said defra had paid 97% of the £1.3bn submitted by contractors since 2001 but has not agreed a final settlement with 57 contractors pending the results of its investigations . mr leigh said being better prepared would also help avoid the need for mass funeral pyres which provided an unsettling images of the 2001 outbreak . a defra spokesman said: we welcome the report. it acknowledges the progress the department has made since 2001 - particularly on contingency planning and our improved capacity and preparedness for combating another major disease outbreak. however the department is aware that there are some areas requiring further work and we are working to resolve them as soon as is practicable.

barbarians 19-47 new zealand new zealand proved too strong for an australian-dominated barbarians to round off their unbeaten northern hemisphere tour with an easy win. rico gear ran in two of the all blacks seven tries in what was a predominantly second-string line-up. the baa-baas did threaten scoring tries through albert van den bergh xavier rush and andrea lo cicero but never looked like winning. all black aaron mauger was in good form with the boot adding 10 points. the all blacks featured only two of the side which started last weekend s emphatic test victory over france in paris while the baa-baas had nine wallabies in their starting line-up. and new zealand coach graham henry said: it was a quality performance against a very experienced side and a number of young guys came through very well. they learnt from the older players and this was a way of thanking the guys who had been mentoring them on the tour. but the running rugby the crowd had been hoping for rarely materialised. marty holah got the all blacks onslaught under way with his fifth-minute try before rush hit back moments later. but new zealand went ahead once more as gear made use of the space vacated by a temporarily injured chris latham to slide in. ma a nonu then found his way through the barbarians defence to give his side a 19-7 half-time lead. the hosts failed to ignite in the second half and the moment gear scored his second just after the interval there was only ever going to be one winner. lo cicero the sole european for the barbarians bundled over for a try to briefly curtail the deficit. but the match was blighted by controversy moments later when justin marshall was felled with a high tackle by jimmy cowan. referee andy turner waved play on and casey laulala coasted in for his side s fifth try. jermoe keino and piri weepu both added tries to the all blacks tally before the final whistle while van den bergh gained some consolation for the baa-baas. after the match barbarians coach bob dwyer warned that south african flanker schalk burger needed a proper off-season break to maintain his standards. burger 21 was recently crowned player of the year by both his peers and the international rugby board but has struggled for form in recent weeks. it s his first year at that level and he was phenomenal up until the end of the southern hemisphere season. i don t think he s played anywhere near that level on tour he said.

uk firms embracing e-commerce uk firms are embracing internet trading opportunities as never before e-commerce minister mike o brien says. a government-commissioned study ranked the uk third in its world index of use of information and communication technology (ict). the report suggests 69% of uk firms are now using broadband and that 30% of micro businesses are trading online. mr o brien said uk businesses were sprinting forward in ict use but that there were more challenges ahead. the report carried out independently by consultants booz allen hamilton and hi europe placed the uk third behind sweden and ireland for business use of ict. it showed british business brought greater maturity to their ict use by using broadband in increased numbers bringing ict into their business plans and using new technologies such as voice activated programmes and desktop video conferences. mr o brien said: the increase in the proportion of business connected by broadband shows that uk companies are embracing the opportunities that ict can bring. it is particularly encouraging to see that small businesses are beginning to narrow the digital divide that appeared to have opened up in recent years. the government would play its part in cultivating an environment where information and communication technologies can flourish mr o brien said. the clear message the report sends is that effective use of ict can bring real improvements in business performance for all business. however we are not at the finishing line yet and many challenges remain if the uk is to reach its aim of becoming a world-leading e-economy he added. the international benchmarking study was based on 8 000 telephone interviews with businesses of which more than 2 700 were uk businesses. it is the eighth in a series of examining the adoption and deployment of ict in the world s most industrialised nations.

eminem secret gig venue revealed rapper eminem is to play an intimate gig in london on saturday following a show on the river thames on friday. the us star will play just two songs at a night showcasing his label shady records at the islington academy. eminem performed on hms belfast on friday which is docked on the river thames where he filmed two songs for bbc one s top of the pops. he arrived in the uk on friday following his appearance at the mtv europe music awards in rome. other rap acts who may appear at the islington gig include stat quo proof dj green lantern swift and obie trice. eminem s latest album soared to the top of the us chart after just three days on sale in record shops. encore is now a chart-topper on both sides of the atlantic following its debut at number one in the uk. the fourth album from the rap star was on sale for two days before it outsold all of its rivals. the album was released early in an effort to combat both physical and online piracy. eminem s album includes the track mosh which is a tirade against us president bush and the presence of us troops in iraq. the rapper was criticised earlier this year after a performance on bbc one s top of the pops in april led 12 viewers to complain he was lewd and offensive . the complaints about the star grabbing his crotch were upheld by the bbc. the performer had been asked to tone his act down after rehearsal but ignored this request during the live broadcast a bbc statement read. although his gestures were part of the rap culture they had gone beyond what is expected.

john peel replacement show begins the permanent replacement for late dj john peel s bbc radio 1 show goes on air on tuesday with three hosts chosen to fill the legendary presenter s slot. rock dj huw stephens will go on air in the 2300 slot every tuesday with black music champion ras kwame on wednesdays and dance dj rob da bank on thursdays. rob da bank filled in after peel had a heart attack aged 65 in october. all three will play diverse unpredictable and non-commercial songs under the banner of the onemusic show. radio 1 said the station was not trying to replace peel but would rise to the challenge of keeping his legacy alive with unpredictable music. the three djs were chosen for their in-depth musical knowledge across a variety of musical genres the station said. rob da bank is one of the hosts of the blue room an early morning weekend show which plays electronic and dance music. huw stephens has been one half of the thursday night show bethan and huw in wales which explores new music especially up-and-coming acts in wales. and ras kwame is host of 100% homegrown on radio 1 s digital station 1xtra dedicated to showcasing the best hip-hop and garage. another change to the station line-up will see sara cox return after maternity leave. she will host the lunchtime show on saturdays from this week. good luck to all three of them not one dj could fill peels boots so it s probably a good idea to get them all contributing. this time next year i hope we are saying how well these djs have done but i fear this time next year we will really realise how much john peel will be forever missed. very good idea to continue the legacy without attempting to replace john peel. also there will surely be a wider spectrum for international music as three top radio djs unite under the one world name. congratulations! the whole glory of john peel was the fact he was not commited to one genre. he played what he liked across the range of music.... this is not going to be the same and all they seem to be doing is what they already have. bring back steve lamacq. the obvious heir to john peel is the marvellous wonderful and talented claire kember from totallyradio.com. this lady is young and fresh and is one of the most knowledgeable and likeable people in british broadcasting today. everyone who listens to her show understands and compares her to the ledgendary john peel. bbc radio should seek out the real talent from internet radio stations people who are making a real impact on the world of music and the world in general.

cactus diet deal for phytopharm a slimming aid made from a southern african cactus is set to be developed by uk firm phytopharm and unilever. anglo-dutch food giant unilever will help the pharmaceutical firm develop the snacks containing hoodia extract. phytopharm shares jumped 10.7% on the news with analysts saying sales of $600m (£309m) a year were possible. the plant licensed to phytopharm in 1997 has been used for thousands of years by the sans bushmen of the kalahari desert to stave off hunger. studies have reportedly shown the plant curbs appetite instead of reducing calorific intake like many existing products. phytopharm will receive an initial fee of £6.5m from unilever - out of a potential total of £21m - as well as future royalties on product sales. under the deal production of the hoodia cactus at phytopharm s nursery in south africa will also rise from eight million plants to potentially hundreds of millions said phytopharm chief executive richard dixey. the firm had initially hoped to market a slimming drug from hoodia with pfizer. but the research collaboration came to an end in 2003. analysts said unilever could launch the new products in 2007. this deal goes a long way to restoring the market faith in phytopharm s pipeline after the pfizer exit said analyst erling refsum at nomura.

ukip candidate suspended in probe eurosceptic party ukip have suspended a candidate for allegedly suggesting the criminally insane should be killed. john houston 54 was due to stand in the east kilbride seat in lanarkshire at the next election. but he was suspended after his reported views including the return of the british empire were sent to two scottish newspapers. ukip spokesman mark croucher said those who selected mr houston knew nothing of his views. the episode comes at a difficult time for ukip soon after the high-profile departure of mep robert kilroy-silk. mr houston is alleged to have said that the organs of the criminally insane should be made available to law-abiding members of the community and proposed the legalisation of drugs and the sex trade. the document reportedly said: we re looking for the resurrection of the british empire. the problems for the human race - environmental and others - can only be dealt with on a global scale and that calls for a radical alliance of the english-speaking nations which they are uniquely able to do. mr croucher said the main issue would be that mr houston s reported views had been presented as ukip policy which they were not. he said they might have been submissions to a committee working on the party s manifesto but would not have been matched to mr houston when he was standing to become a candidate. he told bbc news: he appears to have said these things. we have suspended him as a member and as a candidate. by all accounts none of this was mentioned at his selection meeting. it is simply a distraction from the task in hand the eu constitution not individual idiocies. mr houston was quoted in the herald newspaper saying: i feel ukip have over-reacted and overshot the runway. peter nielson who is ukip scotland chairman said he had suspended mr houston on friday night. he will remain suspended while the matter is being investigated and then we will decide if and what further action will be taken. he said that any evidence would be looked into and mr houston may be interviewed by the party. he added: i can t comment too much at the moment i have one version from him but i haven t seen the papers yet.

isinbayeva claims new world best pole vaulter yelena isinbayeva broke her own indoor world record by clearing 4.89 metres in lievin on saturday. it was the russian s 12th world record of her career and came just a few days after she cleared 4.88m at the norwich union grand prix in birmingham. the olympic champion went on to attempt 5.05m at the meeting on france but failed to clear that height. in the men s 60m former olympic 100m champion maurice greene could only finish second to leonard scott. it was greene s second consecutive defeat at the hands of his fellow american who also won in birmingham last week. i ran my race perfectly said scott who won in 6.46secs his best time indoors. i am happy even if i know that maurice is a long way from being at his peak at the start of the season.

row brewing over peer-to-peer ads music download networks are proving popular not just with an audience of youngsters keen to take advantage of free music but with advertisers equally keen to reach out to a captive audience. the debate over the legitimacy of file-sharing networks rages on as the music industry continues its threats to close the services down for good. meanwhile the millions of downloaders are proving both an advertiser s dream come true and a branding nightmare. paul myers chief executive of wippit - a peer to peer service which provides paid-for music downloads - believes it is time advertisers stopped providing oxygen for companies that support illegal downloading. you may be surprised to know that current advertisers on the most popular peer to peer service edonkey who now steadfastly support copyright theft with real cash money include nat west vodafone o2 first direct ntl and renault he said in an open letter to the british phonographic industry last month. he urged people to follow his lead and dump brands associated with companies such as edonkey. the bpi is equally quick to condemn established brands becoming bedfellows with peer to peer networks. networks like edonkey kazaa and grokster facilitate illegal filesharing. the bpi strongly believes that any reputable company should look carefully at the support they are giving these networks through their advertising revenue it said in a statement. illegal file-sharers steal millions of pounds worth of music through these services. we are sure that the companies advertising on them would not put up with theft on such a scale from their own businesses it said. but the issue is often more complicated for advertisers said mark mulligan a music analyst with jupiter research. this has been a problem for a long time ever since the days of napster he told the bbc news website. the reality is that the millions of downloaders represent a very attractive audience. advertisers probably pay a lot less for putting ads here than on more respected sites and they are reaching the perfect target audience he said. if you put the legality issues aside not to advertise here would mean missing out on a valuable audience he added. meanwhile companies contacted by the bbc news website insist that they were not directly aware of where their ads have been appearing. onetel adverts were spotted on edonkey this week and its response was typical. we have investigated this matter and believe that one of our affiliate partners has placed this advert without our knowledge. it is not our policy to advertise through peer-to-peer networks read a statement from the discount phone firm. it has requested the advert be removed immediately said a spokeswoman. similarly telecommunications firm ntl blames its media buying agency which places adverts with third party networks featuring thousands of sites. since the matter was brought to its attention last month the agency has strict instructions to make sure ads do not appear on such sites a spokesman told the bbc news website. however mr mulligan was not entirely convinced by these explanations. while smaller brands might not necessarily be aware of where the money they allocate to online advertising actually ends this is no excuse for well-known brands he said. i would be surprised if these brands didn t have the know-how to prevent this happening he said. at the moment edonkey is enjoying the benefits of having some very well-known faces advert on its network. many big brands have leveraged the opportunity including perhaps two of the biggest brands in the world - senator john kerry and president george w. bush said chief executive sam yagan. there are some distinct advantages of advertising on such a network he thinks. peer-to-peer clients offer big brands a unique opportunity to engage with their customers where they re most comfortable: at their desks interacting with their favourite digital media he said.

blair to face mps amid feud talk tony blair faces his first prime minister s questions of 2005 after a week of renewed speculation about his relationship with gordon brown. meanwhile the chancellor is leaving britain on a high-profile tour of africa to highlight poverty issues. but before doing so he insisted he still trusted mr blair despite claims to the contrary in a new book. labour mps have warned against disunity and tory leader michael howard may well take up the theme in the commons. the tories have already accused the prime minister and his chancellor of behaving like schoolboys squabbling in a playground . michael howard is likely to want to capitalise further on the spat when he goes head-to-head with the prime minister in the commons. at a campaign poster launch on tuesday mr brown was joined by alan milburn who mr blair controversially put in charge of election planning in place of the chancellor. later this week the prime minister is due to set out the themes of his party s next election manifesto which for the past two polls have been drawn up by the chancellor. mr brown meanwhile is visiting tanzania mozambique and kenya to highlight the plight of many africans hit by aids war and famine - issues which mr blair has also spoken out on. the prime minister and chancellor faced backbench discontent at monday s meeting of the parliamentary labour party over claims made in journalist robert peston s new book. mr blair told mps and peers: i know from everyone here in cabinet and government nothing is going to get in the way of a unified labour party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need. labour s paul flynn said the pair had had a scorching from mps. on tuesday deputy prime minister mr prescott told bbc news: they told us very clearly it was the troops telling the leaders: get in line. the new book claims mr prescott hosted a dinner in november 2003 where the prime minister told mr brown he would stand down before the next election because he had lost trust over the iraq war. mr blair then changed his mind in june 2004 after cabinet allies intervened and amid suspicion the chancellor was manoeuvring against him writes mr peston. in mr peston s book mr brown is alleged to have told the prime minister: there is nothing you could ever say to me now that i could ever believe.

lib dems demand new inquiry a judge should look into the david blunkett controversy as key questions remain unanswered the lib dems say. sir alan budd s inquiry linked the ex-home secretary to the speeding up of a visa claim by his ex-lover s nanny. but he could not say whether mr blunkett had treated the nanny as a special case or had used her as an example of immigration problems. lib dem spokesman mark oaten said the number of officials who had forgotten what happened was worrying. he told bbc news: i m extremely concerned that 20 individuals appear to have forgotten what happened or more suspiciously are not prepared to say what happened. that must be bad for government it must be bad for public confidence in the system. mr oaten said people would be mystified why sir alan s inquiry failed to uncover why processing of the visa application was speeded up. he said: there is a strong case for a judge-led judicial review of this because of course next time it happens it may not be about a nanny and their visa. it may be about something even more important than that. so we do need to understand what took place and who was involved. the tories criticised the lib dem stance saying mr oaten had initially said he accepted mr blunkett s word unless further evidence emerged. but lib dem officials say mr oaten was speaking when an inquiry was under way and was avoiding rushing to judgement.

teenagers to be allowed to be mps teenagers will be able to become mps under plans unveiled by ministers. in a written statement constitutional affairs minister christopher leslie said the current minimum age of 21 for an mp would be reduced to 18. the proposals follow a recommendation last year by elections watchdog the electoral commission. the government intends to legislate when parliamentary time allows to lower the age said mr leslie who was elected in 1997 at the age of 24. even if the move does go ahead it is unlikely it will be in place before the next general election widely predicted for may. the announcement from mr leslie - who was elected in 1997 in a formerly safe tory seat - prompted calls for a lowering of the voting age to 16. the votes at 16 alliance said it was a good thing to engage people by lowering the candidacy age but argued lowering the voting age would be much more effective. candidacy affects only politicians. the voting age affects millions of younger people said spokesman alex folkes. we would hope that the government will table a bill that is broad enough to allow for amendments to be brought to test support for a reduction in the voting age. currently candidates in both local and national votes must be 21 while the voting age is 18. that is because the age of majority was reduced to 18 in 1969 but laws dating from 1695 which determine the current voting age stayed in place. irish republican bernadette devlin was one of just a handful of 21-year-olds elected to parliament in the 20th century winning a seat in 1969. but the youngest is understood to have been tory edward turnour who won the 1904 horsham by-election aged 21 and 144 days and served in parliament for 47 continuous years. last april s report by the electoral commission said there was no strong argument for leaving the age for standing for election at 21. the commission found the most common approach around the world is for the voting age to be the same as the candidacy age.

more movies head to sony s psp movies open water and saw are among those to be made available for sony s psp games console. film studio lions gate entertainment has announced an initial list of 12 movies that will be on the umd format used by the handheld. the typical buyer of the machine [is] the core demographic to whom our films generally appeal said steve beeks president of lions gate. already available in japan the psp is released in the us on 24 march. spider-man 2 on umd will be given to the first million customers in the us. the punisher and house of the dead along with older titles such as total recall and rambo: first blood will be in the umd format with disks costing between $20 (£10.40) to $30 (£15.60) for new titles and $10 (£5.20) to $20 for older films. when we first saw the machine and started talking to sony we immediately decided it was going to be a winner both from the gaming perspective and from the perspective of people watching movies on the go mr beeks said. the disks which are smaller than dvds only work in sony s psp and can hold up to 1.8gb of data. we actually believe people who buy the umd would not have bought it on dvd he said. there are people who will want umd because of the portability. maybe they re already taking the games with them out of the house and they re bigger gamers than they are movie watchers. four movies have already been announced for psp. they are: xxx hellboy resident evil: apocalypse and once upon a time in mexico.

economy strong in election year uk businesses are set to prosper during the next few months - but this could trigger more interest rate rises according to a report. optimism is at its highest since 1997 and business will reap the benefits of a continuing rise in public spending say researchers at bdo stoy hayward. the bank of england is expected to keep rates on hold this week - but they could go up later in the year. rates are likely to rise after the anticipated general election in may. the bdo optimism index - a leading indicator of gdp growth two quarters ahead edged up in january to 102.5 from 102.2 in october. the rise is due in part to an increase in public spending and increased merger and acquisition activity. the only thing blighting business optimism this year will be uncertainties associated with the general election bdo said. its bdo s output index - which predicts gdp movements a quarter in advance - remained at 100.8 for january implying gdp growth at 2.9% in the second quarter of 2005. however the output index is being held back by recent interest rate rises sterling s strength against the dollar and high oil prices the group noted. its inflation index which has risen continuously over the last 8 months climbed to 110.0 in january from 108.0 in october last year. the uk is looking strong going into the general election but businesses need to prepare themselves for a jolt ahead as the bank of england reacts to growth and inflationary pressures said peter hemington partner at bdo stoy hayward. growth will probably slow by the end of 2005 and it is likely that we will see higher interest rates or a sharp drop in demand for products and services.

eu aiming to fuel development aid european union finance ministers meet on thursday to discuss proposals including a tax on jet fuel to boost development aid for poorer nations. the policy makers are to ask for a report into how more development money can be raised the eu said. the world s richest countries have said they want to increase the amount of aid they give to 0.7% of their annual gross national income by 2015. airlines have reacted strongly against the proposed fuel levy. profits have been under pressure in the airline industry with low-cost firms driving down prices and demand dipping after the 11 september terrorist attacks and the outbreak of the killer sars virus. things have picked up but some european and us companies are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. at present the fuel used by airlines enjoys either a very low tax rate or is untaxed in eu member states. of course we applaud humanitarian initiatives but why target the airlines said ulrich schulte-strathaus secretary general of the association of european airlines. our industry is in the midst of a fundamental crisis...only to be once again confronted with a measure designed to increase our costs he continued. the eu sought to allay the airlines fears stressing that thursday s meeting was only a first step and that other proposals were also under consideration. it added that any plan to levy taxes on jet fuel should not hinder the competitiveness of the airlines and that they themselves will not be solely funding development . any tax would only be implemented after full consultation with the airlines the eu said. there is thought to be widespread support for the plan - tabled by france and germany following the recent g7 meeting of the world s richest nations - from eu ministers. the issue of poverty in africa and south asia has forced itself to the top of the politicial agenda with politicians and campaigners calling for more to be done. at their meeting in london g7 finance ministers backed plans to write off up to 100% of the debts of some of the world s poorest countries.

anti-tremor mouse stops pc shakes a special adaptor that helps people with hand tremors control a computer mouse more easily has been developed. the device uses similar steady cam technology found in camcorders to filter out shaking hand movements. people with hand tremors find it hard to use conventional mice for simple computer tasks because of the erratic movements of the cursor on the screen. about three million britons have some sort of hand tremor condition said the uk national tremor foundation. using a computer mouse is well known for being extremely hard for people with tremors so we re delighted to hear that a technology has been developed to address this problem said karen walsh from the uk national tremor foundation. most commonly associated with tremors is parkinson s disease but they can also be caused by other conditions like essential tremor (et). tremors more often affect older people but can hit all ages. et for example is genetic and can afflict people throughout their lives. the assistive mouse adapter (ama) is the brainchild of ibm researcher jim levine who developed the prototype after seeing his uncle who has parkinson s disease struggle with mouse control. i knew that there must be way to improve the situation for him and the millions of other tremor sufferers around the world including the elderly. the number of elderly computer users will increase as the population ages and at the same time the need for computer access grows he said. computer users plug the device into a pc and it can be adjusted depending on how severe the tremor is. it is also able to recognise multiple clicking on a mouse button caused by shaky digits. ibm said it would partner up with a small uk-based electronics firm montrose secam to produce the devices which will cost about £70. james cosgrave one of the company s directors said it would make a big difference to those with tremors. i m a pilot and my tremor condition has not limited my ability to fly a plane he said. but using a pc has proven almost impossible simply because everything revolves around using the mouse to accurately manipulate the tiny cursor on the screen. he said a prototype of the gadget had transformed his life. the device could help open up computing to millions more people who have found shaking to be a barrier. last year the office for national statistics reported that for the first time more than half of all households in britain had a home computer. with prices getting cheaper to get online too computer ownership is increasing. but although 62% of british people have tried the internet only 15% of britons aged 65 or over have been online. more than six million uk households now have a broadband net. by the middle of 2005 it is estimated that 50% of all uk net users will be on broadband. there are still millions using the net through dial-up connections too.

dj double act revamp chart show dj duo jk and joel are taking over bbc radio 1 s flagship chart show on sunday adding showbiz news celebrity interviews and between-song banter. they hope to boost ratings for the long-running show which has been overtaken in popularity by independent radio s hit 40 uk rundown. radio 1 s chart show is an institution and remains the station s single most popular show says jk also known as jason king. for years people have been tuning in at four o clock with their tape recorders ready to record their favourite tunes. not that i ever did that. but things have moved on a lot now so it was time for a change. that change involved ejecting previous host wes butters and relocating king and dj partner joel ross from their weekend afternoon radio 1 slot. the pair have worked together for a decade - meeting on viking radio in hull before moving to manchester station key 103 and winning two sony radio awards. they also presented gadget series playboyz and car show motor maniacs for cable tv channel granada men and motors and pure soap on bbc three. on the revamped chart show their cheeky laddish banter will punctuate star interviews and competitions film and dvd charts plus a look at future single releases in addition to the singles chart itself. the chart rundown is no longer the only point of the programme says ross. the show used to be the only way to discover who was in the top 40. now you can just click on the internet to find that out so the show has plenty of extra items too. the show s reduced reliance upon the top 40 also reflects the fact that music fans are now more likely to download songs in digital format rather than buy them on compact disc vinyl or cassette. i personally buy downloads rather than cd singles says 27-year-old ross. even my grandma can download songs now. jk is still struggling with the technology though. but it s premature for people to say that the singles chart is dead ross adds. while sales of singles on traditional formats are down interest in songs has been revived by download sales which will be incorporated into our main chart rundown from april. music fans still want to know what is the most popular song of the week. ross will be plumping for chart success from rapper verbalicious and the stereophonics on sunday while king is more of an r&b and dance music fan. so listeners will get the advantage of both our music tastes says king 30 who describes outgoing host butters as an extremely professional and competent broadcaster . the advantage joel and i have is that we re a double act with a rapport between us that makes the show much more interactive king says. wes has a great broadcasting career ahead of him. and if not i could always use a cleaner he jokes. ross says the pair have done their best to ignore the weight of expectation placed upon the revamped show. other people can worry about that we are going to continue doing what we do well he says. at the end of the day this is a radio show that is meant to be entertaining. nobody died.

rings of steel combat net attacks gambling is hugely popular especially with tech-savvy criminals. many extortionists are targeting net-based betting firms and threatening to cripple their websites with deluges of data unless a ransom is paid. but now deep defences are being put in place by some of the uk s biggest net firms to stop these attacks. increasing numbers of attacks and the huge amounts of data being used to try to bump a site off the web are prompting firms to adopt the measures. net firms are realising that it s not just about anti-virus and firewalls said paul king chief security architect at cisco. there are more things that can be done in the network to protect data centres. mr king said the only way to properly combat these so-called distributed denial-of-service attacks was with intelligent net-based systems. many of the gambling sites suffering ddos attacks are in offshore data and hosting centres so any large scale data flood could knock out access to many more sites than just the one the criminals were targeting said mr king. this overspill effect was only likely to grow as attacks grow in size and scale. malcolm seagrave security expert at energis said the most common types of attacks hit sites with 10 megabytes of data over short periods of time. bigger attacks sending down 200 megabytes of traffic or more were rarely seen he said. it does feel like they are turning the dial because you see this traffic gradually growing he said. so far there have been no attacks involving gigabytes of data said mr seagrave. however he added that it was only a matter of time before such large attacks were mounted. maria capella spokeswoman for net provider pipex said that when ddos attacks were at their height customers were getting hit every four to five days. the defences being put in place constantly monitor the streams of data flowing across networks and pluck out the traffic destined for target sites. it s about understanding what s genuine traffic and keeping attack traffic from going to the site she said. we study the profile of their traffic and as soon as we see an anomaly in the profile that s when we start to get the backbone engineering boys to see if we are going to sustain an attack said ms capella. this traffic can be hard to spot because ddos attacks typically use thousands of computers in many different countries each participating machine only sends a small part of the entire data flood. typically these computers have been infected by a virus or worm which reports its success and the net address of compromised machines back to the malicious hacker or hi-tech criminal that set off the virus. hijacked computers are known as zombies or bots and collections of them are called bot nets. many spammers rent out bot nets to help them anonymously send junk mail. most of the zombies are based outside the country that hosts the target site so getting the attacking pcs shut off can be difficult. often pipex and other net suppliers do get advance notice that an attack is about to happen. the serious players tend to precede an attack with some kind of ransom e-mail said ms capella. we ask as part of the service we provide that customers notify us of anything they have in advance that would give us forewarning. once an attack is spotted dedicated net hardware takes over to remove the attack traffic and ensure that sites stay up. energis took a similar approach said mr seagrave. we have technology out there that allows us to detect attacks in minutes rather than let network engineers spend hours pulling the information together said mr seagrave. also net firms were starting to work more closely together on the problem of ddos attacks and pool information about where they are coming from. information gathered on attacks and where they originated has led to some arrests. he said energis also did its own intelligence work to get in insight into which sites criminal gangs plan to target. we have people in places where they shouldn t be monitoring tech sites he said. sometimes though he said spotting the next victim was easy. you can see them going alphabetically through the list with the gambling sites trying one after another said mr seagrave.

blair defends terror law changes the prime minister has defended measures to allow house arrest without trial saying several hundred people in the uk are plotting terror attacks. the government is facing opposition from tory and lib dem mps and its own backbenchers as it prepares for the final commons debate on the changes. but tony blair said there could be no concession on the basic principle . mr blair told the bbc the control orders would only be used in the most limited circumstances. critics in the opposition and civil rights activists are worried that the home secretary will have the power to issue the detention orders. but the government has so far resisted pressure for judges to be responsible for making the orders instead saying judges will be able to quash them. an explanation is being sent by home secretary charles clarke to all mps and peers ahead of the final debate in the house of commons. on sunday conservative shadow home secretary david davis claimed judges would get the powers to issue detention orders. and liberal democrat leader charles kennedy said some concessions had already been offered by the government during last-minute negotiations. some 32 labour mps voted against the legislation last week. barbara follett whose first husband was killed while under house arrest in south africa during the apartheid era confirmed she would vote against the government. but the government is continuing to insist that control orders must be issued by the home secretary. mr blair told bbc radio 4 s woman s hour: we are being advised by the police and the security services... what they say is you have got to give us powers in between mere surveillance of these people - there are several hundred of them in this country who we believe are engaged in plotting or trying to commit terrorist acts - you have got to give us power in between just surveying them and being able being sure enough of the proof to prosecute them beyond reasonable doubt. and these will be restrictions on their liberty that we will use only in the most limited circumstances. a yougov poll in the daily telegraph suggested 75% of respondents thought action was sometimes necessary against people who had not committed an offence but who had been found by intelligence services to be planning a terrorist attack. but tory leader michael howard told bbc news that the government was again making a mistake in rushing anti-terrorism legislation. i very much hope it would be possible to reach a compromise on this. he said after meeting tony blair he had been left with the impression that he really wasn t interested in any of the various proposals we have put forward . mr clarke wants house arrest and other powers to replace indefinite jail for terror suspects - something the law lords have ruled against on the basis that it breaches human rights. bbc political correspondent vicky young said some form of concession on the measures was likely to be needed to get the legislation through the house of lords where labour does not have a majority and would require support from other parties. shami chakrabarti director of civil liberties pressure group liberty said who was able to issue the control orders was not the main issue. she said the legislation was a travesty and a perversion of justice and would remain unpalatable even if a judge was involved early in the process.

peer-to-peer nets here to stay peer-to-peer (p2p) networks are here to stay and are on the verge of being exploited by commercial media firms says a panel of industry experts. once several high-profile legal cases against file-sharers are resolved this year firms will be very keen to try and make money from p2p technology. the expert panel probed the future of p2p at the consumer electronics show in las vegas earlier in january. the first convictions for p2p piracy were handed out in the us in january. william trowbridge and michael chicoine pleaded guilty to charges that they infringed copyright by illegally sharing music movies and software. since the first successful file-sharing network napster was forced to close down the entertainment industry has been nervous and critical of p2p technology blaming it for falling sales and piracy. but that is going to change very soon according to the panel. the music and film industries have started some big legal cases against owners of legitimate p2p networks - which are not illegal in themselves - and of individuals accused of distributing pirated content over networks. but they have slowly realised that p2p is a good way to distribute content said travis kalanick founder and chairman of p2p network red swoosh and soon they are all going to want a slice of it. they are just waiting to come up with business models that work for them which includes digital rights management and copy-protection standards. but until the legal actions are resolved experimentation with p2p cannot not happen said michael weiss president of streamcast networks. remembering the furore around vcrs when they first came out mr weiss said: old media always tries to stop new media. when they can t stop it they try to control it. then they figure out how to make money and they always make a lot of money. once the courts decided that the vcr in itself was not an illegal technology the film studios turned it into an extremely lucrative business. in august 2004 the san francisco-based us court of appeals ruled in favour of grokster and streamcast two file-sharing networks. the court said they were essentially in the same position that sony was in the 1980s vcr battle and said that the networks themselves could not be deemed as illegal. p2p networks usually do not rely on dedicated servers for the transfer of files. instead it uses direct connections between computers - or clients. there are now many different types of p2p systems than work in different ways. p2p nets can be used to share any kind of file like photos free software licensed music and any other digital content. the bbc has already decided to embrace the technology. it aims to offer most of its own programmes for download this year and it will use p2p technology to distribute them. the files would be locked seven days after a programme aired making rights management easier to control. but the technology is still demonised and misunderstood by many. the global entertainment industry says more than 2.6 billion copyrighted music files are downloaded every month and about half a million films are downloaded a day. legal music download services like apple itunes napster have rushed into the music marketplace to try and lure file-sharers away from free content. sales of legally-downloaded songs grew tenfold in 2004 with 200 million tracks bought online in the us and europe in 12 months the ifpi reported this week. but such download services are very different from p2p networks not least because of the financial aspect. there are several money-spinning models that could turn p2p into a golden egg for commercial entertainment companies. paid-for-pass-along in which firms receive money each time a file is shared along with various drm solutions and advertiser-based options are all being considered. we see there are going to be different models for commoditising p2p said marc morgenstern vice president of anti-piracy firm overpeer. consumers are hungry for it and we will discover new models together agreed mr morgenstern. but many net users will continue to ignore the entertainment industry s potential controlling grip on content and p2p technology by continuing to use it for their own creations. unsigned bands for example use p2p networks to distribute their music effectively which also draws the attention of record companies looking for new artists to sign. increasingly what you are seeing on p2p is consumer-created content said derek broes from microsoft. they will probably pay an increasing role in helping p2p spread he said. looking into p2p s future file sharing is just the beginning for p2p networks as far as mr broes is concerned. once some of these issues are resolved you are going to see aggressive movement to protect content but also in ways that are unimaginable now he said. file-sharing is the tip of the iceberg.

child access law shake-up planned parents who refuse to allow former partners contact with their children could be electronically tagged under plans being considered by ministers. curfews and community service orders were other options which could be used if court orders to allow parental access were defied lord falconer said. the constitutional affairs secretary outlined some of the plans on tuesday. he denied fathers activists had forced the changes telling the bbc there is a recognition that something is wrong . between 15 000 and 20 000 couples go to court to resolve access disputes each year although in nine out of 10 separations there is no court intervention. lord falconer told bbc radio 4 s today programme he hoped voluntary mediation could help solve disputes before they reached court. but he opposed compulsory mediation saying that it would lead to many people taking part with the wrong attitude. other plans include: - parenting plans to give advice on access arrangements based on real-life examples that have worked in the past - extending in-court conciliation - more informal hearings before contested court cases - better access to legal emotional and practical advice by telephone and internet - legal aid changes to give incentives for early resolution of disputes. judges can already jail parents who breach contact orders but that was a nuclear option which was rarely used as it was not seen as being in the child s interests a spokesman said. the aim of the new legislation was to provide a medium range of penalties such as fines community service orders compulsory anger management or parenting classes or curfews. failure to comply with these measures could result in offenders being electronically tagged. on the possibility of tagging uncooperative parents lord falconer said: tagging may be going too far but let s have a debate about that. full details of the new powers will not be revealed until a bill is published in the next two weeks a spokesman said. the government s proposals have met with disapproval from fathers rights groups. john ison from the controversial group fathers 4 justice said: it is very disappointing. what we have got is a cynical case of recycling existing legislation. jim parton from families need fathers said the new proposals lacked compulsion . we would like to see couples develop a plan and then have it as a source of a court order - then you know where you stand you know what the minimum access is. otherwise you see people make agreements which then fall apart. mr parton said he had been told by children s minister margaret hodge there was not enough time to pass the bill through parliament before the general election which is likely to take place in may. the conservatives have called for an equal split between parents on access to be made law. theresa may shadow secretary for the family told bbc radio 4 s today programme that the government s plans were inadequate and were papering over the cracks of the current system . she said a conservative government would bring a radical reform of the family courts as well as enforcing a legal presumption of co-parenting and compulsory mediation . we want to make courts the last resort rather than the first resort she added. the government says children cannot simply be divided up like property when a marriage collapses. the liberal democrats have argued for flexibility in deciding access rules rather than having rigid targets .

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

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

mccririck out of big brother show racing pundit john mccririck has become the latest contestant to be evicted from celebrity big brother. he was nominated to leave the channel 4 show by fellow housemates alongside happy mondays dancer bez. at one time bez was among the most popular contestants but he has since become withdrawn and argumentative. mccririck was ordered to leave the house on monday following jackie stallone the actor sylvester s mother who was first to be evicted. bez reacted badly to the news that he had been nominated by five of his fellow housemates whilst john received four votes against him. sylvester stallone s ex-wife brigitte nielsen nominated both john and bez. she said: bez is a difficult human being. there s something wrong with him. even though he s making an effort he s not very happy in here. former holby city actor jeremy edwards said he had nominated bez after he became agitated on friday night and talked about escaping over the wall to go clubbing. he said bez was being loopy and stressed . according to bookmaker ladbrokes john mccririck was 1/3 favourite to be evicted on monday while bez was at 9/4 . mccririck faced the public vote on friday and received 67% of the vote to keep him in the house whilst jackie stallone was evicted.

apple ipod family expands market apple has expanded its ipod family with the release of its next generation of the digital music players. its latest challenges to the growing digital music gadget market include an ipod mini model which can hold 6gb compared to a previous 4gb. the company which hopes to keep its dominant place in the digital music market also said the gold coloured version of the mini would be dropped. a 30gb version has also been added to the ipod photo family. the latest models have a longer battery life and their prices have been cut by an average of £40. the original ipod took an early lead in the digital music player market thanks to its large storage capacity and simple design. during 2004 about 25 million portable players were sold 10 million of which were apple ipods. but analysts agree that the success is also down to its integration with the itunes online store which has given the company a 70% share of the legal download music market. mike mcguire a research director at analyst gartner told the bbc news website that apple had done a good job in sealing off the market from competition so far. they have created a very seamless package which i think is the idea of the product - the design function and the software are very impressive he said. he added that the threat from others was always present however. creative other microsoft-partnered devices real sony and so on are ratcheting up the marketing message and advertising he said. creative was very upbeat about how many of its creative zen players it had shipped by the end of last year he said. its second-generation models like the creative zen micro photo is due out in the summer. it will have 5gb of memory on board. digital music players are now the gadget of choice among young americans according to recent research by the pew internet and american life project. one in 10 us adults - 22 million people - now owns a digital music player of some sort. sales of legally downloaded songs also rose more than tenfold in 2004 according to the record industry with 200 million tracks bought online in the us and europe in 12 months. the ifpi industry body said that the popularity of portable music players was behind the growth. analysts say that the ease of use and growth of music services available on the net will continue to drive the trend towards portable music players. people are also starting to use them in novel ways. some are combining automatic syncing functions many of them have with other net functions to automatically distribute diy radio shows called podcasts. but 2005 will also see more competition from mobile phone operators who are keen to offer streaming services on much more powerful and sophisticated handsets. according to mr mcguire research suggests that people like the idea of building up huge libraries of music which they can do with high-capacity storage devices like ipods and creative zens. mobiles do not yet have this capacity though and there are issues about the ease of portability of mobile music. mr mcguire said apple was ensuring it kept a foot in the mobile music door with its recent deal with motorola to produce a version of itunes for motorola phones.

moreno debut makes oscar mark catalina sandino moreno has joined a rare group of actresses who have been nominated for an oscar for starring in a foreign language film. the colombian-born actress was the final hope for director joshua marston who scoured the us and colombia for a lead for maria full of grace. the film sees the 23-year-old play a teenage drug mule who smuggles heroin by swallowing pellets in condoms. plaudits have been raining down on her for her gritty performance making it all the more surprising that this is her first film. her previous acting experience was in amateur productions in her home city of bogota at the ruben di pietro theatre academy. she has already received a nomination for the independent spirit awards leading actress category but these rarely overlap with academy awards instead recognising quirkier low-budget films. and at the 2004 berlin film festival the jury could not choose between her and charlize theron s oscar winning performance in monster so gave them a tied award. sandino moreno is now being regarded as one of the most promising actresses around at the moment. but she is taking her time committing to her next project hoping to land a strong spanish script and would love to be able to work with directors pedro almodovar or alejandro amenabar.

strong quarterly growth for nike nike has reported its best second-quarter earnings helped by strong demand for its athletic shoes and converse sneakers. the global sports giant said it posted a profit of $261.9m (£135.6m) for the three months to 30 november up from $179.1m in the same period last year. revenues increased 11% to $3.1bn from $2.8bn for the same period in 2003. nike whose products are endorsed by tiger woods among other sports stars said demand continues to grow . the results came after a strong first quarter of the year for the firm based in beaverton oregon. philip knight chairman and chief executive said: nike s second-quarter revenues and earnings per share reached all-time high levels as a result of solid performance across our global portfolio. our businesses in the united states and emerging markets such as china russia and turkey combined with favourable european exchange rates helped drive much of this growth. he added: with the first half of our fiscal year in the books we remain confident that our business strategy and consistent execution will allow us to deliver on our goals of healthy profitable growth. the firm reported worldwide futures orders for athletic footwear and gear scheduled for delivery from december 2004 to april 2005 of $4.9bn. that is 9.1% higher than such orders reported for the same period last year.

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

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

warning over tsunami aid website net users are being told to avoid a scam website that claims to collect cash on behalf of tsunami victims. the site looks plausible because it uses an old version of the official disasters emergency committee webpage. however dec has no connection with the fake site and says it has contacted the police about it. the site is just the latest in a long list of scams that try to cash in on the goodwill generated by the tsunami disaster. the link to the website is contained in a spam e-mail that is currently circulating. the message s subject line reads urgent tsunami earthquake appeal and its text bears all the poor grammar and bad spelling that characterises many other phishing attempts. the web address of the fake site is decuk.org which could be close enough to the official www.dec.org.uk address to confuse some people keen to donate. patricia sanders spokeswoman for the disaster emergency committee said it was aware of the site and had contacted the computer crime unit at scotland yard to help get it shut down. she said the spam e-mails directing people to the site started circulating two days ago shortly after the domain name of the site was registered. it is thought that the fake site is being run from romania. ms sanders said dec had contacted us net registrars who handle domain ownership and the net hosting firm that is keeping the site on the web. dec was going to push for all cash donated via the site to be handed over to the official organisation. bt and dec s hosting company were also making efforts to get the site shut down she said. ms sanders said sending out spam e-mail to solicit donations was not dec s style and that it would never canvass support in this way. she said that dec hoped to get the fake site shut down as soon as possible. all attempts by the bbc news website to contact the people behind the site have failed. none of the e-mail addresses supplied on the site work and the real owner of the domain is obscured in publicly available net records. this is not the first attempt to cash in on the outpouring of goodwill that has accompanied appeals for tsunami aid. one e-mail sent out in early january came from someone who claimed that he had lost his parents in the disaster and was asking for help moving an inheritance from a bank account in the netherlands. the con was very similar to the familiar nigerian forward fee fraud e-mails that milk money out of people by promising them a cut of a much larger cash pile. other scam e-mails included a link to a website that supposedly let people donate money but instead loaded spyware on their computers that grabbed confidential information. in a monthly report anti-virus firm sophos said that two e-mail messages about the tsunami made it to the top 10 hoax list during january. another tsunami-related e-mail is also circulating that carries the zar worm which tries to spread via the familiar route of microsoft s outlook e-mail program. anyone opening the attachment of the mail will have their contact list plundered by the worm keen to find new addresses to send itself to.

viewers to be able to shape tv imagine editing titanic down to watch just your favourite bits or cutting out the slushier moments of star wars to leave you with a bare bones action-fest. manipulating your favourite films to make a more personalised movie is just the beginning of an ambitious new 7.5m euro (£5.1m) project funded by the european union. new media for a new millennium (nm2) will have as its endgame the development of a completely new media genre which will allow audiences to create their own media worlds based on their specific interests or tastes. viewers will be able to participate in storylines manipulate plots and even the sets and props of tv shows. bt is one of 13 partners involved in the project. it will be contributing software that was originally designed to spot anomalies in cctv pictures. the software uses content recognition algorithms. the three-year project will work on seven productions as it develops a set of software tools that will allow viewers to edit content to their needs. one of the productions will be a experimental television show where the plot will be driven by text messages from the tv audience. participants will text selected words which will impact how the characters in the drama interact. it is being developed in finland and will be shown to finnish tv audiences. another team will work on the bbc s big budget drama of mervyn peake s gothic fantasy gormenghast. it will be re-engineered to allow people to choose a variety of edited versions. the bbc is allowing us access to the material so that we can prove the technology and the principles explained dr doug williams of bt who will be nm2 s technical project manager. the tv at the moment is a relatively dumb box which receives signals. this project is about teaching the machine to look at content like lego blocks that can be reassembled to make perfect sense he said. at the moment we have interactive gaming and a limited form of interactive tv which usually means allowing audiences to vote on shows. we are hoping to occupy the space in-between he added. nm2 s co-ordinator peter stollenmayer explained that the new genre would radically alter the role of the audience. viewers will be able to interact directly with the medium and influence what they see and hear according to their personal tastes and wishes he said. media users will no longer be passive viewers but become active engagers. it will also be important that the tools are sophisticated enough to obey the complex rules of cinematography and editing said john wyver from tv producer illuminations television limited which is also involved in the project. it s not just a matter of stringing together the romantic or action portions of a production said mr wyver. the tool has to know which bits fit together both visually by observing the time-honoured rules that go in editing and in terms of the story. only then will the personalised version both make sense and be aesthetically pleasing he added. mr wyver is planning a production entitled the golden age about renaissance art. it will allow viewers to create a so-called media world based on their own specific areas of interest such as poetry music and architecture. other productions that the nm2 team will make range from news documentaries to a romantic comedy drama.

stars pay tribute to actor davis hollywood stars including spike lee burt reynolds and oscar nominee alan alda have paid tribute to actor ossie davis at a funeral in new york. veteran star ossie davis a well-known civil rights activist died in miami at the age of 87 on 4 february 2005. friends and family including actress ruby dee his wife of 56 years gathered at the riverside church on saturday. also present at the service was former us president bill clinton and singer harry belafonte who gave the eulogy. he would have been a very good president of the united states said mr clinton. like most of you here he gave more to me than i gave to him. the 87-year-old was found dead last weekend in his hotel room in florida where he was making a film. police said that he appeared to have died of natural causes. davis made his acting debut in 1950 in no way out starring sidney poiter. he frequently collaborated with director spike lee starring in seven lee films including jungle fever do the right thing and malcolm x. attallah shabazz the daughter of activist malcolm x recalled the famous eulogy delivered by davis at her father s funeral. harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its finest hopes she said quoting the man she knew as uncle ossie. ditto. ossie was my hero and he still is said aviator star alan alda a family friend for over forty years. ossie was a thing of beauty. i want so badly someday to have his dignity - a little of it anyway added burt reynolds davis s co-star in the 90s tv comedy evening shade. before the midday funeral scores of harlem residents formed a queue outside the church to pay their respects to davis. it is hard to fathom that we will no longer be able to call on his wisdom his humour his loyalty and his moral strength to guide us in the choices that are yet to be made and the battles that are yet to be fought said belafonte himself an ardent civil rights activist who had been friends with davis for over 60 years. but how fortunate we were to have him as long as we did.

lasers help bridge network gaps an indian telecommunications firm has turned to lasers to help it overcome the problems of setting up voice and data networks in the country. tata teleservices is using the lasers to make the link between customers offices and its own core network. the laser bridges work across distances up to 4km and can be set up much faster than cable connections. in 12 months the lasers have helped the firm set up networks in more than 700 locations. in this particular geography getting permission to dig the ground and lay the pipes is a bit of a task said mr r. sridharan vice president of networks at tata. heavy traffic and the layout under the ground mean that digging is uniquely difficult he said. in some locations he said permission to dig up roads and lay cables was impossible to get. he said it was far easier to secure permission for putting networking hardware on roofs. this has led chennai-based tata to turn to equipment that uses lasers to make the final mile leap between tata s core network and the premises of customers. the lightpointe laser bridges work over distances of up to 4km and are being used to route both voice and data from businesses on to the backbone of the network. the hardware works in pairs and beam data through the air in the form of laser pulses. the laser bridges can route data at speeds up to 1.25gbps (2 000 times faster than a 512kbps broadband connection) but tata is running its hardware at more modest speeds of 1-2mbps. the lasers are also ideal for india because of its climate. it s particularly suitable as the rain rate is a little low and it s hardly ever foggy he said. in places where rain is heavy and fog is common laser links can struggle to maintain good connection speeds. the laser links also take far less time to set up and get working said mr sridharan. once we get the other permissions normal time period for set up is a few hours he said. by contrast he said digging up roads and laying cables can take weeks or months. this speed of set up has helped tata with its aggressive expansion plans. just over 12 months ago the firm had customers in only about 70 towns and cities. but by the end of march the firm hopes to reach more than 1 000. speed is very important because of the pace of competition said mr sridharan.

labour attacked on howard poster labour has been accused of using anti-semitic images in posters which critics claim depict tory leader michael howard as fagin. the poster shows mr howard hypnotising people with a pocket watch saying: i can spend the same money twice. the image prompted concern from the editor of the jewish chronicle but labour insists it is simply anti-tory. labour later took the image off its website saying an alternative idea had proved more popular with party members. the party will now use focus groups to test a poster showing mr howard and shadow chancellor oliver letwin with a blackboard reading: 2+2=5 . the hypnotism poster has been compared to the portrayal of the dickens character fagin in the stage version of the musical oliver! there was controversy over another poster choice offered to labour members. it showed mr howard and mr letwin - who are both jewish - as flying pigs. mr howard did not comment on the anti-semitism claims when asked about the poster on monday. instead he pointed to how tony blair had in 1997 complained about personalised abusive campaigning . mr howard told greater manchester radio: it is such a pity that mr blair doesn t practise what he preaches. jewish chronicle editor ned temko said there had been a mixed reaction to the first poster but e-mails from jewish chronicle readers showed deeper concern about the hypnotism image. shylock and fagin are inextricably linked to notions of centuries-old prejudice he told bbc radio 4 s world at one. whatever the idea is i think it s a difficult exercise to use images like that and to argue that you can divorce them from their historical context or meaning. mr temko said he blamed cock-up not conspiracy saying he did not detect inherent anti-semitism in any of the parties election campaigns. the poster is among one of a series of ideas shown to labour members who have been asked to choose which one should be used ahead of the election. labour mp louise ellman said the hypnotism image was insensitive but urged people not to rush to call things anti-semitic when they only challenged tory economic policies. labour campaign spokesman fraser kemp said the poster had been misunderstood. the image simply portrayed mr howard as a hypnotist he argued. concern has been expressed and clearly we have to take those views on board but i would emphasise that if you see the posters the common theme... is that the tories are trying to con you. a labour spokesman later said the timing of removing the controversial image from the party s website was not affected by the row. this has been up on the website for two weeks and there has only been a fuss in the last four days so a substantial number of people voted before there was any fuss he said. but a conservative spokeswoman said: this poster campaign - which was offensive to many people - was a big misjudgement by labour s campaign team.

millions buy mp3 players in us one in 10 adult americans - equivalent to 22 million people - owns an mp3 player according to a survey. a study by the pew internet and american life project found that mp3 players are the gadget of choice among affluent young americans. the survey did not interview teenagers but it is likely that millions of under-18s also have mp3 players. the american love affair with digital music players has been made possible as more and more homes get broadband. of the 22 million americans who own mp3 players 59% are men compared to 41% of women. those on high income - judged to be $75 000 (£39 000) or above - are four times more likely to have players than those earning less than $30 000 ( £15 000). broadband access plays a big part in ownership too. almost a quarter of those with broadband at home have players compared to 9% of those who have dial-up access. mp3 players are still the gadget of choice for younger adults. almost one in five us citizens aged under 30 have one. this compares to 14% of those aged 30-39 and 14% of those aged 40-48. the influence of children also plays a part. sixteen percent of parents living with children under 18 have digital players compared to 9% of those who don t. the ease of use and growth of music available on the net are the main factors for the upsurge in ownership the survey found. people are beginning to use them as instruments of social activity - sharing songs and taking part in podcasting - the survey found. ipods and mp3 players are becoming a mainstream technology for consumers said lee rainie director of the pew internet and american life project. more growth in the market is inevitable as new devices become available as new players enter the market and as new social uses for ipods/mp3 players become popular he added.

stars pay tribute to actor davis hollywood stars including spike lee burt reynolds and oscar nominee alan alda have paid tribute to actor ossie davis at a funeral in new york. veteran star ossie davis a well-known civil rights activist died in miami at the age of 87 on 4 february 2005. friends and family including actress ruby dee his wife of 56 years gathered at the riverside church on saturday. also present at the service was former us president bill clinton and singer harry belafonte who gave the eulogy. he would have been a very good president of the united states said mr clinton. like most of you here he gave more to me than i gave to him. the 87-year-old was found dead last weekend in his hotel room in florida where he was making a film. police said that he appeared to have died of natural causes. davis made his acting debut in 1950 in no way out starring sidney poiter. he frequently collaborated with director spike lee starring in seven lee films including jungle fever do the right thing and malcolm x. attallah shabazz the daughter of activist malcolm x recalled the famous eulogy delivered by davis at her father s funeral. harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its finest hopes she said quoting the man she knew as uncle ossie. ditto. ossie was my hero and he still is said aviator star alan alda a family friend for over forty years. ossie was a thing of beauty. i want so badly someday to have his dignity - a little of it anyway added burt reynolds davis s co-star in the 90s tv comedy evening shade. before the midday funeral scores of harlem residents formed a queue outside the church to pay their respects to davis. it is hard to fathom that we will no longer be able to call on his wisdom his humour his loyalty and his moral strength to guide us in the choices that are yet to be made and the battles that are yet to be fought said belafonte himself an ardent civil rights activist who had been friends with davis for over 60 years. but how fortunate we were to have him as long as we did.

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

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

brown and blair face new rift claims for the umpteenth time tony blair and gordon brown are said to have declared all out war on each other. this time the alleged rift is over who should take the credit for the government s global aid and debt initiatives particularly in the wake of the tsunami disaster - an issue many hoped and believed was above such things. it dominated the prime minister s monthly news conference which saw mr blair start in full irritation mode as he was forced to bat away question after question about his relationship with his neighbour. as he told journalists: i am not interested in what goes in and out of newspapers. there is a complete unity of purpose. and he again heaped praise on mr brown saying he was doing a great job and would continue doing it - although he would not commit to any job for mr brown after the election. so why did he arrange his press conference at the last moment so it coincided with mr brown s long-arranged keynote speech on aid and debt he was asked by now mr blair had moved from irritation mode to his barely disguised fury setting. he snapped back that the hacks knew very well what the operational reasons were for the timing of his press conference. well not really as it happens. and he repeated what a great man gordon was and how united they were before again sneering that he took absolutely no notice of what went in and out of the newspapers preferring to get on with the job of doing the best for the country and the world. although in the next breath he declared: i get increasingly alarmed by what i read in the newspapers before catching himself on and quickly adding: in so far as i read them of course. he probably had good reason to be alarmed because the newspapers had been full of stories about the claimed open warfare between the two men. as far as the timing of the prime minister s press conference is concerned there are two options. the first is that it was a calculated attempt to upstage the chancellor and seize back the initiative on the big issue of the moment. if that is the case it suggests that even the fear of seriously negative newspaper headlines is not enough to stop the squabbling. the second option is that it was an unavoidable coincidence which would suggest the government has lost its once-famed ability to strictly co-ordinate announcements - through the infamous downing street grid - to avert just such allegations. either way the effect was the same - to overshadow the big announcements of government policy on a hugely pertinent issue. and there had been previous suggestions that the new year had started with a fresh outbreak of the warfare between the two men. firstly the prime minister insisted on wednesday that he had been intimately involved in the development of the proposals to get g8 countries to freeze debt repayments from the tsunami-hit countries. it was claimed he had been embarrassed by the fact that gordon brown appeared to have taken the initiative over the government s response to the disaster while mr blair was still on holiday in egypt. then as if to pour fuel on the flames both men separately spoke about working on tsunami or wider aid and development policy with their cabinet colleagues foreign secretary jack straw aid minister hilary benn and deputy prime minister john prescott - without mentioning the other. all this came amid fresh claims that mr brown was still seething that he had been excluded from a prominent role in general election planning and had as a result started to set out his own platform. the fact that he used an article in the guardian newspaper to set out what he believed should be in the manifesto has embarked on a mini tour of britain to set out his aid plans and will next week visit africa on the same mission - often seen as the prime minister s turf - has only added to the impression of rival camps operating entirely independently of each other. the prime minister denied all that as well repeating his insistence that it was inconceivable the economy and the chancellor would not be at the centre of the election campaign. but the big fear with many on the labour benches now is that unless a lid can be put on the speculation over the rivalry it may even threaten to undermine the election campaign itself.

tories reject rethink on axed mp sacked mp howard flight s local conservative association has insisted he will not be its candidate at the general election. russell tanguay agent for arundel and south downs tories said mr flight was ineligible to be a candidate and the association was seeking a substitute. the news comes despite mr flight s allies saying they had enough support to hold a meeting to discuss his fate. mr flight landed in trouble over remarks on tory tax and spending plans. he quit as tory deputy chairman after apparently suggesting the tories planned extra spending cuts - but he wants to continue as an mp. tory headquarters says he cannot stand as a conservative candidate because he is no longer an approved candidate. mr tanguay backed that view on tuesday saying: howard flight is ineligible to stand as a conservative party candidate. the association is in the process of selecting a new candidate. but the local tory chairman made similar comments on friday and dissent continues. two local councillors who back mr flight met mr tanguay and the local association s chairman in arundel on tuesday afternoon but did not comment as they left the meeting. mr flight says he will not stand down as a candidate unless his local party instructs him to do so at an extraordinary general meeting (egm). the mp who is consulting his lawyers told bbc news: they selected me and they if you like dispose of me or keep me. mr flight s supporters also say they have the 50 signatures needed to trigger the egm. at a news conference mr howard insisted he had played by the party s rules. the tory leader who argues he is ensuring honesty said: we do not say one thing in private and another thing in public. labour election campaign coordinator alan milburn said the tories were in turmoil because mr flight had exposed their hidden plans. the comments were not a one-off he said claiming mr howard and other senior tories were obsessively committed to cutting public spending. liberal democrat chairman matthew taylor said: whilst i disagree with howard flight s views it seems extraordinary to sack somebody for telling the truth. it has also emerged mr howard has suspended slough s constituency conservative association for refusing to deselect its candidate. adrian hilton was abandoned after suggesting the signing of the maastricht treaty under john major s government was an act of treason. the catholic herald also highlighted articles he wrote about the role of catholicism in the european union. mr hilton was chosen to fight the seat after the previous candidate robert oulds was sacked for being pictured with a range of guns and a hunting knife. slough conservative association has now been placed on support status and is being run from conservative campaign headquarters says a senior party spokesman. mr hilton on tuesday said he was considering taking legal action against his deposal. he said the local party had only learned of the final decision on the bbc news website on monday evening. there are people at central office who are behaving like little dictators and seemingly people who are ordinary members are being treated with contempt he said. the party says it did try to contact the local conservative chairman.

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.

satellite mapping aids darfur relief aid workers trying to house feed and clothe millions of homeless refugees in the sudanese region of darfur are getting a helping hand from advanced mapping technology. a european consortium of companies and university groups known as respond is working to provide accurate and up to date maps. the aim is to overcome some of the huge logistical challenges in getting supplies to where they are needed. respond is using satellite imagery to produce accurate maps that can be used in the field rapidly. respond has produced very detailed maps for example for the road networks for the rivers and for the villages to more large-scale maps useful for very general planning purposes said einar bjorgo from unosat the un satellite mapping organisation that is part of the respond consortium. the group uses satellites from nasa the european space agency and the disaster monitoring constellation. the satellite data is transmitted to ground stations. from there the information makes its way to respond organisations that specialise in interpreting such data. you have to convert the data into images then the interpreter has to convert all this into crisis damage or situation maps said stefan voigt who works in the remote sensing department of one of those organisations the german aerospace centre. this kind of detailed analysis usually takes a couple of months but respond gets it done in about 12 hours. our users are usually not so much familiar with reading satellite imagery reading satellite maps so it s our task to transfer the data into information that non-technical people can read and understand easily and very very efficiently said mr voigt. respond supplies maps to aid groups via the web and on compact disc. but the best map is one you can hold in your hands especially in remote areas where internet connections and laptops are scarce. a map is a working document explains herbert hansen of respond s belgian partner keyobs. you need to use it you need to write on it correct give feedback and so on so you need paper to write on. we print maps we laminate the maps we encapsulate the maps if needed so you can take a shower with the map it s completely protected. humanitarian groups in darfur have been making good use of respond s maps. they have come in especially handy during sudan s rainy season when normally dry riverbeds or wadis became flooded. these wadis had a very small amount of flooding generally in terms of depth but greatly impeded the transport capabilities and capacities of the humanitarian groups on the ground says stephen candillon of respond imaging partner sertit. respond s rapid imaging has allowed aid groups to find ways around the wadis allowing then to mark on their maps which roads were washed out at which times. aid groups say that combination of satellite technology and on-the-ground observation helped keep relief flowing to those who needed it. clark boyd is technology correspondent for the world a bbc world service and wgbh-boston co-production

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.

top gig award for scissor sisters new york band scissor sisters have won a gig of the year award for their performance at this year s v festival. the award was voted for by listeners of virgin radio which compiled a top 10 which was mostly dominated by newcomers on the music scene this year. the quirky disco-rock band beat the red hot chili peppers who came second for their hyde park performance in june. virgin radio dj pete mitchell said: this year has seen an amazing array of talent come into the mainstream. he added: the scissor sisters are one of the most original eccentric bands to come through and it s no surprise the british public are lapping up their performances. newcomers keane came in third place for their august gig at the v festival followed by maroon 5 and snow patrol. music veterans the who and david bowie both earned places on the list at number eight and 10 respectively. at number seven was oxfam s make fair trade gig at london s hammersmith apollo in october which featured performances by rem razorlight and coldplay s chris martin. glasgow s franz ferdinand earned a place at number nine for their home-town performance in april. the annual survey was voted for by nearly 4 000 listeners.

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

crude oil prices back above $50 cold weather across parts of the united states and much of europe has pushed us crude oil prices above $50 a barrel for the first time in almost three months. freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall have increased demand for heating fuel in the us where stocks are low. fresh falls in the value of the dollar helped carry prices above the $50 mark for the first time since november. a barrel of us crude oil closed up $2.80 to $51.15 in new york on tuesday. opec members said on tuesday that it saw no reason to cut its output. although below last year s peak of $55.67 a barrel which was reached in october prices are now well above 2004 s average of $41.48. brent crude also rose in london trading adding $1.89 to $48.62 at the close. much of western europe and the north east of america has been shivering under unseasonably low temperatures in recent days. the decline in the us dollar to a five-week low against the euro has also served to inflate prices. the dollar moved sharply overnight and oil is following it said chris furness senior market strategist at 4cast. if the dollar continues to weaken oil will be obviously higher. several opec members said a cut in production was unlikely citing rising prices and strong demand for oil from asia. i agree that we do not need to cut supply if the prices are as much as this fathi bin shatwan libya s oil minister told reuters. i do not think we need to cut unless the prices are falling below $35 a barrel he added. opec closely watches global stocks to ensure that there is not an excessive supply in the market. the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere will focus attention on stockpiles of us crude and gasoline which are up to 9% higher than at this time last year. heavy stockpiles could help force prices lower when demand eases.

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

security warning over fbi virus the us federal bureau of investigation is warning that a computer virus is being spread via e-mails that purport to be from the fbi. the e-mails show that they have come from an fbi.gov address and tell recipients that they have accessed illegal websites. the messages warn that their internet use has been monitored by the fbi s internet fraud complaint center. an attachment in the e-mail contains the virus the fbi said. the message asks recipients to click on the attachment and answer some questions about their internet use. but rather than being a questionnaire the attachment contains a virus that infects the recipient s computer according to the agency. it is not clear what the virus does once it has infected a computer. users are warned never to open attachment from unsolicited e-mails or from people they do not know. recipients of this or similar solicitations should know that the fbi does not engage in the practice of sending unsolicited e-mails to the public in this manner the fbi said in a statement. the bureau is investigating the phoney e-mails. the agency earlier this month shut down fbi.gov accounts used to communicate with the public because of a security breach. a spokeswoman said the two incidents appear to be unrelated.

spam e-mails tempt net shoppers computer users across the world continue to ignore security warnings about spam e-mails and are being lured into buying goods a report suggests. more than a quarter have bought software through spam e-mails and 24% have bought clothes or jewellery. as well as profiting from selling goods or services and driving advertising traffic organised crime rings can use spam to glean personal information. the business software alliance (bsa) warned that people should stay alert . many online consumers don t consider the true motives of spammers said mike newton a spokesperson for the bsa which commissioned the survey. by selling software that appears to be legitimate in genuine looking packaging or through sophisticated websites spammers are hiding spyware without consumers knowledge. once the software is installed on pcs and networks information that is given over the internet can be obtained and abused. the results also showed that the proportion of people reading - or admitting to reading - and taking advantage of adult entertainment spam e-mails is low at one in 10. the research which covered 6 000 people in six countries and their attitudes towards junk e-mails revealed that brazilians were the most likely to read spam. a third of them read unsolicited junk e-mail and 66% buy goods or services after receiving spam. the french were the second most likely to buy something (48%) with 44% of britons taking advantage of products and services. this was despite 38% of people in all countries being worried about their net security because of the amount of spam they get. more than a third of respondents said they were concerned that spam e-mails contained viruses or programs that attempted to collect personal information. both industry and the media have helped to raise awareness of the issues that surround illegitimate e-mail helping to reduce the potential financial damage and nuisance from phishing attacks and spoof websites said william plante director of corporate security and fraud protection at security firm symantec. at the same time consumers need to continue exercising caution and protect themselves from harm with a mixture of spam filters spyware detection software and sound judgement.

call to save manufacturing jobs the trades union congress (tuc) is calling on the government to stem job losses in manufacturing firms by reviewing the help it gives companies. the tuc said in its submission before the budget that action is needed because of 105 000 jobs lost from the sector over the last year. it calls for better pensions child care provision and decent wages. the 36-page submission also urges the government to examine support other european countries provide to industry. tuc general secretary brendan barber called for a commitment to policies that will make a real difference to the lives of working people. greater investment in childcare strategies and the people delivering that childcare will increases the options available to working parents he said. a commitment to our public services and manufacturing sector ensures that we can continue to compete on a global level and deliver the frontline services that this country needs. he also called for practical measures to help pensioners especially women who he said are most likely to retire in poverty . the submission also calls for decent wages and training for people working in the manufacturing sector.

nintendo adds media playing to ds nintendo is releasing an adapter for its ds handheld console so it can play music and video. the add-on for the ds means people can download tv programmes film clips or mp3 files to the adaptor and then play them back while on the move. the release of the media add-on is an attempt by the japanese games giant to protect its dominance of the handheld gaming market. nintendo said the media adapter will be available from february in japan. the nintendo ds is the successor to the hugely successful gameboy handheld game console and went on sale in japan on 2 december. the ds has two screens one of which is touch sensitive and also has on-board a short-range wireless link that lets people play against each other. the launch of the media adapter and the attempt to broaden the appeal of the device is widely seen as a response to the unveiling of the sony psp which was built as a multi-purpose media player and game gadget from the start. sony is thought to be preparing pre-packaged movies and music for the psp. the add-on will also work with the gameboy advance sp. nintendo dominates the handheld gaming console world thanks to successive versions of the gameboy. more than 28 million gameboy advance handhelds have been sold around the world. the dual-screen ds is also thought to be selling well with more than 2.5 million expected to be sold by the end of 2004. nintendo said it had no plans to sell the media adapter outside japan. when it goes on sale the adapter is expected to cost about 5000 yen (£25) roughly the difference in price between the ds and the higher-priced sony psp.

eurovision greats to do battle stars of the eurovision song contest from the show s 50-year history are to compete against each other to celebrate the contest s anniversary. viewers will choose 14 past songs to be performed by the original artists or others in the spirit of the originals. past eurovision performers include abba celine dion bucks fizz nana mouskouri lulu and julio iglesias. fans will then vote as usual to pick the all-time best eurovision song during the show in denmark in october. the first contest was organised by the european broadcasting union or ebu in 1956 and has become an annual event pitting pop giants against musical minnows - with often surprising results. while some regard it as an essential celebration of continental talent others see it as an equally unmissable parade of the reasons some countries do not normally produce international stars. the 50th annual contest will be held in kiev ukraine in may after ukrainian singer ruslana won last year. the 50th anniversary special will be held in denmark later this year because the danish broadcasting corporation came up with the idea for the all-time contest. a plan to hold it in london was scrapped because of problems finding a suitable venue. ireland has been the most successful country in the show s history with seven victories followed by the uk france and luxembourg with five each.

el guerrouj targets cross country double olympic champion hicham el guerrouj is set to make a rare appearance at the world cross country championships in france. but the moroccan who has not raced over cross country for 15 years will not decide until two weeks before the event which starts on 19 march. if i am to compete in it it is only if i feel i can win said the 30-year-old who is retiring in 2006. otherwise there is not much point in me going. el guerrouj achieved a lifetime ambition last august when he clinched his first olympic titles over 1500m and 5 000m. but the four-time world 1500m champion is still hungry for more success before calling time on his career. the 30-year-old has set his sights on clinching the world 5 000m crown in helsinki this summer. and he is aiming to break 10 000m olympic champion kenenisa bekele s 5 000m and 10 000m world records. el guerrouj could meet bekele in march as the ethiopian is the defending world cross country champion over both the long and short courses. but the moroccan will not commit himself to the st galmier event until he assesses how well his winter training is going. the return to training was very difficult because i accepted a lot of invitations these past few months said el guerrouj. i am almost a month behind but i am on the right track. - britain s paula radcliffe has also not ruled out competing in the world cross country championships. i haven t quite decided what events i will compete in prior to london but the world cross country is an event which is also special to me and is a definite possibility said the two-time champion.

jansen suffers a further setback blackburn striker matt jansen faces three weeks out after surgery to treat a cartilage problem. but central defender lorenzo amoruso is moving closer to fitness following a knee operation. rovers assistant manager mark bowen said: matt had a small operation to trim knee cartilage. it s a tiny piece of work which should be a fairly quick recovery. lorenzo is also jogging for the first time along with kicking a ball. jansen s career has been dogged by injury since a freak scooter accident two years ago. he returned to first-team action soon after mark hughes appointment as blackburn boss and marked it with a goal against portsmouth in his first appearance of the season. bowen added: i m guessing but i reckon maybe two to three weeks before he is back in action completely. the rovers assistant boss forecast a longer time spell for amoruso s availability for first-team duties. bowen said: there s still some scar tissue present so it will be some weeks. it s a case of see how he goes. you can t put a real time on a comeback we ll see how he progresses.

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.

uk interest rates held at 4.75% the bank of england has left interest rates on hold again at 4.75% in a widely-predicted move. rates went up five times from november 2003 - as the bank sought to cool the housing market and consumer debt - but have remained unchanged since august. recent data has indicated a slowdown in manufacturing and consumer spending as well as in mortgage approvals. and retail sales disappointed over christmas with analysts putting the drop down to less consumer confidence. rising interest rates and the accompanying slowdown in the housing market have knocked consumers optimism causing a sharp fall in demand for expensive goods according to a report earlier this week from the british retail consortium. the brc said britain s retailers had endured their worst christmas in a decade. today s no change decision is correct said david frost director general of the british chambers of commerce (bcc). but if there are clear signs that the economy slows the mpc should be ready to take quick corrective action and cut rates. dismal reports from the retail trade about christmas sales are worrying if they indicate a more general weakening in consumer spending. mr frost added: the housing market outlook remains highly uncertain. it is widely accepted that if house prices start falling more sharply the risks facing the economy will worsen considerably. cbi chief economist ian mccafferty said the economy had slowed in recent months in response to rate rises but that it was difficult to gauge from the christmas period the likely pace of activity through the summer. the bank is having to juggle the emergence of inflationary pressures driven by a tight labour market and buoyant commodity prices against the risk of an over-abrupt slowdown in consumer activity he said. interest rates are likely to remain on hold for some time. on thursday there was more gloomy news on the manufacturing front as the office for national (ons) statistics revealed british manufacturing output unexpectedly fell in november - for the fifth month in the past six. the ons said manufacturing output dropped 0.1% in november matching a similar unrevised fall in october and confounding economists expectations of a 0.3% rise. manufacturers organisation the eef said it expected the hold in interest rates to continue in the near future. it also said there was evidence that manufacturers confidence may be waning as the outlook for the world economy becomes more uncertain. so far the evidence suggests that last year s rate increases have helped to rebalance the economy without damaging the recovery in manufacturing said eef chief economist steve radley. however should the business outlook start to deteriorate the bank should stand ready to cut rates. some economists have predicted rates will drop later in the year although others feel the bank may still think there is a need for a rise to 5% before that happens. the bank remains concerned about the long-term risks posed by personal debt - which is rising at 15% a year - if economic conditions worsen.

film production falls 40% in uk the number of british films produced in the uk fell 40% in 2004 with movies starring johnny depp and jude law among those affected screen daily has said. twenty-seven british films were made in the uk last year following a drop in funding compared with 45 in 2003 according to the trade weekly. it attributed the drop to tighter tax laws and reduced funding from sources such as the national lottery. uk and us co-productions in britain fell from 102 in 2003 to 81 last year. last year the government closed tax loopholes that many film investors had taken advantage of to fund films in the uk. several projects were shelved as they faced the implications of this clampdown coupled with the reduction in movie funding from traditional sources including the lottery and miramax films. shooting on period drama tulip fever which was to star jude law and keira knightley was postponed indefinitely while shooting of the libertine starring johnny depp was moved to the isle of man. there isn t anything coming in to replace (the funds) said the libertine s executive producer marc samuelson. we are in a hiatus. films with medium budgets of up to £9m a similar level to box office hits vera drake calendar girls and enduring love are expected to be worst hit by the tax clampdown. the strength of the pound against the dollar is expected to have resulted in a fall in the number of us films shot in the uk during 2004 screen international added. big budget co-productions such as the harry potter series continued to be shot in the uk however. the uk film council said the drop was partly due to 2003 being an especially good year for british film production when bridget jones: the edge of reason wimbledon and thunderbirds were all filmed in the uk. the drop was expected as there was no way 2003 s record level of production could be bettered the council s spokesperson said. the reduction in indigenous film production in 2004 was due to a variety of factors including the continuing long-term trend towards co-production of films in more than one country and changes to financing arrangements. it was too early to predict whether the downward trend in uk production would continue throughout 2005 the uk film council said. in september the government introduced subsidies worth up to £4m per film for medium budget films under new treasury measures. it is also due to announce a replacement for uk film tax relief scheme section 48 in july.

japan economy slides to recession the japanese economy has officially gone back into recession for the fourth time in a decade. gross domestic product fell by 0.1% in the last three months of 2004. the fall reflects weak exports and a slowdown in consumer spending and follows similar falls in gdp in the two previous quarters. the tokyo stock market fell after the figures were announced but rose again on a widespread perception that the economy will recover later this year. on wednesday the government revised growth figures from earlier in 2004 which when taking into account performance in the most recent period effectively tips japan into recession. a previous estimate of 0.1% growth between july and september was downgraded to a 0.3% decline. a recession is commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth although the japanese government takes other factors into account when judging the status of its economy. figures released by the government s cabinet office showed that gdp on an annualised basis fell 0.5% in the last three months of 2004. however politicians remain upbeat about prospects for an economic boost later in the year. the economy has some soft patches but if you look at the bigger picture it is in a recovery stage said economic and fiscal policy minister heizo takenaka. gross domestic product measures the overall value of goods and services produced in a country. the economy must be assessed comprehensively and we cannot look at gdp alone mr takenaka stressed. ministers pointed to the fact that consumer spending had been depressed by one-off factors such as the unseasonably mild winter. analysts said the figures were disappointing but argued that japan s largest companies had been recording healthy profits and capital spending was on the rise. japan s economy grew 2.6% overall last year - fuelled by a strong performance in the first few months - and is forecast to see growth of 2.1% in 2005. however the economy s fragile recovery remains dependent on an upturn in consumer spending a fall in the value of the yen and an improvement in global economies. the results came in at the lower end of expectations but we shouldn t be too pessimistic about the current state and the outlook for the economy said naoki iizuka senior economist at the dai-ichi life research institute. japan s economy has seen stretches of moderate growth over the past decade but has periodically slipped back into recession.

howl helps boost japan s cinemas japan s box office received a 3.8% boost last year with ticket sales worth 211bn yen (£1.08bn). the surge was led by animated movie howl s moving castle which took 20bn yen (£102m) to become the biggest film in japan in 2004. it is expected to match the 30.7bn yen (£157m) record of hayao miyazaki s previous film spirited away. japan motion picture producers figures showed that 170 million cinema admissions were made in japan in 2004. the last samurai starring tom cruise was the biggest foreign movie hit in japan last year taking 13.8bn yen (£70.7m). it was followed by harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban finding nemo and the lord of the rings: the return of the king. the second highest-grossing japanese film was romantic drama crying out love in the centre of the world followed by be with you and pocket monsters advanced generation. japanese films accounted for 37.5% of japan s box office total last year with foreign films taking the remaining 62.5%. this represented a 4.5% gain for the proportion of japanese films in 2004 compared to 2003. the number of japanese films released rose to 310 in 2004 from 287 the previous year. sales of movies on dvd and video amounted to 497bn yen (£2.54bn) for the year.

china continues breakneck growth china s economy has expanded by a breakneck 9.5% during 2004 faster than predicted and well above 2003 s 9.1%. the news may mean more limits on investment and lending as beijing tries to take the economy off the boil. china has sucked in raw materials and energy to feed its expansion which could have knock-on effects on the rest of the world if it overheats. but officials pointed out that industrial growth had slowed with services providing much of the impetus. growth in industrial output - the main target of government efforts to impose curbs on credit and investments - was 11.5% in 2004 down from 17% the previous year. still consumer prices - at 2.4% - rose faster than in 2004 adding to concern that a sharp rise in producer prices of 7.1% could stoke inflation. and overall investment in fixed assets was still high up 21.3% from the previous year - although some way off the peak of 43% seen in the first quarter of 2004. the result could be higher interest rates. china raised rates by 0.27 percentage points to 5.8% - its first hike in nine years - in october 2004. despite the apparent rebalancing of the economy the overall growth picture remains strong economists said. there is no sign of a slowdown in 2005 said tim congdon economist at ing barings. china s economy is not only gathering speed thanks to domestic demand but also from soaring sales overseas. figures released earlier this year showed exports at a six-year high in 2004 up 35%. part of the impetus comes from the relative cheapness of the yuan china s currency. the government keeps it pegged close to a rate of 8.28 to the us dollar - much to the chagrin of many us lawmakers who blame china for lost jobs and competitiveness. despite urging to ease the peg officials insist they are a long way from ready to make a shift to a more market-set rate. we need a good and feasible plan and formulating such a plan also needs time national bureau of statistics chief li deshui told reuters. those who hope to make a fortune by speculating on a renminbi revaluation will not succeed in making a profit.

quake s economic costs emerging asian governments and international agencies are reeling at the potential economic devastation left by the asian tsunami and floods. world bank president james wolfensohn has said his agency is only beginning to grasp the magnitude of the disaster and its economic impact. the tragedy has left at least 25 000 people dead with sri lanka thailand india and indonesia worst hit. some early estimates of reconstruction costs are starting to emerge. millions have been left homeless while businesses and infrastructure have been washed away. economists believe several of the 10 countries hit by the giant waves could see a slowdown in growth. in sri lanka some observers have said that as much as 1% of annual growth may be lost. for thailand that figure is much lower at 0.1%. governments are expected to take steps such as cutting taxes and increasing spending to facilitate a recovery. with the enormous displacement of people...there will be a serious relaxation of fiscal policy glenn maguire chief economist for the region at societe generale told agence france presse. the economic impact of it will certainly be large but it should not be enough to derail the momentum of the region in 2005 he said. first and foremost this is a human tragedy. india s economy however is less likely to slow because the areas hit are some of the least developed. the regional giant has enjoyed strong growth in 2004. but india now faces other problems with aid workers under pressure to ensure a clean supply of water and sanitation to prevent an outbreak of disease. thailand s prime minister thaksin shinawatra has estimated the destruction at 20bn baht ($510m). analysts said that figure is likely to rise and the country s tourist industry is likely to be hardest hit. thailand s fishing and real estate sectors also will be affected by sunday s 9.0 magnitude earthquake which sent huge waves from malaysia to africa. malaysia said as many as 1 000 fishermen will be affected and that damage to the industry will be significant agence france presse reported. rapid rebuilding will be key to limiting the impact of the tragedy. in three months we should rebuild 70% of the damage in the three worst hit provinces said juthamas siriwan governor of the tourism authority of thailand. the outlook for sri lanka is less optimistic with analysts predicting that the country s tourist industry will struggle to recovery quickly. tourism is a vital to many developing countries providing jobs for 19 million people in the south east asian region according to the world travel and tourism council (wttc).

eu-us seeking deal on air dispute the eu and us have agreed to begin talks on ending subsidies given to aircraft makers eu trade commissioner peter mandelson has announced. both sides hope to reach a negotiated deal over state aid received by european aircraft maker airbus and its us rival boeing mr mandelson said. airbus and boeing accuse each other of benefiting from illegal subsidies. mr mandelson said the eu and us hoped to avoid having to resolve the dispute at the world trade organisation (wto). with this agreement the eu and us have confirmed their willingness to resolve the dispute which has arisen between them mr mandelson said. i hope our negotiations in the next three months will lead to an agreement ending subsidies to development and production of large civil aircraft. last year the us terminated an agreement with the eu reached in 1992 which limits the subsidies countries can hand over to civil aircraft makers. the us filed a complaint against brussels with the wto over state aid to airbus prompting a retaliatory eu complaint over us support for boeing. however both sides agreed to suspend their requests for wto arbitration at the beginning of december to allow bilateral talks to continue. eads and bae systems the european defence and aerospace firms which own airbus welcomed mr mandelson s announcement. it has always been preferable that any differences between the us and europe on this matter be overcome through constructive discussion rather than through legal recourse the companies said in a joint statement. separately the world s largest package delivery company ups said it had placed an order for 10 airbus a380 superjumbo freight-carrying jets with an option to buy 10 more of the triple-decker aircraft. the us company said it needed to expand its air freight capacity following strong international growth and would begin receiving deliveries of the a380s from 2009. however ups said it was cutting a previous order for smaller airbus a300s from 90 planes to 53. so far airbus has delivered 40 a300s to ups. airbus overtook boeing as the world s largest manufacturer of commercial airliners in 2003.

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

bond game fails to shake or stir for gaming fans the word goldeneye evokes excited memories not only of the james bond revival flick of 1995 but also the classic shoot-em-up that accompanied it and left n64 owners glued to their consoles for many an hour. adopting that hallowed title somewhat backfires on this new game for it fails to deliver on the promise of its name and struggles to generate the original s massive sense of fun. this however is not a sequel nor does it relate to the goldeneye film. you are the eponymous renegade spy an agent who deserts to the bond world s extensive ranks of criminal masterminds after being deemed too brutal for mi6. your new commander-in-chief is the portly auric goldfinger last seen in 1964 but happily running around bent on world domination. with a determination to justify its name which is even less convincing than that of tina turner s similarly-titled theme song the game literally gives the player a golden eye following an injury which enables a degree of x-ray vision. rogue agent signals its intentions by featuring james bond initially and proceeding to kill him off within moments squashed by a plummeting helicopter. the notion is of course to add a novel dark edge to a 007 game but the premise simply does not get the juices flowing like it needs to. recent bond games like nightfire and everything or nothing were very competent and did a fine job of capturing the sense of flair invention and glamour of the film franchise. this title lacks that aura and when the bond magic shines through it feels like a lucky accident. the central problem is that the gameplay just is not good enough. quite aside from the bizarre inability to jump the even more bizarre glaring graphical bugs and dubious enemy ai the levels simply are not put together with much style or imagination. admittedly the competition has been tough even in recent weeks with the likes of halo 2 and half life 2 triumphing in virtually every department. what the game is good at is enveloping you in noisy dynamic scenes of violent chaos. as is the trend of late you are made to feel like you are in the midst of a really messy and fraught encounter. sadly that sense of action is outweighed by the difficulty of navigating and battling within the chaos meaning that frustration is often the outcome. and irregular save points mean you have to backtrack each time you are killed. a minute red dot passes for a crosshair although the collision-detection is so suspect that the difficulties of aiming weapons are compensated for. shooting enemies from a distance can be tricky and you will not always know you have picked them off since dead enemies vanish literally before they have fully hit the floor and they do so in some woefully uninspiring death animations. it is perhaps indicative of a lack of confidence that the game maker s allow you several different weapons almost immediately and throw you quickly into raging firefights - no time is risked with a measured build-up. by far the most satisfying element of the game is seeing old favourites like dr no goldfinger hat-fiend oddjob and crazed russian sex beast xenia onatopp resurrected after all these years and with their faces rendered in an impressively recognisable fashion. there is a real thrill from doing battle with these legendary villains and it is a testament to the power of the bond universe that they can cut such a dash. but the in-game niggles combined with a story and presentation that just do not feel sufficiently well thought-through will make this a disappointment for most. diehard fans of bond will probably find enough here to make it a worthwhile purchase and try to ignore the failings. the game is weak not completely unplayable. then again 007 fanatics may also take umbrage at the cavalier blending of characters from different eras. given james bond s healthy pedigree in past games there is every reason to hope that this is just a blip a commendable idea that just has not worked that will be rectified when the character inevitably makes his return. goldeneye: rogue agent is out now

bollywood draws global stars british actress antonia bernath is making her debut in kisna - the warrior poet marking a growing trend for non-indian stars to appear in bollywood films. directed by bollywood veteran subhash ghai the film is set in the british raj and bernath plays an army general s daughter who falls in love with a rural boy kisna. i liked the fluid nature of film-making. we improvised quite a lot says bernath. at times it felt very chaotic but mr ghai was quite clear about what he wanted. picked from more than 200 girls in an audition in london bernath cut short her education at bristol s old vic theatre school to take up the opportunity. it is not often that somebody gets to play the lead role straight out of a drama school. she spent three weeks learning hindi and taking dance lessons. initially i was a bit sceptical about how people would respond to me bernath says. but i found the hindi film industry very warm and encouraging. i even had a few offers before the work on kisna was completed. films are one of india s biggest exports and those like lagaan and monsoon wedding have broken the traditional boundaries of colour and culture. spurred by this bollywood producers are trying to go global in all aspects of film-making be it technical or artistic. from young heart-throbs like nick moran of lock stock and two smoking barrels to model sophie dahl many non-indian stars want to make the most of this opportunity. bollywood has truly gone global says taran adarsh editor of indian film journal trade guide. directors are now attempting to woo non-asian audience to increase their share in the overseas film market. kisna has been shot simultaneously in hindi and english with the english print shortened by an hour to accommodate the western audience. the film even has a song composed in english by ar rahman the director of the popular west end musical bombay dreams. identification is a popular cinematic device. use of european or american actors can be viewed as a step in that direction says adarsh. the cast of kisna also includes british actors michael maloney caroline langrishe and polly adams. another actress annabelle wallace plays the lead role in a bilingual romantic comedy dil jo bhi kahey (whatever the heart says) which also stars indian screen legend amitabh bachchan. actor and producer aamir khan s forthcoming venture the rising is set against the backdrop of the indian mutiny of 1857 with british actor toby stephens in a key role. but it isn t only the western actors looking eastwards. bollywood sweetheart aishwarya rai recently seen in bride and prejudice alongside new zealand actor martin henderson is building her international career. and many other bollywood stars have their eyes set on hollywood. hollywood or bollywood it s the box office that determines whether something is a passing phase or a trend says adarsh. kisna - the warrior poet opens in the uk on 21 january.

super union merger plan touted two of britain s big trade unions could merge to form a super union of two million members. the move by amicus and the transport and general workers union (tgwu) would be a seen as a bid to carry more weight with ministers and employers. amicus has 1.2 million members and the tgwu has 800 000. any merger would have to be approved by the unions executives and their membership. it is understood meetings will be held on wednesday about the proposal. along with the gmb and unison the tgwu and amicus worked closely together in the last year to hammer out a 56-point deal with labour s leadership over equality at work holidays and pensions - the warwick agreement. both unions are remaining tight-lipped about the merger rumours but one insider pointed out to the bbc news website that nobody is denying suggestions a merger could be on the agenda when the two unions executives hold their meetings on wednesday. amicus s executive was due to meet in any case although the tgwu is holding specially scheduled talks.

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

swap offer for pirated windows xp computer giant microsoft has launched a pilot scheme to replace counterfeit versions of windows xp with legal ones. the first-time initiative is restricted to the uk and to users with pre-installed copies of the operating system in pcs bought before november. until december microsoft said software can be sent to it for analysis if there are doubts about its legitimacy. the company aims to detect illegal traders and turn users of fake versions of windows into legitimate ones. the windows xp counterfeit project will mean that software that is found to be counterfeit will be replaced for free subject to certain conditions until the end of the year. it is the first time microsoft has launched a counterfeit product replacement scheme in the world the company told the bbc news website. in june the software giant said that the major security update to windows xp service pack 2 would not work with the most widely pirated versions of its operating system. the upgrade closed security loopholes in xp and added features that made it easier to keep machines safe from viruses and other types of malicious computer code. the us company invited anyone who had suspicions about their version of windows xp to submit it for testing as soon as possible. the procedure consists of a series of computer checks collating documents and filling out a witness statement. this is a great opportunity for users to confirm the authenticity of windows xp software whilst helping gather vital information about illegal traders said alex hilton licence compliance manager at microsoft. the scheme has also been welcomed by the technology and commerce industry. it is important that users ensure that they are legally licensed to avoid the risks of purchasing and using counterfeit products said david frost director general of the british chambers of commerce. the plan would enable microsoft to gather intelligence about illegal traders in a prompt way which would allow it to take action against software pirates. microsoft said it would evaluate the results of the uk programme before setting up similar schemes in other countries.

o sullivan quick to hail italians ireland coach eddie o sullivan heaped praise on italy after seeing his side stutter to a 28-17 victory in rome. it was a hell of a tough game said o sullivan. we struggled in the first half because we hadn t the football. italy played really well. they handled the ball well in terms of kicking it if that s not an oxymoron. we said before the game that it might take until 10 minutes from the end for this game to be won and that s how it turned out. ireland struggled to cope with italy s fierce start and were indebted to skipper brian o driscoll who set up tries for geordan murphy and peter stringer. we had our first attack in the italian half after 22 minutes said o sullivan. we had a good return with three first-half possessions in their half and we scored twice. the second half was about spending more time in their half. scrum-half peter stringer was also glad that ireland escaped wtih a victory. all credit to them he told bbc sport. we knew it would be tough coming to rome. they always give us a tough game here and they showed a lot of spirit. they had a lot of ball in the first half but we got a few scores when we got into their 22.

brazil jobless rate hits new low brazil s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in three years in december according to the government. the brazilian institute for geography and statistics (ibge) said it fell to 9.6% in december from 10.6% in november and 10.9% in december 2003. ibge also said that average monthly salaries grew 1.9% in december 2004 from december 2003. however average monthly wages fell 1.8% in december to 895.4 reais ($332; £179.3) from november. tuesday s figures represent the first time that the unemployment rate has fallen to a single digit since new measurement rules were introduced in 2001. the unemployment rate has been falling gradually since april 2004 when it reached a peak of 13.1%. the jobless rate average for the whole of 2004 was 11.5% down from 12.3% in 2003 the ibge said. this improvement can be attributed to the country s strong economic growth with the economy registering growth of 5.2% in 2004 the government said. the economy is expected to grow by about 4% this year. president luiz inacio lula da silva promised to reduce unemployment when he was elected two years ago. nevertheless some analysts say that unemployment could increase in the next months. the data is favourable but a lot of jobs are temporary for the (christmas) holiday season so we may see slightly higher joblessness in january and february julio hegedus chief economist with lopes filho & associates consultancy in rio de janeir told reuters news agency. despite his leftist background president lula has pursued a surprisingly conservative economic policy arguing that in order to meet its social promises the government needs to first reach a sustained economic growth. the unemployment rate is measured in the six main metropolitan areas of brazil (sao paolo rio de janeiro belo horizonte recife salvador and porto alegre) where most of the population is concentrated.

douglas set for indian adventure actor michael douglas is to co-produce and star in an adventure film about a diamond robbery set in india. the new picture is expected to be similar to douglas s action films of the 1980s romancing the stone and the jewel of the nile. another hollywood star is being lined up to co-star while the rest of the cast will be indian. aishwarya rai star of bride and prejudice is the preferred choice of the indian studio involved in the film. on a visit to india the 60-year-old actor said he hoped to start shooting racing the monsoon next year. douglas added that it had been inspired by a wall street journal article about india s angadias who courier money and diamonds around india. the actor s own production company further films is working in partnership with two indian film-making concerns to bring the picture to the screen. shailendra singh the founder of india s percept films said there would be a lot of india in the movie - and that an indian train would play a big role. the train will be a crucial part of the film. the chase and most of the stunts will be on the train said mr singh. swashbuckling adventure film romancing the stone saw douglas s female co-star kathleen turner win a golden globe award for her performance in 1985.

german business confidence slides german business confidence fell in february knocking hopes of a speedy recovery in europe s largest economy. munich-based research institute ifo said that its confidence index fell to 95.5 in february from 97.5 in january its first decline in three months. the study found that the outlook in both the manufacturing and retail sectors had worsened. observers had been hoping that a more confident business sector would signal that economic activity was picking up. we re surprised that the ifo index has taken such a knock said dz bank economist bernd weidensteiner. the main reason is probably that the domestic economy is still weak particularly in the retail trade. economy and labour minister wolfgang clement called the dip in february s ifo confidence figure a very mild decline . he said that despite the retreat the index remained at a relatively high level and that he expected a modest economic upswing to continue. germany s economy grew 1.6% last year after shrinking in 2003. however the economy contracted by 0.2% during the last three months of 2004 mainly due to the reluctance of consumers to spend. latest indications are that growth is still proving elusive and ifo president hans-werner sinn said any improvement in german domestic demand was sluggish. exports had kept things going during the first half of 2004 but demand for exports was then hit as the value of the euro hit record levels making german products less competitive overseas. on top of that the unemployment rate has been stuck at close to 10% and manufacturing firms including daimlerchrysler siemens and volkswagen have been negotiating with unions over cost cutting measures. analysts said that the ifo figures and germany s continuing problems may delay an interest rate rise by the european central bank. eurozone interest rates are at 2% but comments from senior officials have recently focused on the threat of inflation prompting fears that interest rates may rise.

da vinci code is lousy history the plot of an international bestseller that thousands of readers are likely to receive as a christmas present is laughable a clergyman has said. the da vinci code claims jesus was not crucified but married mary magdalene and died a normal death. it claims this was later covered up by the church. the bishop of durham the rt rev dr tom wright described the novel as a great thriller but lousy history . the book has sold more than seven million copies worldwide. despite enjoying dan brown s conspiracy theory the bishop said there was a lack of evidence to back up its claims. writing his christmas message in the northern echo the bishop said: conspiracy theories are always fun - fun to invent fun to read fun to fantasise about. dan brown is the best writer i ve come across in the genre but anyone who knows anything about 1st century history will see that this underlying material is laughable. a great deal of credible evidence proves the biblical version of jesus life was true according to the bishop. the evidence for jesus and the origins of christianity is astonishingly good he said. we have literally a hundred times more early manuscripts for the gospels and letters in the new testament than we have for the main classical authors like cicero virgil and tacitus. historical research shows that they present a coherent and thoroughly credible picture of jesus with all sorts of incidental details that fit the time when he lived and don t fit the world of later legend. brown s book has become a publishing phenomenon consistently topping book charts in the uk and us. the da vinci code has been translated into 42 languages and has spawned its own cottage industry of publications including guides on to how to read the book rebuttals and counter claims. the book which has become an international best-seller in little over two years is set to be made into a film starring tom hanks.

brizzel to run aaa s in sheffield ballymena sprinter paul brizzel will be among eight of ireland s european indoor hopefuls competing in this weekend s aaa s championships. us-based alistair cragg and mark carroll are the only irish athletes selected so far for the europeans who will not run in sheffield. brizzel will defend his 200m title in the british trials. in-form james mcilroy will hope to confirm his place in the british team for madrid by winning the 800m title. mcilroy has been in tremendous form on the european circuit in recent weeks. he is one of the fastest 800m runners in the world this winter and already seems assured of a place in madrid. corkman mark carroll confirmed in midweek that he would join cragg in the european championships. carroll is ranked number three in the world 3000m ranking at the moment with cragg occupying top spot. meanwhile nine-times champion dermot donnelly will not be coming out of retirement to compete in the northern ireland cross country championships in coleraine on saturday. an injury crisis in the annadale striders squad led to donnelly being entered by coach john mclaughlin but the athlete told bbc sport on friday evening that he would not be running. willowfield s paul rowan will go in as individual favourite but annadale could have a tough job holding on to their team title as andrew dunwoody and noel pollock are unlikely to run.

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

podcasts mark rise of diy radio an apple ipod or other digital music players can hold anything up to 10 000 songs which is a lot of space to fill. but more and more ipod owners are filling that space with audio content created by an unpredictable assortment of producers. it is called podcasting and its strongest proponent is former mtv host and vj (video jockey) adam curry. podcasting takes its name from the apple ipod although you do not need an ipod to create one or to listen to a podcast. a podcast is basically an internet-based radio show which podcasters create usually in the comfort of their own home. they need only a microphone a pc and some editing software. they then upload their shows to the internet and others can download and listen to them all for free. using technology based on xml computer code and rss - really simple syndication - listeners can subscribe to podcasts collected automatically in a bit of software which mr curry has pioneered. the latest mp3 files of shows can then be picked up by a music playing device automatically. mr curry records hosts edits and produce a daily 40 minute podcast called the daily source code. he wants to make podcasting the next big thing and says it is an extension of his childhood love of radio gadgetry. i was always into technologies and wires he explains. my parents gave me the radio shack 101 project kit which allows you to build an am transmitter and subsequently an fm transmitter. i had my mom drive me around the block see how far it would reach on the car radio. mr curry is american but he grew up in the netherlands where he hosted illegal pirate radio shows in the dutch capital. he tried university in the us and ended up back in holland where he hosted a music video show. he spent the next seven years in new york where he worked at mtv hosting the top 20 video countdown but spent most of his hours tinkering with this new thing called the internet. at a certain point in 1995 i was driving in on a friday afternoon beautiful blue sky one of those beautiful days thinking this is so stupid. you know i m going do the top 20 countdown take the cheque go home and sit on the internet until three in the morning. so after i finished the show i quit. i said on air it s been great i ve been here for seven years at that point there s something on the internet i ve got to go find it and i ll see you later. but mr curry s technology and broadcast interests started to gel a couple of years ago when computer storage was growing exponentially and high-speed internet connections were becoming more widely available. the mp3 format also meant that people could create and upload audio more cheaply and efficiently than ever before. most importantly mr curry says people across the globe were bored with the radio they were hearing. listen to 99% of the radio that you hear today it s radio voices and it s fake it s just fake. he wanted to make it easier for people to find real voices on the internet. he wanted software that would automatically download new audio content directly onto players like ipods. mr curry is not a computer programmer so he asked others to create one for him. no one did so he tried to write one himself. he finished it a few months ago and says it totally sucked. he put it up on the net as open source software and now dozens of coders and audio junkies are refining it; the result is a work in progress called ipodder . doug kaye a california-based podcaster praises the former mtv vj for what he has done. adam created a simple script that solved what we call the last mile problem. ipodder takes audio from the web and brings it all the way down to the mp3 player he explains. people can wake up in the morning pick up their ipods as they go to work or before they go exercise and discover that there s all this new content automatically put onto their players. it is created an explosion in podcasting content and podcasters are springing up in australia finland brazil even malaysia. one couple broadcasts theirs the dawn and drew show from wisconsin in the us sometimes even from the comfort of their own bed. topics range from the comfort of their bed to the latest films or music and have thousands of listeners. already websites are springing up that point listeners in the right direction of good podcasts. chris mcintyre runs podcast alley and says that there are good sites out there but that not everyone has the technological know-how to simply listen. if i were to tell my mom or my mother-in-law to copy an xml or rss file to their podcast aggregator they would think i was speaking a foreign language mr mcintyre says. along with technical challenges there may be legal challenges to podcasters who air their favourite albeit copyrighted music. some in podcasting also worry that too much attention may turn what they see as the anti-radio into something that is more like conventional broadcasting. already there is interest in podcasting from the corporate world. heineken is doing its own podcast now and so is playboy. for his part adam curry s pressing ahead with his own vision of what podcasting should be. he loves doing the daily source code because it is about introducing good music and cool ideas to new audiences. he has even been called the ed sullivan or johnny carson of podcasting which he says is a badge i ll wear with great honour. to be the johnny carson or ed sullivan of anything is wonderful. and you know what you don t need a hell of a lot of talent. you just have to be nice have your ears open and let people shine. and that s good for me. clark boyd is technology correspondent for the world a bbc world service and wgbh-boston co-production.

owen determined to stay in madrid england forward michael owen has told the bbc he is happy in spain and has no plans to quit real madrid to return to the premiership in the near future. but the 25-year-old who has spent much of his time coming off the bench in la liga did not rule out a return to the premiership at some stage. i m pleased with the start i ve made here he told bbc radio five live. england is my country. it s definitely part of me but who knows whether if or when i ll be playing there again. owen who moved to the bernabeu from liverpool last summer has grabbed 11 goals for real but has been unable to replace raul or ronaldo in the starting line-up. however he said he was delighted with the way his time in spain was going and dismissed criticism of his decision to join real. when i first came there was a lot of scepticism back in england any maybe some out here he said. people were saying fourth-choice striker what are you going there for you ll be sat on the bench all the time . but as much as our press like to build it up as if i ve permanently had my backside on the bench i ve played as many games as anyone else in the team this year. for a fourth-choice striker at the start i m more than happy with the way i ve settled in. recent speculation has linked owen with a move back to england with newcastle expressing their interest but the england striker said he is not ready to return home. he added: i ve got nothing against the premiership i mean that s where i first performed that s where i made my name. i can t keep my eyes off the premiership on television when i m at home. when asked if it would have to be liverpool if he returned owen said: i ve not really given it much thought. i ve got great memories of liverpool. no matter what happens it ll always be a club i have fond memories of and it will always have a place in my heart. it s very flattering to be linked to top clubs in england - i m glad that no-one is forgetting me! but i couldn t have wished for a better start in madrid. - listen to the full interview with garry richardson on bbc radio five live s sportsweek at 0900 gmt on sunday.

deutsche boerse set to woo lse bosses of deutsche boerse and the london stock exchange are to meet amid talk that a takeover bid for the lse will be raised to £1.5bn ($2.9bn). last month the german exchange tabled a 530 pence-per-share offer for lse valuing it at £1.3bn. paris-based euronext owner of liffe in london has also said it is interested in bidding for lse. euronext is due to hold talks with lse this week and it is reported to be ready to raise £1.4bn to fund a bid. euronext chief jean-francois theodore is scheduled to meet his lse counterpart clara furse on friday. deutsche boerse chief werner seifert is meeting ms furse on thursday in the third meeting between the two exchanges since the bid approach in december. the lse rejected deutsche boerse s proposed £1.3bn offer in december saying it undervalued the business. but it agreed to leave the door open for talks to find out whether a significantly-improved proposal would be in the interests of lse s shareholders and customers. in the meantime euronext which combines the paris amsterdam and lisbon stock exchanges also began talks with the lse. in a statement on thursday euronext said any offer was likely to be solely in cash but added that: there can be no assurances at this stage that any offer will be made. a deal with either bidder would create the biggest stock market operator in europe and the second biggest in the world after the new york stock exchange. according to the ft in its latest meeting deutsche boerse will adopt a charm offensive to woo the london exchange. the newspaper said the german suitor will offer to manage a combined cash and equities market out of london and let ms furse take the helm. other reports this week said the deutsche boerse might even consider selling its luxembourg-based clearstream unit - the clearing house that processes securities transactions. its ownership of clearstream was seen as the main stumbling block to a london-frankfurt merger. lse shareholders feared a deutsche boerse takeover would force them to use clearstream making it difficult for them to negotiate for lower transaction fees.

uk net users leading tv downloads british tv viewers lead the trend of illegally downloading us shows from the net according to research. new episodes of 24 desperate housewives and six feet under appear on the web hours after they are shown in the us said a report. web tracking company envisional said 18% of downloaders were from within the uk and that downloads of tv programmes had increased by 150% in the last year. about 70% were using file-sharing program bittorrent the firm said. it s now as easy to download a pirate tv show as it is to programme a vcr said ben coppin from envisional. a typical episode of 24 was downloaded by about 100 000 people globally said the report and an estimated 20 000 of those were from within the uk. fans of many popular us tv programmes like 24 usually have to wait weeks or months until the latest series is shown in the uk. but in some cases said the report people were able to watch the new episodes in britain before us audiences on the west coast of the country. missing a television show presents little problem to anyone with a basic knowledge of the internet explained mr coppin. two clicks and your favourite programme is downloading. in effect the internet is now a global video recorder. exact figures are difficult to pin down but it is thought that about 80 000 to 100 000 people in the uk download tv programmes. some may just want the odd episode others are downloading regularly. many broadcast analysts agree that the net is radically altering the way people get content like tv programmes. this presents a challenge to broadcasters who are concerned that channel schedules may become less important to people. it is also of concern to them because advertisements are usually cut out of the downloaded programmes. the industry has coined the term time-shifting to describe this trend of being able to watch what you want when you want. the increased popularity of personal digital video recorders tivo-type boxes which automatically record programmes like sky+ have also contributed to the trend. there are also numerous programs available on the net which automatically search and store tv programmes for viewers effectively creating a personal video recorder on a computer. within half an hour recorded episodes can be uploaded - or posted - onto file-sharing networks or other download sites. because they tend to be shorter then full-length films they can be processed - digitised - quickly. more people with high-speed broadband connections in the uk also means that episodes can be downloaded quickly. according to jupiter research 40% of homes with broadband say it helps them pick and choose the programmes they want to see or that friends have recommended. the envisional reports said that the tv industry should consider offering a legal way to download shows. the bbc ran a trial of what it calls the interactive media player (imp) last year which was based on a peer-to-peer distribution model. it let people download programmes it held the rights to up to eight days after they had already aired. it is looking to do a more expansive trial later this year. the bbc already allows radio fans to hear programmes they missed online up to a week after broadcast. about six million people in the uk now have a fast always-on net connection via cable or phone lines.

qatar and shell in $6bn gas deal shell has signed a $6bn (£3.12bn) deal with the middle eastern sheikhdom of qatar to supply liquid natural gas (lng) to north america and europe. the uk-dutch group will own 30% of the project with qatar s state oil firm owning the rest. the agreement is the latest in a string of deals reached by qatar which is trying to make itself a regional leader in natural gas. us oil giant exxonmobil signed up for a $12.8bn deal earlier on sunday. france s total is expected to join the exxonmobil scheme dubbed qatargas-2 on monday taking 5 million tonnes of lng a year. exxonmobil will be taking some 15 million tonnes each year for 25 years from the end of 2007 under the deal. shell s agreement under the name qatargas-4 foresees the building of new facilities to handle 1.4 billion cubic feet of gas and 7.8 million tonnes of lng each year from 2011 onwards.

faultless federer has no equal roger federer - nice bloke fantastic tennis player - the ultimate sportsman. when lleyton hewitt shook his hand after getting another thrashing a third in as many months the australian said; you re the best. how right he is. the stats speak for themselves: 11 titles from 11 finals during 2004 - three of them grand slams - and 13 final victories in a row going back to vienna 2003. that s an open-era record. hewitt at times in houston showed form which easily matched his grand slam-winning efforts of 2001 and 2002. but he was outplayed. twice. hewitt along with andy roddick and marat safin is sure to be prominent during 2005. but realistically all three will be fighting for the world number two ranking. according to all those players and even federer himself the swiss star is in a different league. right now i feel that a little bit he told bbc sport. i ve dominated all the top ten players. they say nice things about me because i have beaten them all. i am dominating the game right now and i hope it continues! the number one player in the world is also the main man for promoting the sport off court. he has just been voted by the international tennis writers as the best ambassador for tennis on the atp tour. he has time for everyone. every match from first round to final is followed by a series of press interviews in three languages; english french and swiss-german. after a major win there are extra requests obligations and interviews all seen through to the end with courtesy and most importantly good humour. you guys are funny i have a good time with you guys he said genuinely happy to talk into yet another tape recorder. i see you pretty much every day on the tour so to give away an hour for interviews is really no problem for me. if i can promote tennis and the sport then that is good for me. people say thanks back and that is nice. what a refreshing attitude from someone who could easily dominate the sports pages for a decade. it sums up his modest personality. shortly after collecting a waterford crystal trophy a mercedes convertible and a tasty cheque for $1.5m federer addressed the houston crowd and concluded by saying thanks for having me . now he just needs to find a way of winning the french open the one grand slam to so far elude him.

nhs waiting time target is cut hospital waiting times for patients in wales are to be cut but not to the same extent as those in england. welsh health minister jane hutt said no patient would wait more than 12 months for an outpatient appointment by march 2006 against a current target of 18 months. but she said the target for an inpatient appointment would remain at 12 months for march 2006. the announcement came as new monthly waiting figures showed a drop. this current inpatient target was set when the assembly government extended its second offer guarantee scheme which gives patients the option of having their treatment outside wales. details about funding to resource the new targets are expected in the new year. in england the current target for inpatients - seeing a consultant to having an operation - is six months. dr richard lewis welsh secretary of the british medical association (bma) welcomed the new targets to make further and faster progress on waiting lists . however much remains to be done on waiting lists and waiting times because wales still lags a long way behind england he said. capacity must be built into the system with sustained investment to ensure that welsh patients don t receive a worse service than patients over the border. health analyst tony beddow from the welsh institute for health and social care called the new targets reasonably impressive . on wednesday ms hutt also announced £264m for health services will be spent reducing waiting times improving key areas and modernising staff pay structures in wales. ms hutt said major achievements had been made in cutting unacceptably long waits for treatment over the past year . we are turning the corner on long waits in wales. now we need to see those reductions in long waiters being improved again she said. she added the targets intended to ensure no-one waits more than a year for treatment or to see a consultant. but let us not forget two thirds of those waiting for treatment now are waiting less than six months and these targets affect the small minority of patients in wales that are waiting far too long. rhodri glyn thomas plaid cymru health spokesman said: it s exactly the same target she set in 1999 with the qualification that it s dependent on a second offer. it s a failed target from a failed minister..with a failed policy. for the welsh liberal democrats kirsty williams called the new target hugely unambitious . it leaves patients in wales still waiting two years before they re treated. conservative health spokesman jonathan morgan said: we re spending more money but waiting lists have gone through the roof. the audit commission has said that the money is not being spent efficiently or effectively and that s quite a criticism. meanwhile the latest monthly waiting list figures showed the total number of people waiting more than 18 months as an inpatient in wales has fallen by 9.8%. statistics to the end of november showed a decline since october from 785 to 708. the number waiting over 12 months also fell from 7 613 to 6 630 or 12.9%. ms hutt said they were excellent figures . there are 305 775 people on a waiting list of some kind down from 311 764 last month.

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.

gebrselassie in london triple bid double olympic 10 000m champion haile gebrselassie will race in the london marathon for the next three years. the ethiopian legend won sunday s almeria half-marathon in spain on his return from an operation on his achilles tendon. he was third in london in 2002 in his first serious attempt at the marathon. it is a coup for us to secure haile s presence for the next three years and it guarantees a quality race said race director david bedford. gebrselassie will face olympic champion stefano baldini world champion jaouad gharib and arch-rival paul tergat the current world record holder. if i didn t think i could win i would not be here said gebrselassie who has set world records on 18 occasions in his illustrious career and is keen to add the marathon record to his collection. there are a lot of fantastic runners in the race but i shall be doing my utmost to upset them.

stock market eyes japan recovery japanese shares have ended the year at their highest level since 13 july amidst hopes of an economic recovery during 2005. the nikkei index of leading shares gained 7.6% during the year to close at 11 488.76 points. in 2005 it will rise toward 13 000 predicted morgan stanley equity strategist naoki kamiyama. the optimism in the financial markets contrast sharply with pessimism in the japanese business community. earlier this month the quarterly tankan survey of japanese manufacturers found that business confidence had weakened for the first time since march 2003. slower economic growth rising oil prices a stronger yen and weaker exports were blamed for the fall in confidence. despite this traders expect strength in the global economy to benefit japan which has been close to sliding into recession in recent months. structural reform within japan and an anticipated end to the banking sector s bad debt problems should also help they say.

film row over pirates cannibals plans to portray dominica s carib indians as cannibals in the sequel to hit film pirates of the caribbean have been criticised by the group s chief. carib chief charles williams said talks with disney s producers revealed there was a strong element of cannibalism in the script which cannot be removed . the caribbean island s government said disney planned to film in dominica. the caribs have long denied their ancestors practised cannibalism. disney was unavailable for comment. our ancestors stood up against early european conquerors and because they stood up...we were labelled savages and cannibals up to today said mr williams. this cannot be perpetuated in movies. shooting on the sequel is expected to begin in april with hundreds of dominicans applying to be extras in the movie. about 3 000 caribs live on the island of dominica which has a population of 70 000. many caribs were killed by disease and war during colonisation up to the 1600s. mr williams said he had received support from indigenous groups around the world in his efforts to have cannibalism references removed from the film. but he admitted there were some members of the carib council who did not support the campaign. he said some did not understand our history they are weak and are not committed to the cause of the carib people . the first pirates of the caribbean film took $305m (£162m) at the box office in the us alone. the cast and crew are to work on two sequels back-to-back with the first to be released in 2006.

february poll claim speculation reports that tony blair is planning a snap general election for february 2005 have been described as idle speculation by downing street. a spokesman said he had no idea where the reports in the sunday times and sunday telegraph had come from. the papers suggest ministers believe the government could benefit from a baghdad bounce following successful iraq elections in january. a british general election was last held in february in 1974. in that election edward heath lost and failed to build a coalition with the liberals. harold wilson took over and increased his majority later in the year in a second election the latest speculation suggests the prime minister favours a february poll in order to exploit his current opinion poll lead over conservative leader michael howard. but that strategy could prompt criticism he was seeking to cut and run after less then four years of a parliamentary term. the papers report that alan milburn labour s head of elections strategy has played a key role in the plan for a february election which would include a new year advertising blitz. new labour s campaign both newspapers said would be centred around the slogan britain is working . a labour party spokesman said the election date was ultimately a matter for mr blair but he was unaware of anything to suggest it would be in february. most commentators have been expecting an election on 5 may. the last election was in june 2001.

strachan turns down pompey former southampton manager gordon strachan has rejected the chance to become portsmouth s new boss. the scot was pompey chairman milan mandaric s first choice to replace harry redknapp who left fratton park for rivals saints earlier in december. i think it s a fantastic job for anybody apart from somebody who has just been the southampton manager strachan told the bbc. club director terry brady held initial talks with strachan on saturday. the former scotland international added that joining southampton s local rivals would not be a wise move. it s got everything going for it but i ve got too many memories of the other side and i don t want to sour those memories he said. everything s right - it s 10 minutes away there are good players there a good set-up a good atmosphere at the ground. there s lots to do but it s not right for somebody who has just been the southampton manager. since redknapp s departure executive director velimir zajec and coach joe jordan have overseen first-team affairs. the duo had gone five matches unbeaten until sunday s 1-0 defeat at home to champions arsenal but the club are still in a respectable 12th place in the premiership table. strachan left st mary s in february after earlier announcing his intention to take a break from the game at the end of the 2003-04 season. his previous managerial experience came at coventry whom he led for five years from 1996 to 2001.

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

russia wto talks make progress talks on russia s proposed membership of the world trade organisation (wto) have been making good progress say those behind the negotiations. but the chairman of the working party ambassador stefan johannesson of iceland warned that there was still a lot of work has to be done . his comments came as president george w bush said the us backed russian entry. but he said for russia to make progress the government must renew a commitment to democracy and the rule of law . his comments come three days before he is due to meet president vladimir putin. russia has been waiting for a decade to join the wto and hopes to finally become a member by early 2006. a decision could be reached in december when the wto s 148 current members gather for a summit in hong kong. that would allow an earliest date for membership of january 2006 if the hong kong summit gave its approval. while pinpointing several areas in which there are difficulties in the bilateral and multilateral work with russia the us said the meeting was much more efficient than we ve seen for some time . and australia said it was one of the best (meetings) we can recall in terms of substance . mr johannesson also said progress on the bilateral market access side is accelerating . sticking points to membership have included limits on foreign ownership in the telecommunications and life insurance businesses as well as issues surrounding counterfeiting piracy and data protection. some wto members also dislike russia s energy price subsidies which competitors say give russian businesses an unfair advantage.

howard attacks cost of asylum michael howard has launched an attack on the cost of britain s chaotic asylum system under tony blair. the tory leader said english local authorities have spent more than £3bn - or £140 per household - on asylum since labour won power in 1997. mr howard is expected to tell activists in kent that voters tolerance and desire to help others are being abused. other parties and refugee agencies have already attacked tory plans for annual limits on numbers. mr howard said britain should take its fair share of the world s genuine refugees . the anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz - where my grandmother was murdered along with over a million others - has reminded all of us that we have a moral responsibility to those fleeing persecution he was due to say. but if we are to fulfil responsibility we have to get a grip of the system. fair play matters. people want a government that upholds the rules - not one that turns a blind eye when they are bent and abused he said. and let s be clear. our asylum system is being abused - and with it britain s generosity. earlier this week mr howard said his party s plans to cut immigration were not racist arguing they would make the asylum system fairer for genuine refugees. if elected his party would institute an annual limit on asylum and all claims would be processed overseas. that prompted some charities to say the plans would put refugees lives at risk if they were turned away once quotas were filled. if we have a moral responsibility towards people fleeing persecution then these policies will not provide a safe haven said hannah ward of the refugee council. if people turn up in the uk asking for help they will be turned away. michael howard s policy effectively means there is no safe haven in the uk. when it comes to costs then perhaps we should start with how decisions are made on asylum seekers. so many of them are shown to be wrong - one in five decisions that are appealed are successfully overturned rising to half for some nationalities. we need good quality decision-making on asylum applications because it is delays in the system which cost so much. tony blair said labour would set out workable plans for tackling immigration abuse in the next few weeks and attacked the tory plans. by cutting the number of front-line immigration staff at our borders they will actually make the problem worse said mr blair. liberal democrat chairman matthew taylor said there needed to be a quick fair and firm asylum system. but he said it was absolutely disgusting to propose a system which could turn away genuine refugees. the conservatives say there is little risk of this happening as demand for asylum will be considered when quotas are set. on monday mr howard said: it s not racist as some people to claim to talk about controlling immigration far from it.

can smith work scottish wonders the worst kept secret in scottish football was revealed on thursday when walter smith was named as the new national manager. from the moment berti vogts miserable tenure in charge of scotland ended the former rangers and everton boss has been the overwhelming favourite for the post. but is smith the man for what must be one of the hardest jobs in football the 56-year-old takes over at a time when the national side is in the doldrums. scotland have not reached a major finals since the world cup in 1998 and reaching germany 2006 looks near impossible having picked up just two points from the opening three games in the qualifying race. and the fifa rankings see scotland listed at an all time low of 77th below the likes of estonia ghana angola and thailand. scotland are not blessed with quality players with experience at the top level so smith will have to get the best out of meagre resources. smith s track record make impressive reading and he is widely respected within the game. the man who was alex ferguson s assistant when scotland played at the 1986 world cup won seven league titles with rangers. and his appointment has been widely endorsed by many of the games top names including ferguson and graeme souness who took him to ibrox as his assistant in 1986. characters like souness ferguson and current ibrox manager alex mcleish all cite smith s experience and his expansive knowledge of the scottish game. much was made of vogts inability to express himself to the players and media. that will certainly not be the case with smith. the former dundee united and dumbarton full-back is from the managerial old school - straight talking and never slow to let players know when he expects better (often with the use of some colourful invective). but it should be remembered vogts came to scotland with an impressive curriculum vitae - a world cup winner as a player and a european championships winner as a manager. smith will inherit the same problems vogts had - a callow squad of players with no exceptional talents. and it remains to be seen if smith will experience the rash of call-offs that blighted so much of vogts preparation work. a fresh start for the scottish national team was imperative and smith is widely regarded as a safe pair of hands. but will a safe pair of hands be enough when the adroit hands of a magician might be required...

kennedy criticises unfair taxes gordon brown has failed to tackle the fundamental unfairness in the tax system in his ninth budget charles kennedy has said. how was it right that the poorest 20% of society were still paying more as a proportion of their income than the richest 20% the lib dem leader asked. the new £200 council tax rebate for pensioners did nothing to fix the unfair tax he added. the government could not go on patching up the system he added. speaking in the commons after mr brown had delivered what is widely thought to be the last budget before the general election mr kennedy acknowledged that the uk was one of the most successful economies in the world. but he criticised both the chancellor and the tories for failing to address the ticking bomb of council tax revaluation. he said the recent experience of wales indicated seven million households in england would pay significantly more after revaluation. the chancellor s announcement that he was to offer a £200 council tax rebate paid by pensioner households was merely a sticking plaster to a much bigger problem. the lib dem plan for a local income tax would benefit the typical household by more than £450 a year with half of all pensioners paying no local tax and about three million being better off. on pensions mr kennedy said it was a scandal that the system discriminated against women who had missed making national insurance payments when they were having children. he said a residency criteria would end at a stroke this fundamental iniquity . mr kennedy added his party s priorities of free long-term care for the elderly abolishing top-up fees and replacing the council tax would be funded by charging 50% income tax to those earning more than £100 000 per annum. he contrasted his approach with mr brown s pledge in 2001 not to increase income tax. the chancellor went on to put up national insurance contributions after the election. for most individuals most families most households it adds up to exactly the same thing said mr kennedy. and they wonder why people get cynical about their politicians when they give one impression before an election and do exactly the opposite after that election.

tories reject rethink on axed mp sacked mp howard flight s local conservative association has insisted he will not be its candidate at the general election. russell tanguay agent for arundel and south downs tories said mr flight was ineligible to be a candidate and the association was seeking a substitute. the news comes despite mr flight s allies saying they had enough support to hold a meeting to discuss his fate. mr flight landed in trouble over remarks on tory tax and spending plans. he quit as tory deputy chairman after apparently suggesting the tories planned extra spending cuts - but he wants to continue as an mp. tory headquarters says he cannot stand as a conservative candidate because he is no longer an approved candidate. mr tanguay backed that view on tuesday saying: howard flight is ineligible to stand as a conservative party candidate. the association is in the process of selecting a new candidate. but the local tory chairman made similar comments on friday and dissent continues. two local councillors who back mr flight met mr tanguay and the local association s chairman in arundel on tuesday afternoon but did not comment as they left the meeting. mr flight says he will not stand down as a candidate unless his local party instructs him to do so at an extraordinary general meeting (egm). the mp who is consulting his lawyers told bbc news: they selected me and they if you like dispose of me or keep me. mr flight s supporters also say they have the 50 signatures needed to trigger the egm. at a news conference mr howard insisted he had played by the party s rules. the tory leader who argues he is ensuring honesty said: we do not say one thing in private and another thing in public. labour election campaign coordinator alan milburn said the tories were in turmoil because mr flight had exposed their hidden plans. the comments were not a one-off he said claiming mr howard and other senior tories were obsessively committed to cutting public spending. liberal democrat chairman matthew taylor said: whilst i disagree with howard flight s views it seems extraordinary to sack somebody for telling the truth. it has also emerged mr howard has suspended slough s constituency conservative association for refusing to deselect its candidate. adrian hilton was abandoned after suggesting the signing of the maastricht treaty under john major s government was an act of treason. the catholic herald also highlighted articles he wrote about the role of catholicism in the european union. mr hilton was chosen to fight the seat after the previous candidate robert oulds was sacked for being pictured with a range of guns and a hunting knife. slough conservative association has now been placed on support status and is being run from conservative campaign headquarters says a senior party spokesman. mr hilton on tuesday said he was considering taking legal action against his deposal. he said the local party had only learned of the final decision on the bbc news website on monday evening. there are people at central office who are behaving like little dictators and seemingly people who are ordinary members are being treated with contempt he said. the party says it did try to contact the local conservative chairman.

uk bank seals south korean deal uk-based bank standard chartered said it would spend $3.3bn (£1.8bn) to buy one of south korea s main retail banks. standard chartered said acquiring korea first bank (kfb) fulfilled a strategic objective of building a bigger presence in asia s third largest economy. its shares fell nearly 3% in london as the bank raised funds for the deal by selling new stocks worth £1bn ($1.8bn) equal to 10% of its share capital. standard chartered expects about 16% of future group revenue to come from kfb. the south korean bank will also make up 22% of the group s total assets. the move a year after citigroup beat standard chartered to buy koram bank would be the south korean financial sector s biggest foreign takeover. this time around standard chartered is thought to have beaten hsbc to the deal. kfb is south korea s seventh largest bank with 3 million retail customers 6% of the country s banking market and an extensive branch network. the country s banking market is three times the size of hong kong s with annual revenues of $44bn. standard chartered has its headquarters in london but does two thirds of its business in asia and much of the rest in africa. we re comfortable with the price paid...the key here has been speed and decisiveness in making sure that we won said standard chartered chief executive mervyn davies at a london press conference. standard chartered said kfb was a well-managed conservatively run bank with a highly skilled workforce and represented a significant acquisition in a growth market . in london standard chartered s sale of 118 million new shares to institutional investors pushed its share price down and contributing to the ftse 100 s 0.3% decline. standard chartered s shares were 28 pence lower at 925p by midday. some analysts also queried whether standard chartered had overpaid for kfb. the deal which requires regulatory approval is expected to be completed by april 2005 and to be earnings accretive in 2006 standard chartered said. rival banking giant hsbc which is based in london and hong kong was also in the running. standard chartered is believed to have gained the initiative by putting together a bid during the christmas break. they were able to move so quickly it caught hsbc by surprise the financial times newspaper quoted an insider in the talks as saying. hsbc will now have to wait for the next south korean bank in line to be sold off - thought likely to be korea exchange bank also currently in the hands of a us group. standard chartered said it was buying 100% of kfb an agreement that would bring an end to the bank s complex dual ownership. the south korean government owns 51.4% of kfb while the remaining shareholding and operational control are in the hands of us private equity group newbridge capital. newbridge bought its stake during the government s nationalisation of several banks in the wake of the 1997 asia-wide currency crisis which crippled south korea s financial institutions. south korea s economy is expected to grow by 4.5% this year. although often thought of an export-driven economy south korea s service sector has overtaken manufacturing in the last decade or so. services now make up roughly 40% of the economy and consumer spending and retail banking have become increasingly important. in the aftermath of the asian financial crisis the government encouraged the growth of consumer credit. bad loan problems followed; lg card the country s biggest credit card provider has been struggling to avoid bankruptcy for months for instance. but analysts believe south korea s financial services industry is still in its infancy offering plenty of scope for new products. standard chartered sees the opportunity to create value by the introduction of more sophisticated banking products . since 1999 kfb has been restructured from a wholesale bank into a retail bank focused on mortgage lending which makes up 45% of its loans.

google s toolbar sparks concern search engine firm google has released a trial tool which is concerning some net users because it directs people to pre-selected commercial websites. the autolink feature comes with google s latest toolbar and provides links in a webpage to amazon.com if it finds a book s isbn number on the site. it also links to google s map service if there is an address or to car firm carfax if there is a licence plate. google said the feature available only in the us adds useful links . but some users are concerned that google s dominant position in the search engine market place could mean it would be giving a competitive edge to firms like amazon. autolink works by creating a link to a website based on information contained in a webpage - even if there is no link specified and whether or not the publisher of the page has given permission. if a user clicks the autolink feature in the google toolbar then a webpage with a book s unique isbn number would link directly to amazon s website. it could mean online libraries that list isbn book numbers find they are directing users to amazon.com whether they like it or not. websites which have paid for advertising on their pages may also be directing people to rival services. dan gillmor founder of grassroots media which supports citizen-based media said the tool was a bad idea and an unfortunate move by a company that is looking to continue its hypergrowth . in a statement google said the feature was still only in beta ie trial stage and that the company welcomed feedback from users. it said: the user can choose never to click on the autolink button and web pages she views will never be modified. in addition the user can choose to disable the autolink feature entirely at any time. the new tool has been compared to the smart tags feature from microsoft by some users. it was widely criticised by net users and later dropped by microsoft after concerns over trademark use were raised. smart tags allowed microsoft to link any word on a web page to another site chosen by the company. google said none of the companies which received autolinks had paid for the service. some users said autolink would only be fair if websites had to sign up to allow the feature to work on their pages or if they received revenue for any click through to a commercial site. cory doctorow european outreach coordinator for digital civil liberties group electronic fronter foundation said that google should not be penalised for its market dominance. of course google should be allowed to direct people to whatever proxies it chooses. but as an end user i would want to know - can i choose to use this service how much is google being paid can i substitute my own companies for the ones chosen by google . mr doctorow said the only objection would be if users were forced into using autolink or tricked into using the service .

lib dems predict best ever poll the lib dems are set for their best results in both the general election and the local council polls one of their frontbenchers has predicted. local government spokesman ed davey was speaking as the party launched its campaign for the local elections being held in 37 english council areas. the flagship pledge is to replace council tax with a local income tax. the tories say the lib dems would make people pay more tax and labour says the party s sums do not add up. looking to the coming elections which are all expected to be held on 5 may mr davey said: we are going to be winning more votes and winning more seats. i think we are going to have the best general election results and local election results we have ever had under [party leader] charles kennedy. i couldn t think of a stronger endorsement of a leader.

blue beat u2 to top france honour irish band u2 have been honoured at france s biggest music awards but were beaten to a prize by boy band blue. u2 received a special achievement prize at the nrj music awards but blue beat them to the international group award. us band maroon 5 was named best new international artist and took the best international song title for this love. more than five million radio listeners voted in the awards. the international male and female prizes went to usher and avril lavigne respectively. collecting his band s award from model naomi campbell at the cannes ceremony u2 frontman bono said in french: i m not from this country but i ll make a little confession to you - it s at the cote d azur i feel at home. hosted by radio group nrj the ceremony featured performances from usher and jennifer lopez who was accompanied by dancers clad in schoolgirl outfits. us pop act black eyed peas picked up the best international album gong for elephunk. singer jenifer also took home two awards for best french female singer and best french album. french-canadian pop star roch voisine was named best francophone male artist.

safin relieved at aussie recovery marat safin admitted he thought he was suffering another australian open final nightmare when he lost the opening set to lleyton hewitt. the russian who lost the 2002 and 2004 finals fought back brilliantly to win 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-4. i was nervous and i couldn t play tennis said safin. he started really well. he wasn t as nervous as i was because i was thinking of the two finals that i played and wasn t successful. he added: you really have to deal with the pressure because normally it never happens but when you come to the final you are so tight because you want to win. i tried to play some tennis but i couldn t. he has huge experience he s won two grand slam titles he s won 24 titles he s a great player and he deals with pressure. from 4-1 down in the third set safin played some of his best tennis to reel off seven games and take control of the match. in the third set just all of a sudden it all turn around completely in a way i couldn t expect said safin. because he made a couple of mistakes i was a little bit lucky at some point then the confidence came back and i was back in the game. and the russian revealed that the victory and his semi-final win over world number one roger federer had given him a massive boost for the future. you get huge confidence because roger is a great player said safin. once i beat him and then lleyton it s like you get so much confidence in yourself that you really can play great. you can win big titles and you can beat huge players in the finals and semi-finals.

hodgson relishes european clashes former blackburn boss roy hodgson says the premiership should follow the rest of europe and have a winter break - but insists that a gruelling domestic schedule will not damage the english elite s bid for champions league glory. hodgson - now in charge at viking stavanger - was at liverpool s clash with bayer leverkusen at anfield on tuesday as a member of uefa s technical committee. hodgson is a fierce advocate of the winter break employed throughout europe although not in england - where the champions league contenders have ploughed through a heavy fixture list. but hodgson told bbc sport that while he believes the premiership should embrace the idea he does not expect it to cost the english representatives in the last 16 of the champions league. i just feel it is very difficult to say with certainty that teams who have had the break will have a definite edge. i am a fervent supporter of the break. it gives players the chance to recharge their batteries midway through the season which some suggest will give teams an advantage in the champions league. the other school of thought suggests having a break then coming back to it puts you at a disadvantage. the bigger discussions around the winter break should be to do with the nature of football today the needs of football players and the way the premiership has developed rather than one or two matches in the champions league in february. hodgson believes a winter break carries many advantages explaining: as i said it is the perfect chance to recharge batteries. and certainly if i was still a manager in england i would be supporting any calls for its introduction. in pre-season you get a lot of enthusiasm and energy but by the time you get towards christmas many players having also played plenty of international matches for club and country and travelled a lot find themselves getting very jaded. the break gives them a chance to recover that energy and enthusiasm and perhaps more importantly recover their mental strength during the break and get ready for the games ahead. the mental side is by far the most important thing. hodgson added: the length of breaks can vary. in italy the break was very short. you just took christmas and new year. it was so short you didn t do anything. you gave the players a week or 10 days off then you were training for a week or 10 days and then went into a game. if it is longer it is important those responsible for physical fitness give the players a programme to follow to ensure the physical strength they have accumulated stays with them. and hodgson believes a winter break would be a positive step in the premiership. he said: if we talk about football at elite level which the premiership is then i would support a winter break. if you examine the demands of the premier league and in particular on players who play international football for their club and country then a break would do them the world of good - physically and mentally.

conservative backing for id cards the tories are to back controversial government plans to introduce id cards. the shadow cabinet revealed its support ahead of next week s commons vote on a bill to introduce compulsory id. the decision follows a tough meeting where some senior tories argued vociferously against the move party sources told the bbc. the bill which ministers claim will tackle crime terrorism and illegal immigration is expected to be opposed by the liberal democrats. they have said the scheme is deeply flawed and a waste of money. sources within the conservative party told the bbc michael howard has always been in favour of id cards and tried to introduce them when he was home secretary. the party has been agnostic on the issue until now but had now decided to come off the fence the tory source said. despite giving their backing to id cards the conservatives insisted they would hold ministers to account over the precise purpose of the scheme. they said they would also press labour over whether objectives could be met and whether the home office would deliver them. and they pledged to assess the cost effectiveness of id cards and whether people s privacy would be properly protected. it is important to remember that this bill will take a decade to come into full effect a spokesman said. it will do nothing to solve the immediate problems of rising crime and uncontrolled immigration. lib dem home affairs spokesman mark oaten said: this has all the signs of michael howard overruling colleagues concerns over id cards. the tories should have the courage to try and change public opinion not follow it. the new chairman of the bar council guy mansfield qc warned there was a real risk that people on the margins of society would be driven into the hands of extremists. what is going to happen to young asian men when there has been a bomb gone off somewhere they are going to be stopped. if they haven t [id cards] they are going to be detained.

india power shares jump on debut shares in india s largest power producer national thermal power corp (ntpc) have risen 13% on their stock market debut. the government s partial sell-off of ntpc is part of a controversial programme to privatise state-run firms. the 865 million share offer a mix of new shares and sales by the government raised 54bn rupees($1.2bn). it was india s second $1bn stock debut in three months coming after the flotation by software firm tata. the share offer was eleven times oversubscribed. it is a good investment bet said suhas naik an investment analyst from ing mutual fund. power needs in india are set to rise and ntpc will benefit from that. analysts say the success of the ntpc flotation would encourage the government to reduce stakes in more power companies. ntpc has said it will use the money from the share sale to feed the growing needs of the country s energy-starved economy. the firm is the largest utility company in india and the sixth largest power producer in the world.

blair returns from peace mission prime minister tony blair has arrived back from his diplomatic mission to the middle east to try to resurrect the peace process. mr blair held talks with his israeli counterpart ariel sharon and the palestinian leader mahmoud abbas. he confirmed that a renewed drive to reform the palestinian authority and address security issues would come at a london conference in march. mr blair also made a surprise trip to iraq this week. the israelis described the meeting as important but said they would not need to attend. mr blair briefly visited the tomb of yasser arafat in ramallah - the first world leader to do so. he nodded briefly towards the tomb rather than lay a wreath in what palestinian officials said was a compromise gesture agreed at the last minute. the bbc s paul reynolds says the london conference will be a limited measure to shore up the leadership of mahmoud abbas also known as abu mazen who is expected to win the palestinian presidential election on 9 january. at a news conference following talks with mr blair mr abbas said the british prime minister was in a unique position to help us progress in our peaceful pursuit . he added: your endeavour to hold a conference in london is another example of your deep commitment to this purpose. in an interview with the bbc s political editor andrew marr mr blair said getting progress between israelis and palestinians would be tough but at least we have got the first step . mr blair acknowledged some people believed he was too close to the israelis but said the israelis were entitled to expect palestinians to give up terrorism. he argued that mr sharon was committed to the internationally-agreed roadmap peace plan and said his bid to disengage from gaza had to be part of the peace process not the end of it. earlier mr sharon again said he had not seen the slightest step the palestinians were working to end terror attacks - though he acknowledged palestinian leaders were in the middle of an election campaign that could be hampering their efforts. before visiting israel mr blair made a surprise visit to iraq where he met leaders in baghdad during his first trip to the city. he was briefed on preparations for the national poll which is scheduled for next month but is threatened by a deadly campaign of insurgent violence. he also flew to basra in southern iraq where british forces are stationed.

jungle tv show ratings drop by 4m the finale of itv1 s i m a celebrity... get me out of here drew an average of 10.9m viewers - about four million fewer than the previous series. the fourth series of the show peaked on monday at 11.9m and 49.2% of the audience just before joe pasquale won. this compared with a peak of 15.3m at and a record 62.2% of the tv audience when kerry mcfadden won in february. comic pasquale beat former royal butler paul burrell who came second nightclub owner fran cosgrave who was third. pasquale follows kerry mcfadden phil tufnell and tony blackburn as winners of the show. singer and tv presenter mcfadden was the show s first female winner. when cricketer phil tufnell won in may 2003 12.3 million people - 50% of the viewing public - tuned in to watch. and when tony blackburn won the first show in 2002 10.9 million people saw the show. pasquale had been the show s hottest ever favourite to win and its hosts anthony mcpartlin and declan donnelly known as ant and dec said monday s deciding vote was the closest in the programme s history. pascuale has been flooded with offers of tv work according to his management company but one of his first jobs on his return is pantomime. before joining i m a celebrity he had signed up to play jack in jack and the beanstalk in birmingham and tickets for the show have become increasingly popular since he joined the tv show. his manager robert voice said: we ve had interest from different tv producers. some are for comedy shows some are new-type projects. there are a number of things joe wants to do. he is very ambitious. he wants to play the west end and do different things other than straightforward comedy. we are talking to a couple of west end producers about a musical.

ex-pm lord callaghan dies aged 92 former labour prime minister lord callaghan has died on the eve of his 93rd birthday. he passed away at home in east sussex just 11 days after his wife audrey died aged 91. lord callaghan who leaves a son and two daughters was the longest living former british pm in history. he entered downing street in 1976 after the resignation of harold wilson. prime minister tony blair called him a giant of the labour movement. he held each of the major offices of chancellor home secretary foreign secretary and prime minister during his career and became lord callaghan of cardiff in 1987. chancellor gordon brown said the former pm would be mourned throughout the world . it was a commitment to public service that brought jim callaghan into parliament in 1945 and while jim rose to the top he never forgot his roots. former cabinet colleague lord hattersley said his first reaction on hearing the news was immense sadness . it was not a major surprise - i knew what a blow the death of his wife audrey was a few days ago he said. he was a decent kindly man who helped me and my generation of politicians immensely. the labour party and the country will be poorer without him. conservative peer lord heseltine said that despite their political differences he and lord callaghan became friends. you don t get to the premiership unless you have a streak of determination he said. but i saw the other side of jim callaghan he became a personal friend in a way and my family and i were very fond of him. tory leader michael howard said he would be remembered with affection and respect . liberal democrat leader charles kennedy said: when i was first elected in 1983 as the youngest mp he was the father of the house and as such took a very keen interest in my early days in parliament. he was always full of warmth and wisdom. born in 1912 and educated at portsmouth northern secondary school lord callaghan became a clerk at the inland revenue. he enlisted in the royal navy in 1942 and rose to the rank of lieutenant. elected for a cardiff constituency at the 1945 general election he represented cardiff seats for more than 40 years. after serving as a junior minister in the attlee government he became chancellor of the exchequer when labour returned to power in 1964. with sterling under pressure he resisted devaluation for three years before being forced into it in 1967. his political career was not without controversy. when he refused to support prime minister harold wilson and dame barbara castle over the latter s trade union manifesto in place of strife in 1968 he said: i am not going to resign. they will have to throw me out . when home secretary he ordered british troops to march into the streets of belfast to protect catholic civilians amid rising violence - a decision that has dominated british politics into the 21st century. as foreign secretary in the early 1970s lord callaghan kept an open mind about the uk s entry into the common market seeing the advantages of the uk s entry. he once travelled to idi amin s uganda in 1975 to plead for the life of a british lecturer dennis hills who was under a death sentence for treason. his political life was often tempered by battles against the hard left of the party. in the autumn of 1978 before the winter of discontent when trade unions carried out strikes that brought the country to a standstill lord callaghan refused to hold an early election which may have delivered a labour victory. as garbage lay uncollected in the streets and hospital staff council workers and even gravediggers stayed off work lord callaghan failed to predict the mood of the country. when britain went to the polls in 1979 tory leader margaret thatcher was swept into power in a landslide victory and lord callaghan resigned as labour leader.

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

apple attacked over sources row civil liberties group the electronic frontier foundation (eff) has joined a legal fight between three us online journalists and apple. apple wants the reporters to reveal 20 sources used for stories which leaked information about forthcoming products including the mac mini. the eff representing the reporters has asked california s superior court to stop apple pursuing the sources. it argues that the journalists are protected by the american constitution. the eff says the case threatens the basic freedoms of the press. apple is particularly keen to find the source for information about an unreleased product code-named asteroid and has asked the journalists e-mail providers to hand over communications relevant to that. rather than confronting the issue of reporter s privilege head-on apple is going to the journalist s isps for his e-mails said eff lawyer kurt opsahl. this undermines a fundamental first amendment right that protects all reporters. if the court lets apple get away with this and exposes the confidences gained by these reporters potential confidential sources will be deterred from providing information to the media and the public will lose a vital outlet for independent news analysis and commentary he said. the case began in december 2004 when apple asked a local californian court to get the journalists to reveal their sources for articles published on websites appleinsider.com and powerpage.org. apple also sent requested information from the nfox.com the internet service provider of powerpage s publisher jason o-grady. as well as looking at how far corporations can go in preventing information from being published the case will also examine whether online journalists have the same privileges and protections as those writing for newspapers and magazines. the eff has gained some powerful allies in its legal battle with apple including professor tom goldstein former dean of the journalism school at the university of california and dan gillmor a well-known silicon valley journalist. apple was not immediately available for comment.

muslim police stops more likely uk muslims should accept that people of islamic appearance are more likely to be stopped and searched by police a home office minister has said. hazel blears said innocent muslims would be targeted because of the search for islamic extremists. qualifications for religious leaders to enter the uk could also be made tougher she told a commons inquiry. her comments have been described as irresponsible and outrageous by the islamic human rights commission (ihrc). the threat is most likely to come from those people associated with an extreme form of islam or who are falsely hiding behind islam the salford mp told the commons home affairs committee. it means that some of our counter-terrorism powers will be disproportionately experienced by the muslim community. it was a reality that should be recognised she said. if a threat is from a particular place then our action is going to be targeted at that area she added. on ministers of religions such as imams she said faith groups would be asked what other qualifications and skills such as civic knowledge and ability to engage the community should be demanded. last year ministers introduced a requirement that ministers should speak english to a certain level. ihrc chairman massoud shadjareh accused ms blears of playing an islamophobia card in the run-up to a general election. she is demonising and alienating our community he said. it is a legitimisation for a backlash and for racists to have an onslaught on our community. this sort of comment is just music to the ears of racists. later the prime minister s official spokesman urged people to put ms blears comments into context. the minister had been saying she understood there was a perception that stop and search was aimed at one community but that was not what was happening the spokesman said. what is happening is that those powers are aimed at those who are suspected of carrying out or planning certain activity who happen to come from one community. it is not aimed at a particular community it is not police policy to aim these powers at a particular community he added. statistics showed that of the 17 people found guilty of terrorist acts in the uk since the 11 september attacks only four of the 12 whose ethnic backgrounds were known were muslim he added figures published last week showed that people from ethnic minorities were increasingly likely to be targeted by police stop and search tactics. figures showed that for 2003/2004 asians were 1.9 times more likely to be stopped and searched compared with 1.7 times more likely in the previous year. separate figures on police searches in england and wales carried out under the terrorism act 2000 showed that ethnic minorities were more likely to be targeted. muslim groups have repeatedly claimed that their communities are being victimised under terror laws. in 2003/2004 12.5% searches under the laws were on asian people even though they make up 4.7% of the population. last july the police were accused of islamophobia by muslim groups after stop and search figures showed the numbers of asians targeted had risen by 300% since the introduction of anti-terror laws.

blue beat u2 to top france honour irish band u2 have been honoured at france s biggest music awards but were beaten to a prize by boy band blue. u2 received a special achievement prize at the nrj music awards but blue beat them to the international group award. us band maroon 5 was named best new international artist and took the best international song title for this love. more than five million radio listeners voted in the awards. the international male and female prizes went to usher and avril lavigne respectively. collecting his band s award from model naomi campbell at the cannes ceremony u2 frontman bono said in french: i m not from this country but i ll make a little confession to you - it s at the cote d azur i feel at home. hosted by radio group nrj the ceremony featured performances from usher and jennifer lopez who was accompanied by dancers clad in schoolgirl outfits. us pop act black eyed peas picked up the best international album gong for elephunk. singer jenifer also took home two awards for best french female singer and best french album. french-canadian pop star roch voisine was named best francophone male artist.

uk gets official virus alert site a rapid alerting service that tells home computer users about serious internet security problems is being launched by the uk government. the service it safe will issue warnings about damaging viruses software vulnerabilities and weaknesses on devices such as mobile phones. alerts tell people how the threats affect them and what they can do to avoid trouble and protect themselves. the service will be free and those who sign up can get e-mail or text alerts. the scheme is aimed at home users and small businesses. the government estimates it will issue security alerts about six to 10 times a year based on previous experience of virus outbreaks. there is a clear need for easy-to-understand and simple independent advice for non-technically minded people who use computers either at home or at work said home office minister hazel blears. the purpose of this new government service is to ensure computer users are aware of the risks involved and how to deal with them easily and effectively without causing alarm. those signing up will only be told about the most serious security threats that have the potential to affect millions of people. full-time staff are being employed to comb through the many hundreds of alerts issued each year by computer security firms to spot which ones have the potential to catch out a large number of people between alerts the service will occasionally send messages giving people advice about safe ways to use their computers and phones. it safe will take our technical expertise and use it to help home users understand the risks and keep their computer systems mobile phones and a range of related consumer electronic items safe said roger cumming director of the national infrastructure security coordination centre (niscc). the niscc which is running the service also stressed that those signing up would still need to use anti-virus software firewalls and software updates to stay secure. warnings about security problems will tell people what the problem is how it affects them and what they can do to avoid trouble. alerts will not be issued unless users can do something to protect themselves against the threat. this might include downloading an update from an anti-virus vendor or updating software to close loopholes and fix vulnerabilities. however no software patches or programs will actually be dispensed through the site. the alerts will tell people how to go about getting hold of patches from security firms. the niscc spokesman said the site and alerting service would stay in existence for as long as there were security bugs on home computers and other gadgets. government statistics show that more than half of all uk households own a home computer. it was estimated that almost 13 million of these were able to access the internet in 2004. the launch comes as the number of viruses and other malicious programs in existence is reaching unprecedented numbers. in september 2004 the number of malicious programs circulating topped the 100 000 mark. some fear that this figure could hit 150 000 by september 2005. the creation of the national alert service follows similar efforts in the netherlands and us. the national alerting service for the netherlands (aka de waarschuwingsdienst) and the us national cyber alerting service also tell citizens of serious security threats.

vera drake s bafta triumph hope at the bafta film awards on saturday night there is the prospect that a home-grown movie could walk off with a clutch of trophies. vera drake mike leigh s tale about a 1950s backstreet abortionist is nominated in 11 categories. these include best film best director and best actress shortlist for imelda staunton who plays the eponymous character. the film has spent months being lauded with prizes from the venice film festival to five awards from the london critics circle on wednesday night. the baftas has a tradition of honouring british cinema and this year vera drake is the obvious candidate to be heaped with praise. empire magazine s reviews editor dan jolin said the film had a very good chance of doing well on saturday predicting that it would collect five or six awards. i don t think it s going to do a lord of the rings-style sweep but imelda staunton is a shoo-in for best actress he said. a best director prize for mike leigh and best british film are also likely and it could steal some awards from heavily-nominated competitors the aviator and finding neverland. mr jolin tipped another contender - most likely the aviator - to walk away with the bafta for best film and added that finding neverland had been lavished with nominations but not trophies. strong oscar contenders million dollar baby and sideways did not figure in the bafta nominations giving vera drake greater potential to walk away with the big prizes. there is a sense that this film is ours and we should slap our own guys on the back. out of all the films in the running for the baftas vera drake is the true blue british one. if mike leigh is going to win awards for anything it should be vera drake at this year s baftas said mr jolin adding that the film was probably his most technically accomplished and lavish work yet. mr jolin also tipped phil davis for a best supporting actor prize for his role in vera drake but felt that heather craney could be outdone by kate winslet or natalie portman in the supporting actress category. if there is anywhere where this film is going to win it will be at the baftas he said. the guardian s film critic peter bradshaw felt that there might well be a sweep of awards for vera drake on saturday night. i hope that bafta voters will respond to the extremely high standard of acting from the whole cast of the film. if bafta can t do so what hope is there he said. mr bradshaw felt that mike leigh s masterpiece was entitled to the best film award - leaving dead man s shoes harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban my summer of love and shaun of the dead to slug it out for the best british film trophy. i will be cheering if vera drake wins a whole host of awards he added.

ethnic producers face barriers minority ethnic led (mel) production companies face barriers in succeeding in the film and television industries research has suggested. the study commissioned by pact and the uk film council included interviews with industry experts and individuals. they indicated that career progression and a lack of role models are among the main problems within such companies. the research indicated that about 10% of independent production companies in the uk are minority ethnic led. a minority ethnic led company is defined as one in which the majority of decision-making power rests with an individual or individuals from a minority ethnic group. the report also explored the problems faced by such companies when attempting to compete within the film and tv industries. it said they are often smaller than other companies and lack the resources so are often squeezed out of the market by bigger firms. the research recommended that minority ethnic led companies could benefit from such positive actions as career training and business advice plus improved communication within the film and tv sectors. the uk has a rich and diverse culture and it is essential that it is reflected on film and television said arts minister estelle morris of the findings. i welcome this report which i hope will lead to more doors being opened and all businesses in our film and television industries being given the same opportunities.

kennedy looks to election gains they may not know quite how to describe their position in british politics - the real opposition the valid opposition the effective opposition or the authentic opposition. but the liberal democrats are entering the expected 2005 election campaign determined to prove it is they not the tories who are now the real threat to labour. as tory leader michael howard kicked off his election campaign the lib dem leader charles kennedy dismissed the conservatives as a fading force. and he insisted there was no limit to his party s ambitions in the coming poll. and he can produce some pretty impressive recent election results to back up his optimism for an election which he believes might just see his party doing big things. sensible third party leaders are usually cautious about making any predictions about how they will do come the big test. and mr kennedy was not falling into that trap when he fired up his campaign from the party s westminster hq. he would make no predictions other than that he expected the lib dems to increase both their votes and their commons seats at the election. the gap between labour and the tories was now so narrow - as proved he claimed by the defection to labour of robert jackson - that only his party offered a genuine alternative. on the war on iraq identity cards student fees and the council tax there was nothing to chose between the two big parties whereas the liberal democrats offered costed sensible alternatives. he was also happy to break the two party consensus on taxation by promising to increase income tax on those earning more than £100 000 a year to pay for the scrapping of student fees the introduction of free personal care for the elderly and replacing the council tax with a local income tax. he was also happy to offer a pledge that he would be doing no deals to prop up either of the other big parties after the election. there was a time when such optimistic sounds coming from the third party could be dismissed as self-delusion. that is no longer the case with the liberal democrats. the other parties will still insist that the lib dems are no hopers whose greatest effect on the poll will be to boost the hopes of their opponents by denying them otherwise winnable seats. labour in particular fears that disillusioned supporters may switch to the lib dems allowing the tories to win some seats. but mr kennedy is clearly hoping for a more significant outcome than that. he will not talk about the big breakthrough although there are those who believe this could well be the election that sees his party crossing some sort of symbolic threshold. they would argue that by the time of the election after next the liberal democrats may genuinely have replaced the tories as the party challenging labour for power. the lib dems will hope to have made advances because of their consistent stand against the war on iraq. but mr kennedy believes his new manifesto will also offer sensible costed and achievable policies on things like the council tax crime and asylum that will underpin his claim that his party really is the only opposition worth the name.

howard rejects bnp s claim tory leader michael howard has dismissed claims that his immigration policy was moving onto the turf of the british national party (bnp). bnp leader nick griffin told the independent he expected some bnp voters to switch to the tories over the issue. but mr howard said he rejected the idea that the tories and bnp appealed to the same voting instincts. asked if he would welcome bnp voters he told the bbc: i don t want anybody to vote for these extremist parties . he added on bbc radio 4 s today programme: if you want good community relations in this country...then you have to have firm fair immigration controls. the tories have promised an upper limit on the number of people allowed into britain with the slogan: it s not racist to impose limits on immigration . all parties are stepping up campaiging in the run-up to the general election widely expected to be called for 5 may. labour has unveiled its own points system for ensuring migrants who want to work in the uk have skills that are required but have rejected immigration quotas. the liberal democrats have warned both parties against pandering to prejudice . mr griffin told the independent the tories plans were a definite move onto our turf . he said: i quite freely accept that on a nationwide basis the tories will con enough people to make a significant hole in our vote. asked whether he was comfortable with the perception that the conservatives and the bnp appeal to the same voting instincts mr howard told the bbc: i reject that entirely . he said he found bnp s policies abhorrent but he said the uk had to take a different approach to immigration which he said was out of control. the government doesn t want to limit it in any way we do there s a legitimate difference between us there which we can discuss in a calm rational and reasonable way he said. he again rejected newspaper speculation that his own father entered britain illegally.

spam e-mails tempt net shoppers computer users across the world continue to ignore security warnings about spam e-mails and are being lured into buying goods a report suggests. more than a quarter have bought software through spam e-mails and 24% have bought clothes or jewellery. as well as profiting from selling goods or services and driving advertising traffic organised crime rings can use spam to glean personal information. the business software alliance (bsa) warned that people should stay alert . many online consumers don t consider the true motives of spammers said mike newton a spokesperson for the bsa which commissioned the survey. by selling software that appears to be legitimate in genuine looking packaging or through sophisticated websites spammers are hiding spyware without consumers knowledge. once the software is installed on pcs and networks information that is given over the internet can be obtained and abused. the results also showed that the proportion of people reading - or admitting to reading - and taking advantage of adult entertainment spam e-mails is low at one in 10. the research which covered 6 000 people in six countries and their attitudes towards junk e-mails revealed that brazilians were the most likely to read spam. a third of them read unsolicited junk e-mail and 66% buy goods or services after receiving spam. the french were the second most likely to buy something (48%) with 44% of britons taking advantage of products and services. this was despite 38% of people in all countries being worried about their net security because of the amount of spam they get. more than a third of respondents said they were concerned that spam e-mails contained viruses or programs that attempted to collect personal information. both industry and the media have helped to raise awareness of the issues that surround illegitimate e-mail helping to reduce the potential financial damage and nuisance from phishing attacks and spoof websites said william plante director of corporate security and fraud protection at security firm symantec. at the same time consumers need to continue exercising caution and protect themselves from harm with a mixture of spam filters spyware detection software and sound judgement.

blair defends terror law changes the prime minister has defended measures to allow house arrest without trial saying several hundred people in the uk are plotting terror attacks. the government is facing opposition from tory and lib dem mps and its own backbenchers as it prepares for the final commons debate on the changes. but tony blair said there could be no concession on the basic principle . mr blair told the bbc the control orders would only be used in the most limited circumstances. critics in the opposition and civil rights activists are worried that the home secretary will have the power to issue the detention orders. but the government has so far resisted pressure for judges to be responsible for making the orders instead saying judges will be able to quash them. an explanation is being sent by home secretary charles clarke to all mps and peers ahead of the final debate in the house of commons. on sunday conservative shadow home secretary david davis claimed judges would get the powers to issue detention orders. and liberal democrat leader charles kennedy said some concessions had already been offered by the government during last-minute negotiations. some 32 labour mps voted against the legislation last week. barbara follett whose first husband was killed while under house arrest in south africa during the apartheid era confirmed she would vote against the government. but the government is continuing to insist that control orders must be issued by the home secretary. mr blair told bbc radio 4 s woman s hour: we are being advised by the police and the security services... what they say is you have got to give us powers in between mere surveillance of these people - there are several hundred of them in this country who we believe are engaged in plotting or trying to commit terrorist acts - you have got to give us power in between just surveying them and being able being sure enough of the proof to prosecute them beyond reasonable doubt. and these will be restrictions on their liberty that we will use only in the most limited circumstances. a yougov poll in the daily telegraph suggested 75% of respondents thought action was sometimes necessary against people who had not committed an offence but who had been found by intelligence services to be planning a terrorist attack. but tory leader michael howard told bbc news that the government was again making a mistake in rushing anti-terrorism legislation. i very much hope it would be possible to reach a compromise on this. he said after meeting tony blair he had been left with the impression that he really wasn t interested in any of the various proposals we have put forward . mr clarke wants house arrest and other powers to replace indefinite jail for terror suspects - something the law lords have ruled against on the basis that it breaches human rights. bbc political correspondent vicky young said some form of concession on the measures was likely to be needed to get the legislation through the house of lords where labour does not have a majority and would require support from other parties. shami chakrabarti director of civil liberties pressure group liberty said who was able to issue the control orders was not the main issue. she said the legislation was a travesty and a perversion of justice and would remain unpalatable even if a judge was involved early in the process.

davenport hits out at wimbledon world number one lindsay davenport has criticised wimbledon over the issue of equal prize money for women. reacting to a disputed comment by all england club chairman tim phillips the american said: i think it is highly insulting if prize money is taken away. somebody i think it was mr phillips said they won t have money for flowers at wimbledon. that s insulting. an all england club spokesperson denied phillips made the remark insisting: he definitely didn t say it. the statement added: it was said by someone else and was a humorous aside at the end of a radio interview when the conversation had moved to talking about the wimbledon grounds. davenport was speaking following the announcement that this week s dubai duty free event will join the us and australian opens in offering equal prize money for women. you hear about women playing only three sets while men play five said daveport. and the best women are never going to beat the best men. but it s a different game you go to watch with the women - it doesn t make it better or worse. hopefully we will be able to change people s minds. serena williams who is also in dubai added: i m obviously for equal prize money. women s tennis is exciting. men s tennis is exciting as well but the women have it right now. if you are bringing in the spectators you should be able to reap what everyone else is able to reap.

safety alert as gm recalls cars the world s biggest carmaker general motors (gm) is recalling nearly 200 000 vehicles in the us on safety grounds according to federal regulators. the national highway traffic safety administration (nhtsa) said the largest recall involves 155 465 pickups vans and sports utility vehicles (suvs). this is because of possible malfunctions with the braking systems. the affected vehicles in the product recall are from the 2004 and 2005 model years gm said. those vehicles with potential faults are the chevrolet avalanche express kodiak silverade and suburban; the gmc savana sierra and yukon. the nhtsa said a pressure accumulator in the braking system could crack during normal driving and fragments could injure people if the hood was open. this could allow hydraulic fluid to leak which could make it harder to brake or steer and could cause a crash it warned. gm is also recalling 19 924 cadillac xlr coupes srx suvs and pontiac grand prix sedans from the 2004 model year. this is because the accelerator pedal may not work properly in extremely cold temperatures requiring more braking. in addition the car giant is calling back 17 815 buick raniers chevrolet trailblazers gmc envoys and isuzu ascenders from the 2005 model years because the windshield is not properly fitted and could fall out in a crash. however gm stressed that it did not know of any injuries related to the problems. news of the recall follows an announcement last month that gm expects earnings this year be lower than in 2004. the world s biggest car maker is grappling with losses in its european business weak us sales and now a product recall. in january gm said higher healthcare costs in north america and lower profits at its financial services subsidiary would hurt its performance in 2005.

tories outlining policing plans local communities would be asked to go to the polls to elect their own area police commissioner under plans unveiled by the conservatives. party leader michael howard said the new role would replace inconspicuous police authorities. he said the new office would not supersede the job of a chief constable. the lib dems said the plan could let extreme groups run policing while labour criticised extravagant tory promises on policing. responding to the plans the chairman of the police federation of england and wales which represents rank and file officers said it was essential operational independence was retained. jan berry said: it is a service not a political football to be kicked around every time an election approaches. these plans could result in those with extreme political views dictating what actually happens on the ground she warned. outlining his crime manifesto mr howard said elected police commissioners would be more accountable than police authorities which are made up of local councillors and magistrates. the commissioner will have the powers which existing police authorities have he told bbc radio 4 s today programme. the trouble is and it s no reflection on the people who are on the police authority - they are good people - but hardly anyone knows who they are. mr howard said the authorities were not providing the local accountability that we want to see and that elected police commissioners would be more visible. critics fear the move could hand control of the police to single-issue campaigners who would ignore the needs of the wider community. lord harris who sits on the executive of association of police authorities said the plans seemed to suggest chief constables should be told what to do by a single politician. that is overturning nearly 200 years of the way in which we have organised policing in this country to avoid the politicisation of policing decisions he said. liberal democrat home affairs spokesman mark oaten said the plan was dangerous and could create conflict between chief constables and elected officials . mr oaten said local people had too little control over policing but a far better solution would be for elected councillors to draw up a minimum policing guarantee with their chief constables. a labour party spokesman criticised michael howard s record saying police numbers had fallen by 1 132 when he was home secretary. he said: today the tories are making more extravagant promises on the police without making clear how they would pay for them other than through fantasy savings to the asylum system. the tories insists the commissioner role would not be like that of an american sheriff. other tory law and order plans include building more prisons and making criminals serve full jail sentences.

seamen sail into biometric future the luxury cruise liner crystal harmony currently in the gulf of mexico is the unlikely setting for tests of biometric technology. as holidaymakers enjoy balmy breezes their ship s crew is testing prototype versions of the world s first internationally issued biometric id cards the seafarer s equivalent of a passport. along with the owner s picture name and personal details the new seafarers identity document incorporates a barcode representing unique features of its holder s fingerprints. the cards are due to be issued in february next year in line with the revised un convention on seafarers identity documents of june 2003. tests currently under way in the caribbean are designed to ensure that new cards and their machine readers produced by different companies in different countries are working to interoperable standards. results of the current tests which involve seafarers from a wide range of occupations and nationalities will be published by the international labour organisation (ilo) by the end of november. crystal cruises which operates the crystal harmony is exploring the use of biometrics but has not yet committed to the technology. authenti-corp the us technology consultancy has been working with the ilo on its technical specifications for the cards. if you re issued a seafarer s id in your country you want to be sure that when the ship lands in a port in say my country you can validate yourself using whatever equipment we have installed authenti-corp s ceo cynthia musselman told the bbc s go digital programme. she said french jordanian and nigerian nationals would be the first seafarers to get the new id cards since their countries have already ratified the convention. it aims to combat international terrorism whilst guaranteeing the welfare the one million seafarers estimated to be at sea. the convention highlights the importance of access to shore facilities and shore leave as vital elements to a sailor s wellbeing and therefore it says to safer shipping and cleaner oceans. by increasing security on the seas as well as border control and protection the cards will hopefully reduce the number of piracy problems around the world said ms musselman. it should be a safer environment for seafarers to work in and will allow people protecting their borders to have confidence that the people getting off the ship are in fact seafarers.

straw attacked on china arms moves to lift the european union s ban on arms exports to china have been condemned by human rights groups and the conservatives. the 15 year embargo was imposed in the aftermath of china s crackdown on protesters in tiananmen square in 1989. uk foreign secretary jack straw who will hold talks in beijing on thursday said an eu arms code was more effective than the current ban. but human rights watch says the eu is putting commerce above abuse concerns. in december the eu pledged to work towards lifting the ban but said it was not ready to do so yet. germany and france have repeatedly called for the embargo to be lifted. britain has been more cautious but mr straw last week said he also wanted it to end despite us objections. he expects it to be lifted over the next six months a prediction which has alarmed critics. brad adams from human rights watch said: this is a huge political signal from europe that they are willing to forget about tiananmen square. there are still thousands of people who are unaccounted for. mr straw said it was wrong to put china under the same embargo as countries such as zimbabwe and burma. the scope of the embargo was very narrow and did not have any force of law behind it he told bbc radio 4 s world at one. in the uk more export licences were refused under the existing european union arms code than under the embargo he said. and only two of the licences denied under the embargo would have been granted under the code. the code of conduct is much more effective it s a more powerful tool of and we intend to strengthen it as a pre-condition of lifting the embargo with china he said. mr straw denied the decision would suggest to china that tiananmen square had been forgotten. the level of human rights was a key criteria under the eu arms exports code he said. human rights groups say the code of conduct is not legally binding - but mr straw said it would be given legal force by the laws of many eu countries. conservative shadow foreign secretary michael ancram said the move would be profoundly wrong . the decision could undermine nato as it severely damaged relations with the us which is opposed to ending the ban. mr ancram argued: what the british government is doing is giving in to french and german pressure especially the french who see vast contracts available to them if the embargo is lifted... it gives the wrong signals to china who are simply not prepared to accept that what happened at tiananmen square was wrong. mr straw s china trip is part of regular high-level meetings with beijing ministers. he will meet chinese counterpart minister li zhaoxing to discuss developing relations between their two countries hong kong and china s part in the talks on north korea.

millions buy mp3 players in us one in 10 adult americans - equivalent to 22 million people - owns an mp3 player according to a survey. a study by the pew internet and american life project found that mp3 players are the gadget of choice among affluent young americans. the survey did not interview teenagers but it is likely that millions of under-18s also have mp3 players. the american love affair with digital music players has been made possible as more and more homes get broadband. of the 22 million americans who own mp3 players 59% are men compared to 41% of women. those on high income - judged to be $75 000 (£39 000) or above - are four times more likely to have players than those earning less than $30 000 ( £15 000). broadband access plays a big part in ownership too. almost a quarter of those with broadband at home have players compared to 9% of those who have dial-up access. mp3 players are still the gadget of choice for younger adults. almost one in five us citizens aged under 30 have one. this compares to 14% of those aged 30-39 and 14% of those aged 40-48. the influence of children also plays a part. sixteen percent of parents living with children under 18 have digital players compared to 9% of those who don t. the ease of use and growth of music available on the net are the main factors for the upsurge in ownership the survey found. people are beginning to use them as instruments of social activity - sharing songs and taking part in podcasting - the survey found. ipods and mp3 players are becoming a mainstream technology for consumers said lee rainie director of the pew internet and american life project. more growth in the market is inevitable as new devices become available as new players enter the market and as new social uses for ipods/mp3 players become popular he added.

eu rules won t stop uk spending the shape of the uk s economy in graphics but he denied that he was ruling out british membership of the euro despite saying there would be no assessment of the five economic tests this year. mr brown said that it was vital the uk continued to invest in infrastructure science and education in the future. otherwise it would be overtaken by the likes of china he told mps. the chancellor said that the eu s planned changes in the growth and stability pact - designed to ensure that countries in the euro zone do not borrow too much - would force britain to run a budget surplus of 1% over the economic cycle. under mr brown s rules the uk current budget must be in balance over the economic cycle but public investment is not counted as part of that deficit. he told the house of commons treasury select committee that the eu rules make it difficult for a low debt country to run the investment programmes that are necessary to improve its infrastructure . but he argued that the eu was moving in the direction of the uk principles and would eventually recognise the need to consider budget deficits over a longer period than one year to include investment and to take more account of the total size of government debt as well as the balance each year. under mr brown s sustainable investment rule government debt should be under 40% - in contrast to the 60% allowed under the growth and stability pact. mr brown vigorously denied conservative claims that he had in effect fiddled the figures to ensure that he met his own fiscal rules. in march the office of national statistics (ons) reclassified £3.4bn of spending on road repairs as public investment - shortly before the chancellor announced in the budget that he would meet his own fiscal budget rule by only £6bn. conservative michael fallon asked mr brown whether the treasury had leaned on ons to make this change and said that the ons had received a written paper from the treasury on this matter. but the chancellor said mr fallon was impugning the integrity of the office of national statistics and said the decision had been made completely independently. mr brown also denied that he was increasing taxes to fund his spending gap. he told the treasury select committee that a growing economy meant more people in work and more profits for companies which would boost treasury coffers. earlier ex-conservative chancellor ken clarke welcomed a relaxation of the rules governing the euro zone. speaking on radio 4 s today programme mr clarke said political give and take would replace more rigid rules. but fellow tory david heathcoat-amory said the folly of the system was in trying to run europe s varied economies on one set of rules. the essential point here is that the stability and growth pact has turned out to be a fake he said. the warning is about the european constitution which we are going to have a vote on in a year or two and that centralises and entrenches these rules in a constitution. it gives more powers to brussels to co-ordinate things like employment and economic policy. but speaking to the treasury select committee gordon brown said that the new stability pact rules were not part of a binding treaty and could be changed again the future - potentially opening the way for future euro membership. the conditions for euro entry are unchanged by this new decision about the stability and growth pact mr. brown said.

spears seeks aborted tour payment singer britney spears is suing eight insurance companies that have refused to reimburse her for cancelling her 2004 world tour. the pop star cancelled her onyx hotel tour last june after suffering a knee injury during a video shoot. she is now seeking to be reimbursed for the tour s £5m ($9.3m) costs in a claim filed at new york state supreme court. seven london-based companies and an eighth paris firm have been given up to 30 days to respond to the complaint. the 22-year-old star initially missed a number of shows on the 82-date tour after injuring her knee during a show in illinois last march. but she was rushed to hospital and needed surgery after a later incident while filming a video for her song outrageous leading her to cancel the rest of the tour including dates in china. she obviously took a wrong step and blew out her knee a jive spokeswoman said at the time. it was an old dance injury. the legal submission described spears as one of the most recognised performers in her industry . the onyx hotel tour was cited as a highly crafted production which included the well-known music and dancing of spears supported by elaborate costumes complex choreography as well as cutting-edge video production lighting and other effects . in september spears married kevin federline who had been a dancer on the aborted tour.

stars gear up for bafta ceremony film stars from across the globe are preparing to walk the red carpet at this year s bafta award ceremony. the 2005 orange british academy film awards are being held at the odeon in london s leicester square. a host of hollywood stars including cate blanchett leonardo dicaprio keanu reeves and richard gere are expected to attend saturday s ceremony. hosted by stephen fry the glittering ceremony will be broadcast on bbc one at 2010 gmt. other actors expected to add to the glamour of the biggest night in uk film are gael garcia bernal imelda staunton diane kruger christian slater anjelica huston helen mirren and former james bond star pierce brosnan. hollywood blockbuster the aviator starring dicaprio leads the field with 14 nominations including best film. it is up against eternal sunshine of the spotless mind finding neverland the motorcycle diaries and british film vera drake which has 11 nominations. british hope imelda staunton is one of the favourites to land the best actress award for her gritty role as a backstreet abortionist in the small-budget film. other nominees in the best actress category include charlize theron for monster ziyi zhang for house of flying daggers and uk star kate winslet who has two nods for her roles in eternal sunshine of the spotless mind and finding neverland. dicaprio faces competition from bernal jamie foxx jim carrey and johnny depp in the best actor category. and british actor clive owen is hoping to repeat his golden globe success with a best supporting actor award for his role in closer. his co-star natalie portman is up against blanchett heather craney julie cristie and meryl streep in the best supporting actress category. mike leigh is up for the best director award for vera drake alongside martin scorsese for the aviator michael mann for collateral michel gondry for eternal sunshine of the spotless mind and marc forster for finding neverland.

stam spices up man utd encounter ac milan defender jaap stam says manchester united know they made a mistake by selling him in 2001. the sides meet at old trafford in the champions league game on wednesday and the 32-year-old s dutchman s presence is sure to add spice to the fixture. united made a mistake in selling me stam told uefa s champions magazine. i was settled at manchester united but they wanted to sell me. if a club want to sell you there is nothing you can do. you can be sold like cattle. sir alex ferguson surprised the football world - and stam - by selling the dutchman to lazio for £16.5m in august 2001. the decision came shortly after stam claimed in his autobiography that ferguson had tapped him up when he was at psv eindhoven. but ferguson insisted he sold the defender because the transfer fee was too good to refuse for a player past his prime. the affair still rankles with the dutchman. i was settled at manchester united i had even just ordered a new kitchen but they wanted to sell me he said. in what other industry can a good employee be ushered out the door against their wishes of course you can refuse to go but then the club have the power to put you on the bench. i don t agree that players control the game. there have been opportunities to confront them in the newspapers but i have turned them down. what s the point wednesday s game at old trafford will provide an intriguing confrontation between united s young attackers wayne rooney and cristiano ronaldo and milan s veteran defence of stam paolo maldini cafu and alessandro costacurta. stam says rooney s teenage stardom is in stark contract to his own start in the game. we can t all be wayne rooneys - at his age i was training to be an electrician and thought my chance of becoming a professional footballer had gone he said. starting late can be a good thing. some kids who start early get bored. i had my youth - having fun drinking beers blowing up milk cannisters. it sounds strange but it s a tradition where i grew up in kampen - and i had done all the things i wanted to do.

prince crowned top music earner prince earned more than any other pop star in 2004 beating artists such madonna and elton john in us magazine rolling stone s annual list. the singer banked $56.5m (£30.4m) from concerts album and publishing sales with his musicology tour and album. he kept madonna in second place as she earned $54.9m (£29.5m) while embarking on her global re-invention tour. veterans simon and garfunkel were in 10th place their comeback tour helping them earn $24.9m (£13.4m) last year. prince returned to centre stage after a decade in the commercial wilderness the magazine reported. the singer s 2004 tour took $90.3m (£48.5m) in ticket sales and he sold 1.9 million copies of his latest album musicology. although she grossed more than prince last year madonna remained in second place because of the monumental production costs of her tour. heavy metal band metallica s madly in anger with the world tour helped push their 2004 earnings up to $43.1m (£23.1m). they were ahead of sir elton john who took fourth place and almost $42.7m (£23m) from performances including a debut on the las vegas strip. other seasoned performers in the list included rod stewart whose sold-out shows and third volume of the great american songbook covers album helped net him £35m (£19m). the highest-ranking rap act in the list was 50 cent who at number 19 took $24m (£13m) to the bank.

hingis to make unexpected return martina hingis makes her return to competitve tennis after two years out of the game at the volvo women s open in pattaya thailand on tuesday. she faces german marlene weingartner in the first round. as a competitor and athlete i always want to win. i hope my body will hold up said hingis. you miss being out there in a grand slam final and not competing. it s a big difference between playing and commenting for tv. i miss it a lot. the former world number one was 22 when she retired after having surgery on both ankles and her last wta event was in filderstadt germany in october 2002 when she lost to elena dementieva. only last year she insisted that a comeback was unlikely but speaking in thaliand hingis admitted: i said that because i didn t know what would happen with my body. her appearance will also benefit charities in the region and the swiss star will donate her prize money.

ireland 17-12 south africa ronan o gara scored all ireland s points as the home side claimed only their second ever win over south africa on an emotional day at lansdowne road. o gara s first-half try poached after a quick tap-penalty helped the irish to a 8-3 lead at half-time. three further o gara penalties extended ireland s lead to 17-6 as the game entered the final quarter. two percy montgomery penalties set up a frantic finish but ireland held out to claim a famous victory. ireland began strongly and were never led but the match was tense and closely fought throughout. aware of the threat posed by the south africans ireland pressed hard from the outset and played some impressive rugby while searching for a breakthrough. early on denis hickie thought he was in for a try after a delightful backline move but shane horgan s pass was adjudged to have gone forward by referee paul honiss. ireland continued to press and they showed their intent by opting for a line-out in the 19th minute when three straight-forward points were on offer. another south african infringement a minute later led to ireland s first points - o gara took a quick tap-penalty and charged over the opposition line for an irish try. the springboks could feel hard done by as captain john smit had his back to the play when o gara pounced after referee honiss had told the skipper to warn his own players after consistent infringements. stung by the score the south africans almost replied with a try of their own within 60 seconds with geordan murphy s ankle-tap tackle denying a certain try for percy montgomery. however the springboks did win a penalty a minute later which montgomery easily slotted to cut ireland s lead to 5-3. ireland got out of jail when the south africans had a three-to-one overlap near the irish line only to waste the chance. after the sustained springboks pressure the irish produced an attack of their own in the 34th minute which culminated with o gara s clever drop-goal to restore his side s lead to five points which remained the margin at half-time. sustained irish pressure immediately after half-time was rewarded by another o gara penalty. however montgomery responded quickly by slotting over a superb penalty from near the right touchline to cut ireland s lead to five points again. montgomery then burst through the irish defence in the 48th minute and it took a superb girvan dempsey tackle to prevent a try. the south africans suffered a double-blow in the 52nd minute when schalk burger was sin-binned for the second week in a row after killing the ball and o gara punished the transgression by notching another penalty. in the 61st minute hickie was left frustrated by a poor pass from girvan dempsey as a chance to seal the match was wasted. however a late tackle on brian o driscoll enabled o gara to notch another penalty in the 63rd minute which extended ireland s lead to 17-6. however two montgomery penalties had ireland s lead in peril again as the springboks closed to within five points with seven minutes remaining. south africa produced a huge effort in the closing minutes but ireland held on to claim a deserved victory. g dempsey; g murphy b o driscoll (capt) s horgan d hickie; r o gara p stringer; r corrigan s byrne j hayes m o kelly p o connell s easterby j o connor a foley. f sheahan m horan d o callaghan e miller g easterby d humphreys k maggs. : p montgomery; b paulse m joubert de wet barry a willemse j van der westhuyzen; f du preez; o du randt j smit (captain) e andrews b botha v matfield s burger aj venter j van niekerk. : h shimange cj van der linde g britz d rossouw m claassens j de villiers g du toit/j fourie. paul honiss (new zealand)

legendary music studio to close the new york music studio where john lennon spent his final hours is to close next month. the hit factory which opened 37 years ago has played host to some of the biggest stars in music including paul simon madonna and david bowie. however the rise in digital recording has affected business at the studio which is relocating to smaller premises in miami. lennon recorded his final album double fantasy at the studio in 1979. the studio was founded by jerry ragovoy in 1968. in 1975 it was sold to fellow producer edward germano who turned it into a 100 000 square foot studio with seven recording rooms and live mastering suites. his first client was stevie wonder who recorded part of his classic album songs in the key of life there. other well-known albums to be recorded or partially recorded at the studio include bruce springsteen s born in the usa the rolling stones emotional rescue and paul simon s graceland. michael jackson billy joel jay-z and beyonce are also among artists who have used the hit factory in the past as well as 50 cent who survived an attempt on his life as he left the premises in 2000. the studio made history in 1994 when it won a record 41 grammy nominations for songs recorded mastered or mixed there including the soundtrack to the whitney houston film the bodyguard.

moreno debut makes oscar mark catalina sandino moreno has joined a rare group of actresses who have been nominated for an oscar for starring in a foreign language film. the colombian-born actress was the final hope for director joshua marston who scoured the us and colombia for a lead for maria full of grace. the film sees the 23-year-old play a teenage drug mule who smuggles heroin by swallowing pellets in condoms. plaudits have been raining down on her for her gritty performance making it all the more surprising that this is her first film. her previous acting experience was in amateur productions in her home city of bogota at the ruben di pietro theatre academy. she has already received a nomination for the independent spirit awards leading actress category but these rarely overlap with academy awards instead recognising quirkier low-budget films. and at the 2004 berlin film festival the jury could not choose between her and charlize theron s oscar winning performance in monster so gave them a tied award. sandino moreno is now being regarded as one of the most promising actresses around at the moment. but she is taking her time committing to her next project hoping to land a strong spanish script and would love to be able to work with directors pedro almodovar or alejandro amenabar.

jones happy with henson heroics wales fly-half stephen jones admitted he was happy to hand gavin henson responsibility for taking the match-winning kick against england. jones had missed three earlier shots at goal when wales 9-8 down were awarded a long-range penalty with four minutes left in cardiff. i knew the percentages of gavin reaching it were far higher than me jones said. when he said he wanted it there were no problems. jones had seen a long-range effort fall a whisker under the crossbar on the hour before charlie hodgson put england in front with 10 minutes left. i looked at where it was and i knew i was going to struggle to make it jones added. i said to gareth (thomas the wales captain) this is touch and go. it was out of my range and obviously gavin is phenomenal when it comes to distance. he was confident and fancied it. there were no questions that he d miss it the way he was playing. he had a superb game. jones was happy to hail henson s heroic contribution to wales first win over england in cardiff since 1993. physically he s a specimen: he s a balanced player he glides when he runs and obviously he s got a great kicking game as well jones said. his defence was superb he made some great hits and he had a great game. i m glad he s welsh. victory over england for the first time since 1999 will no doubt fuel expectations of what wales might achieve in this year s six nations. but they now face three away fixtures in italy france and scotland before completing their campaign against ireland in cardiff. people all over the world want to see wales back at the top table of world rugby said a proud coach mike ruddock. but we are not there yet. the next step is finding the consistency to get further wins. we have to travel this week and we can t afford to get too giddy about this result. we have got to be professional and keep focused on facing italy. none more so than henson who can now expect to have the same sort of spotlight thrust upon him as the likes of jonny wilkinson and brian o driscoll. the confident 23-year-old is undaunted by the prospect of dealing with such weighty expectations however. i m the sort of player who likes pressure on me he said. it makes me more concentrated and i think i perform better under more pressure. i set a high standard against england and i ve got to back it up next week. two years ago when we played italy i wasn t involved and we lost so we ve got to put that right next week.

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.

brits debate over urban music joss stone a 17-year-old soul singer from devon beat dizzee rascal jamelia lemar and the streets to win best british urban act at the brit awards. her victory has reignited the debate about what urban music is. i m not really comfortable with the word urban. it s a word that s been manufactured in this country and america to describe black music. the word urban seems to cover such a broad range of black music that it s wrong. how far are the brits removed from inner-city music and what people are doing it s so far removed that i don t expect them to get it bang on. the music industry isn t championing music from our particular genre very well anyway. people don t feel like that s anything to do with us. i don t feel like urban music s just been celebrated by [joss stone] winning or her being nominated or by the brits acknowledging that there s an urban music scene because it s all a kick in the teeth at the end of the day. it s not really relevant. if joss stone is the closest thing that they feel comfortable championing because of what she looks like and how she sounds and who she s signed to then so be it. it s got nothing to do with what s really going on. urban as a genre is very broad. if you look underneath urban there are a number of core elements that include hip-hop r&b garage and into that obviously comes soul. joss stone is a soul artist. her first album was called the soul sessions. so urban is a very broad brushstroke that is the umbrella over the top of sub-genres and there are offshoots of all of those. joss stone has had amazing success [in the us] given that she s a uk artist. what has really captured everybody s imagination is that here you have a 17-year-old from devon with a voice to die for and a bunch of really really good tunes and she looks good - i think that s what s done it. the award for best british urban act was voted for by viewers of mtv base. i don t think joss was not a worthy winner. she makes soul music and that definitely comes under the category of what we describe as urban. the fact that she s from devon is the interesting thing because most of the music we cover is made in large cities and she s literally rural. the great thing about urban music is that there s a big range. if there is some sort of root with black music or dance music in britain i think that s where you can call it urban - that s where this new sub-category or uber-category has come from. joss stone is certainly not old enough to have had some of the experiences of an older soul singer but you couldn t argue that she was being inauthentic with her emotions - it is coming from somewhere genuine. it has to come across as real. that s the only cut-off point we have here and that s the only way by which we judge people. what urban means to us as an organisation is the politically correct term to describe music which originated from a black background. music should become inclusive and if we are fighting for a multi-cultural britain then we should be fighting for inclusion rather than exclusion. if joss stone can be accepted within the urban music community i think acts from other ethnicities doing classical music and rock should be accepted too. race doesn t make a difference if everyone is included. out of all the awards dished out yesterday i m still trying to find out what people of other races received any sort of recognition or award. a type of music (especially street music) that originates from a city and typically reflects or is characteristic of urban life. she might not be urban but when did r&b become the hip hop tainted thing it is now r&b stands for rhythm and blues remember! that joss stone is rubbish is certain. if anyone deserves to win an award for urban music (i think probably should include hip-hop soul & funk at least but not rock or pop) this year its the streets although dizzee rascal stakes a good claim she definitely deserved to win a prize joss stone s albums are quite simply amazing easily better than anything else that was released last year. this whole debate about what is urban what isnt urban is completely pointless and probably fueled by urban artists who weren t nominated or didn t win. i cant see why people can t just congratulate her for the talent that she is. she did deserve it but i agree with the comments about urban music. its a stupid phrase and particularly british. in the states they tend to use hip hop and r&b if i say hip hop here a lot of people have no idea what i m talking about. very strange. what s in a name a rose by any other name etc... if people want to call it urban why not if we really analysed it the term dance music is misleading because it doesn t describe everything you can dance to. whilst i agree that the term urban is open to interpretation it strikes me as simply weird that joss stone has won. urban to me is what i hear being played in parties in the inner cities - i live in brixton and have never heard the soul sessions pumping out of of a bass heavy sound system in any parties i ve been to. good luck to joss stone let s celebrate her victory - let s also question why with artists so successful and talented as jamelia lemar kanye west dizzee rascal alicia keys and outkast - we didn t see a single black artist on stage collecting an award. so what you re saying is that any music that has black heritage is not allowed to be sung by anyone who isn t black. and if it is then they shouldn t be acknowledged for it even if they re pretty dam good at it she s 17 has an amazing voice and won. good on her. oh but she s not black well let s make her feel real bad about it then. how dare she! though hang on didn t the so-called public vote on this one this idea of pigeonholing whatever is popular at the time is no different than what was happening in the 1940s and 50s in relation to what jazz was. the media then called anything that had a swinging beat syncopated melody or soulful feeling jazz much to the chagrin of the artists. it would mean that blues would be put in the same mould as bebop cool and ragtime all very different styles at that time. jazz was and remains such a massively misunderstood term. and so what of urban music in truth it s a lazy term to categorise music that you don t really understand. soul and garage are worlds apart musically (marvin gaye v tuff jam ) but no doubt have their connections. if we just let the music speak for itself and not judge the success of an artist by the number of awards won then maybe we can enjoy the music for what it is rather than what it represents. i demand a prize for rural music! sucks to the cities- it s way better out here. we have hay for one thing. excluding her from what has become known as urban music would be as bad as excluding lenny kravitz or hendrix from rock music for being black surely i dont understand the point that ty is making. if lemar who makes music which is less soulful than joss work won he might have said nothing. (btw i m black too) how can she be urban if she spent most of her life in the devon countryside nonsense. i love joss to bits and don t care what her branding is - it s amazing music full stop. stop puting it all in brackets and let s just call it music and let s especially drop the black / urban tag - nearly all music came from black origin this just sets an example that it is ok to pigeonhole people and their music by their colour. surely the point of having an urban music category is simply to acknowledge artists that are making what is (historically) considered urban music irrelevent of the colour of their skin or where they originate from. joss stone is simply singing a certain type of music that can be considered urban in style just as someone from an inner city and indeed not from the usa could sing country music. if that person was good at it and authentic in sound would we criticise it being referred to as country music or the artist for representing that style the term urban in reference to a music genre in uk has developed in part from the controversy surrounding the branding of the mobo awards. the very term music of black origin has confused and offended many people. this is particularly strange given the existence of the asian music awards. it appears that the use of black or white in relation to music makes people feel uncomfortable. the term urban therefore has been invoked to sidestep the debate of which type of music came first black or white thereby rendering the issue colourblind. the result is now a redundant new debate as to what urban also means. perhaps we should have created a new term altogether to describe the various strains of soul/rnb and hip-hop one which does not also mean something else - as we have done with crunk . urban is just a word that s come about recently to describe black music that s become popular now. the word wasn t even in use or common use five of six years ago. it s just a way of the industry clumping it all together without having to call it black music because some people are oversensitive and might call them racist for it. i m in a band that has been called urban and i despise the label. i d hate to think i belonged to any neat marketing niche because that s all it is. ever since the music channels and record comapnies tried to fracture what they consider music of black origin these labels have been used to undermine the status of good music into a commodity. look at all the tv broadcasters unable to reach young people without condesending they simply play some urban music on the soundtrack as if its some dreadful cheap lift music. ignore the labels it is what it is just music. as a black man i think i agree with some of the statements at least the statements made by the key executives. black people should lead the music they invented . we should stop calling a genre meaningless northing is meaningless. the real question is would joss stone would have been that successful doing the music she was doing if she were black same thing with streets amy winehouse etc. who s ever heard of terri walker or rhian benson.. they are both 10 times better than joss stone and both of them have won urban music awards and i think mobos but why not brits so what if joss stone won the urban awards. her music is great soul and surely that is under the urban banner what if the streets had won would people be whining because mike skinner is white... it seems that a lot of the fuss is about race where the real issue should be music and nothing else. urban is pc version for saying black music. i m not doubting ms stone s talent but why didn t jamelia or lemar get a brit this reminds me of what happened to craig david and soul ii soul in the past getting nominations are easy to get but picking up a brit seems to be the hardest thing. refreshing to see people making reasonable intelligent comments on any topic these days. more power to you people! you have said it: there is music you like and music you don t like - who cares what label you put on it that entire category was a mess. how can you have people like dizzee rascal up against joss stone its like putting eminem against bob geldof. she should have been nominated for best british r & b act. joss stone deserved to win an award for her talents but i don t think it was very urban of her to sing angels with robbie williams. urban is a nonsense term - music of black origin well doesn t that include rock music made in the inner cities well almost all bands end up making music in london/manchester etc. and doesn t that make some weird implication that all black people live in cities it doesn t make any sense. why does music have to be put into a genre it s music you like it or you don t. simple as that. i play in a heavy metal band. we are urban music as far as i m concerned. we live in cities and spend our working life in an urban environment; it therefore directly shapes what we write musically. urban seems to be the new name for all styles of black music. why it needed a rebrand i don t know as the name is misleading. oasis originate from a city and characterise the urban life they know therefore more than fit the term urban yet as they re a white rock band they won t be described as such. joss stone has a fantastic voice and great timing and delivery - what other reason do they need to award her the brit all this urban and other such categorisation is just the red-tape of the music business and is best ignored. yeah she deserved it. she is talented. urban is a crap meaningless politically correct and probably actually racist marketing term though. there s only two kinds of music: good and bad.

umbro profits lifted by euro 2004 uk sportswear firm umbro has posted a 222% rise in annual profit after sales of replica england football kits were boosted by the euro 2004 tournament. pre-tax profit for 2004 was £15.4m ($29.4m). umbro which recently lost sponsorship deals with chelsea and celtic said on thursday it had signed a new four-year agreement with scottish club rangers. it hopes 2005 sales will benefit from the launch of a new england replica shirt ahead of the 2006 world cup. in january umbro announced its sponsorship agreement with chelsea which gave umbro the lucrative right to make replica shirts would end in 2006 five years earlier than expected. the firm which is to receive a payment from chelsea of £24.5m said it is appraising a number of additional investment opportunities as a result of this compensation . chief executive peter mcguigan said the firm plans to grow sales both in the uk and internationally. the firm reporting its first annual results since listing on the london stock exchange in june said the uk market had seen sales growth of 8% last year. it said the launch of its evolution x fashion range had boosted sales. umbro supplies more than 150 teams across the world including the national sides of ireland sweden and norway. shares in umbro were up 1.76% at 115.5 pence in morning trade.

green fear for transport ballot the green party is concerned thousands of residents may not be able to vote in edinburgh s transport referendum. edinburgh city council is to ballot constituents on proposals to introduce congestion charging in the capital. but green msp mark ballard fears people not on the council s edited electoral register may miss out. local authorities can only send ballot papers to those on the edited list over non-statutory matters such as the transport referendum. therefore residents who have exercised their right to have their details left off the list could miss the chance to vote. however there is still time for those who are not on the list to contact the council and make sure they are sent ballot forms ahead of february s voting deadline. mr ballard said: this vote will set the future of transport in edinburgh for decades to come. it is therefore vital that as many residents as possible in edinburgh city and the surrounding areas are registered to vote in the ballot. many people are not aware that they may miss out on their chance to have a say. everyone involved in this debate - both for and against - wants the ballot to be as fair and representative as possible and that means encouraging people to take part. the ballot will ask residents to vote for or against the council s proposed congestion charge scheme and a host of transport improvements to be funded by it. the outcome of the referendum will be known next month after the ballot forms are sent out and returned to the council. towards the end of february the council will meet to decide whether to proceed with an application to scottish ministers for approval for its planned congestion charging scheme and the other parts of its transport package.

quiksilver moves for rossignol shares of skis rossignol the world s largest ski-maker have jumped as much as 15% on speculation that it will be bought by us surfwear firm quiksilver. the owners of rossignol the boix-vives family are said to be considering an offer from quiksilver. analysts believe other sporting goods companies may now take a closer look at rossignol prompting an auction and pushing the sale price higher. nike and k2 have previously been mentioned as possible suitors. rossignol shares touched 17.70 euros before falling back to trade 7.8% higher at 16.60 euros. european sporting goods companies have seen foreign revenues squeezed by a slump in the value of the us dollar making a takeover more attractive analysts said. companies such as quiksilver would be able to cut costs by selling rossignol skis through their shops they added. the boix-vives family is thought to have spent the past couple of years sounding out possible suitors for rossignol which also makes golf equipment snowboards and sports clothing.

isinbayeva claims new world best pole vaulter yelena isinbayeva broke her own indoor world record by clearing 4.89 metres in lievin on saturday. it was the russian s 12th world record of her career and came just a few days after she cleared 4.88m at the norwich union grand prix in birmingham. the olympic champion went on to attempt 5.05m at the meeting on france but failed to clear that height. in the men s 60m former olympic 100m champion maurice greene could only finish second to leonard scott. it was greene s second consecutive defeat at the hands of his fellow american who also won in birmingham last week. i ran my race perfectly said scott who won in 6.46secs his best time indoors. i am happy even if i know that maurice is a long way from being at his peak at the start of the season.

electrolux to export europe jobs electrolux saw its shares rise 14% on tuesday after it said it would be shifting more of its manufacturing to low-cost countries. the swedish firm the world s largest maker of home appliances said it is to relocate about 10 of its 27 plants in western europe and north america. it did not say which facilities would be affected but intends moving them to asia eastern europe and mexico. the company has two manufacturing sites in county durham. it makes lawn and garden products in newton aycliffe and cookers and ovens in spennymoor. the newton aycliffe plant could also be affected by electrolux s separate announcement that it is to spin-off its outdoor products unit into a new separate company. electrolux s subsidiary brands include aeg zanussi and frigidaire. the company said it was speeding up its restructuring programme which aims to save between £190m and £265m annually from 2009. we see that about half the plants in high-cost countries - that is around 10 - are at risk said electrolux chief executive hans straberg. it looks pretty grim said swedish trades union official ulf carlsson. what are we going to end up producing in sweden

director nair s vanity project indian film director mira nair has said she was thrilled to be given the chance to make william makepeace thackeray s novel vanity fair - as the book has been a favourite through her life. the book is one of the classics of english literature - the story of scheming 19th century social climber becky sharp played in the film by reese witherspoon. nair said that she jumped at the chance to work on the film which she has - controversially - made in a bollywood style including two song-and-dance routines in the film s second half. it was serendipity really - i was offered vanity fair by the studio focus features who had distributed monsoon wedding nair told bbc world service s masterpiece programme. they offered me their next-best thing not realising that vanity fair had actually been one of my favourite novels since i was 16 years old in an irish catholic boarding school in india. since her 1988 debut feature salaam bombay! - nominated for the best foreign language oscar and winner of best first feature at cannes - nair has become one of india s most famous and respected directors. she is not restricted to bollywood however - she followed salaam bombay! with mississippi masala starring denzel washington and the perez family her first hollywood film. her career peaked with monsoon wedding in 2001 which won the golden lion award at venice. nair s indian-style adaptation of vanity fair however has been attacked by critics in the us - where it only reached number eight at the box office in its opening week - who described the bollywood elements as jarring. the film has a new ending with becky sharp running off for a new life in india. but nair said that her film had picked up on the way thackeray - who was born in india but moved to england as a young man - had seen the world. first when i was 16 it was becky sharp who is a completely memorable character because i recognised myself in her - i recognised all the ladies who did not want to be ladies who wanted to buck the system that they were in she said. but it was the sort of novel i somehow kept at the side of my bed for many years and i would dip into every now and then and suddenly get completely mesmerised again. as i got older and read it i think it was thackeray s clarity - his clear-sightedness about his own society the fact that he was born in india but came to england as a young man - that gave him the eyes of an outsider and yet he was an insider. that perspective was something i really loved. nair also defended her decision to cast an american actress - reese witherspoon - as becky sharp despite the fact that all the rest of the cast are british or irish. i cast intuitively - in my films i cast as many non-actors as i cast actors she said. for me it is intuition - i have to fall in love with an actor. it is a visceral response. thackeray describes becky sharp as a minx. also she s described as someone who s tiny red-headed and thin. reese had that completely minx-like irresistibility about her. having won the role because she seemed physically perfectly suited to the part however witherspoon then became pregnant. but nair said that though this had created the need for some filming tricks it had in fact also helped the film. it was a self-fulfilling prophesy - when i first met her husband [actor ryan philippe] i said knock her up won t you i need some flesh on the girl she joked. i m not a fan of the underfed los angeles actor at all. this was for me about becky sharp being eventually a full-blown woman through the course of the film. i love the luminosity that pregnancy brings i love the fleshiness i love the ample bosom - it gave me much more to play with. nair explained how camera tricks had been used to disguise witherspoon s bump in various scenes - including hiring a number of young boys in costumes to stand in front of her. she runs she gets off coal carts she jumps off horses - she does everything nair said. but there s also a certain carriage with horses that is going to wipe the screen at a certain moment because of the bump.

clarke to press on with id cards new home secretary charles clarke has vowed to plough on with plans for id cards despite a call for him to pause for thought from charles kennedy. the lib dem leader said david blunkett s resignation was a good opportunity to question whether the legislation was necessary. but mr clarke said he had supported the plans when mr blunkett argued for them in cabinet and he supported them now. id cards are a means to creating a more secure society he said. mr clarke acknowledged how the measure was introduced remained a matter for debate but he said legislation had already been significantly influenced by the recommendations of the commons home affairs committee. the issue would be debated in parliament next monday as scheduled he insisted. earlier mr kennedy whose party opposes the id cards plan as deeply flawed said with christmas coming up the new home secretary had time to think again. he told bbc radio 4 s today programme that mr clarke had been reported to be less enthusiastic about id cards than his predecessors. wouldn t this be a good opportunity for a new home secretary a new broom to sweep clean in this respect and why do we need this legislation in the first place he asked. earlier this week the tories announced they would back the government s plans although michael howard was forced to deny the shadow cabinet was split over its decision. they had decided to support the plans as the police said they would help fight terror crime and illegal immigration. among those reported to have serious reservations over the strategy were senior shadow cabinet members david davis oliver letwin and tim yeo. the chairman of the bar council guy mansfield qc has warned there is a real risk that people on the margins of society would be driven into the hands of extremists. what is going to happen to young asian men when there has been a bomb gone off somewhere they are going to be stopped. if they haven t [id cards] they are going to be detained. the home office says people will pay £85 for a passport and id card together or a undecided fee for a separate id card. the first cards would be issued in 2008 and when he was introducing the bill mr blunkett suggested parliament could decide in 2011 or 2012 whether to make it compulsory for everybody to own the cards although not to carry them. the new bill will also create new criminal offences on the possession of false identity documents. and there will be civil penalties including a fine of up to £1 000 fine for people who fail to say they have moved house or changed other details and of up to £2 500 for failing to sign up if the cards become compulsory. the scheme will be overseen by a new independent watchdog.

gb quartet get cross country call four british athletes have been pre-selected to compete at the world cross country championships in march after impressive starts to the season. hayley yelling jo pavey karl keska and adam hickey will represent team gb at the event in france. yelling clinched the women s european cross country title last month and pavey followed up with bronze. keska helped the men s team to overall third place while hickey finished in 10th place on his junior debut. winning the european cross country title meant so much to me said yelling. and being pre-selected for the worlds means that i can focus on preparing in the best way possible. the 32-year-old will race alongside olympic 5 000m finalist pavey in the women s 8km race on 19 march. keska who has made a successful return from a long-term injury lay-off contests the men s 12km race on 20 march while 16-year-old hickey goes in the junior men s 8km on the same day. the rest of the team will be named after the trials at wollaton park in nottingham which take place on 5 march.

moody joins up with england lewis moody has flown to dublin to join england s camp ahead of their rbs six nations game against ireland on sunday. despite joining the squad the leicester flanker only has a slim chance of playing because of an infection in his finger. a decision will be taken on saturday as to whether the 26-year-old will be declared fit. if he fails to recover in time for the game his place at the back of the pack will be taken by andy hazell. chris jones will then start the game on the bench. the chances of him playing are very slim said coach andy robinson. the infection is deeper than was thought. moody had to be put on a drip in an attempt to force antibiotics through his infected finger. he suffered the cut playing against france at twickenham and it became infected during a 10-minute outing as a replacement for leicester against newcastle last saturday. the mud got into it robinson added. he has had a big course of antibiotics but they haven t done the job we hoped they would. robinson has already been forced to make one change to the starting line-up with bath prop matt stevens coming in for the injured phil vickery. the 22-year-old has only made 10 starts for his club but has made 49 appearances from the bench. it can be frustrating but i ve had a lot more game time this season and i m ready for it stevens said. i ve been on tour with these boys and i ve been in the england set-up for two years so i know the calls and the way they play. stevens will be winning his third cap on sunday after coming on twice as a replacement on the tour to new zealand last year. robinson has confirmed that fly-half charlie hodgson will be the first-choice kicker despite his three missed penalties and a drop goal against france. charlie s state of mind is very good said robinson. obviously we are all disappointed we lost the french game and the circumstances in which we did. but he responded well last week in his goalkicking for sale and he will be our first-choice kicker this week. robinson also admits his side must improve their line-out work against irish duo malcolm o kelly and paul o connell one of the most effective partnerships in the game. in each game we ve missed a number of line-outs he added. it cost us the game against wales but it has improved. it was better against france and will have to go up another notch against ireland. it will be a huge battle. look at the way they tore us apart last year. if it doesn t function we will be in for a torrid time.

my memories of marley... to mark the 60th anniversary of the birth of reggae star bob marley rob partridge - marley s former head of press at island records - remembers the man behind the legend. partridge worked with marley from 1977 until the jamaican musician s death in 1981. : i joined island records in 1977 and the first week i was there i worked on his show at the rainbow theatre. it was one of the last dates he did in london. : the album exodus came out in 1977 and that provided five hits and confirmed his global superstar status. by 1979 he was the biggest touring attraction in the world. i remember going to see dates in milan and turin and they were enormous concerts. : bob was one of the most mesmeric people i ve ever had the privilege to work with. he must have had an iron will to succeed. bob was a very driven individual. you realised from the start there was a manifest destiny within him that he believed in. he didn t suffer fools gladly. at the risk of stating the obvious he was an extraordinary song writer and his stage act was perhaps the greatest i ve ever seen. i saw him many times. : i recall in 1978 he came to the uk for top of the pops and a daily mirror journalist did a half-hour interview. it was interrupted to do a rehearsal. he came back into the dressing room to resume the interview but saw a world cup match on tv. he sat down in front of the tv and after 10 minutes it was obvious he wasn t going to move. that was the end of it. the mirror had a very truncated interview. the last time i saw him was in london in 1980. i arranged for him to play four days of football indoors in fulham. bob was a good player. we are talking about jamaican-style football. he was an attacking midfield player. his team assembled wherever his gigs were. we played in brazil against some world cup-winning players. : it was always a struggle for him to connect with black america. reggae did not correspond with disco in the 70s. but bob in the 1990s became one of the great icons in america and the third world. in 1991 ten years after his death he sold more records than at any time during his life. we saw black america taking bob into their hearts for the first time. : bob in worldwide terms is the greatest music star there has ever been. if you went to africa he would be recognised everywhere in places john lennon or elvis wouldn t be. no disrespect to the other artists but a case can be made for him as the greatest the best and the most influential artist in popular music. : well 1981 was to be the year he toured africa with stevie wonder. he had only performed in zimbabwe and guinea before. of course the 1981 tour never happened but the whole of africa would have embraced him. we can t speculate but he was at the height of his powers and just 36 years old. i had no sense his career was going to go downhill. : bob was endlessly optimistic about the way africa would turn out. he realised that nothing was perfect but he had total belief in the power of mankind. i m sure if he were alive today he would believe africa would firstly become politically free and secondly be able to defeat the aids epidemic. : the final tune of his final album was redemption song - one of the most incredible classics of all time.

controversial film tops festival a controversial film starring hollywood actor kevin bacon as a convicted paedophile won top honours at the london film festival on thursday. the woodsman won the satyajit ray award named after the indian director. the low-budget film directed by nicole kassell is about a convicted child molester trying to rebuild his life after 12 years in jail. judges said the film tackled the contentious subject with great insight and sensitivity . previous films to take the prize include the oscar-winning boys don t cry which was about the true life story of murdered transsexual brandon teena. british writer-director amma asante won the uk film talent award this year for her debut feature a way of life. set in south wales the film is about a teenage single mother who becomes embroiled in a tense stand-off with a turkish neighbour. also on thursday night the fipresci international critics awards went to aaltra a belgian film about the handicapped; and the sutherland trophy which was won by jonathan caouette for his film tarnation. the festival closed with a screening of the film i heart huckabees starring jude law and dustin hoffman and directed by three kings film-maker david o russell. the festival this year also included the first european screening of the new pixar animation the incredibles and the british film bullet boy starring so solid crew rapper asher d.

strachan turns down pompey former southampton manager gordon strachan has rejected the chance to become portsmouth s new boss. the scot was pompey chairman milan mandaric s first choice to replace harry redknapp who left fratton park for rivals saints earlier in december. i think it s a fantastic job for anybody apart from somebody who has just been the southampton manager strachan told the bbc. club director terry brady held initial talks with strachan on saturday. the former scotland international added that joining southampton s local rivals would not be a wise move. it s got everything going for it but i ve got too many memories of the other side and i don t want to sour those memories he said. everything s right - it s 10 minutes away there are good players there a good set-up a good atmosphere at the ground. there s lots to do but it s not right for somebody who has just been the southampton manager. since redknapp s departure executive director velimir zajec and coach joe jordan have overseen first-team affairs. the duo had gone five matches unbeaten until sunday s 1-0 defeat at home to champions arsenal but the club are still in a respectable 12th place in the premiership table. strachan left st mary s in february after earlier announcing his intention to take a break from the game at the end of the 2003-04 season. his previous managerial experience came at coventry whom he led for five years from 1996 to 2001.