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kelly trails new discipline power teachers could get more powers to remove unruly pupils from classes under a zero tolerance drive education secretary ruth kelly has suggested. ms kelly told the bbc progress had been made against severely disruptive children but parents were still worried about lower level problems. the minister also confirmed she received spiritual support from the catholic movement opus dei. but she denied her faith meant she would refuse key government jobs. the conservatives have made school discipline one of their five priority areas in the run-up to the next general election. ms kelly is expected to announce her plans on the issue in the next fortnight. she told bbc one s breakfast with frost: it is really important to support head teachers and teachers in tackling disruption in the classroom. we have made huge progress on the really difficult cases the pupils who have severely disruptive behaviour. but quite rightly what teachers are concerned about and what parents are concerned about is that this lower level disruption that goes on in the classroom now is tackled. i would like to see the teacher being able to remove disruptive children from the classroom completely and have either alternative provision within the school or indeed off the school and may be working together with other schools in a particular area to provide that provision. it is thought the plans may distinguish between excluding pupils from schools and taking them out of mainstream classes. head teachers can currently exclude pupils who commit or threaten violence in school who sexually abuse pupils or other people who sell illegal drugs or who have persistent and malicious disruptive behaviour. ms kelly entered the cabinet last month in the reshuffle forced by the resignation of the then home secretary david blunkett. her links to opus dei which means work of god in latin have provoked controversy. critics say the organisation which adheres strictly to catholic teachings is secretive and elitist but its members reject such claims. asked if she was a member of the group ms kelly said: i do have spiritual support from opus dei and that is right. but those are private spiritual matters and i m sure you ll respect that politicians are entitled to a private life. she categorically denied reports that her beliefs on issues such as contraception would make her refuse to serve as a health or international development minister. her collective responsibility as a cabinet minister meant she also took responsibility for policies in those areas she argued. the government has yet to issue its official response to the tomlinson review which recommended absorbing existing exam qualifications into a diploma. ms kelly said reforms should build on gcses and a-levels. her comments did not impress tory shadow education secretary tim collins. ruth kelly wants to ditch the tomlinson report on exam structures but has absolutely no idea what to put in its place he said. she also talks of improving discipline but cannot make her mind up how. this is an all talk agenda that lets down children teachers and parents. | 4 | politics |
scrum-half williams rejoins bath bath have signed their former scrum-half andy williams on a short-term deal from the neath-swansea ospreys. wales international williams whose contract with the welsh region was due to expire in june has agreed a contract until the end of the season. with martyn wood s injury likely to keep him out until february bath need experienced back-up to nick walshe. said williams: when this opportunity presented itself i did not really have to think twice about it. williams capped by wales against romania in 2003 should figure in the match squad for monday s zurich premiership match at sale sharks. he lost his ospreys starting place to new zealander jason spice and has fallen further behind in the pecking order. the welsh region has two outstanding young no 9 prospects in richie rees and rhodri wells. bath director of rugby jack rowell though believes williams fits the bill perfectly. he has been playing regular heineken cup and celtic league rugby and he has a great affection for bath rowell told bath s official website. we are delighted to be able to welcome him back to the club. | 2 | sport |
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. | 1 | business |
oasis star fined for german brawl oasis singer liam gallagher has been fined 50 000 euros (£35 000) after a fight in a german hotel two years ago. gallagher was arrested along with drummer alan white and three other members of the band s entourage after the brawl in munich in december 2002. the band said they were victims of an unprovoked attack in a nightclub. but police said gallagher kicked an officer in the chest and had large amounts of alcohol and drugs - possibly cocaine - in his blood. gallagher lost two front teeth in the fight which led to the band abandoning their german tour. his brother and bandmate noel was in bed at the time. the process has stopped by paying 50 000 euros said anton winkler spokesman for the munich prosecutor. at the time police said a physical altercation broke out among the musicians at about 0200 local time. that led to one of the group being jostled and falling onto the table of five italian guests - causing the fight they said. the fight continued outside where one of the officers was kicked in the chest with full force by liam gallagher... and suffered minor injuries they said. | 3 | entertainment |
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. | 2 | sport |
labour s cunningham to stand down veteran labour mp and former cabinet minister jack cunningham has said he will stand down at the next election. one of the few blair-era ministers to serve under jim callaghan he was given the agriculture portfolio when labour regained power in 1997. mr cunningham went on to become tony blair s cabinet enforcer . he has represented the constituency now known as copeland since 1970. mr blair said he was a huge figure in labour and a valued personal friend . during labour s long period in opposition mr cunningham held a number of shadow roles including foreign affairs the environment and as trade spokesman. as agriculture minister he caused controversy when he decided to ban beef on the bone in the wake of fears over bse. he quit the government in 1999 and in recent years has served as the chairman of the all-party committee on lords reform and has been a loyal supporter of the government from the backbenches. | 4 | politics |
anelka eyes man city departure striker nicolas anelka reportedly wants to leave manchester city in search of champions league football. anelka 25 is in talks over a contract extension beyond 2007 with city but is believed to fear his career will go stale if he stays at the club. the news of the world reports that anelka told a french magazine: i either decide to win titles or to have an easy life. i think i will always choose football if a great club makes me an offer. he added: to win titles you need players who have the capability of doing so. if we stagnate between eighth and 15th place it s impossible to progress. if i am going to score goals and not win there is a risk it is going to create a feeling of being fed up. anelka has earned a reputation for being a difficult character to handle after spells at arsenal real madrid and paris st germain and he feels that is now coming back to haunt him. i am in talks to sign an extension to my contract he said. i am well here but the sporting aspect also comes into account. playing for eighth place is good but i miss the champions league. i won it with real madrid in 2000 and i need to be playing in it - and i should be playing in it. i m not in it because of things that have happened in the past and had nothing to do with football. but i don t blame anyone. it s a bit my fault. | 2 | sport |
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. | 2 | sport |
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. | 0 | tech |
us regulator to rule on pain drug us food and drug regulators will decide on friday whether to recommend the sale of painkillers that have been linked to a high risk of heart attack and stroke. the food and drug administration (fda) advisory panel will give its verdict after hearing evidence for three days. the painkillers - called cox-2 inhibitors - are sold under brand names such as celebrex and vioxx. vioxx was withdrawn from shops last year but merck said it would consider selling it if it gets fda approval. the fda has been asked to decide if the benefits to patients justify the increased risks. putting vioxx back on the shelves is likely to boost profits at merck and make easier any legal battles with people who claim to have been injured by the drug analysts said. merck voluntarily stopped sales of vioxx on 30 september a move which caused the firm s fourth-quarter earnings to slide to $1.1bn (£581m) from $1.4bn a year earlier. merck s shares tumbled more than 10% on the news and the company has had to set aside millions of dollars to cover the cost of vioxx-related litigation. alarm bells were rung by a research note called approve which showed that the risk of heart attack and stroke doubled in patients who had been taking the drug for at least 18 months. the cox-2 inhibitors were developed by drug companies including merck and pfizer because they cause users fewer stomach problems than other painkillers. pfizer is still selling its celebrex and bextra products though investigations have suggested that they may also be harmful to the heart. merck s announcement of a possible reintroduction of vioxx caught analysts by surprise. merck s head of research peter kim said that it withdrew vioxx based on the information that was available to us at the time knowing there were alternative therapies . he went on to say that things have since changed in the light of new reports. given this new information its is not clear that the cardiovascular risk observed in approve makes vioxx unique in the class of similar drugs marketed in the us mr kim explained. on thursday david graham from the fda s office of drug safety told the advisory panel that there really doesn t appear to be a need for cox-2 inhibitors. according to calculations presented to the us senate by dr graham in november vioxx may be linked to as many as to 56 000 american deaths. facing stem criticism for its handling of the vioxx case the fda said on tuesday that it will create an independent body to oversee the safety of drugs already in the market place. european regulators meanwhile ruled on thursday that patients who have had heart disease or a stroke should not take cox-2 inhibitors. the european medicines agency also said doctors should be cautious about giving the drugs to patients who have risk factors for heart disease. | 1 | business |
hodgson shoulders england blame fly-half charlie hodgson admitted his wayward kicking played a big part in england s 18-17 defeat to france. hodgson failed to convert three penalties and also missed a relatively easy drop goal attempt which would have given england a late win. i m very disappointed with the result and with my myself hodgson said. it is very hard to take but it s something i will have to get through and come back stronger. my training s been good but it just didn t happen. hodgson revealed that olly barkley had taken three penalties because they were out of my range but the centre could not convert his opportunities either particularly the drop goal late on. it wasn t a good strike he added. i felt as soon as it hit my boot it had missed. it s very disappointing but i must recover. andy robinson said he would keep working on the kicking with his squad. however the england coach added that he would take some positives from the defeat. we went out to play and played some very good rugby and what have france done he said. they won the game from kicking penalties from our 10m line. it s very frustrating. the lads showed a lot of ambition in the first half they went out to sustain it in the second but couldn t build on it. we took the ball into contact and you know when you do that it is a lottery whether the referee is going to give the penalty to your side or the other side. we have lost a game we should have won. there is a fine line between winning and losing and for the second week we ve been on the wrong side of that line and it hurts. england went in at half-time with a 17-6 lead but they failed to score in the second half and dimitri yachvili slotted over four penalties as france overhauled the deficit. england skipper jason robinson admitted his side failed to cope with france s improved second-half display. we controlled the game in the first half but we knew that they would come out and try everything after half-time he said. we made a lot of mistakes in the second half and they punished us. they took their chances when they came. it s very disappointing. last week we lost by two points now one point. | 2 | sport |
rangers seal old firm win goals from gregory vignal and nacho novo gave rangers a scrappy victory at celtic park that moves them three points clear of the champions. rangers had rarely threatened until celtic goalkeeper rab douglas let defender vignal s 25-yard drive slip through his grasp and into the net. opposite number ronald waterreus had been rangers hero saving superbly from craig bellamy and john hartson. striker novo secured victory lobbing douglas with eight minutes remaining. it ended celtic s 11-game unbeaten run at home in old firm derbies and gave rangers manager alex mcleish his first victory at the home of his glasgow rivals. celtic had won their last six meetings on their home pitch including twice already this season. they started confidently with new signing bellamy on loan from newcastle united given his celtic debut up front with wales international colleague john hartson and chris sutton dropping into midfield. it took bellamy just four minutes to threaten taking on marvin andrews before delivering a low drive that was held by waterreus at the second attempt. he had an even better chance after hartson dispossesed sotiris kyrgiakos and sent his strike partner clear with only the goalkeeper to beat. but waterreus did well to beat away bellamy s disappointing low drive from 16 yards. waterreus came to the rescue again when the ball fell to hartson just inside the box and the dutch goalkeeper made a brave block. it was an old firm return for barry ferguson as mcleish stuck by the side that thumped four goals past hibernian. but rangers found celtic harder to break down and douglas was not threatened until 10 minutes after the break. dado prso turned inside neil lennon only for the celtic goalkeeper to beat away his powerful 18-yard drive. a great defensive header by andrews prevented hartson pouncing from five yards out. hartson foxed vignal at the edge of the rangers box but the striker s shot on the turn was again beaten away by waterreus. rangers were beginning to dominate the midfield and vignal collecting a knock back from fernando ricksen broke the deadlock douglas somehow letting the frenchman s dipping drive slip through his grasp. novo pounced on a moments hesitation in the celtic defence to latch on to a long ball from ricksen and lob the ball over the advancing douglas. ricksen appeared to be hit by a coin but it could not prevent rangers celebrations at the final whistle. : douglas mcnamara balde varga laursen petrov lennon sutton thompson bellamy hartson. subs: marshall henchoz juninho paulista lambert maloney wallace mcgeady. : waterreus hutton kyrgiakos andrews ball buffel ferguson ricksen vignal prso novo. subs: mcgregor namouchi burke alex rae malcolm thompson lovenkrands. : m mccurry | 2 | sport |
mcilroy continues winning streak james mcilroy stormed to his second international victory in less than a week claiming the men s 800m at the teag indoor meeting in erfurt. the northern ireland runner set a new personal best of one minute 46.68 seconds - a time good enough to qualify for the european indoor championships. i m qualified now and that s what matters most said the 28-year-old. mcilroy is now hoping to gain a late entry into sunday s international indoor meeting in leipzig. the northern irishman is hoping manager ricky simms can swing it for him to compete after he initially withdrew after contracting a cold. after three successive wins over the past fortnight mcilroy is brimming with confidence. i ve been waiting over six years for this to happen and now i m certain my career has turned the corner. on friday mcilroy delivered an impressive run despite suffering from his bad cold. the aaa indoor and outdoor champion accelerated away from the field in the final 300m beating german wolfram mulle by 0.90 seconds. mcilroy set a world-leading mark for 1 000m at the sparkassen cup in stuttgart last weekend. and his time in erfurt makes him third fastest over 800m in the world this year. | 2 | sport |
house prices suffer festive fall uk house prices fell 0.7% in december according to figures from the office of the deputy prime minister. nationally house prices rose at an annual rate of 10.7% in december less than the 13.7% rise the previous month. the average uk house price fell from £180 126 in november to £178 906 reflecting recent land registry figures confirming a slowdown in late 2004. all major uk regions apart from northern ireland experienced a fall in annual growth during december. december is traditionally a quiet month for the housing market because of christmas celebrations. however recent figures from the land registry - showing a big drop in sales between the last quarter of 2004 and the previous year - suggested the slowdown could be more than a seasonal blip. the volume of sales between october and december dropped by nearly a quarter from the same period in 2003 the land registry said. although both the office of the deputy prime minister (odpm) and the land registry figures point to a slowdown in the market the most recent surveys from nationwide and halifax have indicated the market may be undergoing a revival. after registering falls at the back-end of 2004 halifax said house prices rose by 0.8% in january and nationwide reported a rise of 0.4% in the first month of the year. | 1 | business |
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. | 3 | entertainment |
mg rover china tie-up delayed mg rover s proposed tie-up with china s top carmaker has been delayed due to concerns by chinese regulators according to the financial times. the paper said chinese officials had been irritated by rover s disclosure of its talks with shanghai automotive industry corp in october. the proposed deal was seen as crucial to safeguarding the future of rover s longbridge plant in the west midlands. however there are growing fears that the deal could result in job losses. the observer reported on sunday that nearly half the workforce at longbridge could be under threat if the deal goes ahead. shanghai automotive s proposed £1bn investment in rover is awaiting approval by its owner the shanghai city government and by the national development and reform commission which oversees foreign investment by chinese firms. according to the ft the regulator has been annoyed by rover s decision to talk publicly about the deal and the intense speculation which has ensued about what it will mean for rover s future. as a result hopes that approval of the deal may be fast-tracked have disappeared the paper said. there has been continued speculation about the viability of rover s longbridge plant because of falling sales and unfashionable models. according to the observer 3 000 jobs - out of a total workforce of 6 500 - could be lost if the deal goes ahead. the paper said that chinese officials believe cutbacks will be required to keep the mg rover s costs in line with revenues. it also said that the production of new models through the joint venture would take at least eighteen months. neither rover nor shanghai automotive commented on the reports. | 1 | business |
us to probe airline travel chaos the us government is to investigate two airlines- us airways and delta air lines comair subsidiary - after travel chaos over the christmas weekend. staff calling in sick at us airways and computer failures at comair left 30 000 passengers stranded and 10 000 pieces of baggage undelivered. us airways is in chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years and battling to cut costs. it is currently trying to negotiate pay cuts with flight and baggage staff. transportation secretary norman mineta said he was deeply concerned at the disruption to passengers and ordered a thorough investigation. comair s computer breakdown plunged its flight-crew scheduling system into disarray. altogether some 1 100 flights were cancelled over the holiday long weekend. mr mineta said it was important to understand what happened why it happened and whether the carriers properly planned for the holiday travel period and responded appropriately to consumer needs in the aftermath . adding to the atmosphere of chaos were mountains of luggage left to pile up when a third of us airways baggage handling staff called in sick. there was also a shortage of us airways flight attendants with nearly a fifth saying they were too sick to work leading to many flight cancellations. however union officials denied there had been a deliberate sickout . they said that many people have flu at this time of year and that the airline is chronically understaffed. us airways ended up cancelling over 100 flights on christmas day stranding passengers in as many as 119 airports. ground crews at us airways the seventh-largest us airline which is now in chapter 11 bankruptcy protection face a court-imposed pay cut next month. the airline needs to negotiate other paycuts if it is to find a route out of bankruptcy. it is looking for paycuts totalling $800m. us airways has a full-scale employee mutiny on its hands commented michael boyd an industry consultant. disruptions to flight schedules could discourage customers from flying with us airways reducing revenues. us airways had to cancel approximately 65 flights on thursday 180 on friday 140 on saturday 43 on sunday and 15 on monday said industry officials. the airline said it was embarrassed by the situation and deeply regrets any inconvenience caused to customers the probe will focus on the industry s compliance with a 1999 agreement aimed at improving the quality of passenger service that has so far allowed airlines to avoid congressionally-mandated standards. analysts said the christmas chaos cast doubt on us airway s ability to emerge from bankruptcy - and was likely to worsen the finances of troubled delta parent of comair. comair deeply regrets the inconvenience to all of our customers caused by the severe winter storm in the ohio river valley during the busy holiday season exacerbated by problems with the airline s crew scheduling system causing additional flight delays and cancellations the delta subsidiary said in a statement. | 1 | business |
ireland call up uncapped campbell ulster scrum-half kieran campbell is one of five uncapped players included in ireland s rbs six nations squad. campbell is joined by ulster colleagues roger wilson and ronan mccormack along with connacht s bernard jackman and munster s shaun payne. gordon d arcy is back after injury while munster flanker alan quinlan also returns to international consideration. the squad is selected purely on form. a lot of players put their hands up coach eddie o sullivan told bbc sport. kieran campbell was just one of those players. he has been playing very well in the heineken cup and deserves his call-up. there is big competition in some departments and not so much in others. there were one or two players who were unfortunate just to miss out. back-row forwards david wallace and victor costello are omitted with o sullivan having quinlan wilson simon easterby anthony foley denis leamy and johnny o connor vying for the three positions. with david humphreys kevin maggs simon best and tommy bowe again included it is ulster s biggest representation in a training panel for quite some time. munster and leinster have 12 and 11 players in the squad respectively while jackman is the sole connacht representative. four british-based players are also included. ulster forward ronan mccormack said he was totally shocked to be included. i m really looking forward to it said mccormack. i played with guys like brian o driscoll and denis hickie back in my school days in leinster so i do know a few of them although not that well. it will be great to work with them. s best (ulster) s byrne (leinster) r corrigan (leinster) l cullen (leinster) s easterby (llanelli) a foley (munster) j hayes (munster) m horan (munster) b jackman (connacht) d leamy (munster) e miller (leinster) r mccormack (ulster) d o callaghan (munster) p o connell (munster) j o connor (wasps) m o kelly (leinster) f sheahan (munster) r wilson (ulster) a quinlan (munster). t bowe (ulster) k campbell (ulster) g d arcy (ulster) g dempsey (leinster) g duffy (harlequins) g easterby (leinster) d hickie (leinster) a horgan (munster) s horgan (leinster) d humphreys (ulster) k maggs (ulster) g murphy (leicester) b o driscoll (leinster) r o gara (munster) s payne (munster) p stringer (munster). k gleeson (leinster) t howe (ulster) j kelly (munster) n mcmillan (ulster). | 2 | sport |
global release for japan hit film oscar-winning animator hayao miyazaki s latest film howl s moving castle is to be released in 50 countries around the world its distributor has said. howl s moving castle set a japanese box office record last week taking 1.5bn yen (£7.7m) in its first two days. miyazaki won an oscar earlier this year for spirited away japan s first academy award for nearly 50 years. howl s moving castle is based on a children s fantasy novel by uk author diana wynne jones. it tells the story of an 18-year-old woman who ages dramatically after falling under a witch s spell. she heads to a moving castle kept by howl a wizard and searches for a way to become normal again. a spokesman for distributor toho said the film has received strong interest from domestic audiences and foreign media and viewers alike . we have a good feeling about this film. we saw very good viewer response he added. the film s worldwide release will start in south korea on 24 december and france on 12 january. | 3 | entertainment |
call to overhaul uk state pension the uk pension system has been branded inadequate and too complex by a leading retirement think-tank. the pensions policy institute (ppi) said replacing the state pension with a citizen s pension would help tackle inequality and complexity. the change would see pensions being calculated on length of residency in the uk rather than national insurance (ni) contributions. reform could reduce poverty by aiding people with broken employment records. the ppi added that once the state system was reformed the government should look at options to overhaul private and workplace pensions. the think tank s proposals were made in response to the recent publication of the pensions commission s initial report into uk retirement savings. according to the pensions commission s report 12 million working people are not saving enough for their retirement. as a result living standards could fall for the next generation of uk pensioners. the report added that a combination of higher taxes higher savings and/or a higher average retirement age was needed to solve the uk pension crisis. | 1 | business |
talks held on gibraltar s future two days of talks on the future of gibraltar begin at jack straw s country residence later on wednesday. officials at the two-day summit at the foreign secretary s official kent house chevening will plan a new forum on the rock s future. in october mr straw and his spanish counterpart miguel moratinos agreed to establish a body that would give gibraltarians a voice in their future. most gibraltarians said in a referendum they wanted to remain british. gibraltar s chief minister peter caruana will represent the british citizens living on the rock while britain s europe director dominick chilcott will represent the uk. madrid is being represented by spain s director general for europe jose maria pons. the initiative follows spain s socialist government s decision to put its long-standing sovereignty ambitions on hold. gibraltarians rejected plans for the rock s sovereignty to be shared between britain and spain in a referendum organised by gibraltar government. | 4 | politics |
fry set for role in hitchhiker s actor stephen fry is joining the cast of the forthcoming film adaptation of the hitchhiker s guide to the galaxy. fry will provide the voice of the guide an electronic book which accompanies the story s hero arthur dent on his travels around the galaxy. martin freeman john malkovich bill nighy and alan rickman are co-starring in the film due for release in may. the late douglas adams original 1977 scripts have also been turned into a series of successful books. being asked to do the voice of the guide is like having your birthday on christmas day discovering a winning lottery ticket in your stocking and having chocolate poured all over you said fry a self-confessed fan of the book. the film s executive producer robbie stamp said that adams who died in 2001 would have been delighted with the choice of fry for the role. his humour and intelligence are perfect for the voice of the guide added mr stamp. adams wrote the screenplay based on his book before his premature death while a new radio series was aired 26 years after the first broadcast and included many of the original cast members. hollywood star malkovich will play religious cult leader humma kavula which was especially created by adams for the new film. freeman who starred in hit bbc comedy the office will play the role of arthur dent who begins his intergalactic voyage following the destruction of the earth. | 3 | entertainment |
bosvelt optimistic over new deal manchester city s paul bosvelt will find out within a month whether he is to be offered a new one-year deal. the 34-year-old dutch midfielder is out of contract in the summer and although his age may count against him he feels he can play on for another season. i told the club i would like to stay for one more year. they promised me an answer within the next month so i am waiting to see he said. the main concern is my age but i think i have proved i am fit enough. bosvelt joined city from feyenoord in 2003 and at first he struggled to adapt to life in england. but his professionalism and dedication impressed manager kevin keegan. he realised the pace of the game was faster than anything he was used to but he drove himself back into the team. he is an unsung hero said keegan. | 2 | sport |
hansen delays return until 2006 british triple jumper ashia hansen has ruled out a comeback this year after a setback in her recovery from a bad knee injury according to reports. hansen the commonwealth and european champion has been sidelined since the european cup in poland in june 2004. it was hoped she would be able to return this summer but the wound from the injury has been very slow to heal. her coach aston moore told the times: we re not looking at any sooner than 2006 not as a triple jumper. moore said hansen may be able to return to sprinting and long jumping sooner but there is no short-term prospect of her being involved again in her specialist event. there was a problem with the wound healing and it set back her rehabilitation by about two months but that has been solved and we can push ahead now he said. the aim is for her to get fit as an athlete - then we will start looking at sprinting and the long jump as an introduction back to the competitive arena. moore said he is confident hansen can make it back to top-level competition though it is unclear if that will be in time for the commonwealth games in melbourne next march when she will be 34. it s been a frustrating time for her but it has not fazed her determination he added. | 2 | sport |
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. | 1 | business |
huge rush for jet airways shares indian airline jet airways initial public offering was oversubscribed 16.2 times bankers said on friday. over 85% of the bids were at the higher end of the price range of 1 050-1 125 rupees ($24-$26). jet airways a low-fare airline was founded by london-based ex-travel agent naresh goya and controls 45% of the indian domestic airline market. it sold 20% of its equity or 17.2 million shares in a bid to raise up to $443m (£230.8m). the price at which its shares will begin trading will be agreed over the weekend bankers said. the demand for the ipo was impressive. we believe that over the next two years the domestic aviation sector promises strong growth even though fuel prices could be high said hiten mehta manager of merchant banking firm fortune financial services. india began to open up its domestic airline market - previously dominated by state-run carrier indian airlines - in the 1990s. jet began flying in 1993 and now has competitors including air deccan and air sahara. budget carriers kingfisher airlines and spicejet are planning to launch operations in may this year. jet has 42 aircraft and runs 271 scheduled flights daily within india. it recently won government permission to fly to london singapore and kuala lumpur. | 1 | business |
cuba winds back economic clock fidel castro s decision to ban all cash transactions in us dollars in cuba has once more turned the spotlight on cuba s ailing economy. all conversions between the us dollar and cuba s convertible peso will from 8 november be subject to a 10% tax. cuban citizens who receive money from overseas and foreign visitors who change dollars in cuba will be affected. critics of the measure argue that it is a step backwards reflecting the cuban president s desire to increase his control of the economy and to clamp down on private enterprise. in a live television broadcast announcing the measure president castro s chief aide said it was necessary because of the united states increasing economic aggression . the ten percent obligation applies exclusively to the dollar by virtue of the situation created by the new measures of the us government to suffocate our country he said. the bush administration has taken an increasingly harsh line on cuba in recent months. president bush s government which has been a strong supporter of the 40-year-old trade embargo on cuba introduced even tighter restrictions on cuba in may. cubans living in the us are now limited to one visit to cuba every three years and they can only send money to their immediate relatives. a leading expert on the cuban economy says that castro s tax plan smacks more of a desperate economic measure than a political gesture. i think it is primarily an effort to raise some cash says jose barrionuevo head of strategy for latin american emerging markets for barclays capital. it underscores the fact that the economy is in very bad shape and the government is looking for sources of revenue. the tax will hit the families of cuban exiles hardest as they benefit from the money their displaced relatives send home. this money known as remittances can amount to as much as $1bn a year. those remaining in cuba will have to pay the tax. their relatives abroad may choose to send money in other currencies which are not subject to the tax such as euros or increase their dollar payments to compensate. however many of cuban s poorest citizens could be worse off as a result. the tax will also affect the two million tourists who visit cuba every year particularly those americans who continue to defy a ban on travel there. cuba s tourist industry has been one of its few economic success stories over the last ten years and according to the un economic commission for latin america is now worth $3bn to the country. the tax is designed to provide much-needed revenue for cuba s cash-strapped economy. cuba badly needs dollars to pay for essential items such as food fuel and medicine. much of cuba s basic infrastructure is in a state of disrepair. in recent weeks cuba has suffered its most serious power cuts in a decade and there have also been water shortages in parts of the island. cuba s economy had staged a modest recovery during the mid 1990s as the collapse of the soviet union forced it to embrace foreign capital decentralise trade and permit limited private enterprise. however a decline in foreign tourism since 2002 periodic hurricanes and the increasing costs of importing oil have put a strain on the economy. it has however yet to be seen if the tax will provide a solution to the government s economic problems. the tax could fuel an active black market in currency trading mr barrionuevo said. the main impact could be that it will create a black market which you typically see in countries like venezuela which have restrictions on capital he says. mr barrioneuvo says the measure could be dropped if it has a damaging effect on economic activity. it is intended to be a permanent measure but i am not sure it can last too long. | 1 | business |
wal-mart to pay $14m in gun suit the world s largest retailer wal-mart has agreed to pay a total of $14.5m (£7.74m) to settle a lawsuit over gun sales violations in california. the lawsuit alleged wal-mart committed thousands of gun sales violations in california between 2000 and 2003. the total payment includes $5m in fines and more than $4m to fund state compliance checks with gun laws and prevent ammunition sales to minors. wal-mart agreed to suspend firearms sales in its california stores in 2003 the alleged violations included the sale of guns to 23 people who were not allowed to possess them and delivering 36 guns to customers who acquired them for people not allowed to own firearms. although wal-mart has suspended firearms sales in the state california attorney general bill lockyer said he wanted to be sure the giant supermarket chain would follow state rules in future. wal-mart s failure to comply with gun safety laws put the lives of all californians at risk by placing guns in the hands of criminals and other prohibited persons said mr lockyer. although wal-mart has suspended gun sales in california this settlement will ensure that it follows state law if it renews sales and will also provide valuable public education about the importance of gun safety. the world s largest retailer has not yet decided whether to resume firearms sales in california company spokesman gus whitcomb said. | 1 | business |
labour targets hardcore truants a fresh crackdown on persistent truants in england has been launched by education secretary ruth kelly. serial truants make up one in 13 pupils. previous initiatives brought 40 000 pupils back to school since 1997 according to official statistics. parenting contracts penalty notices and fast track prosecution systems have been used to tackle what has been a stubborn problem. it is thought that nearly half a million children skip school each day. tories say labour s previous success regarding the issue came because it tackled the easy part of the problem by reducing authorised absence where parents are permitted to take children out of school. such absences are often due to family holidays. however serial truants avoid the classroom despite government schemes costing £885m. those missing classes are more likely to become involved in crime as well as failing academically. measures such as parenting contracts and penalty notices were adopted by most local education authorities last term and come into force in the remainder this term. in one local education authority alone 800 parents were warned they would receive a penalty notice unless their child s attendance improved. the tough stance paid off with just 24 issued while attendance improved in 776 cases. truancy has been reduced by 5% at the 128 worst hit schools through the government s behaviour improvement programme. this is the equivalent of 200 pupils back in classes since september. the new measures come on top of national truancy sweeps - the sixth of which will take place on monday. police and education welfare officers patrol problem hotspots picking up truants and returning them to school. held twice each year in addition to routine local patrols previous country-wide sweeps have apprehended 31 000 pupils dodging school. in almost 14 000 of those cases the youngsters were accompanied by their parents. a department for education and skills source said: every day in school counts. it is clear form these figures that schools and local education authorities are now seizing the tools we have given them to improve school attendance and crack down hard on the very small numbers of pupils which account for almost half of the nation s truancy. | 4 | politics |
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... | 2 | sport |
pompeii gets digital make-over the old-fashioned audio tour of historical places could soon be replaced with computer-generated images that bring the site to life. a european union-funded project is looking at providing tourists with computer-augmented versions of archaeological attractions. it would allow visitors a glimpse of life as it was originally lived in places such as pompeii. it could pave the way for a new form of cultural tourism. the technology would allow digital people and other computer-generated elements to be combined with the actual view seen by tourists as they walk around an historical site. the lifeplus project is part of the eu s information society technologies initiative aimed at promoting user-friendly technology and enhancing european cultural heritage. engineers and researchers working in the europe-wide consortium have come up with a prototype augmented-reality system. it would require the visitor to wear a head-mounted display with a miniature camera and a backpack computer. the camera captures the view and feeds it to software on the computer where the visitor s viewpoint is combined with animated virtual elements. at pompeii for example the visitor would not just see the frescos taverns and villas that have been excavated but also people going about their daily life. augmented reality has been used to create special effects in films such as troy and lord of the rings and in computer gaming. this technology can now be used for much more than just computer games said professor nadia magnenat-thalman of the swiss research group miralab. we are for the first time able to run this combination of software processes to create walking talking people with believable clothing skin and hair in real-time she said. unlike virtual reality which delivers an entirely computer-generated scene to the viewer the lifeplus project is about combining digital and real views. crucial to the technique is the software that interprets the visitor s view and provides an accurate match between the real and virtual elements. the software capable of doing this has been developed by a uk company 2d3. andrew stoddart chief scientist at 2d3 said that the eu project has been driven by a new desire to bring the past to life. the popularity of television documentaries and dramatisations using computer-generated imagery to recreate scenes from ancient history demonstrates the widespread appeal of bringing ancient cultures to life he said. | 0 | tech |
kenyan school turns to handhelds at the mbita point primary school in western kenya students click away at a handheld computer with a stylus. they are doing exercises in their school textbooks which have been digitised. it is a pilot project run by eduvision which is looking at ways to use low cost computer systems to get up-to-date information to students who are currently stuck with ancient textbooks. matthew herren from eduvision told the bbc programme go digital how the non-governmental organisation uses a combination of satellite radio and handheld computers called e-slates. the e-slates connect via a wireless connection to a base station in the school. this in turn is connected to a satellite radio receiver. the data is transmitted alongside audio signals. the base station processes the information from the satellite transmission and turns it into a form that can be read by the handheld e-slates. it downloads from the satellite and every day processes the stream sorts through content for the material destined for the users connected to it. it also stores this on its hard disc. the system is cheaper than installing and maintaining an internet connection and conventional computer network. but mr herren says there are both pros and cons to the project. it s very simple to set up just a satellite antenna on the roof of the school but it s also a one-way connection so getting feedback or specific requests from end users is difficult. the project is still at the pilot stage and eduvision staff are on the ground to attend to teething problems with the linux-based system. the content is divided into visual information textual information and questions. users can scroll through these sections independently of each other. eduvision is planning to include audio and video files as the system develops and add more content. mr herren says this would vastly increase the opportunities available to the students. he is currently in negotiations to take advantage of a project being organised by search site google to digitise some of the world s largest university libraries. all books in the public domain something like 15 million could be put on the base stations as we manufacture them. then every rural school in africa would have access to the same libraries as the students in oxford and harvard currently the project is operating in an area where there is mains electricity. but mr herren says eduvision already has plans to extend it to more remote regions. we plan to put a solar panel at the school with the base station have the e-slates charge during the day when the children are in school then they can take them home at night and continue working. maciej sundra who designed the user interface for the e-slates says the project s ultimate goal is levelling access to knowledge around the world. why in this age when most people do most research using the internet are students still using textbooks the fact that we are doing this in a rural developing country is very exciting - as they need it most. | 0 | tech |
new year s texting breaks record a mobile phone was as essential to the recent new year s festivities as a party mood and auld lang syne if the number of text messages sent is anything to go by. between midnight on 31 december and midnight on 1 january 133m text messages were sent in the uk. it is the highest ever daily total recorded by the mobile data association (mda). it represents an increase of 20% on last year s figures. wishing a happy new year to friends and family via text message has become a staple ingredient of the year s largest party. while texting has not quite overtaken the old-fashioned phone call it is heading that way said mike short chairman of the mda. in the case of a new years eve party texting is useful if you are unable to speak or hear because of a noisy background he said. there were also lots of messages sent internationally where different time zones made traditional calls unfeasible he said. the british love affair with texting shows no signs of abating and the annual total for 2004 is set to exceed 25bn according to mda. the mda predicts that 2005 could see more than 30bn text messages sent in the uk. we thought texting might slow down as mms took off but we have seen no sign of that said mr short. more and more firms are seeing the value in mobile marketing. restaurants are using text messages to tell customers about special offers and promotions. anyone in need of a bit of january cheer now the party season is over can use a service set up by jongleurs comedy club which will text them a joke a day. for those still wanting to drink and be merry as the long days of winter draw in the good pub guide offers a service giving the location and address of their nearest recommended pub. users need to text the word goodpub to 85130. if they want to turn the evening into a pub crawl they simply text the word next. and for those still standing at the end of the night a taxi service in london is available via text which will locate the nearest available black cab. | 0 | tech |
little britain two top comic list little britain stars matt lucas and david walliams have been named the most powerful people in tv comedy in a poll by listings magazine radio times. the duo kept phoenix nights creator peter kay at number two and the office star ricky gervais in third place. a radio times panel compiled the list taking the comedians critical acclaim and financial success into account. newcomers to the annual list included nighty night star julia davis at seven and black books tamsin greig at 19. lucas and walliams won numerous awards for little britain in 2004 including national television royal television society and british comedy awards. more than 1.8 million people watched the first episode of the latest series of little britain on bbc three in october giving the digital channel its highest rating ever. they topped the radio times list after rising from 10th position last year. other big risers over the past year included presenting duo ant and dec at five up from 13 in 2004 stephen fry rising nine places to 15 and bbc three controller stuart murphy who moves to number 18 from 32 last year. last year s winner chat show host graham norton fell to number 16 following relatively few television appearances in 2004. production companies also featured in the top 50 including steve coogan s baby cow which created nighty night among others hat trick - behind the kumars at number 42 - and the vicar of dibley production company tiger aspect. | 3 | entertainment |
benitez deflects blame from dudek liverpool manager rafael benitez has refused to point the finger of blame at goalkeeper jerzy dudek after portsmouth claimed a draw at anfield. dudek fumbled a cross before lomana lualua headed home an injury-time equaliser levelling after steven gerrard put liverpool ahead. benitez said: it was difficult for jerzy. it was an unlucky moment. he was expecting a cross from matthew taylor and it ended up like a shot so i don t blame him for what happened. benitez admitted it was a costly loss of two points by liverpool who followed up their derby defeat against everton with a disappointing draw. he said: we had many opportunities but didn t score and in the end a 1-0 lead was not enough. if you don t have any chances you have to think of other things but when you are creating so many chances as we are there is nothing you can say to the players. it was a pity. we lost two points but we have one more point in the table. now we have another difficult game against newcastle and we have to recover quickly from that. | 2 | sport |
japan s ageing workforce: built to last in his twenties he battled tuberculosis for eight years then went on to run his own clothing business before marrying in his late thirties. and the 101-year-old torao toshitsune has eaten raw fish pretty much every day throughout his life. mr toshitsune is one of japan s 23 000 centenarians - a club that is growing by 13% annually and where the oldest member is 114. at his neat osaka detached house where he lives with one of his sexagenarian daughters mr toshitsune keeps a regular routine of copying out buddhist sutras and preparing the traditional japanese tea ceremony. between tasks this remarkably active senior citizen reveals what his next goal is: well what s most important for me is to be japan s number one. mr toshitsune wants to outlive everyone. and when it comes to longevity japan as a country appears to be doing just that. women can expect to live until 85 men until 78 four years longer than americans and europeans. on the outskirts of kyoto 83-year-old yuji shimizu contemplates this phenomenon during a round of golf with his younger friends who are in their seventies. i think this is because the food industry and the environment have improved he remarks. on average we can live longer. whether it s the diet or the traditional family structure where roles were clearly defined or just something in the genes japan s elderly are remarkable. but while life may be a game of golf for mr shimizu his grandchildren have huge problems ahead. japan is the world s least fertile nation with childbirth rates of just two thirds of that in the us. by 2007 japan s population is expected to peak at 127 million then shrink to under 100 million by the middle of the century. this means 30 million fewer workers at a time when the number of elderly will have almost doubled. in the year 2050 if the birth rate remains the same people over 60 will make up over 30% of the population explains shigeo morioka of the international longevity centre in tokyo. so how will japan s finances stay on track after a decade of economic stagnation and huge deficit spending the public sector debt is already about 140% of the country s gross domestic product (gdp) the highest rate among industrialised countries. the international monetary fund predicts that as the falling birth rate takes grip from 2010 the cost of running japan s welfare state will double to more than 5% of gdp while current account balances will deteriorate by over 2%. but unfortunately japan appears poorly prepared both financially and politically. glen wood vice president of deutsche securities japan asks; who s going to fund the pension fund for the next generation and indeed who are going to be the new japanese worker who is going to build the economy who are going to be the leaders who are going to be the producers of the gdp going forward one option is further welfare reform. another is immigration possibly from the philippines and indonesia. but so far any emerging policy appears restricted to a limited number of nursing staff. standing next to tokyo harbour is a version of new york s statue of liberty. but as yet japan is not ready for an ellis island. japan has never really liked that option in its history and i think it s an option that s becoming more and more plausible and necessary insists mr wood. in japan as in europe which also faces a workforce decline immigration is a very sensitive subject. but for the japanese economy facing 8% fewer consumers by 2050 means slumping domestic sales of cars hi-tech kit and home appliances perhaps even another property crash. of course the japanese could always have more children. the government is currently considering financial rewards for procreative couples similar to those in operation in australia. but there would be no pay back until 2030 when today s babies are taxpayers and the demographic crisis like in europe starts to unfold in 2010. in contrast to japan - and of course the european union - the us population is expected to increase by 46% to 420 million by the middle of the century. although president bush must re-devise social security to take account of a 130% rise in america s over 65s the imf foresees a positive contribution to the us current account balance from the combined forces of fertility and immigration. some voices in japanese industry are calling for radical changes to the nature of the japanese labour market. they want a shift towards financial services though doubts persist over the country s ability let alone willingness to move away from manufacturing. japan still has problems getting a viable banking system let alone shifting their auto business or their semi-conductor business or the broad based tech manufacturing business overseas says mr wood. japan can either drive some radical reforms or else run the risk of a vicious ageing recession. falling demand and a lower tax take could result in soaring budget pressures and a basket case currency. come 2020 japan could be more dependent on a shrinking workforce than any other industrialised power. there are fears that the world s number two economy is doomed to a permanent recession. but none of this is mr toshitsune s concern anymore. at 101 he chuckles that he feels fine. | 1 | business |
blair told to double overseas aid tony blair is being urged to use all his negotiating powers to end poor countries debt and double aid. some 45 million children will die needlessly before 2015 and aid budgets are half their 1960 levels oxfam says in a report paying the price. the call comes as the prime minister prepares to assume the presidency of the g8 of top industrialised nations. as rich countries get richer they re giving less and less. this scandal must stop oxfam s barbara stocking said. the world s poorest children are paying for rich countries policies in aid and debt with their lives. 2005 offers the chance for an historic breakthrough but unless world leaders act now the year will end in shameful failure the charity s director added. the report said: for rich countries providing aid to help to end global poverty is an obligation and a matter of justice not an act of charity. it also points out that in 1970 the g8 of top industrialised nations agreed to spend 0.7% of their incomes on aid. but 34 years later none of the organisations members have reached this target and many have not yet set a timetable the report says. it argues that the price of not investing in poor countries sustainable development will be felt across the world. the report said: global poverty threatens our shared prosperity and security. environmental crises and natural disasters disease and drug trafficking know no national borders. poverty heightens the likelihood of conflict and unrest. new threats to the peace and security of rich nations arise from poverty and gross inequalities. criminal and terrorist networks are more likely to operate where state institutions are weak. both the prime minister and chancellor gordon brown have called for urgent action to fight world poverty. mr blair who has described africa as a scar on the world s conscience has already said tackling world poverty would be one his g8 priorities along with climate change and the aids epidemic. mr brown has also pledged to write off the debt owed to britain by the world s poor nations. a spokeswoman for the department for international development said: the government had made a clear commitment to reaching 0.7% of gross national income for overseas development aid by 2013. if britain s proposal for an international finance facility were adopted the objective of 0.7% could be achieved earlier by 2008-09. these additional resources will be used to increase uk bilateral aid to africa to at least £1.25bn a year by 2008 and spend at least £1.5bn on hiv/aids related work over the next three years. | 4 | politics |
eu referendum question unveiled the question to be asked in the referendum on the eu constitution has been unveiled by the government. it will be: should the united kingdom approve the treaty establishing a constitution for the european union the constitution will be incorporated into uk law if there is a yes vote in the referendum expected in 2006. critics say the constitution is a further step towards a federal europe but advocates say it ensures effective operation of the enlarged 25-state eu. if we reject this treaty britain will be isolated and weak in europe said foreign secretary jack straw who along with the rest of the cabinet will back a yes vote. patriots by definition wanted the uk to be prosperous at home and strong and influential abroad mr straw said. our role as a leading member of the eu is a crucial part of securing that. conservative shadow foreign secretary michael ancram said the referendum question seems straightforward . but he accused the government of trying to confuse the issue by putting the eu referendum question in the same bill as the ratification of the constitution when they should be treated as two separate issues . despite this underhand trick the referendum bill stood no chance of becoming law before the election he added. this is tony blair s cheap gesture to the pro-constitution lobby while he runs scared of a debate on europe he knows he cannot win. neil o brien director of anti-constitution group vote no said: the reality is that the government doesn t want to discuss the eu constitution ahead of the election because they know it is extremely unpopular with voters and with business. the uk independence party said: if the government believes that a no vote would mean that we should leave the european union they should just ask us if we want to leave the eu. then we can be out of it and better off much sooner. liberal democrat leader charles kennedy who backs the constitution said he expected the referendum would come in the first half of next year. he told bbc radio 4 s today programme: the sooner we get on with this the better. he said the question sounded very neutral and balanced adding it would enable the argument to be enjoined fairly and squarely on both sides . green mep caroline lucas welcomed tony blair s courage in keeping his word on holding a referendum. but she added: this treaty is a flawed document that will make the eu less accountable less sustainable and less just. mr blair signed the constitution at a ceremony in rome in november but had already made it clear the issue would be put to voters in a referendum. that promise came after sustained pressure from opposition parties. jack straw who argues the constitution reflected a british vision for europe and gives national governments a stronger grip has said the referendum could be held in spring 2006. but in an interview with the financial times mr blair refused to be pinned down to that date saying britain would hold a poll some time in 2006 but when i don t know . the paper said the prime minister claimed ignorance of when other countries were planning to hold their referendums. | 4 | politics |
minimum wage increased to £5.05 the minimum wage will rise in october benefiting more than 1m people the government has announced. adults must be paid at least £5.05 an hour up from £4.85 while 18 to 21 year olds will be paid £4.25. the recommendations came from the low pay commission which said the number of jobs had continued to grow since the minimum wage was introduced in 1999. businesses wanted it frozen warning more rises could damage competitiveness but the unions want a £6 rate. a further increase in the adult rate to £5.35 an hour is provisionally scheduled for october 2006. according to the commission many businesses had found the last two significant increases in the minimum wage challenging . we have therefore recommended only a slight increase above average earnings and concentrated it in the second year to allow business more time to absorb the impact said chairman adair turner. the government says most of those on the minimum wage are women - with many working in cleaning catering shops and hairdressing. unveiling the latest increase mr blair said he wanted the minimum wage to become a symbol of decency and fairness . for too long poverty pay capped the aspiration and prosperity of far too many hard-working families he said. too often people were told to make a choice between the indignity of unemployment or the humiliation of poverty pay. chancellor gordon brown and transport secretary alistair darling promoted the news in edinburgh wales secretary peter hain and welsh first minister rhodri morgan in cardiff and northern ireland minister john spellar in belfast. the government has not accepted the commission s recommendation that 21-year-olds should be paid at the adult rate but says it will look again at the rate later on. mr brown said: we want to do nothing that can damage the employment opportunities for young people particularly young people entering the labour market for the first time. the government has said it will look at tougher action against the small number of employers who consistently refuse to pay the minimum wage. the national minimum wage is currently set at £4.85 per hour for those aged 22 and above and at £4.10 for those aged 18 to 21. a £3 per hour minimum wage was introduced last october for 16 to 17-year-olds but apprentices are exempt. the trade unions congress welcomed the increase but has called for a £6 minimum wage by next year. but the confederation of british industry (cbi) called for a pause year to assess the impact of the above inflation rise in the minimum wage in october. and david frost director of the british chambers of commerce said: the level of increase each year has increased by rates far outstripping the rates of inflation. what employers are saying to us now is that it s at a level where it s starting to bite into the competitiveness of companies right across the country. the liberal democrats economics spokesman vincent cable said he supported the move to raise the minimum wage. it s not just good for the workers themselves but it lifts them out of benefits and therefore is good for the exchequer too he said. conservative leader michael howard said he accepted the principle of the minimum wage and would not seek to disturb the increase. speaking on bbc radio 4 s woman s hour mr howard hinted the tories might go into the general election with a promise to cancel income tax for the lowest-paid workers. there are people on very low salaries very low incomes indeed who really shouldn t be paying income tax he said. it would be better to decrease taxes on earnings below £12 000 a year with say no tax on below £6 000. the losses in tax can be recouped by having a 50pc tax band for people making over £100 000. our minimum wage is going to be effectively almost twice the us minimum wage yet our economy per person is only 2/3rds of the us! perhaps we have to really starting questioning why some products cost 50-60% more here than they do in the us. this combined with the tax decreases would make the pounds the low-paid people do make go much further. it s still not good enough! i got a part time job at 16 when i was doing my a-levels in an attempt to get a little money saved for uni. this was only 2 years ago and i was getting paid £2.75 an hour and working as hard as any of the older staff maybe it s about time 16 - 21 year olds got a fair wage! we must remember that the minimum wage is only part of the picture and must not rise to a level that makes employing people unattractive and encourages businesses to send work and therefore jobs abroad. still government and local councils employ staff via their contractors that pay at the minimum wage or very close to it. an easy way for the government to do as it preaches would be to insist on floor pay levels for all government workers and take tens of thousand of civil servants out of the social security system all together. any increase is certainly welcome news. however for all those whining about the pressures of an increase in the minimum wage i would simply ask them: would you be happy to work for less than £5.05 an hour . thought not ... so then don t expect others to either. i can t believe that so many of these comments are against the minimum wage! also i personally take great offence at the insinuation that people earning minimum wage were lazy at school if everyone went to university then who would serve you in the supermarkets and clean up after you it s about time that these hardworking people are rewarded with only what they deserve and have earned fair pay and a bit of respect wouldn t go a miss either. br /> this is good news. the minimum wage has put a sense of equality back into a worker s relationship with their employer. wages are supposed to be a fair reflection of an employee s efforts. for too long wages were a point of exploitation - what could an employer get away with. in very simplistic terms this put a pressure to keep low-paid wages low. with the minimum wage this downward pressure is at least partly removed. it is also interesting to read the comments from so called business leaders. they are the first to defend the rights and privileges of boards to award fat-cat salaries bonuses and pension rights to the select few but they are the first to attack policies that are put in place to merely defend the rights of those that really make those fat cats purr! i feel there are both negatives and positives to the increase on one hand some businesses will struggle to stay afloat but on the other hand in today world many young people can t afford to move out as property costs too much and only by earning more will they be able to get on in life. its true many may get complacent but the minimum wage could be looked at as more of a stepping stone rather than a hand out. here come the usual whines about how difficult it will be for businesses! we all remember michael howard s protestations that the minimum wage would cost a million jobs when it was introduced - funny how he s gone quiet on that one! jobs have continued to increase since this humane legislation was brought in. i think if any job is worth doing then it s worth being paid a fair wage for and £5.05 is hardly a fortune. if your business cannot pay its workers a decent wage then maybe it s not being run properly and if it folds a better-run company will take over its duties and employ more people so everybody wins except incompetent business owners! great keep at it tony i remember the despair of the 80s and the low wages employers got away with. at last we can make a difference to people and reward them for working. we can t afford not to pay a decent wage. it s not a jobs at any price economy goodbye sweatshops hello decency. the increase in minimum wage is a good thing. living in the southwest where house prices and rent have increased hugely (like the rest of the country) over the past 5 years has made living for you average 18-21 years old very difficult. in the south west the increase in living costs have not been matched by an increase in pay for example a job i did in plymouth was underpaid to an equivalent worker in exeter by 75p an hour. hopefully the increase in the minimum wage will bring in to balance pay on a regional and national level and in turn allow people like myself who do work hard but might never earn a 6 figure salary the chance to branch out on our own. i work at a large hospital where the contractors providing all ancillary services - domestic catering & portering etc - pay the minimum wage of £4.85 as the basic rate. someone has to do these unglamorous jobs and earn enough to live decently. how dare people suggest we are lazy or complacent for accepting these jobs and these wages who do they think will be carrying out these public service jobs if contractors are allowed to pay as little as their consciences allow this is definitely the right step in the right direction. it shows that this government cares for the low income earners as well. this is a million votes more. good strategy isn t it although i would not deny people the minimum wage increase its timing stinks. i am quite prepared for a raft of bribes to come from the government before the election and a raft of taxes afterwards they are playing us for the fools they think we are. this is extremely bad news for any business - whether they are small and medium enterprises or even large companies. by increasing overheads for business there will be an almost certain rise in costs to the consumer who while they openly welcome the idea of an increase in the minimum wage are the same people who still want to buy that shirt or that pair of trainers for next to nothing. the extra cost this increase will bring will only be reflected in the price of the goods we buy which in turn will only serve to discourage companies from setting-up business in the uk or encourage those companies already based here to look elsewhere. the jubilation felt by low-paid workers here will soon give way to misery as they lose their jobs. this will only lead to a reduction in jobs. why have many of the call centre jobs gone to india. blair say s the economy is strong and stable economy however consumer debt and the country s debt is at its highest and now they heap this onto businesses that will have no choice but to cut the workforce. the timing cannot be coincidental. this is blatant electioneering and should be exposed as such. andrew in derby complains that raising the minimum wage is blatant electioneering . i don t mind if it is. in our degraded democracy elections are the one time when elites really have to worry about doing something concrete for the majority. my only complaint is the paltry figures being discussed. if my maths is right a 35 hour week at £5.05 gives you an annual income just over £9 000 and raising it to £6 leaves it under £11 000. the unions should be putting the government under pressure for much more. businesses complaining might like to take a look at corporate pay shareholder payouts and profits before wondering if paying a living wage is really a controlling factor in the viability of their firm. i am all for lifting the minimum wage of workers to a reasonable level but we have to accept that with this will come competition from overseas workers. also small businesses will have to be able to afford this manpower cost. we are already seeing a sweeping change in it work being lost to india where people are paid much less. it is difficult for me to understand that only five years ago cheap labour abroad was classified as sweat shop but now we are told it is global competition. with our manufacturing industry in serious decline the country cannot be entirely service industries without something tangible to serve. there has to be something at the top of the food chain and that is manufacturing. the whole picture needs to be looked at. this is great news but that might be because i work for minimum wage. seems a good idea and will hopefully be an incentive to those who live to claim to actually get a job. when you can earn more from claiming than you can from work there is no incentive. perhaps a step in the right direction. if the tuc get their way a very large number of smes will have to close - this will put more people out of work. how then will the government fudge the unemployment figures! the government know it is not big business that keeps the economy going but the smes but we always get overlooked they will only take notice if these large corporations close and move to other countries after all they are predominantly owned by foreign companies. we are a specialist company but with these increases have already had an effect on us and we have lost work another one will close us. while i m delighted for those on low pay that this increase is being put forward i am extremely concerned at the implications for small businesses. as an employee for a small nursery i know this increase will cause great hardship for my employer who has been unable to increase salaries for higher paid employees because of last october s increase for the lower paid employees - who were originally being paid slightly above the minimum but are now on the minimum. this latest increase of 20p an hour will cause even more financial hardship. if the rate rises to £6 then i can foresee many small businesses having to pay off employees. the increase in minimum wage will have a serious effect on my business. although we pay above the minimum level we will have to increase our pay rates to maintain the differential. the raise is well above inflation and without significant increases in sales it will mean that i will not be taking on a new member of staff as planned and i will be looking to reduce the total hours worked by the other members of staff overtime being the first to go. i currently employ 42 staff whose wages mirror the national minimum wage. increases above inflation are fine but all of my business is conducted with local authorities who will not accept above inflation rises in my service delivery. 80% of my costs are labour. the other aspect that is always hidden is that the thresholds for tax credits do not move in line with these increases so that all that happens is that employees tax credit support is reduced by the amount of the increase thereby saving the government money but increasing the financial burden on small to medium businesses it is very good that the government has decided to increase the minimum wage - this should hopefully motivate people to undertake the lower status jobs. i know about this great idea - don t bother getting qualifications laze about at school no need to do anything other than attend so your parents don t get fined because remember when you do eventually start working doesn t matter how lazy you are you ll be guaranteed a decent wage. the ones who suffer are the employers. i hope that if industry and business have to pay this new rate that mr blair and mr brown will increase tax allowances and raise national insurance thresholds so that the treasury won t take some of this increase off the people they say they are helping or is this just another form of stealth tax on business through the back door i don t believe in the minimum wage at all! i think jobs should create their own wage value and that if people want higher wages they should earn them. now before everyone thinks that i am some rich-kid i can assure you i am not. i came from a very much working class background and started work 20 years ago on a youth opportunity program earning £25 per week. i worked hard went to college part time got my a-levels and degree & bettered myself. i now earn a 6 figure salary. i did that through hard work and getting off my backside. a minimum wage just makes people complacent. to ashley of swindon: when you earned £25 per week it was worth something. these days that £25 would need to be near to £60 to have the equivalent buying power. i might add that thanks to successive governments holding down the tax allowance threshold below inflation people earning the minimum wage are paying taxes that they never would have done 10 years ago at equivalent wages. in my day type arguments are a view that belong in the your day - 20 years ago! as a graduate working for minimum wage i welcome any increase of pay i can get. i disagree with ashley swindon saying i have to work harder to get more pay. i have my gcse s a-levels and a degree and have chosen to work for a small business that can t afford the wages i should be getting i should be on at least 3x what i m getting but they can t afford it. we all work hard but the money is just not there. but on the plus side i love my job and wouldn t change it just to get more pay. as an employer of staff in several shops the last rise in the minimum wage cost my company an additional £5000 per year. these next rises will cost me more. i have to get the money from somewhere so pass it on to customers. so no one really wins in the end. in answer to emma from sleaford regarding no one really wins in the end... on the contrary mr blair wins - he wins because he obviously has announced this to be a vote winner and his treasury wins because as an employer you will know that the amount of tax and national insurance that the government will receive from all the minimum wage increases will rise and of course not only will be paying out higher wages but as an employer higher employer ni contributions as well. if the minimum wage increases again and if it hits anywhere near the £6.00 mark there will be 12 more people on the employment line and one more small business going bankrupt - namely mine. think of us employers as well mr blair we are not all big corporations earning millions. all workers should be entitled to a fair day s pay for a fair day s work. how many people on the minimum wage have any hope of obtaining a mortgage or saving towards retirement it is good news for many asians living in uk. students who do odd jobs can increase their income and can help there family in their home country. i thank mr. blair and his government for increase in the national minimum wage. | 4 | politics |
baghdad blogger on big screen a film based on the internet musings of the baghdad blogger has been shown at the rotterdam film festival. the film has been directed by the man who calls himself salam pax the author of the weblog about iraqi life during and after the war. the movie version comes in the form of a series of shorts made by pax on a hand-held camera. baghdad blogger is among a number of films about iraq showcased at the dutch festival which runs until sunday. following the fascination with the writing of salam pax - not his real name - he began a regular column in the guardian newspaper and was given a crash course in documentary film-making. for the film he travelled iraq to document the changing landscape of the country and the problems it has faced since the invasion speaking to ordinary iraqis about their experiences. the festival will also see the screening of underexposure one of iraq s first features to emerge since the toppling of saddam hussein. director oday rasheed made the film on discarded 1980s kodak film taken from the remains for the former ministry of culture building. it centres on the lives of families and strangers going about their everyday business as baghdad is under siege. rasheed said the title was refers to the isolation felt by iraqis under saddam s regime and the difficult time the country is now experiencing. saddam s regime was hell but now i think the hell has doubled rasheed said. the festival was also due to screen murdered dutch film-maker theo van gogh s film about the treatment of woman under islam but it was withdrawn due to safety fears. van gogh was shot and stabbed in november 2004 following death threats he received about his film submission. | 3 | entertainment |
wasps 31-37 leicester leicester withstood a stunning wasps comeback to win a pulsating heineken cup encounter at the causeway stadium. the tigers stormed 22-6 ahead within 18 minutes through tries from lewis moody geordan murphy and martin corry. european champions wasps fought back through a josh lewsey try and mark van gisbergen s boot and they were level at 31-31 with five minutes remaining. but it was the visitors who kept their cool as andy goode kicked the tigers to victory with a penalty and a drop goal. the closing moments saw desperate defence from leicester as wasps turned down several penalties to go for the try they needed. wasps pounded the line and a penalty try looked likely before referee nigel williams controversially blew for full-time. fly-half goode was the tigers hero kicking 22 points in total while leicester s overwhelming domination in the scrums ultimately told. even their lack of discipline in defence - which presented the admirable van ginsberg with 26 points - could not undo them as they held out for a famous win. lawrence dallaglio s team have now got it all to do in the quest for a quarter-final place given that two of their last three games are away - against leicester and biarritz. however wasps rugby director warren gatland warned his side will will not relinquish their european title without a fight. if we lose next week then we are struggling said gatland. but we don t want to give this trophy away. we worked so hard to win it last season we will go down fighting. we have got to get our scrum right next week it is the biggest cause for concern. leicester coach john wells saluted the outstanding work of graham rowntree and julian white who were magnificent up front. they were the backbone of our performance today said wells. and to score three tries against the european champions at home was also something i am pleased about. van gisbergen; lewsey erinle abbott voyce; king dawson; dowd greening green; shaw birkett; worsley o connor dallaglio (capt). replacements: gotting mckenzie lock hart biljon brooks hoadley. murphy; rabeni smith gibson healey; goode ellis; rowntree chuter white m johnson (capt) l deacon; moody back corry. replacements (from): buckland/cockerill morris kay w johnson/b deacon h tuilagi bemand a tuiliagi lloyd vesty. | 2 | sport |
set your television to wow television started off as a magical blurry image. then came the sharpness the colour and the widescreen format. now the tv set is taking another leap forward into a crystal clear future although those in europe will have to be patient. after years of buzz about high-definition tv (hdtv) it is finally taking off in a handful of countries around the world mainly the us and japan. if you believe the hype then hdtv will so wow you that you will never want to go back to your old telly. hdtv is just the latest must-have technology in viewers homes says jo flaherty a senior broadcaster with the cbs network in the us. all television images are made up of pixels going across the screen and scan lines going down. british tv pictures are made up of 625 lines and about 700 pixels. by contrast hdtv offers up to 1 080 active lines with each line made up of 1 920 pixels. the result is a picture which can be up to six times as sharp as standard tv. but to get the full impact programmes need to be broadcast in this format and you need a hdtv set to receive them. most new computer displays are already capable of handling high-resolution pictures. viewers in japan the us australia canada and south korea are already embracing the new tv technology with a selection of primetime programmes being broadcast in the new format which includes 5.1 digital surround sound. but tv viewers in europe will have to wait to enjoy the eye-blasting high-definition images. many high-end european tv programmes such as the recent athens olympics are already being produced in high-definition. but they still reach your screen in the old 625 lines. the prospects for getting sharper images soon do not seem very encouraging. according to consultants strategy analytics only 12% of homes in europe will have tvs capable of showing programmes in high-definition by 2008. but the hdtv hype spilling out of the us and japan has spurred european broadcasters and consumer electronic companies to push for change. big sports and entertainment events are set to help trigger the general public s attention. the 2006 world cup in germany will be broadcast in high-definition. in the uk satellite broadcaster bskyb is planning hdtv services in 2006. there is already a hdtv service in europe called euro1080. other european broadcasters especially in france and germany also aiming to launch similar services. in britain digital satellite and cable are largely seen as the natural home for hdtv at least while a decision is taken regarding terrestrial broadcast options. the communications watchdog ofcom could hand over some terrestrial frequencies freed up when the uk switches off its analogue tv signal. for now broadcasters like the bbc are working on their own hdtv plans although with no launch date in sight. the bbc will start broadcasting in hdtv when the time is right and it would not be just a showcase but a whole set of programming says andy quested from the bbc s high-definition support group. we have made the commitment to produce all our output in high-definition by 2010 which would put us on the leading edge. one of the options under consideration is to offer high-definition pictures on the web. the bbc has already dipped its toe into this including some hdtv content in recent trials of its interactive media player - a video player for pcs. it is planning to offer special releases of selected flagship programmes online in the near future. according to mr quested this could help put europe back into the running in the race to switch to hdtv. this is backed by recent research which suggests that the number of europeans with broadband has exploded over the past 12 months with the web eating into tv viewing habits. | 0 | tech |
sa return to mauritius top seeds south africa return to the scene of one of their most embarrassing failures when they face the seychelles in the cosafa cup next month. last year bafana bafana were humbled in the first by minnows mauritius who beat them 2-0 in curepipe. coach stuart baxter and his squad will return to curepipe face the seychelles in their first game of the new-look regional competition. the format of the event has been changed this year after the entry of the seychelles who have taken the number of participants to 13. the teams are now divided into three group of four and play knock-out matches on successive days to determine the group champions. mauritius host the first group and their opponents are madagascar the seychelles and south africa. bafana bafana play the seychelles before mauritius take on madagascar in a double-header on 26 february. the two winners return to the new george v stadium the next day and the victor of the group decider advances to august s final mini-tournament. the second group will be hosted in namibia in april. it comprises zimbabwe botswana mozambique and the hosts. in june former champions zambia will host lesotho malawi and swaziland in the third group in lusaka. the three group winners will then join title holders angola for the last of the mini-tournaments in august where the winners will be crowned. seychelles v south africa mauritius v madagascar winners meet in final match mozambique v zimbabwe namibia v botswana winners meet in final match lesotho v malawi zambia v swaziland winners meet in final match | 2 | sport |
mobile picture power in your pocket how many times have you wanted to have a camera to hand to catch an unexpected event that would make headlines with a modern mobile phone that has a camera built in you no longer need to curse you can capture the action as it happens. already on-the-spot snappers are helping newspapers add immediacy to their breaking news stories headlines where professional photographers only arrive in time for the aftermath. celebrities might not welcome such a change because they may never be free of a new breed of mobile phone paparazzi making their lives a bit more difficult. already one tabloid newspaper in la is issuing photographers with camera phones to help them catch celebrities at play. it could be the start of a trend that only increases as higher resolution phone cameras become more widespread; as video phones catch on and millions of people start carrying the gadgets around. only last week the world media highlighted the killing of the dutch film maker theo van gogh notorious after making a controversial film about islamic culture. one day later de telegraaf a daily amsterdam newspaper became news on its own when it published a picture taken with a mobile phone of mr van gogh s body moments after he was killed. this picture was the story said de telegraaf s image editor peter schoonen. other accounts of such picture phone users witnessing news events include: - a flight from switzerland to the dominican republic which turned around after someone took a picture of a piece of metal falling from the plane as it took off from zurich (reported by the swiss daily le matin). - two crooks who robbed a bank in denmark were snapped before they carried out the crime waiting for the doors of the building to be opened (reported by the danish regional paper aarhus stiftstidende). but this is not just about traditional media lending immediacy to their stories with content from ordinary people it is also about first-hand journalism in the form of online diaries or weblogs. it has been called open source news or even moblog journalism and it has flourished in the recent us election campaign. not many people walk around with their cameras but they always have their mobile phones with them. if something happens suddenly all these mobiles sort of appear from nowhere and start taking pictures said digital artist henry reichhold. he himself uses mobile phone pictures to create huge panoramic images of events and places. you see it in bars you see it everywhere. it s a massive thing mr reichhold told the bbc news website. with some picture agencies already paying for exclusive phone pictures especially of celebrities there are also fears about the possible downside of this phenomenon. it could become a nuisance for public figures as higher resolution picture phones hit the market with five megapixel models already being launched in asia. already on us photojournal site buzznet there is a public album full of snaps of celebrities many of which were taken with camera phones. tabloid newspapers in the uk and many monthly magazines invite readers to send in images of famous people they have seen and snapped. but there are other positive uses of picture mobile phones that may balance these uses. for instance in alabama in the us camera phones will be used to take snaps at crime scenes involving children and help the authorities to arrest and prosecute paedophiles. and in china s capital beijing courts have adopted mobile phone photos as formal evidence. for henry reichhold this is progress: that s the whole thing about the immediacy of the thing. i can see that happening a lot more. | 0 | tech |
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. | 3 | entertainment |
roddick splits from coach gilbert andy roddick has ended an 18-month association with coach brad gilbert which yielded the us open title and saw the american become world number one. roddick released a statement through the sfx sports group with the news but did not give a reason for the split. the decision to not re-hire brad gilbert for the 2005 season is based on what i think is best for my game at this time said roddick. any more on this situation s a private matter between coach and player. roddick won 121 of his 147 matches while working with gilbert and said he had enjoyed their time together. he won his first grand slam event at flushing meadows last year and finished 2003 on top of the atp tour rankings. but roddick slipped to second this year behind roger federer who became the first man since 1988 to win three majors in a season. federer who has not had a coach since he split from peter lundgren at the end of last year beat roddick to win the wimbledon title and in two other tournament finals. roddick hired gilbert after deciding to part from coach tarik benhabiles in the wake of his first-round exit at the 2003 french open. he went on to win the us open and four other titles for the year. he has won four events this season. i have enjoyed all of my time with andy gilbert said on his personal website. he has been a great student of the game during the time that we worked together and i am very proud of the results that were achieved. while i believe that there is still a great deal of work to be done andy clearly does not feel that way. | 2 | sport |
£1.8m indecency fine for viacom media giant viacom has paid out $3.5m (£1.8m) to end investigations into indecency in its us radio and tv shows. the settlement to the federal communications commission (fcc) ends a long-running saga dating back to 2001. the fcc was looking into 50 shows including those by shock jock howard stern and two new york djs. stern recently announced he was leaving viacom while the two djs were sacked after their show featured a couple purporting to have sex in a church. after the church incident two years ago viacom agreed to install audio delay equipment at its radio stations that broadcast live programming. it also agreed to train its broadcasters and employees about indecency laws. the agreement cancels investigations into about 50 radio and television shows said richard diamond fcc deputy secretary of communications. the shows were broadcast by viacom-owned stations across the united states. viacom has five days to pay the $3.5m fine according to the agreement. the payment is not related to the fcc s $550 000 (£293 000) fine levied against viacom after the exposure of singer janet jackson s breast during the cbs super bowl halftime show in january. viacom is contesting that fine. it is not the first time that viacom has paid out over indecency charges. infinity broadcasting which is owned by viacom paid cumulative fines totalling $1.7m (£907 000) in 1995 to settle fcc violations by stern. | 3 | entertainment |
broadband steams ahead in the us more and more americans are joining the internet s fast lane according to official figures. the number of people and business connected to broadband jumped by 38% in a year said the us federal communications commission (fcc). in a report it said there were more than 32 million broadband connections by the end of june 2004. but the us is still behind compared to other nations ranked 13th in the world by a un telecoms body. during his 2004 re-election campaign president george w bush pledge to ensure that affordable high-speed net access would be available to all americans by 2007. according to the report by the fcc broadband is becoming increasingly popular with people using it for research and shopping as well as downloading music and watching video. the total number of people and businesses on broadband rose by to 32.5 million in the year ending june 2004 compared to 23.5 million in june 2003. whereas in the uk most people hook up to broadband via asymmetric digital subscriber line (adsl) technology which lets ordinary copper phone lines support high data speeds. but in the us cable leads the way accounting for 18.6 million lines. broadband over the phone line makes up 11.4 million connections according to the fcc figures. | 0 | tech |
ruddock backs yapp s credentials wales coach mike ruddock says john yapp has what it takes as an international. the 21-year-old blues prop is the only uncapped player in wales six nations squad gaining a chance in the absence of ospreys loose-head duncan jones. john is a young man with a big future. he has been playing with the blues for two years and has racked up mileage on his playing clock said ruddock. he has international size is a big physical lad and a good ball-carrier with a high tackle-count. ruddock s assessment was backed up by yapp s coach at the blues former wales and lions prop dai young. john s been on an upward curve all season and is going from strength to strength young told bbc sport wales. his ball carrying gives us good go-forward he impresses in defence and his work-rate is excellent. he s working hard on his scrummaging technique which he is keen to improve to become a destroyer on the loose-head. to be fair to him he s not quite there with the scrummaging yet but nobody can fault his effort commitment and attitude. john s a very strong man and is eager for the challenge if he s pitched in he won t let anyone down. he s developing quickly but i hope he isn t pushed too quickly in a way that would hurt his development. ruddock hopes that the selection of yapp and dragons lock ian gough - out of the international reckoning since falling out with former coach steve hansen - will send a message to other players in wales. john and ian have been rewarded for impressing during the heineken cup competition said ruddock. both of them have played well and we want to send a message out that consistently playing well gets you in the squad. we believe this is an exciting squad representing traditional values of welsh rugby and based on the performances in the november internationals. we have strength and experience up front and well-recognised talent pace and skill behind. the management team just want to get hold of the players and get out on the training pitch at the moment. they are all due in on sunday and that s when the hard work starts. | 2 | sport |
mobile games come of age the bbc news website takes a look at how games on mobile phones are maturing. a brief round-up follows but you can skip straight to the reviews by clicking on the links below. if you think of snake when some mentions mobile games then you could be in for a bit of a surprise. this is because mobile games have come a long way in a very short time. even before nokia s n-gage game phone launched in late 2003 many mobile operators were realising that there was an audience looking for something to play on their handset. and given that many more people own handsets than own portable game playing gadgets such as the gameboy it could be a very lucrative market. that audience includes commuters wanting something to fill their time on the way home game fans looking for a bit of variety and hard core gamers who like to play every moment they can. life for all these types of player has got immeasurably better in the last year as the numbers of titles you can download to your phone has snowballed. now sites such as wireless gaming review list more than 200 different titles for some uk networks and the ranges suit every possible taste. there are ports of pc and arcade classics such as space invaders lunar lander and bejewelled. there are also versions of titles such as colin mcrae rally that you typically find on pcs and consoles. there are shoot-em-ups adventure games strategy titles and many novel games only found on handsets. rarely now does an action movie launch without a mobile game tie-in. increasingly such launches are all part of the promotional campaign for a film understandable when you realise that a good game can rack up millions of downloads. the returns can be pretty good when you consider that some games cost £5. what has also helped games on mobiles thrive is the fact that it is easier than ever to get hold of them thanks to technology known as wap push. by sending a text message to a game maker you can have the title downloaded to your handset. far better than having to navigate through the menus of most mobile operator portals. the number of handsets that can play games has grown hugely too. almost half of all phones now have java onboard meaning that they can play the increasingly sophisticated games that are available - even the ones that use 3d graphics. the minimum technology specifications that phones should adhere to are getting more sophisticated which means that games are too. now double key presses are possible making familiar tactics such as moving and strafing a real option. the processing power on handsets means that physics on mobile games is getting more convincing and the graphics are improving too. some game makers are also starting to take advantage of the extra capabilities in a mobile. many titles particularly racing games let you upload your best time to see how you compare to others. usually you can get hold of their best time and race against a ghost or shadow to see if you can beat them. a few games also let you take on people in real time via the network or if you are sitting close to them via bluetooth short-range radio technology. with so much going on it is hard to do justice to the sheer diversity of what is happening. but these two features should help point you in the direction of the game makers and give you an idea of where to look and how to get playing. too fast too furious (digital bridges) as soon as i start playing this i remember why i never play driving games - because i m rubbish at them. no matter if i drive the car via joystick or keypad i just cannot get the hang of braking for corners or timing a rush to pass other drivers. the game rewards replay because to advance you have to complete every section within a time limit. winning gives you cash for upgrades. graphically the rolling road is a convincing enough evocation of speed as the palm trees and cactus whip by and the city scrolls past in the background. the cars handle pretty well despite my uselessness but it was not clear if the different models of cars were appreciably different on the track. the only niggle was that the interface was a bit confusing especially when using a joystick rather than the keypad to play. fatal force (macrospace) a futuristic shooter that lets you either play various deathmatch modes against your phone or run through a series of scenarios that involves killing aliens invading earth. graphics are a bit cartoon-like but only helps to make clear what is going on and levels are well laid out and encourage you to leap about exploring. both background music and sounds effects work well. the scenarios are well scripted and you regularly get hints from the fatal force commanders. weapons include flamethrowers rocket launchers grenades and at a couple of points you even get chance to use a mech for a short while. with the right power-up you can go into a matrix-style bullet time to cope with the onslaught of aliens. the game lets you play via bluetooth if others are in range. online the game has quite a following with clans player rankings and even new downloadable maps. | 0 | tech |
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. | 1 | business |
tarantino to make friday sequel director quentin tarantino is in talks to write and direct a new instalment in the friday the 13th horror franchise according to the hollywood reporter. the film-maker will reportedly meet executives from new line cinema this week to discuss the 12th film in the long-running stalk and slash series. the original film released in 1980 has spawned ten sequels based around mask-wearing murderer jason voorhees. the most recent freddy vs jason was released in summer 2003. that film saw jason battle freddy krueger star of the nightmare on elm street franchise. according to the industry newspaper new line had been trying to make another sequel involving ash the hero of the evil dead movies but was unable to agree terms with director sam raimi. tarantino is said to be intrigued by the prospect of building a new film around one of the horror genre s most recognised figures. first however he is scheduled to direct the season finale of us television series csi: crime scene investigation. filming is due to start in early april. tarantino s episode for which he also wrote the original story will be broadcast in the us on 19 may. | 3 | entertainment |
asylum children to face returns the uk government is planning to return asylum seeker children without parents to albania. the trial scheme which could start in weeks may be extended to apply to children from other countries. children s charities have reacted with alarm saying the policy amounts to forcible removal and may not guarantee the safety of those affected. but the home office says it may be in the children s best interests if it reunites them with their communities. the pilot included in the government s five-year immigration plan aims to return unaccompanied asylum-seeking children from albania who have failed in their asylum claims. since 2002 at least 9 000 under-18s have arrived in the uk to seek asylum without other family members. these children automatically become the responsibility of social services. up to now ministers have held back from final removal orders against unaccompanied children until after they are legally adults at 18. at least a dozen albanian-born teenagers are thought to have been identified for return according to sources although there is no public confirmation of numbers. those selected could either be returned to their families should they be traced or placed in the care of other albanian authorities. separate negotiations to establish a family tracing and returns scheme are believed to be underway with another country. under the 1989 children act public bodies have a duty to act in the best interest of a child in their care. laura brownlees of save the children said there were grave concerns not least because of the well-documented trafficking of children into crime and prostitution in albania. if children are going to be returned then there should be proper assessments and decisions on a case by case basis she said. we do not think there are structures in place [to receive returning children in albania]. if these decisions are not in the best interests of the child then that is a forced removal because the child will not have any choice in the final decision. in its five-year immigration plan announced on tuesday the government said it was addressing the difficult issue of returning unaccompanied asylum seeking children. a spokesman for the home office said it was wholly wrong to suggest that the plan was to return children and leave them to rot . we are developing a returns programme for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children whose asylum and humanitarian protection claims have been refused said the spokesman. we have been exploring how we can establish reception and longer-term care arrangements in countries of origin and believe that it s possible to return children in a way that is in their best interests and is safe and sustainable. we do not believe that it is right or in keeping with children s legislation that children who can return should remain in the uk indefinitely separated from their families and communities. the spokesman stressed the uk would abide by its international human rights obligations. only those children who could be provided with a carefully planned reintegration package would be returned he said. but andrew hogg spokesman for the medical foundation for the care of victims of torture said ministers had so far failed to reassure agencies. from what is so far known we strongly oppose the scheme because the welfare and best interests of the child will not properly be taken into account said mr hogg. in albania particularly there is no statutory child care or protection structure. the medical foundation has many serious concerns including the assessment process for suitability for return the degrading of best interests of the child principles and of child welfare and the lack of safeguards in the chosen countries. a spokesman for the albanian embassy in london said it was the first it had heard of a scheme but did not rule out that there had been an agreement between the two countries. | 4 | politics |
landmark movies of 2004 hailed us film professionals have declared fahrenheit 9/11 and the passion of the christ as two of the most significant cultural milestones of 2004. the american film institute (afi) hailed mel gibson s biblical epic and michael moore s political documentary as inspiring national debate. it claimed both film-makers tossed hollywood convention out the window . the institute also cited the death of actor marlon brando and the changing landscape of tv news in the us. in referring to marlon brando s death on 1 july at the age of 80 the 13-strong afi jury concluded the art of screen acting has two chapters - before brando and after brando . it credited the screen legend s raw hypnotic energy and his ability to create characters like stanley kowalski and terry malloy that will live forever in the annals of film history . the list also acknowledges key influences and trends in the world of film and broadcasting. among current trends it highlighted the final broadcasts of veteran newscasters tom brokaw barbara walters and the impending retirement of cbs news anchor dan rather. it its place the afi fears is a news landscape where newscasters are more personalities than journalists and balance and integrity are increasingly ignored. the afi also questioned the long-term viability of evening news broadcasts in the light of 24-hour news channels and the internet. the list also draws attention to the growing influence of us broadcasting regulator the federal communications commission (fcc) the institute concluded the threat of regulation which went into freefall following janet jackson s wardrobe malfunction during a live super bowl performance in february had a profound effect on television . unsure of how the fcc will rule on an issue the creative community has begun to self-censor their shows a disturbing trend in a country founded on free expression the afi jury declared. to illustrate their point the afi cited abc affiliates refusal to air steven spielberg s film saving private ryan in an unedited form over fears of possible fines. | 3 | entertainment |
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. | 2 | sport |
edwards tips idowu for euro gold world outdoor triple jump record holder and bbc pundit jonathan edwards believes phillips idowu can take gold at the european indoor championships. idowu landed 17.30m at the british trials in sheffield last month to lead the world triple jump rankings. it s all down to him but if he jumps as well as he did in sheffield he could win the gold medal said edwards. his ability is undoubted but all his best performances seem to happen in domestic meetings. idowu made his breakthrough five years ago but so far has only a commonwealth silver medal to his name. edwards himself kept idowu off top spot at the manchester games. but he believes the european indoors in madrid represent a chance for the 26-year-old to prove his credentials as britain s top triple jumper. he has to start producing at international level and here is the beginning said edwards. phillips still needs to be much more consistent. i m sure a victory in madrid will build up his confidence and self-belief that he can be best in the world. the qualifying round of the men s triple jump in madrid takes place on friday with the final scheduled for saturday. olympic champion christian olsson will not be taking part as he is out for the entire indoor season with an ankle injury. | 2 | sport |
rush future at chester uncertain ian rush s future as chester manager is uncertain after he and assistant mark aizlewood refused a severance package. chester have won only two of their last 10 league games but chairman steve vaughan claims he cannot afford to sack the 43-year-old liverpool legend. vaughan said: i offered a financial settlement so they could resign with dignity but an obvious action is to dismiss them. i haven t because of the finances so technically they re still employees. vaughan claimed that aizlewood had verbally agreed to the offer. but the chester chairman added: after they discussed the offer with their solicitor who also acts as their agent they decided to withdraw the verbal agreement which was disappointing. rush was appointed at the end of august following the departure of former liverpool team-mate mark wright who guided chester to the conference title last season. chester were bottom of league two when rush took over but the former liverpool striker enjoyed an impressive start to managerial life taking the club into the third round of the fa cup and winning the manager-of-the-month award for october. chester s downturn in form culminated in a 5-0 defeat at shrewsbury that leaves them hovering just above the league two relegation zone. | 2 | sport |
singer ian brown in gig arrest former stone roses singer ian brown was arrested after a fight during a concert in san francisco on tuesday his spokesman has said. a fan jumped on stage and attacked the singer who then became involved in a fracas with a security guard fiction records spokesman paul smernicki said. he said brown was arrested at his hotel after the show at the great american music hall but released without charge. san francisco police said they could find no record of his arrest. mr smernicki said he had been told a fan rugby-tackled the singer during the gig which resulted in pushing and shoving . brown then got into a brawl with another man who tried to restrain him - without realising he was a security guard mr smernicki added. the star went off for 15 minutes before returning to finish his set. police took witness statements and apprehended brown at his hotel mr smernicki said. but he was released without charge and as far as we re aware that s the end of it mr smernicki added. a spokesperson for the san francisco police department said he may have been detained but they could find no record of the incident. brown 42 was lead singer with the stone roses one of the most seminal bands in british rock until they split in 1996. he has since forged a successful solo career scoring nine uk top 30 singles since 1998. in 1998 he was sentenced to four months in jail for using threatening behaviour towards an aeroplane captain and stewardess. | 3 | entertainment |
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. | 4 | politics |
kenteris denies faking road crash greek sprinter kostas kenteris has denied claims that he faked a motorbike crash to avoid a doping test days before the start of the olympics. kenteris and fellow sprinter katerina thanou are set to learn if they will face criminal charges this week. part of the investigation has centred on whether they staged the crash. kenteris insisted: the accident happened. i went crazy when i found out i had supposedly missed a test and i wanted to rush to the olympic village. kenteris speaking on greece s alter television station also claimed that he asked to be tested for banned substances in hospital after the crash. i told the hospital which was an olympics-accredited hospital to call the ioc and have me tested on the spot but no-one came. after a drama which dominated newspaper headlines in greece as athens prepared for the start of the athens games kenteris and thanou eventually withdrew. but kenteris has continually protested his innocence - and on sunday blamed greek olympic committee officials and his former coach christos tzekos for failing to inform him of the test. the 31-year-old insisted he will be happy if he is charged so he can clear his name. if a decision is taken to have charges filed against me i will accept it gladly. a prosecution means that the case will be cleared... i want to go to the end and then we ll see who s right and who isn t. kenteris a greek hero after winning gold in the 200m at the 2000 olympics in sydney also confirmed that he was due to light the flame at the athens opening ceremony. i had even rehearsed lighting the cauldron he said. | 2 | sport |
cable offers video-on-demand cable firms ntl and telewest have both launched video-on-demand services as the battle between satellite and cable tv heats up. movies from sony pictures walt disney touchstone miramax columbia and buena vista will be among those on offer. the service is similar to sky plus as users can pause fast forward and rewind content but they cannot store programmes on their set top box - yet. it could sound the death knell for some tv channels telewest predicts. it allows us to demonstrate a clear competitive advantage over sky for the first time in many years said telewest chief executive eric tveter. video-on-demand will offer a deeper range of content than currently exists on tv. there will be less compromising around the tv schedule and some of the less popular channels may go by the wayside said philip snalune director of products at telewest. telewest customers in bristol and ntl viewers in glasgow will be the first to test the new service which sees a raft of movies on offer for 24 hour rental. during the year the service will be extended to all cable regions. films will range in price from £1 or £2 for archived movies to £3.50 for current releases. new releases initially on offer will include 50 first dates kill bill: volume 2 gothika and the station agent. in addition ntl is offering children s programmes adult content music video and concerts. telewest will launch similar services later in the year. ntl is also offering viewers the chance to catch up with programmes they have missed. its pick of the week service will offer a selection of bbc programmes from the previous seven days such as eastenders casualty top gear and antiques roadshow. the bbc is trialling a similar service offering broadband users the chance to watch programmes already broadcast on their pc. for telewest it is the beginning of a £20m investment in tv-on-demand which will also see the launch of a personal video recorder (pvr). pvr has been a big success for sky because it gives customers control over programmes. satellite customers without pvr cannot pause rewind or fast forward their programmes. with both services on offer from telewest mr tveter is confident the cable firm can dent not just the viewing figures for terrestrial tv but also gain a huge competitive advantage over sky. we offer the best of both worlds and most households have an interest in having both video-on-demand and pvr he said. video rental stores may also have to watch their back. video-on-demand is better than having a video-store in your living room and is more convenient he said. ntl said it had not ruled out the possibility of offering a pvr but for the moment is concentrating on video-on-demand. pvr is a recording mechanism whereas what we are offering is truly on demand said a spokesman for the company. video-on-demand has the added advantage of not requiring a separate set-top box or extra remote controls he added. adam thomas an analyst at research firm informa media believes the time is ripe for video-on-demand to flourish. while sky will remain the dominant force in uk pay tv for some time to come ntl and telewest seem well placed to successfully ride this second wave of vod enthusiasm and if marketed correctly this could help them eat into sky s lead he said. | 0 | tech |
cairn shares slump on oil setback shares in cairn energy a uk oil firm have closed down 18% after a disappointing drilling update and a warning over possible tax demands. the company said tests had shown no significant finds in one of its indian oil fields but was upbeat about the potential of other areas. it also said the indian government had told it to pay a production tax for which cairn argues it is not liable. cairn s shares have jumped by almost 400% this year. investors had piled into cairn after the company announced significant oil finds in india this year. chief executive bill gammell said on friday he was disappointed with exploration in the so-called n-c extension area in rajasthan. investors had held high hopes of major oil finds in this area. but cairn said estimates had been revised in what was a significant downgrade of the initial expectation . cairn also said that the government believed the company was liable to pay taxes under its production-sharing contract. the company said the rate would be about 900 rupees ($20.40; £10.50) per tonne or seven barrels of oil. a spokesman for the firm said that the tax would wipe 5% of the field s current value. cairn refutes the government s position mr gammell said. he insisted that the contract made it clear that the tax should be shouldered by the licensee - india s state-run oil & natural gas corp (ongc) - and not the contractor. we have a pretty strong legal case here he added saying it would only become an issue once the firm started production. investors took a dim view of the statements though. the shares closed down 247p or 18% at 1115 pence. i think people were slightly over-ambitious for how quickly cairn would be able to develop and potentially offload these reserves said analyst jason kenney at ing. the disappointments overshadowed increased production targets for cairn s existing oilfields. the company raised targets for its mangala and aishwariya fields in india from 60 000 barrels a day to between 80 000 and 100 000 barrels a day. its mangala field thought to contain a billion barrels is its biggest find to date. these two fields will provide the core of the future developments in rajasthan mr gammell said. cairn added that it would be appraising another field early next year. mr gammell set up the company in the 1980s and has successfully switched its focus to south asia from interests in the us and europe. cairn which also operates in nepal and bangladesh was catapulted into the ftse 100 index of leading uk shares earlier this year after the sharp rise in its share price. | 1 | business |
wales critical of clumsy grewcock wales coach mike ruddock says england lock danny grewcock needs to review his actions after he kicked dwayne peel. trouble flared at a ruck in the first half of wales 11-9 win in cardiff as grewcock came recklessly over the top with his boot leaving peel bloodied. grewcock was sin-binned with wales captain gareth thomas for retaliation. it s up to the citing commissioner said ruddock. i m not saying it s deliberate but grewcock did a similar thing for bath against leinster. last june grewcock was banned from rugby for two months for reckless use of a boot in a match against new zealand. six years earlier also in new zealand grewcock became only the second england player to be sent off in tests. the player himself and his captain jason robinson have both said that the clash with peel was accidental. if the ball is at the back of the ruck and i feel i can step over and disrupt it then i will do that said grewcock. but ruddock feels that the england man should be more careful. the boy himself should look at his actions it was a clumsy piece of footwork he said. he s a great player and i don t want to knock him we won t be calling for the match commissioner to review the incident. i m not going to go too far with the lad. it could just be a clumsy action and dwayne had just a minor cut. the referee s interpretation was that grewcock was attempting to step over the ruck. ruddock also warned his rbs 6 nations championship rivals that his team can make massive improvements. we created more opportunities and also squandered them by taking more contact and playing more individually said the coach. we ve looked through things on the video debrief and there were definitely a lot of chances that we wasted. in the forthcoming games ruddock may use penalty hero gavin henson as his first-choice kicker in place of stephen jones. our first aim was to get gavin settled into the team but it s something we ll talk about in selection this week said ruddock. | 2 | sport |
concern over rfid tags consumers are very concerned about the use of radio frequency id (rfid) tags in shops a survey says. more than half of 2 000 people surveyed said they had privacy worries about the tags which can be used to monitor stock on shelves or in warehouses. some consumer groups have expressed concern that the tags could be used to monitor shoppers once they had left shops with their purchases. the survey showed that awareness of tags among consumers in europe was low. the survey of consumers in the uk france germany and the netherlands was carried out by consultancy group capgemini. the firm works on behalf of more than 30 firms who are seeking to promote the growth of rfid technology. the tags are a combination of computer chip and antenna which can be read by a scanner - each item contains a unique identification number. more than half (55%) of the respondents said they were either concerned or very concerned that rfid tags would allow businesses to track consumers via product purchases. fifty nine percent of people said they were worried that rfid tags would allow data to be used more freely by third parties. ard jan vetham capgemini s principal consultant on rfid said the survey showed that retailers needed to inform and educate people about rfid before it would become accepted technology. acceptance of new technologies always has a tipping point at which consumers believe that benefits outweigh concerns. with the right rfid approach and ongoing communication with consumers the industry can reach this point. he said that the survey also showed people would accept rfid if they felt that the technology could mean a reduction in car theft or faster recovery of stolen items. the tags are currently being used at one tesco distribution centre in the uk - the tags allow the rapid inventory of bulk items. they are also in use as a passcard for the m6 toll in the midlands in the uk. mr vetham said the majority of people surveyed (52%) believed that rfid tags could be read from a distance. he said that was a misconception based on a lack of awareness of the technology. at least once consumer group - consumers against supermarket privacy invasion and numbering (caspian) - has claimed that rfid chips could be used to secretly identify people and the things they are carrying or wearing. all kinds of personal belongings including clothes could constantly broadcast messages about their whereabouts and their owners it warned. | 0 | tech |
ethiopia s crop production up 24% ethiopia produced 14.27 million tonnes of crops in 2004 24% higher than in 2003 and 21% more than the average of the past five years a report says. in 2003 crop production totalled 11.49 million tonnes the joint report from the food and agriculture organisation and the world food programme said. good rains increased use of fertilizers and improved seeds contributed to the rise in production. nevertheless 2.2 million ethiopians will still need emergency assistance. the report calculated emergency food requirements for 2005 to be 387 500 tonnes. on top of that 89 000 tonnes of fortified blended food and vegetable oil for targeted supplementary food distributions for a survival programme for children under five and pregnant and lactating women will be needed. in eastern and southern ethiopia a prolonged drought has killed crops and drained wells. last year a total of 965 000 tonnes of food assistance was needed to help seven million ethiopians. the food and agriculture organisation (fao) recommend that the food assistance is bought locally. local purchase of cereals for food assistance programmes is recommended as far as possible so as to assist domestic markets and farmers said henri josserand chief of fao s global information and early warning system. agriculture is the main economic activity in ethiopia representing 45% of gross domestic product. about 80% of ethiopians depend directly or indirectly on agriculture. | 1 | business |
brown hits back in blair rift row gordon brown has criticised a union leader who said conflict between himself and tony blair was harming the workings of government. jonathan baume of the top civil servants union spoke of competing agendas between mr brown and mr blair. but the chancellor said mr baume was never at meetings between himself and the prime minister so could not judge. he said the union leader was trying to block civil service reform which threatened his members jobs. it suited the purpose of mr baume s union the first division association to suggest there were two agendas battling against each other because the union was trying to resist the planned reforms mr brown told bbc radio 4 s today programme. under the plans unveiled in the gershon report some 84 000 civil servants jobs will be axed or changed and the savings ploughed back into frontline services. mr brown said: to be honest i don t think you can rely on his [mr baume s] judgement on this matter when it comes to the decisions that the government are making. mr blair and i are making exactly the same decisions on civil service reforms. we are determined to go on with the gershon reforms. he also said that as mr baume was never present at meetings between himself and the prime minister he was not in a position to judge. on wednesday ahead of the chancellor s pre-budget report mr baume told bbc news there were sometimes conflicting and competing agendas for government between number 10 and the treasury. what the chancellor wanted was not by any means what alan milburn and the prime minister want to see mr baume said. government departments get their money from the treasury on the basis of public service agreements they sign up to but at the same time the prime minister also has an agenda and that s not necessarily the same as the treasury s and the prime minister is of course a very powerful figure in any government. he also sends instructions and messages and directions to departments about how he would like each secretary of state and each department to implement a policy agenda. the problem is that on many occasions these two don t add up and individual cabinet ministers as well as departments have to make sense of this battle. number 10 said ministers were interested in governing and not a soap opera about mr blair and mr brown. tory shadow chancellor oliver letwin said: the battle royal that the top civil servants are now reporting on between the chancellor and tony blair is preventing them both from getting on with the business of getting taxpayers value for money. | 4 | politics |
parry relishes anfield challenge bbc sport reflects on the future for liverpool after our exclusive interview with chief executive rick parry. chief executive parry is the man at the helm as liverpool reach the most crucial point in their recent history. parry has to deliver a new 60 000-seat stadium in stanley park by 2007 amid claims of costs spiralling above £120m. he is also searching for an investment package of a size and stature that will restore liverpool to their place at european football s top table. but it is a challenge that appears to sit easily with parry who has forged a reputation as one of football s most respected administrators since his days at the fledgling premier league. liverpool have not won the championship since 1990 a fact that causes deep discomfort inside anfield as they attempt to muscle in on the top three of chelsea manchester united and arsenal. throw in the small matter of warding off every top club in world football as they eye captain steven gerrard and you can see parry is a man with a lot on his plate. but in the comfort of a conference room deep inside liverpool s heartbeat - the kop end - parry spoke to us with brutal honesty about the crucial months ahead. he only dodged one question - when asked to reveal the name of the mystery investor currently courting liverpool a polite smile deflected the inquiry. but to his credit he met everything else head on in measured tones that underscore the belief that liverpool still mean business. by business he means becoming title challengers again and locking the pieces together that will help return the trophy to liverpool is parry s mission. parry has already successfully put one of those planks in place in the form of new manager rafael benitez. and his enthusiasm for the spaniard s personality and methods is an indication of his clear feeling that he has struck gold. benitez s early work has given parry renewed optimism about the years ahead. but it remains a massive task at a club with a unique history and expectations. this will not come as news to parry a lifelong liverpool supporter but his quiet determination suggests he is no mood to be found wanting... captain gerrard is central to liverpool s plans and parry s insistence that all offers will be refused is a firm statement of intent. as ever the player will have the final say and parry acknowledges that but he is determined to provide the framework and environment for liverpool and gerrard to flourish. in terms of the search for new investment hawkpoint were appointed as advisors to flush out interest in march 2004. thailand prime minister thaksin shiniwatra came and went while the most serious statement of intent came from tycoon and lifelong fan steve morgan. morgan had a succession of bids rejected having come close in the summer only for talks to break down over potential costs for the new stadium. bbc sport understands morgan is still ready and willing to invest in liverpool and parry has kept the door ajar despite currently seeking investment elsewhere. morgan however has had no formal contact with liverpool or their advisors since last december blaming indecision at board level as he publicly withdrew his £70m offer. he was also convinced his interest was being used to lure in others so any new approach would now have to come from liverpool. morgan will certainly not be making another call. so speculation continues about the new benefactor with trails leading to the middle east and america but all met with an understandable veil of secrecy from anfield. parry meanwhile sees the new ground as crucial to liverpool s future but is refusing to become emotionally attached to the idea. he is determined the ground will only be built on an affordable basis and will not make future liverpool management hostages to the new stadium. parry will pull back the moment the figures do not stack up but there has been a vital new development in north london that has re-shaped liverpool s thinking. liverpool have publicly refused to entertain the idea of stadium sponsorship and potential naming rights - but the realism of arsenal s stunning £100m deal for their new emirates stadium at ashburton has changed the landscape. parry labelled the deal an eye-opener and admits liverpool would be missing a trick not to explore the possibilities. he knows some traditionalist liverpool fans will reel at any attempt to call the new stadium anything other than just anfield but the maths of modern-day football decree that multi-millions for stadium and team could ease the pain. i would take £50m if we had no investment but if we did keep him. as for the stadium if it gets us cash what difference does it make really £50m for gerrard i don t care who you are the directors would take the money and it is the way it should be. we cannot let that sum of money go despite gerrard s quality. through a cleverly worded statement the club has effectively forced gerrard to publicly make the decision for himself which i think is the right thing to do. critical time for liverpool with regards to gerrard. ideally we would want to secure his future to the club for the long term. i am hoping he doesn t walk out of the club like michael owen did for very little cash. £50m realistically would allow rafa to completely rebuild the squad however if we can afford to do this and keep gerrard we will be better for it. i would however be happy with gerrard s transfer for any fee over £35m. parry s statements are clever in that any future gerrard transfer cannot be construed as a lack of ambition by the club to not try and keep their best players. upping the ante is another smart move by parry. i would keep gerrard. no amount of money could replace his obvious love of the club and determination to succeed. the key is if gerrard comes out and says that he is happy. clearly if he isn t then we would be foolish not to sell. the worrying thing is who would you buy (or who would come) pending possible non-champions league football. | 2 | sport |
chelsea clinch cup in extra-time (after extra-time - score at 90 mins 1-1) john arne riise volleyed liverpool ahead after 45 seconds but steven gerrard scored a 79th-minute own goal. blues boss jose mourinho was sent off for taunting liverpool fans after the goal and he watched on television as his side went on to win the game. drogba and kezman scored from close range before antonio nunez s header made for a tense finale. it was an amazing climax which gave mourinho his first silverware as chelsea manager. yet it was controversial too after mourinho s sending off apparently for putting his finger to his lips to hush the liverpool fans. there was no hushing them after the extraordinary opening in which the reds took a stunning lead inside the first minute. riise could not have connected any better with morientes cross as he smashed a left-foot volley past petr cech. the goal the quickest-ever in a league cup final stunned a blues side whose previously rock-solid confidence had been shaken by consecutive losses to newcastle and barcelona in the previous week. the blues attacking chances were limited and jerzy dudek was equal to frank lampard s powerfully-struck drive and drogba s low shot. despite their frustration chelsea began to dominate midfield without seriously threatening to break liverpool s well-organised defence. joe cole had a shot blocked and a promising damien duff break was halted by a good tackle from djimi traore but the reds reached half-time without any major scares. the blues began the second half with more urgency and pegged liverpool back. nevertheless liverpool were living dangerously and they needed a fantastic double save from dudek on 54 minutes first at full stretch from gudjohnsen s header then to smother william gallas follow-up. and despite chelsea s possession it was liverpool who fashioned the next clear opportunity as luis garcia fed dietmar hamann whose shot forced a superb save from cech. and the blues increasingly adventurous approach saw liverpool earn another chance on the break on 75 minutes as paulo ferreira denied gerrard with a last-ditch tackle. but gerrard was on the scoresheet minutes later - in the most unfortunate fashion - as he inadvertently deflected ferrerira s free-kick past his own keeper and in off the post to bring chelsea level. that prompted mourinho s reaction which saw him sent off but chelsea still pressed and duff had a chance to win the game with seven minutes remaining. dudek saved bravely at the irishman s feet while milan baros shot wildly at the other end to ensure extra time. drogba almost headed chelsea in front two minutes into extra-time but the striker saw the ball rebound off the post. but seconds after the half-time interval drogba made no mistake picking the ball up from glen johnson s long throw inside the six-yard box and sidefooting home. and kezman appeared to have made the game safe as he netted from close range after gudjohnsen s cross in the 110th minute. there was still drama as nunez beat cech to a high ball with six minutes remaining to head his side level but despite liverpool s desperate attacks chelsea clung on to win. dudek finnan carragher hyypia traore (biscan 67) luis garcia gerrard hamann riise kewell (nunez 56) morientes (baros 74). subs not used: pellegrino carson. hyypia traore hamann carragher. riise 1 nunez 113. cech paulo ferreira ricardo carvalho terry gallas (kezman 74) jarosik (gudjohnsen 45) lampard makelele cole (johnson 81) drogba duff. subs not used: pidgeley tiago. lampard kezman drogba duff. gerrard 79 og drogba 107 kezman 112. 78 000 s bennett (kent). | 2 | sport |
mcilroy aiming for madrid title northern ireland man james mcilroy is confident he can win his first major title at this weekend s spar european indoor championships in madrid. the 28-year-old has been in great form in recent weeks and will go in as one of the 800 metres favourites. i believe after my wins abroad and in our trial race in sheffield i can run my race from the front back or middle said mcilroy. new coach tony lester has helped get mcilroy s career back on track. the 28-year-old 800 metres runner has not always matched his promise with performances but believes his decision to change coaches and move base will bring the rewards. mcilroy now lives in windsor and feels his career has been transformed by the no-nonsense leadership style of former army sergeant lester. lester is better known for his work with 400m runners roger black and mark richardson in the past but under his guidance mcilroy has secured five wins this indoor season. mcilroy now claims he is in his best shape since finishing fourth for ireland at the outdoor european championships in 1998. that was my last decent year said mcilroy who temporarily retired last august before returning to the sport under lester s shrewd guidance. before every race was like trying to climb mount everest and i now know you can t do it on your own. trying to succeed saw me sometimes standing half-dead and terrified on the starting line which became a bit too much. mcilroy who was compared to the likes of sebastian coe steve cram and steve ovett in his younger days is now competing without the benefit of national lottery funding. that situation could change if he maintains his current form and repeats the world-class times he produced in the 800m and 1000m at major races in erfurt and stuttgart earlier this season. russian dmitriy bogdanov won at the same madrid venue last week and then claimed the european championship race would be between himself dutchman arnoud okken and antonio reina of spain but mcilroy is unfazed. he admitted: he looked quite good in his win and fair enough everyone has the right to their own opinion. i never write myself off and let s face it i haven t or looked like being beaten this season. and mcilroy whose time of one minute 46.68seconds in erfurt elevated him to sixth place on the uk all-time list is also already looking beyond madrid. he said: i ve been much more focused this year about my career and having such a good team around me has been very important. ultimately of course this weekend is a means to an end and that is getting prepared for the summer s world championships. that ambition has meant that i ve had only two nights out since last august. the rest of my time has seen me just concentrating on rebuilding my career. | 2 | sport |
labour s core support takes stock tony blair has told labour supporters he s back and still hungry for the job of prime minister - but does that sum up the mood at the party s spring conference in gateshead the electorate are keener on the government than some labour party members is the dry assessment of graham lane leader of the labour group on newham council. the problem according to mr lane is not continuing divisions over iraq foundation hospitals or tuition fees or even voter apathy but mr blair himself. i have a new slogan. vote blair get brown. that s what i am telling people on the doorstep. don t worry he will be gone soon. his friend saxon spence leader of devon county labour group lays the blame for any lack of campaigning zeal on one issue above all others. you cannot underestimate the impact of the war in iraq. we lost people from our local party who had some key roles. but the two friends were fired up by gordon brown s speech on saturday with its appeal to core labour values on social justice health and education. there was real passion. i think we have all felt a little jaded but it reminded us why we joined the party in the first place said mrs spence. if he hadn t have walked off the stage they would still be clapping added mr lane. but for every brownite at the spring conference there was an equally ardent fan of mr blair. stephen douglas 26 from wales said after the pm s speech on sunday: i think it was a bit of a turning point given the roasting he has had on some issues. the guy still has it. tony martin of burnley said: he is the first leader who has won us two terms. this bloke has delivered for us. malcolm shipley of shipley said it was as if he is coming round to the right approach again . katrina bull a prospective parliamentary candidate said mr blair had shown he could rouse the party s grassroots: i think if every voter was able to spend time in a room with tony the way we have today we will have no problem with turnout. she had just emerged from a q&a session in which mr blair - tieless and supremely at ease - answered questions posed via the party s website. a party of councillors from nottingham agreed that there was nothing wrong with mr blair s leadership - and they were adamant that the campaigning strength of the party in their city was as strong as ever. iraq they insisted would not be a factor for most voters. the biggest problem we have got at the moment is that we keep getting all these polls saying we are going to run away with the election. it might sound great but it does create this sense of complacency among our own voters and i think that is the greater problem than iraq said nottingham city councillor brian parbutt. and even mr blair s most vocal critics seemed to agree on one thing - he is a master of the sort of glossy high-profile campaigning that has become labour s hallmark epitomised by friday s whistle-stop tour of marginal seats. a group of shop stewards from the swan hunter shipyard who said they were facing redundancy could barely suppress their anger at mr blair s failure to as they saw it shake off his tory leanings and stand up for manufacturing in the north east. they were also scathing about the alleged benefits of showpiece projects such as conference venue sage centre heralded by john prescott and others this weekend as a symbol of labour s success in urban regeneration. it is no good having the sage or baltic if you haven t got the money for the entrance fee said terry telford. but when asked about mr blair s bravura performance on friday the men agreed he was brilliant . and they would all be out on the doorstep pushing the labour message come election time. if you are not fired up about the election then what s the point there is no complacency as far as i can see in the labour party. we are fired up. we are up for this election said richie porterhouse. mr telford agreed but added it was becoming increasingly difficult to think of an answer when people asked what has labour done for the north east i have had doors slammed in my face he said. every activist i spoke to said they were proud of what they believed labour had achieved in their local communities - the new hospitals and schools the better life chances for young people. the problem they faced they said was converting this local feelgood factor into votes. but they could at least rely on one secret weapon as one activist put it - tory leader michael howard. | 4 | politics |
french boss to leave eads the french co-head of european defence and aerospace group eads philippe camus is to leave his post. mr camus said in a statement that he has accepted the invitation to return full-time to the lagardere group which owns 30% of eads. i will give up my role as soon as the board of directors asks me to do so he said. airbus head noel forgeard is now set to replace mr camus bringing the company s power struggle to an end. fighting between mr camus and mr forgeard has hit the headlines in france and analysts feared that this fighting could destabilise the defence and aerospace group. french finance minister herve gaymard is on record as saying that he deplored the infighting at the company. the company should now be able put this dispute behind it with the departure of mr camus and with the clear support given to mr forgeard by the lagardere group the main french shareholder of eads. the other main shareholders of eads are the french government (15%) who also support mr forgeard and germany s daimlerchrysler (30%). rainer hertrich the german co-head of eads will also step down when his contract expires next year. mr camus recently came under pressure as it became clear that the a380 superjumbo was running over budget. eads - airbus majority owner - admitted earlier this week that the project was running 1.45bn euros (£1bn; $1.9bn) over budget. but mr forgeard has denied this telling french media that there is no current overrun in the budget. but for the sake of transparency we told our shareholders last week that if we look at the forecast for total costs of the project up to 2010 there is a risk that we will go over by around 10% which is about 1bn euros (£686m; $1.32bn) he told france s lci television. due to enter service in 2006 the a380 will replace the boeing 747 jumbo as the world s biggest passenger aircraft. | 1 | business |
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. | 0 | tech |
fa charges liverpool and millwall liverpool and millwall have been charged by the football association over crowd trouble during their carling cup match on 26 october. millwall who lost the match 3-0 have also been charged over alleged racist behaviour by their supporters. during the match at millwall s new den stadium seats were ripped up and four people were ejected from the ground. a disabled fan was injured at the perimeter of the pitch and riot police were needed to control the situation. liverpool fans claimed the trouble was sparked by chants about the hillsborough disaster where 96 supporters were crushed to death in april 1989. but lions chairman theo paphitis has denied the claims. he has said cctv footage showed the catalyst for the trouble was a liverpool fan attacking a millwall fan in the west stand. however millwall have been charged with two breaches of fa rules. they have been charged with failing to ensure that fans refrained from racist and/or abusive behaviour and for failing to prevent spectators throwing missiles onto the pitch. liverpool have been charged with one breach for failing to prevent their fans conducting themselves in threatening and/or violent and/or provocative behaviour. both clubs have until 23 december to respond. | 2 | sport |
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. | 3 | entertainment |
police detain chinese milk bosses chinese police have detained three top executives at milk firm yili with reports suggesting that they are being investigated for embezzlement. yili - full name inner mongolia yili industrial - confirmed its chairman chief financial officer and securities representative were all in custody. the company china s third-largest milk producer is to hold an emergency meeting to debate the issue. a yili spokesman said it may now move to oust chairman zheng junhuai. the spokesman did not say why the three had been detained by the police. the official xinhua news agency said the arrest was linked to alleged embezzlement. yili has recently been the subject of intense media speculation over its financial operations. executives are suspected of wrongly using 417m yuan ($50.4m; £26m) of company funds to support a management buyout back in july 2003. yili s shares were suspended on tuesday having fallen by 10% on monday. the company and its two main rivals - market leader mengniu dairy and second place bright dairy - dominate a chinese milk market that has grown by almost 30% over the past five years. analysts wondered if the scandal at yili - the latest to befall chinese companies this year - could be followed by further revelations of corporate wrongdoing. investors wonder if yili s scandal one of a slew to be uncovered this year isn t just the tip of the iceberg said chen huiqin an analyst at huatai securities. | 1 | business |
robben sidelined with broken foot chelsea winger arjen robben has broken two metatarsal bones in his foot and will be out for at least six weeks. robben had an mri scan on the injury sustained during the premiership win at blackburn on monday. six weeks is the average time to heal this injury and then i need a few more weeks to be completely fit again he told dutch newspaper algemeen dagblad. i had a feeling it was serious but because of the swelling it was impossible to make a final diagnosis. the 21-year-old missed the first three months of the season with a similar injury after a challenge with roma s olivier dacourt. and he added: it felt different then last summer when i had the same injury on my other foot. then i could walk already after three days but i stayed sidelined for a long period. i hope that it will now take me six to eight weeks. chelsea physio mike banks was hopeful that robben could return at some point in march. the fractures are tiny and he could be playing next month banks told the club s website. one is a chip on the side of his foot the other is a small break on the third metatarsal. but this is not the traditional metatarsal that has become so famous since the last world cup and which has kept scott parker out for two months. david beckham suffered a broken metatarsal in the build up to the 2002 world cup in korea and japan. robben who has been a key part of the blues push for four trophies claims he knew instantly something was wrong when he was felled by blackburn midfielder aaron mokoena. i felt my leg go he said. i felt it straight away after mokoena hit me with a wild kick on my left foot. | 2 | sport |
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. | 4 | politics |
labour s eu propaganda a taxpayer subsidised propaganda exercise on the eu is being used to lull the british public into a false sense of security say the tories. shadow foreign secretary michael ancram told mps a new white paper was part of trying to soften up opinion ahead of the referendum on the eu constitution. his claims were denied by foreign secretary jack straw who accused the tories of running scared of debate. eu cooperation would help get better uk immigration controls he argued. mr straw used thursday s commons debate to launch the new white paper on the prospects for the eu in 2005. security stability and prosperity would be the key themes when the uk took over the chairmanship of the eu in july said mr straw. africa and climate change would also feature highly. he said the uk was trying to ensure future eu budgets were limited to 1% of europe s economic output and were spent where it adds most value . mr straw promised to continue to ensure the uk s budget rebate secured in 1984 by margaret thatcher was fully justified . we like all other countries have a veto on any changes proposed in this area he said. mr ancram condemned the document which the foreign office says has cost about £2 500 to design print and deliver. isn t the reason that the government is now involved in a taxpayer subsidised propaganda exercise to try to sell the new eu to the country in advance of the forthcoming referendum and general election he asked. the tory spokesman also criticised the government for claiming the eu constitution would make europe easier to understand. the government last week had to publish a commentary of 500 pages to try and explain this easy and simple constitution to the british people he said. who are they trying to kid the proposed question for the constitution referendum is: should the united kingdom approve the treaty establishing a constitution for the european union the electoral commission on thursday said it was satisfied the question was easy to understand. the government has suggested the referendum on the constitution could take place in spring 2006 with the tories set to campaign for a no vote. mr ancram said ministers were prolonging uncertainty by putting the vote off until the latest date possible. the foreign secretary hit back by saying tory attitudes to europe had helped keep the party out of power for more than a decade. mr straw argued cooperation with european partners could bring a level playing field on immigration and asylum controls. you are setting your face against all of these things he added. for the liberal democrats sir menzies campbell said the uk should not ignore the need to reform the eu common agricultural policy. change was particularly important for developing countries wanting access to markets he argued. sir menzies was among those worried about plans backed by the uk to lift the arms embargo imposed on china after the tiananmen square massacre. mr straw said no decisions had been taken - chinese human rights had improved but not by enough. | 4 | politics |
california sets fines for spyware the makers of computer programs that secretly spy on what people do with their home pcs could face hefty fines in california. from 1 january a new law is being introduced to protect computer users from software known as spyware. the legislation which was approved by governor arnold schwarzenegger is designed to safeguard people from hackers and help protect their personal information. spyware is considered by computer experts to be one of the biggest nuisance and security threats facing pc users in the coming year. the software buries itself in computers and can collect a wide range of information. at its worst it has the ability to hijack personal data like passwords login details and credit card numbers. the programs are so sophisticated they change frequently and become impossible to eradicate. one form of spyware called adware has the ability to collect information on a computer user s web-surfing. it can result in people being bombarded with pop-up ads that are hard to close. in washington congress has been debating four anti-spyware bills but california is a step ahead. the state s consumer protection against spyware act bans the installation of software that takes control of another computer. it also requires companies and websites to disclose whether their systems will install spyware. consumers are able to seek up to $1 000 in damages if they think they have fallen victim to the intrusive software. the new law marks a continuing trend in california towards tougher privacy rights. 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. | 0 | tech |
israeli economy picking up pace israel s economy is forecast to grow by 4.2% in 2004 as it continues to emerge from a three-year recession. the main driver of the faster-than-expected expansion has been exports with tourism seeing a strong rebound the statistical office said. the economy is benefiting from a quieter period in palestinian-israeli violence and a pick-up in global demand for technology products. the outlook is better than it has been for a number of years analysts said. many companies have focused on cost cutting and greater efficiency while the government has been trying to trim public spending and push through reforms. the growth figures come about despite a strike earlier this year by about 400 000 public sector worker which closed banks hospitals postal services and transport facilities. growth did slow in the second half but only slightly. exports for the year rose by 14% while tourist revenues were up by 30%. imports gained by 13% signalling that domestic demand has picked up again. in 2003 imports declined by 1.8%. in 2003 the economy expanded by 1.3% | 1 | business |
republic to face china and italy the republic of ireland have arranged friendlies against china and italy which will take place at lansdowne road in march and august. brian kerr s side will face the 54th ranked chinese on 29 march - just three days after the world cup qualifier against israel in tel aviv. italy will visit on 17 august in what will be a warm-up game ahead of the autumn world cup qualifiers. in their last meeting the irish beat italy in the 1994 world cup finals. however that is the republic s only victory in eight attempts against the italians who have won all the other seven games. the 29 march game will be the second time the republic have played china - the previous encounter back in june 1984 with the irish winning 1-0 in sapporo japan. brian kerr said: china have made great progress over the last few years and will provide difficult opposition. we all witnessed the performances of the asian teams in the last world cup and china play a similar type of football. as for italy they make a welcome return to dublin and will be a massive attraction because they are one of the great traditional powers in the world. the game will be ideal preparation for the three important world cup qualifiers in the autumn. ireland round off their world cup campaign with games against france on 7 september cyprus on 8 october and switzerland on 12 october. | 2 | sport |
hewitt overcomes wobble in sydney lleyton hewitt gave himself the perfect preparation for next week s australian open with victory over ivo minar in the final of the sydney international. the defending champion brushed aside the czech qualifier 7-5 6-0. the australian world number three strolled to the first five games of the match but was shocked as minar won the next five. the top seed was rattled but recovered to close out the set and raced to victory in exactly an hour. it was a strange match . . . momentum swings said hewitt. i felt like i came out of the blocks extremely well but then he loosened up a bit. when he got back to 5-5 i had to try to settle down and take it up a notch and i was able to do that. hewitt has now lifted the sydney title four times in the last six years. it just keeps getting better and better every year hewitt said. i ve only played this tournament four times and i ve won it four times. hewitt went into the final as a short-priced favourite to clinch his 24th career title after dropping only one set all week. he is set to meet frenchman arnaud clement in the first round of the australian open. minar ranked 158th in the world was forced to pull out of the australian open qualifying draw to play in his first atp final. for me this was a big success said the 20-year-old. i was so nervous last night i couldn t sleep. i ve never played a top-10 player before. i wanted to play qualifying in melbourne but it s saturday and i m still here. but this is a main draw and i need the points and the money. alicia molik takes on samantha stosur in an all-australian women s final later on saturday. | 2 | sport |
mobile networks seek turbo boost third-generation mobile (3g) networks need to get faster if they are to deliver fast internet surfing on the move and exciting new services. that was one of the messages from the mobile industry at the 3gsm world congress in cannes last week. fast 3g networks are here but the focus has shifted to their evolution into a higher bandwidth service says the global mobile suppliers association. at 3gsm siemens showed off a system that transmits faster mobile data. the german company said data could be transmitted at one gigabit a second - up to 20 times faster than current 3g networks. the system is not available commercially yet but motorola the us mobile handset and infrastructure maker held a clinic for mobile operators on hsdpa (high speed downlink packet access) a high-speed high bandwidth technology available now. early hsdpa systems typically offer around two megabits per second (mbps) compared with less than 384 kilobits per second (kbps) on standard 3g networks. high-speed downlink packet access (hsdpa) - sometimes called super 3g - will be vital for profitable services like mobile internet browsing and mobile video clips according to a report published by uk-based research consultancy analysys. a number of companies are developing the technology. nokia and canada-based wireless communication products company sierra wireless recently agreed to work together on high speed downlink packet access. the two companies aim to jointly market the hsdpa solution to global network operator customers. while hsdpa theoretically enables data rates up to a maximum of 14mbps practical throughputs will be lower than this in wide-area networks said dr alastair brydon author of the analysys report: pushing beyond the limits of 3g with hsdpa and other enhancements. the typical average user rate in a real implementation is likely to be in the region of one megabit per second which even at this lower rate will more than double the capacity... when compared to basic wcdma [3g] he added. motorola has conducted five trials of its technology and says speeds of 2.9mbps have been recorded at the edge of an outdoor 3g cell using a single hsdpa device. but some mobile operators are opting for a technology called evolution data optimised (ev-do). us operator sprint ordered a broadband data upgrade to its 3g network at the end of last year. we are expanding our network and deploying ev-do technology to meet customer demand for faster wireless speeds said oliver valente sprint s vice president for technology development when the contract was announced. as part of $3bn in multi-year contracts announced late last year sprint will spend around $1bn on ev-do technology from lucent technologies nortel networks and motorola that provides average data speeds of 0.3-0.5 megabits a second and peak download rates of 2.4mbps. mmo2 the uk-based operator with services in the uk ireland and germany has opted for technology based on the high speed downlink packet access (hsdpa) standard. using technology from lucent it will offer data speeds of 3.6mbps from next summer on its isle of man 3g network and will eventually support speeds of up to 14.4mbps. us operator cingular wireless is also adopting hsdpa using technology from lucent alongside equipment from siemens and ericsson. siemens plans for a one gigabit network may be more than a user needs today but christoph caselitz president of the mobile networks division at the firm says that: by the time the next generation of mobile communication debuts in 2015 the need for transmission capacities for voice data image and multimedia is conservatively anticipated to rise by a factor of 10. siemens - in collaboration with the fraunhofer german-sino lab for mobile communications and the institute for applied radio system technology - has souped up mobile communications by using three transmitting and four receiving antennae instead of the usual one. this enables a data transmission such as sending a big file or video to be broken up into different flows of data that can be sent simultaneously over one radio frequency band. the speeds offered by3g mobile seemed fast at the time mobile operators were paying huge sums for 3g licences. but today instead of connecting to the internet by slow dial-up phone connection many people are used to broadband networks that offer speeds of 0.5 megabits a second - must faster than 3g. this means users are likely to find 3g disappointing unless the networks are souped up. if they aren t those lucrative power users such as computer geeks and busy business people will avoid them for all but the most urgent tasks reducing the potential revenues available to mobile operators. but one gigabit a second systems will not be available immediately. siemens says that though the system works in the laboratory it still has to assess the mobility of multiple-antennae devices and conduct field trials. a commercial system could be as far away as 2012 though siemens did not rule out an earlier date. | 0 | tech |
ryanair in $4bn boeing plane deal budget airline ryanair has placed an order for 70 boeing 737-800 planes in a deal valued at $4bn (£2.1bn) which should lead to 2 500 new ryanair jobs. it also has an option for a further 70 aircraft a move which brings the ryanair/boeing order book up to 225 firm orders and options on 193 more. ryanair said the new planes would help it to cut operating costs further. the carrier reported a drop in quarterly profit earlier this year after it was hit by higher fuel costs. however when it reported the results the airline was upbeat about prospects for 2005 despite tough competition in the budget airline market. ryanair chairman david bonderman said that the 737-800 had significantly reduced our unit operating costs and allowed us to reduce air fares each year for the last five years . with this new order and new pricing in place ryanair expects that unit operating costs (excluding fuel) will continue to fall each year for the next five years he added. at the end of this year ryanair will have taken delivery of about 100 new planes while the 70 new orders are due for delivery between 2008 and 2012. the airline said that when all these planes have been delivered it will be able to carry more than 70 million passengers a year making it europe s largest airline. about 2 500 new jobs should be created in the next seven years it added. the order can be seen as good news for boeing which in recent years has been overtaken by european plane maker airbus as the world s biggest-selling plane maker. | 1 | business |
mcdonald s to sponsor mtv show mcdonald s the world s largest restaurant chain is to sponsor a programme on music channel mtv as part of its latest youth market promotion. the show advance warning highlights new talent and mtv reckons it will give mcdonald s access to nearly 400 million homes in 162 countries. mcdonald s golden arches name and i m loving it catchphrase will be used throughout the half-hour programme. the move comes amid growing concerns about obesity in europe and the us. the european union has called on the food industry to reduce the number of adverts aimed at young children warning that legislation would be introduced. unless voluntary steps were taken. in the us food group kraft is among firms that already have cut back on promoting sugar and fattening products to the young. mcdonalds has also been taking steps to improve its junk food reputation revamping its menu and providing clients with health-related products such as pedometers. as well as burgers like the big mac and quarter pounder with cheese the company now sells healthier options such as salads and fresh fruit. chief executive jim skinner attributed an 8.3% increase in january worldwide sales to the vitality of our menu among other things. hooking up with mtv is expected to add extra momentum to mcdonald s recent revival. mtv which played a key role in the emergence of the music video is to show advance warning on all 25 of its channels across the world. the programme can at present only been seen in the us where it has featured artists like british stars joss stone and franz ferdinand. mcdonald s has targeted the youth market in the past with its advertisements signing up stars like jelly-legged dancer justin timberlake and all-woman singing group destiny s child. | 1 | business |
brazil approves bankruptcy reform a major reform of brazil s bankruptcy laws has been approved by the country s congress in a move which it is hoped will cut the cost of borrowing. the bill proposed in 1993 has finally been approved by the leadership of president luiz inacio lula da silva. the old law dating from 1945 gave priority first to workers second to tax revenue and finally to creditors. the new legislation changes this giving priority to creditors and limiting payments to workers. the new regulations will limit payments to workers to 150 times the minimum monthly salary which is currently $94. the law also makes it more difficult for a company to declare bankruptcy. however when a firm is declared bankrupt it will gain protection from creditors for 180 days while a recovery plan is worked out. the proposals were opposed in the past by leftist parties including mr lula s worker party. they considered that they undermined workers rights. but president lula became a defender of the reforms arguing that the country s bank lending margins were among the highest in the world and were damaging the economy. according to andreas adriano of latin trade magazine the new bankruptcy law will help in reducing the spread - difference between the interest rates of the banks and federal bonds. nevertheless mr adriano said to reduce the basic interest rate the central bank needs to change its policy focusing not only on inflation but also on economic growth. | 1 | business |
ferrero eyes return to top form former world number one juan carlos ferrero insists he can get back to his best despite a tough start to 2005. the 2003 french open champion has slipped to 64 in the world after a year of illness and injuries in 2004 but is confident that his form will return. i don t know when it is going to happen ferrero told bbc sport. but i have a lot of confidence in me that i will be the same juan carlos as i was before and very soon. i feel 100% again mentally. the 25-year-old spaniard joins a top field for the abn amro world tennis tournament in rotterdam this week as he looks to add to just two wins in 2005. he opens against rainer schuettler and potentially faces fourth seed david nalbandian in the second round. because i m no longer seeded it s tougher ferrero admitted. i had to play against joachim johansson in the first round last week in marseille. in the past when i was a top seed i would have played a match like that in the quarters or semi-finals. this is the big difference but i have to do it to get higher in the rankings. despite this ferrero insists he is feeling positive after chicken pox and a rib injury destroyed last season. physically i am 100% since december of last year said ferrero. i was working very hard before the davis cup final to prepare and i ve felt 100% from then until now. the difficult moments were when i knew that i had the chicken pox and that it would take two or three months to recover. i had to start from zero again physically because the virus left me at zero per cent. when i started to come back i had my rib broken when i fell on court and that was another two months out. those five months were pretty difficult for me. among the low points of a difficult year for ferrero was the decision of spain captain jordi arrese to drop him for the davis cup final against the usa. it was difficult because i had been playing well for the whole year and the coaches told me that i would play said ferrero. but then i had some problems with my hand two days before the friday matches so they decided to choose nadal instead. it was difficult for me not to be in the friday matches but i had to understand. inside me i wanted to play but this was the decision of the captain and they had to make it. | 2 | sport |
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. | 0 | tech |
us critics laud comedy sideways road trip comedy sideways has had more praise heaped on it by two us critics associations adding to honours it has already picked up. the chicago film critics association (cfca) named it winner in five categories including best film and best actor for paul giamatti. but the director award went to clint eastwood for million dollar baby. the southeastern film critics also awarded sideways its best film of the year accolade. director alexander payne was named best director and he also won best screenplay shared with jim taylor. the cfca awarded thomas haden church the best supporting actor prize and virginia madsen the best supporting actress award for their roles in the film. sideways has already been voted best film by critics associations in new york and los angeles and has been nominated for a golden globe. british actress imelda staunton won the cfca best actress for the gritty abortion drama vera drake adding to a growing list of awards she has won for her performance in the mike leigh film. scrubs star zach braff was named best new director for his debut garden state. michael moore s controversial documentary fahrenheit 9/11 won the best documentary while a very long engagement won best foreign film. the chicago critics have yet to name a date for when their awards ceremony will be held. | 3 | entertainment |
civil servants in strike ballot the uk s biggest civil service union is to ballot its 290 000 members on strikes in protest at government plans to extend their pension age to 65. the public and commercial services union will co-ordinate any action with up to six other public sector unions. unions have already earmarked 23 march for a one-day strike which could involve up to 1.4 million uk workers. the government says unions will be consulted before any changes are made to the pension system. pcs leader mark serwotka warned there could be further walkouts unless there was a government rethink. for a government that lectures everyone on choice - choice on public service choice on this and choice on that - isn t it ironic that they re saying to public sector workers there is no choice he said. if you want the pension you were promised when you started you must work for an extra five years - that is working until people drop. in the 20th century it s completely unacceptable. bbc correspondent stephen cape said the combined unions represented a formidable force which could embarrass the government in the run-up to the general election. a stoppage involving civil servants in particular could seriously disrupt or close government departments agencies and museums he said. opposition to raising the retirement age is one thing all the unions are agreed on our correspondent added. unison s 800 000 workers the transport and general workers union s 70 000 and amicus 20 000 are among those being balloted about a 23 march walkout. deputy prime minister john prescott held a private meeting with senior union figures on thursday night. our correspondent said that he understood no deal had been offered in that meeting but that there was room for further negotiations. there was some possibility of the strike action being avoided he added. | 4 | politics |
boeing unveils new 777 aircraft us aircraft firm boeing has unveiled its new long-distance 777 plane as it tries to regain its position as the industry s leading manufacturer. the 777-200lr will be capable of flying almost 11 000 miles non-stop linking cities such as london and sydney. boeing in contrast to european rival airbus hopes airlines will want to fly smaller aircraft over longer distances. airbus which overtook boeing as the number one civilian planemaker in 2003 is focusing on so-called super jumbos. analysts are divided over which approach is best and say that this latest tussle between boeing and airbus may prove to be a defining moment for the airline industry. boeing plans to offer twin-engine planes that are able to fly direct to many of the world s airports getting rid of the need for connecting flights. it is banking on smaller slimmer planes such as the 777-200lr and its much-anticipated 787 dreamliner plane which is set to take to the skies in 2008. the 777-200lr which had its launch delayed by the 11 september attacks in the us is the fifth variation of boeing s twin-aisle 777 plane. the company offically rolled-out the new 777 in seattle at 2200 gmt. better fuel efficiency from engines made by ge and lighter materials mean that the plane can connect almost any two cities worldwide. boeing has the latest variant in a very successful line of airplanes and there is no doubt it will continue to be very successful said david learmount operations and safety editor at industry magazine flight international. but the 777-200lr is a niche player mr learmount continued adding that reach was not the only criteria airlines used when picking their aircraft. mr learmount pointed out that the 777-200lr has been on the market for a couple of years and only had limited success at attracting orders. he also said that while the plane may be able to fly to sydney from london in one hit prevailing winds meant that it would have to stop somewhere on the return journey. for airbus the future is big - it is pinning its hopes on planes that can carry as many as 840 people between large hub airports. from there passengers would be ferried to their final destinations by smaller planes. airbus is also keeping its options open and plans to compete in all the main categories of aircraft. it has been producing a rival to boeing s 777 line for more than a year. airbus is now where boeing was a few years ago with its product range said flight international s mr learmount. both boeing and airbus have been taking orders for their new planes. boeing said it expected to sell about 500 of its 777-200lr planes over the next 20 years. it already has orders from pakistan international airlines and eva of taiwan. these orders should help underpin the company s profits. boeing said earnings during the last three months of 2004 dropped by 84% because of costs relating to stopping production of its smallest airliner the 717 and the cancellation of a us air force 767 tanker contract. net profit was $186m (£98m; 143m euros) in the quarter compared with $1.13bn in the same period in 2003. | 1 | business |
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. | 2 | sport |
mandelson warns bbc on campbell the bbc should steer away from demonising ex-downing street media chief alastair campbell peter mandelson has said. the european commissioner and former labour minister was speaking amid claims that mr campbell is part of a labour dirty tricks campaign. that charge was denied by mr mandelson who said the tories were afraid of mr campbell s campaigning skills. he warned the bbc that attacking mr campbell had brought it trouble before. that was a reference to the hutton inquiry following a bbc story claiming downing street sexed up iraq s weapons of mass destruction dossier. the affair prompted the resignation of bbc chairman gavyn davies director-general greg dyke and reporter andrew gilligan. labour has attracted media criticism for using new freedom of information laws to dig up information about tory leader michael howard s past. mr mandelson a former labour communications director told bbc radio 4 s today programme: i understand why the tories will be gunning for alastair campbell because they fear his campaigning skills. what i understand less is why the bbc should be joining with the tories in driving that agenda. in my experience of these things parties which shout about dirty tricks and the like tend to do so because they fear a direct hit in some vulnerable part of their political anatomy. i suggest the bbc concentrates on the issues and helps the public to understand the policies and the choices that are at stake in the election rather than engages in the process politics the trivialisation of the campaign. i think the bbc would be much better advised to leave all this stuff well alone concentrate on the issues as i say not resume their demonisation of alastair campbell - we all know where that led before. mr campbell is acting as an adviser for labour which denies engaging in personal campaigning. conservative co-chairman liam fox said mr campbell s return and labour poster plans attacking mr howard - recently withdrawn from the party s website - were a sign of abusive politics . the government despite the fact that they would say want to go forward not back seem intent on talking about history rather than their own record or even more importantly about the future he said on sunday. labour peer baroness kennedy who is chairing the power inquiry into political disengagement said people already thought politicians engaged in dirty tricks. this feeling of distrust is going to be enlarged if this campaigning on all sides is conducted in the way that it looks as if it just might she said. | 4 | politics |
christmas sales worst since 1981 uk retail sales fell in december failing to meet expectations and making it by some counts the worst christmas since 1981. retail sales dropped by 1% on the month in december after a 0.6% rise in november the office for national statistics (ons) said. the ons revised the annual 2004 rate of growth down from the 5.9% estimated in november to 3.2%. a number of retailers have already reported poor figures for december. clothing retailers and non-specialist stores were the worst hit with only internet retailers showing any significant growth according to the ons. the last time retailers endured a tougher christmas was 23 years previously when sales plunged 1.7%. the ons echoed an earlier caution from bank of england governor mervyn king not to read too much into the poor december figures. some analysts put a positive gloss on the figures pointing out that the non-seasonally-adjusted figures showed a performance comparable with 2003. the november-december jump last year was roughly comparable with recent averages although some way below the serious booms seen in the 1990s. and figures for retail volume outperformed measures of actual spending an indication that consumers are looking for bargains and retailers are cutting their prices. however reports from some high street retailers highlight the weakness of the sector. morrisons woolworths house of fraser marks & spencer and big food all said that the festive period was disappointing. and a british retail consortium survey found that christmas 2004 was the worst for 10 years. yet other retailers - including hmv monsoon jessops body shop and tesco - reported that festive sales were well up on last year. investec chief economist philip shaw said he did not expect the poor retail figures to have any immediate effect on interest rates. the retail sales figures are very weak but as bank of england governor mervyn king indicated last night you don t really get an accurate impression of christmas trading until about easter said mr shaw. our view is the bank of england will keep its powder dry and wait to see the big picture. | 1 | business |
csa chief who quit still in job the head of the failing child support agency widely reported to have resigned three months ago is still at the helm of the troubled organisation. doug smith s departure was announced by work secretary alan johnson on 17 november as mps grilled him over the agency s poor performance. his resignation was referred to by both tory and lib dem leaders during that day s prime ministers questions. officials now say he did not resign but will move on under civil service rules. mr smith s departure was reported widely at the time as his shouldering the blame for the failings of the child support agency. in january the mps who make up the commons work and pensions committee published a highly critical report into the failing agency noting the chief executive has now left and hoping the new leadership will bring a fresh approach to what is a failing organisation . on that day s today programme mr johnson was asked why mr smith had been allowed to resign rather than be sacked. he replied: the chief executive decided it was time to move on there is a new chief executive coming in. it now emerges that the widespread belief mr smith made commander of the order of the bath in the new year honours had left was wrong. a department for work and pensions spokeswoman confirmed mr smith was still in post and that he would continue in the job until a replacement was found. no date was ever given for doug smith s departure she said adding that the post had been advertised. tory work and pensions spokesman david willetts said families affected by csa failings would wonder why mr smith was still in his job three months after his departure was announced. the csa has been surrounded by controversy since its introduction in 1993 to assess and enforce child support payments by absent parents. the work and pensions committee launched their inquiry into the csa s performance after it became clear that despite the introduction of a simpler system of calculating maintenance payments for new cases in 2003 a backlog of claims was still building up. it is currently chasing outstanding payments of more than £720m while a further £947m has been designated as unrecoverable . the mps found american it giant eds £456m system was nowhere near being fully functional and the number of dissatisfied disenchanted and angry customers continues to escalate . in november when he surprised mps and the watching media by announcing mr smith s departure mr johnson said: i should tell you that doug has decided that now is the time to stand aside and to allow a new chief executive to tackle the challenges ahead. doug has exceeded the four years that senior civil servants are now expected to remain in a particular post. so doug believes that we have reached the natural breakpoint at which he can hand over the reins. lib dem sir archy kirkwood who chairs the commons work and pensions committee said that when mr johnson had announced mr smith was going he got the clear impression the csa chief was retiring though it had since emerged that was not the case and he may be seeking new employment opportunities. he added his committee was duty bound to allow the work and pensions secretary to get new management into place in the csa and it would be premature to say anything further on the issue at the moment. but committee member and tory mp nigel waterson said he was amazed mr smith was still in his job. when mr smith and the secretary of state came to give evidence we were led to believe he was going shortly he said. even if he was working out three months notice he should have been clearing his desk by now. asked on thursday about mr smith s position mr johnson told bbc radio 4 s world at one he thought it was a non-story . he added that he had been absolutely open when he announced mr smith s departure to the select committee and how people chose to interpret it was a different thing . the major issue is have we got a new chief executive coming into this very important agency as quickly as possible and have we gone through the right selection process to make sure we ve got the right people he added. | 4 | politics |
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. | 0 | tech |
iaaf launches fight against drugs the iaaf - athletics world governing body - has met anti-doping officials coaches and athletes to co-ordinate the fight against drugs in sport. two task forces have been set up to examine doping and nutrition issues. it was also agreed that a programme to de-mystify the issue to athletes the public and the media was a priority. nothing was decided to change things - it was more to have a forum of the stakeholders allowing them to express themselves said an iaaf spokesman. getting everyone together gave us a lot of food for thought. about 60 people attended sunday s meeting in monaco including iaaf chief lamine diack and namibian athlete frankie fredericks now a member of the athletes commission. i am very happy to see you all members of the athletics family respond positively to the iaaf call to sit together and discuss what more we can do in the fight against doping said diack. we are the leading federation in this field and it is our duty to keep our sport clean. the two task forces will report back to the iaaf council at its april meeting in qatar. | 2 | sport |
henman & murray claim lta awards tim henman was named player of the year for 2004 by the lawn tennis association at wimbledon on monday. the briton was recognised for the best year of his career which saw him reach the semis at the french and us opens. scotland s andrew murray was named young player of the year after winning the us open juniors as well as a futures event in italy. and world number one peter norfolk won disabled player of the year after claiming his third us open crown. great britain s under 14 boys won the team of the year prize for their victory at the world junior tennis event in august. henman will start his 2005 campaign at the kooyong event on 12 january in a field that includes roger federer andy roddick and andre agassi. and the briton is optimistic of surpassing his best effort of a fourth-round place at the australian open which begins the following week. i ve often felt that the conditions suit my game in melbourne so i d love to be able to start next year by doing well at the australian open henman told his website. that s why i ve changed my schedule slightly by committing to play in the kooyong classic. i ll be able to acclimatise while practising before the event and then will be guaranteed matches against the best players in the world. i think that will give me the best possible chance of doing well at the australian open. | 2 | sport |
collins calls for chambers return world 100m champion kim collins says suspended sprinter dwain chambers should be allowed to compete in the olympics again. chambers was banned for two years after testing positive for the anabolic steroid thg and his suspension runs out in november this year. but collins says the british olympic association should reverse the decision to ban him from the olympics for life. it was too harsh collins told radio five live. they should reconsider. chambers has been in america learning american football but has not ruled out a return to the track. collins added: he is a great guy and i have never had any problems with him. we are friends. i would like to see dwain come back and compete again. he is a good person. even though he made a mistake he understands what he did and should be given a chance once more. | 2 | sport |
gatlin and hayes win owen awards american olympic stars justin gatlin and joanna hayes have been named the winners of the 2004 jesse owens awards usa track & field s (usatf) top honour. gatlin 22 won the closest 100m final in games history with a career-best time of 9.85 seconds in athens. he also won bronze in the 200m and silver in the 4x100m relay becoming the only male athlete to win three athletics medals this summer. hayes 27 set an olympic record of 12.37 in winning the 100m hurdles. established in 1981 the jesse owens awards - named in honour of the late olympic great who won four gold medals at the 1936 berlin games - are presented annually to the outstanding us male and female track and field performers. the 2004 awards will be presented on 3 december in conjunction with the usatf annual meeting in portland. it is such a great honour to win the jesse owens award said gatlin. it is one of the biggest honours in track and field and it is a great end to a great year. hayes said: knowing some of the great people who have won this award before me and knowing what it represents i feel a sense accomplishment and pride which lets me know that everything that i have worked for is and always will be worth it. | 2 | sport |