Datasets:

skshmjn

/

nli-topic-data

like 0

j&j agrees $25bn guidant deal pharmaceutical giant johnson & johnson has agreed to buy medical technology firm guidant for $25.4bn (£13bn). guidant is a key producer of equipment that combats heart problems such as implant defibrillators and pacemakers. analysts said that the deal is aimed at offsetting johnson & johnson s reliance on a slowing drug business. they also pointed out that more mergers are likely because the drug and healthcare industries are fragmented and are under pressure to cut costs. a number of johnson & johnson s products are facing patent expirations while the company is also battling fierce competition from generic products. meanwhile demand for defibrillators which give the heart a small electric shock when an irregular heartbeat or rhythm is detected is expected to increase analysts said. the move by johnson & johnson has been widely expected and the firm will pay $76 for each guidant share 6% more than wednesday s closing price. analysts say that us antitrust regulators could force the firms to shed some overlapping stent operations. stents are tubes that are used to keep an artery open after it has been unblocked.

sports

csi shows give unrealistic view people have unrealistic expectations of forensic science thanks to the success of the csi tv shows real experts say. evidence submitted to forensic labs has shot up as a result of the programmes at a time when many have large backlogs science investigators claim. lawyers also fear the effect because jurors have a distorted view of how forensic evidence is used. the issue was discussed at a major science conference in washington dc. crime scene investigation (csi) and its spin-offs csi: miami and csi: new york have proven exceptionally popular with audiences on both sides of the atlantic. each episode a team of forensic investigators goes about solving a crime through the ingenious appliance of science - and the extensive resources at their disposal. the csi effect is basically the perception of the near-infallibility of forensic science in response to the tv show said max houck who runs a forensic science graduate course at west virginia university us. this tv show comes on and everyone starts watching it - including the cops and prosecutors - and submissions to forensic laboratories go through the roof he told the annual meeting of the american association for the advancement of science (aaas). the american forensics expert said there were roughly 200 000-300 000 backlogged dna samples in us labs. yet these constituted just 10% of the total test backlog said dr houck. forensic pathologist dr patricia mcfeeley said she had started to see the show s influence in dealing with the families of victims. what i find is that families now are more dissatisfied with the investigation than was previously the case she explained. for example on television the toxicology results are available almost instantaneously. but when people find out that it can take several months they can find that very difficult. dr mcfeeley added that the accuracy with which forensic investigators can determine time of death was far lower than most people s perceptions. the show s influence can follow forensic investigators all the way into the courtroom making lawyers jittery. prosecutors fear the csi effect with juries because for example they wonder: why wasn t everything tested well in fact not everything needs to be tested dr houck explained. defence attorneys also worry about the csi effect because they think that jurors come in and have this view of science as a juggernaut; this objective method that s always accurate. however he admitted the show had had positive as well as negative effects on the field. my university course started with four graduates in 1999; we re now the largest major on campus - with 400 students he said. dr houck added that there was an urgent need for better funding of forensic science at the university level: there s more money spent in this country on holistic medicine than there is on forensic science research.

entertainment

tarantino to direct csi episode film director quentin tarantino is to direct an episode of us television series csi: crime scene investigation. the oscar-winning pulp fiction director has also written an original story for the season finale episode. csi s co-producer carol mendelsohn said the episode would have more bugs and blood than usual. it is not tarantino s first venture into tv. in 1995 he directed an episode of the medical drama er and has also appeared in alias. ms mendelsohn said the production team had been trying for a while to get tarantino to direct an episode of csi and added that he was a fan of the forensic drama. she said he finally agreed a few weeks ago while csi was doing some location shooting in las vegas and the show s stars persuaded him. he knows everything there is to know about csi and he is into the whole mythology of csi mendelsohn said. quentin came in a couple of weeks ago. we had a story meeting with the writers. he had a great idea and it was so much fun to have him in the room... we are positively giddy. filming is due to start in early april and the tarantino-directed episode will be broadcast in the us on 19 may.

entertainment

brown proud of economy record gordon brown has delivered a rousing speech to labour s spring conference setting out the government s agenda for the next general election. the chancellor said he was proud of his party s record on the economy and would strive for continuing stability if elected. the gateshead conference was told he would help young people who were struggling to buy their own homes. and the chancellor vowed to continue the fight against child poverty. later prime minister tony blair will answer questions sent by the public via text and e-mail. analysing mr brown s position before the speech bbc correspondent james hardy said mr brown would draw sharp dividing lines with the conservatives for the forthcoming election campaign. he would contrast labour s plan to invest £60bn in services with a tory plan to cut spending by £35bn. mr brown will lay out his credentials as a reforming chancellor determined to take on and beat the asian tiger economies which increasingly dominate world trade our correspondent said. on friday night mr brown confirmed he would not make any tax commitments until the labour manifesto had been published after the budget expected in march. but commentators will listen to his speech closely for hints on whether as the conservatives claim he plans to raise tax after the election. the tories accuse labour of raising taxes 66 times since coming to power in 1997. following the chancellor s keynote speech the prime minister will face interactive questioning from ordinary voters on saturday. mr blair is thought to be deliberately putting himself on the line in a bid to engage the electorate ahead of an expected may election. capital radio dj margherita taylor will select questions to put to him from thousands e-mailed and sent by text. the prime minister s enthusiasm for the job remains undimmed alan milburn labour s election strategist told radio 4 s today programme on saturday. mr blair has the same passion and the same commitments for the job as when labour came to power in 1997 he said. and he confirmed mr blair s insistence that no poll date had yet been set. he said: i m the general election co-ordinator and i don t know and tony has not made up his mind. on friday the prime minister completed a whistle-stop tour of england during which he unveiled his party s six pre-election pledges. starting in london he visited marginal constituencies pledging to build on what he said were labour s achievements on the economy crime education and public services. the conservatives and lib dems said the pledges - set to underpin labour s election campaign - were worthless .

science and tech

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

entertainment

intel unveils laser breakthrough intel has said it has found a way to put a silicon-based laser on a chip raising hopes of much faster networks. scientists at intel have overcome a fundamental problem that before now has prevented silicon being used to generate and amplify laser light. the breakthrough should make it easier to interconnect data networks with the chips that process the information. the intel researchers said products exploiting the breakthrough should appear by the end of the decade. we ve overcome a fundamental limit said dr mario paniccia director of intel s photonics technology lab. writing in the journal nature dr paniccia - and colleagues haisheng rong richard jones ansheng liu oded cohen dani hak and alexander fang - show how they have made a continuous laser from the same material used to make computer processors. currently says dr paniccia telecommunications equipment that amplifies the laser light that travels down fibre optic cables is very expensive because of the exotic materials such as gallium arsenide used to make it. telecommunications firms and chip makers would prefer to use silicon for these light-moving elements because it is cheap and many of the problems of using it in high-volume manufacturing have been solved. we re trying to take our silicon competency in manufacturing and apply it to new areas said dr paniccia. while work has been done to make some of the components that can move light around before now silicon has not successfully been used to generate or amplify the laser light pulses used to send data over long distances. this is despite the fact that silicon is a much better amplifier of light pulses than the form of the material used in fibre optic cables. this improved amplification is due to the crystalline structure of the silicon used to make computer chips. dr paniccia said that the structure of silicon meant that when laser light passed through it some colliding photons rip electrons off the atoms within the material. it creates a cloud of electrons sitting in the silicon and that absorbs all the light he said. but the intel researchers have found a way to suck away these errant electrons and turn silicon into a material that can both generate and amplify laser light. even better the laser light produced in this way can with the help of easy-to-make filters be tuned across a very wide range of frequencies. semi-conductor lasers made before now have only produced light in a narrow frequency ranges. the result could be the close integration of the fibre optic cables that carry data as light with the computer chips that process it. dr paniccia said the work was the one of several steps needed if silicon was to be used to make components that could carry and process light in the form of data pulses. it s a technical validation that it can work he said.

sports

china keeps tight rein on credit china s efforts to stop the economy from overheating by clamping down on credit will continue into 2005 state media report. the curbs were introduced earlier this year to ward off the risk that rapid expansion might lead to soaring prices. there were also fears that too much stress might be placed on the fragile banking system. growth in china remains at a breakneck 9.1% and corporate investment is growing at more than 25% a year. the breakneck pace of economic expansion has kept growth above 9% for more than a year. rapid tooling-up of china s manufacturing sector means a massive demand for energy - one of the factors which has kept world oil prices sky-high for most of this year. in theory the government has a 7% growth target but continues to insist that the overshoot does not mean a hard landing in the shape of an overbalancing economy. a low exchange rate - china s yuan is pegged to a rate of 8.28 to the dollar which seems to be in relentless decline - means chinese exports are cheap on world markets. china has thus far resisted international pressure to break the link or at least to shift the level of its peg. to some extent the credit controls do seem to be taking effect. industrial output grew 15.7% in the year to october down from 23% in february and inflation slowed to 4.3% - although retail sales are still booming.

business

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

business

blair stresses prosperity goals tony blair says his party s next manifesto will be unremittingly new labour and aimed at producing personal prosperity for all . the prime minister is trying to draw a line under speculation over the state of his relationship with gordon brown with the speech in chatham kent. he is saying that prosperity means both individual wealth and ensuring radically improved public services. he is also claiming labour is more ideologically united than ever. mr brown is currently touring africa after a week of facing questions about reports of his splits with downing street. with the election widely predicted for may angry labour mps this week warned mr blair and mr brown about the dangers of disunity. now mr blair is trying to put the focus on the substance of labour s platform for a third term in government. labour made low inflation unemployment and mortgage rates the centrepiece of a new poster campaign this week. and on thursday mr blair is saying: i want to talk about the central purpose ofnew labour - which is to increase personal prosperity and well-being not justfor a few but for all. by prosperity i mean both the income and wealth of individuals and theirfamilies and the opportunity and security available to them through radicallyimproved public services and a reformed welfare state. the tories are trying to capitalise on the apparent feud at the top of government. on wednesday they unveiled a poster which pictured the prime minister and mr brown under the words how can they fight crime when they are fighting each other michael howard and frontbencher john redwood on thursday launched new plans to abolish hundreds of quangos. they say government is spending too much and lower taxes are needed to make britain more competitive. the liberal democrats have also claimed infighting its obstructing good government. the latest speculation about relations between new labour s two most powerful figures came after the publication of a new book brown s britain by robert preston. in it he alleges that mr blair told mr brown in 2003 he would step down as prime minister before the coming general election. the book claims the premier went back on his pledge after support from cabinet allies and suspicion that mr brown was manoeuvring against him. mr peston s book claimed that mr brown told mr blair: there is nothing you could ever say to me now that i could ever believe. on wednesday mr blair directly denied mr brown made that quote and before he left for africa on tuesday the chancellor told reporters: of course i trust the prime minister.

politics

brown ally rejects budget spree chancellor gordon brown s closest ally has denied suggestions there will be a budget giveaway on 16 march. ed balls ex-chief economic adviser to the treasury said there would be no spending spree before polling day. but mr balls a prospective labour mp said he was confident the chancellor would meet his fiscal rules. he was speaking as sir digby jones cbi director general warned mr brown not to be tempted to use any extra cash on pre-election bribes. mr balls who stepped down from his treasury post to stand as a labour candidate in the election had suggested that mr brown would meet his golden economic rule - with a margin to spare . he said he hoped more would be done to build on current tax credit rules. he also stressed rise in interest rates ahead of an expected may election would not affect the labour party s chances of winning. expectations of a rate rise have gathered pace after figures showed house prices are still rising. consumer borrowing rose at a near-record pace in january. if the mpc (the bank of england s monetary policy committee) were to judge that a rate rise was justified before the election because of the strength of the economy - and i m not predicting that they will - i do not believe that this will be a big election issue in britain for labour he told a parliamentary lunch. this is a big change in our political culture. during an interview with bbc radio 4 s today programme mr balls said he was sure mr brown s budget would not put at risk the stability of the economy. i don t think we ll see a pre-election spending spree - we certainly did not see that before 2001 he said. his assurances came after sir digby jones said stability was all important and any extra cash should be spent on improving workers skills. his message to the chancellor was: please don t give it away in any form of electioneering. sir digby added: i don t think he will. i have to say he has been a prudent chancellor right the way through. stability is the key word - british business needs boring stability more than anything. we would say to him don t increase your public spending don t give it away. but if you are going to anywhere just add something to the competitiveness of britain put it into skilling our people . that would be a good way to spend any excess. mr balls refused to say whether mr brown would remain as chancellor after the election amid speculation he will be offered the job of foreign secretary. i think that gordon brown wants to be part of the successful labour government which delivers in the third term for the priorities of the people and sees off a conservative party that will take britain backwards mr balls told today. prime minister tony blair has yet to name the date of the election but most pundits are betting on 5 may.

politics

de niro completes box office coup robert de niro has completed a transatlantic box office double by topping the uk and us film charts with two different films at the same time. comedy sequel meet the fockers in which he stars with ben stiller dustin hoffman and barbra streisand shot to the top of the uk chart at the weekend. it took £7.2m in three days - eight times more than the number two closer. assault on precinct 13 was in third. at the same time us audiences were won over by his new thriller hide and seek. in meet the fockers he picks up the role of an uptight father and ex-cia agent from 2000 hit comedy meet the parents. it is a big leap to his role in hide and seek a supernatural horror in which he plays a widower whose daughter s imaginary friend turns nasty. in the uk box office chart meet the fockers pushed closer off the top spot while police action movie assault on precinct 13 starring rapper ja rule made £750 000 in its first weekend. london underground thriller creep was another new entry at six while quirky comedy sideways which got five oscar nominations last week entered in eighth place. the oscar nominations do not seem to have had an impact on fans choices at cinemas. leading contenders the aviator million dollar baby and ray all suffered substantial drops in takings compared with the previous weekend.

entertainment

chris evans back on the market broadcaster chris evans has begun selling thousands of his possessions from a stall in camden market london. evans perched on a stool as shoppers wandered around the open-fronted shop packed with his furniture. among the items from his homes in los angeles and london were countless sofas chairs pictures beds and memorabilia from his past tv shows. asked the reason for the sale evans said: i just want to get rid of it all it s just a headache. he added: it feels good to be selling this stuff it s a weight off my mind. look at it all there s so much clutter. i ve enjoyed every bit of furniture and every poster but it s not important anymore. the normally gregarious evans cut a peculiarly unshowbusiness-like figure as he sipped coffee and smoked cigarettes wrapped in a big coat and scarf in front of his aladdin s cave. however the ostentation of some of the items on sale painted a picture of the eccentricity that endeared him to the british public in shows such as channel 4 s gameshow don t forget your toothbrush. the most striking thing about many of the pieces was their sheer size. sofas looked like they could seat a small party and a bed seemed big enough for four. the elaborate nature of the pieces many custom-made had to be admired particularly a huge red and gold upholstered throne and a stripy deckchair from the queen mary liner. to help people in their browsing evans had given the pieces labels with not only the price but a helpful often comic aside. isn t it great was the comment on the £1 950 throne and bob dylan s old sofa - honest was written on a dark wood couch priced £4 250. the prices were steep by a lot of people s standards but evans said it was not deterring shoppers. i ve sold quite a lot already. everything here is on sale for less than i bought it for but it s not really about the money. it s about getting rid of it all. we ve all been bartering that s what it s all about. he added that he was not going to reveal what he was going to do with the money he was making. vintage tv and film posters also lined the walls including a rare portrait of raquel welch and an original advertising print from the benny hill show. and almost hidden at the back of the lock-up were the two giant toothbrushes from his former channel 4 show although these were not for sale. despite the sheer curiosity value of the sale there was a healthy trickle of interest from the public rather than the perhaps expected crowds. some wandered in just to browse as they would any of the other stalls not knowing that it belonged to evans. paul burgess said: i didn t realise. i thought it was just a load of junk. i should go back and have a better look. but local resident francesca detakats came specially to the stall and left happy with her purchase of an original 1960s photograph of the who by david wedgburg. ms detakats said she was a collector and did not mind paying £350 for the print. if you like something you don t really count it like that she said. martin hellewell who had also made a point of visiting evans shop said he thought it was a great idea. why not if you ve got stuff to get rid of it s a good place to do it said mr hellewell. evans has taken out the stall with business partner pete winterbottom. they plan to open every day if possible although evans did not know how often he would be there. we ll stay definitely until christmas and then maybe a week after that said evans.

politics

kinnock to urge reform in lords neil kinnock has said his acceptance of a seat in the house of lords will allow him to help achieve further progress with substantial democratic reform. on the bbc s breakfast with frost it was put to mr kinnock that he had once referred to lords members as brigands muggers bribers and gangsters . but the outgoing european commissioner said his comments - made some 26 years ago - needed to be put in context. he said advocates for reform needed to be inside the lords to vote for it. it was pointed out to me that if the additional democratic reform is going to take place it is going to require advocates in the lords and people there willing to vote for it. mr kinnock added that the second factor behind his acceptance of the peerage was his appointment as chairman of the british council. history demonstrates that it s immensely useful for the british council to have its chairman in the house of lords and that was a conclusive factor. mr kinnock said he thought about the decision for quite a long time because he had long had reservations about the lords. but he added: the process of reform has developed substantially but not sufficiently and consequently i did take all these factors into consideration because it s not a decision to be made glibly. the former labour leader said he would probably take the title of lord kinnock of bedwellty - his first constituency for which he was selected in 1969.

politics

councils prepare to set tax rises council tax in scotland is set to rise by an average of about 4% in the coming year bbc scotland has learned. authorities will decide final figures on thursday when projected increases will be more than twice the rate of inflation which is currently 1.6%. the finance minister has urged councils to limit increases but they have warned that they will struggle to maintain services unless funding is increased. they say much additional government money is for new initiatives. scottish finance minister tom mccabe msp said: last week in parliament i announced an additional £419m for core expenditure to local government in scotland. that s a 5.5% increase and sits against an inflation rate of 1.6% so i think we have quite rightly said to councils this year that we would at the very least ask them to exercise restraint. mr mccabe is also looking for local authorities to become more efficient and save money in coming years. he told bbc radio scotland s sunday live programme: here in scotland we have 32 councils who all have their own individual collection systems for council tax they have their own payroll systems and their own human resource systems. we think there has to be opportunities there for rationalisation and using the money saved to reinvest in frontline services. the councils umbrella organisation cosla which provided bbc scotland with the indicative figures for next year warned that councils would face a continuous struggle to maintain services. mr mccabe has promised them about £8.1bn next year. however most of the increase is targeted to new initiatives and councils will experience difficulties in maintaining core services a cosla spokesman said. cosla says that it is willing to work with the executive on finding efficiency savings but that these will not be enough to maintain services. they say the funding plans for the next three years will see councils lose more of the share of public spending. the conservatives accuse the scottish executive of using the council tax to raise funds because it is too afraid to raise income tax. the tory finance spokesman brian monteith msp said: its a form of disguise... yet again we see that council tax is being used as a way of passing on costs. scared of actually using its three pence income tax that it could put up what we ve seen over the years is more and more burdens being put onto local authorities and the council tax payer having to pick up the bill. there are also warnings that unless funding to councils is increased in the next few years then services may have to be reduced. linda knox director of the scottish local authority management centre at strathclyde university said: with this current settlement the increase is slowing. at the same time the burdens on councils are greater than they were. the settlement figures don t include pay increases and the executive is also requiring a substantial figure - in the area of £325m - in efficiency savings across the settlement period. education will be protected from any cuts but linda knox says this will mean other services will suffer. she said: in practice that will mean a 4-5% cut for other services. on the face of it the settlement looks like an increase of about 9.7% but by the time you take into account other factors its probably only about 1% in real terms.

politics

volcano drama erupts on bbc one supervolcano a docu-drama about a volcanic eruption in yellowstone national park in the us is among the highlights on the bbc one this winter. the £178m winter schedule also includes the return of doctor who and a drama about angela cannings who was wrongly convicted of killing two of her babies. sarah lancashire and timothy spall will star in the real-life drama cherished. itv also unveiled their festive season on tuesday which includes stephen fry in a remake of tom brown s schooldays. supervolcano follows in the footsteps of last year s pompei which drew 10 million viewers to bbc one in october 2003. the programme merges science drama and computer imagery to reveal what could happen if yellowstone - home to the only currently active supervolcano in the world - were to erupt again. bbc two will run a two-part documentary the science behind supervolcano in conjunction with the transmission. other educational highlights include a documentary about infamous mongolian warrior genghis khan and grandchild of the holocaust. grandchild of the holocaust part of the bbc commitment to holocaust memorial day follows adrian 13 on a journey to uncover the truth about what happened to his grandmother in auschwitz and belsen. new drama includes archangel an adaptation of the robert harris best-seller which stars daniel craig on the trail of stalin s diaries in communist russia. and sarah waters gets her second adaptation on bbc one with imelda staunton and charles dance lined up to star in fingersmith. the adaptation about a conman in victorian england will make an interesting contrast to julie burchill s sugar rush - a lesbian teenage drama part of channel four s winter season. on a lighter note jessica stevenson will star in new bbc one sitcom the world according to bex penned by my family creator fred barron and the two ronnies return for a celebration of their classic comedy series. fry s portrayal of headmaster dr arnold dominates a muted christmas schedule on itv1 which sees the channel retreat from broadcasting blockbuster movies in favour of extended soap episodes and popular quiz shows. sir paul mccartney wife heather mills and manchester united manager sir alex ferguson will join a celebrity edition of who wants to be a millionaire on christmas day. also on christmas day john nettles will return in a one-off edition of midsomer murders while two episodes of the new miss marple drama will air over the festive period. films on itv1 include gus van sant s finding forrester starring sean connery and classics such a mary poppins star wars and the good the bad and the ugly. in contrast bbc s christmas season includes terrestrial debuts of the first harry potter film shrek and steven spielberg s ai as well as new epipsodes of the vicar of dibley and the final auf wiedersehen pet.

world

wilkinson fit to face edinburgh england captain jonny wilkinson will make his long-awaited return from injury against edinburgh on saturday. wilkinson who has not played since injuring his bicep on 17 october took part in full-contact training with newcastle falcons on wednesday. and the 25-year-old fly-half will start saturday s heineken cup match at murrayfield on the bench. but newcastle director of rugby rob andrew said: he s fine and we hope to get him into the game at some stage. the 25-year-old missed england s autumn internationals after aggravating the haematoma in his upper right arm against saracens. he was subsequently replaced as england captain by full-back jason robinson. sale s charlie hodgson took over the number 10 shirt in the internationals against canada south africa and australia. wilkinson s year has been disrupted by injury as his muscle problem followed eight months on the sidelines with a shoulder injury sustained in the world cup final.

entertainment

radcliffe enjoys winning comeback paula radcliffe made a triumphant return to competitive running with victory in the new york marathon. the briton running for the first time since dropping out of the olympic marathon and 10 000m held off kenyan susan chepkemei in a thrilling finish. the pair were locked together for the last few miles before radcliffe finally sprinted clear to win in two hours 23 minutes and 10 seconds. it s a good way to end the year she said. i m ready for a good rest now. radcliffe decided only recently to run in the race and many had doubted whether she had sufficiently recovered from her olympic ordeal just 11 weeks ago. but the world record-holder was prominent at the head of the field for the whole race as her rivals slowly dropped off the pace. just chepkemei and radcliffe were left in contention as the race came into the final few miles. the kenyan put in several bursts of speed to throw off radcliffe but the briton managed to hang in. both runners looked to be suffering as they reached the final mile in central park. but it was radcliffe who managed to dredge up a final sprint to see off chepkemei in the closest finish in the race s history and in the process make a huge step in erasing the disappointment she suffered in athens.

sports

a november to remember last saturday one newspaper proclaimed that england were still the number one side in the world. that statement was made to look a little foolish by events later that afternoon at twickenham. but it illustrated the wonderful unpredictability of test rugby at the highest level at the end of a richly entertaining autumn series. the final weekend threw the world pecking order into renewed confusion with australia s triumph in london followed by france s capitulation to new zealand. clearly there is no number one side in the world at the moment declared wallabies coach eddie jones on arrival back in sydney. there are four five or probably six sides all competing at the same level and on any given day the difference between one side and another is only about 1%. while that bodes well for rugby as a whole it also sharpens the sense of excitement ahead of what could be the most open six nations championship for a decade. while the wallabies all blacks and springboks hit the beach before turning their attention to super 12 matters in the new year europe s finest have less than 10 weeks before they return to the international fray. and for the first time in more than a decade it will not simply be a straightforward choice between england and france for the six nations title. that owes much to ireland s continued progress and the belief that wales are on the verge of delivering a major scalp to cement the promise of their autumn displays. who secured a first triple crown in 19 years last season could go one better and win their first five/six nations title since 1985. they start with away games against italy and scotland before england and france come to lansdowne road. their momentous victory over the springboks can only bolster ireland s self-belief while ronan o gara s late drop goal to deliver victory over argentina was further proof that eddie o sullivan s side can now close out tight games. not that england or france who have won nine of the last 10 six nations titles between them will lay down quietly. dismantling of the springboks suggested that even after the loss of such influential figures as martin johnson and lawrence dallaglio they still have the personnel to prosper. the narrow defeat to australia was a timely reminder that not everything is blooming in the red rose garden but the fresh shoots of post-world cup recovery have been sown by new head coach andy robinson. a fresh desire to regain former heights is evident and if england emerge triumphant from an opening six nations engagement in cardiff a fourth title in six years is within reach. are in familiar revival territory but this time it appears there is substance behind the rediscovered style. while south africa s over-confidence in cardiff made for a closer scoreline than expected wales could legitimately claim to have had victory within their grasp against the all blacks in one of the best tests in recent memory. if mike ruddock can coax a reliable set-piece platform from his pack there is no reason why victories should not ensue come february. the last fortnight has left in a state of bewilderment after an autumn series that began with a superb victory over australia. a stunning defeat to argentina their first loss since the world cup could have been attributed to trademark french inconsistency. but the manner of new zealand s 45-6 demolition job in paris has coach bernard laporte bemoaning a lack of young talent coming through to replace the old guard. fortunately for the french the opening match of the six nations sees them entertaining in paris. after two reasonable performances against australia the scots humbling by the springboks forced coach matt williams to reassess his belief that a win over one of the major nations was imminent. while individuals such as chris cusiter and ali hogg enhanced their reputations a lack of top-class players will continue to undermine their best efforts. who start with home games against ireland and wales before travelling to scotland are also hopeful of registering more than one victory for the first time in the championship. as autumn gives way to winter and the heineken cup prepares to resume centre stage meantime the joy of six will keep the home fires burning until february.

sports

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

business

bmw reveals new models pipeline bmw is preparing to enter the market for car-style people carriers the firm s chief has told bbc news. speaking at a bmw event ahead of the geneva motor show helmut panke predicted demand for such crossover vehicles would soar in europe. in contrast he said the popularity of van-style seven-seat vehicles and traditional saloon cars would fade. customers are moving out of the mini-van (and) traditional concepts are not as attractive anymore he said. we have decided that bmw will enter the [crossover] segment he said in the clearest indication yet about the car maker s intentions. mr panke praised the honda accura as the best execution yet of a crossover vehicle. we have decided that the bmw brand will enter the segment he said. a decision on just how bmw will manage its entry into the new market is due in the first half of 2005. typically it takes about three years from when a decision is taken before a new model hits the streets mr panke said implying that a bmw crossover could be on the market by 2008. the coming switch is driven in part by the need for successful carmakers to stay aware of trans-atlantic differences in the car market mr panke insisted. while in the us drivers tend to prefer sports utility vehicles (suvs) such as the bmw x5 and its sibling x3 in europe demand for crossover vehicles is likely to be considerable mr panke said. there s a growing market here he said. we are going to go that way.

politics

worldcom ex-boss launches defence lawyers defending former worldcom chief bernie ebbers against a battery of fraud charges have called a company whistleblower as their first witness. cynthia cooper worldcom s ex-head of internal accounting alerted directors to irregular accounting practices at the us telecoms giant in 2002. her warnings led to the collapse of the firm following the discovery of an $11bn (£5.7bn) accounting fraud. mr ebbers has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy. prosecution lawyers have argued that mr ebbers orchestrated a series of accounting tricks at worldcom ordering employees to hide expenses and inflate revenues to meet wall street earnings estimates. but ms cooper who now runs her own consulting business told a jury in new york on wednesday that external auditors arthur andersen had approved worldcom s accounting in early 2001 and 2002. she said andersen had given a green light to the procedures and practices used by worldcom. mr ebber s lawyers have said he was unaware of the fraud arguing that auditors did not alert him to any problems. ms cooper also said that during shareholder meetings mr ebbers often passed over technical questions to the company s finance chief giving only brief answers himself. the prosecution s star witness former worldcom financial chief scott sullivan has said that mr ebbers ordered accounting adjustments at the firm telling him to hit our books . however ms cooper said mr sullivan had not mentioned anything uncomfortable about worldcom s accounting during a 2001 audit committee meeting. mr ebbers could face a jail sentence of 85 years if convicted of all the charges he is facing. worldcom emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2004 and is now known as mci. last week mci agreed to a buyout by verizon communications in a deal valued at $6.75bn.

business

nasdaq planning $100m share sale the owner of the technology-dominated nasdaq stock index plans to sell shares to the public and list itself on the market it operates. according to a registration document filed with the securities and exchange commission nasdaq stock market plans to raise $100m (£52m) from the sale. some observers see this as another step closer to a full public listing. however nasdaq an icon of the 1990s technology boom recently poured cold water on those suggestions. the company first sold shares in private placements during 2000 and 2001. it technically went public in 2002 when the stock started trading on the otc bulletin board which lists equities that trade only occasionally. nasdaq will not make money from the sale only investors who bought shares in the private placings the filing documents said. the nasdaq is made up shares in technology firms and other companies with high growth potential. it was the most potent symbol of the 1990s internet and telecoms boom nose-diving after the bubble burst. a recovery in the fortunes of tech giants such as intel and dot.com survivors such as amazon has helped revive its fortunes.

world

absa and barclays talks continue south africa biggest retail bank absa has said it is still in talks with uk bank barclays over the sale of majority stake in the group. in november absa said it was close to striking a deal with barclays. but the group said barclays is still waiting for the approval of south africa s banking and competition authorities to make a formal offer. absa also announced that it expects to see earnings grow by 20-25% in its current financial year. discussions with barclays are continuing but shareholders are advised that no agreement has been reached as to any offer being made by barclays to acquire a majority stake in absa absa said in a statement. if barclays buys a stake in absa it will be one of the largest foreign investments in south africa in recent years. absa currently has a market value of about $8.5bn (£4.4bn). analysts said absa s earnings forecast was better than expected. however the company warned that headline earnings growth would be trimmed by about four percentage points because of share options for a black economic empowerment transaction and a staff share incentive scheme. the south african group will release its results for the year to 31 march on 30 may.

politics

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.

politics

housewives lift channel 4 ratings the debut of us television hit desperate housewives has helped lift channel 4 s january audience share by 12% compared to last year. other successes such as celebrity big brother and the simpsons have enabled the broadcaster to surpass bbc2 for the first month since last july. however the channel s share of the audience fell from 11.2% to 9.6% last month in comparison with january 2004. celebrity big brother attracted less viewers than its 2002 series. comedy drama desperate housewives managed to pull in five million viewers at one point during its run to date attracting a quarter of the television audience. the two main television channels bbc1 and itv1 have both seen their monthly audience share decline in a year on year comparison for january while five s proportion remained the same at a slender 6.3%. digital multi-channel tv is continuing to be the strongest area of growth with the bbc reporting freeview box ownership of five million including one million sales in the last portion of 2004. its share of the audience soared by 20% in january 2005 compared with last year and currently stands at an average of 28.6%.

entertainment

web logs aid disaster recovery some of the most vivid descriptions of the devastation in southern asia are on the internet - in the form of web logs or blogs. bloggers have been offering snapshots of information from around the region and are also providing some useful information for those who want to help. indian writer rohit gupta edits a group blog called dogs without borders. when he created it the site was supposed to be a forum to discuss relations between india and pakistan. but in the wake of sunday s tsunami mr gupta and his fellow bloggers switched gears. they wanted to blog the tsunami and its aftermath. one sri lankan blogger in the group goes by the online name morquendi. with internet service disrupted by the tsunami morquendi started sending sms text messages via cell phone from the affected areas of sri lanka. we started publishing these smses says mr gupta. morquendi was describing scenes like 1 600 bodies washed up on a shore and people burying and burying and burying them. people digging holes with their hands. and this was coming through an sms message. we didn t have visual accounts on radio or on tv or in the print media. soon thousands of web users around the world were logging on to read morquendi s first hand accounts. in one message morquendi wrote about a sri lankan woman who was running home with a friend when the wave hit. she was being swept away morquendi s message read. she grabbed a tree with one hand and her friend with the other. she says she watched the water pull her friend away. mr gupta says the power of morquendi s text message blogs was palpable. he was running around looking for friends burying bodies carrying bodies mr gupta says of morquendi. i can t even begin to imagine the psychological state he was in when he was sending us reports and doing the relief work at the same time. he was caught between being a journalist and being a human being. others blogs are helping to spread information about relief efforts. dina mehta is an indian blogger who s helping with the newly created south east asia earthquake and tsunami blog. she says the blog is not meant to be filled with first person accounts. what we re doing is we re building a resource she says. anyone who says ok i want to come and do some work in india volunteer in india or in sri lanka or malaysia this is the sort of one-stop-shop that they can come to for all sorts of resources - emergency help lines relief agencies aid agencies contacts for them etc. ms mehta also says she wishes that governments in the region would realise the power of blogs. imagine if they had this resource available to them if there was a disaster how quickly you could funnel aid in and get people to help she says. bloggers in the united states are also getting involved. ramdhan yadav kotamaraja is originally from india but now lives in dallas. mr kotamaraja wanted to help those affected by the tsunami by pooling money with concerned friends. so he set up an online payment system on his website. then says mr kotamaraja the blogging world found out. all my blogger friends started linking up my site and i saw a lot of people other than my friends. i d say 70% of the donations came from people i don t know. it s simply unbelievable to me that people that i don t know will come and start donating. news spreads quickly on weblogs a phenomenon that helps bloggers expand their audience and scope. in sri lanka blogger morquendi is recruiting others to help. one recruit calls himself heretic. in one of his latest posts heretic asks: have you ever seen fishing trawlers on the road ever seen a bus inside a house well heretic writes that was just the least affected areas - so you can just imagine - or can you he concludes: keep it blogged. clark boyd is technology correspondent for the world a bbc world service and wgbh-boston co-production.

sports

terror detainees win lords appeal detaining foreign terrorist suspects without trial breaks human rights laws the uk s highest court has ruled. in a blow to the government s anti-terror measures the house of lords law lords ruled by an eight to one majority in favour of appeals by nine detainees. most of the men are being indefinitely held in belmarsh prison south london. the law lords said the measures were incompatible with european human rights laws. the men will stay behind bars while ministers decide how to react. the ruling creates a major problem for charles clarke on his first day as home secretary following david blunkett s resignation. the liberal democrats say mr clarke should use the fact he is new to the job to take issue with a law established by his predecessor david blunkett. belmarsh prison has been dubbed britain s guantanamo bay by civil rights campaigners opposed to the use of emergency anti-terror laws. the detainees took their case to the house of lords after the court of appeal backed the home office s powers to hold them without limit or charge. the government opted out of part of the european convention on human rights concerning the right to a fair trial in order to bring in anti-terrorism legislation in response to the 11 september attacks in the us. any foreign national suspected of links with terrorism can be detained or can opt to be deported. however those detained cannot be deported if this would mean persecution in their homeland. on thursday senior law lord lord bingham said the rules were incompatible with the european convention on human rights as they allowed detentions in a way that discriminates on the ground of nationality or immigration status . lord nicholls of birkenhead in his ruling said: indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial is anathema in any country which observes the rule of law. it deprives the detained person of the protection a criminal trial is intended to afford. he said the weakness for the government s case was that it was trying to justify detention without trial for foreign suspects - but not for british suspects. lord hoffmann said: the real threat to the life of the nation in the sense of a people living in accordance with its traditional laws and political values comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these. but lord walker of gestingthorpe the one law lord to oppose the appeal said the anti-terror laws contained important safeguards against oppression. in a statement detainee a in woodhill prison said: i hope now that the government will act upon this decision scrap this illegal law and release me and the other internees to return to our families and loved ones. the case was heard by a panel of nine law lords rather than the usual five because of the constitutional importance of the case. ben emmerson qc representing seven of the detainees said the men had already been in custody for nearly three years. he said they had been given no idea when if ever they would be released had never been formally interviewed and there was no prospect they would ever be put on trial. when the men were first held they took their cases to the special immigration appeals commission (siac). the commission ruled on 30 july 2002 that the anti-terror act unjustifiably discriminated against foreign nationals as british people could not be held in the same way. but that ruling was later overturned by the court of appeal who said there was a state of emergency threatening the life of the nation.

entertainment

kilroy unveils immigration policy ex-chatshow host robert kilroy-silk has attacked uk policy on immigration saying britain s open door approach is hitting low wage indigenous workers. the veritas leader said the only people to benefit from immigrants from places like poland were employers landlords members of the metropolitan elite . the mep said his party would only admit foreigners who were required because they had specific skills to offer. and he argued asylum cost £2bn a year for 14 000 successful applicants. mr kilroy-silk said that worked out at £143 000 per successful asylum seeker. he said veritas wanted to grant an amnesty for all those in britain claiming asylum and who have children and deport everyone else. britain should take its fair share of asylum seekers under the united nations convention on human rights he argued. and mr kilroy-silk said he wanted to spend an extra £500m a year to help provide for refugees abroad.

world

election deal faltered over heath role the tories failed to hold onto power in 1974 after liberals demanded sir edward heath quit in return for co-operation. documents released after 30 years reveal the failed negotiations by the then prime minister following the dramatic february general election. liberal leader jeremy thorpe appeared willing to form a coalition government. but it partly collapsed over the conservative leader s own role prompting the queen to ask harold wilson to form a labour government. the february 1974 general election surprised the nation when it created a hung parliament with no party in overall control. sir edward had gone to the country for a fresh mandate amid the spiralling economic crisis a miners strike and the subsequent three-day week. labour emerged with the most seats - but its 301 mps were 17 short of the number mr wilson needed to form a majority. sir edward who had received more votes but had fewer mps believed he had the authority to remain at number 10 providing the 14 liberal mps would support his government. he said the liberals could keep out labour in three ways: lend ad hoc support to his minority government help draw up the government s programme or have up to three cabinet members in a coalition with the conservatives. according to the documents released at the national archives the friendly and easy first meeting indicated that both sir edward and mr thorpe thought they had the makings of a deal. mr thorpe was in high spirits having just led his party to a historic jump in support. he also argued for a grand coalition of all three main parties. but sir edward said that was impossible because the labour left was set against it and the pair settled on trying for a conservative-liberal pact. hours later sir edward s hopes of a deal unravelled as mr thorpe s colleagues refused to support him. jeremy said he was encountering a rather embarrassing problem with his colleagues about the prime minister personally reads a telephone memo for mr heath. they feel they could not agree to serve as long as he is the prime minister. asked if this was his own view he said - no it was not i am very close to ted and thought he was by far the most able man we had and he would be perfectly happy to serve - it was only some of his colleagues who were being difficult. the following day the stickling points had clearly become two-fold: mr thorpe s colleagues wanted electoral reform and sir edward s resignation. mr thorpe told sir edward: i am sorry this is obviously hell - a nightmare on stilts for you. somehow i personally hope that we can work something out. four hours later sir edward called the liberal leader back to downing street in a last attempt at a deal. the minutes of the meeting show how the chance of a coalition government quickly evaporated. the pm said he was bound to tell mr thorpe that his colleagues had told him that they would not agree to serve under any other prime minister. mr thorpe was at liberty to verify this by talking to one or two of the prime minister s colleagues. documents show that sir edward mulled over resigning and perhaps returning to coalition government in a labour-led coalition. but he already knew mr wilson would not form a coalition with either the liberals or the conservatives because of the opposition of the labour left. within hours of his final talks with mr thorpe sir edward told the nation he was resigning and the queen invited mr wilson to form a new minority government.

science and tech

us company admits benin bribery a us defence and telecommunications company has agreed to pay $28.5m after admitting bribery in the west african state of benin. the titan corporation was accused of funnelling more than $2m into the 2001 re-election campaign of president mathieu kerekou. at the time titan was trying to get a higher price for a telecommunications project in benin. there is no suggestion that mr kerekou was himself aware of any wrongdoing. titan a california-based company pleaded guilty to falsifying its accounts and violating us anti-bribery laws. it agreed to pay $13m in criminal penalties as well as $15.5m to settle a civil lawsuit brought by the us financial watchdog the securities and exchange commission (sec). the sec had accused titan of illegally paying $2.1m to an unnamed agent in benin claiming ties with president kerekou. some of the money was used to pay for t-shirts with campaign slogans on them ahead of the 2001 election. shortly after the poll which mr kerekou won benin officials agreed to quadruple titan s management fee. prosecuting attorney carol lam said: all us companies should take note that attempting to bribe foreign officials is criminal conduct and will be appropriately prosecuted. the company says it no longer tolerates such practices. under the us foreign corrupt practices act it is a crime for american firms to bribe foreign officials.

sports

wmc says xstrata bid is too low australian mining firm wmc resources has said it is worth up to 30% more than a hostile 7.4bn australian dollar ($5.8bn; £3bn) bid by rival xstrata. there is now pressure on swiss-based xstrata to increase its takeover offer. a report from investment firm grant samuel in wmc defence documents values wmc shares at a$7.17 to a$8.24 against xstrata s bid of a$6.35 a share. analysts said the defence documents provided more details on wmc and may trigger a possible rival bid. if a bid is going to emerge it is probably likely in the next one to two weeks said daiwa securities analyst mark pervan. he said the valuation would put increased pressure on xstrata to look at sweetening its offer. marc gonsalves an executive at xstrata said: we will review the information contained in the target s statement over the next week or so. he added: while we will review the assumptions made by grant samuel in detail we are extremely sceptical of their conclusion and suggest that wmc shareholders take extreme care in presuming that these optimistic assumptions are capable of being realised. last month australia s competition watchdog said it would not oppose the purchase of wmc by zurich and london-based xstrata. on tuesday wmc chairman tommie bergman said in a statement the directors believed it was in shareholders best interest to reject the offer. he said wmc would pursue value-creating options provided by a portfolio of world class assets . and wmc chief executive andrew michelmore claimed the xstrata offer was aimed at creating value for xstrata s shareholders and was not being made for the benefit of wmc s shareholders. grant samuel said its valuation of wmc was based on lower average prices for nickel copper and uranium than current market levels. any longer term commodity price improvements would only improve our outlook mr michelmore said. in 2003 xstrata acquired australia s largest copper miner - mim holdings. wmc resources is the world s third-largest producer of concentrated nickel and also a miner of copper and uranium. it owns the olympic dam mine in south australia which contains about one-third of the world s known uranium resources and is also the world s fourth largest copper mine. xstrata is a global mining giant with operations in australia south africa spain germany argentina and the uk. its core products are copper coking coal thermal coal ferrochrome vanadium and zinc. it also has growing businesses in gold lead and silver.

world

army chiefs in regiments decision military chiefs are expected to meet to make a final decision on the future of scotland s army regiments. a committee of the army board which is made up of the most senior defence figures will discuss plans for restructuring regiments on monday. the proposals include cutting scotland s six single-battalion regiments to five and merging these into a super regiment. the plans have faced stiff opposition from campaigners and politicians alike. the committee s decision must be ratified by defence secretary geoff hoon and prime minister tony blair. it is expected that it will be made public next week. when ministers announced a reorganisation of the army it drew a question mark over the futures of the black watch the kings own scottish borderers the royal scots the royal highland fusiliers and the argyll and sutherland highlanders. in october the council of scottish colonels proposed the merger of the royal scots and the king s own scottish borderers into a single battalion. under their vision it would be one of five in the new super regiment. the proposals to either merge or amalgamate the six regiments into a super regiment sparked a political outcry with labour backbenchers and opposition politicians opposing the plan. they felt the timing was insensitive because the black watch was in the frontline in iraq suffering casualties. the save the scottish regiments campaigners were so angered they threatened to stand against labour at the next general election. speaking ahead of the expected army board meeting a spokesman said: the government and the army board have spent the past four months attempting to trick serving soldiers and the public into thinking their planned changes for the scottish regiments are for the good of the army and for that of the serving soldier. they are very much not for the good and will destroy scotland s regiments by moulding them into a single super regiment which will lead to severe recruitment problems a loss of local connections to those regiments and a loss to scotland of an important part of her heritage and most importantly her future - the regiments are the envy of armies around the world. an alternative blueprint had been put forward by labour mp eric joyce who proposed going ahead with the merger while preserving the other regiments. for a brief time there was speculation the prime minister might consider the plan but that now seems unlikely. speaking in scotland last week mr blair said the aim was to preserve tradition but introduce a more effective structure and hinted that a super regiment was likely. he said: they don t want to get rid of the history or the traditions of the regiment or the local connections - far from it all they want to do is make sure they can transfer people easily across regiments and deploy them more flexibly. the prime minister said he hoped campaigners concerns would be taken into account but the need for effective change had to be paramount.

politics

former ni minister scott dies former northern ireland minister sir nicholas scott has died at a london hospice his family has announced. the former conservative mp for kensington and chelsea died after a long illness diagnosed as alzheimer s. the 71-year-old served in northern ireland from 1981 to 1987 during the premiership of margaret thatcher. as a northern ireland minister he dealt with education and later security where he rode out the mass ira escape from the maze in 1983. in education he encountered criticism over school closures and the future of the catholic training colleges. he also merged the new university of ulster and the ulster polytechnic to create the university of ulster. sir nicholas was a strong defender of the anglo-irish agreement and was held in esteem in dublin government and sdlp circles. but he experienced hostility from unionists some of whom dubbed him minister of discord . after leaving northern ireland in a reshuffle he became a uk disability minister. sir nicholas was replaced as the member for kensington and chelsea by the flamboyant alan clark after being deselected by his constituency in december 1996. his deselection followed a series of scandals including being found slumped in the street by police during the tory party conference in bournemouth and taken back to his hotel. sir nicholas claimed strong painkillers he was taking for a back problem had reacted badly with a small amount of alcohol. after his sacking he bitterly said that despite the support of cabinet ministers and tory backbenchers the eurosceptics in his constituency were absolutely determined to get rid of me . his colourful career also included a very public disagreement with daughter victoria over civil rights for the disabled. sir nicholas admitted he misled mps when he denied his department had been involved in wrecking tactics designed to kill the disability bill in 1994. victoria a lobbyist for disabled rights denounced her father s actions and heaped insult on injury when she joined the calls for him to resign. he joined the backbenches two months later.

business

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

business

ukraine revisits state sell-offs ukraine is preparing what could be a wholesale review of the privatisation of thousands of businesses by the previous administration. the new president viktor yushchenko has said a limited list of companies is being drawn up. but on wednesday prime minister yulia tymoshenko said the government was planning to renationalise 3 000 firms. the government says many privatised firms were sold to allies of the last administration at rock-bottom prices. more than 90 000 businesses in all from massive corporations to tiny shopfronts have been sold off since 1992 as the command economy built up when ukraine was part of the soviet union was dismantled. ms tymoshenko said prosecutors had drawn up a list of more than 3 000 businesses which were to be reviewed. we will return to the state that which was illegally put into private hands. a day earlier mr yushchenko - keen to reassure potential investors - had said only 30 to 40 top firms would be targeted. the list will be limited and final and will not be extended after its completion he said. an open-ended list could further damage outside investors fragile faith in ukraine said stuart hensel of the economist intelligence unit. but the government seemed keen not to make the review look like the kind of wholesale renationalisation which many fear in russia mr hensel said. as a result it was planning to resell rather than keep firms in state hands. they re aware of the need not to scare investors and to be careful of internal divides within ukraine he said. they don t want to be seen to be transferring assets from one set of oligarchs to a new set. foreign investment in ukraine at about $40 a head in 2004 is one of the lowest among ex-soviet states. mr yushchenko became president after two elections in december the first of which was annulled amid allegations of voting irregularities and massive street protests. his opponent viktor yanukovich still has huge support in the country s eastern industrial heartland. mr yushchenko s administration has accused its predecessor led by ex-president leonid kuchma of corruption. the privatisation review s number one target is a steel mill sold to a consortium which included viktor pinchuk mr kuchma s son-in-law for $800m (£424m) despite higher bids from several foreign groups. the mill krivorizhstal is one of the world s most profitable. we say krivorizhstal was stolen and at any cost we will return it to the state mr yushchenko told an investors conference in kiev. one of the jilted bidders netherlands-based group lnm said it welcomed the possibility that the mill might be back on the market. if the original privatisation is annulled and a new tender issued then we would look at it with great interest a spokesman told bbc news. a resale of krivorizhstal could potentially triple the price according to the economist intelligence unit s mr hensel. but he warned that the government could decide to take the easy route of revaluing the company and charging the existing owners the revised price rather than undertaking a fresh sale. that way mr yushchenko can go to the public and say he has forced the oligarchs to play by the rules he told bbc news.

business

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

business

consumer 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.

science and tech

mourinho takes swipe at arsenal chelsea boss jose mourinho has attempted to pile the pressure on title rivals arsenal ahead of the gunners facing newcastle on wednesday. arsenal will play the magpies a day after chelsea beat portsmouth during a busy festive programme. and mourinho said: they always seem to have two or three days rest in which to recover. perhaps it s something to do with the television schedule. all my players are tired especially john terry. chelsea boss jose mourinho admitted his side were lucky to win at fratton park but is still unhappy with the amount of games in such a short space of time during this time of year. he added: we have had to play two matches in three days which is foreign to many of my players and although i understand the traditions of football here at this time of year it is not good for your health to do it. you can sit back and smoke cigars one after another and it is a good life but it is not actually good for you. playing so many games is certainly not healthy especially for teams who still have european commitment.

politics

comic morris returns with sitcom comedian chris morris who created controversial tv show brass eye is to return to screens with a new sitcom about a spoof london media worker. morris will direct and co-write nathan barley - a character from cult website tv go home - for channel 4. it is a send-up of the stereotypical cool metropolitan media scene with nicholas burns in the title role. a brass eye satire of the media handling of paedophilia sparked 2 500 complaints in 2001. nathan barley will be a character-driven comedy according to charlie brooker who created tv go home in 1999 and has co-written the series. barley is described as a webmaster guerrilla film-maker screenwriter dj and in his own words a self-facilitating media node . the story will also feature dan ashcroft a style magazine columnist and his sister claire a film-maker who hates the cool scene. as well as brass eye morris was behind another news show satire the day today and dark sketch comedy jam. the new show is expected to begin in february.

entertainment

stevens named in england line-up england have named bath prop matt stevens in the starting line-up for their six nations match against ireland at lansdowne road on sunday. fellow bath prop duncan bell will start on the bench as coach andy robinson makes just one change to the team that was beaten by france. it will be stevens first start after two caps as a replacement against the all blacks last year. leicester duo ollie smith and andy goode have been drafted onto the bench. stevens takes over from phil vickery who suffered a broken arm playing for gloucester last weekend. i m confident matt will grasp this opportunity and make his mark against ireland said robinson. all three players have shown outstanding form of late most recently in the england a win against france a and for their club added robinson. selection beckons when players demonstrate such consistent ability. this game against ireland will be massive. we recognise it s a must-win game for us this season. england confirmed that sale sharks prop andrew sheridan was not considered for selection because of an injury he picked up to the back of his ankle during last friday s match against leeds. j robinson (sale sharks capt); m cueto (sale sharks) j noon (newcastle) o barkley (bath) j lewsey (wasps); c hodgson (sale sharks) h ellis (leicester); g rowntree (leicester) s thompson (northampton) m stevens (bath) d grewcock (bath) b kay (leicester) j worsley (wasps) l moody (leicester) m corry (leicester). a titterrell (sale sharks) d bell (bath) s borthwick (bath) a hazell (gloucester) m dawson (wasps) a goode (leicester) o smith (leicester).

world

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

science and tech

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

science and tech

verizon seals takeover of mci verizon has won a takeover battle for us phone firm mci with a bid worth $6.8bn (£3.6bn) reports say. the two firms are expected to seal the deal on monday morning according to news agency reports despite what was thought to be a higher bid from qwest. the us telecoms market is consolidating fast with former long-distance giant at&t being bought by former subsidiary sbc earlier this year for $16bn. mci exited bankruptcy in april having gone bust under previous name worldcom. the bankruptcy followed its admission in 2002 that it illegally booked expenses and inflated profits. shareholders lost about $180bn when the company collapsed while 20 000 workers lost their jobs. former worldcom boss bernie ebbers is currently on trial accused of overseeing an $11bn fraud. qwest has itself come under suspicion of sub-standard behaviour paying the securities and exchange commission $250m in october to settle charges that it manipulated its results to keep wall street happy. mci is the us s second-biggest long distance firm after at&t. consolidation in the us telecommunications industry has picked up in the past few months as companies look to cut costs and boost client bases. a merger between mci and verizon would be the fifth billion-dollar telecoms deal since october. last week sbc communications agreed to buy its former parent and phone trailblazer at&t for about $16bn. buying mci would give either qwest or verizon access to mci s global network and business-based subscribers. the rationale is similar to the one underpinning sbc s at&t deal. verizon is by far the bigger company and has its own successful mobile arm - factors which may have swung the board in its favour since both suitors are offering a mixture of cash and shares.

politics

mobiles not media players yet mobiles are not yet ready to be all-singing all-dancing multimedia devices which will replace portable media players say two reports. despite moves to bring music download services to mobiles people do not want to trade multimedia services with size and battery life said jupiter. a separate study by gartner has also said real-time tv broadcasts to mobiles is unlikely in europe until 2007. technical issues and standards must be resolved first said the report. batteries already have to cope with other services that operators offer like video playback video messaging megapixel cameras and games amongst others. bringing music download services based on the success of computer-based download services will put more demands on battery life. fifty percent of europeans said the size of a mobile was the most important factor when it came to choosing their phone but more power demands tend to mean larger handsets. mobile phone music services must not be positioned to compete with the pc music experience as the handsets are not yet ready said thomas husson mobile analyst at jupiter research. mobile music services should be new and different and enable operators to differentiate their brands and support third generation network launches. other problems facing mobile music include limited storage on phones compared to portable players which can hold up to 40gb of music. the mobile industry is keen to get into music downloading after the success of apple s itunes napster and other net music download services. with phones getting smarter and more powerful there are also demands to be able to watch tv on the move. in the us services like tivo to go let people transfer pre-recorded tv content onto their phones. but the gartner report on mobile tv broadcasting in europe suggests direct broadcasting will have to wait. currently tv-like services where clips are downloaded are offered by several european operators like italy s tim and 3. mobile tv will have to overcome several barriers before it is widely taken up though said the report. various standards and ways of getting tv signals to mobiles are being worked on globally. in europe trials in berlin and helsinki are making use of terrestrial tv masts to broadcast compressed signals to handsets with extra receivers. a service from the norwegian broadcasting corporation lets people watch tv programmes on their mobiles 24 hours a day. the service uses 3gp technology one of the standards for mobile tv. but at the end of 2004 the european telecommunications institute (etsi) formally adopted digital video broadcasting handheld (dvb-h) as the mobile tv broadcasting standard for europe. operators will be working on the standard as a way to bring real-time broadcasts to mobiles as well as trying to overcome several other barriers. the cost and infrastructure needs to set up the services will need to be addressed. handsets also need to be able to work with the dvb-h standard. tv services will have to live up to the expectations of the digital tv generation too which expects good quality images at low prices according to analysts. people are also likely to be put off watching tv on such small screens said gartner. digital video recorders like europe s sky+ box and video-on-demand services mean people have much more control over what tv they watch. as a result people may see broadcasting straight to mobiles as taking away that control. more powerful smartphones like the xda ii nokia 6600 sonyericsson p900 and the orange e200 offering web access text and multimedia messaging e-mail calendar and gaming are becoming increasingly common. a report by analysts instat/mdr has predicted that smartphone shipments will grow by 44% over the next five years. it says that smartphones will make up 117 million out of 833 million handsets shipped globally by 2009.

science and tech

blair moves to woo jewish voters tony blair has pledged to never ever ever attack tory leader michael howard over his jewish beliefs. the prime minister told the jewish chronicle: if you look at what i do i attack michael howard politically. mr blair also distanced himself from recent labour campaign posters featuring mr howard which critics claimed were anti-semitic . these were not intended to cause any offence to anyone on the jewish community mr blair insisted. one poster depicted mr howard and his shadow chancellor oliver letwin who is also jewish as flying pigs. another pictured the tory leader swinging a pocket watch on a chain which critics said echoed the jewish money lender shylock in shakespeare s merchant of venice. others compared the image to the character fagin in charles dickens oliver twist. labour has since taken the designs of its website saying members had preferred other designs. during his interview with the jewish chronicle mr blair said: i ve been a very strong supporter of the jewish community and israel and will always be so. pressed on whether he would draw attention to mr howard s jewish beliefs in an attempt to attract muslim support he replied: the idea that i would allow anybody to make such a charge is outrageous. it s untrue. if you look what i do i attack michael howard politically. i would never ever ever attack him on that basis. mr blair also defended his party s attitude towards the jewish community pointing out that it was his government that had introduced the holocaust memorial day. he added that labour also aggressively fought all forms of racism. neither the conservatives nor the liberal democrats wished to comment on mr blair s words. the prime minister was speaking as london s labour mayor ken livingstone remains embroiled in a row over comments he made to a jewish reporter from the city s evening standard newspaper. mr blair repeated calls for the mayor to apologise for likening the reporter oliver finegold to a concentration camp guard. mr livingstone should have withdrawn the comment immediately once he realised the journalist was jewish said mr blair. i m sure that is what in truth he wants to do. well he should do it. mr livingstone has said he could not sincerely say sorry for the comments he made and claims he has been targeted by the newspaper. he conceded his comments may have been offensive but were not racist and said earlier this week he would not apologise even if mr blair asked.

politics

bening makes awards breakthrough film actress annette bening is up for an oscar for her starring role in the award-winning film being julia. bening who was born in texas in 1958 has gained prominence for a string of key roles. although an oscar has so far eluded her her status as one of hollywood s favourite actresses remains solid. one of the biggest oscars buzzes in recent years was for bening s role as troubled carolyn burnham in 1999 s american beauty. but her deliciously neurotic portrayal of surburban life turning sour was overlooked in favour of hilary swank s leading role in boys don t cry. after opening her career in the theatre - and gaining a tony award nomination in 1986 - bening had a low-key spell in television. she then made her film debut as a sex-starved wife in 1988 s the great outdoors opposite comics dan akroyd and john candy. following a cameo in postcards from the edge bening s breakthrough role came in 1990 playing seductive con artist myra langtry in the grifters - a role that won her an oscar nomination. despite some rave reviews bening did not win the best supporting actress academy award. however the high-profile performance enabled bening to capture roles in a number of big budget hollywood productions co-starring with some of hollywood s greatest players including robert de niro and harrison ford. but it was her role opposite warren beatty in 1991 gangster flick bugsy which had the greatest impact. bening played virginia hill another role which won her high critical acclaim but the film only picked up two of a staggering 12 oscar nominations. bugsy was the start of a very significant liaison for bening - she married beatty with whom she had a child as the couple promoted the film in europe. the couple now have four children together. a pair of contrasting yet successful performances peppered bening s career in the mid-1990s. she played michael douglas opposite number in romantic comedy the american president and as a fiery queen elizabeth i in a contemporary adaptation of shakespeare s richard iii. bening was the first choice to play the female lead in american beauty director sam mendes film debut which was a critical and commercial success - but the actress had to be content with a bafta award for her strong performance. but current film being julia has made bening an award-winning actress rather than the perennial nominee with success at the golden globes. the witty tale of revenge and love set in 1930s london sees the eponymous theatrical diva - played by bening - grow tired of her success and fall for a young american - and could be the role which finally wins her the coveted academy award.

sports

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

business

chinese wine tempts italy s illva italy s illva saronno has agreed to buy 33% of changyu the largest wine maker in china. changyu said in a statement to the shenzhen stock exchange that illva will pay 481.42m yuan ($58.16m; £30.7m) once the government approves the deal. the italian liqueur maker will acquire the shares from the yantai state asset management bureau. chinese wine sales are growing the us agriculture department said with wine sales in 2003 up 25% at 61.1bn yuan. china is encouraging state-owned companies to sell shares to foreign investors. anheuser-busch heineken and scottish & newcastle have all invested in the chinese beer industry in the last two years and now illva saronno is betting on the chinese wine market. yantai state asset management bureau - a government agency in the north-eastern city of yantai - owns 55% of changyu. the state agency will also sell 10% of its stake in changyu to another overseas company although it didn t say who. the remaining 12% will be retained by the yantai city government. the consumption of wine in china is still low at just 0.22 litres per capita said the us agriculture department. this compares with 59 litres in france 12 litres in the us and three litres in japan.

entertainment

career honour for actor dicaprio actor leonardo dicaprio s exceptional career has been honoured at the santa barbara international film festival. the star was presented with the award by martin scorsese who directed him in oscar-nominated movie the aviator. it s a lifetime achievement award which is completely and utterly surreal given i m only 30 years old dicaprio said. but what has it been almost 17 years now. i ve done quite a few films. a retrospective of his movies was shown. what s really exciting for me is that this is what i really love doing he added. it s what i want to do for the rest of my life. dicaprio began his movie career in horror film critters 3 before moving onto roles in the basketball diaries romeo and juliet titanic and gangs of new york. the achievement award was created to commemorate the california festival s 20th anniversary and coincided with dicaprio s portrayal of millionaire howard hughes in the aviator. veteran actress jane russell who starred in hughes 1943 film the outlaw said was impressed by dicaprio s quest for authenticity when he previously discussed the role with her. i was very happy that (dicaprio) came and cared to come up and find out what (hughes) was really like she said. the aviator has taken pole position in this year s oscars race with 11 nominations including nominations for best film best actor for dicaprio and best director for scorsese.

entertainment

houllier praises benitez regime former liverpool manager gerard houllier has praised the work of his anfield successor rafael benitez. houllier was angry at reports that he has been critical of benitez since the spaniard took over at liverpool. but houllier told bbc sport: in private and in public i have stressed i believe rafa is doing a good job. he is the right man at the right place. rafa is a good coach and a good man. i ve spoken to him since he has been at liverpool and never criticised him. houllier also revealed he is now ready to return to the game after leaving liverpool in may following six years at anfield. the former france boss has been linked with a host of jobs and pulled out of the race to succeed mark hughes as wales national coach. he has been working for uefa covering the premiership for french television and also coaching in brazil with national coach carlos alberto perreira. houllier said: if a good club comes up at the right time then yes i am ready to come back. it has been interesting to watch games from a different perspective and i have learned things. i have been involved in football since leaving liverpool and my batteries are recharged. houllier has been impressed with the quality in the premiership after watching as a pundit - particularly with jose mourinho s work at leaders chelsea. he said: chelsea are doing very well. they have some very good creative players in damien duff and arjen robben and didier drogba showed he can change the face of a game when he came on against newcastle. they have got a good team spirit and are strong mentally. they have shown they can cope with all the pressure put on them because of the expectations and cope well with jose s principles. jose had results before he came to chelsea and i think he will have an impact in the premiership because he manages his team very cleverly. and houllier away from his brief at liverpool has been hugely impressed with the premiership. he said: it is a very exciting league. it is entertaining goals are scored and teams are always trying to win. it has been very interesting to watch the game from a different perspective. games switch from end-to-end and there is more pace to the premiership than other leagues. it is a very good product.

science and tech

plan to give elderly care control elderly and disabled people would choose how their own budget for personal care was spent and organised under government plans. ministers say elderly and disabled people themselves not social workers should be able to decide on their care and stay in their own homes. they also plan a supremo for adult services in each english area to get different agencies working together. but the government shunned opponents calls for free long-term care. there are 1.7m people needing care in england and ministers suggest the number could quadruple by 2050. monday s consultation paper on social care for adults in england is aimed at ending a system which generates dependency. health minister stephen ladyman said: this document is the antithesis of the nanny state. it s about taking power away from the state and giving it to individuals and saying that we will help you make these decisions but we are not going to make them for you any more. the government has already allowed local councils to give people money so they can pay for their services directly but take-up of the scheme has been disappointing . ministers say the new plans would make direct payments simpler and try to counter reluctance in some local councils to use the payments. they also want to set up a new half-way house where social workers tell people how much money is available for their care and help them choose how to spend that individual budget . the scheme will be funded on existing budgets set until 2008. but mr ladyman said the plans could deliver savings in some areas such as freeing up nhs beds and preventing illnesses. he ruled out free personal care in england - which is on offer in scotland and wales saying it was unsustainable . david rogers from the local government association said agencies were working together on the kind of innovation proposed by the government. and tony hunter president of the association of directors of social services said the plans could improve dignity and well-being for thousands of people. but age concern argued social care was chronically under-funded and older people were being offered choice in principle but not in practice. its director general gordon lishman said: direct payments will not work if there are no services for people to choose from locally. the tories say people who pay for three years long-term care directly or through insurance should be guaranteed free care for the rest of their lives. tory spokesman simon burns said more than 80 000 long term care places had been lost since 1997. after eight years of persistent change dogmatic enforcement of regulation and overbearing government initiatives - we need action not a vision said mr burns. the lib dems say they would fund free personal care by a new 50% tax rate on incomes over £100 000. health spokesman paul burstow said: promoting independence sounds good and helping people to live in their own homes is a goal we share. but the risk is that independence can turn into isolation if the right support and care is not available.

politics

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.

world

tautou film tops cesar prize nods french film a very long engagement has received 12 nominations for france s cesar film awards despite a recent ruling it was not french enough . the world war i romantic drama starring audrey tautou was recently ruled too american by a paris court as it was partially backed by warner bros. but the cesar organisers modified their rules to allow the film to compete. the film directed by jean-pierre jeunet received best actress picture and director nominations. last november a court judged the film was too american to compete in french film festivals. two associations of french producers challenged jeunet s right to french government subsidies because warner bros was a backer. the ruling meant the movie - which was filmed in france and used french actors and technicians - was not eligible to compete for french prizes. but alain terzian president of cesar organisers the academie des arts et techniques du cinema said the changes in eligibility rules which allow films of french expression were made three months prior to the court decision. other films in the best film category include police drama 36 quai des orfevres arnaud desplechin s kings and queen abdellatif kechiche s l esquive and france s number one film at the 2004 box-office the chorus. best actors are daniel auteuil for 36 mathieu amalric for kings and queen gerard jugnot for the chorus philippe torreton for l equipier and benoit poelvoorde for podium. tautou will compete against maggie cheung emmanuelle devos yolande moreau and karin viard for best actress. michael moore s fahrenheit 9/11 the motorcycle diaries lost in translation eternal sunshine of the spotless mind and 21 grams are all vying in the best foreign film prize. the awards ceremony will be held on 26 february. this year will smith star of i robot independence day and men in black will be given an honorary cesar along with french singer/actor jacques dutronc.

sports

buyers snap up jet airways shares investors have snapped up shares in jet airways india s biggest airline following the launch of its much anticipated initial public offer (ipo). the ipo for 17.3 million shares was fully sold within 10 minutes of opening on friday. analysts expect jet to raise at least 16.4bn rupees ($375m; £198m) from the offering. interest in jet s ipo has been fuelled by hopes for robust growth in india s air travel market. the share offer representing about 20% of jet s equity was oversubscribed news agency reuters reported. jet which was founded by london-based travel agent naresh goyal plans to use the cash to buy new planes and cut its debt. the company has grown rapidly since it launched operations in 1993 overtaking state-owned flag carrier indian airlines. however it faces stiff competition from rivals and low-cost carriers. jet s ipo is the first in a series of expected share offers from indian companies this year as they move to raise funds to help them do business in a rapidly-growing economy.

business

candidate resigns over bnp link a prospective candidate for the uk independence party (ukip) has resigned after admitting a brief attachment to the british national party(bnp). nicholas betts-green who had been selected to fight the suffolk coastal seat quit after reports in a newspaper that he attended a bnp meeting. the former teacher confirmed he had attended the meeting but said that was the only contact he had with the group. mr betts-green resigned after being questioned by the party s leadership. a ukip spokesman said mr betts-green s resignation followed disclosures in the east anglian daily times last month about his attendance at a bnp meeting. he did once attend a bnp meeting. he did not like what he saw and heard and will take no further part of it the spokesman added. a meeting of suffolk coastal ukip members is due to be held next week to discuss a replacement. mr betts-green of woodbridge suffolk has also resigned as ukip s branch chairman.

politics

anti-spam screensaver scrapped a contentious campaign to bump up the bandwidth bills of spammers by flooding their sites with data has been dropped. lycos europe s make love not spam campaign began in late november but its tactics proved controversial. lycos has shut down the campaign saying it had been started to stimulate debate about anti-spam measures and had now achieved this aim. the anti-spammer screensaver came under fire for encouraging vigilante activity and skirting the edge of the law. through the make love not spam website users could download a screensaver that would endlessly request data from the net sites mentioned in many junk mail messages. more than 100 000 people are thought to have downloaded the screensaver that lycos europe offered. the company wanted to keep the spam sites running at near total capacity to make it much less financially attractive to spammers to operate the sites. but the campaign was controversial from the moment it kicked off and many net veterans criticised it for using spamming-type tactics against the senders of junk mail. some net service firms began blocking access to the lycos europe site in protest at the action. monitoring firm netcraft found that the anti-spam campaign was proving a little too successful. according to response-time figures gathered by netcraft some of the sites that the screensaver targeted were being knocked offline by the constant data requests. in a statement from lycos europe announcing the scrapping of the scheme the company denied that this was its fault. there is nothing to suggest that make love not spam has brought down any of the sites that it has targeted it said. at the time that netcraft measured the sites it claims may have been brought down they were not in fact part of the make love not spam attack cycle it added. the statement issued by lycos also said that the centralised database it used ensured that traffic to the target sites left them with 5% spare capacity. the idea was simply to slow spammers sites and this was achieved by the campaign the company said. many security organisations said users should not participate in the lycos europe campaign. the closure comes only days after the campaign was suspended following the outbreak of criticism.

entertainment

o driscoll/gregan lead aid stars ireland s brian o driscoll will lead the northern hemisphere team in the irb rugby aid match at twickenham. o driscoll heads a star-studded cast for the contest to raise funds for the tsunami appeal. the south will be led by george gregan one of four wallabies alongside five springboks and four all blacks including captain tana umaga. south african flanker schalk burger has shaken off a leg injury to take his place in the starting line-up. he will join fellow springboks john smit cobus visagie and victor matfield in the south pack with jacque fourie among the centres. the north side have been hit by the withdrawals of scotland duo gordon bulloch and chris cusiter plus france captain fabien pelous. but leicester s england centre ollie smith has been added to the squad giving him an opportunity to impress lions coach sir clive woodward who takes charge of the north side. i think it s fantastic for ollie tigers coach john wells told bbc radio leicester. he was probably going to have the weekend off this week and i hope clive gets the chance to see the qualities that leicester and england have been seeing all year. woodward will also assess other potential lions candidates such as scotland pair simon taylor and chris paterson wales scrum-half dwayne peel and ireland lock paul o connell. i m looking forward to working with such outstanding players woodward said. both teams are fielding top-quality sides and i really hope that the rugby public and community get behind this game to raise as much money as possible for such a deserving cause. despite the withdrawal of wales wing rhys williams who is required for the blues celtic league match with munster three other members of their six nations squad - ceri sweeney john yapp and jonathan thomas - will also play. not only it is for a good cause but it gives these players the opportunity to play with and against some of the best players in the world said wru general manager steve lewis. supporters can watch the teams train for free at twickenham on friday 4 march. woodward will put his north team through their paces at 1030 gmt with the south side coached by former wallabies coach rod macqueen due at the stadium at 1330. c paterson (scotland) b cohen (england) b o driscoll (ireland capt) d traille (france) o smith (england) c sweeney (wales) d humphreys (ireland) d peel (wales); a lo cicero (italy) p de villiers (france) j yapp (wales) r ibanez (france) p o connell (ireland) m bortolami (italy) j thomas (wales) s taylor (scotland) l dallaglio (england) s parisse (italy) others to be added. c latham (australia); b lima (samoa) j fourie (sa) t umaga (new zealand) s bobo (fiji); a mehrtens (nz) g gregan (aus capt); c hoeft (nz) j smit (sa) c visagie (sa) s maling (nz) v matfield (sa) s burger (sa) p waugh (aus) t kefu (aus). e taukafa (tonga) e guinazu (argentina) s sititi (samoa) o palepoi (samoa) m rauluni (fiji) t delport (sa) a n other.

sports

tsunami won t divert africa aid uk aid to help the victims of the asian tsunami disaster will not take much needed relief from africa prime minister tony blair has promised. mr blair told the bbc s breakfast with frost show the money spent on the tsunami would not invade the money britain wanted to spend on africa. questioned about the disaster he said his faith in god had not been shaken. he added he would give new figures on the number of tsunami-related british deaths to the commons on monday. foreign secretary jack straw said on friday that about 440 britons were either dead or missing in the disaster. mr blair told sunday s programme: since jack straw gave those figures a couple of days ago they haven t moved a great deal which should give us some hope that we are beginning to reach the peak of the numbers. but we just can t be sure. it is just an immensely difficult job to get absolutely accurate figures all countries are struggling with this. he said the £50 million originally allocated from the department for international development was now well on the way to being spent. but the exact allocation could not be clarified until the world bank had completed its assessment of the needs of the countries affected. within the next few weeks a clearer picture would emerge of the long-term costs of reconstruction he added. but he pledged that africa - which sees a preventable tsunami-size death toll every month from conflict disease and poverty - would not be neglected. as britain takes up its presidency of the g8 group of leading nations mr blair said ministers had a big agenda for africa. for the first time we have a plan that won t just deal with aid and debt but will also deal on issues of governance within african countries and conflict resolution he said. a lot of the problems in africa come from conflict that again are preventable but only with the right systems in place.

science and tech

ferguson puts faith in youngsters manchester united manager sir alex ferguson said he has no regrets after his second-string side lost 3-0 away at fenerbahce in the champions league. ferguson said: the good thing about being manager is that you are in control of which team to pick. i care about united that s important so while i am disappointed at the result i am not at the team i selected. this game was important for the young lads. they will remember it and next time they come they will be better. ferguson admitted his side were well-beaten by the turks a result which meant they finished second in group d behind lyon. he added: they ll know not to play like that again. we showed a lack of strength. but i have no complaints about the scoreline. in the second half we had some good moments in attack. and in that situation you have to take one chance. but we didn t do that so the game just petered out for us. i didn t think it made much difference whether we won the group or finished second and i still don t. we could get inter ac milan and juventus but bayern barcelona and real madrid were among the runners-up. all we can do is let fate decide how it works out.

science and tech

ge sees excellent world economy us behemoth general electric has posted an 18% jump in quarterly sales and in profits and declared itself in great shape . we are benefiting from our growth initiatives and an excellent global economy said ge s chief executive jeff immelt. ge is the us biggest firm based on stock market valuation. ge s net profits were $5.37bn (£2.86bn) for the final three months of 2004 while sales came in at $43.7bn. the group whose businesses range from jet engines to the nbc television channel forecast sustained growth at between 10-15% for this year and next. ge s shares rose 1% on the news before ending friday 0.24% lower. the industries ge is in are doing very well. the materials financial and industrial sectors are all picking up said steve roukis an analyst at fund manager matrix asset advisors which has shares in ge. ge said orders in the fourth quarter were 15% higher than in the same period of 2003 with growth across the board . in the fourth quarter nine of our 11 businesses delivered at least double-digit earnings growth said mr immelt. full year 2004 gains were less spectacular but still respectable. net profit was up 6% at $16.6bn. last year ge bought vivendi universal merging it with nbc to form nbc universal. the success of universal studio s film ray a portrait of jazz musician ray charles has helped boost earnings at the unit.

business

russia gets investment blessing soaring oil sales and a budget surplus mean russian debt is no longer a risky investment one of the world s leading credit rating agencies says. standard & poor s has classed russian bonds as investment grade up from their former speculative rating. russia s reputation among investors has been hurt in recent months by the heavy tax bills and asset seizures imposed on companies such as oil giant yukos. s&p said the solidity of government finances outweighed the risk. russia is now a net creditor rather than a debtor. gold and foreign currency reserves of $119bn beat its foreign public debt of some $113bn. the other two major ratings agencies - fitch and moody s have long since upped their rating of russia s sovereign debt. s&p had held back through fear that the government was dragging its feet on economic and legal reforms. now though it has finally followed suit. but the agency made it clear that the improved rating did not mean that the risks were a thing of the past. instead with russian government coffers brimming with tax revenues from energy sales s&p said the government s own debt is looking a good bet. these improvements are so significant that they now outweight the serious and growing political risk that continues to be a key ratings constraint on russia wrote s&p credit analyst helena hessel. the yukos saga is the most high-profile of the political risks to which ms hessel alludes. the company s founder and ex-chief executive mikhail khodorkovsky is in jail on trial for tax evasion and fraud. many believe the real motive for his prosecution is that he threatened to use his wealth to set up a political alternative to president vladimir putin. his company meanwhile is widely believed to have fallen victim to the kremlin s wish to get russian energy resources as far as possible back under state control.

sports

news corp eyes video games market news corp the media company controlled by australian billionaire rupert murdoch is eyeing a move into the video games market. according to the financial times chief operating officer peter chernin said that news corp is kicking the tyres of pretty much all video games companies . santa monica-based activison is said to be one firm on its takeover list. video games are big business the paper quoted mr chernin as saying. we would like to get into it . the success of products such as sony s playstation microsoft s x-box and nintendo s game cube have boosted demand for video games. the days of arcade classics such as space invaders pac-man and donkey kong are long gone. today games often have budgets big enough for feature films and look to give gamers as real an experience as possible. and with their price tags reflecting the heavy investment by development companies video games are proving almost as profitable as they are fun. mr chernin however told the ft that news corp was finding it difficult to identify a suitable target. we are struggling with the gap between companies like electronic arts (ea) which comes with a high price tag and the next tier of companies he explained during a conference in phoenix arizona. these may be too focused on one or two product lines. activision has a stock market capitalisation of about $2.95bn (£1.57bn) compared to ea s $17.8bn. some of the games industry s main players have recently been looking to consolidate their position by making acquisitions. france s ubisoft one of europe s biggest video game publishers has been trying to remain independent since electronic arts announced plans to buy 19.9% of the firm. analysts have said that industry mergers are likely in the future.

entertainment

singer knight backs anti-gun song r&b star beverley knight said she sang on an anti-gun single after being haunted by the fatal 2003 shooting of two teenage girls in birmingham. knight and drum n bass star roni size have released no more in a bid to reduce gun use among young people. she said she was horrified by the deaths of charlene ellis 18 and letisha shakespeare 17. size whose new forms album won the 1997 mercury music prize said gun use was nothing to be glamorised . there were more than 10 500 firearms offences and 70 gun crime deaths in england and wales between june 2003 and 2004 according to home office figures. knight said the scale of the problem became clear to her after the 2003 shootings in aston near knight s birmingham home. it haunted me to be honest it haunted my sleep she said. size became involved after two friends donna small and asha jama were shot in his bristol hometown in october. jama 25 lost her sight in one eye while 22-year-old small suffered serious head injuries. size said he collaborated on the single which was released on monday because he has a bird s eye view of what s going on . over the last 10 years i have seen a lot of things happen and it is nothing to be glamorised it really isn t he said.

sports

south africa sweep top awards south africa s schalk burger was named player of the year as the tri-nations champions swept the top honours at the international rugby board s awards. the flanker topped a list which included ireland star gordon d arcy and australian sensation matt giteau. jake white claimed the coaching award while his side held off grand slam winners france to take the team award. england player simon amor beat team-mate ben gollings and argentine lucio lopez fleming to win the sevens award. burger s award came just a week after he won the equivalent prize from his fellow international players and white who also coached burger at under-21 level paid tribute to him. schalk s emergence as a major force has meant a lot to south african rugby but has also influenced world rugby said white. he s become to south african rugby what jonty rhodes was to south african cricket. it s amazing what he has achieved in such a short time so far in his international career. amor who will captain england in this season s opening irb sevens tournament the dubai sevens which start on thursday was delighted with his award. there are so many great sevens players on the circuit at the moment that this is a genuine honour said the gloucester fly-half.

world

what now for kelly holmes last april kelly holmes spoke to the bbc sport website about her loneliness her fight to stay fit and her decision not to contest both the 800m and 1500m at the olympics. it just goes to show even the most meticulous and measured athletes cannot predict what fate has in store for them. four months later holmes stormed to double olympic gold and has since been made a dame won the bbc sport personality of the year and written a book whilst still finding time to coach aspiring athletes. with so much time spent in the spotlight holmes has increasingly dropped hints that her ambition on the track has begun to wilt. and when asked about her plans for both the indoor and outdoor seasons ahead the 34-year-old has repeatedly chosen to tick the don t know box. holmes has now pulled out of this weekend s european indoor championships where she was selected for both the 800m and 1500m because of a hamstring injury. but should we be surprised if the olympic champion over both those distances decides she just does not feel like racing anymore well it s a lot easier being the double olympic champion being feted by everybody than training to be at the top in middle distance running points out former olympian and bbc pundit steve cram. you have to have a real strong desire to carry on doing it even if you re very talented. holmes drive and determination have always been unquestionable - that is the reason she has battled back from a string of injuries that threatened to see her finish her career empty-handed. but alarm bells start ringing when the kent athlete begins questioning herself. will i have as much commitment desire and energy to go through a major championship holmes asked in the new year. that is what i don t know. at 34 holmes will also be aware that time is running out. us 400m and 200m legend michael johnson a five-time olympic gold medallist retired shortly after his 34th birthday as did britain s double olympic champion decathlete daley thompson. the physical demands of the day-to-day grind will only get harder for holmes who has already admitted she doesn t like the training anymore. whilst out on the circuit the allure of defeating a double olympic champion will spur her opponents on. holmes will not want to needlessly suffer the indignity of being beaten. unless she is certain she has a strong chance of winning any race she will not step onto the track. but if the kent athlete finds the form that fuelled her ambitions last summer there are more prizes up for grabs. the day after completing her double in athens the 34-year-old revealed she would still like to win her first indoors title. holmes wish could easily be met in madrid before she goes on to prepare for the outdoor season where there are still scores to be settled such as a first gold at the world championships in helsinki. there is just one small truth which could gnaw away at holmes motivation - the realisation that no matter how hard she trains nothing she wins now can surpass her achievements in athens. on the other hand if those achievements cannot be matched shouldn t they be at least shared and celebrated you don t get the chance very often in your career to step onto the track as the double olympic champion agreed cram. you want to be able to take your bow in front of the fans because it s a fantastic feeling. i think deep down kelly wants to run. i think she will compete and run races on the circuits but whether or not she runs in the major championships is much less certain. athletics fans had every reason to believe they would see the new-look kelly holmes tearing up the track again. after her olympic glory she emphatically denied she planned to retire. so why is holmes dragging her heels about making a decision on where when or whether to even bother competing again that s just kelly explains cram. she s always been like that. she enjoys people trying to guess what she is going to do next. she knows every time she makes a pronouncement now it s headline news. kelly has to figure out for herself what it is she wants and that will be based on athletics decisions whether she can be competitive if she is fit enough to put her neck on the line. and if she decides not to run again no-one is going to turn round and say you re making the wrong decision.

sports

nuclear dumpsite plan attacked plans to allow foreign nuclear waste to be permanently stored in the uk have been branded deeply irresponsible by the liberal democrats. the government has confirmed intermediate level waste (ilw) that was to have been shipped back to its home countries will now be stored in the uk. the cash raised will go towards the uk s nuclear clean-up programme. but lib dem norman baker accused ministers of turning britain into a nuclear dumpsite . under current contracts british nuclear fuels should return all but low level waste but none has ever been sent back. in future only highly-radioactive waste will be sent back to its country of origin normally germany or japan under armed guard. intermediate waste from countries such as japan germany spain italy switzerland and sweden will be stored permanently in the uk. at the moment this waste is stored at sellafield in cumbria in the form of glass bricks untreated liquid waste or solid material in drums. in a statement the department of trade and industry said the new policy meant there would be a sixfold reduction in the number of waste shipments to overseas countries . and it said highly-radioactive waste would be returned to its home country sooner ensuring there would be no overall increase in radioactivity. trade secretary patricia hewitt said the new arrangements revealed in a commons written statement would raise up to £680m for britain s nuclear clean-up programme under the new nuclear decommissioning agency. but the move has been criticised by environmental groups and the liberal democrats. mr baker the lib dem environment spokesman said: i have been warning for months that this would happen and raised it with government several times. but now our worst fears have been confirmed. once again britain s environmental and health needs are being ignored in policies driven by the treasury and dti. this is a terrible attempt to offload some of the £48bn cost of cleaning up nuclear sites. the energy act was supposed to help britain clean up but in order to pay for it we are becoming a nuclear dumpsite. the nuclear industry is an economic social and environmental millstone that hangs around britain s neck.

politics

yelling takes cardiff hat-trick european cross-country champion hayley yelling completed a hat-trick of wins in the reebok cardiff cross challenge in bute park on sunday afternoon. the part-time maths teacher beat irish international jolene byrne by 40 metres in the six-kilometre race. another great britain international louise damen finished third as part of the contingent representing england. peter riley who secured bronze for the gb men s team at last month s european championships won the men s 9km race. riley representing england moved away over the last two kilometres to win by 25 metres from ireland s gary murray. glynn tromans - the reigning uk inter-countries and england cross-country champion - came in third place as he continues his comeback from a five-month injury lay-off.

politics

deadline nears for fiat-gm deal fiat and general motors (gm) have until midnight on 1 february to settle a disagreement over a potential takeover. the deadline marks the point at which fiat will gain the right to sell its car division to gm part of an alliance agreed in 2000. gm whose own european operations are losing money no longer wants to own the unprofitable fiat unit. reports of deadlocked talks sent fiat shares down 1.2% on tuesday after monday s 4% gain on hopes of a payoff. the us firm is thought to be offering about $2bn (£1.06bn) to extricate itself from the arrangement. it has argued the deal was voided by fiat s decision to sell off fiat s finance arm and halve gm s stake via a capital-raising effort. the 2000 deal resulted from a race between gm and daimlerchrysler to ally with fiat. the german firm wanted to buy fiat outright. but gianni agnelli the godfather of the group wanted to keep control and preferred gm s offer to buy a 20% stake and give fiat the right to sell in the future known as a put option . since then however fiat cars have lost market share and the firm has piled up losses while a plan to raise new money in 2003 cut gm s stake in half to 10%. for its part gm s european units opel and saab have both had trouble with opel management threatening to cut 12 000 jobs. the last thing they need is additional production capacity in europe said patrick juchemich auto analyst at sal oppenheim bank.

sports

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

world

us data sparks inflation worries wholesale prices in the us rose at the fastest rate in more than six years in january according to government data. new figures show the labor department producer price index (ppi) rose by 0.3% - in line with forecasts. but core producer prices which exclude food and energy costs surged by 0.8% the biggest rise since december 1998 increasing inflationary concerns. in contrast the university of michigan barometer of us retail consumer confidence showed a slight dip. the university s index of consumer spending fell to 94.2 in early february from 95.5 in january which could indicate a fall in retail spending by the us public. the mixed set of data on friday led to volatile early wall street trade as the dow jones standard and poor s 500 and nasdaq swung between positive and negative territory. the economic figures come on the back of increased fears that the federal reserve chairman may be about to raise interest rates in order to stifle any inflationary pressures. the fed has been raising interest rates at a gradual pace since june 2004 in an attempt to make sure inflation does not get out of control. mr greenspan told congress this week that the central bank was on guard against the possibility that a rebounding economy could trigger stronger inflation pressures. the ppi would argue for greenspan to continue to raise rates at a measured pace said joe quinlan chief market stategist at bank of america capital management. but this michigan survey tells you that the consumer might be downshifting a little bit in terms of their confidence and their spending; this could be an indication of that. consumer spending accounts for 66% of us economic activity and is viewed as a gauge of the health of the economy which is why the michigan data is closely observed. however on friday it was overshadowed by the core ppi core figure which surged 2.7% during the past 12 months the biggest year-on-year gain in nine years. the concern is that traders might interpret this big jump in the core ppi as an impetus for the fed to be more aggressive than a measured move in moving rates said paul cherney chief market analyst at standard & poor s. but ian shepherdson chief us economist at high frequency economics said the ppi report was much less alarming than at first glance. one-time increases in alcohol and tobacco prices which are no indication of broad ppi pressure were responsible for the increase he said. prices for autos and trucks also jumped in january but shepherdson said it is a good bet these increases won t stick .

world

arnold congratulated on oscar win oscar-winner andrea arnold has been congratulated by the uk film council the organisation which partly funded her project. arnold s film wasp won the best live action short film award on sunday. the uk film council spends millions of pounds of lottery investment on short filmmaking in britain every year said chief executive officer john woodward. it certainly pays off when you see new film-makers winning such prestigious awards he added. wasp which was commissioned by the film council and channel 4 beat films by fellow uk nominees gary mckendry and ashvin kumar to the prize. it stars actress nathalie press who appeared in the bafta-winning drama my summer of love as a single mother who is forced to take drastic action when she is invited on a date and is unable to find a babysitter to look after her four daughters. the film has already won over 30 other international awards including the sundance short film prize. arnold from dartford in kent described her victory as truly overwhelming. i m really not used to this kind of thing she said after receiving her oscar from actor jeremy irons. thanks to everyone who worked on this - the beers are on me when we get home. the director was one of only two british winners on the night the other being sandy powell who won the costume design oscar for her work on the aviator.

entertainment

junk e-mails on relentless rise spam traffic is up by 40% putting the total amount of e-mail that is junk up to an astonishing 90%. the figures from e-mail management firm email systems will alarm firms attempting to cope with the amount of spam in their in-boxes. while virus traffic has slowed down denial of service attacks are on the increase according to the firm. virus mail accounts for just over 15% of all e-mail traffic analysis by the firm has found. it is no longer just multi-nationals that are in danger of so-called denial of service attacks in which websites are bombarded by requests for information and rendered inaccessible. email systems refers to a small uk-based engineering firm which received a staggering 12 million e-mails in january. the type of spam currently being sent has subtlety altered in the last few months according to email systems analysis. half of spam received since christmas has been health-related with gambling and porn also on the increase. scam mails offering ways to make a quick buck have declined by 40%. january is clearly a month when consumers are less motivated to purchase financial products or put money into dubious financial opportunities said neil hammerton managing director of email systems. spammers seem to have adapted their output to reflect this focussing instead on medically motivated and pornographic offers presumably intentionally intended to coincide with what is traditionally considered to be the bleakest month in the calendar he said.

business

musicians upbeat about the net musicians are embracing the internet as a way of reaching new fans and selling more music a survey has found. the study by us researchers pew internet suggests musicians do not agree with the tactics adopted by the music industry against file-sharing. while most considered file-sharing as illegal many disagreed with the lawsuits launched against downloaders. even successful artists don t think the lawsuits will benefit musicians said report author mary madden. for part of the study pew internet conducted an online survey of 2 755 musicians songwriters and music publishers via musician membership organisations between march and april 2004. they ranged from full-time successful musicians to artists struggling to make a living from their music. we looked at more of the independent musicians rather than the rockstars of this industry but that reflects more accurately the state of the music industry ms madden told the bbc news website. we always hear the views of successful artists like the britneys of the world but the less successful artists rarely get represented. the survey found that musicians were overwhelming positive about the internet rather than seeing it as just a threat to their livelihood. almost all of them used the net for ideas and inspiration with nine out of 10 going online to promote advertise and post their music on the web. more than 80% offered free samples online while two-thirds sold their music via the net. independent musicians in particular saw the internet as a way to get around the need to land a record contract and reach fans directly. musicians are embracing the internet enthusiastically said ms madden. they are using the internet to gain inspiration sell it online tracking royalties learning about copyright. perhaps surprisingly opinions about online file-sharing were diverse and not as clear cut as those of the record industry. through the recording industry association of america (riaa) it has pursued an aggressive campaign through the courts to sue people suspected of sharing copyrighted music. but the report suggests this campaign does not have the wholehearted backing of musicians in the us. it found that most artists saw file-sharing as both good and bad though most agreed that it should be illegal. free downloading has killed opportunities for new bands to break without major funding and backing said one musician quoted by the report. it s hard to keep making records if they don t pay for themselves through sales. however 60% said they did not think the lawsuits against song swappers would benefit musicians and songwriters. many suggested that rather than fighting file-sharing the music industry needed to recognise the changes it has brought and embrace it. both successful and struggling musicians were more likely to say that the internet has made it possible for them to make more money from their music rather than make it harder for them to protect their material from piracy said ms madden.

sports

berlin cheers for anti-nazi film a german movie about an anti-nazi resistance heroine has drawn loud applause at berlin film festival. sophie scholl - the final days portrays the final days of the member of the white rose movement. scholl 21 was arrested and beheaded with her brother hans in 1943 for distributing leaflets condemning the abhorrent tyranny of adolf hitler. director marc rothemund said: i have a feeling of responsibility to keep the legacy of the scholls going. we must somehow keep their ideas alive he added. the film drew on transcripts of gestapo interrogations and scholl s trial preserved in the archive of communist east germany s secret police. their discovery was the inspiration behind the film for rothemund who worked closely with surviving relatives including one of scholl s sisters to ensure historical accuracy on the film. scholl and other members of the white rose resistance group first started distributing anti-nazi leaflets in the summer of 1942. they were arrested as they dropped leaflets at munich university calling for a day of reckoning with adolf hitler s regime. the film focuses on the six days from scholl s arrest to the intense trial which saw scholl initially deny the charges and ended with a defiant appearance. it is one of three german films vying for a top prize at the festival. a south african film version of bizet s tragic opera carmen shot in cape town in the xhosa language has also premiered at the berlin festival. the film is entitled u-carmen ekhayelitsha or carmen in khayelitsha after the township in which the story is set. it is performed by a 40-strong music and theatre troupe in their debut film performance. the film is the first south african feature in 25 years and only the second to be nominated for a golden bear award.

entertainment

worldcom director admits lying the former chief financial officer at us telecoms firm worldcom has admitted before a new york court that he used to lie to fellow board members. speaking at the trial of his former boss bernard ebbers scott sullivan said he lied to the board to cover up the hole in worldcom s finances. mr ebbers is on trial for fraud and conspiracy in relation to worldcom s collapse in 2002. he pleads not guilty. the firm had been overstating its accounts by $11bn (£8.5bn). mr sullivan 42 has already pleaded guilty to fraud and will be sentenced following mr ebbers trial where he is appearing as a prosecution witness. mr ebbers 63 has always insisted that he was unaware of any hidden shortfalls in worldcom s finances. in the new york court on wednesday mr ebbers lawyer reid weingarten asked mr sullivan: if you believe something is in your interest you are willing and able to lie to accomplish it isn t that right on that date yes. i was lying replied mr sullivan. mr weingarten has suggested that mr sullivan is implicating mr ebbers only to win a lighter sentence something mr sullivan denies. mr sullivan also rejects a suggestion that he had once told fellow worldcom board member bert roberts that mr ebbers was unaware of the accounting fraud at worldcom. the trial of mr ebbers is now into its third week. under 23 hours of questioning from a federal prosecutor mr sullivan has previously told the court that he repeatedly warned mr ebbers that falsifying the books would be the only way to meet wall street revenue and earnings expectations. mr sullivan claims that mr ebbers refused to stop the fraud. mr ebbers could face a sentence of 85 years if convicted of all the charges he is facing. worldcom s problems appear to have begun with the collapse of the dotcom boom which cut its business from internet companies. prosecutors allege that the company s top executives responded by orchestrating massive fraud over a two-year period. worldcom emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2004 and is now known as mci.

business

renault boss hails great year strong sales outside western europe helped renault boost its profits by more than 40% in 2004 although the firm warned of lower margins this year. france s second largest carmaker enjoyed a healthy 43% rise in net profits to 2.4bn euros ($3.1bn; £2.9bn) as sales rose 8% to 40.7bn euros. the firm said strong demand outside western europe and the good performance of its megane range lifted its results. chairman louis schweitzer said 2004 had been a great year for the firm. renault sold more than 2.4 million vehicles in 2004 an increase of 4% on the previous year. growth came mainly from outside western europe with particularly strong sales in turkey russia and north africa. in total sales outside western europe - renault s core market - rose 16.5%. japanese carmaker nissan - in which renault owns a 44% stake - contributed 1.7bn euros in net income over the year. nissan chairman carlos ghosn is to succeed mr schweitzer at the head of renault later this year. renault said the outlook for the industry in europe this year was stable with small growth forecast in other regions. the firm will benefit from the launch of a new clio model in the coming year and the roll-out of the logan in many markets. however the firm said it expected operating margins to be lower in 2005 at 4% of sales as opposed to 5%. in a sluggish market and an environment impacted by the rise in raw material prices renault intends to continue to grow its global sales the company said in a statement.

business

us adds more jobs than expected the us economy added 337 000 jobs in october - a seven-month high and far more than wall street expectations. in a welcome economic boost for newly re-elected president george w bush the labor department figures come after a slow summer of weak jobs gains. jobs were created in every sector of the us economy except manufacturing. while the separate unemployment rate went up to 5.5% from 5.4% in september this was because more people were now actively seeking work. the 337 000 new jobs added to us payrolls in october was twice the 169 000 figure that wall street economists had forecast. in addition the labor department revised up the number of jobs created in the two previous months - to 139 000 in september instead of 96 000 and to 198 000 in august instead of 128 000. the better than expected jobs data had an immediate upward effect on stocks in new york with the main dow jones index gaining 45.4 points to 10 360 by late morning trading. it looks like the job situation is improving and that this will support consumer spending going into the holidays and offset some of the drag caused by high oil prices this year said economist gary thayer of ag edwards & sons. other analysts said the upbeat jobs data made it more likely that the us federal reserve would increase interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 2% when it meets next week. it should empower the fed to clearly do something said robert macintosh chief economist with eaton vance management in boston. kathleen utgoff commissioner of the bureau of labor said many of the 71 000 new construction jobs added in october were involved in rebuilding and clean-up work in florida and neighbouring deep south states following four hurricanes in august and september. the dollar rose temporarily on the job creation news before falling back to a new record low against the euro as investors returned their attention to other economic factors such as the us s record trade deficit. there is also speculation that president bush will deliberately try to keep the dollar low in order to assist a growth in exports.

business

indie film nominations announced mike leigh s award-winning abortion drama vera drake has scooped seven nominations at this year s british independent film awards. but the venice winner faces stiff competition from shane meadows critically acclaimed dead man s shoes which received eight nominations. also in the running for a clutch of awards are my summer of love and the stalker drama enduring love. the winners will be announced at a ceremony in london on 30 november. the winners of the awards will be chosen by a jury chaired by cold mountain director anthony minghella and including actresses cate blanchett and helena bonham-carter. the awards which recognise independent film-making in britain were established seven years ago. this year s nominees reflect the growing strength and diversity of british independent filmmaking said bifa founder and director elliot grove. commenting on the diversity of the nominated films he added: our selection committee had a harder time than ever narrowing down the field. joining vera drake and dead man s shoes in the running for best film are my summer of love climbing documentary touching the void and zombie comedy shaun of the dead. geoffrey rush wins a best actor nomination for his role as peter sellers in the recent biopic the life & death of peter sellers. the australian star faces competition from daniel craig (enduring love) phil davis (vera drake) ian hart (blind fight) and dead man s shoes star paddy considine. considine is also nominated for a best supporting actor award for my summer of love. a rare us nominee scarlett johansson is among this year s best actress contenders for her role in girl with a pearl earring. fellow nominees include imelda staunton (vera drake) natalie press (my summer of love) anne reid (the mother) and eva birthistle (ae fond kiss... ). shane meadows and kevin mcdonald both former winners of the douglas hickox award (for best directorial debut) won best director nominations. seasoned film-makers roger michell mike leigh and pavel pavlikowsky challenge them to the award. harry potter author jk rowling will receive a special award for her contribution to the industry.

science and tech

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

entertainment

salary scandal in cameroon cameroon says widespread corruption in its finance ministry has cost it 1bn cfa francs ($2m; £1m) a month. about 500 officials are accused of either awarding themselves extra money or claiming salaries for non-existent workers. prime minister ephraim inoni who vowed to tackle corruption when he came to office last year said those found guilty would face tough punishments. the scam is believed to have begun in 1994. the prime minister s office said the alleged fraud was uncovered during an investigation into the payroll at the ministry. in certain cases staff are said to have lied about their rank and delayed their retirement in order to boost their earnings. the prime minister s office said auditors had found irregularities in the career structure of certain civil servants . it added that the staff in question appear to have received unearned salaries boosting the payroll . fidelis nanga a journalist based in the cameroon capital yaounde said the government was considering taking criminal action against those found guilty and forcing them to repay any money owed. the prime minister has given instructions for exemplary penalties to be meted out against the accused and their accomplices if found guilty he told the bbc s network africa programme. mr inoni launched an anti-corruption drive in december after foreign investors criticised a lack of transparency in the country s public finances. in one initiative designed to improve efficiency civil servants who arrived late for work were locked out of their offices. the government now intends to carry out an audit of payrolls at all other government ministries. in a report compiled by anti-corruption body transparency international in 2003 graft was said to be pervasive in cameroon.

business

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

politics

tautou to star in da vinci film french actress audrey tautou star of hit film amelie will play the female lead in the film adaptation of the da vinci code it has been reported. the movie version of dan brown s best-selling novel is being directed by ron howard and also stars tom hanks. tautou will play hanks code-cracking partner according to various newspapers. she is currently starring in a very long engagement directed by jean-pierre jeunet. jeunet was also responsible for directing tautou in amelie in 2001 which launched the actress into the mainstream. she also starred as the lead role in critically-acclaimed film dirty pretty things in 2002. oscar-winning director ron howard chose tautou for the part preferring a french actress to a big name hollywood star. uk actress kate beckinsale had been widely tipped as a possibility for the role alongside vanessa paradis and juliette binoche. the thriller upon which the movie is based has sold more than 17 million copies and is centred on a global conspiracy surrounding the holy grail mythology. the louvre museum scene of the gruesome murder at the beginning of the novel recently gave permission for filming to take place there showbusiness newspaper variety reported. the $100m movie will be produced by columbia/sony pictures and is due for release on may 19 2006 in the united states and france.

world

georgia plans hidden asset pardon georgia is offering a one-off tax amnesty to people who hid their earnings under the regime of former president eduard shevardnadze. the country s new president mikhail saakashvili has said that anyone now willing to disclose their wealth will only have to pay 1% in income tax. the measure is designed to legitimise previously hidden economic activity and boost georgia s flagging economy. georgia s black market is estimated to be twice the size of its legal economy. mr saakashvili elected president in january after mr shevardnadze was toppled has urged the georgian parliament to approve the amnesty as soon as possible. it is one of a series of proposals designed to tackle corruption which was rampant during the shevardnadze era and boost georgia s fragile public finances. the new government is encouraging companies to pay taxes by scrapping existing corruption investigations and destroying all tax records from before 1 january three days before president saakashvili was elected. there are people who have money but are afraid to show it the president told a government session. documentation about where this money came from doesn t exist because under the former entirely warped regime earning capital honestly was not possible. by declaring their assets and paying the one-off tax people would be able to legalise their property mr saakashvili stressed. no one will have the right to check this money s origin. this money must go back into the economy. the amnesty will not extend to people who made money through drugs trafficking or international money laundering. criminal investigations in such cases -thought to involve about 5% of georgian businesses -are to continue. mr saakashvili has accused the shevardnadze regime which was toppled by a popular uprising in november of allowing bribery to flourish. georgia s economy is in a desperate condition. half the population are living below the poverty line with many surviving on income of less than $4 or three euros a day. the unemployment rate is around 20% while the country has a $1.7bn public debt.

business

us company admits benin bribery a us defence and telecommunications company has agreed to pay $28.5m after admitting bribery in the west african state of benin. the titan corporation was accused of funnelling more than $2m into the 2001 re-election campaign of president mathieu kerekou. at the time titan was trying to get a higher price for a telecommunications project in benin. there is no suggestion that mr kerekou was himself aware of any wrongdoing. titan a california-based company pleaded guilty to falsifying its accounts and violating us anti-bribery laws. it agreed to pay $13m in criminal penalties as well as $15.5m to settle a civil lawsuit brought by the us financial watchdog the securities and exchange commission (sec). the sec had accused titan of illegally paying $2.1m to an unnamed agent in benin claiming ties with president kerekou. some of the money was used to pay for t-shirts with campaign slogans on them ahead of the 2001 election. shortly after the poll which mr kerekou won benin officials agreed to quadruple titan s management fee. prosecuting attorney carol lam said: all us companies should take note that attempting to bribe foreign officials is criminal conduct and will be appropriately prosecuted. the company says it no longer tolerates such practices. under the us foreign corrupt practices act it is a crime for american firms to bribe foreign officials.

science and tech

celtic make late bid for bellamy newcastle striker craig bellamy is discussing a possible short-term loan move to celtic bbc sport understands. the welsh striker has rejected a move to birmingham after falling out with magpies manager graeme souness. the toon boss vowed bellamy would not play again after a bitter row over his exclusion for the game against arsenal. celtic are in no position to match birmingham s £6m offer but a stay until the end of the season could suit bellamy while he considers his future. according to bellamy s agent the player dismissed a permanent move to birmingham. and it is unlikely that newcastle would allow the player to go on loan to another premiership club. bellamy was fined two weeks wages after a live tv interview in which he accused souness of lying following a very public dispute about what position bellamy should play in the side. souness said: he can t play for me ever again. he has been a disruptive influence from the minute i walked into this football club. he can t go on television and accuse me of telling lies. chairman freddy shepherd described bellamy s behaviour as totally unacceptable and totally unprofessional .

entertainment

yukos unit buyer faces loan claim the owners of embattled russian oil giant yukos are to ask the buyer of its former production unit to pay back a $900m (£479m) loan. state-owned rosneft bought the yugansk unit for $9.3bn in a sale forced by russia to part settle a $27.5bn tax claim against yukos. yukos owner menatep group says it will ask rosneft to repay a loan that yugansk had secured on its assets. rosneft already faces a similar $540m repayment demand from foreign banks. legal experts said rosneft s purchase of yugansk would include such obligations. the pledged assets are with rosneft so it will have to pay real money to the creditors to avoid seizure of yugansk assets said moscow-based us lawyer jamie firestone who is not connected to the case. menatep group s managing director tim osborne told the reuters news agency: if they default we will fight them where the rule of law exists under the international arbitration clauses of the credit. rosneft officials were unavailable for comment. but the company has said it intends to take action against menatep to recover some of the tax claims and debts owed by yugansk. yukos had filed for bankruptcy protection in a us court in an attempt to prevent the forced sale of its main production arm. the sale went ahead in december and yugansk was sold to a little-known shell company which in turn was bought by rosneft. yukos claims its downfall was punishment for the political ambitions of its founder mikhail khodorkovsky and has vowed to sue any participant in the sale.

sports

games maker fights for survival one of britain s largest independent game makers argonaut games has been put up for sale. the london-based company behind the harry potter games has sacked about 100 employees due to a severe cash crisis. the administrators told bbc news online that selling argonaut was the only way to save it as it had run out of cash. argonaut warned that it was low on cash 10 days ago when its shares were suspended from trading on the london stock exchange. argonaut has been making games for some 18 years and is one the largest independent games developers in the uk. along with its headquarters in north london it operates studios in cambridge and sheffield. argonaut was behind the harry potter games which provided a healthy flow of cash into the company. but like all software developers argonaut needed a constant flow of deals with publishers. signs that it was in trouble emerged in august when it warned it was heading for losses of £6m in the financial year due to delays in signing new contracts for games. those new deals were further delayed leading argonaut to warn in mid-october that it was running out of cash and suspend trading of its shares on the london stock exchange. as part of cost-cutting measures some 100 employees were fired. when the news about the £6m loss came out we knew there were going to be redundancies said jason parkinson one of the game developers sacked by argonaut. a lot of people suspected that argonaut had been in trouble for some time he told bbc news online. mr parkinson said staff were told the job losses were necessary to save argonaut from going under. at the start of the year the company employed 268 people. after the latest round of cuts there are 80 staff at argonaut headquarters in edgware in north london with 17 at its morpheme offices in kentish town london and 22 at the just add monsters base in cambridge. argonaut called in administrators david rubin & partners on friday to find a way to rescue the company from collapse. it spent the weekend going over the company s finances and concluded that the only way to save the business was to put it up for sale. the administrator told bbc news online that the costs of restructuing would be too high partly because of the overheads from the company s four premises across the uk. it said it was hopeful that it could save some 110 jobs by selling the business saying it had had expressions of interest from several quarters and were looking for a quick sale. the administrator said it would ensure that staff made redundant would receive any wages redundancy or holiday pay due to them hopefully by christmas.

science and tech

chepkemei hit by big ban kenya s athletics body has suspended two-time london marathon runner-up susan chepkemei from all competition until the end of the year. athletics kenya (ak) issued the ban after chepkemei failed to turn up for a cross country training camp in embu. we have banned her from all local and international competitions said ak chief isaiah kiplagat. we shall communicate this decision to the iaaf and all meet directors all over the world. the 29-year-old finished second to paula radcliffe in the 2002 and 2003 london races and was also edged out in an epic new york marathon contest last year. but the ban will prevent the two-time world half-marathon silver medallist from challenging radcliffe at this year s london event in april. global sports communications chepkemei s management company said she had wanted to run in the world cross country championships in march. but ak maintained it was making an example of chepkemei as a warning to other kenyan athletes. we are taking this action in order to salvage our pride said kiplagat. we have been accused of having no teeth to bite with and that agents are ruling over us. ka has also threatened three-time women s short-course champion edith masai with a similar ban if reports that she feigned injury to avoid running at the cross country world championships are true. masai missed the national trials in early february but was included in the provisional team on the proviso that she ran in a regional competition. she failed to run in the event citing a leg injury.

business

ministers lose slopping out case the scottish executive has lost an appeal against an inmate s compensation for being forced to slop out in prison. armed robber robert napier 25 won £2 450 after he claimed he suffered an outbreak of the skin complaint eczema when slopping out at barlinnie prison. napier said that the practice where prisoners use buckets in their cells as toilets breached his human rights. on thursday the court of session threw out a move by the executive to apply a more rigorous standard of proof. the executive faces more than 1 000 similar claims for damages from prisoners and former inmates. more than 310 actions have already been raised in the court of session and sheriff courts in scotland. an executive spokesman said: we will study this judgement in detail. much has changed to address the issues raised in the napier case for example slopping out has ended at barlinnie and work in other prisons is being accelerated. today s judgement does not affect the outcome of other cases. napier a remand prisoner at the time raised a legal challenge in 2001 under the european convention on human rights in which he sought £5 000. he was awarded compensation last april after winning his case. executive ministers raised an appeal arguing that the standard of proof to be applied in cases alleging a breach of the european convention on human rights through degrading and inhumane treatment should be beyond reasonable doubt . this is the standard normally applied in criminal trials in scotland. however civil litigation is settled on the test of a balance of probabilities . judge lord cullen sitting with lord osborne and lord hamilton ruled that alleged human rights breaches involving degrading treatment should be dealt with on the normal civil standard. napier s lawyer tony kelly believes the action will soon be followed by others. mr kelly said: there are hundreds of people still undergoing slopping out overcrowding and poor regime and those people will certainly be heartened by today s judgement. scottish national party justice minister kenny macaskill said that the slopping out case had been a fiasco from start to finish . he said: ministers were fully aware of the state of scotland s jails. funds were available but they chose to ignore the problem and after this ruling i suspect we will be faced with even more claims and no doubt more payouts. a short term executive saving has resulted in a long term public cost.

politics

mcilroy wins 800m indoor title james mcilroy motored to the aaa s indoor 800m title in sheffied on sunday in a time of one minute 47.97 seconds. the larne athlete dominated the race from start to finish although he had to hold off a late challenge from welshman jimmy watkins in the final 100 metres. i had to go out and go through all the gears before the europeans and i won t run again until then said mcilroy. i though if i got lucky i d get close to the british record but i blew up in the end. mcilroy has been in superb form at the start of the season and will now start his build-up for the european indoors at madrid on 4-6 march. meanwhile paul brizzel and anna boyle reached the semi-finals of the 60m hurdles with boyle setting a season s best of 7.48. in the women s 60m final ailis mcsweeney broke michelle carroll s long-standing irish record by clocking 7.37 which left her in third place. david gillick showed that he is a genuine medal contender in the european indoor championships by claiming an impressive 400m victory. gillick was more than half-a-second clear when taking gold in 46.45 - .02 outside his personal best set in saturday s semi-finals. the irishman is now the fastest european this season. derval o rourke broke her own irish 60m hurdles record by clocking 8.06 which left her third behind new british record holder sarah claxton (7.96). james nolan (3:46.04) took second in the men s 1500m behind neil speaight (3:45.86) but the offaly man was outside the european indoor standard. colin costello was seventh in the 1500m final in 3:48.82). deirdre ryan was second in the women s high jump with a clearance of 1.87m while aoife byrne took silver in the 800m in a personal best of 2:06.73. lisburn s kelly mcneice reid (4:31.34) was seventh in the women s 1500m while gary murray (8:11.22) was 11th in the men s 3000m. meanwhile stephen cairns and jill shannon claimed the individual titles at saturday s northern ireland cross country championship in coleraine. cairns came in ahead of paul rowan and allan bogle in the men s race. willowfield claimed their first men s team title in 72 years while shannon helped lagan valley win the women s team honours.

politics

drink remark acts as diversion the first minister s statement that it was okay to get drunk once in a while has diverted attention from the real issues it has been claimed. jack law chief executive of alcohol focus scotland said jack mcconnell s comment was ill-advised . the media attention had helped to move the focus from scotland s binge drinking problems mr law said. scotsman journalist hamish macdonell said he believed the bigger picture had been obscured by the remark. mr mcconnell was speaking on monday to more than 100 secondary pupils from schools in the highlands about the problems of binge drinking and drink promotions. the one-sentence comment was immediately criticised by the scottish national party which accused him of encouraging young people to get drunk. but the scottish executive has insisted mr mcconnell was speaking about adults and his comments were a recognition that people will get drunk . mr macdonell political editor of the scotsman said: i think we have to say right at the outset that this was a very stupid and ill-advised remark by the first minister. if you come out with something like this saying that by all means get drunk then you will be pilloried for it. however he added that perhaps mr mcconnell could feel rightly aggrieved about the coverage . mr macdonell said: i think the problem here is that he did say a lot more things about binge drinking and under age drinking. but that whole side of things has been lost in the furore over one sentence. i understand why but i think there is a much bigger message here that has been obscured. mr law from voluntary body alcohol focus scotland believed damage had been done to scotland s fight against binge drinking. he said he accepted that young people drank and they did have problems with drink. mr law added: i think the remark was ill-advised - but these remarks are blown out of all proportion and they so easily misrepresent what we are trying to do in scotland. we don t want to preach to young people but we need to acknowledge that they do drink problematically. this diverts us from the real issues which are about promoting responsibility and reducing harm and indeed tackling our drinking culture which is a culture about binge drinking and drunkenness. he said it was vital that young people were properly informed about the risks incurred to themselves and others when they got drunk. mr macdonell said that the first minister should know by now that if he said things which were off the mark they were bound to come back and bite him . he added: here mr mcconnell was talking in the highlands to 100 teenagers and every word he said was put out on a webcast by the scottish executive and then looked at by other politicians and reporters. i think in this instance he has done a lot of really good things and he will be regretting this remark. the scottish national party s holyrood leader nicola sturgeon wrote to mr mcconnell on tuesday accusing him of an error of judgement and calling for him to apologise for his ill-judged comment and withdraw it immediately. in a furious response the first minister said his comments had been distorted and taken out of context. he told ms sturgeon: it is disappointing that you have contributed to this distortion by saying it is staggering that i should encourage young people to get drunk . that is completely untrue. perhaps it would have been wiser for you to find out what was actually said before you rushed to represent my position undermine the convener of education at highland council and insult the intelligence of the young people i spoke with - all for the sake of a simple soundbite.

politics

dance music not dead says fatboy dj norman cook - aka fatboy slim - has said that dance music is not dead but has admitted it is currently going through a fallow patch . the commercial failure of the latest albums by britain s two biggest dance acts - fatboy slim s palookaville and the prodigy s always outnumbered never outgunned - has been coupled with the closure of many superclubs and the folding of three dance music magazines. last month the brit awards announced they would no longer be awarding a best dance act prize with the brits committee announcing that dance music is no longer where it s happening in music. these developments lead some to suggest that dance was finished as a popular music genre. cook acknowledged that much change in the dance world in the four years since his last album halfway between the gutter and the stars but he stressed this did not mean the dance scene was permanently over. every week when i was making the album i was reading articles about the demise of dance music - and obviously that affects you somewhat he told bbc world service s the ticket programme. i personally don t believe it s either dead or going to die but it s going through a bit of a fallow patch. so i think consciously or subconsciously reading every week that dance music was dead i would think right scrub that track then . although his album sales in the uk are down - palookaville stayed in the uk top 75 for just three weeks - cook has achieved recent global success with his beach parties. and event on brighton sea front in 2002 attracted 250 000 people while a later one in rio achieved a crowd of 360 000. the dvd of the rio set was the biggest seller of that year. with a crowd that big if the weather s nice the atmosphere before i even go is so good that about halfway through the first record i think i ve got them cook said. i m always really really nervous before the big ones - they had to give me valium before rio because two hours before i was literally just pacing the floor. for some reason especially now i ve got a reputation for it the atmosphere and the joie de vivre that s already going on means all i have to do is play up records. he promised more such parties in more locations around the world - despite problems after the brighton event which ended in chaos with many revellers finding themselves stranded as transport ground to a halt. one man also died of a heart attack and a woman fell to her death during the free party. we re having to widen our horizons from just beaches because there s landlocked countries that want to get involved cook said. we re doing rio at the carnival at the maracana and sao paolo - our new gig is famous football stadiums. the dj admitted however that his massive worldwide success had a downside with intense media interest in his personal life. in particular he said he had struggled to cope with tabloid intrusion during the temporary break-up of his marriage to radio one presenter zoe ball after she was linked with dj dan peppe. the tabloid thing has been difficult at times cook said. especially the me-and-zoe-gate - it s quite scary. he said that he had been determined that what had happened with ball did not affect the album. at first i was doing deliberately jolly tunes so that people wouldn t think i was depressed he explained. then i thought that s not right . and he highlighted a bizarre coincidence - that one song written before they split had turned out to have a great deal more meaning than intended. i said to zoe i did this track called my masochistic baby went and left me do you mind if it s on the album he recalled. she said yeah it s hilarious because your masochistic baby did leave you . cook also added that he had some ways of coping with the intense paparazzi pressure which accumulates at the end of the private road he lives on - where paul mccartney is a neighbour. it s almost like prisoners rattling the bars with their mugs cook explained. if there s a pap at the end of the road everyone knocks on each other s doors - paul comes round and we warn him because we don t know who they re after.

world

mobiles rack up 20 years of use mobile phones in the uk are celebrating their 20th anniversary this weekend. britain s first mobile phone call was made across the vodafone network on 1 january 1985 by veteran comedian ernie wise. in the 20 years since that day mobile phones have become an integral part of modern life and now almost 90% of britons own a handset. mobiles have become so popular that many people use their handset as their only phone and rarely use a landline. the first ever call over a portable phone was made in 1973 in new york but it took 10 years for the first commercial mobile service to be launched. the uk was not far behind the rest of the world in setting up networks in 1985 that let people make calls while they walked. the first call was made from st katherine s dock to vodafone s head office in newbury which at the time was over a curry house. for the first nine days of 1985 vodafone was the only firm with a mobile network in the uk. then on 10 january cellnet (now o2) launched its service. mike caudwell spokesman for vodafone said that when phones were launched they were the size of a briefcase cost about £2 000 and had a battery life of little more than 20 minutes. despite that they were hugely popular in the mid-80s he said. they became a yuppy must-have and a status symbol among young wealthy business folk. this was also despite the fact that the phones used analogue radio signals to communicate which made them very easy to eavesdrop on. he said it took vodafone almost nine years to rack up its first million customers but only 18 months to get the second million. it s very easy to forget that in 1983 when we put the bid document in we were forecasting that the total market would be two million people he said. cellnet was forecasting half that. now vodafone has 14m customers in the uk alone. cellnet and vodafone were the only mobile phone operators in the uk until 1993 when one2one (now t-mobile) was launched. orange had its uk launch in 1994. both newcomers operated digital mobile networks and now all operators use this technology. the analogue spectrum for the old phones has been retired. called global system for mobiles (gsm) this is now the most widely used phone technology on the planet and is used to help more than 1.2 billion people make calls. mr caudwell said the advent of digital technology also helped to introduce all those things such as text messaging and roaming that have made mobiles so popular.

science and tech

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

entertainment

gold falls on imf sale concerns the price of gold has fallen after the international monetary fund (imf) said it will look at ways of using its gold reserves to provide debt relief. by revaluing its holdings the imf may be able to sell billions of dollars of gold and use the cash to cancel debts owed by the world s poorest nations. the plan was put forward by g7 finance ministers over the weekend. the price of gold fell to $413.50 an ounce in asia before rebounding slightly in early european trading. imf boss rodrigo rato was asked by g7 ministers to carry out a study into the feasibility of revaluing and selling gold reserves. he is expected to present his conclusions at an imf meeting in washington during april. whatever happens the market is going to be disconcerted and on the back foot until the april imf meetings said john reade an analyst at ubs. the imf values its gold reserves at between $40 and $50 an ounce a price that was fixed in the 1970s and is about a tenth of the metal s current market value. the imf has 3 217 tonnes of gold or about 113.5m ounces. bringing the book price of the gold in line with market value would boost the imf s balance sheet giving it more money to distribute. this idea has been put forward before but there now seems to be a more committed political drive to address the issue of global poverty. this is the first time there has been a mention of the use of gold in a g7 communiqué for achieving debt relief said uk chancellor of the exchequer gordon brown. at their meeting in london g7 finance ministers backed plans to write off up to 100% of the debts owed by some of the world s poorest countries. mr brown said the meeting would be remembered as the 100% debt relief summit . while debt relief seems to have jumped to the top of the global agenda not everyone is convinced that selling imf gold is the best way forward. the us which can veto any plan to sell imf gold should it so choose said it is looking at other ways of solving the problem. the us is not convinced that s the necessary way to do it said treasury under secretary john taylor. canada a key gold producer also expressed reservations.

business

watchdog probes e-mail deletions the information commissioner says he is urgently asking for details of cabinet office orders telling staff to delete e-mails more than three months old. richard thomas totally condemned the deletion of e-mails to prevent their disclosure under freedom of information laws coming into force on 1 january. government guidance said e-mails should only be deleted if they served no current purpose mr thomas said. the tories and the lib dems have questioned the timing of the new rules. tory leader michael howard has written to tony blair demanding an explanation of the new rules on e-mail retention. on monday lib dem constitutional affairs committee chairman alan beith warned that the deletion of millions of government e-mails could harm the ability of key probes like the hutton inquiry. the timing of the new rules just before the freedom of information act comes into forces was too unlikely to have been a coincidence mr beith said. but a cabinet office spokeswoman said the move was not about the new laws or the destruction of important records . mr beith urged the information commissioner to look at how the e-mail regime could support the freedom of information regime . mr thomas said: the new act of parliament makes it very clear that to destroy records in order to prevent their disclosure becomes a criminal offence. he said there was already clear guidance on the retention of e-mails contained in a code of practice from the lord chancellor. all e-mails are subject to the freedom of information laws but the important thing was the content of the e-mail said mr thomas. if in doubt retain that has been the long-standing principle of the civil service and public authorities. it s only when you ve got no further use for the particular record that it may be legitimate to destroy it. but any deliberate destruction to avoid the possibility of later disclosure is to be totally condemned. the freedom of information act will cover england wales and northern ireland from next year. similar measures are being brought in at the same time in scotland. it provides the public with a right of access to information held by about 100 000 public bodies subject to various exemptions. its implementation will be monitored by the information commissioner.

politics

safin slumps to shock dubai loss marat safin suffered a shock loss to unseeded nicolas kiefer in round one of the dubai tennis championships. playing his first match since winning the australian open safin showed some good touches but was beaten 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 by the in-form kiefer. the german got on top in the first-set tie-break striking a sweet forehand to win the first point against serve. and he maintained the momentum early in the second set breaking the russian with the help of an inspired volley. spain s feliciano lopez lined up a second round clash with andre agassi by beating thailand s paradorn srichaphan. lopez who lost in three sets to roger federer in last year s final won 6-2 3-6 6-3. former champion fabrice santoro of france was beaten 6-3 6-0 by sixth seeded russian nikolay davydenko. there were also wins for two other russians igor andreev and seventh seed mikhail youzhny.

entertainment

few ready for information act thousands of public bodies are ill-prepared for the freedom of information act due to come into force next month because of government failures say mps. from next month anyone will have the power to demand information from a range of public bodies - from whitehall departments to doctors surgeries. but an all-party committee said it was not confident many would be ready. it blamed the department for constitutional affairs for a lack of consistent leadership . the act comes into effect in england wales and northern ireland on 1 january while similar measures are being brought in at the same time in scotland. it provides the public with a right of access to information held by about 100 000 public bodies subject to various exemptions. but the government department responsible for implementing the change suffered from an unusually high turnover of staff within the department which had seriously interfered with its work said the constitutional affairs select committee. it said despite four years of preparations some local authorities and parts of the health sector were still not ready. the dca had failed to provide early guidance on technical matters and shown a lack of consistent leadership the mps found. committee chairman alan beith said: the dca has had four years to prepare for freedom of information but with less than a month to go it appears that some bodies may not be well enough prepared. our report shows that in the past support and guidance from the dca which has overall responsibility for guiding the public sector through the process of implementation for the freedom of information regime has been lacking. a spokesman for the dca said: the dca has provided - and will continue to provide - strong clear leadership. it has delivered a simple liberal fees regime guidance on the act which has been widely praised and expert networks of staff working on freedom of information implementation.

politics

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

science and tech

sluggish economy hits german jobs the number of people out of work in europe s largest economy has risen for the tenth straight month as growth remains stubbornly slow. german unemployment rose 7 000 in november to 4.464 million people or 10.8% of the workforce. the seasonally adjusted rise showed a smaller rise than expected as government measures to encourage job creation began to take effect. but officials said stagnant growth was still stifling the job market. there are clear signs of a revival in domestic demand said frank-juergen weise head of the federal labour agency in a statement. but growth of 0.1%... in the third quarter is still insufficient to deliver positive momentum to the labour market. high oil prices and the soaring euro - which damages the competitiveness of exporters - were also having a negative effect he said. the brunt of the unemployment is still being felt in the eastern part of germany where the rate is 18.8%. with unemployment stuck above 4 million for years the government of chancellor gerhard schroeder has put job creation at the top of the agenda. a controversial package of measures to shake up incentives to get back to work paid for by cutting some cherished benefits has sparked anger among some german workers. strikes in a number of industries notably among the country s iconic carmakers have demonstrated the displeasure - as well as fears about further job losses as outsourcing takes hold. among the new initiatives are the so-called one-euro jobs which top up unemployment benefit. the scheme s formal launch is january but hirings for these positions are already taking place and affecting the unemployment statistics economists said. the deterioration of the labour market does not come as a surprise said isabelle kronawitter at hypovereinsbank. job creation measures probably prevented a stronger increase in the seasonally adjusted numbers.

world