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critics back aviator for oscars martin scorsese s the aviator will win best film at the oscars according to the uk s leading movie critics. but several of those surveyed by the bbc news website think the veteran film-maker will lose the best director prize to clint eastwood. most of the critics tipped jamie foxx and hilary swank to scoop best actor and actress for ray and million dollar baby respectively. the jury comprised experts and critics from the top uk film publications. the panel also revealed which nominees they would personally prefer to win. all expect the aviator to win best film but many think it will be a close race between scorsese s howard hughes biopic and eastwood s boxing drama million dollar baby. the other films nominated are wine comedy sideways factual drama finding neverland and ray charles biopic ray. i m pretty sure this is the year of the aviator though my own choice would be sideways said the observer s philip french. sideways should win but it doesn t have a hope said jamie graham of total film a position shared by film 2005 presenter jonathan ross. the form going in to the oscars points to the aviator but i liked million dollar baby more said tim dams news editor of trade weekly screen international. five of the eight critics tipped scorsese to win best director with mr dams heat s charles gant and empire s angie errigo plumping for eastwood. sideway s alexander payne ray s taylor hackford and british director mike leigh - nominated for period drama vera drake - are considered outsiders in this category. up until recently i could have sworn scorsese would get it just for being scorsese ms errigo told the bbc news website. but i m beginning to think eastwood will get it. i d be very happy for mike leigh to win but i don t think he has any chance said charles gant film editor of heat. foxx s portrayal of ray charles has already seen him win prizes at the golden globes baftas and screen actors guild awards. mr dams said this made him out-and-out favourite to be named best actor on oscar night. everyone would be incredibly surprised if he didn t win he said. if you re a betting man he s as close as you get to a certainty. if paul giamatti was nominated for sideways it would be a different game says total film s jamie graham. but foxx will and should win. with vera drake star imelda staunton nominated for best actress alongside kate winslet britain has a good chance of victory - on paper. jonathan ross for one will be very happy if winslet wins for eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. but while wendy ide of the times still thinks staunton has a chance heat s charles gant believes her bafta win will cut little ice with academy voters. i d like staunton to win but her chances are not that great said mr gant who predicted a second oscar for hilary swank. i think swank will win said mr french. imelda has got as far as she s going to get playing that role. staunton is also the personal choice of steven gaydos executive editor of industry magazine variety. but while he tipped swank to win he predicted it would be a close contest. everything has the ability to flip by one vote and go the other way he told the bbc news website. there s not a sense that it s obvious how it s going to go. meanwhile thousands of people have voted in a bbc radio five live poll to find the best film never to have won a best picture oscar. the audience voted overwhelmingly for the shawshank redemption the 1994 frank darabont tale of hope and humanity which received 52% of the online votes and 68% of the text messages. the other two finalists citizen kane and a matter of life and death split the remaining votes roughly equally. this year s academy awards will be shown in the uk by sky movies 1 at 0130 gmt on monday. - tim dams screen international: film - the aviator; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - angie errigo empire: film - the aviator; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - philip french the observer: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - charles gant heat: film - the aviator; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - steven gaydos variety: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - jamie graham total film: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - wendy ide the times: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - imelda staunton. - jonathan ross film 2005: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - tim dams screen international: film - million dollar baby; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - angie errigo empire: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - philip french the observer: film - sideways; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - imelda staunton. - charles gant heat: film - sideways; director - mike leigh; actor - jamie foxx; actress - imelda staunton. - steven gaydos variety: film - million dollar baby; director - clint eastwood; actor - don cheadle; actress - imelda staunton. - jamie graham total film: film - sideways; director - alexander payne; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - wendy ide the times: film - sideways; director - alexander payne; actor - don cheadle; actress - imelda staunton. - jonathan ross film 2005: film - sideways; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - kate winslet.

science and tech

home loan approvals rising again the number of mortgages approved in the uk has risen for the first time since may last year according to lending figures from the bank of england. new loans in december rose to 83 000 slightly higher than november s nine-year low of 77 000. mortgage lending rose by £7.1bn in december up from a £6.4bn rise in november. the figures contradict a survey from the british bankers association which said approvals were at a five-year low. analysts say the figures show the market may be stabilising but still point to further house price softness. the modest rise in mortgage approvals and lending in december reinforces the impression that the housing market is currently slowing steadily rather than sharply said global insight analyst howard archer commenting on the boe s figures. the bba believes that the property market is continuing to cool down. changes to mortgage regulation may have artificially depressed figures in november thus flattering the december figures analysts said. in october last year new rules came into force which meant some lenders were forced to withdraw mortgage products temporarily in november and defer some lending until they had made sure they had complied with the rules properly. separately the bank of england said that consumer credit rose by £1.5bn in december more than the £1.4bn expected and above the £1.4bn reported in the previous month.

entertainment

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

science and tech

guantanamo pair s passport ban the government has written to two of the british men freed from guantanamo bay telling them they will not be allowed passports. a letter sent to martin mubanga said his british passport would not be issued in the light of evidence gathered against him by the us. this suggested he was likely to take part in action against uk or allied targets if he left britain it said. an identical letter has been sent to feroz abbasi the men s solicitor says. it is not known whether the other two men released from the cuba detention camp in january - richard belmar and moazzam begg - have also received letters. the government is implementing the rarely used royal prerogative in order to withdraw the men s passports. it is only the 13th time the power has been used since 1947 - the last time was in 1976. the letter from the home office says: i am writing to inform you that on the basis of the information which has come to light during your detention by the united states the home secretary considered that there are strong grounds for believing that on leaving the united kingdom you would take part in activities against the united kingdom or allied targets. the home office said it could not comment on individual cases. the liberal democrats say they suspect the move is part of a package of security measures agreed with the us in order for the men to be allowed home from guantanamo bay. home affairs spokesman mark oaten also demanded assurances that the evidence against the men was not gained under torture. he added: the power should only be used in absolute extreme circumstances and i find it hard to believe that these conditions have been met this time. he said the move also raised complex questions about the use of the royal prerogative. the liberal democrats have promised to raise the issue in parliament. amnesty international uk also questioned whether the decisions had been based on torture evidence obtained at guantanamo bay. furthermore we believe there should be an investigation into the role played by the uk in the detention of uk residents and nationals and possibly many others at guantanamo bay said director kate allen. the men s solicitor louise christian has raised questions about whether the evidence was gathered through torture. but the pentagon told bbc news us policy condemns and prohibits torture and said there was no evidence that any british detainee was tortured or abused. mr abbasi 23 from croydon south london was taken to guantanamo bay after being captured in afghanistan in 2001. mr mubanga 29 from north london was originally detained in zambia.

politics

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

sports

format wars could confuse users technology firms sony philips matsushita and samsung are developing a common way to stop people pirating digital music and video. the firms want to make a system that ensures files play on the hardware they make but also thwarts illegal copying. the move could mean more confusion for consumers already faced by many different and conflicting content control systems experts warned. they say there are no guarantees the system will even prevent piracy. currently many online stores wrap up downloadable files in an own-brand control system that means they can only be played on a small number of media players. systems that limit what people can do with the files they download are known as digital rights management systems. by setting up the alliance to work on a common control system the firms said they hope to end this current fragmentation of file formats. in a joint statement the firms said they wanted to let consumers enjoy appropriately licensed video and music on any device independent of how they originally obtained that content . the firms hope that it will also make it harder for consumers to make illegal copies of the music movies and other digital content they have bought. called the marlin joint development association the alliance will define basic specifications that every device made by the electronics firms will conform to. marlin will be built on technology from rights management firm intertrust as well as an earlier drm system developed by a group known as the coral consortium. the move is widely seen as a way for the four firms to decide their own destiny on content control systems instead of having to sign up for those being pushed by apple and microsoft. confusingly for consumers the technology that comes out of the alliance will sit alongside the content control systems of rival firms such as microsoft and apple. in many ways the different drm systems are akin to the different physical formats such as betamax and vhs that consumers have seen in the past said ian fogg personal technology and broadband analyst at jupiter research. the difference is that it is very fragmented he said. it s not a two-horse race it s a five six seven or even eight-horse race mr fogg said consumers had to be very careful when buying digital content to ensure that it would play on the devices they own. he said currently there were even incompatibilities within drm families. although initiatives such as microsoft s plays for sure program could help remove some of the uncertainty he said life was likely to be confusing for consumers for some time to come. shelley taylor analyst and author of a report about online music services said the locks and limits on digital files were done to maximise the cash that firms can make from consumers. apple s itunes service was a perfect example of this she said. although itunes has been hugely successful apple could not justify its existence if it did not help sell all those ipods she said. she said rampant competition between online music services of which there are now 230 according to recent figures could drive more openness and freer file formats. it always works out that consumer needs win out in the long run she said and the services that win in the long run are the ones that listen to consumers earliest. ms taylor said the limits legal download services place on files could help explain the continuing popularity of file-sharing systems that let people get hold of pirated pop. people want portability she said and with peer-to-peer they have 100% portability. cory doctorow european co-ordinator for the electronic frontier foundation which campaigns for consumers on many cyber-rights issues expressed doubts that the marlin system would achieve its aims. not one of these systems has ever prevented piracy or illegal copying he said. he said many firms readily admit that their drm systems are little protection against skilled attackers such as the organised crime gangs that are responsible for most piracy. instead said mr doctorow drm systems were intended to control the group that electronics firms have most hold over - consumers. the studios and labels perceive an opportunity to sell you your media again and again - the ipod version the auto version the american and uk version the ringtone version and so on.

science and tech

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

entertainment

mourinho plots impressive course chelsea s win at fulham - confirming their position at the premiership summit - proves that they now have everything in place to mount serious challenges on all fronts this season. they have got strength in depth great players an outstanding manager in jose mourinho and finances no other club in the world can match. all they need to add now is the big prizes which as we all know is the most difficult part of all. one thing is certain - they have put themselves in a position to make that leap to success very impressively indeed. they beat a very tough everton at stamford bridge won at newcastle in the carling cup and then won 4-1 at fulham which was a great result given that they had been showing good form. as i said winning the major honours is the hardest task of all but in mourinho they have a manager who will make it a whole lot easier to handle the anticipation and expectation that will come their way now. mourinho has won the biggest club prize of all the champions league and that track record and confidence transmits itself to top players. it is a priceless commodity. no-one can be anything other than highly-impressed by mourinho. he is regarded as a touch arrogant by some people and maybe he can appear that way but he has the silverware to back up the talk. mourinho doesn t simply talk a good game - he s won some very big games such as the champions league final with porto. some may criticise his talk but the words are backed up with actions. i ve also found him to be very realistic whenever i ve heard him. he s spent a lot of money and it seems to be working and we should remember lots of managers have spent money and it has not worked. the buys are now integrating and in arjen robben he has the player who is giving them that extra dimension. in the early games he was slaughtered for defensive tactics and yet he was winning games. you cannot win titles early on in the season but you can certainly lose them and those points on the board were vital. i also thought the criticism was very harsh because even though they were not scoring goals they were creating chances by the hatful. now they are taking those chances have the double threat of robben and damien duff and things are looking good. i just wonder if they lack a predator particularly with didier drogba injured. he was starting to look the part before he was sidelined but you have to feel if chelsea had a ruud van nistelrooy they would be even more of a safe bet for the title. chelsea also have all the tools to go far in the champions league. i felt they would never have a better chance than last season but they have swept all before them in europe so far this season. it will now be very interesting to see how mourinho prioritises things but his life will be made easier by the size of chelsea s squad. i have said i believed chelsea would win the league this season even when arsenal were flying at the start and i have seen nothing to make me change me mind. if anything what i have seen has confirmed my early impressions. and chelsea would have taken encouragement from arsenal s rocky defensive display at spurs even though they ran out 5-4 winners. mourinho had his say on that game complaining: five-four is a hockey score not a football score. in a three-against-three training match if the score reaches 5-4 i send the players back to the dressing rooms as they are not defending properly. so to get a result like that in a game of 11 against 11 is disgraceful. on a more serious note it was a game that merely confirmed the importance of sol campbell to arsenal. much criticism has been aimed at pascal cygan but i believe the problem lies with the absence of campbell and its overall effect on arsenal s defence. confidence is a crucial factor in defending. when you start conceding goals you suddenly get a chill in the bones every time the ball comes into the penalty area. you think oh no - then find your worst fears confirmed. arsenal need to reverse the process with or without campbell and get some clean sheets on the board. but the return of campbell is key. he solidifies the unit has pace and is powerful in the air and on the deck. he is vastly experienced and has a calming influence on all around him. campbell pulls it all together at the back and gets the defence playing as a unit. chelsea have no such problems at present which is why i would still place my money on them to edge out arsenal as champions this season.

business

tigers wary of farrell gamble leicester say they will not be rushed into making a bid for andy farrell should the great britain rugby league captain decide to switch codes. we and anybody else involved in the process are still some way away from going to the next stage tigers boss john wells told bbc radio leicester. at the moment there are still a lot of unknowns about andy farrell not least his medical situation. whoever does take him on is going to take a big big gamble. farrell who has had persistent knee problems had an operation on his knee five weeks ago and is expected to be out for another three months. leicester and saracens are believed to head the list of rugby union clubs interested in signing farrell if he decides to move to the 15-man game. if he does move across to union wells believes he would better off playing in the backs at least initially. i m sure he could make the step between league and union by being involved in the centre said wells. i think england would prefer him to progress to a position in the back row where they can make use of some of his rugby league skills within the forwards. the jury is out on whether he can cross that divide. at this club the balance will have to be struck between the cost of that gamble and the option of bringing in a ready-made replacement.

entertainment

britney attacks false tabloids pop star britney spears has attacked false and desperate us tabloid magazines questioning their honesty after they reported she was pregnant. in a letter on her website the singer named celebrity tabloids us weekly in touch and star as the worst offenders. until you face what is going on in your life i guess you ll remain a false tabloid the 23-year-old wrote. stories about the state of her marriage to kevin federline and rumours about a pregnancy have recently appeared. but the chart-topping singer s letter did not shed any further light on those stories. in february spears clashed with us weekly for publishing pictures of her honeymoon in fiji without permission. the couple who married in los angeles last september claimed staff took photographs of them which were later sold. they said they allowed the pictures to be taken after they were assured they would only be used for a private scrapbook which they later received as a souvenir. us magazine was unrepentant about their decision to publish saying: britney should start her own magazine if she d like to dictate her own coverage. coming from a celebrity who sold pictures of both her wedding and her stepdaughter it s unlikely the issue here is privacy they added. spears claimed that other magazines were approached with the pictures but chose to contact her instead.

entertainment

dawson set for new wasps contract european champions wasps are set to offer matt dawson a new deal. the 31-year-old world cup winning scrum-half has impressed since joining the london side from northampton this summer on a one-year contract. wasps coach warren gatland told the daily mirror: we have not yet offered matt a new contract but we will be doing so. i m very happy with his contribution and i think he s good enough to play for another couple of years. dawson played a vital part in england s world cup win last year but has fallen out of favour with new coach andy robinson after missing a training session in september. however he hopes the new deal will help him regain his england place. rugby is still my priority and there s still a burning desire within me to play the best rugby i possibly can he said. i know within myself if i was given the chance i could play for england again. i know i m fit enough i m strong enough i m skilful enough.

politics

gaming firm to sell uk dog tracks six uk greyhound tracks have been put up for sale by gaming group wembley as part of a move which will lead to the break-up of the group. wembley announced the planned sale as it revealed it was to offload its us gaming division to blb investors. us gaming consortium blb will pay $339m (£182.5m) for the us unit although the deal is subject to certain conditions. blb holds a 22% stake in wembley and last year came close to buying the whole firm in a £308m takeover deal. shares in wembley were up 56 pence or 7.6% at 797p by mid-morning. the sale of the us gaming unit will leave wembley with its uk business. this includes greyhound tracks at wimbledon in london belle vue in manchester perry barr and hall green in birmingham oxford and portsmouth. analysts have valued the six tracks at between £40m-£50m. the us business accounts for about 90% of wembley s operating profit and consists of operations in rhode island and colorado. blb s purchase of the us unit is subject to the agreement of a revenue-sharing deal being struck with rhode island authorities. wembley said that once the deal was completed it anticipated returning surplus cash to shareholders. whilst the completion of the sale of the us gaming division remains subject to a number of conditions we believe this development is a positive step towards the maximisation of value for shareholders said wembley chairman claes hultman. wembley sold the english national football stadium in 1999 to concentrate on its gaming operations.

politics

wall street cheers bush victory the us stock market has closed higher in response to george w bush s victory in the presidential elections. the benchmark dow jones share index closed more than 1% higher at 10 137 while the nasdaq rose 0.9% to 2 004. many investors believe that mr bush s policies are more business-friendly than those of his democrat challenger john kerry. the higher share prices also reflect relief that a clear winner has emerged from what proved to be a tight poll. investors had worried that the outcome of the poll would be inconclusive paving the way for a repeat of the legal wrangling that marred the 2000 election. the dow lost 5% of its value in the three weeks immediately after that election when it was unclear who would occupy the white house. mr kerry conceded defeat on wednesday abandoning last-ditch hopes of carrying the vote in the swing state of ohio. the relief for the markets may be that we have a decision and can move forward said tim ghriskey chief investment officer of solaris asset management. some analysts predicted that the jump in share prices would be short-lived saying investors would quickly focus once again on the health of the us economy. i would look at the stock market rally for bush as kind of a one-day event said ken mayland at clearview economics. the us recent economic performance has been mixed with solid growth offset by disappointingly low job creation figures and mounting worries over a record budget deficit. elsewhere in the financial markets on wednesday the dollar dipped slightly against the euro and climbed against the yen while us oil prices closed up $1.26 at $50.88 a barrel in new york. the rise in oil prices partly reflects the view that president bush is less likely than mr kerry to release supplies from the us strategic oil reserve. share prices in london frankfurt and paris also closed higher. successive polls in the run-up to tuesday s election had shown the two candidates running neck and neck. economic issues as well as the war in iraq were the forefront of the campaign. in key swing states such as ohio which has suffered substantial job losses in the past four years president bush s handling of the economy became a crucial election issue. senator kerry attacked president bush s economic record during his campaign hammering home the fact that a net 800 000 jobs were lost during his term in office. president bush focused on the fact that two million jobs have been created in the past year claiming that it has vindicated his tax-cutting agenda. as for future policies both candidates pledged to bring america s $422bn federal budget deficit under control. senator kerry planned to increase taxes on those earning more than $200 000 a year. president bush has placed reform of the pensions system at the heart of his economic agenda for a second term. however economists have said both candidates economic programmes rested on questionable assumptions about future growth.

business

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

business

pension hitch for long-living men male life expectancy is much higher than originally estimated leading pension researchers have said. the pensions policy institute (ppi) said life expectancy for unskilled and professional men has been understated. life expectancy at birth is 71 years for a manual worker and 79 years for a professional - a gap of eight years. but if measured at age 65 instead the ppi said a manual worker will live to 81 years and a professional worker to 86 years - a gap of just five years. the ppi s estimate is higher because it excludes people who have died before they reach 65 years of age and also takes into account ongoing improvements in life expectancy. the government has ruled out raising the state pension age because it says it would penalise lower-skilled workers who generally have lower life expectancies. chris curry ppi research director said its calculations suggested there could be more pressure on state pension spending than originally envisaged. even people in social class v [unskilled manual workers] who are widely likely to have the lowest life expectancy can still expect to live 16 years after state pension age he said. researchers have not updated life expectancy projections for women who on average live longer than men.

science and tech

sun offers processing by the hour sun microsystems has launched a pay-as-you-go service which will allow customers requiring huge computing power to rent it by the hour. sun grid costs users $1 (53p) for an hour s worth of processing and storage power on systems maintained by sun. so-called grid computing is the latest buzz phrase in a company which believes that computing capacity is as important a commodity as hardware and software. sun likened grid computing to the development of electricity. the system could mature in the same way utilities such as electricity and water have developed said sun s chief operating officer jonathan schwartz. why build your own grid when you can use ours for a buck an hour he asked in a webcast launching sun s quarterly network computing event in california. the company will have to persuade data centre managers to adopt a new model but it said it already had interest from customers in the oil gas and financial services industries. some of them want to book computing capacity of more than 5 000 processors each sun said. mr schwartz ran a demonstration of the service showing how data could be processed in a protein folding experiment. hundreds of servers were used simultaneously working on the problem for a few seconds each. although it only took a few seconds the experiment cost $12 (£6.30) because it had used up 12 hour s worth of computing power. the sun grid relies on solaris the operating system owned by sun. initially it will house the grid in existing premises and will use idle servers to test software before shipping it to customers. it has not said how much the system will cost to develop but it already has a rival in ibm which argues that its capacity on-demand service is cheaper than that offered by sun.

science and tech

house prices rebound says halifax uk house prices increased by 1.1% in december the first monthly rise since september the halifax has said. the uk s biggest mortgage lender said prices rose 15.1% over the whole of 2004 but by only 2.8% in the second half of the year. the average price of a house in the uk now stands at £162 086 halifax said. the survey seems to fly in the face of recent evidence that the uk housing market has been slowing substantially in response to interest rate rises. last week the nationwide said that house prices fell 0.2% in december with annual inflation running at a three year low. on tuesday figures from the bank of england showed that the number of mortgages approved in the uk has fallen to the lowest level for nearly a decade. new loans in november fell to 77 000 from 85 000 in october the lowest rate since september 1995 the bank of england said. growth in unsecured lending such as personal loans and credit cards also slowed last month. capital economics which has in the past predicted a sharp fall in uk house prices branded halifax s findings a temporary surprise which would be reversed over the coming months. the month by month volatility of the halifax house price data should not distract from the fact that there is a clear downward trend in house prices a capital economics statement said. experts believe five interest rate rises since november 2003 are cutting borrowers appetite for debt. despite recording a price rise in december the halifax survey concluded that there was continuing signs of a genuine slowdown in the housing market. martin ellis halifax chief economist said that there was no need to revise the bank s prediction made last month that prices would fall by 2% in 2005. sound housing market fundamentals will continue to underpin the market in 2005 ensuring that the market remains healthy and that house prices fall only slightly mr ellis said. if the bank s prediction of a 2% price drop comes true it will be the first annual fall in nine years. the bank said that the recent pattern of house prices rising the fastest in the north of england continued in december. in the north west and yorkshire and the humber halifax said prices rose by 3% and 1.2% in the two regions respectively during the month. at the other send of the scale prices in the south east and london fell by 1.6% and 0.5% respectively. the biggest decline was seen in wales where prices fell by 6.2% an area that had experienced strong house price growth during most of 2004. overall halifax said prices in the final quarter of 2004 were 0.1% higher than in the previous quarter. this was the smallest quarterly rise since the second quarter of 2000 the bank said. as a result annual house price inflation dipped below 20% during the final few months of 2004.

science and tech

online commons to spark debate online communities set up by the uk government could encourage public debate and build trust says the institute of public policy research (ippr). existing services such as ebay could provide a good blueprint for such services says the think-tank. although the net is becoming part of local and central government its potential has not yet been fully exploited to create an online commons for public debate. in its report is online community a policy tool the ippr also asks if id cards could help create safer online communities. adopting an ebay-type model would let communities create their own markets for skills and services and help foster a sense of local identity and connection. what we are proposing is a civic commons will davies senior research fellow at the ippr told the bbc news website. a single publicly funded and run online community in which citizens can have a single place to go where you can go to engage in diversity and in a way that might have a policy implication - like a pre-legislation discussion. the idea of a civic commons was originally proposed by stephen coleman professor of e-democracy at the oxford internet institute. the ippr report points to informal small scale examples of such commons that already exist. it mentions good-practice public initiatives like the bbc s ican project which connects people locally and nationally who want to take action around important issues. but he adds government could play a bigger role in setting up systems of trust for online communities too. proposals for id cards for instance could also be widened to see if they could be used online. they could provide the basis for a secure authentication system which could have value for peer-to-peer interaction online. at the moment they have been presented as a way for government to keep tabs on people and ensuring access to public services said mr davies. but what has not been explored is how authentication technology may potentially play a role in decentralised online communities. the key idea to take from systems such as ebay and other online communities is letting members rate each other s reputation by how they treat other members. using a similar mechanism trust and cooperation between members of virtual and physical communities could be built. this could mean a civic commons would work within a non-market system which lets people who may disagree with one another interact within publicly-recognised rules. e-government initiatives over the last decade have very much been about putting basic information and service guides online as well as letting people interact with government via the web. many online communities such as chatrooms mailing lists community portals message boards and weblogs often form around common interests or issues. with 53% of uk households now with access to the net the government suggests mr davies could act as an intermediary or middleman to set up public online places of debate and exchange to encourage more cosmopolitan politics and public trust in policy. government already plays a critical role in helping citizens trade with each other online. but it should also play a role in helping citizens connect to one another in civic non-market interactions said mr davies. there is a role for public bodies like the bbc libraries and government to bring people back into public debate again instead of millions of cliques talking to each other he added. the paper is part of the ippr s digital society initiative which is producing a number of conferences and research papers leading up to the publication of a manifesto for a digital britain.

science and tech

london irish 19-33 wasps wasps made light of the absence of several internationals to sink london irish with a trio of second-half tries. rob hoadley returned to haunt his old club at the madejski stadium scoring the opening try in the 43rd minute. tom voyce powered through the irish defence for wasps second try before richard birkett went over unchallenged. mark van gisbergen added 18 points. irish replied with three penalties and a mark mapletoft drop goal before scott staniforth ran in a consolation try. barry everitt who replaced mapletoft late in the game added the conversion to become the fourth premiership player to reach 1 000 points. he joins jonny wilkinson tim stimpson and paul grayson in achieving that target. wasps piled on the pressure in an attempt to grab a fourth try which would have secured them a bonus point but they were denied by some desperate defending from irish. director of rugby warren gatland revealed that harsh words at half-time inspired his wasps side to raise their game after the restart. they got a roasting and it was a good second-half performance when they came out and played to instructions he said. gatland also singled out stand-in flankers tom rees and john hart for special praise. they did very well. the back row played some fantastic rugby he added. london irish coach gary gold felt the result exposed his side s lack of consistency. irish trailed by just two points at the break and gold said: for 55 minutes we lived with the best but we have got to get back for the full 80 minutes. gold will now turn his attention to next week s powergen cup semi-final at struggling leeds. we ve got a good chance but with leeds facing possible relegation they re going to come out firing he added. horak staniforth penney nordt bishop; mapletoft edwards; hatley van der walt hardwick; kennedy casey; gustard dawson murphy. replacements: everitt for mapletoft (53) hodgson for edwards (77) wheatley for hatley (71) paice for van der walt (60) strudwick for kennedy (60) danaher for gustard (66) reid for murphy (47) van gisbergen; voyce erinle hoadley roberts; king richards; payne greening dowd; shaw purdy; hart rees dallaglio. replacements: priscott for roberts (71) green for dowd (71) skivington for shaw (71) birkett for hart (57) gotting for rees (39). not used: fury brooks

science and tech

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

world

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

politics

iraqis win death test case probe the family of an iraqi civilian allegedly killed by uk troops have won a challenge against the government s refusal to order a full inquiry. the high court ruled on tuesday that baha mousa s death in british custody in iraq fell within the european convention on human rights. and the judges paved the way for an independent inquiry by saying previous investigations were inadequate. but judicial reviews into five other deaths in southern iraq were ruled out. their families will be appealing against the judgement. the families solicitor phil shiner described it as a historic day for human rights and the rule of law in the uk . father-of-two mr mousa 28 a hotel receptionist was arrested with eight men seized at a hotel in basra in september 2003. he was allegedly beaten to death while in the custody of the queen s lancashire regiment. the iraqi families lawyer argued that failing to adequately investigate the death breached the european convention on human rights. ministry of defence lawyers argued the uk-controlled area of southern iraq was outside european jurisdiction. but lord justice rix and mr justice forbes ruled that uk jurisdiction could extend to a uk-run prison but did not apply to the total territory of another state . they said as mr mousa was in custody when he died his case came within the uk s jurisdiction. the other five iraqis did not die in custody so their cases had to fail they said. and it was difficult to say that the investigation which had already occurred has been timely open or effective the judges said. after the ruling carla ferstman legal director of the human rights organisation redress said: it is not enough for the military to investigate behind closed doors. there must be an effective public investigation by an independent official body. only such an investigation could reveal what really happened and who might be responsible. other allegations involving british soldiers included the shooting of an iraqi police commissioner and the shooting of four iraqi civilians in may 2003. both sides were granted permission to appeal. prime minister tony blair s official spokesman said: obviously we will need to study this detailed judgment. i would point out however that a separate criminal case is currently being considered by the army prosecuting authority. i can t say anything further for obvious reasons. the mod are considering whether to appeal. but former british commander colonel bob stewart said : anyone at the top [of the military] will be saddened by the verdict that has taken place but will say: if there s a case to answer let s have it out. because we don t want people thinking that british soldiers beat up civilians and get away with it he said. the ministry of defence does everything in its power to try to prove we act ethically and properly under the rules of war.

business

labour accused of eu propaganda a taxpayer subsidised propaganda exercise on the eu is being used to lull the british public into a false sense of security say the tories. shadow foreign secretary michael ancram told mps a new white paper was part of trying to soften up opinion ahead of the referendum on the eu constitution. his claims were denied by foreign secretary jack straw who accused the tories of running scared of debate. eu cooperation would help get better uk immigration controls he argued. mr straw used thursday s commons debate to launch the new white paper on the prospects for the eu in 2005. security stability and prosperity would be the key themes when the uk took over the chairmanship of the eu in july said mr straw. africa and climate change would also feature highly. he said the uk was trying to ensure future eu budgets were limited to 1% of europe s economic output and were spent where it adds most value . mr straw promised to continue to ensure the uk s budget rebate secured in 1984 by margaret thatcher was fully justified . we like all other countries have a veto on any changes proposed in this area he said. mr ancram condemned the document which the foreign office says has cost about £2 500 to design print and deliver. isn t the reason that the government is now involved in a taxpayer subsidised propaganda exercise to try to sell the new eu to the country in advance of the forthcoming referendum and general election he asked. the tory spokesman also criticised the government for claiming the eu constitution would make europe easier to understand. the government last week had to publish a commentary of 500 pages to try and explain this easy and simple constitution to the british people he said. who are they trying to kid the proposed question for the constitution referendum is: should the united kingdom approve the treaty establishing a constitution for the european union the electoral commission on thursday said it was satisfied the question was easy to understand. the government has suggested the referendum on the constitution could take place in spring 2006 with the tories set to campaign for a no vote. mr ancram said ministers were prolonging uncertainty by putting the vote off until the latest date possible. the foreign secretary hit back by saying tory attitudes to europe had helped keep the party out of power for more than a decade. mr straw argued cooperation with european partners could bring a level playing field on immigration and asylum controls. you are setting your face against all of these things he added. for the liberal democrats sir menzies campbell said the uk should not ignore the need to reform the eu common agricultural policy. change was particularly important for developing countries wanting access to markets he argued. sir menzies was among those worried about plans backed by the uk to lift the arms embargo imposed on china after the tiananmen square massacre. mr straw said no decisions had been taken - chinese human rights had improved but not by enough.

business

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

business

gta sequel is criminally good the grand theft auto series of games have set themselves the very highest of standards in recent years but the newest addition is more than able to live up to an increasingly grand tradition. the 18 certificate gta: san andreas for the playstation 2 could have got away with merely revisiting a best-selling formula with a more-of-the-same approach. instead it builds and expands almost immeasurably upon the last two games and stomps carefree over all the driv3r and true crime-shaped opposition. even in the year that will see sequels to halo and half-life it is hard to envisage anything topping this barnstorming instant classic. the basic gameplay remains familiar. you control a character on this occasion a youth named cj who sets out on a series of self-contained missions within a massive 3d environment. cj can commandeer any vehicle he stumbles across from a push-bike to a city bus to a plane. all come in handy as he seeks to establish his presence in a tough urban environment and avenge the dreadful deeds waged upon his family. to make things worse he is framed for murder the moment he arrives in town and blackmailed by crooked cops played by samuel l jackson and chris penn. the setting for all this rampant criminality is the fictional us state of san andreas comprising three major cities: los santos which is a thinly-disguised los angeles san fierro aka san francisco and las venturas a carbon copy of las vegas. san andreas sucks you in with its sprawling range cast of characters and incredibly sharp writing. its ability to capture the ambience of the real-world versions of these cities is something to behold assisted no end by the monumental graphical advances since vice city. the streets and vast swathes of countryside are by turns gloriously menacing grungy and preppy. flaunting awesome levels of graphical detail the game s overall look particularly during the many unusual weather conditions and dramatic sunsets is stupendous. the outstanding bread-and-butter gameplay mechanics provide a solid grounding for the elaborate plot to hang on. cars handle more convincingly than ever a superb motion blur kicks in when you hit high speeds and there s more traffic to navigate than before. park your vehicle across the lanes of a freeway and within seconds there will be a huge pile-up. pedestrians are also out in force and are a loquacious bunch. cj can interact with them using a simple system on the control pad. they will pass comments on his appearance and credibility aspects that the player now has control over. clothes tattoos and haircuts can all be purchased and funding these habits can be achieved by criminal means or by indulging in mini-games like betting on horses and challenging bar patrons to games of pool. the character will put on or lose weight according to how long he spends on foot or in the gym. he will have to pause regularly in restaurants to keep energy levels up but will swell up as a result of over-eating. and at last this is a gta hero who can swim. at a time when games are once again under fire for their supposed potential to corrupt the young san andreas violence or specifically the freedom it gives the player to commit violence are sure to inflame the pro-censorship brigade. developers rockstar have not shied away from brutality and in some respects ramp it up from past outings. when hijacking a car for example cj will gratuitously shove the driver s head into the steering wheel rather than just fleeing with the vehicle. indeed the tone is darker than the jokey vice city. the grim subject matter here hardly lends itself to gags in quite the same way as the cheesy 80s setting of the last game. this title incidentally is set in 1992 but that is really neither here nor there apart from the influence it has on the radio playlists. the wit is still present just more restrained than in previous outings. a further reason for this is that the incredible range of in-vehicle radio stations available means you will spend less time happening upon the hilarious talk radio options where gta games trademark humour is anchored. the quality of voice acting and motion capture is simply off-the-chart. the game s rather odious gangland lowlifes swagger and mouth off in a way that rings very true indeed. it is a testament to san andreas magnificence that it has a number of prominent flaws but plus-points are so numerous that the niggles don t detract. the on-screen map for instance is needlessly fiddly an unwelcome change from past editions. there is also a very jarring slowdown at action-packed moments. and the game suffers from the age-old problem that can be relied upon to blight all games of this genre setting you back a vast distance when you fail right at the very end of a long mission. but the gameplay experience in its entirety is overwhelmingly positive. you simply will not be bothered by these minor failings. san andreas is among the few unmissable games of 2004.

sports

richard and judy choose top books the 10 authors shortlisted for a richard and judy book award in 2005 are hoping for a boost in sales following the success of this year s winner. the tv couple s interest in the book world coined the term the richard & judy effect and created the top two best-selling paperbacks of 2004 so far. the finalists for 2005 include andrew taylor s the american boy and robbie williams autobiography feel. this year s winner alice sebold s the lovely bones sold over one million. joseph o connor s star of the sea came second and saw sales increase by 350%. the best read award on richard madeley and judy finnigan s channel 4 show is part of the british book awards. david mitchell s booker-shortlisted novel cloud atlas makes it into this year s top 10 along with several lesser known works. there s no doubt that this year s selection of book club entries is the best yet. if anything the choice is even wider than last time said madeley. it was very hard to follow last year s extremely successful list but we think this year s books will do even better said richard and judy executive producer amanda ross. we were spoiled for choice and it was tough getting down to only 10 from the 301 submitted.

world

benitez joy as reds take control liverpool boss rafael benitez was satisfied after his team s 3-1 win over bayer leverkusen despite conceding a goal in the last minute. before the game if you had said the score will be 3-1 i would have happily accepted that said benitez. but you must realise that you have to concentrate right to the very last seconds of a game at this level. i have confidence that we can complete the task in germany. i am always confident and we must be positive. benitez defended goalkeeper jerzy dudek whose failure to hold on to dimitar berbatov s weak drive allowed franca to score with the last kick of the game - and give the german team a lifeline for the second leg. for me it was not jerzy dudek s fault added benitez. he had played a very good game - and had we scored our other chances nobody would be talking about about their goal. it would not have mattered. if we had scored our other chances it would not have been worth remembering that last goal. in my opinion jerzy played well made two very fine saves - and i am happy with him. if we lose 2-0 we are out but i think we can score in germany - certainly one and that will make all the difference. and the liverpool boss is looking forward to having skipper steven gerrard who was suspended for the anfield leg back for the return in germany. steven gerrard is a key player for us said benitez. when he is on the pitch he makes everyone else play better - and the opposition pay special attention to him - which gives space for others. steven is one of the best players in the world but i need a team that is not about just one player. there must be 11 players on the pitch all doing well.

sports

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

science and tech

india s deccan gets more planes air deccan has signed a deal to acquire 36 planes from avions de transport regional (atr). the value of the deal has not been revealed because of a confidentiality clause in the agreement. but air deccan s managing director gorur gopinath has said the price agreed was less than the catalogue price of $17.6m (£9.49m) per plane. recently india s first low-cost airline ordered 30 airbus a320 planes for $1.8bn. under the agreement air deccan will buy 15 new atr 72-500 and lease another 15. atr will also provide six second hand airplanes. in a statement atr has said deliveries of the aircraft will begin in 2005 and will continue over a five-year period. mr gopinath said the planes will connect regional indian cities. after an evaluation of both atr and bombardier aircraft we have chosen the atr aircraft as we find it most suitable for our operations and for the indian market for short haul routes. filippo bagnato atr s chief executive has said that his firm will also work with air deccan to create a training centre in bangalore. the potential of the indian budget market has attracted attention from businesses at home and abroad. air deccan has said it will base its business model on european firms such as ireland s ryanair. beer magnate vijay mallya recently set up kingfisher airlines while uk entrepreneur richard branson has said he is keen to start a local operation. india s government has given its backing to cheaper and more accessible air travel.

politics

rock group korn s guitarist quits the guitarist with us rock band korn has quit the music business saying he made the decision after experiencing a religious awakening. brian head welch told a radio station in california that his bandmates respected his decision to leave. a replacement guitarist has yet to be named by korn who are currently at work on their eighth studio album. welch added that he would appear at a church in bakersfield to explain how he got to this place in life . the remaining members of korn who are known for their hardcore brand of rock said they hoped welch finds the happiness he is looking for . the 34-year-old made reference to the band s aggressive brand of music and its young fans in his parting statement. anger is a good thing and if kids want to listen to korn good but there s happiness after the anger he told his local radio station in bakersfield. i m going to show it through my actions how much i love my fans added welch. korn have enjoyed a moderate degree of chart success in the uk with 10 singles breaking into the top 40. their best performance to date in the uk has been 2002 s here to stay which reached number 12 while their album untouchables released in the same year made it to number four.

sports

blair to face trust issue head on tony blair says he will be facing the issue of trust and his own integrity head on during the election campaign. during a question and answer session with first-time voters on five news mr blair said he had no option but to confront it by talking to people. he also dismissed claims government plans to get 50% of young people into university would devalue degrees. he was not forcing anyone to go to university but places should be there for those who wanted them he said. in answer to a question from 22-year-old liverpool student david dunne about concerns over the prime minister s personal integrity mr blair said talking was the only answer. you ve just got to confront it and say to people let s have a discussion on the things that worry you the things that make you say i can t trust you or i am against you on this. the worst thing in politics was that the electorate only got little snatches of policy from things like prime minister s questions and the news headlines. this was why he wanted to get out of the 30 seconds on the news he added. by talking through policies at least people understood the reason for them even if they did not agree with them he said. mr blair also faced questions about british policy on iran and its alleged nuclear weapons programme. he insisted there was no plan for an invasion of the country saying: sometimes people say because of what has happened in iraq this is the next place. instead there was a real chance of a peaceful resolution to the problem he said.

politics

drive to save festive holidays efforts are being made to protect workers days off on christmas day and new year s day. support is being sought for a bill which would ensure that large retailers in scotland remain closed on christmas day and 1 january. the usdaw trade union said shop workers should be able to enjoy a break with their families. msp karen whitefield wants to ensure only those whose roles are essential are at work over the festive season. in recent years more stores have been opening on traditional holidays with some starting their end-of-year sale on christmas day or new year s day. ms whitefield said: i have found members of the public to be very supportive when i have been campaigning on the streets. the early evidence shows quite clearly that the vast majority of people believe that shop workers should be given these two special days to spend with friends and family. usdaw general secretary john hannett added: christmas day and new year s day are special days for everyone in scotland and the fact that shops do not open is an important part of making them special. they are largely collective days of rest. we want people to tell karen through her consultation whether they want the special nature of these days to remain or whether they want them to become like any other trading day with shops open for business as usual. the consultation on a christmas & new year s day trading bill has so far attracted almost 500 responses and closes on 7 february.

politics

guantanamo four free in weeks all four britons held by the us in guantanamo bay will be returned to the uk within weeks foreign secretary jack straw told the commons on tuesday. moazzam begg from birmingham and martin mubanga richard belmar and feroz abbasi from london have been held by the us for almost three years. they were detained in the cuban camp as part of the us-led war on terror . mr straw said the us had agreed to release the four after intensive and complex discussions over security. he said the government had been negotiating the return of the detainees since 2003. all four families have been informed of their return and have been involved in regular discussions with the government mr straw said. but he added: once they are back in the uk the police will consider whether to arrest them under the terrorism act 2000 for questioning in connection with possible terrorist activity. the shadow foreign secretary michael ancram welcomed the return of the four detainees. but he said there were still serious questions both over the possible threat the four pose to the uk and the treatment they received while detained. liberal democrat foreign affairs spokesman sir menzies campbell said the four had been rescued from a legal no-man s land . their civil rights were systematically and deliberately abused and they were denied due process. azmat begg father of moazzam thanked his lawyers and the british people for the support he had received while campaigning for his son s release. he added: if they have done something wrong of course they should be punished but if they haven t they shouldn t have been there. lawyer louise christian who represents mr abbasi and mr mubanga said the government should have acted sooner. she said: they should at the outset have said quite clearly to the american government that they were behaving in breach of international law and that the british government wanted no part of it and wanted guantanamo bay shut down. they didn t do that. they colluded with it. moazzam begg s labour mp roger godsiff welcomed his release but said questions remained unanswered particularly about charges. asked about possible damages mr begg and the other detainees could bring against the us mr godsiff said: people get released from prison when it s found that their prosecution was unsustainable and they are quite rightly awarded sizeable sums of money. i don t see any difference in this case. human rights campaigners have been outraged at the treatment of the detainees in cuba. amnesty international has called camp delta a major human-rights scandal and an icon of lawlessness . both amnesty and the lobby group guantanamo human rights commission described the release as long overdue . civil rights group liberty said it was delighted but called on the government to release men indefinitely detained in the uk without charge or trial. director shami chakrabarti called on the government to practise what it preaches and either free or charge 12 detainees at belmarsh and woodhill prisons. law lords ruled last month that the 12 were being held in contravention of human rights laws but they are still behind bars. the us has also announced that 48-year-old australian mamdouh habib previously accused of terrorist offences will be released without charge from camp delta. five british detainees released from guantanamo in march last year were questioned by uk police before being released without charge.

politics

hollywood ready for oscars night hollywood is preparing for the biggest night in the film world s calendar the 77th academy awards on sunday. a host of stars are expected to grace the red carpet outside los angeles kodak theatre including johnny depp cate blanchett and leonardo dicaprio. british actors in attendance include nominees clive owen imelda staunton kate winslet and director mike leigh. the aviator leads the shortlist but critics believe the night may belong to clint eastwood s million dollar baby. a recent poll of us pundits found eastwood s boxing drama had become the new favourite to win best film over the howard hughes biopic. if the 74-year-old does win he will become the oldest person ever to be named best director at the ceremony. uk critics still favour the aviator for best film but believe the best director title will generate a close fought battle between eastwood and martin scorsese. scorsese has never won the best director prize despite four previous nominations for films including raging bull goodfellas and gangs of new york. eastwood has won best director once before for unforgiven in 1993. most experts predict the twice-nominated jamie foxx will win best actor for his portrayal of singer ray charles while vera drake star imelda staunton looks likely to lose out in the best actress field to hilary swank in million dollar baby. the uk s highest hopes remain with clive owen who has scooped both the golden globe and the bafta for his supporting role in closer. actor and comedian chris rock will host the event which will be broadcast with a seven-second time delay to allow censors to cut out any unsuitable content. we have the bleep machine ready but bleeps will be used as needed producer gil cates told reporters. however he added that he strongly disapproved of the growing tendency to censor live broadcasts on us tv. he also played down fears that rock who is known for using strong language in his stand-up routines might cause controversy on the night. the 40-year-old comic has already promised not to swear live on air during the show. chris has a sense of humour and everything he says is really said humorously cates said. you need a movie star and someone who is a stand-up comic so they can deal with the vicissitudes of the show. security will also be tight with police employing a system to detect sarin nerve gas. we are pulling out all the stops said john miller chief of counterterrorism at the los angeles police department. the show is a symbol of american culture and has the potential to be a high-visibility target he added. meanwhile organisers have erected a canopy over the red carpet following an outbreak of torrential rain in los angeles over the past week. cates said the covers would be removed if the threat of wet weather receded. details have also emerged of the contents of this year s gift bags which are given to nominees and presenters on the night. this year s bags will include a gift certificate for a luxury beach resort a pair of mink eyelashes and a kitchen set with a year s supply of tea and coffee. the event will be televised by the abc network from 1700 local time (0100 gmt) and on sky movies in the uk from 0130 gmt.

entertainment

manics in charge of bbc 6 music the manic street preachers are to take over the helm of bbc digital radio station 6 music for a week in december. the welsh band whose hits include design for life and if you tolerate this have already chosen which records to play between 6 and 12 december. their albums of the day include who s next by the who and u2 s joshua tree. the group will also perform their own live session. they follow in the footsteps of radiohead who took over the station for a week last year. bass player nicky wire will join phil jupitus on his morning show on monday 6 december while vocalist and guitarist james dean bradfield will appear on andrew collins afternoon show on thursday 9. the group have also chosen documentaries to air such as the leonard cohen story and guitar greats - jimmy page. the live concert session tracks they have picked include the specials rat race recorded at hammersmith odeon in london and public enemy s fight the power and rebel without a pause. the band will also answer questions e-mailed in by 6 music listeners.

world

man utd through after exeter test manchester united avoided an fa cup upset by edging past exeter city in their third round replay. cristiano ronaldo scored the opener slipping the ball between paul jones legs after just nine minutes. united wasted a host of chances to make it safe as jones made some great saves but wayne rooney put the tie beyond doubt late on with a cool finish. exeter had chances of their own sean devine twice volleying wide and andrew taylor forcing tim howard to save. united boss sir alex ferguson was taking few chances after their 0-0 draw in the first game and he handed starts to paul scholes and ryan as well as ronaldo and rooney. exeter began brightly with devine and steve flack seeing plenty of the ball but it did not take united long to assert their authority and the hosts soon found themselves a goal down. scholes played a lovely pass in to ronaldo on the left-hand side of the six-yard box and the portuguese winger slid the ball between the legs of jones to open the scoring. united sensed a chance to finish the tie as a contest early on and ronaldo blazed over before jones saved well from scholes and then rooney. the visitors pressure by now was incessant and rooney had another shot blocked while ronaldo slammed well over the bar again from a good position. just before the break giggs had a golden chance to double the advantage but the welshman dragged a left-foot effort badly wide from 10 yards. in stoppage time exeter created their best chance as alex jeannin swung in a cross from the left that devine managed to flick goalwards but the ball flew wide of howard s goal. the grecians came out after the break in determined fashion and howard had to show safe hands to collect two searching crosses into the united box. rooney looked like he might have sealed the result with a turn and shot but the ball stuck in the st james park mud and jones raced back to gather on the goalline. moments later devine had the chance to make himself a hero but he could only volley jeannin s brilliant cross wide of howard s goal after being left unmarked six yards out. after rooney had completely messed up a free-kick 20 yards out taylor showed him how it should be done his stunning drive from distance forcing a flying stop from howard. the home crowd were baying for a goal and they did get the ball into the net only for devine s low effort to be ruled out for an obvious offside. the persistent rooney eventually rounded jones with three minutes to go and slotted into an empty net to book a home tie with middlesbrough in the fourth round. jones hiley sawyer gaia jeannin moxey taylor (martin 89) ampadu (afful 69) clay flack (edwards 74) devine. subs not used: rice todd. ampadu clay. howard phil neville gary neville o shea fortune giggs (saha 70) miller (fletcher 66) scholes djemba-djemba (silvestre 80) ronaldo rooney. subs not used: ricardo bellion. ronaldo 9 rooney 87. 9 033. p dowd (staffordshire).

science and tech

disaster claims less than $10bn insurers have sought to calm fears that they face huge losses after an earthquake and giant waves killed at least 38 000 people in southern asia. munich re and swiss re the world s two biggest reinsurers have said exposure will be less than for other disasters. rebuilding costs are likely to be cheaper than in developed countries and many of those affected will not have insurance analysts said. swiss re has said total claims are likely to be less than $10bn (£5.17bn). swiss re believes that the cost would be substantial but that it is unlikely to be in double-digit billions the financial times reported. munich re the world s largest reinsurance company said that its exposure is less than 100m euros (£70m; $136m). at least 10 countries have been affected with sri lanka indonesia india and thailand among the worst hit. the region s resorts and western tourists are expected to be among the main claimants. lloyds of london told the financial times it expected its exposure to be limited to holiday resorts personal accident travel insurance and marine risks . a spokeswoman for hanover re europe s fifth-largest reinsurance firm estimated tsunami-related damage claims would be in the low double-digit millions of euros. the company has paid out about 300 million euros (£281m; $400m) to cover damage caused recently by four major hurricanes in the us. but insurers have not had long to assess the economic impact of the damage and reports of more casualties and destruction are still coming through. so many things are unclear it is just too early to tell said serge troeber deputy head of swiss re s natural disasters department. you need very complicated processes to estimate damages. unlike the hurricanes you can t just run a model. he anticipated that his own company s total claims would be less then those from the hurricanes which the company put at $640m. allianz a leading german insurer said it did not know yet what its exposure would be. however it said the tidal waves were unlikely to have a significant impact on its business. zurich financial said they could not yet assess the cost of the disaster. the impact on us insurance companies is not expected to be heavy analysts said. most us insurers have relatively little exposure to asia and those that do pass on a lot of the risk to reinsurance companies or special catastrophe funds. insured damage could be a fraction of the billions of dollars worth of destruction in sri lanka india thailand indonesia the maldive islands and malaysia said prudential equity group insurance analyst jay gelb. us insurers are likely to have only minimal to no exposure. it s more likely the bermuda-based reinsurance [companies] might have some exposure said paul newsome an insurance analyst at ag edwards & co. many of the affected countries such as indonesia sri lanka or the maldives do not usually buy insurance for these kinds of disasters said a us-based insurance expert. early estimates from the world bank put the amount of aid needed for the worst affected countries including sri lanka india indonesia and thailand at about $5bn (£2.6bn) similar to the cash offered to central america after hurricane mitch. mitch killed about 10 000 people and caused damage of about $10bn in 1998. but the cost of the tsunamis on the individuals involved is incalculable. we cannot fathom the cost of these poor societies and the nameless fishermen and fishing villages ... that have just been wiped out. hundreds of thousands of livelihoods have gone said jan egeland head of the un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs. tourists cutting short their holidays in affected areas may suffer a financial impact too. the association of british insurers warned that travel insurance does not normally cover cutting short a holiday. it said loss of possessions will usually be covered but the association stressed the importance of checking the wording of travel policies.

sports

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

entertainment

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.

business

baa support ahead of court battle uk airport operator baa has reiterated its support for the government s aviation expansion plans to airports throughout the country. the comments come a day ahead of a high court challenge by residents groups and local councils to the government s white paper. the judicial review will centre on government plans for expansion at heathrow stansted and luton airports. baa which operates all three said it was consulting with local communities. we are...consulting on voluntary compensation schemes which go beyond our statutory obligations a baa spokesman said. groups challenging the plans include stop stansted expansion heathrow anti-noise campaigners hacan clearskies and the london boroughs of hillingdon and wandsworth. at heathrow gatwick edinburgh and glasgow airports baa launched a series of consultations on blight to properties from the proposed expansion in september 2004 which will close next week. the company is also offering to buy noise-hit properties for an index-linked unblighted price. among other measures baa has set up a homeowner support scheme for people living near stansted and has launched a special scheme for those close to the airport but far enough away not to be covered by the homeowner scheme. at heathrow baa said it was working closely with all interested parties to see how the strict environmental air quality and noise targets for a third runway can be met. at gatwick the company has written to homes and business likely to be affected by any extra runway. stop stansted expansion said the white paper published in december 2003 was fundamentally flawed and did not follow the proper consultation process. we do not underestimate the scale of the challenge before us because the courts have never before overturned a government white paper said stop stansted expansion chairman peter sanders said. hacan chairman john stewart said: almost exactly a year ago the government published its 30-year aviation white paper with much fanfare. it hoped that would be the end of the debate and it could proceed with its plans for a massive expansion of aviation. yet a year later the protesters are still here and stronger than ever. a judgement from mr justice sullivan is expected early in february.

politics

us actor ossie davis found dead us actor ossie davis has been found dead at the age of 87. davis who was married to actress ruby dee was found dead on friday in his hotel room in miami beach florida where he was making a film. davis whose 65-year career included credits as a producer director actor and writer for stage and screen was also a civil rights activist. miami beach police spokesman bobby hernandez said the cause of death appeared to be natural. davis s body was discovered by his grandson and paramedics at the shore club hotel in miami beach where the actor had been shooting the film retirement. mr hernandez said: after gaining entry they found mr davis had passed away. the cause of death appears to be natural. according to his grandson he was suffering from heart disease. some of davis s best known roles included the joe louis story and gone are the days - a film he adapted from his own play purlie victorious. he also appeared in 7 spike lee movies including school daze do the right thing and jungle fever. his film debut in 1950 was in the film no way out starring sydney poitier and ruby dee. davis and dee were married for more than 56 years and together received kennedy center honours in 2004 for their body of work. the actors equity association issued a statement calling davis an icon in the american theatre and he and dee american treasures . davis was also a prominent figure in the civil rights movement and was a voice for racial equality. he was a featured speaker at the funerals of both martin luther king jnr and malcolm x. besides dee davis is survived by three children nora hasna and guy a blues artist and seven grandchildren.

entertainment

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

sports

joke e-mail virus tricks users a virus that disguises itself as a joke is spreading rapidly across the net. anti-virus firms are issuing high-level warnings about the new version of the bagle e-mail program that seems to be catching a lot of people out. the windows virus grabs e-mail addresses from microsoft outlook and uses its own mail sending software to spread itself to new victims. when it infects a machine the bagle variant turns off security measures that usually protect pcs. the new variant is called bagle.at bagle.bb and bagle.au and the attachment bearing the virus code is labelled as either joke or price . the body of the virus usually contains nothing but a smiley or emoticon. the virus can strike computers running windows 95 98 me nt 2000 and xp. users will be infected if they open the attachment that travels with the e-mail. as well as plundering microsoft outlook for e-mail addresses to send itself to bagle.at also tries to turn off the firewall and security centre services on windows xp machines. bbc news online has received five warnings about the virus from security companies. finnish company f-secure gave the virus its second highest threat level. we ve had several reports all over the world said mikko hypponen director of anti-virus research for f-secure. security firm network box said that it stopped more than 30 000 copies an hour of the virus as the outbreak reached a peak. black spider said it had stopped more than 1 million copies of bagle.at since the outbreak began at 0630 bst (0530 gmt). anti-virus firms urged users to be wary of unexpected e-mail messages bearing attachments and to update their software to ensure they are protected against the latest threats.

science and tech

radcliffe will compete in london paula radcliffe will compete in the flora london marathon this year after deciding her schedule for 2005. the 31-year-old won the race in 2002 on her marathon debut defended her title 12 months later and will now seek a third title in the 17 april race. it doesn t get any better than this for the 25th anniversary said race director david bedford. after announcing the greatest men s field ever we now have the greatest women s distance runner ever. three years ago radcliffe smashed the women s world record in two hours 18 minutes 15 seconds. the bedford star returned to london 12 months later lowering her mixed-race world record of 2:17:18 which she set in chicago in october 2003 by one minute 53 secs. radcliffe s career took a setback when she failed to complete the olympic marathon and later dropped out of the athens 10 000m last august. but the 31-year-old bounced back to win the new york marathon in november. radcliffe however passed up the chance to go for the big city marathon grand slam. with wins in chicago london and new york only the boston marathon remains to be conquered but that takes place a day after london. boston is definitely a race i want to do at some point but london is very special to me said radcliffe. i don t pick races thinking about things like pressure. i pick the ones in my heart i really want to do. i love the atmosphere crowds and course and know it will always be a great quality race. it is also the 25th anniversary this year which adds to the occasion.

world

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

science and tech

adriano s chelsea link rejected adriano s agent gilmar rinaldi has insisted that he has had no contact with chelsea over the striker. chelsea were reported to have made inquiries about inter milan s 22-year-old brazilian star. rinaldi told bbc sport from rio de janeiro: i can assure you that chelsea have had no dealings whatsoever with either me or adriano. parma and real madrid are interested but there s nothing new there. their interest has been known for some time. adriano has scored 14 goals in 20 serie a appearances this season. and chelsea boss jose mourinho had claimed that he was in milan talking to adriano on the day he is alleged to have held a clandestine meeting with arsenal defender ashley cole. mourinho said he was just practising my portuguese with him because i don t need strikers . rinaldi told bbc sport: i have to say that nobody from chelsea or any other london club has contacted me. if they want to that s fine. i can tell them what the situation is. if chelsea are interested then they must make an offer. inter are reported to have slapped a price tag in the region of £40m on the head of adriano who joined them just over a year ago from parma. real madrid view him as a natural replacement for compatriot ronaldo. but rinaldi said: i cannot give you a price that inter would accept for adriano. that s something that would have to be negotiated between the interested clubs.

business

us tv special for tsunami relief a us television network will screen a celebrity tv special to benefit the tsunami relief effort in south asia. nbc will encourage viewer donations during an hour-long show featuring musical performances on 15 january. actress sandra bullock has donated $1m (£525 000) to the american red cross and actor leonardo dicaprio pledged a sizable aid contribution to unicef. meanwhile 70 hong kong music and movie stars re-recorded we are the world in mandarin and cantonese to raise funds. the song will not be released as a single but will be played regularly during a chinese telethon on friday in aid of victims of the boxing day disaster. around 140 000 people were killed and five million left homeless or without food and water after an earthquake below the indian ocean sent waves crashing into coastal communities in 11 countries. the united nations warned that the number killed in the disaster could rise sharply with aid yet to reach some remote areas. performers have yet to be confirmed for nbc s aid relief benefit later this month. it follows a two-hour telethon carried by all four major us television networks 10 days after the 11 september terror attacks in 2001. america: a tribute to heroes raised more than $150m (£79m) to help victims of the suicide attacks on the world trade center and pentagon.

sports

algeria hit by further gas riots algeria suffered a weekend of violent protests against government plans to raise gas prices local press reports. demonstrators in a number of regions blocked roads attacked public buildings and overturned vehicles newspapers including el watan reported. the price of butane gas a vital fuel for cooking has risen to 200 dinars ($2.77) per canister from 170 dinars. even before the hike failing economic conditions had been fanning resentment in some of algeria s poorest regions. demonstrators took to the streets last week when the cost change was first announced but police seemed to have restored order. according to local press reports trouble flared up again on saturday and carried on into sunday. el watan said that a number of hot spots centred on the villages and towns close to bouira about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital algiers. among the other main areas affected were the western tiaret region and sidi ammar in the east of the country agence france presse (afp) reported. riots also flared up in the maghnia region close to the border with morocco in the west afp said. butane gas and fuel oil are used as the main source of fuel to heat homes and cook food in algeria s remote mountain areas.

business

rapper jay-z becomes label boss rap star jay-z is to become a record company executive after being put in charge of one of hip-hop s most influential labels def jam. jay-z who said he would make no more music after 2003 s the black album will become the company s president and chief executive from january. def jam s parent company universal made the appointment after buying jay-z s roc-a-fella label. def jam s artists include ll cool j dmx ludacris ja rule and ashanti. jay-z will continue to run roc-a-fella which he founded with damon dash in 1995 and has kanye west and beanie sigel on its roster. universal said on wednesday it had bought the 50% of roc-a-fella it did not already own. antonio la reid chairman of the island def jam music group said: i can think of no-one more relevant and credible in the hip-hop community to build upon def jam s fantastic legacy. he hoped jay-z would move the company into its next groundbreaking era he added. jay-z real name shawn carter said: i have inherited two of the most important brands in hip-hop def jam and roc-a-fella. i feel this is a giant step for me and the entire artist community. one of the most successful and respected rap stars of the last eight years jay-z s hits have included hard knock life dirt off your shoulder and 03 bonnie and clyde with his girlfriend beyonce knowles. he said he would retire after the black album but has just released an album and been on an ill-fated tour with r kelly. def jam was founded in 1984 by russell simmons and producer rick rubin and signed artists including run-dmc the beastie boys and public enemy.

politics

sydney to host north v south game sydney will host a northern versus southern hemisphere charity match in june or july the australian rugby union (aru) said on wednesday. the match will include players from the lions tour of new zealand. the australian rugby union has thrown its support behind a proposed north-south match to raise funds for the tsunami appeals the aru said. the date is yet to be decided but the most likely venue is sydney s olympic stadium. aru chief executive gary flowers said the world cricket charity match in melbourne earlier this month had inspired the aru. we still need to discuss the options with the irb (international rugby board) the lions and our sanzar (south africa new zealand and australia rugby) partners but june or july is seen as a better option than march to ensure we have the cream of southern hemisphere rugby available he said. wallabies captain george gregan said the charity match was a great initiative . tri-nations rivals australia new zealand and south africa would feature prominently in a southern team against a northern side comprised of six nations teams france ireland england wales italy and scotland. coach clive woodward s lions squad will tour new zealand in june and july including tests on 25 june 2 and 9 july. almost 80 000 fans packed into melbourne cricket ground on 10 january for a charity match that raised £5.9m for victims of the asian tsunami.

science and tech

new year s texting breaks record a mobile phone was as essential to the recent new year s festivities as a party mood and auld lang syne if the number of text messages sent is anything to go by. between midnight on 31 december and midnight on 1 january 133m text messages were sent in the uk. it is the highest ever daily total recorded by the mobile data association (mda). it represents an increase of 20% on last year s figures. wishing a happy new year to friends and family via text message has become a staple ingredient of the year s largest party. while texting has not quite overtaken the old-fashioned phone call it is heading that way said mike short chairman of the mda. in the case of a new years eve party texting is useful if you are unable to speak or hear because of a noisy background he said. there were also lots of messages sent internationally where different time zones made traditional calls unfeasible he said. the british love affair with texting shows no signs of abating and the annual total for 2004 is set to exceed 25bn according to mda. the mda predicts that 2005 could see more than 30bn text messages sent in the uk. we thought texting might slow down as mms took off but we have seen no sign of that said mr short. more and more firms are seeing the value in mobile marketing. restaurants are using text messages to tell customers about special offers and promotions. anyone in need of a bit of january cheer now the party season is over can use a service set up by jongleurs comedy club which will text them a joke a day. for those still wanting to drink and be merry as the long days of winter draw in the good pub guide offers a service giving the location and address of their nearest recommended pub. users need to text the word goodpub to 85130. if they want to turn the evening into a pub crawl they simply text the word next. and for those still standing at the end of the night a taxi service in london is available via text which will locate the nearest available black cab.

sports

collins calls for chambers return world 100m champion kim collins says suspended sprinter dwain chambers should be allowed to compete in the olympics again. chambers was banned for two years after testing positive for the anabolic steroid thg and his suspension runs out in november this year. but collins says the british olympic association should reverse the decision to ban him from the olympics for life. it was too harsh collins told radio five live. they should reconsider. chambers has been in america learning american football but has not ruled out a return to the track. collins added: he is a great guy and i have never had any problems with him. we are friends. i would like to see dwain come back and compete again. he is a good person. even though he made a mistake he understands what he did and should be given a chance once more.

entertainment

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

business

kennedy questions trust of blair lib dem leader charles kennedy has said voters now have a fundamental lack of trust of tony blair as prime minister. he said backing his party was not a wasted vote adding that with the lib dems what you see is what you get . he made his comments at the start of a day of appearances on channel five in a session on the wright stuff programme. questions from callers a studio audience and the show s presenter covered lib dem tax plans anti-terror laws and immigration. mr kennedy said during his nearly 22 years in parliament he had seen prime ministers and party leaders come and go and knew the pitfalls of british politics. 1983 was when i was first elected as an mp - so tony blair michael howard and myself were all class of 83 - and over that nearly quarter of a century the world has changed out of recognition he said. we don t actually hear the argument any longer: lib dems good people reasonable ideas but only if we thought they could win around here - it s a wasted vote . you don t hear that because the evidence of people s senses demonstrates that it isn t a wasted vote. but he said mr blair had lost the trust of the british people. there is a fundamental lack of trust in tony blair as prime minister and in his government he said. what we ve got to do as a party - what i ve got to do as a leader of this party - is to convey to people that what you see is what you get. mr kennedy also used his tv appearance to defend his party s plans to increase income tax to 50% for those earning more than £100 000 saying it would apply to just 1% of the population. he said the extra revenue would allow his party to get rid of tuition and top-up fees introduce free personal care for the elderly and replace the council tax with a local income tax. mr blair has already spent a day with five and michael howard is booked for a similar session.

entertainment

imf agrees fresh turkey funding turkey has agreed a draft proposal with the international monetary fund to borrow $10bn (£5.19bn) extending its ongoing financial support until 2007. turkey s current $18.6bn loan agreement with the imf expires in february and the new deal would see it receive added support between 2005 and 2007. in return for the funding turkey would be expected to keep inflation under control and introduce market reforms. turkey s economy has steadily recovered from a severe crisis in 2001. economic growth has average 6-7% in the past three years ahead of imf forecasts while inflation fell below 10% this year for the first time in 30 years. however turkey has a huge debt burden - already owing $23bn to the imf - while its current account deficit has swelled to $10.7bn this year. the turkish economics minister ali babacan said the two sides had reached general agreement on a new three year funding program. rodrigo de rato the imf s managing director said the loan agreement would help to improve turkish economic prospects by cutting its debt and stimulating growth. i believe the new programme if implemented successfully will help turkey create the conditions for sustained growth and employment creation reduce inflation toward european level and enhance the economy s resilience he said. the agreement must still be ratified by imf directors at a meeting expected to take place next month. the agreement would also enable turkey to defer payments on previous loans worth $3.7m until 2006. as part of the draft agreement turkey has signed a letter of intent stating its determination to push through far-reaching reforms to its tax and benefits system and its banking sector. such reforms are considered vital for turkey if it is to fulfil its ambition of joining the european union. the eu will decide on 17 december whether to begin entry talks with turkey. the us the largest of the imf s 184 members is a strong supporter of continued financial support for turkey.

science and tech

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

science and tech

steel firm to cut 45 000 jobs mittal steel one of the world s largest steel producers could cut up to 45 000 jobs over the next five years its chief executive has said. the netherlands-based company is due to complete its $4.5bn acquisition of us firm isg next month making it one of the largest global firms of its kind. however lakshmi mittal has told investors the combined company will have to shed thousands of jobs. the indian-born magnate did not say where the job losses would fall. mr mittal told us investors that once the acquisition of international steel group was completed the company would aim to reduce its workforce by between 7 000 and 8 000 annually. this could see its workforce trimmed from 155 000 to 110 000 staff by 2010. we are investing in modernisation so employees will go down mr mittal told the conference in chicago. mittal steel was formed last year when mr mittal s lnm holdings merged with dutch firm ispat. a combination of mittal steel and isg would have annual sales of $32bn (£16.7bn; 24.1bn euros) and a production capacity of 70 million tonnes. a mittal steel spokeman said that no decisions on job cuts have been made yet. we are trying to create a sustainable steel industry and if we want to do that we have to invest in new technology a spokesman said. mittal steel has operations in 14 countries. many of its businesses - particularly those in eastern europe - were previously state owned and have huge workforces. it employs 50 000 staff in kazakhstan alone and has large operations in romania the czech republic south africa and the united states.

entertainment

huge rush for jet airways shares indian airline jet airways initial public offering was oversubscribed 16.2 times bankers said on friday. over 85% of the bids were at the higher end of the price range of 1 050-1 125 rupees ($24-$26). jet airways a low-fare airline was founded by london-based ex-travel agent naresh goya and controls 45% of the indian domestic airline market. it sold 20% of its equity or 17.2 million shares in a bid to raise up to $443m (£230.8m). the price at which its shares will begin trading will be agreed over the weekend bankers said. the demand for the ipo was impressive. we believe that over the next two years the domestic aviation sector promises strong growth even though fuel prices could be high said hiten mehta manager of merchant banking firm fortune financial services. india began to open up its domestic airline market - previously dominated by state-run carrier indian airlines - in the 1990s. jet began flying in 1993 and now has competitors including air deccan and air sahara. budget carriers kingfisher airlines and spicejet are planning to launch operations in may this year. jet has 42 aircraft and runs 271 scheduled flights daily within india. it recently won government permission to fly to london singapore and kuala lumpur.

sports

aragones angered by racism fine spain coach luis aragones is furious after being fined by the spanish football federation for his comments about thierry henry. the 66-year-old criticised his 3000 euros (£2 060) punishment even though it was far below the maximum penalty. i am not guilty nor do i accept being judged for actions against the image of the sport he said. i m not a racist and i ve never lacked sporting decorum. i ve never done that and i have medals for sporting merit. aragones was handed the fine on tuesday after making racist remarks about henry to arsenal team-mate and spanish international jose reyes last october. the spanish football federation at first declined to take action against aragones but was then requested to do so by spain s anti-violence commission. the fine was far less than the expected amount of about £22 000 or even the suspension of his coaching licence. arsenal boss arsene wenger who was fined £15 000 in december for accusing manchester united striker ruud van nistelrooy of cheating believes that aragones punishment was too lenient. you compare his fine and my fine and if you consider his was for racist abuse then you seem to get away with it more in spain than you should wenger said. he shouldn t have said what he said and how much money is enough i don t know but it doesn t look a big punishment. however aragones insists the fine is unjustified and unfair. i have been treated like islero (the bull that killed famous bullfighter manolete) said aragones on hearing he had been fined for his actions. i have not liked one thing about this whole affair and i do not agree with the sanction. they have looked for a scapegoat. spain s anti-violence commission must now ratify the spanish fa s decision and has until next week to announce its verdict. aragones has 10 days to appeal and the commission can also appeal. alberto flores president of the spanish fa s disciplinary committee said no-one in the committee felt aragones was a racist nor had acted in a racist way. a fine the highest we could apply is sufficient punishment. suspension would have been a bit exaggerated flores told sports daily marca.

world

football manager scores big time for the past decade or so the virtual football fans among us will have become used to the annual helping of championship manager (cm). indeed it seems like there has been a cm game for as many years as there have been pcs. however last year was the final time that developers sports interactive (si) and publishers eidos would work together. they decided to go their separate ways and each kept a piece of the franchise. si kept the game s code and database and eidos retained rights to the cm brand and the look and feel of the game. so at the beginning of this year fans faced a new situation. eidos announced the next cm game with a new team to develop it from scratch whilst si developed the existing code further to be released with new publishers sega under the name football manager. so what does this mean well football manager is the spiritual successor to the cm series and it has been released earlier than expected. at this point cm5 looks like it will ship early next year. but given that football manager 2005 is by and large the game that everybody knows and loves how does this new version shape up a game like fm2005 could blind you with statistics. it has an obscene number of playable leagues an obscene number of manageable teams and a really obscene number of players and staff from around the world in the database with stats faithfully researched and compiled by a loyal army of fans. but that does not do justice to the game really. what we are talking about is the most realistic and satisfying football management game to ever grace the earth. you begin by picking the nations and leagues you want to manage teams from for instance england and scotland. that will give you a choice not just of the four main scottish leagues but the english premiership all the way down to the conference north and south. of course you might be looking for european glory or to get hold of abramovich s millions in which case you can take control at chelsea or even barcelona real madrid ac milan ... the list goes on a very long way. once in a team you will be told by the board what they expect of you. sometimes it is promotion or a place in europe sometimes it is consolidation or a brave relegation battle. it might even be a case of champions or else. obviously the expectations are linked to the team you choose so choose wisely. then it is time to look at your squad work out your tactics seeing how much cash if any you have got to splash having a look at the transfer market sorting out the training schedule and making sure your backroom staff are up to it. then bring on the matches which are once more available in the ever-improving top down 2d view. with the exception of the improved user interface on the surface not much else seems to have changed. however there have been a lot of changes under the bonnet as well - things like the manager mind-games which let you talk to the media about the opposition bosses. the match engine is also much improved and it is more of a joy than ever to watch. in fact just about every area of the game has been tweaked and it leads to an ever more immersive experience. with a game that is so complex and so open-ended there are of course a few glitches but nowhere near the sorts of problems that have blighted previous releases. with so many calculations to perform the game can take some time to process in between matches though there have been improvements in this area. and a sport like football which is so high profile and unpredictable itself can never be modelled quite to everybody s satisfaction. but this time around a great deal of hard work has been put in to ensure that any oddities that do crop up are cosmetic only and do not affect gameplay. and if there are problems further down the line sports interactive have indicated their usual willingness to support and develop the game as far as possible. in all there are many more tweaks and improvements. if you were a fan of the previous cm games then fm2005 might make you forget there was anything else before it. if you are new to the genre but like the idea of trying to take margate into the premiership spurs into europe or even putting rangers back on the top of the tree fm2005 could be the best purchase you ever made. just be warned that the family might not see you much at christmas. football manager 2005 out now for the pc and the mac

science and tech

tv presenter deeley drops cd:uk cat deeley has resigned as host of itv1 s saturday morning children s music show cd:uk after six years. the 28-year-old host who also presents stars in their eyes said she wanted to concentrate on new television projects. i ve had a great few years met some really incredible people and been given some wonderful opportunities the presenter said. deeley will host her last show on 5 march and guest presenters will stand in until a replacement is found. the long-running presenter said: i would like to take this opportunity to thank the cd:uk team and all the viewers that have watched supported the show and let me gate crash their saturday morning. whilst obviously i am really sad to say goodbye i m immensely excited about the future. deeley formerly co-hosted sm:tv the children s show which airs before cd:uk on a saturday morning alongside hit presenters ant and dec. she won a children s bafta award for best presenter in december 2001 and also fronted bbc one s fame academy series.

entertainment

gazprom in $36m back-tax claim the nuclear unit of russian energy giant gazprom is reportedly facing a 1bn rouble ($35.7m; £19.1m) back-tax claim for the 2001-2003 period. vedomosti newspaper reported that russian authorities made the demand at the end of last year. the paper added that most of the taxes claimed are linked to the company s export activity. gazprom the biggest gas company in the world took over nuclear fuel giant atomstroieksport in october 2004. the main project of atomstroieksport is the building of a nuclear plant in iran which has been a source of tension between russia and the us. gazprom is one of the key players in the complex russian energy market where the government of vladimir putin has made moves to regain state influence over the sector. gazprom is set to merge with state oil firm rosneft the company that eventually acquired yuganskneftegas the main unit of embattled oil giant yukos. claims for back-taxes was a tool used against yukos and led to the enforced sale yuganskneftegas. some analysts fear the kremlin will continue to use these sort of moves to boost the efforts of the state to regain control over strategically important sectors such as oil.

politics

india s deccan seals $1.8bn deal air deccan has ordered 30 airbus a320 planes in a $1.8bn (£931m) deal as india s first low-cost airline expands in the fast-growing domestic market. air deccan was set up last year and wants to lure travellers away from the railway network and pricier rivals. the potential of the indian market has attracted attention at home and abroad. beer magnate vijay mallya recently set up kingfisher airlines while uk entrepreneur richard branson has said he is keen to start a local operation. the country has a population of more than a billion people and many observers feel that it is underserved by airlines. recently however the booming economy has boosted personal spending power and helped swell the middle classes and the corporate sector. india s government has given its backing to cheaper and more accessible air travel. the days of flying being a symbol of only maharajas or the rich are over the minister for civil aviation praful patel said earlier. infrastructure is being built to handle the expected increase in demand and on tuesday agence france presse reported that a group led by germany s siemens won the contract to build a private airport near bangalore. india s airports authority and the state government will own 13% each of the finished transport hub. for its part air deccan set up by army officer and silk farmer gorur gopinath plans to increase its fleet to 60 aircraft within five years. to help finance the expansion the company may sell a 25% stake to an investor for about $50m. when it was set up the firm offered tickets that were 50% cheaper than other indian airlines. it said it was basing its business model on european firms such as ireland s ryanair.

sports

sundance to honour foreign films international films will be given the same prominence as us films at next year s sundance film festival with movies dominated by the theme of war. the independent film festival will feature two new international cinema competitions during its 20-30 january season in utah. forty-two films will debut at sundance including the liberace of baghdad by british director sean mcallister. the prestigious festival was founded by actor robert redford in 1981. we have always had an international component but from next year they will enter a jury competition festival director geoffrey gilmore said. we wanted to give world cinema more emphasis and have now put it on par with the american dramatic and documentary competitions. twelve films competing in the new world cinema documentary category focus on countries and people under siege. the liberace of baghdad features an iraqi pianist hiding in a hotel as he waits for a visa while finnish film the three rooms of melancholia looks at the war in chechnya. shake hands with the devil: the journey of romeo dallaire tells of a un mission to rwanda during the 1994 genocide while french-israeli production wall looks at israel s controversial security wall separating it from the palestinian territories. the 16 films competing in the new world cinema dramatic category include works from germany south korea angola china denmark and australia. several hollywood stars feature in the festival s american independent drama category including keanu reeves and benjamin bratt. vince vaughn stars in quirky movie thumbsucker while 21 grams actress naomi watts plays a budding hollywood actress in ellie parker. the top grand jury prize at this year s festival went to low budget sci-fi thriller primer written and directed by shane carruth. morgan spurlock earned the directing award for super size me which became an international box office hit.

sports

gardener battles to narrow win jason gardener fought all the way to the line to narrowly claim the men s 60m title at the norwich union indoor trials and aaas championships. the world 60m champion got off to a rolling start and had to dig deep to dip ahead of mark findlay and darren chin who both set personal bests. it was a close race admitted gardener. i stumbled out the blocks but my experience told through. i still feel there s more life in me and i believe i can go faster. gardener s performance in sheffield could have been affected by the news which he heard before his semi-final that his european record had been broken frenchman ronald pognon who will be a real threat at the european championships set a new time of 6.45 one-hundreth of a second faster than gardener s previous mark. favourite delivered a powerful performance to take the women s 60m title in 7.27 seconds. you ll see me in madrid and i feel there is a lot more to come along said the 22-year-old. katherine endacott battled hard to take second and dip under the european qualifying mark. defending champion joice maduaka had pulled out of the final with a chest infection. was on record-breaking form as she stormed to the women s 60m hurdles crown. the 25-year-old set a new british record for the second time in seven days clocking 7.96 seconds to finish ahead of rival diane allahgreen. i m so happy a tearful claxton told bbc sport. all the years i ve been running and i m getting recognition. claxton s time was also good enough to qualify for the european championships. the men s 800m went to form in sheffield as dominated the race from start to finish. the northern ireland athlete went off at a startling pace but had to hold off the challenge of welshman jimmy watkins over the final 200m to win in one minute 47.96 seconds. both mcilory and watkins who set a life-time best of 1:48.32 had already booked their places in madrid and were again well within the qualifying time. i had to go out and go through all the gears before the europeans and i won t run again until then said mcilroy. could not reach the european mark in the women s race as she crossed the line to win in 2:04.45. olympic bronze heptathlon medallist rounded off a useful weekend with two more personal bests in sheffield. the 28-year-old reached 1.80m in the high jump and clocked 8.47secs in the heats of the 60m hurdles. i ve surprised myself said sotherton. i m starting to thrive on the pressure but if i don t perform then it s not the end of the world. pole vaulter made a winning return to major competition after a drugs ban. the trafford athlete who has served a two-year ban after testing positive for anabolic steroids clinched the title with a championship record 4.25m. also set a new championship mark in the men s triple jump title in sheffield. the 26-year-old who has been training in australia over the winter landed 17.30m with his final effort - the longest leap in the world this year. i didn t have a clue said idowu. i ve not jumped indoors before and i just wanted the qualifying mark. but this isn t a bad start and hopefully i ll come back from madrid with a gold medal. nathan douglas continued his steady progress this season as he set a life-time best of 16.76m in second while jonathan moore took third. and resumed their rivalry in the long jump competition both achieving the european standard. commonwealth champion morgan reached a personal best of 7.96m on his very first jump and then promptly retired with a bruised heel. olympian tomlinson tried to play catch up with his six jumps but had to settle for a season s best jump of 7.91m. i was advised not to jump by my doctor and so i m pleased to come here and get the qualifying mark said tomlinson. now based at loughborough sprinted past front runner catherine murphy in the final 100m to steal the women s 400m title. the 21-year-old ran a personal best of 53.45 seconds to win her first indoor title. wall s time was just short of the qualifying mark - something murphy already has. ireland s took the men s title in 46.46 ahead of promising channel islands decathlete dale garland. sudanese 18-year-old rabah yusuf who is seeking british citizenship showed his raw talent as he burst through in third. cleared the required 1.90m to qualify for the european championships and claim the aaas title in the women s high jump. in the men s 3 000m powered to a new personal best of seven minutes 56.86 seconds to defend his aaas title in style. it was the first time in 11 years the eight-minute barrier has been broken at the championships and was just within the european mark. took the women s 1500m aaas title in the absence of kelly holmes. her time of 4:19.11 was not good enough to qualify for madrid but ovens had already opted out of the championships. the men s race was won by who had to fight off a closing pack to claim the title in 3:45.87.

sports

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

business

marsh executive in guilty plea an executive at us insurance firm marsh & mclennan has pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with an ongoing fraud and bid-rigging probe. new york attorney general elliot spitzer said senior vice president robert stearns had pleaded guilty to scheming to defraud. the offence carries a sentence of 16 months to four years in state prison. mr spitzer s office added mr stearns had also agreed to testify in future cases during the industry inquiry. we are saddened by the development marsh said in a statement. the company added it would continue to co-operate in the case adding it was committed to resolving the company s legal issues and to serving our clients with the highest standards of transparency and ethics . according to a statement from mr spitzer s office the marsh executive admitted he instructed insurance companies to submit non-competitive bids for insurance business between 2002 and 2004. those bids were then conveyed to marsh clients under false and fraudulent pretences . through the practice marsh was allowed to determine which insurers won business from clients and so control the insurance market mr spitzer s office added. it also protected incumbent insurers when their business was up for renewal and helped marsh to maximise its fees a statement said. in one case an email showed mr stearns had instructed a colleague to solicit a non-competitive - or b - quote from aig that was higher in premium and more restrictive in coverage and so fixed the bids in a way that would support the present provider chubb. the company is also still being examined by us stock market regulator the securities and exchange commission (sec). late last month the sec asked for information about transactions involving holders of 5% or more of the firm s shares.

sports

cheaper chip for mobiles a mobile phone chip which combines a modem and a computer processor on one bit of silicon instead of two could make phones cheaper and more powerful. the specially-designed chip developed by texas instruments could drive down the cost of making mobiles capable of 3d gaming and 30-frame-a-second video. currently rich multimedia features tend to be on more expensive handsets. the technology omap-vox is being tested by firms in europe and asia and could appear by the end of the year. texas which makes computer chips for more than half the world s mobile phones said it was keen to make multimedia functions like video and gaming more affordable. we re going to drive them down into meat-and-potatoes phones that have the largest market share said doug rasor a marketing vice president at texas. the chip also uses much less power than conventional chips said texas which means less strain on mobile battery life. more than 50 million people own a mobile in the uk but mobile operators are keen to encourage people to move onto more sophisticated handsets that can do more. texas is keen to cash in on the third generation (3g) of mobile technology which offers high-speed networks for video streaming and other multimedia functions. but it faces stiff competition from the likes of intel which is also looking to provide better chips for high-end mobiles. competition to get people using 3g mobiles will grow in the next year as almost all of the uk s operators have now launched third generation networks. a recent survey by sony ericsson predicted that the number of 3g handsets sold in 2005 would double from 2004 to account for 10% of all phones sold. many consumers are still to be convinced though. a further recent survey said that only 4% of mobile owners were thinking of upgrading to 3g phones. many said they were confused about the different ways to pay for phones and the vast array of features most have onboard. but there will be continued demand for better chips as the industry continues to develop new standards and future networks. earlier in january ntt docomo and vodafone joined forces to develop the next generation of high-speed networks known as super 3g intended to be 10 times faster than 3g services. the first stage of development is to be completed by 2007 but no date has been set for a commercial launch the newly-designed omap-vox chip set was announced ahead of the start of a major mobile industry conference 3gsm which takes place in cannes france this week.

science and tech

german music in a zombie state the german music business - the third largest in the world - is in the state of a zombie because it has failed to respond to the challenge posed by downloading and piracy a leading industry figure has said. tim renner the head of universal music germany until last year told bbc world service s the music biz programme that the country s music industry was now struggling to survive. renner warned that unless the industry accepted new realties - such as downloading - its decline could become irreversible. the problem the music industry has got is that they aren t willing to accept that the classic way of doing business is over and out he stated. so the music industry in its current form over here is pretty much in the state of a zombie. the music market in germany peaked in 1997 with sales of 2.6bn euros (£1.8bn). since 2000 sales have plummeted to just 1.6bn euros (£1.1bn) in 2003. in the space of one year - between 2002 and 2003 - cd album sales fell by 13.8%. but a study by the society for consumer research found that at the same time more than twice as many recordable cds had music recorded on them than cd albums were sold. mr renner pointed out that because profit comes mainly from the longevity of a good-selling record this was particularly damaging. you need time he added. however peter zombic the managing director of the international federation of phonographic industry in germany said he did not feel the situation was as dramatic as mr renner believed. it s quite true that we have severe problems in germany - but that s true in other parts of the world and in most developed markets too he argued. we have a severe problem with piracy especially internet piracy and we also have a severe problem of private copying. i don t agree that the music industry lost control over the music market - in fact especially in regard to germany talent the market is quite successful. he did however admit that copyright owners have partly lost control of their copyright due to piracy and copying. but he refuted suggestions that the industry had been too slow to respond to digital downloading. we were the first to implement a download service - back in 1997 he argued. at that time it was not successful because of the advent of piracy - it was the napster time when p2p services became popular. it still is quite difficult for the music industry to compete with a price that is zero as far as the illegal product is concerned. mr zombic also called for a change to the perception in germany that private copying of music is not a problem. german law does allow people to make copies of cds for their family and close friends without fear of breaking copyright. mr zombic said that this legal framework was a huge problem . there is a widespread attitude that private copying is a hobby it s nice it s fun he added. we try to make clear it s not nice and it s not fun - it s endangering the creativity in our country.

business

us peer-to-peer pirates convicted the first convictions for piracy over peer-to-peer networks have been handed down in the us. new yorker william trowbridge and texan michael chicoine have pleaded guilty to charges that they infringed copyright by illegally sharing music movies and software. the two men faced charges following raids in august on suspected pirates by the fbi. the pair face jail terms of up to five years and a $250 000 (£130 000) fine. in a statement the us department of justice said the two men operated the central hubs in a piracy community organised across the direct connect peer-to-peer network. the piracy group called itself the underground network and membership of it demanded that users share between one and 100 gigabytes of files. direct connect allows users to set themselves up as central servers that act as co-ordinating spots for sharers. users would swap files such as films and music by exchanging data over the network. during its investigation fbi agents reportedly downloaded 84 movies 40 software programs 13 games and 178 sound recordings from the five hubs that made up the larger piracy group. the raids were organised under the umbrella of operation digital gridlock which was aimed at fighting criminal copyright theft on peer-to-peer networks . in total six raids were carried out in august. five were on the homes of suspected copyright thieves and one on a net service firm. the department of justice said that both men pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit felony copyright infringement. they also pleaded guilty to acting for commercial advantage. the two men are due to be sentenced on 29 april.

science and tech

golden economic period to end ten years of golden economic performance may come to an end in 2005 with growth slowing markedly city consultancy deloitte has warned. the uk economy could suffer a backlash from the slowdown in the housing market triggering a fall in consumer spending and a rise in unemployment. deloitte is forecasting economic growth of 2% this year below chancellor gordon brown s forecast of 3% to 3.5%. it also believes that interest rates will fall to 4% by the end of the year. in its quarterly economic review deloitte said the uk economy had enjoyed a golden period during the past decade with unemployment falling to a near 30 year low and inflation at its lowest since the 1960s. but it warned that this growth had been achieved at the expense of creating major imbalances in the economy. deloitte s chief economic advisor roger bootle said: the biggest hit of all is set to come from the housing market which has already embarked on a major slowdown. whereas the main driver of the economy in recent years has been robust household spending growth this is likely to suffer as the housing market slowdown gathers pace. economic growth is likely to be constrained during the next few years by increased pressure on household budgets and rising taxes deloitte believes. gordon brown will need to raise about $10bn a year in order to sustain the public finances in the short term the firm claims. this will result in a marked slowdown in growth in 2005 and 2006 compared to last year when the economy expanded by 3.25%. however deloitte stressed that the slowdown was unlikely to have any major impact on retail prices while it expected the bank of england to respond quickly to signs of the economy faltering. it expects a series of aggressive interest rate cuts over the next two years with the cost of borrowing falling from its current 4.75% mark to 3.5% by the end of 2006. although 2005 may not be the year when things go completely wrong it will probably mark the start of a more difficult period for the uk economy mr bootle.

business

uk s useless quangos under fire the uk has 529 quangos financed with billions of pounds of taxpayers cash - many of which are useless or duplicate each other s efforts a report claims. essential guide to british quangos 2005 author dan lewis said at least 111 of the appointed bodies had been set up since labour won power in 1997. he urged a limit on the number of quangos that could be set up by any individual government department. tories and lib dems welcomed the report and called for a slimming down . conservative deregulation spokesman john redwood said: the research endorses our policy of destroying unwanted and unnecessary quangos and slimming down the rest. a conservative government will axe 162 quangos as part of its drive for more efficient and more accountable government. lib dem spokesman ed davey meanwhile said instead of the bonfire of quangos new labour had promised there had been an explosion of them. for over two decades under both tory and labour governments these unaccountable agencies have mushroomed. liberal democrats would abolish many merge others and make any that remain properly accountable. labour representatives were unavailable for comment. the quango guide follows last year s government-commissioned gershon report which recommended significant cuts in bureaucracy across the public sector. mr lewis wants a public inquiry into regional development agencies which cost £1.8bn a year - cash he says which appears to be almost entirely wasted . as well as a departmental limit on quangos he also wants a statutory five-year limit on any such body with executive powers. he also listed what he dubbed the nine most useless quangos . they were the british potato council the milk development council the energy savings trust agricultural wages committees the wine standards board the westminster foundation for democracy the football licensing authority investors in people uk and the economic and social research council. mr lewis branded the existence of the 60-employee potato council set up in 1997 to research and promote overseas potato markets surprising . he said the £80m spent annually on the energy savings trust which promotes renewable energy would be better spent on eight million boiler jackets for british homes. and he argued it was absurd to charge farmers for agricultural wages committees which set working and wage standards in the industry when many were prepared to take advantage of immigrant labour prepared to work for £1 an hour. if a football team can afford to pay £27m for wayne rooney why should the taxpayer - not all of whom like football - be forced to fund the football licensing authority to the tune of over £1.1m a year mr lewis asked. the report is published by the efficiency in government unit - a joint effort by right of centre think tanks the economic research council and the centre for policy studies. it says before a new public body is set up an assessment should be made whether its proposed role is already carried out by an existing charity or other private organisation.

world

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.

science and tech

tobacco giants hail court ruling us tobacco companies have welcomed an appeal court s decision to reject the government s $280bn (£155bn) claim for alleged deceit about smoking dangers. tobacco stocks rose sharply on wall street after the 2-1 decision. the court in washington found the case - filed by the clinton administration in 1999 - could not be brought under federal anti-racketeering laws. anti-smoking groups urge the government to fight on but the justice department has not said if it will appeal. among the accused were altria group rj reynolds tobacco lorillard tobacco liggett group and brown and williamson. they were delighted by the decision which sent reynolds shares up 4.5% and altria shares up 5.11%. charles a blixt executive vice-president of rj reynolds tobacco said the ruling dramatically transforms the government s lawsuit. altria group said in a statement the government now must not only prove that the companies have engaged in fraudulent behaviour in the past but that they are likely to do so in the future. the government had claimed tobacco firms - manipulated nicotine levels to increase addiction - targeted teenagers with multi-billion dollar advertising campaigns - lied about the dangers of smoking and ignored research to the contrary. prosecutors wanted the cigarette firms to disgorge $280bn in profits accumulated over the past 50 years and impose tougher rules on marketing their products. they brought the case under racketeering laws which were passed to deny mafia gangs the profits of their crimes. but the tobacco companies denied that they illegally conspired to promote smoking and defraud the public. they also said they had already met many of the government s demands in a landmark $206bn settlement reached with 46 states in 1998. the three-judge panel in the district of columbia s court of appeals ruled on friday that the us government could not sue the firms under the anti-racketeering laws. judge david sentelle in his ruling said such laws were aimed at putting an end to illegal conduct going forward. we hold that the language of (the law) and the comprehensive remedial scheme of (the law) preclude disgorgement as a possible remedy in this case he wrote. the justice department refused to say if it would appeal. all we re saying today is that we have received the ruling and are reviewing it a spokeswoman said on friday. but william corr of the campaign for tobacco-free kids urged the government to continue pressing its case. today s ruling should not be an excuse for this administration to seek a weak settlement that lets the tobacco industry off the hook he said.

business

greer attacks bully big brother germaine greer has criticised celebrity big brother s bullying of housemates after quitting the reality tv show. she said superior bullying tactics like making housemates cold and hungry could encourage playground bullying. she also condemned the complete irresponsibility of adding brigitte nielsen s former mother-in-law jackie stallone to the house on monday. nielsen had panicked that if she reacted badly it could harm her access to her children greer said. the feminist writer and broadcaster said big brother had behaved like a child rather than a parent by taunting contestant john mccririck after denying him a cola drink. i thought it was actually demonstrating the role of taunting in the playground and there are so many children whose lives have actually been destroyed by taunting in the playground greer said. she also said that her fellow housemates had publicity-seeking agendas . i had no idea who would be in here and it s wrong for me to present myself in the same context as they are. media observers had been surprised by greer s initial decision to join the third celebrity version of the channel 4 reality tv show given that she has written critical articles about the format in the past. as she packed her suitcase to leave the house she told fellow housemates: i m leaving over specific issues but best for everyone if i don t discuss them. i have a problem with decisions i make them fast and when i make them i stick to them. greer had earlier failed to persuade other contestants to stage a naked protest against big brother. other celebrities to walk out of a reality show tv include sex pistol john lydon former eastenders actress danniella westbrook and ex-e17 singer brian harvey who all left i m a celebrity... get me out of here. previous big brother housemates to leave before their time were sunita sharma and sandy cumming from the third series of the non-celebrity version of the show. vote was germaine greer right to leave celebrity big brother yes no results are indicative and may not reflect public opinion happy mondays dancer bez is now 2-1 favourite to win the show followed by blazin squad singer kenzie at 5-2 and actor jeremy edwards at 4-1. ladbrokes spokesman warren lush said that the series was still wide open adding that the last 24 hours had also seen a rush of bets on mccririck slashing his odds to 8-1. dj lisa i anson is the outsider with odds of 40-1 while jackie stallone who joined the house on monday is also one of the less popular housemates at 20-1. the first eviction of the series has now been postponed after greer s exit unexpectedly reduced the number of competitors. the eight remaining contestants are competing for a £50 000 prize to be donated to the charity of their choice if they survive a series of public votes. for every 50p vote cast by viewers by telephone or text during the programme s run 9p will go to a tsunami charity appeal.

entertainment

brookside actress keaveney dies actress anna keaveney who appeared in brookside my family and a touch of frost has died of lung cancer aged 55. keaveney who played brookside s marie jackson when the channel 4 soap began in 1982 died on saturday. born in runcorn cheshire she also starred in numerous films including 1989 s shirley valentine. she played nellie in mike leigh s latest film vera drake which won the golden lion prize for best film at this year s venice film festival. and most recently she appeared alongside richard wilson in itv s king of fridges and with martin clunes in doc martin. other tv appearances included the part of matron in itv drama footballers wives and a cameo role as tom farrell s mother sheila in bbc comedy gimme gimme gimme. keaveney s career also included stage performances in neaptide for the national theatre private lives and the rise and fall of little voice. the actress died in hospital. her agent barry brown said: anna was due to have had another operation on friday but unfortunately she was too weak.

entertainment

debate needed on donations cap a cap on donations to political parties should not be introduced yet the elections watchdog has said. fears that big donors can buy political favours have sparked calls for a limit. in a new report the electoral commission says it is worth debating a £10 000 cap for the future but now is not the right time to introduce it. it also says there should be more state funding for political parties and candidates should be able to spend more on election campaigning. there were almost £68m in reported donations to political parties in 2001 2002 and 2003 with nearly £12m of them from individual gifts worth more than £1m. the rules have already been changed so the public can see who gives how much to the parties but the report says there are still public suspicions. the commission says capping donations would mean taxpayers giving parties more cash - something which would first have to be acceptable to the public and shown to work. while we are not in principle opposed to the introduction of a donation cap we do not believe that such a major departure from the existing system now would be sensible says its report. if there was to be a cap it should be £10 000 - a small enough amount to make a difference but which would have banned £56m in donations between 2001 and 2003. even without changes the commission does urge political parties to seek out more small-scale donations and suggests there should be income tax relief for gifts under £200. it also suggests increasing state funding for parties to £3m so help can be extended to all parties with at least two members in the house of commons european parliament scottish parliament welsh assembly or northern ireland assembly. and it suggests new ways of boosting election campaigning seen as a way of improving voter turnout. all local election candidates should be entitled to a free mailshot for campaign leaflets says the watchdog. and there should be a shift in the amount of money allowed to be spent at elections from a national level to a local level to help politicians engage better with voters. the report suggests doubling the money which can be spent by candidates while cutting national spending limits from £20m to £15m. the commission also says the spending limits for general elections should cover the four months before the poll - as happens with other elections. electoral commission chairman sam younger said: there is no doubt that political parties have a vital role to play in maintaining the health of our democracy and for this they need to be adequately resourced. our research has shown that people want to be more informed about party politics and that they want politicians to be more visible and accessible. the public are reluctant for the state to fund parties but at the same time are unhappy with large private donations. he called for a wider public debate on party funding to find the consensus needed for radical changes to the current system.

politics

howard dismisses tory tax fears michael howard has dismissed fears from some conservatives that his plans for £4bn tax cuts are too modest. he defended the package saying it was a plan for the tories first budget and he hoped to be able to go further. the tories on monday highlighted £35bn in wasteful spending they would stop to allow tax cuts reduced borrowing and more spending on key services. labour and the liberal democrats say the party s sums do not add up and claim it would cut frontline services. the tory tax plan follows complaints from some of the party s mps that mr howard and shadow chancellor oliver letwin have taken too long to unveil the proposals. now they have promised a figure but have yet to reveal which taxes would be targeted. tory backbencher edward leigh said the proposals were a step in the right direction but he told the financial times: i would come up sooner with much greater tax cuts. interviewed on bbc radio 2 s jeremy vine show mr howard said: it is perfectly true that i am being attacked on one side by people who think we ought to be promising much much bigger tax cuts and spending cuts. on the other side there are people who say we won t be able to achieve these tax cuts. i think we have got it about right. mr howard said voters faced a clear choice at the next election between more waste and more tax under labour and tory value for money and lower taxes. he added: i would like to be able to do more and over time i am sure we will be able to do more but at the start we have got to recognise there is a limit to what we can do in one go in our first budget. i have got to be responsible about this. the latest tory plans came as campaigning for the election - widely expected in may - gathered pace. the liberal democrats launched their pre-election platform with leader charles kennedy saying his party was the authentic opposition particularly on the iraq war council tax and university tuition fees. lib dem treasury spokesman vince cable also branded the tory plans as fantasy economics . labour hit back at the tory proposals even before their publication with election coordinator alan milburn accusing mr howard of producing a fraudulent prospectus . the party on tuesday challenged the tories to publish the full report from david james the trouble-shooter they asked to identify possible savings. but the tories are in turn demanding that tony blair spell out which taxes he would raise if he wins the election.

world

pompeii gets digital make-over the old-fashioned audio tour of historical places could soon be replaced with computer-generated images that bring the site to life. a european union-funded project is looking at providing tourists with computer-augmented versions of archaeological attractions. it would allow visitors a glimpse of life as it was originally lived in places such as pompeii. it could pave the way for a new form of cultural tourism. the technology would allow digital people and other computer-generated elements to be combined with the actual view seen by tourists as they walk around an historical site. the lifeplus project is part of the eu s information society technologies initiative aimed at promoting user-friendly technology and enhancing european cultural heritage. engineers and researchers working in the europe-wide consortium have come up with a prototype augmented-reality system. it would require the visitor to wear a head-mounted display with a miniature camera and a backpack computer. the camera captures the view and feeds it to software on the computer where the visitor s viewpoint is combined with animated virtual elements. at pompeii for example the visitor would not just see the frescos taverns and villas that have been excavated but also people going about their daily life. augmented reality has been used to create special effects in films such as troy and lord of the rings and in computer gaming. this technology can now be used for much more than just computer games said professor nadia magnenat-thalman of the swiss research group miralab. we are for the first time able to run this combination of software processes to create walking talking people with believable clothing skin and hair in real-time she said. unlike virtual reality which delivers an entirely computer-generated scene to the viewer the lifeplus project is about combining digital and real views. crucial to the technique is the software that interprets the visitor s view and provides an accurate match between the real and virtual elements. the software capable of doing this has been developed by a uk company 2d3. andrew stoddart chief scientist at 2d3 said that the eu project has been driven by a new desire to bring the past to life. the popularity of television documentaries and dramatisations using computer-generated imagery to recreate scenes from ancient history demonstrates the widespread appeal of bringing ancient cultures to life he said.

science and tech

tindall aiming to earn lions spot bath and england centre mike tindall believes he can make this summer s lions tour despite missing most of the season through injury. the world cup winner has been out of action since december having damaged both his shoulder and his foot. but tindall who recently signed for bath s west-country rivals gloucester told rugby special he would be fit in time for the tour to new zealand. i m aiming to be fit by 18 april and hope i can play from then he said. i ve spoken to sir clive woodward and he understands the situation so i just hope that i can get on the tour. the 26-year-old will face stiff competition for those centre places from brian o driscoll gordon d arcy and gavin henson and is aware that competition is intense. but after missing out on the 2001 tour to australia with a knee injury tindall says he will be happy just to have an opportunity to wear the red shirt. i m quite laid back about it to be honest - it s quite hard for me to expect to be pushing for a test spot he said. but after what s happened this season at least clive knows i ll be 100% fresh! - for the full interview with mike tindall tune into this sunday s rugby special 2340 on bbc two

science and tech

blair damaged by blunkett row a majority of voters (68%) believe the prime minister has been damaged by the row over david blunkett s involvement in a visa application a poll suggests. but nearly half those surveyed said mr blunkett should return to cabinet if labour won the next election. some 63% of respondents in the sunday times poll thought his former lover - kimberly quinn - acted vindictively and 61% that he had been right to resign. yougov polled a weighted sample of 1 981 voters online on 16-18 december. mr blunkett resigned as home secretary on wednesday after an inquiry uncovered an e-mail showing a visa application by mrs quinn s former nanny had been speeded up. sir alan budd s inquiry also found mr blunkett s account of events had been wrong. almost a quarter (21%) of those polled for the sunday times said he should return to the cabinet straight after the election. one in four said he should be back in the government s top ranks within a year or two while 39% opposed a comeback. three-quarters said mr blunkett was right to go to court for the right to see mrs quinn s son - whom he says he fathered - and just 14% voiced sympathy for mrs quinn. a total of 53% of those polled said they had sympathy for mr blunkett with 40% saying they did not. forty-three per cent thought mr blunkett had done a good job as home secretary and 17% disagreed. meantime 32% said mr blair was a good prime minister and 38% disagreed. a majority 52% said chancellor gordon brown had done a good job and just 16% disagreed. a second poll for the independent on sunday found that support for all political parties remained largely unchanged after the blunkett controversy. labour lead the conservatives by 39% to 34% with the liberal democrats on 19%. communicateresearch interviewed 401 people before david blunkett s resignation and 601 afterwards. some 82% said mr blunkett had set a good example by wanting to take responsibility for the child he says is his but 42% backed his legal action compared to 45% who thought it was unbecoming. thirty per cent said the affair showed mr blunkett could not be trusted as a minister while 63% disagreed.

politics

abortion not a poll issue - blair tony blair does not believe abortion should be an election issue arguing it is a matter for individual conscience. the prime minister s spokesman set out mr blair s view after the top catholic in england and wales backed michael howard s stance on abortions. the tory leader supports a reduction in the legal limit from 24 weeks to 20 and has said current rules are tantamount to abortion on demand . the prime minister has made it clear he has no plans to the change the law. mr blair s spokesman said: the catholic church has a well-known position on this issue and it was one of many issues the cardinal mentioned and therefore it should be seen in that context. his words came as cardinal cormac murphy o connor the archbishop of westminster backed mr howard s stance and distanced himself from labour. in a statement he said abortion was a very key issue saying: the policy supported by mr howard is one that we would commend on the way to a full abandonment of abortion. cardinal o connor claimed labour had developed the notion that it was the natural party of catholics but he said: we are not going to suggest people support one particular party. the family planning association says a reduction would particularly affect young women who often seek help later. more than 180 000 women in england and wales had terminations last year of which fewer than 1% were carried out between 22 and 24 weeks. in the cosmopolitan interview mr howard said: i believe abortion should be available to everyone but the law should be changed. in the past i voted for a restriction to 22 weeks and i would be prepared to go down to 20. all three main parties say the issue is one for each mp s conscience rather than one where there is a party-wide policy. mr howard stressed his views were his personal views. shadow home secretary david davis said he understood mr howard had been signalling that a conservative government would allow a commons vote on the issue. mr blair and liberal democrat leader charles kennedy also gave their views during interviews conducted as part of the magazine s high heeled vote campaign. mr blair who last year denied he planned to join his wife and four children in the catholic faith despite regularly taking communion said abortion was a difficult issue . however much i dislike the idea of abortion you should not criminalise a woman who in very difficult circumstances makes that choice. obviously there is a time beyond which you can t have an abortion and we have no plans to change that although the debate will continue. mr kennedy said he had previously voted for a 22-week limit but medical advances mean i don t know what i would do now . the roman catholic archbishop of cardiff the most reverend peter smith told bbc radio 4 s today programme that the church merely wanted people to reflect on issues in light of the gospel before voting. anne weyman chief executive of the family planning association asked: what is the benefit to women or to the potential child of forcing a woman to have a baby anti-abortion group the pro-life alliance congratulated mr howard on his new stance but said it did not go far enough.

politics

baby becomes new oscar favourite clint eastwood s boxing drama million dollar baby has become the new favourite to win best picture at the oscars on sunday. according to pundits the film has overtaken previous favourite the aviator with eastwood also tipped to take the best director award. its star hilary swank is favourite to win best actress while jamie foxx is tipped to win best actor for ray. million dollar baby has seven nominations while the aviator has 11. the aviator has scored a best director nomination for martin scorsese who has never won an oscar while stars leonardo dicaprio and cate blanchett are both nominated for acting oscars. if you look at the oscars race the aviator should be ahead said awards pundit tom o neil. it is the most nominated film and the most nominated movie has won best picture 18 times out of the last 20 years. but the reality is million dollar baby is the dark horse. people feel emotionally about it and clint is a beloved hollywood chum of the academy voters he said. anne thompson of the hollywood reporter said that million dollar baby was heart-wrenching . it s very emotional it even makes grown men cry she said. the aviator is a gorgeous movie but it s colder. in the acting categories foxx is regarded as almost unbeatable for his performance as ray charles in ray. the performance is based on a real person who was a showbusiness hero with a handicap who recently died o neil said. he has unstoppable momentum among the voters. hilary swank is the favourite to win best actress for the second time in six years. she previously won in 1999 for her performance in boys don t cry. in the supporting categories cate blanchett is tipped to win for her performance as katharine hepburn in the aviator while morgan freeman is favourite to take home his first ever oscar for million dollar baby. the oscars will take place at hollywood s kodak theatre on 27 february.

entertainment

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.

world

parmar ruled out of davis cup tie a knee injury has forced arvind parmar out of great britain s davis cup tie in israel and left alex bogdanovic in line to take the second singles place. parmar picked up the injury last week and has failed to recover in time for the europe/africa zone i tie which begins in tel aviv on friday. bogdanovic looks set to take the second singles place alongside greg rusedski. gb captain jeremy bates could use 17-year-old andrew murray and david sherwood in the doubles rubber. bogdanovic and murray both pulled out of tournaments last week through injury but are expected to be fit. jamie delgado and lee childs have been called into the squad in tel aviv as designated hitters for team practice but bates has no plans to call either of them into his squad at present. the unheralded sherwood was the surprise inclusion when the squad was announced last week and bates said: david has earned his place in this squad on the merit of his form and results over the last 12 months. the 6ft 4in sherwood is ranked 264th in the world and the lta have high hopes for him after futures tournament wins in wrexham and edinburgh. the sheffield-born right-hander aged 24 also reached another final in plaisir france a week after making the semi-final in mulhouse. bates is glad to have rusedski available after tim henman s retirement from davis cup tennis. his wealth of experience is invaluable particularly to the younger players and i know he will lead by example bates said. we are looking forward to the tie. the squad are all in excellent form.

sports

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

business

desailly backs blues revenge trip marcel desailly insists there is no chance of history repeating itself when chelsea take on barcelona on wednesday. the french star was part of the chelsea side crushed 5-1 at the nou camp in the champions league quarter-final second leg in 2000. things will be totally different this time he told bbc sport. now everyone knows about chelsea and is a little bit afraid of them. they are one of the major clubs in europe and the pressure will be on barcelona. chelsea have not played barcelona since that quarter-final tie five years ago. the blues had looked destined to progress after winning the first leg at stamford bridge 3-1 courtesy of two goals from tore andre flo and one by gianfranco zola. but they collapsed in the second leg going down to strikes from rivaldo (2) luis figo dani and patrick kluivert. former chelsea captain desailly who is now playing for al-gharafa in qatar says there is no comparison between that side and the current blues team who are top of the premiership. mentally they are much stronger even though a lot of their players are young the 36-year-old said. we made some mistakes at the nou camp in 2000 - a lot of them were individual mistakes. it would not happen now. this team has a new motivation and a different mentality. world cup winner desailly saw huge changes during his time at stamford bridge. he was signed for £4.6m from ac milan in 1998 by ruud gullit and went on to play under gianluca vialli and claudio ranieri. but the biggest change occurred when billionaire roman abramovich bought the club in 2003. desailly says the russian s arrival helped to instil a winning mentality at the club as well as a demand for success. the whole of chelsea is different now - the chairman the manager and all the players he said. everything is new and there is a huge determination to win. since that game in 2000 chelsea have gained more experience in europe and were very close to reaching the champions league final last season. desailly is one of the most decorated players in the history of football. he won the 1998 world cup and 2000 european championship with france the champions league in 1993 with marseilles and 1994 with ac milan two serie a titles and the fa cup in 2000 with chelsea. he is now winding down his career in qatar alongside the likes of frank lebeouf josep guardiola titi camara gabriel batistuta and christophe dugarry. so he is full of admiration for two of his colleagues from the great milan side of the mid-90s who are likely to line up against manchester united on wednesday - paolo maldini and alessandro costacurta. i m happy that they have managed to play so long at a high level he said. i made a vow to costacurta that as long as he plays i will continue to play. and it s amazing that paolo has managed to play at such a high level for such a long time.

world

the memory driving brown s mission the memory gordon brown says keeps returning to him - the one that he says is burnt into him - is that of a 12 year-old girl whose parents died of aids and who is hiv positive herself. mr brown seems haunted by her eyes desolate of all hope. and then he talks of those eyes that do inspire optimism: an extraordinary performance by schoolgirls of kenya s largest slum advancing with crowded menace flicking their hips in a manner almost as disturbing before the finale of a clenched fist salute and shout of free education - free education for all . mr brown s message generally that compassion must become action before that hope is squandered. but he is such a pivotal figure in british politics it is almost impossible not to ask him why he is doing this. his answer in part is because of the missionaries that used to come to his father s church. ever since he says africa has been important to him. i ve absolutely no doubt whatsoever this is heartfelt. but he also believes it is time for the world to see a new gordon brown. not the dull reassuring bank manager but a man driven by a moral passion - and it just so happens the labour party feels an awful lot happier ridding the world of debt than ridding the world of dictators. there s also a sense of liberation. if mr blair won t allow him to run the election campaign then he can at least pretend it was all getting tedious and he d much rather be out examining social problems in the raw. it also goes some way to solving one of the overarching problems for all politicians of all parties: scepticism sliding into cynicism about politics itself. if he can help the world s poor just a little then it shows politics isn t worthless. but is his vision for africa too grand can poverty in the continent really be halved brown replies that no one thought the berlin wall would ever come down either. he s still got to overcome - not only the reluctance of other finance ministers in the world - but also the cynicism of experts who wonder whether debt relief will just be squandered by governments that just won t in the end spend wisely.

world

amex shares up on spin-off news shares in american express surged more than 8% on tuesday after it said it was to spin off its less profitable financial advisory subsidiary. the us credit card to travel services giant said off-loading american express financial advisors (aefa) would boost its profitability. aefa has more than 12 000 advisers selling financial advice funds and insurance to 2.5 million customers. over the years it has delivered poor profits and even some losses. this is an excellent move by american express to focus on its core businesses and sell off a laggard division which has been a problem for quite some time said marquis investment research analyst phil kain. analysts estimate that a stand-alone aefa could have a market value of $10bn (£5.3bn). the unit was acquired by american express 20 years ago as investors diversified service of minneapolis at a time when firms were amassing one-stop financial empires. however the business of selling investments was never integrated with the rest of the group.

business

johansson takes adelaide victory second seed joachim johansson won his second career title with a 7-5 6-3 win over taylor dent at the australian hardcourt championships in adelaide. the swede was made to graft american dent surviving three break points in the fifth game of the match. but johansson got the breakthrough with a sublime backhand return winner and won the second set with more ease. his first tournament win was at memphis in 2004 helping him leap from 113th in the world rankings to number 11. afterwards dent said he rated us open semi-finalist johansson as a top contender at the australian open which starts on 17 january. i believe men s tennis is all about holding serve and if he s playing like that on his own serve i don t see how guys are going to break him said dent. johansson was more restrained in his assessment: i have to improve my serve if i m going to go all the way in melbourne.

politics

crossrail link to get go-ahead the £10bn crossrail transport plan backed by business groups is to get the go-ahead this month according to the mail on sunday. it says the uk treasury has allocated £7.5bn ($13.99bn) for the project and that talks with business groups on raising the rest will begin shortly. the much delayed crossrail link bill would provide for a fast cross-london rail link. the paper says it will go before the house of commons on 23 february. a second reading could follow on 16 or 17 march. we ve always said we are going to introduce a hybrid bill for crossrail in the spring and this remains the case the department for transport said on sunday. jeremy de souza a spokesman for crossrail said on sunday he could not confirm whether the treasury was planning to invest £7.5bn or when the bill would go before parliament. however he said some impetus may have been provided by the proximity of an election. the new line would go out as far as maidenhead berkshire to the west of london and link heathrow to canary wharf via the city. heathrow to the city would take 40 minutes dramatically cutting journey times for business travellers and reducing overcrowding on the tube. the line has the support of the mayor of london ken livingstone business groups and the government but there have been three years of arguments over how it should be funded. the mail on sunday s financial mail said the £7.5bn of treasury money was earmarked for spending in £2.5bn instalments in 2010 2011 and 2012.

sports

call for action on internet scam phone companies are not doing enough to warn customers about internet rogue-dialling scams according to premium phone line regulator icstis. it has received 45 000 complaints in recent months about dial-up internet connections diverting to premium rate numbers without users knowledge. phone companies refuse to pay compensation because they say calls must be paid for. they must warn people earlier about possible fraud icstis said. people who use dial-up connections can be affected by the scams. without realising a program can be downloaded which diverts internet calls via a premium phone line. victims often fail to notice until they receive an unusually high bill. icstis spokesman rob dwight said: phone companies should get in touch with their customers sooner. if my bill goes over the usual £50 a month i want to know about it straight away - i don t want to be told when it s hit £750. phone companies had the systems in place to spot fraudulent activity and artificially-inflated traffic he said. we alert them to the numbers that we have under investigation and they should be looking out for these numbers he added. telecoms ombudsman elizabeth france said: certainly i would not be surprised to find my credit card company phoning me if i do something out of the ordinary. so i would expect phone companies to be looking to see if they can have a similar approach. the biggest phone company bt says it is doing what it can to monitor fraud and warn people about rogue dialling. its advice to customers is to use call barring if they want to prevent calls to premium lines because under the current system once the call has been made there s little that can be done. gavin patterson group managing director for bt consumer said we do look at customer s calling patterns and we do make interventions when they are out of the ordinary. we re looking at the moment at whether we can improve this. but as bt handled 180 million calls a day monitoring was quite a task in itself he added. the government has ordered a review of premium line services and is likely to say icstis should have more power to deal with rogue diallers in future. at the moment it cannot demand pay-outs on the behalf of customer - it can only close illegal services down. i use free anti-virus software (avg) and free firewall protection (zonealarm). both of these tools have prevented unauthorised access and outgoing calls inadvertently and innocently caused by my daughter s love of music sites. how about isps informing all customers of such facilities the responsibility clearly falls with the customer but many fall prey through simply not knowing how to avoid these issues. ignorance is and always has been an expensive business. does any one know what happens once this fraud has been committed and recognised the phone companies pay the people who obtaining money fraudulently so are these people followed up and prosecuted these diallers are mainly downloaded from sites offering illegal mp3s porn and pirated software. if people didn t visit such sites they d be considerably less at risk. whatever happened to personal responsibility it seems everyone has to be a victim these days! part of the blame has to rest with the manufacturers of home computer operating systems. a secure system should not allow a web page or email to download and install anything without the user s knowledge. these scams are illegal and telephone companies should have nothing to do with them. they should refuse to pay money over to the perpetrators. or are they themselves receiving such good returns that it is in their interest to keep the scam going why don t bt et al block all premium numbers by default and only turn it off at the customer s request to anyone who falls foul of this scam - refuse to pay your telephone provider for these calls. after you notify your telephone provider of these fraudulent transactions they cannot insist on you paying the bill. to do so would be to knowingly assist the fraudsters to commit the fraud. no customers have yet been taken to court for refusing to pay these bills. disable or remove your modem and use broadband instead - then you have nothing to worry about. or buy some decent firewall software and anti-virus. you would not walk out in the freezing cold without a coat - you would not drive your car without any insurance - so why not protect your pc stop blaming the phone companies - it s not their fault! i was very impressed with our phone company recently. i had kept ringing a hotline number for kylie tickets and next day they rang back to ask if i was aware there were 40-odd calls to the same number. great service. and i got the tickets as well! i have a colleague who has fallen victim to this kind of scam. he informed the phone company about it they subsequently put a block on premium rate numbers. three months later another huge bill of over £1 000 came in - the block apparently didn t work and he still has to pay for it even though a block was in place. phone companies are probably quite happy for their customers to be hit with a huge bill otherwise they d be taking extra steps to prevent this kind of problem. i have been scammed of £139. the operator will do nothing about this and to add insult to injury i was charged vat by the government. premium rate numbers have been subject to various scams ever since they were invented. one example was where thieves would set up a premium rate number and then dial it day and night from phones whose quarterly bills were never paid. the telephone company was the victim here and you can bet that loophole was blocked very quickly. i know people who have run up large bills despite being it-literate. from talking to bt in belfast i believe that they will shortly be giving out a free application that can stop you dialling expensive numbers without knowing. it s not the fault of phone companies and at last they are doing something about it. it s about time that the profiteering by the legitimate phone companies came to an end mainly by doing away with dial-up altogether and bring broadband down to the same price as dial-up! not only will this ruin things for the dialler scammers but also allow people to update and upgrade their security more easily and quickly. i haven t fallen victim to a rogue-dialling scam but i think you re seriously remiss in not pointing out that the vast majority of these scams arise from people trying to access services purporting to provide free pornography. in most cases the user is entirely at fault which is probably why the telephone companies are rightly unwilling to refund them. my telephone supplier did not inform me that my monthly bill had risen from its normal £3 to £5 to £320. this was because of the scam. they simply billed me. what particularly galls me over and above having over £300 stolen is that the supplier and the government (through vat) are profiting from this crime and will not reimburse me their portion of my losses. how about an automatic monthly cap of say £20 on premium rate calls that you would have to contact your provider to have lifted that way you could use legitimate premium rate numbers while limiting fraudulent usage. at least any disputed amount would be limited far easier for a telecoms operator to write off £20 than it is £750. a few years back i was also the target of such scams but thank god i have already upgraded to broadband and nothing was connected to my modem so all i heard was the sound of an attempted connection. how about home users take some responsibility and ensure their anti-virus and firewall software is up to date that should prevent the vast majority of these scams.

science and tech

arsenal through on penalties arsenal win 4-2 on penalties the spanish goalkeeper saved from alan quinn and jon harley as arsenal sealed a quarter-final trip to bolton with a 4-2 victory on penalties. lauren patrick vieira freddie ljungberg and ashley cole scored for arsenal while andy gray and phil jagielka were on target for the blades. michael tonge and harley wasted chances for the underdogs but paddy kenny was inspired to keep arsenal at bay. arsenal stripped of attacking talent such as thierry henry and dennis bergkamp partnered 17-year-old italian striker arturo lupoli with ljungberg up front. it was a revamped arsenal line-up and they were almost a goal behind within seconds as tonge wasted a glorious chance. gray ran free down the right flank and his cross left tonge with the simplest of chances but he blazed over the top from six yards. arsenal were barely seen as an attacking force in the opening 45 minutes although ljungberg turned a half-chance wide after good work by cesc fabregas. arsene wenger introduced quincy owusu-abeyie for the ineffective lupoli at half-time and the pacy dutch youngster had an immediate impact. he ran clear after good work by mathieu flamini but his finish was tame and kenny saved easily. owusu-abeyie then fired in a testing cross which was met by fabregas and it needed a desperate clearance by kenny s legs to save the blades. arsenal were now totally dominant and were desperately unlucky not to take the lead after 62 minutes when fabregas crashed a rising drive against the bar from 20 yards. it then took a brilliant tackle by jagielka to deny ljungberg as he was poised to strike. arsenal continued to press and once again kenny was called into action with eight minutes left diving low to clutch another close-range effort from fabregas. neil warnock s side almost snatched victory in the dying seconds when derek geary s cross found harley at the far post but his diving header was brilliantly turned over by almunia. owusu-abeyie s pace was causing all sorts of problems for the blades and as extra-time began another surging run into the penalty area almost set up a chance for ljungberg. pascal cygan missed arsenal s best chance after 106 minutes blazing across the face of goal when he was unmarked at the far post. arsenal sent on jeremie aliadiere with seven minutes of extra-time left and he almost broke the deadlock with his first touch. kolo toure s misplaced free-kick landed at his feet but kenny once again blocked from a tight angle. arsenal laid siege to sheffield united s goal in the dying minutes but they somehow held on to force penalties. almunia was then arsenal s hero as another brave blades cup campaign came to a losing end. kenny geary morgan bromby harley liddell montgomery jagielka thirlwell tonge (quinn 97) gray. subs not used: francis kabba shaw haystead. morgan. almunia lauren cygan senderos cole fabregas (toure 90) vieira flamini (aliadiere 113) clichy lupoli (owusu-abeyie 45) ljungberg. subs not used: eboue taylor. clichy lauren senderos. 27 595 p dowd (staffordshire).

sports

a decade of good website design the web looks very different today than it did 10 years ago. back in 1994 yahoo had only just launched most websites were text-based and amazon google and ebay had yet to appear. but says usability guru dr jakob nielsen some things have stayed constant in that decade namely the principles of what makes a site easy to use. dr nielsen has looked back at a decade of work on usability and considered whether the 34 core guidelines drawn up back then are relevant to the web of today. roughly 80% of the things we found 10 years ago are still an issue today he said. some have gone away because users have changed and 10% have changed because technology has changed. some design crimes such as splash screens that get between a user and the site they are trying to visit and web designers indulging their artistic urges have almost disappeared said dr nielsen. but there s great stability on usability concerns he told the bbc news website. dr nielsen said the basic principles of usability centring around ease of use and clear thinking about a site s total design were as important as ever. it s necessary to be aware of these things as issues because they remain as such he said. they are still important because the net has not changed as much as people thought it would. a lot of people thought that design and usability was only a temporary problem because broadband was taking off he said. but there are a very small number of cases where usability issues go away because you have broadband. dr nielsen said the success of sites such as google amazon ebay and yahoo showed that close attention to design and user needs was important. those four sites are extremely profitable and extremely successful said dr nielsen adding that they have largely defined commercial success on the net. all are based on user empowerment and make it easy for people to do things on the internet he said. they are making simple but powerful tools available to the user. none of them have a fancy or glamorous look he added declaring himself surprised that these sites have not been more widely copied. in the future dr nielsen believes that search engines will play an even bigger part in helping people get to grips with the huge amount of information online. they are becoming like the operating system to the internet he said. but he said the fact that they are useful now does not meant that they could not do better. currently he said search sites did not do a very good job of describing the information that they return in response to queries. often people had to look at a website just to judge whether it was useful or not. tools that watch the behaviour of people on websites to see what they actually find useful could also help refine results. research by dr nielsen shows that people are getting more sophisticated in their use of search engines. the latest statistics on how many words people use on search engines shows that on average they use 2.2 terms. in 1994 only 1.3 words were used. i think it s amazing that we have seen a doubling in a 10-year period of those search terms said dr nielsen. you can hear more from jakob nielsen and web design on the bbc world service programme go digital

entertainment

stormy year for property insurers a string of storms typhoons and earthquakes has made 2004 the most expensive year on record for property insurers according to swiss re. the world s second biggest insurer said disasters around the globe have seen property claims reach $42bn (£21.5bn). 2004 reinforces the trend towards higher losses said swiss re. tightly packed populations in the areas involved in natural and man-made disasters were to partly to blame for the rise in claims it said. some 95% of insurance claims were for natural catastrophes with the rest attributed to made-made events. the largest claims came from the us which was struck by four hurricanes and japan which suffered the highest concentration of typhoons for decades plus a major earthquake. europe suffered fewer natural disasters but 191 people were killed and more than 2 000 injured in march after the terrorist attack on train stations in madrid. the damages claimed in 2004 eclipsed previous years including 2001 when the 11 september attacks pushed claims up to $37bn. swiss re said it had registered about 300 natural and man-made disasters around the world in 2004. twenty-one thousand people lost their lives in the catastrophes with a cost to the global economy of around $105bn (£54bn).

sports

microsoft makes anti-piracy move microsoft says it is clamping down on people running pirated versions of its windows operating system by restricting their access to security features. the windows genuine advantage scheme means people will have to prove their software is genuine from mid-2005. it will still allow those with unauthorised copies to get some crucial security fixes via automatic updates but their options would be limited . microsoft releases regular security updates to its software to protect pcs. either pcs detect updates automatically or users manually download fixes through microsoft s site. those running pirated windows programs would not have access to other downloads and add-ons that the software giant offers. people who try to manually download security patches will have to let microsoft run an automated checking procedure on their computer or give an identification number. microsoft s regular patches which it releases for newly-found security flaws are important because they stop worms viruses and other threats penetrating pcs. some security experts are concerned that restricting access to such patches could mean a rise in such attacks and threats with more pcs left unprotected. but graham cluley senior consultant at security firm sophos told the bbc news website that it was a positive decision. it sounds like their decision to allow critical security patches to remain available to both legitimate and illegitimate users of windows is good news for everyone who uses the net he said. windows genuine advantage was first introduced as a pilot scheme in september 2004 for english-language versions of windows. microsoft s windows operating system is heavily exploited by virus writers because it is so widespread and they are constantly seeking out new security loopholes to take advantage of. the company is trying to tackle security threats whilst cracking down on pirated software at the same time. software piracy has cost the company billions it says. the company announced earlier in january that it was releasing security tools to clean up pcs harbouring viruses and spyware which 90% of pcs are infected with. the virus-fighting program updated monthly is a precursor to microsoft s dedicated anti-virus software. last year it introduced the windows xp counterfeit project a uk-based pilot scheme which ran from november to december. the scheme meant that anyone with pre-installed copies of the operating system in pcs bought before november could replace counterfeit versions of windows xp with legal ones for free. it is also increasing efforts to squash software piracy in china norway and the czech republic where pirated software is a huge problem by offering discounts on legitimate software to users of pirated copies windows. china in particular is a problem with piracy estimated at 92% said mr cluley.

business

could yukos be a blessing in disguise other things being equal the notion of entrepreneurs languishing in jail while their companies are sold off for a song ought to be bad for business. but in the looking-glass world of modern russia the opposite might just be true a new report* has argued. the study from the centre for economic policy research does not praise the rough handling of oil company yukos. but it argues that more rigorous tax policing has benefited all russian firms even targets of the tax police. an increase in tax enforcement can increase the amount [of dividends and other income] outside shareholders will receive even accounting for increased levels of taxation the authors say. the paper s reasoning is complex and is based on a sophisticated model of the relationship between tax regimes and corporate governance - in particular the propensity of management to steal from the company. the calculations demonstrated what many russian analysts already knew: that increasing the tax rate increases the amount that managers steal since undeclared income becomes relatively more valuable. in the west meanwhile higher tax rates translate far more smoothly into higher government revenues. on the other hand increasing the rigour with which taxes are collected encourages companies to become more transparent forcing them to be able to demonstrate their financial position far more accurately. the net result the authors say is that the extra amount companies pay in tax is more than compensated for by greater efficiency and financial soundness. after vladimir putin became president in 2000 he did not raise taxes but put a lot of effort - too much critics argue - into enforcement. since then the russian stock market has more than trebled in value a rise the authors attribute at least in part to the newly tough approach. the report highlights the case of sibneft a russian oil company that came close to merging with yukos last year. after mr putin came to power the company s overall effective tax rate rose from 2.6% to 10.4% and sibneft was the target of a series of aggressive raids by fiscal police. but shareholders benefited hugely: sibneft started to pay dividends - $53m in 2000 and almost $1bn in 2001 - and closed down the network of opaque subsidiaries it had previously used for siphoning off unofficial funds. according to the authors although a variety of changes were sweeping through russian industry at the time the increase in tax enforcement is the only likely explanation for the change of fortunes at sibneft and many of its peers. does this analysis make sense in part certainly. for all its faults corporate russia has become far more orderly and law-abiding since 2000. companies have rushed to list their shares on international stock exchanges - something unthinkable in the wilder days of the 1990s - and most large firms now produce their accounts to international standards. foreign direct investment long negligible is starting to flow in serious amounts - $7bn in 2003 - and stock market returns have been among the healthiest in europe. but the authors model does not quite cover all the complexities. for a start the model assumes that the various parties have clearly-defined motivation: companies want to maximise profit governments want to maximise tax revenue. in fact the alarmingly close connections between big business and government in russia - connections often greased by bribery - blur the apparently antagonistic relationship. companies can for example persuade officials to overlook non-payment of taxes. and the authors definition of tax enforcement seems unrealistically western. genuine disinterested tax collection might well work wonders in russia; the problem with recent examples has been the erratic and unpredictable way laws are enforced. the case against yukos for example has moved in fits and starts with little clarity from the government about its intentions and little faith from investors that the letter of the law would be followed. as far as most commentators are concerned the state is pursuing yukos out of a political vendetta rather than simply to enforce fiscal rectitude. since yukos founder mikhail khodorkovsky was arrested a year ago the russian market has dropped by 10% - an indication that few investors feel optimistic about the salutary effect on corporate performance.

entertainment

tsunami to hit sri lanka banks sri lanka s banks face hard times following december s tsunami disaster officials have warned. the sri lanka banks association said the waves which killed more than 30 000 people also washed away huge amounts of property which was securing loans. according to its estimate as much as 13.6% of the loans made by private banks to clients in the disaster zone has been written off or damaged. state-owned lenders may be even worse hit it said. the association estimates that the private banking sector has 25bn rupees ($250m; £135m) of loans outstanding in the disaster zone. on one hand banks are dealing with the death of their customers along with damaged or destroyed collateral. on the other most are extending cheap loans for rebuilding and recovery as well as giving their clients more time to repay existing borrowing. the combination means a revenue shortfall during 2005 slba chairman - and commercial bank managing director - al gooneratne told a news conference. most banks have given moratoriums and will not be collecting interest at least in this quarter he said. in the public sector more than one in ten of the state-owned people s bank s customers in the south of sri lanka were affected a bank spokesman told reuters. he estimated the bank s loss at 3bn rupees.

sports

file-swappers ready new network legal attacks on websites that help people swap pirated films have forced the development of a system that could be harder to shut down. one site behind the success of the bittorrent file-swapping system is producing its own software that avoids the pitfalls of the earlier program. a test version of the new exeem program will be released in late january. but doubts remain about the new networks ability to ensure files being swapped are quality copies . in late december movie studios launched a legal campaign against websites that helped people swap pirated movies using the bittorrent network. the legal campaign worked because of the way that bittorrent is organised. that file-sharing system relies on links called trackers that point users to others happy to share the file they are looking for. shutting down sites that listed trackers crippled the bittorrent network. one of the sites shut down by the legal campaign was suprnova.org which helped boost the popularity of the bittorrent system by checking that trackers led to the movies or tv programmes they claimed to. now the man behind suprnova.org who goes by the nickname sloncek is preparing to release software for a new file-swapping network dubbed exeem. in an interview with novastream web radio sloncek said exeem would combine ideas from the bittorrent and kazaa file-sharing systems. like bittorrent exeem will have trackers that help point people toward the file they want. like kazaa these trackers will be held by everyone. there will be no centrally maintained list. this said sloncek should make the system less vulnerable to legal action aimed at stopping people swapping pirated movies and music. the exeem software has been under development for a few months and is currently being tested by a closed group of users. an early public version of the software should be available before february. sloncek said that currently only a windows version of the software was in development. there were no plans for a linux or mac version. he said that costs of writing the software will be paid for by adverts appearing in the finished version of the program. despite suprnova administrator sloncek s involvement with exeem the basic technology appears to have been developed by a firm called swarm systems that is based on caribbean island saint kitts and nevis. users of the exeem system will be able to rate files being swapped to help stop the spread of fake files sloncek told novastream. dr johan pouwelse a researcher at the delft university of technology who studies peer-to-peer networks said exeem was the next evolution in file-sharing systems. but he said it would struggle to be as popular as bittorrent and suprnova because early versions were not taking enough care to make sure good copies of files were being shared. exeem cannot prevent pollution he said. the rating system in exeem seems flawed because it is easy to insert both fake files and fake ratings he said. studies have shown that organisations working for record labels and movie studios have worked to undermine kazaa by putting in fakes. by contrast moderators on suprnova made sure files being shared were high quality. the moderators are the difference between having a system that works and one that s full of crap like kazaa he said. there is a fundamental tension between distribution and integrity he said. mr pouwelse said that future versions of file-sharing systems are likely to incorporate some kind of distributed reputation system that lets moderators prove who they are to the network and rate which files are worth downloading. when big files were being shared moderation systems were key said mr pouwelse. he added that the legal attacks on bittorrent had driven people away from sites such as suprnova but many users had simply migrated to other tracker listing sites many of which have seen huge increases in traffic. it s hard to compete with free he said. no-one from the motion picture association of america was immediately available for comment on the file-sharing development.

science and tech

tories unveil quango blitz plans plans to abolish 162 quangos have been unveiled by the conservatives as part of their effort to show how government red tape can be cut. six government units would also be scrapped under proposals which the tories say would save more than £4.3bn. among the targets are strategic health authorities and the new fair access regulator for universities. tory frontbencher john redwood said britain needed a slimmer government and lower taxes to be competitive. the plans would abolish regional assemblies and other regional bodies such as boards tackling industrial development and housing. their powers would be returned to elected local councils or national government. the tories say the strategic health authorities are not needed as it is better that local people rather than officials run hospitals and surgeries. announcing the plans mr redwood said: mr blair has forgotten the interests of taxpayers and has broken the pledges he made. far from improving public services spending taxpayers money on quangos has led only to more bureaucrats more regulation and higher taxes. his party leader michael howard argued a change in direction was needed to get a grip on spending. labour are creating two britains: the britain of the forgotten majority and bureaucratic britain he said. in the real world people are working harder just to stand still. they ve seen their pensions knocked for six. they re being squeezed by extra taxes. the forgotten majority are paying the price of bureaucratic britain. the government has announced plans to cut 100 000 civil servants as part of its efficiency drive. the liberal democrats have said they would cut the number of whitehall departments to make sure money reaches frontline services.

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