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satellite mapping aids darfur relief aid workers trying to house feed and clothe millions of homeless refugees in the sudanese region of darfur are getting a helping hand from advanced mapping technology. a european consortium of companies and university groups known as respond is working to provide accurate and up to date maps. the aim is to overcome some of the huge logistical challenges in getting supplies to where they are needed. respond is using satellite imagery to produce accurate maps that can be used in the field rapidly. respond has produced very detailed maps for example for the road networks for the rivers and for the villages to more large-scale maps useful for very general planning purposes said einar bjorgo from unosat the un satellite mapping organisation that is part of the respond consortium. the group uses satellites from nasa the european space agency and the disaster monitoring constellation. the satellite data is transmitted to ground stations. from there the information makes its way to respond organisations that specialise in interpreting such data. you have to convert the data into images then the interpreter has to convert all this into crisis damage or situation maps said stefan voigt who works in the remote sensing department of one of those organisations the german aerospace centre. this kind of detailed analysis usually takes a couple of months but respond gets it done in about 12 hours. our users are usually not so much familiar with reading satellite imagery reading satellite maps so it s our task to transfer the data into information that non-technical people can read and understand easily and very very efficiently said mr voigt. respond supplies maps to aid groups via the web and on compact disc. but the best map is one you can hold in your hands especially in remote areas where internet connections and laptops are scarce. a map is a working document explains herbert hansen of respond s belgian partner keyobs. you need to use it you need to write on it correct give feedback and so on so you need paper to write on. we print maps we laminate the maps we encapsulate the maps if needed so you can take a shower with the map it s completely protected. humanitarian groups in darfur have been making good use of respond s maps. they have come in especially handy during sudan s rainy season when normally dry riverbeds or wadis became flooded. these wadis had a very small amount of flooding generally in terms of depth but greatly impeded the transport capabilities and capacities of the humanitarian groups on the ground says stephen candillon of respond imaging partner sertit. respond s rapid imaging has allowed aid groups to find ways around the wadis allowing then to mark on their maps which roads were washed out at which times. aid groups say that combination of satellite technology and on-the-ground observation helped keep relief flowing to those who needed it. clark boyd is technology correspondent for the world a bbc world service and wgbh-boston co-production
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tech
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cannabis hopes for drug firm a prescription cannabis drug made by uk biotech firm gw pharmaceuticals is set to be approved in canada. the drug is used to treat the central nervous system and alleviate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (ms). a few weeks ago shares in gw pharma lost a third of their value after uk regulators said they wanted more evidence about the drug s benefits. but now canadian authorities have said the sativex drug will be considered for approval. approximately 50 000 people in canada have been diagnosed with ms and 85 000 people are suffering from the condition in the uk. many patients already smoke cannabis to relieve their symptoms. now gw pharma s sativex mouth spray could be legally available to ms sufferers in canada within the next few months. this will be the first time a cannabis-based drug has been approved anywhere in the world representing a landmark for gw pharma and for patients with ms. final approval in canada should now be little more than a formality analysts said and the company expects full approval for sativex early in 2005. we are delighted to receive this qualifying notice from health canada and look forward to receiving regulatory approval for sativex in canada in the early part of 2005 said gw pharma executive chairman dr geoffrey guy. the uk government granted gw pharma a licence to grow the cannabis plant for medical research purposes. satifex consists of a cannabis extract containing tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol a cocktail that has also proved effective in treating patients with arthritis. thousands of plants are grown at a secret location somewhere in the english countryside. despite hopes of regulatory approval last year a series of delays has put back sativex s launch in the uk. the latest news sent shares in gw pharma up 8.5p or 8.1% to 113.5p.
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business
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uk plan to deport terror suspects deals are being sought to allow the uk to deport terror suspects to their home countries without risk of them being tortured or sentenced to death. home secretary charles clarke told the times he hoped agreement with several countries could be reached. the move follows a law lords judgement that the detention of 12 men at belmarsh prison london and woodhill milton keynes was unlawful. the 12 affected by the ruling are from algeria tunisia egypt and jordan. the government was told that using anti-terror legislation brought in after 11 september to hold the men indefinitely without charge broke human rights laws. mr clarke told the times: i think we should be prosecuting much more energetically our ability to deport the individuals concerned to the countries from which they come. he said it was a route that was being pursued in collaboration with foreign secretary jack straw in a very positive way . mr clarke said that he was seeking memorandums of understanding between overseas governments and britain to ensure suspects would not be subjected to the death penalty on their return. however he added: i do not think the solution to the law lords judgement for this government is in deportations but they will help. there are other strands that we have to do. but the liberal democrat s shadow home secretary mark oaten accused mr clarke of avoiding the main issue with the belmarsh detainees. the critical issue that the home secretary is dodging at this stage is to deal with the very principle to deal with how we tackle this problem in the future he told bbc news. and i do want him to grasp those issues and that means looking at how we can actually secure convictions in this country allowing for example intercept communications telephone tapping to be included mr oaten said. deportation may tackle this initial problem but i want to see a wider debate urgently about how we can actually get trials and convictions in this country. unless we get that the liberal democrats will vote against this measure when it comes for renewal in march. the bbc s home affairs correspondent daniel sandford said it appeared mr clarke was putting more emphasis on the possibility of deportation than his predecessor david blunkett. but he said reaching an understanding with some of the detainees home countries could be difficult. some of these people are accused of very very serious crimes in their home countries so it s not an easy agreement to get and i think for some of these suspects it won t be the solution. daniel sandford said ministers may try to put forward other solutions - such as allowing more secret evidence to be put into normal criminal trials or developing a more secret trials process - in the next few weeks. the government may try and deport some of them and then those that are left see if they can work out some way of putting them on trial he said.
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iraq and afghanistan in wto talks the world trade organisation (wto) is to hold membership talks with both iraq and afghanistan. but iran s bid to join the trade body has been refused after the us blocked its application for the 21st time. the countries stand to reap huge benefits from membership of the group whose purpose is to promote free trade. joining however is a lengthy process. china s admission in 2001 took 15 years and talks with russia and saudi arabia have been taking place for 10 years. membership of the geneva-based wto helps guarantee a country s goods receives equal treatment in the markets of other member states - a policy which has seen it become closely associated with globalisation. iraq s trade minister mohammed mustafa al-jibouri welcomed the move describing it as significant as november s decision by the paris club of creditor nations to write off 80% of the country s debts. assad omar afghanistan s envoy to the united nations in geneva said accession would contribute to regional prosperity and global security . there are now 27 countries seeking membership of the wto. prospective members need to enter into negotiations with potential trading countries and change domestic laws to bring them in line with wto regulations. before the process gets under way all 148 wto members must give their backing to applicant countries. the us said it could not approve iran s application because it is currently reviewing relations. but several nations criticised the approach and european union ambassador to the wto carlo trojan said iran s application must be treated independently of political issues .
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business
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israel looks to us for bank chief israel has asked a us banker and former international monetary fund director to run its central bank. stanley fischer vice chairman of banking giant citigroup has agreed to take the bank of israel job subject to approval from parliament and cabinet. his nomination by prime minister ariel sharon came as a surprise and led to gains on the tel aviv stock market. mr fischer who speaks fluent hebrew will have to become an israeli citizen to take the job. the us says he will not have to give up us citizenship to do so. previous incumbent david klein who often argued with the finance ministry steps down on 16 january. mr fischer will face a delicate balancing act - both in political and economic terms - between mr sharon and finance minister binyamin netanyahu who also backed his nomination. but his appointment has also raised hopes that it could bring in fresh investment - and perhaps even an improvement in the country s credit rating mr fischer first went to israel for six months in 1973 and almost emigrated there before deciding finally to return to the us. while teaching at the massachussetts institute of technology he spent a month seconded to the bank of israel in 1979 beginning a long-time involvement in studying israel s economy. in 1983 mr fischer became adviser on israel s economy to then-us secretary of state george shultz. at the world bank in 1985 he participated in drawing up an economic stabilisation package for israel.
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highbury tunnel players in clear the football association has said it will not be bringing charges over the tunnel incident prior to the arsenal and manchester united game. arsenal s patrick vieira had earlier denied accusations that he threatened gary neville before the 4-2 defeat. vieira also clashed with opposing skipper roy keane and referee graham poll had to separate them. the referee has confirmed that he is satisfied he dealt with the incident at the time said an fa statement. it means united s win will pass off without further intervention from the governing body whose new chief executive brian barwick was in the highbury stands. i didn t threaten anybody. they are big enough players to handle themselves said vieira. i had a talk with roy keane and that s it. gary neville is a big lad he can handle himself. they just played better than us and deserved to win. neville admitted there had been incidents before the game but insisted it had not distracted his focus. there were a couple of things that did happen before the game which disappoint you he said. especially from players of that calibre but it s a tough game and we ve been around a long time. neville admitted that he had not enjoyed the match which was punctuated by fouls and the sending off of mikael silvestre for head-butting freddie ljungberg . i thought it was a horrible game in the first half and it was not much better in the second he said. there is no way that should have happened in a football match. after the match keane accused vieira of starting the row. patrick vieira is 6ft 4in and having a go at gary neville. so i said have a go at me he said. if he wants to intimidate our players and thinks that gary neville is an easy target i m not having it. manchester united manager sir alex ferguson added: vieira was well wound up for it. i ve heard different stories. patrick vieira has apparently threatened some of our players and things like that.
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williams battles to aussie title serena williams staged a remarkable recovery to beat lindsay davenport and win her second australian open title. the 2003 champion claimed her seventh grand slam title and her first since wimbledon in 2003 2-6 6-3 6-0. williams had looked close to quitting with a rib injury when she left the court for treatment after five games. she quickly dropped the first set but from 3-3 in the second found another gear as davenport s game collapsed allowing williams to take the title. williams later explained her injury problem saying it was the result of lunging for a ball early in the first set. lindsay had me on the run out wide on my backhand and my back went but eventually i was able to come back thank goodness she said. davenport paid tribute to williams saying: she s had a tough couple of years and she s come back like a champion. the 23-year-old former world number one was in desperate trouble in the early stages as the injury hampered her service action. davenport took advantage to race through the opening set and held six break points in game five of the second. i kept thinking to myself i m not losing this game said williams afterwards. i don t care if my arm falls off i m not losing this game . and i guess that s what happened. i didn t want to lose that particular game because it would have given her a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence. despite letting the break points slip away davenport looked comfortable enough at 3-3 but from 40-0 up she just folded. williams won nine consecutive points for the set and powered through the decider as a lacklustre davenport looked to have run out of energy after a gruelling two weeks. i felt like i was playing well and in control pretty much of the match said davenport. then i just had that horrible lapse i think serving up 40-0 and made a few errors and opened up the door for her and she just kept going through it. at the end i think i was a little bit fatigued but she took advantage of it and kept going - she s a great frontrunner when she gets going.
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savvy searchers fail to spot ads internet search engine users are an odd mix of naive and sophisticated suggests a report into search habits. the report by the us pew research center reveals that 87% of searchers usually find what they were looking for when using a search engine. it also shows that few can spot the difference between paid-for results and organic ones. the report reveals that 84% of net users say they regularly use google ask jeeves msn and yahoo when online. almost 50% of those questioned said they would trust search engines much less if they knew information about who paid for results was being hidden. according to figures gathered by the pew researchers the average users spends about 43 minutes per month carrying out 34 separate searches and looks at 1.9 webpages for each hunt. a significant chunk of net users 36% carry out a search at least weekly and 29% of those asked only look every few weeks. for 44% of those questioned the information they are looking for is critical to what they are doing and is information they simply have to find. search engine users also tend to be very loyal and once they have found a site they feel they can trust tend to stick with it. according to pew research 44% of searchers use just a single search engine 48% use two or three and a small number 7% consult more than three sites. tony macklin spokesman for ask jeeves said the results reflected its own research which showed that people use different search engines because the way the sites gather information means they can provide different results for the same query. despite this liking for search sites half of those questioned said they could get the same information via other routes. a small number 17% said they wouldn t really miss search engines if they did not exist. the remaining 33% said they could not live without search sites. more than two-thirds of those questioned 68% said they thought that the results they were presented with were a fair and unbiased selection of the information on a topic that can be found on the net. alongside the growing sophistication of net users is a lack of awareness about paid-for results that many search engines provide alongside lists of websites found by indexing the web. of those asked 62% were unaware that someone has paid for some of the results they see when they carry out a search. only 18% of all searchers say they can tell which results are paid for and which are not. said the pew report: this finding is ironic since nearly half of all users say they would stop using search engines if they thought engines were not being clear about how they presented paid results. commenting mr macklin said sponsored results must be clearly marked and though they might help with some queries user testing showed that people need to be able to spot the difference.
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tech
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help for indies in download sales a campaign has been launched to help independent labels get their music online and benefit from the growing trend for downloading music. the british phonographic industry has identified a lack of independent music available for download. we want to ensure that independent repertoire is as successful in the download world as it is in the physical world said bpi chief peter jamieson. downloaded singles have now overtaken physical singles in the uk. mr jamieson said his organisation was lobbying music service providers which include itunes and napster to urge them to promote independent releases. download sales are due to be incorporated into the uk singles chart later this year. with downloads shortly to be eligible for the singles chart this is a key commercial issue on which the bpi committed to assisting its members added mr jamieson. as part of the campaign the bpi is running a series of seminars entitled getting your music online focusing on how independent labels can embrace digital music. the us has already begun incorporating download sales in the billboard s hot 100 chart.
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entertainment
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lit idol begins search for author the second pop idol-style search for literary talent has begun with the help of the brother of simon cowell. writer tony cowell is among the judges who will hear aspiring writers read their work aloud. the winner gets a deal with literary agency curtis brown. i m not going to be the mr nasty of books said cowell 54 in reference to his brother s caustic remarks on tv shows pop idol and the x-factor. the 2004 winner paul cavanagh went on to sign a deal with harper collins. this year the competition is specifically looking for a crime writer. writers must submit up to 10 000 words from the opening chapters of their novels and a synopsis. professional readers will choose a shortlist of five following the competition closing date on 14 january. the final five will then have to read their work in front of judging panel. a public vote will also take place which will account for 25% of the final decision. the winner will be announced at the london book fair on 14 march next year and could be screened on tv. it s very very hard to find an agent and extremely difficult without an agent to get a publisher to look at your work said cowell. people do fall by the wayside and the more avenues we can provide for aspiring authors the better he added. paul cavanagh a former university professor and health care consultant from ontario in canada was one of 1 466 aspiring novelists to enter the first contest. he lifted the inaugural lit idol prize after reading aloud an excerpt of his work northwest passage. three film studios are said to be interested in buying film rights for the book even though it is not finished yet.
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entertainment
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bangkok film festival battles on organisers of the third bangkok international film festival have been determined to carry on with this year s event despite the ravages of the asian tsunami disaster. the festivities have been scaled down red carpets have been mothballed and profits from ticket sales are being donated to the tsunami relief fund. apart from this however the festival has continued as originally planned. when the disaster happened we naturally asked ourselves if we should cancel said the festival s executive director craig prater. the decision was made that we would continue but that the focus would change. our premieres became fundraisers the opening night was visibly toned down and 10% of every ticket sold goes to the disaster fund he continued. but we feel like we ve turned a page. we ve acknowledged our position and now it s business as usual. mr prater s sentiments were echoed by christine rush director of the festival s sister event the bangkok film market. we have been careful to be respectful of the thai nation s recovery from this terrible disaster she said. however the nation s recovery very much depends upon it continuing its economic life. we are encouraging attendees to keep the victims in mind and aggressively support the aid organisations helping out she added. given the conspicuously low audience figures that support may be more symbolic than significant. however poor ticket sales have less to do with any fallout from the disaster and more to do with administrative and promotional difficulties. the eclectic programme contains a wide range of titles including such oscar hopefuls as ray charles biopic ray and mike leigh s abortion drama vera drake. that said the absence of thai subtitles on most film prints might have proved offputting to local cinemagoers. on a more positive note the celebrity guests attending the event have generated huge media interest in this busy capital city. problems securing air transport the clash with last sunday s golden globes ceremony in los angeles and other factors have forced some big names to cancel. but the festival has still attracted such hollywood directors as oliver stone and joel schumacher alongside such screen stars as michael douglas jeremy irons and jean-claude van damme. irons whose film being julia is in competition for the festival s golden kinnaree awards said he had wondered whether he should attend after december s catastrophe. i questioned whether i should come when such a tragedy had happened the british actor said. i thought it might be in rather bad taste. but then i spoke to the organisers and i was encouraged to let life go on. now i ve come here i m very glad. what impresses me about thai culture is they get over these things far quicker than we do in the west he continued. basically i was invited here by thailand. if they still want you to come you should. now in its third year bangkok is a relatively recent addition to the hectic film festival calendar. and while it has yet to attain the stature of more established events held in hong kong tokyo and pusan in south korea mr prater predicts it will soon become their equal. it s grown awfully fast in three years - maybe too fast he concedes. we ve had some bumps in the road but that s only because the festival is still a baby. i have no doubt in my mind that in five years this will be the top asian film festival in the world. the golden kinnarees will be awarded on friday. the festival itself runs until 24 january.
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european medal chances improve what have the european indoor trials told us well i think we could be heading to the european championships with half a dozen medal prospects. it was good to see athletes beginning to make steps forward to see a few new faces and there were lots of personal bests kicking around. the best performance on the track for me was sarah claxton s win in the 60m hurdles. running sub-eight seconds twice in a week puts her right up there and if she repeats that in madrid she will be close to picking up a medal. but what was great about sunday s performance was that she was under pressure to produce the goods when it counted. diane allahgreen has been our best hurdler for some time now and i think she was surprised to be beaten by sarah. and knowing that she got the better of diane in a head-to-head race will give sarah confidence. in the men s race on saturday allan scott was right in there and there is definitely more to come from him. in fact the men s 60m hurdles is so strong i think the selectors will pick three hurdlers to go to madrid. phillips idowu lit up the field events not only with his hair but also with his leap of 17.30m which puts him at the top of the world rankings. i had a chat with him before the competition and he was really looking forward to getting out there. he feels he is in great shape and has some big jumps inside him - but then phillips always has. a lot of the athletes said the runway was not very helpful so for phillips to jump like that is a good performance. he is such a huge talent but just needs some consistency - and if he does that then the big jumps will get even further. across the board i thought kelly sotherton had a great weekend and continued to show she is developing. she picked up three personal bests in the long jump high jump and 60m hurdles and you can t ask for more than that. kelly will be up against carolina kluft in the pentathlon at the european championships but she has every chance of a medal on the basis of what we ve seen so far. she has a complicated training regime where different people help her with different disciplines but it seems to be working really well. it wasn t all good news in sheffield. i thought both the 60m races were disappointing in different ways. jason gardener may have won but he wasn t at his best. i chatted to him afterwards and he knows it was an off-day for him. he s there to be shot at and the other lads nearly got a big scalp out there. in the women s race jeanette kwayke was hoping to run against defending champion joice maduaka. the pair are enjoying a bit of rivalry but joice had to pull out with a chest infection. if she had made the final i think jeanette would have gone a bit quicker. janine whitlock competed well in the pole vault on her return following a two-year drugs ban. but the most disappointing thing in the wider view is that she is our best pole vaulter by a long way and that shouldn t be the case. the event has moved on immensely since janine has been away and if there was more domestic competition i think that would help her. a couple of other interesting topics to look out for are the citizenship issues surrounding mark findlay and rabah yusuf. findlay is a londoner who has chosen to represent trinidad and tobago but has never run for them so he could still compete for great britain. yusuf who came third in the 400m is from the sudan but is trying to gain british citizenship. he came to britain as a high jumper but damaged his toe started doing more running and found his talent. so we shall have to see what happens to both of them.
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sport
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campbell: e-mail row silly fuss ex-no 10 media chief alastair campbell is at the centre of a new political row over an e-mail containing a four-letter outburst aimed at bbc journalists. mr campbell sent the missive by mistake to bbc2 s newsnight after it sought to question his role in labour s controversial poster campaign. he later contacted the show saying the original e-mail had been sent in error and that it was all a silly fuss . mr campbell has recently re-joined labour s election campaign. the e-mail was revealed the day after peter mandelson former labour minister and now a european commissioner warned the bbc to steer away from demonising mr campbell. mr campbell messaged newsnight after the programme investigated claims that labour s advertising agency tbwa was blaming him for controversy over its campaign posters. the images including one of flying pigs and another of what critics claim depicted tory leader michael howard as fagin prompted accusations of anti-semitism claims denied by labour. mr campbell s e-mail which was apparently intended for a party official suggested they should get trevor beattie tbwa s boss to issue a statement. in it he said: just spoke to trev. think tbwa shd give statement to newsnight saying party and agency work together well and nobody here has spoken to standard. posters done by by tbwa according to political brief. now fuck off and cover something important you twats! the e-mail was sent by mistake to newsnight journalist andrew mcfadyen. realising his error mr campbell then e-mailed mr mcfadyen pointing out the mistake but suggesting presenter jeremy paxman would have seen the funny side. he said: not very good at this e-mail blackberry malarkey. just looked at log of sent messages have realised e-mail meant for colleagues at tbwa has gone to you. for the record first three sentences of email spot on. no row between me and trevor. posters done by them according to our brief. i dreamt up flying pigs. pigs not great but okay in the circs of tories promising tax cuts and spending rises with the same money. tbwa made production. campbell swears shock. final sentence of earlier e-mail probably a bit colourful and personal considering we have never actually met but i m sure you share the same sense of humour as your star presenter mr p. never known such a silly fuss since the last silly fuss but there we go. must look forward not back. later the prime minister s spokesman was asked by journalists about his view on mr campbell s use of abusive language. the spokesman said: the person you are referring to is capable of speaking for himself and he no longer works in government. foreign secretary jack straw said he had always had very good and polite relations with mr campbell who he described as very talented . but on the former spin doctor s use of language mr straw said: i do know the odd journalist who has occasionally used the odd word that would probably be inappropriate in some circumstances. maybe i mix with the wrong kind of journalists. liam fox tory co-chairman said the return of mr campbell was a sign of new sinister and underhand tactics by labour.
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davenport hits out at wimbledon world number one lindsay davenport has criticised wimbledon over the issue of equal prize money for women. reacting to a disputed comment by all england club chairman tim phillips the american said: i think it is highly insulting if prize money is taken away. somebody i think it was mr phillips said they won t have money for flowers at wimbledon. that s insulting. an all england club spokesperson denied phillips made the remark insisting: he definitely didn t say it. the statement added: it was said by someone else and was a humorous aside at the end of a radio interview when the conversation had moved to talking about the wimbledon grounds. davenport was speaking following the announcement that this week s dubai duty free event will join the us and australian opens in offering equal prize money for women. you hear about women playing only three sets while men play five said daveport. and the best women are never going to beat the best men. but it s a different game you go to watch with the women - it doesn t make it better or worse. hopefully we will be able to change people s minds. serena williams who is also in dubai added: i m obviously for equal prize money. women s tennis is exciting. men s tennis is exciting as well but the women have it right now. if you are bringing in the spectators you should be able to reap what everyone else is able to reap.
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sport
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ultimate game award for doom 3 sci-fi shooter doom 3 has blasted away the competition at a major games ceremony the golden joystick awards. it was the only title to win twice winning ultimate game of the year and best pc game at the awards presented by little britain star matt lucas. the much-anticipated sci-fi horror doom 3 shot straight to the top of the uk games charts on its release in august. other winners included grand theft auto: san andreas which took the most wanted for christmas prize. only released last week it was closely followed by halo 2 and half-life 2 which are expected to be big hits when they are unleashed later this month. but they missed out on the prize for the most wanted game of 2005 which went to the nintendo title the legend of zelda. the original doom released in 1994 heralded a new era in computer games and introduced 3d graphics. it helped to establish the concept of the first-person shooter. doom 3 was developed over four years and is thought to have cost around $15m (£8.3m). the top honour for the best online game of the year went to battlefield vietnam. the chronicles of riddick: escape from butcher bay was handed the unsung hero game of 2004. its release was somewhat eclipsed by doom 3 which was released on the same week. it was however very well received by gamers and was praised for its storyline which differed from the film released around the same time. electronic arts was named top publisher of the year taking the crown from nintendo which won in 2003. the annual awards are voted for by more than 200 000 readers of computer and video games magazines. games awards like this have grown in importance. over the last six years the uk market for games grew by 100% and was worth a record £1 152m in 2003 according to a recent report by analysts screen digest.
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tech
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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.
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no to royal succession shake-up a labour peer has withdrawn proposals to give female members of the royal family the same rights as males. the legislation would have ended the right of male heirs with older sisters to succeed to the crown. it would also have torn up ancient legislation banning heirs to the throne marrying roman catholics. but the government refused to back lord dubs succession to the crown bill saying it was too complex and raised too many constitutional issues. the lord chancellor lord falconer agreed the 1701 act of settlement which governs the succession was discriminatory but added that for all practical purposes its effects are limited . the changes proposed by lord dubs were a complex and controversial undertaking raising major constitutional issues he said. lord falconer said there were 22 members of the royal family in the line of succession after the prince of wales - all of who were eligible to succeed and had been unaffected by the act. it is not a simple matter that can be tinkered with lightly. while we wish to remove all forms of discrimination... this isn t the proper form he added. he did not rule out change in the future but said if lord dubs private member s bill was passed by peers he would urge mps to oppose it in the commons. lord dubs agreed to withdraw his bill after its second reading in the house of lords but urged the government to think again at a later stage. we cannot forever say we don t want to change things because it is too difficult he told peers. during the debate the labour peer and former minister said: the monarchy should symbolise the values of this country. what we don t want is a situation where the values of the country have moved on and the monarchy is centuries behind the times. we are surely all opposed to discrimination on the grounds of gender and we are surely also opposed to discrimination against catholics. but opponents of the bill including tory lord campbell of alloway and the bishop of winchester the rt rev michael scott-joynt said it would separate the state from both the church of england and the christian faith. such a secular state would be markedly less tolerant rt rev scott-joynt argued.
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kennedy looks to election gains they may not know quite how to describe their position in british politics - the real opposition the valid opposition the effective opposition or the authentic opposition. but the liberal democrats are entering the expected 2005 election campaign determined to prove it is they not the tories who are now the real threat to labour. as tory leader michael howard kicked off his election campaign the lib dem leader charles kennedy dismissed the conservatives as a fading force. and he insisted there was no limit to his party s ambitions in the coming poll. and he can produce some pretty impressive recent election results to back up his optimism for an election which he believes might just see his party doing big things. sensible third party leaders are usually cautious about making any predictions about how they will do come the big test. and mr kennedy was not falling into that trap when he fired up his campaign from the party s westminster hq. he would make no predictions other than that he expected the lib dems to increase both their votes and their commons seats at the election. the gap between labour and the tories was now so narrow - as proved he claimed by the defection to labour of robert jackson - that only his party offered a genuine alternative. on the war on iraq identity cards student fees and the council tax there was nothing to chose between the two big parties whereas the liberal democrats offered costed sensible alternatives. he was also happy to break the two party consensus on taxation by promising to increase income tax on those earning more than £100 000 a year to pay for the scrapping of student fees the introduction of free personal care for the elderly and replacing the council tax with a local income tax. he was also happy to offer a pledge that he would be doing no deals to prop up either of the other big parties after the election. there was a time when such optimistic sounds coming from the third party could be dismissed as self-delusion. that is no longer the case with the liberal democrats. the other parties will still insist that the lib dems are no hopers whose greatest effect on the poll will be to boost the hopes of their opponents by denying them otherwise winnable seats. labour in particular fears that disillusioned supporters may switch to the lib dems allowing the tories to win some seats. but mr kennedy is clearly hoping for a more significant outcome than that. he will not talk about the big breakthrough although there are those who believe this could well be the election that sees his party crossing some sort of symbolic threshold. they would argue that by the time of the election after next the liberal democrats may genuinely have replaced the tories as the party challenging labour for power. the lib dems will hope to have made advances because of their consistent stand against the war on iraq. but mr kennedy believes his new manifesto will also offer sensible costed and achievable policies on things like the council tax crime and asylum that will underpin his claim that his party really is the only opposition worth the name.
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eastenders is set for us remake plans to create a us soap based on the bbc s eastenders have reportedly been drawn up by the fox tv network. eastenders head writer tony jordan and music mogul simon fuller are involved in the project according to reports in the hollywood reporter trade newspaper. it said scripts have been commissioned for a series about a community of working class people in of chicago. the original eastenders was pulled from bbc america last year after it proved a failure in the ratings. us versions of other british hits have proved less successful across the atlantic. bbc comedy coupling was remade with a us cast but lost its primetime slot on the nbc network due to disappointing ratings. at home eastenders has been facing its own ratings battle recently losing out to rival itv soap emmer dale. primetime soaps on us television have made a recent comeback following the success of abc serial desperate housewives. the series takes a darkly comedic look at the goings-on of a group of characters living in the suburbs.
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double injury blow strikes wales wales centre sonny parker and number eight ryan jones will miss saturday s game with italy because of injury. parker has not recovered from a trapped nerve in his neck that kept him out of the win over england and tom shanklin is expected to continue at centre. jones damaged his collar bone after coming on as a replacement against england and joins flanker colin charvis (foot injury) on the sidelines. meanwhile mike ruddock may make gavin henson his first-choice kicker in rome. the centre was wales hero in the 11-9 six nations win over england landing a huge late penalty from wide out to clinch the game. first-choice kicker stephen jones handed over responsibility because of henson s greater kicking range but the fly-half had already missed a number of shots at goal. our first aim was to get gavin settled into the team but giving him the kicks is something we ll talk about in selection this week wales coach mike ruddock told bbc sport wales. henson himself says he is relishing all the media hype that has been heaped on him since last saturday s game. i thrive on it and think it makes me perform better he said. i m glad it s a short week before the italy game. there was so much build-up before england but we fly out to rome on thursday and we ll be back playing again.
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uk economy ends year with spurt the uk economy grew by an estimated 3.1% in 2004 after accelerating in the last quarter of the year says the office for national statistics (ons). the figure is in line with treasury and bank of england forecasts. the ons says gross domestic product (gdp) rose by a strong 0.7% in the three months to 31 december compared with 0.5% in the previous quarter. the rise came despite a further decline in production output and the worst christmas for retailers in decades. the annual figure marked out the best year since 2000 and was also well ahead of the 2.2% recorded in 2003. growth in the final three months of 2004 marked the 50th consecutive quarter of expansion. on the basis of the latest information the uk has entered 2005 on course to continue its record period of growth said paul boateng chief secretary to the treasury in a statement. the ons said the services sector which accounts for nearly three-quarters of the uk economy grew 1.0% in the quarter. the strong services figure was welcomed by analysts given lacklustre retail sales in december and across the christmas holiday period. the fact that other services components are doing so well suggests to me that we are back to trend (growth) and i am not particularly concerned about any further slowdown said ross walker uk economist at rbs financial markets. however output in the production sector contracted 0.5% the second quarterly fall in row and a state of affairs that some economists classify as a recession. however the ons would not comment on the definition of a recession and whether the manufacturing recovery was over. but steve radley chief economist at the manufacturers organisation eef said: these figures remain at odds with what is actually happening on the ground. whilst companies may be experiencing tougher conditions this year recession is not a word that manufacturers would currently recognise. the ons said a sharp fall in mining and quarrying which was driven by oil and gas extraction was primarily responsible for the overall contraction in manufacturing production figures. simon rubinsohn chief economist at gerrard said: this outturn (of 0.7%) was well ahead of the market expectations and cast doubt on the scare stories doing the rounds surrounding the current state of the uk economy. and he said the gdp figures may help to push interest rate expectations a little higher along the curve . the suggestion from the money markets is that the next move is now more likely to be in an upward rather than a downward direction. this is consistent with our own thinking said mr rubinsohn. the bank of england s nine-strong rate-setting committee voted unanimously earlier this month to keep interest rates steady at 4.75% minutes of the meeting showed on wednesday.
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bt program to beat dialler scams bt is introducing two initiatives to help beat rogue dialler scams which can cost dial-up net users thousands. from may dial-up net users will be able to download free software to stop computers using numbers not on a user s pre-approved list . inadvertently downloaded by surfers rogue diallers are programs which hijack modems and dial up a premium rate number when users log on. thousands of uk dial-up users are believed to have been hit by the scam. some people have faced phone bills of up to £2 000. bt s modem protection program will check numbers that are dialled by a computer and will block them if they have not been pre-approved such as national and net service provider numbers. icstis the uk s premium rate services watchdog said it had been looking for companies to take the lead in initiatives. the initiatives are very welcome a spokesperson from icstis told the bbc news website. we are very pleased to see they are putting into place new measures to protect consumers. the second initiative bt announced is an early warning system which will alert bt customers if there is unusual activity on their phone bills. if a bill rises substantially above its usual daily average or if a call is made to a suspect number a text or voice alert will be sent to the user s landline phone. as part of the clamp-down on rogue diallers companies must now satisfy stringent conditions including clear terms and conditions information about how to delete diallers and responsibility for customer refunds. any firm running a dialler without permission can now be closed down by icstis. the watchdog brought in the action last october following a decision to license all companies which wanted to operate legitimate premium rate dialler services. there are legitimate companies who offer services such as adult content sports results and music downloads by charging a premium rate rather than by credit card bt said it had ploughed an enormous amount of effort into protecting people from the problem. it has already barred more than 1 000 premium rate numbers and has tried to raise public awareness about the scams. we now want to ensure there are even stronger safeguards for our customers who we would urge to make use of these new options to protect themselves said gavin patterson group managing director for consumer the arm of bt. both schemes have been undergoing trials in ireland and will be made available to 20 million bt customers from may.
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verdict delay for greek sprinters greek athletics governing body has postponed by two weeks the judgement on sprinters costas kenteris and katerina thanou for missing doping tests. the pair are facing lengthy bans for the missed tests including one on the eve of last year s athens olympics. they were set to learn their fate by the end of february but late evidence from them has pushed the date back. a decision is now expected by around mid-march said one of their lawyers michalis dimitrakopoulos. kenteris 31 who won the men s 200m title at the 2000 sydney games and thanou 30 who won the women s 100m silver medal in sydney face a maximum two-year ban if found guilty. the athletes who spectacularly withdrew from the athens olympics have been suspended by the international association of athletics federations (iaaf) for missing the three tests. the iaaf said the sprinters had failed to provide samples for tests in tel aviv chicago and athens and ordered greek athletic s governing body segas to hold a disciplinary inquiry. the athletes also face a criminal hearing in greece over the missed drugs tests and have been charged with faking a motorcycle accident on the day of the athens test which led to them spending four days in hospital. following the final hearing in late january the athletes sounded confident they would be acquitted. i am confident and optimistic thanou had said at the time. we presented new evidence to the committee that they were not aware of. it was not clear what this new evidence was.
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indonesia declines debt freeze indonesia no longer needs the debt freeze offered by the paris club group of creditors economics minister aburizal bakrie has reportedly said. indonesia which originally accepted the debt moratorium offer owes the paris club about $48bn (£25.5bn). mr bakrie told the bisnis indonesia newspaper that a $1.7bn donors aid package meant that the debt moratorium was unnecessary. this aid comes on top of a previously-pledged $3.4bn package. most of this normal aid would be used to finance the country s budget deficit. the indonesian economics minister explained that the money - $1.2bn in grants and $500m in soft loans - was for the rebuilding of aceh province which was badly hit by the tsunami of 26 december. nevertheless one of mr bakrie s deputies mahendra siregar told afp news agency that indonesia was still considering the offer by the paris club of rich creditor nations to temporarily suspend its debt payments. what is true is that we are still discussing... the paris club decision to find out more details such as how much of our debt will be subject to a moratorium. that s how far we are at this stage said mr siregar. the 19 member countries of the paris club are owed about $5bn this year in debt repayments by nations affected by the indian ocean tsunami. indonesia sri lanka and the seychelles accepted the paris club offer which was criticised by some aid groups as being too little. thailand and india have however declined the offer with thailand prefering to keep up with its payments while india said it would prefer to rely on its own resources rather than on international aid. putting off payments may lower a country s rating among financial organisations making it more expensive and more difficult for them to borrow money in the future analysts said. separately the indonesian government has said it will announce monthly how much it has received in foreign donations and how it has spent the money. welfare minister alwi shihab told ap news agency that this announcement should allay suspicion of official corruption in relief operations.
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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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adventure tale tops awards young book fans have voted fergus crane a story about a boy who is taken on an adventure by a flying horse the winner of two smarties book prizes. paul stewart and chris riddell s book came top in the category for six- to eight-year-olds and won the award chosen by after-school club members. sally grindley s spilled water about a chinese girl sold as a servant was top in vote of readers aged nine to 11. biscuit bear by mini grey took the top award in the under-five category. winners were voted for by about 6 000 children from a shortlist picked by an adult panel. the prize which is celebrating its 20th year is billed as the uk s biggest children s book award . fergus crane includes text by stewart and illustrations by riddell who also created the edge chronicles together. as well as the six to eights prize it won the 4children special award voted for by after-school club members. julia eccleshare chair of the adult judging panel said children s literature had never looked stronger in the prize s 20 years. this award counts because the final choice of winners is made by children who are the toughest critics of all she said. this year s young judges chose the winners from an exceptionally strong and varied shortlist which showcases the very best in children s books today. previous winners have included jk rowling jacqueline wilson and dick king-smith.
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senior fannie mae bosses resign the two most senior executives at us mortgage giant fannie mae have resigned after accounting irregularities were uncovered at the company. chief executive franklin raines a former senior official in the clinton administration and chief financial officer tim howard have left the firm. fannie mae was criticised by financial regulators and could have to restate its earnings by up to $9bn (£4.6bn). it is america s second largest financial institution. recent investigations have exposed extensive accounting errors at fannie mae which supplies funds to america s $8 trillion mortgage market. last week the firm was admonished by the securities and exchange commission which said it had made major errors in its financial reporting. the financial regulator said fannie mae would have to raise substantial new capital to restore its balance sheet. analysts said the sec s criticism made it impossible for fannie mae s senior executives to remain. mr raines head of the office of management and budget under president clinton has taken early retirement while mr howard has also stepped down the company said on tuesday. kpmg fannie mae s independent auditor will also be replaced. by my early retirement i have held myself accountable mr raines said in a statement. fannie mae was found to have violated accounting rules relating to derivatives - financial instruments used to hedge against fluctuations in interest rates - and some pre-paid loans. as a result it could be forced to restate $9bn in earnings over the past four years effectively wiping out a third of the company s profits since 2001. although not making loans directly to buyers fannie mae is the largest single player in the mortgage market underwriting half of all us house purchases. the firm operates under charter from the us congress. it has faced stinging criticism from congressional leaders who held hearings into its finances earlier this year and from government regulator the office of federal housing enterprise oversight (ofheo). we are encouraged that the board s announcement signals a new culture and a new direction for fannie mae armando falcon ofheo director said. the problems afflicting fannie mae are just the latest to hit the us mortgage industry. freddie mac the country s other largest mortgage firm was forced to restate its earnings by $4.4bn last year and pay a $125m fine after an investigation of its books.
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apple attacked over sources row civil liberties group the electronic frontier foundation (eff) has joined a legal fight between three us online journalists and apple. apple wants the reporters to reveal 20 sources used for stories which leaked information about forthcoming products including the mac mini. the eff representing the reporters has asked california s superior court to stop apple pursuing the sources. it argues that the journalists are protected by the american constitution. the eff says the case threatens the basic freedoms of the press. apple is particularly keen to find the source for information about an unreleased product code-named asteroid and has asked the journalists e-mail providers to hand over communications relevant to that. rather than confronting the issue of reporter s privilege head-on apple is going to the journalist s isps for his e-mails said eff lawyer kurt opsahl. this undermines a fundamental first amendment right that protects all reporters. if the court lets apple get away with this and exposes the confidences gained by these reporters potential confidential sources will be deterred from providing information to the media and the public will lose a vital outlet for independent news analysis and commentary he said. the case began in december 2004 when apple asked a local californian court to get the journalists to reveal their sources for articles published on websites appleinsider.com and powerpage.org. apple also sent requested information from the nfox.com the internet service provider of powerpage s publisher jason o-grady. as well as looking at how far corporations can go in preventing information from being published the case will also examine whether online journalists have the same privileges and protections as those writing for newspapers and magazines. the eff has gained some powerful allies in its legal battle with apple including professor tom goldstein former dean of the journalism school at the university of california and dan gillmor a well-known silicon valley journalist. apple was not immediately available for comment.
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dame julie pops in to see poppins mary poppins star dame julie andrews watched the hit stage version of her classic film at a charity performance in london s west end. it was the first time dame julie who shot to fame as the nanny in the 1964 disney movie had seen the musical staged at the prince edward theatre. she watched laura michelle kelly 23 reprise the role on stage. the show has been one of the west end s hottest tickets since opening in december winning two olivier awards. kelly was named best musical actress at last month s ceremony and the musical also won best choreography. but kelly said she was very nervous about meeting dame julie because she was my absolute hero . the gala performance saw dame julie 69 return to the theatre where she had her first starring role in a performance of humpty dumpty in 1948. the mary poppins musical has been masterminded by theatre impresario sir cameron mackintosh and directed by richard eyre with choreography by matthew bourne. sir cameron said he hoped the production which cost £9m to bring to the stage was a blend of the sweet-natured film and the original book by pl travers. proceeds from thursday s show will go to charities including absolute return for kids (ark) international relief agency operation usa and drama school lamda.
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few ready for information act thousands of public bodies are ill-prepared for the freedom of information act due to come into force next month because of government failures say mps. from next month anyone will have the power to demand information from a range of public bodies - from whitehall departments to doctors surgeries. but an all-party committee said it was not confident many would be ready. it blamed the department for constitutional affairs for a lack of consistent leadership . the act comes into effect in england wales and northern ireland on 1 january while similar measures are being brought in at the same time in scotland. it provides the public with a right of access to information held by about 100 000 public bodies subject to various exemptions. but the government department responsible for implementing the change suffered from an unusually high turnover of staff within the department which had seriously interfered with its work said the constitutional affairs select committee. it said despite four years of preparations some local authorities and parts of the health sector were still not ready. the dca had failed to provide early guidance on technical matters and shown a lack of consistent leadership the mps found. committee chairman alan beith said: the dca has had four years to prepare for freedom of information but with less than a month to go it appears that some bodies may not be well enough prepared. our report shows that in the past support and guidance from the dca which has overall responsibility for guiding the public sector through the process of implementation for the freedom of information regime has been lacking. a spokesman for the dca said: the dca has provided - and will continue to provide - strong clear leadership. it has delivered a simple liberal fees regime guidance on the act which has been widely praised and expert networks of staff working on freedom of information implementation.
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spirit awards hail sideways the comedy sideways has dominated this year s independent spirit awards winning all six of the awards for which it was nominated. it was named best film while alexander payne won best director and best screenplay along with writing partner jim taylor. it also won acting awards for stars paul giamatti thomas haden church and virginia madsen. sideways is tipped to do well at sunday s oscars with five nominations. the awards now in their 20th year are given to films made outside the traditional studio system and are traditionally held the day before the oscars. other winners included catalina sandino moreno who took best actress for her role as a drug smuggler in the colombian drama maria full of grace. moreno is also nominated for best actress at the oscars. the best first screenplay award went to joshua marston for maria full of grace. scrubs star zach braff won the award for best first feature for garden state which he wrote directed and starred in. oscar-nominated euthanasia film the sea inside from spain won best foreign film while metallica: some kind of monster was awarded best documentary. actor rodrigo de la serna took the best debut performance prize for the motorcycle diaries. the awards are voted for by the 9 000 members of the independent feature project/los angeles which includes actors directors writers and other industry professionals. last year s big winner lost in translation went on to win the oscar for best original screenplay for writer-director sofia coppola.
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wmc profits up amid bid criticism australian mining firm wmc resources has seen a fivefold rise in profits while continuing to be the target of a hostile takeover bid. wmc said it made net profits of 1.33bn australian dollars ($1bn; £550m) in 2004 up from a$246bn the year before. it is currently arguing against an offer from swiss xstrata which the firm raised to a$8.4bn last week after wmc said it was an undervaluation. now reports say that the australian government is against the deal. trade minister mark vaile has said that the bid may be against the national interest . mr vaile who was quoted in the australian financial review compared xstrata s attempt to take over wmc to a similar bid by oil giant shell for australia s woodside petroleum in 2001. the bid was thrown out by treasurer peter costello on national interest grounds. wmc s interests in uranium deposits were a contributing factor mr vaile said. wmc itself however has no objection in principle to being bought out having spun off its aluminium operations in 2002 to make itself a more tempting target - as long as the price is right. its stellar performance in 2004 has been built on sky-high prices for metals. copper and nickel in particular have been in high demand thanks to china s booming economy which expanded more than 9% in each of the past two years. nickel prices rose 43% during the year with copper up 36%.
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gadget market to grow in 2005 the explosion in consumer technology is to continue into 2005 delegates at the world s largest gadget show in las vegas have been told. the number of gadgets in the shops is predicted to grow by 11% while devices which talk to each other will become increasingly important. everything is going digital kirsten pfeifer from the consumer electronics association told the bbc news website. the consumer electronics show (ces) featured the pick of 2005 s products. consumers are controlling what they want and technologies like hdtvs [high-definition tvs] digital radio and digital cameras will remain strong in 2005. all the products on show really showed the breadth and depth of the industry. despite showing diversity some delegates attending complained that the showcase lacked as much wow factor as in previous years. the portable technologies on show also reflected one of the buzzwords of ces which was the time and place shifting of multimedia content - being able to watch and listen to video and music anywhere at any time. at the start of last year s ces the cea predicted there would be an average growth of 4% in 2004. that figure was surpassed with the rise in popularity of portable digital music players personal video recorders and digital cameras. it was clear also that gadgets are becoming a lot more about lifestyle choice with fashion and personalisation becoming increasingly key to the way gadgets are designed. part of this has been the rise in spending power of the generation x-ers who have grown up with technology and who now have the spending power and desire for more devices that suit them. more than 57% of the consumer electronics market is made up of female buyers according to cea research. hybrid devices which combine a number of multimedia functions were also in evidence on the show floor. a lot of this is driven by just the ability to do it said stephen baker a consumer electronics analyst with retail research firm npd group. some of these functions cost next to nothing to add. as well as the show floor showcasing everything from tiny wearable mp3 players to giant high-definition tvs several keynote speeches were made by industry leaders such as microsoft chief bill gates. despite several embarrassing technical glitches during mr gate s pre-show speech he announced several new partnerships - mainly for the us market. he unveiled new ways of letting people take tv shows recorded on personal video recorders and watch them back on portable devices. he disappointed some however by failing to announce any details of the next generation of the xbox games console. another disappointment was the lack of exposure sony s new portable games device the psp had at the show. sony said the much-anticipated gadget would most likely start shipping in march for the us and europe. it went on sale in japan before christmas. there were only two psps embedded in glass cabinets at the show though and no representatives to discuss further details. a sony representative told the bbc news website this was because sony did not consider it to be part of their consumer technology offering. elsewhere at the show there was a plethora of colour and plasma screens including samsung s 102-inch (2.6 metre) plasma - the largest in the world. industry experts were also excited about high-definition technologies coming to the fore in 2005 with new formats for dvds coming out which will hold six times as much data as conventional dvds. with so many devices on the move there were a lot of products on show offering external storage like seagate s 5gb pocket sized external hard drive which won an innovation for engineering and design prize. more than 120 000 trade professionals attended ces in las vegas which officially ran from 6 to 9 january.
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wenger steps up row arsene wenger has stepped up his feud with sir alex ferguson by claiming the manchester united manager is guilty of bringing football into disrepute. the pair s long-running row was put back in the headlines on saturday when ferguson said his arsenal counterpart was a disgrace . wenger initially refused to bite back saying only: i will never answer any questions any more about this man. but now he claims ferguson should be punished by the football association. the latest twist in the ferguson-wenger saga came on saturday when the united boss in an interview with the independent newspaper discussed the events after the game between the two sides in october. united won 2-0 that day at old trafford but the game was followed by a now notorious food fight which saw ferguson s clothes covered in soup and pizza. the sides meet again at highbury on 1 february. in the tunnel wenger was criticising my players calling them cheats so i told him to leave them alone and behave himself ferguson said on saturday. he ran at me with hands raised saying what do you want to do about it to not apologise for the behaviour of the players to another manager is unthinkable. it s a disgrace but i don t expect wenger to ever apologise he s that type of person. those allegations were put to wenger after saturday s game at bolton which arsenal lost to slip 10 points behind chelsea in the title race. at first he said only: i ve always been consistent with that story and told you nothing happened. if he has to talk he talks. if he wants to make a newspaper article he makes a newspaper article. he doesn t interest me and doesn t matter to me at all. i will never answer to any provocation from him any more. he does what he likes in england anyway. he can go abroad one day and see how it is. but later on saturday according to the independent wenger spoke to a smaller group of reporters and expanded on his reaction. i have no diplomatic relations with him the arsenal boss is quoted as saying. what i don t understand is that he does what he wants and you (the press) are all at his feet. the situation (concerning the food fight) has been judged and there is a game going on in a month. the managers have a responsibility to protect the game before the game. but in england you are only punished for what you say after the game. now the whole story starts again. i don t go into that game. we play football. i am a football manager and i love football above all ... no matter what people say. reminded that ferguson called him a disgrace wenger added: i don t respond to anything. in england you have a good phrase. it is bringing the game into disrepute . but that is not only after a game it is as well before a game. ferguson had also claimed that united chief executive david gill and arsenal vice-chairman david dein had agreed at boardroom level not to discuss the incident in public. but ferguson added: in the ensuing weeks all you got was a diatribe from arsenal about being kicked off the pitch and all that nonsense. gill phoned dein three times to complain but nothing was done. the return is on 1 february and they will come out with another diatribe. david gill and i feel we should set the record straight because arsenal have not written to us to apologise and we would not let that happen here. meanwhile the league managers association have offered to act as peacemakers in the hope of resolving the on-going row. during that stormy game in october united striker ruud van nistelrooy caught arsenal s ashley cole with one particularly strong tackle. wenger later accused van nistelrooy of cheating and was fined £15 000 and severely reprimanded by the football association. ferguson admitted on saturday that van nistelrooy s tackle which earned the dutchman a ban could have given (cole) a serious injury but he believes arsenal were the main aggressors. wenger is always complaining the match was not played in the right spirit he added. they are the worst losers of all time they don t know how to lose. maybe it is just manchester united they don t lose many games to other teams. we tend to forget the worst disciplinary record of all time was arsenal s up until last season. in fairness it has improved and now they are seen as paragons of virtue. but to wenger it never happens it is all some dream or nightmare.
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global blogger action day called the global web blog community is being called into action to lend support to two imprisoned iranian bloggers. the month-old committee to protect bloggers is asking those with blogs to dedicate their sites on 22 february to the free mojtaba and arash day . arash sigarchi and mojtaba saminejad are both in prison in iran. blogs are free sites through which people publish thoughts and opinions. iranian authorities have been clamping down on prominent sites for some time. i hope this day will focus people curt hopkins director of the committee told the bbc news website. the group has a list of actions which it says bloggers can take including writing to local iranian embassies. the committee has deemed tuesday free mojtaba and arash day as part of its first campaign. it is calling on the blogsphere - the name for the worldwide community of bloggers - to do what it can to help raise awareness of the plight of mojtaba and arash as well as other cyber-dissidents . if you have a blog the least you could do is put nothing on that blog except free mojtaba and arash day said mr hopkins. that would mean you could see that phrase 7.1 million times. that alone will shine some light on the situation. if you don t have one find one dedicated to that - it takes about 30 seconds. technorati a blog search engine tracks about six million blogs and says that more than 12 000 are added daily. a blog is created every 5.8 seconds according to a us research think-tank. the committee to protect bloggers was started by us blogger curt hopkins and counts fired flight attendant blogger ellen simonetti as a deputy director. she has since started the international bloggers bill of rights a global petition to protect bloggers at work. although not the only website committed to human rights issues by any means it aims to be the hub or organisation information and support for bloggers in particular and their rights to freedom of speech. the committee although only a month old aims to be the focal point for blogger action on similar issues in the future and will operate as a non-for-profit organisation. blogging is in this weird no man s land. people think of it as being one thing or another depending on their point of view said mr hopkins. some think of themselves as pundits kind of like journalists and some like me have a private blog which is just a publishing platform. but they do not have a constituency and are out there in the cold. it is not just human rights issues in countries which have a track record of restricting what is published in the media that is of concern to bloggers. the question of bloggers and what rights they have to say what they want on their sites is a thorny one and has received much press attention recently. high profile cases in which employees have been sacked for what they have said on their personal and often anonymous blogs have highlighted the muddy situation that the blogsphere is currently in. this is a big messy argument explained mr hopkins. he added: it is just such a new way of doing business there will be clamp downs. but the way these issues get tested is through the courts which said mr hopkins is part of the whole messy conversation. if you haven t already got bloggers in your company you will have them tomorrow - and if you don t have a blogger policy now you had better start looking at having one. mr hopkins said that the blogsphere - which is doubling every five months - was powerful because it takes so little time and expertise to create a blog. everyone does this - mums radicals conservatives he said. many companies offer easy-to-use services to create a blog and publish it in minutes to a global community. that is the essential difference. what i call templating software gives every single person on earth the chance to have one. you don t even have to have your own computer.
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tech
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us charity anthem is re-released we are the world the american charity anthem inspired by the success of band aid has been re-issued to raise money for aids research and tsunami victims. more than 40 stars sang as group usa for africa including lionel richie diana ross ray charles bob dylan michael jackson and bruce springsteen. it topped the charts in the us and uk raising millions of dollars for african famine relief. the re-release also marks the 20th anniversary of the original recording. it has been re-issued as part of a two-disc dvd set which will also feature footage from the recording session of the track in january 1985. the single was originally released in the us on 7 march 1985 and sold 800 000 copies in its first week. it went on to win grammys for song of the year and record of the year.
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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.
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politics
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lib dems stress budget trust gap public trust in the handling of the economy can only be restored if gordon brown opens up his books for unbiased inspection say the lib dems. city experts say there is a £10bn black hole in the public finances a claim denied by the chancellor. lib dem spokesman vince cable said the public did not know who to believe and the national audit office should judge. responding to the pre-budget report mr cable also attacked labour s unfair and over-complicated taxes. in his report mr brown insisted he was on course to meet his golden rule of borrowing only to invest rather than for day-to-day spending over the course of the economic cycle. mr cable said people did not know whether to believe the chancellor or the consensus among experts which said the rule would be broken. there is an issue of credibility and trust he said. we cannot have a continuation of a situation where the chancellor sets his own tests and then marks them. what we need is the equivalent of a thorough ofsted inspection of the government s accounts. he asked what the government had to hide. mr cable also accused the chancellor of ducking tough choices. he argued: there are serious challenges ahead from the falling dollar and from the rapid downturn in the uk housing market and rising personal debt. but they have not been confronted. mr brown confirmed he was setting aside another £520m for the conflicts in iraq and afghanistan. mr cable compared that new cost with the £500m needed for britain s role in the entire first gulf war - when 80% of the bill had been met through help from european and arab nations. he suggested keeping british troops in iraq could cost another £1bn with the government also planning to spend at least £3bn for identity cards. the current economic climate meant britain could not afford the reckless george bush-style tax cutting spree planned by the tories he said. instead what was needed was simple and fair taxation rather than the complete mess produced by mr brown s endless tinkering. mr cable said 40% of all pensioners were now paying marginal tax rates of 50%. and one-and-a-half million hard working families were paying 60% marginal tax rates. with that record he asked why ministers attacked lib dem plans for a new 50% tax rate for the very rich - those earning more than £100 000 a year. mr brown earmarked £1bn to help keep down council tax rises next year. but the lib dem spokesman questioned whether that money was being found from cuts to education and health. he urged the government to scrap the grossly unfair tax completely. the lib dems want it replaced with a local income tax. in response mr brown stressed the iraq money came from a reserve funds. it was because he had rejected previous lib dem proposals such as scrapping the new deal that britain s economy was successful claimed mr brown.
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gerrard plays down european hopes steven gerrard has admitted that liverpool have little chance of winning the champions league this season. the 24-year-old reds skipper spoke out ahead of tuesday s first leg at home to bayer leverkusen in the last 16 which he will miss through suspension. let s be realistic there are some fantastic teams left in the champions league he told bbc radio five live. we are just going to try to stay in as long as possible but we realise that maybe it is not our year this year. gerrard has made no secret of his desire to be involved in europe s premier club competition. last season he described qualification for the champions league as the be all and end all - and rumours persist that he will leave anfield if the reds fail to secure a place in the competition. he has consistently been linked with a move away from liverpool with chelsea the favourites to snap up the england midfielder. and blues boss jose mourinho backed gerrard s view that rafael benitez s team could struggle to progress this season. rafa has still time in front of him to build an even better team maybe he s a little bit behind (right now) he told bbc radio five live. gerrard who fired liverpool into the last 16 of this season s competition with a brilliant goal in december s win over olympiakos insisted he was still fully focused on helping liverpool to glory this season. the reds are currently fifth in the premiership table five points off the crucial fourth spot which brings champions league qualification - and they face chelsea in sunday s carling cup final. it s big couple of months for liverpool he added. we re fighting for the fourth spot for the champions league for next season but we are still involved in two cup competitions which are very important. we are confident we can upset chelsea in the carling cup final and get to the last eight of the champions league because financially it is big for the club and personally for myself it is very good.
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elvis set to top uk singles chart rock n roll legend elvis is set to top the uk singles chart on sunday 27 years after his death. the re-release of hit song jailhouse rock was out-selling x factor winner steve brockstein s cover of against all odds by 2 000 copies on tuesday. if the record does make the top spot it will be elvis 19th uk number one. the last time he topped the charts was with the remix of the little-known song a little less conversation which was number one in june 2002. if jailhouse rock does reach number one on sunday it will be the 999th in the history of the uk pop charts. the song first topped the charts in 1958. chart analysts say elvis could score the 1000th number one as well. his record one night will be released the following week followed the week after by a fool such as i as part of his record company sonybmg s new elvis campaign. it has called it the most ambitious singles release campaign in the history of the uk record industry .
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parmalat sues 45 banks over crash parmalat has sued 45 banks as it tries to reclaim money paid to banks before the scandal-hit italian dairy company went bust last year. the firm collapsed with debts of about 14bn euros ($19bn; £10bn) and new boss enrico bondi has already taken legal action against a number of lenders. he claims the banks were aware of the problems but continued to work with the company so they could earn commissions. parmalat has not identified which banks it has gone after this time. under italian law administrators can seek to get back money paid to financial institutions prior to insolvency if there is a suspicion that the institutions knew that the company was in financial trouble. the firm also said it is preparing further law suits. according to the reuters news agency 35 of the companies sued on thursday are italian while the remaining 10 are international. the unidentified parmalat source also told reuters that the company was planning to take action against a total of 80 financial institutions. among those already targeted are bank of america ubs credit suisse first boston deutsche bank and citigroup. it has also gone after auditors grant thornton. they have all denied any wrongdoing. parmalat was declared insolvent in december 2003 after it emerged that 4bn euros thought to be held in an offshore account did not in fact exist. in the investigation that followed it became apparent that the company among other things had been billing clients twice in order to boost sales and bolster the balance sheet. that enabled parmalat to borrow heavily and expand overseas allowing it to become a darling of the italian stock exchange.
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business
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el guerrouj targets cross country double olympic champion hicham el guerrouj is set to make a rare appearance at the world cross country championships in france. but the moroccan who has not raced over cross country for 15 years will not decide until two weeks before the event which starts on 19 march. if i am to compete in it it is only if i feel i can win said the 30-year-old who is retiring in 2006. otherwise there is not much point in me going. el guerrouj achieved a lifetime ambition last august when he clinched his first olympic titles over 1500m and 5 000m. but the four-time world 1500m champion is still hungry for more success before calling time on his career. the 30-year-old has set his sights on clinching the world 5 000m crown in helsinki this summer. and he is aiming to break 10 000m olympic champion kenenisa bekele s 5 000m and 10 000m world records. el guerrouj could meet bekele in march as the ethiopian is the defending world cross country champion over both the long and short courses. but the moroccan will not commit himself to the st galmier event until he assesses how well his winter training is going. the return to training was very difficult because i accepted a lot of invitations these past few months said el guerrouj. i am almost a month behind but i am on the right track. - britain s paula radcliffe has also not ruled out competing in the world cross country championships. i haven t quite decided what events i will compete in prior to london but the world cross country is an event which is also special to me and is a definite possibility said the two-time champion.
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hanks greeted at wintry premiere hollywood star tom hanks was in london s leicester square for the uk premiere of polar express. the west end landmark was turned into a festive landscape complete with snow and carol singers to celebrate the arrival of the animated film. this is leicester square like you ve never seen it before said hanks who plays five roles in the movie. polar express is based on a children s book which tells the story of a young boy s journey to meet santa claus. the 48-year-old actor crossed a three-metre high bridge built in the square which he said was almost impossible to get across . hundreds of fans greeted the star all wearing santa hats and mince pies were on offer. hanks said that the new film has an elegant message . christmas is a special time of the year and you get out of it what you put into it added the two-time academy award winner. i believe in the spirit of christmas and i think that s embodied in santa claus he said. polar express uses technology similar to that used in lord of the rings to bring gollum to life. the performance capture technique enables hanks to play a number of roles including the eight-year-old boy who is at the centre of the story and father christmas. it is directed by robert zemeckis who has previously worked with hanks on forrest gump and castaway.
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millions buy mp3 players in us one in 10 adult americans - equivalent to 22 million people - owns an mp3 player according to a survey. a study by the pew internet and american life project found that mp3 players are the gadget of choice among affluent young americans. the survey did not interview teenagers but it is likely that millions of under-18s also have mp3 players. the american love affair with digital music players has been made possible as more and more homes get broadband. of the 22 million americans who own mp3 players 59% are men compared to 41% of women. those on high income - judged to be $75 000 (£39 000) or above - are four times more likely to have players than those earning less than $30 000 ( £15 000). broadband access plays a big part in ownership too. almost a quarter of those with broadband at home have players compared to 9% of those who have dial-up access. mp3 players are still the gadget of choice for younger adults. almost one in five us citizens aged under 30 have one. this compares to 14% of those aged 30-39 and 14% of those aged 40-48. the influence of children also plays a part. sixteen percent of parents living with children under 18 have digital players compared to 9% of those who don t. the ease of use and growth of music available on the net are the main factors for the upsurge in ownership the survey found. people are beginning to use them as instruments of social activity - sharing songs and taking part in podcasting - the survey found. ipods and mp3 players are becoming a mainstream technology for consumers said lee rainie director of the pew internet and american life project. more growth in the market is inevitable as new devices become available as new players enter the market and as new social uses for ipods/mp3 players become popular he added.
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dementieva prevails in hong kong elena dementieva swept aside defending champion venus williams 6-3 6-2 to win hong kong s champions challenge event. the russian ranked sixth in the world broke williams three times in the first set while losing her service once. williams saved three championship points before losing the match at the victoria park tennis court. it s really a great start to the year no matter whether it s an exhibition or not. i was trying to play my best and i really did it said dementieva. this will give me all the confidence before the grand slams. i was trying so hard to win this tournament. williams 24 was disappointed with her display. she played some nice points but it was mostly me committing unforced errors - four or five errors in each game she said. before the match organizers auctioned off rackets belonging to the players raising £115 000 for victims of the tsunami disaster.
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fockers keeps us box office lead film comedy meet the fockers sequel to meet the parents has topped the us box office for a third week. the movie which stars ben stiller robert de niro dustin hoffman and barbra streisand took $28.5m (£15.2m) making a total of 204.3m (£109m). michael keaton thriller white noise was second with $24m (£12.8m) despite negative reviews. martin scorsese s howard hughes biopic the aviator came third with $7.6m (£4m) and a total of $42.9m (£22.8m). children s adventure lemony snicket s a series of unfortunate events starring jim carrey and meryl streep fell two places to fourth position with $7.4m (£3.9m). it is also the ninth jim carrey film to hit the $100m (£53.2m) mark according to exhibitor relations. and fat albert a live-action adaptation of bill cosby s tv cartoon fell one place to number five with takings over the three days beginning on friday of $5m (£2.6m). ocean s twelve took sixth place in the us chart with $5.4m (£2.8m) but it led the non-us chart at the weekend according to hollywood reporter with an estimated $17.7m (£9.4m) and total takings of $137m (£73m). the incredibles took $300m (£160m) outside the us while meet the fockers topped box office charts in australia and mexico with non-us takings of $19.35m (£10.2m).
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games enter the classroom video games could soon be transplanted from their natural habitat to the more academic atmosphere of the classroom. with violent titles continuing to top the charts gaming and learning have not always sat well together but the tide could be beginning to turn. recent research by the london institute of education concluded that games have a valid place in the classroom. games teach life skills such as decision making problem solving said martin owen at futurelab. mr owen said games could also help children make quick assessments of situations and learning by trial and error. futurelab is a non-profit organisation looking at ways of using technology for innovative learning. most game firms are too busy turning a profit in the lucrative commercial market to consider developing games for use in schools but liverpool-based games firm lateral visions saw a gap in the market. learning games were somewhat old-fashioned and we didn t see anyone else doing what we wanted to do said dr carl gavin managing director of lateral visions. the company set out to write something that had all the look and feel of a commercial game but with an educational and learning element. the result is racing academy a massively multiplayer car racing game which requires not only a thirst for speed but a working knowledge of physics and engineering as well. it is being used by futurelab to test the viability of using gaming in the classroom. we are keen to find out whether alongside learning a game we can also learn something that the rest of the world can understand as being educational said mr owen. players will have to understand how a car works in order to win races and the knowledge of physics and engineering that they gather along the way will be done in a way that no text book can teach. the game requires users to build and maintain their vehicles and to monitor and analyse performance using data from a variety of outputs before and after racing. teamwork is essential and a chat area allows students to exchange information and data work collaboratively and review their own performances. this fusion of chatrooms and gaming is of special interest to futurelab as it is through talking to others that much of the learning can be achieved thinks mr owen. the game has been trialled in two secondary schools in bristol and feedback from students has been positive. pupils used the statistics to work out the best way to build their cars and the online message board to share ideas and support each other said ben williamson a researcher at futurelab charged with testing the game in real schools. dr gavin thinks the game satisfies both teachers need for learning outcomes and the children s desire to rise to a challenge. games in the classroom need to support the teacher. it is not about giving children free rein to play game but recognising that games attract attention and offer a challenge he said. professor angela macfarlane based at bristol university has spent several years researching how games can be incorporated into classrooms. use of games in schools has been patchy she found with sim city proving the most popular. traditionally schools have eschewed mainstream games in favour of used so-called edu-tainment software in a belief that such packages help to make learning fun she found in her research. it is perhaps in a compromise between edutainment and mainstream games that the greatest potential for classroom useable games lies she wrote in a paper entitled games and learning. lite versions of existing games could be the way forward and would overcome one of the biggest hurdles - persuading developers to write for the educational market. this would appeal to developers because of the low costs involved in adapting them as well as offering a new opportunity for marketing. already there are games on the market such as civilisation and age of empire that have educational elements said mr owen. even in grand theft auto it is not just the violence that engages people he said. it could be some time until that particular game makes it into the classroom though.
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tech
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2004: an irish athletics year 2004 won t be remembered as one of irish athletics great years. the year began with that optimism which invariably and unaccountably seems to herald an upcoming olympiad. but come late august a few hot days in the magnificent stadium in athens told us of the true strength of irish athletics - or to be more accurate the lack of it. sonia o sullivan s olympic farewell apart there was little to stir the emotions of irish athletics watchers. but after the disastrous build-up to the games we shouldn t have been surprised. at the start of the year an o sullivan had been earmarked as ireland s best medal prospect but as it turned out walker gillian never even made it to the start line because of injury. less than a week before the olympics the sport was rocked by news that 10 000m hope cathal lombard had tested for the banned substance epo. lombard s shattering of mark carroll s national 10 000m record in april had already set tongues wagging but even the most cynical of observers were surprised when he was rumbled after an irish sports council sting operation. the corkman quickly held his hands up in admission and was promptly handed a two-year ban from the sport. back at pre-olympic ranch in greece it must have seemed that things couldn t have got any worse but they very nearly did with walker jamie costin lucky to escape with his life after being involved in a car crash near athens. once the track and field action began in athens a familiar pattern of underachievement emerged although alistair cragg s performance in being the only athlete from a european nation to qualify for the 5 000m final did offer hope for the future. our beloved sonia scraped into the women s 5k final as a fastest loser and for a couple of days the country attempted to delude itself into believing that she might be in the medal shake-up. as it happened she went out the back door early in the final although there was nothing undignified about the way that she insisted on finishing the race over a minute behind winner meseret defar. it later transpired that sonia had been suffering from a stomach bug in the 48 hours before the final although typically the cobhwoman played down the effects of the illness. amazingly she was back in action a couple of weeks later when beating a world-class field at the flora lite 5k road race in london and while her major championship days may be over it s unlikely that we have seen the last of her in competition. at least sonia managed to make it to athens. at the start of the year several northern ireland athletes had genuine hopes of qualifying for the games but come august an out-of-form and injured paul brizzel was the lone standard bearer for the province. the ballymena man gave it a lash but his achilles problem and a bad lane draw meant a time of 21.00 and an early exit. james mcilroy gareth turnbull zoe brown and paul mckee all had to be content with watching the athens action on their television screens. 800m hope mcilroy never got near his best during the summer and a fourth place in the british trials effectively ended his hopes of making the plane. the injury-plagued turnbull gamely travelled round europe in search of the 1500m qualifying mark but 3:39 was the best he could achieve after missing several months training during the previous winter. a lingering hamstring probem and a virus wrecked mckee s athens ambitions and both he and turnbull deserve a slice of better fortune in 2005. pole vaulter brown had hoped for a vote of confidence from the british selectors after she had achieved the athens b standard but the call never came. as the summer ended stalwarts catherina mckiernan and dermot donnelly hung up their competitive spikes. mckiernan had to candidly acknowledge that time had crept up on her after several injury-ravaged years. donnelly and his annadale striders team-mates later suffered tragedy when their friend and clubman andy campbell was found dead at his home on 18 december. a large turnout of athletics-loving folk turned out in west belfast to offer their respects to the campbell family and andy s many friends. as only death can it put the year s athletics happenings in a sharp perspective.
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brown proud of economy record gordon brown has delivered a rousing speech to labour s spring conference setting out the government s agenda for the next general election. the chancellor said he was proud of his party s record on the economy and would strive for continuing stability if elected. the gateshead conference was told he would help young people who were struggling to buy their own homes. and the chancellor vowed to continue the fight against child poverty. later prime minister tony blair will answer questions sent by the public via text and e-mail. analysing mr brown s position before the speech bbc correspondent james hardy said mr brown would draw sharp dividing lines with the conservatives for the forthcoming election campaign. he would contrast labour s plan to invest £60bn in services with a tory plan to cut spending by £35bn. mr brown will lay out his credentials as a reforming chancellor determined to take on and beat the asian tiger economies which increasingly dominate world trade our correspondent said. on friday night mr brown confirmed he would not make any tax commitments until the labour manifesto had been published after the budget expected in march. but commentators will listen to his speech closely for hints on whether as the conservatives claim he plans to raise tax after the election. the tories accuse labour of raising taxes 66 times since coming to power in 1997. following the chancellor s keynote speech the prime minister will face interactive questioning from ordinary voters on saturday. mr blair is thought to be deliberately putting himself on the line in a bid to engage the electorate ahead of an expected may election. capital radio dj margherita taylor will select questions to put to him from thousands e-mailed and sent by text. the prime minister s enthusiasm for the job remains undimmed alan milburn labour s election strategist told radio 4 s today programme on saturday. mr blair has the same passion and the same commitments for the job as when labour came to power in 1997 he said. and he confirmed mr blair s insistence that no poll date had yet been set. he said: i m the general election co-ordinator and i don t know and tony has not made up his mind. on friday the prime minister completed a whistle-stop tour of england during which he unveiled his party s six pre-election pledges. starting in london he visited marginal constituencies pledging to build on what he said were labour s achievements on the economy crime education and public services. the conservatives and lib dems said the pledges - set to underpin labour s election campaign - were worthless .
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us show sued for rat-eating stunt a us tv network is being sued for $2.5m (£1.3m) by a viewer who says he was disgusted by watching contestants eat dead rats in a stunt show. austin aitken is taking action against nbc over its programme fear factor. he said watching the show caused his blood pressure to rise so high that he became dizzy and light-headed. the legal assistant said nbc was sending the wrong message to viewers that cash can make or have people do just about anything beyond reasoning . the hand-written four-page lawsuit said: to have the individuals on the show eat and drink dead rats was crazy and from a viewer s point of view made me throw-up as well as another in the house at the same time. mr aitken who lives in cleveland said that after becoming light-headed he ran towards the bedroom and knocked his head in a doorway. a spokesman for nbc said it had no comment on the lawsuit but confirmed the stunt show did feature a rat-eating scene in new york s times square on 8 november. past shows have featured viewers eating spiders and live worms. the programme has been screened in the uk on sky one.
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time to get tough on friendlies for an international manager a friendly provides an important opportunity to work with your players. the only problem is that the game itself can often be a farce. some people have been saying it would be better to get the players together for the week and do away with the 90 minutes at the end. i would say it s 50-50 whether you should have these games or not and if you look at it that way you would probably say you re better not doing so. it would certainly keep club managers happy as it would reduce the risk of players returning to domestic duty injured. but international bosses will tell you that scrapping friendlies is counterproductive because the only way for a team to get better is by playing. the more you play together the easier it is when it comes to the crunch in games like world cup quarter-finals against brazil. often in friendlies though a manager will play his strongest side for the first 45 minutes and then send out an entirely different one in the second half. and it s very difficult for any player to come on as substitute in a side with a few changes let alone a whole team s worth. the debate will rage on and i m not sure there is a satisfactory solution. one manager who has got it right this week is walter smith. the new scotland manager has decided to have a training camp instead of a friendly for his first international week since replacing berti vogts. it is the sort of move you would expect from walter who is a canny manager. the players have had such a hard time recently that he is better off getting them together in a relaxed atmosphere and trying to generate some team spirit before the next world cup qualifiers. if he had sent them out on wednesday and they had been badly beaten it would have done them no good whatsoever. john toshack has his first game in charge of wales and it will be important for him to get a decent result against hungary. he will have his own ideas on individuals and how to play and will probably look more at the performance but the public wants results. it s extremely difficult to get the balance for friendlies. if you win people forget them but if you lose it becomes a stat that can be used against you. england s game against holland is a good example. it looks like a good opportunity to try out players like middlesbrough winger stewart downing or crystal palace striker andy johnson. but you have got to remember sven-goran eriksson s side were given a lesson by spain in the last game they played. the injury problems in defence should at least give the likes of wes brown and jamie carragher a chance to impress. for the club managers it will simply be a case of waiting at home with fingers crossed.
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uganda bans vagina monologues uganda s authorities have banned the play the vagina monologues due to open in the capital kampala this weekend. the ugandan media council said the performance would not be put on as it promoted and glorified acts such as lesbianism and homosexuality. it said the production could go ahead if the organisers expunge all the offending parts . but the organisers of the play say it raises awareness of sexual abuse against women. the play promotes illegal unnatural sexual acts homosexuality and prostitution it should be and is hereby banned the council s ruling said. the show which has been a controversial sell-out around the world explores female sexuality and strength through individual women telling their stories through monologues. some parliamentarians and church leaders are also siding with the media council uganda s new vision newspaper reports. the play is obscene and pornographic although it was under the guise of women s liberation mp kefa ssempgani told parliament. but the work s author us playwright eve ensler says it is all about women s empowerment. there is obviously some fear of the vagina and saying the word vagina ms ensler told the bbc. it s not a slang word or dirty word it s a biological anatomical word. she said the play is being produced and performed by ugandan women and it is not being forced on them. the four ugandan ngos organising the play intended to raise money to campaign to stop violence against women and to raise funds for the war-torn north of the country. i m extremely outraged at the hypocrisy the play s organiser in uganda sarah mukasa told the bbc s focus on africa programme. i m amazed that this country uganda gives the impression that it is progressive and supports women s rights and the notions of free speech; yet when women want to share their stories the government uses the apparatus of state to shut us up.
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patti smith to host arts festival rock star patti smith has been made artistic director of this year s meltdown festival to be held at london s south bank centre in june. the punk pioneer follows morrissey david bowie and nick cave in directing 15 days of concerts and events. smith has yet to decide the line-up for meltdown which begins on 11 june. i want to touch on all aspects of our culture perhaps with readings from genet and i have an idea for jeremy irons to read proust she said. the 58-year-old us singer of because the night told the observer newspaper that the festival would be her response to these material exploitative and greedy times . it is important we explore the new but we should also salute the best art there is aesthetically and spiritually she said. last year s meltdown festival directed by the ex-smiths star morrissey included appearances by singer jane birkin nancy sinatra and playwright alan bennett. he also persuaded punk band the new york dolls to reform for a reunion show.
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jol joy at professional cup win tottenham manager martin jol acclaimed his players for their patience in their 3-0 fa cup fifth-round victory over a determined nottingham forest side. we had the initiative but it wasn t easy. it was a professional sort of performance the dutchman said. forest played with a lot of players behind the ball in the first half but at 2-0 they were dead and buried. looking ahead to the quarter-final jol said: newcastle have got a very good side and they are always difficult. however he added that his side who are four places above the magpies in the premiership were not afraid of anyone . robbie keane skipper for the night and scorer of the crucial second goal echoed his manager s sentiments on the last-eight match. they re on a high but we re confident and in the last few games we ve played well and hopefully we can go there and get the win he said. he conceded the win over forest which included goals from noe pamarot and mido was not pretty to watch. it wasn t the best display but it s all about the result the irishman said. we knew it was going to be difficult with the conditions. the pitch wasn t the best but we still tried to pass it. we dug in and the gaffer said to us at half-time to keep being patient and that the goal will come. forest manager gary megson conceded his team did not deserve anything after a poor performance. if you play like we did and concede two goals from corners you re going to have an uphill battle against a very good team he said. if we defend in the championship like we did we ll not get another point. we were organised but i felt at times we thought the system would be enough but we didn t look like scoring.
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soul sensation ready for awards south west teenage singing sensation joss stone has been nominated in three categories in wednesday s brit awards. the 17-year-old from a small east devon village near cullumpton received nominations for best solo female best urban act and best breakthrough artist. her second album mind body & soul reached number one in the uk charts last october and went straight into the us charts at number 11. ms stone is due to perform at the 25th award ceremony at london s earls court. the teenager also has grammy nominations in the us normally dominated by home-grown acts. born jocelyn stoker the devon diva started her career in a bbc talent programme and was then discovered at a new york audition by a us record executive steve greenberg. the 17-year-old singer is hoping to tour in japan australia and the us in 2005.
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gurkhas to help tsunami victims britain has offered to send a company of 120 gurkhas to assist with the tsunami relief effort in indonesia downing street said. the deployment would involve troops from the 2nd battalion royal gurkha rifles based in brunei. discussions have begun with indonesia on the exact timing and location of the deployment but the government said the offer was aimed at the aceh province. downing st said a similar offer might be made to the sri lankan government. however a spokesman pointed out that there were particular logistical difficulties in indonesia which the gurkhas might be able to help with. the spokesman said: following this morning s daily coordination meeting on the post-tsunami relief effort the government has formally offered the indonesian government the assistance of a company of british army gurkhas from 2nd battalion royal gurkha rifles around 120 personnel and two helicopters. this is in addition to the ships and aircraft we have already committed to the relief operation in the indian ocean. indonesia was by far the country worst affected by the tsunami with 94 000 of the 140 000 confirmed deaths so far. international development minister gareth thomas said the assistance offer would most likely focus on the northern province of aceh. we have offered the gurkhas to help in the process of scaling up the relief effort particularly in aceh which is undoubtedly the hardest hit area in the indian ocean at the moment he said. we ve also had raf aircraft flying in equipment which the un desperately need in order to set up a truly effective relief operation on the ground in aceh province as well. the offer comes as the foreign secretary jack straw arrives in indonesia for a special summit meeting on the disaster.
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women in film are earning less women in the uk film industry earn less than their male counterparts despite being better qualified according to a study released on wednesday. only 16% of women earn more than £50 000 compared with 30% of men. women make up a third of the workforce. the research was carried out jointly by the uk film council and industry training body skillset. it also found that women in the industry were less likely than men to be married or have dependant children. the study which claims to be the most in-depth so far conducted found 60% of women in the film industry hold degrees compared with 39% of men. whilst 17% of men in the industry had no qualifications this was true for only five per cent of women. in the lower salary bracket 35% of women earn less than £20 000 a year compared to only 18% of men. the research found very few women worked in the camera sound electrical and construction departments but they made up a majority of those working in make-up and hairdressing. uk film council chief executive john woodward said: whilst the uk has benefited hugely from its highly-qualified film production workforce there are still many barriers facing people who want to get in and stay in the industry. developing the film production workforce must be underpinned with a commitment to diversity as well as training. the workforce is largely focused around london with 78% in the industry based in the capital and the south east of england. the industry depends heavily on word of mouth with 81% being recruited in that way. in total only five percent of the workforce is made up of ethnic minorities although in london the figure rises to 24%. the necessity of completing unpaid work experience to get into the workforce has also shot up from 5% before the 1980s to 45% after 2000.
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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.
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england given tough sevens draw england will have to negotiate their way through a tough draw if they are to win the rugby world cup sevens in hong kong next month. the second seeds have been drawn against samoa france italy georgia and chinese taipei. the top two sides in each pool qualify but england could face 2001 winners new zealand in the quarter-finals if they stumble against samoa. scotland and ireland are in pool a together with the all blacks. england won the first event of the international rugby board world sevens series in dubai but have slipped to fourth in the table after failing to build on that victory. however they beat samoa in the recent los angeles sevens before losing to argentina in the semi-finals. england have the ability and determination to win this world cup and create sporting history by being the only nation to hold both the 15s and sevens world cups at the same time said england sevens coach mike friday. england have a fantastic record in hong kong and have won there the last three years but the world cup is on a different level. every pool contains teams who have caused upsets before and we will have to work hard to ensure we progress from our group. we have not performed consistently to our true potential so far in the irb sevens which has been disappointing - but we can only look forward. england won the first rugby world cup sevens in 1993 with a side that included the likes of lawrence dallaglio and matt dawson. in 1997 and 2001 england lost in the quarter-finals. (seeds in brackets) new zealand (1) scotland (8) tonga ireland korea usa. england (2) samoa (7) france italy georgia chinese taipei. fiji (3) australia (6) canada portugal japan hong kong. argentina (4) south africa (5) kenya tunisia russia uruguay.
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rolling out next generation s net the body that oversees how the net works grows and evolves says it has coped well with its growth in the last 10 years but it is just the start. in a sense we have hardly started in reaching the whole population the new chair of the internet engineering task force (ietf) brian carpenter says. the ietf ensures the smooth running and organisation of the net s architecture. with broadband take-up growing services like voice and tv will open up interesting challenges for the net. i think voip (voice-over internet protocol allowing phone calls to be made over the net) is very important - it challenges all the old cost models of telecoms says dr carpenter. second it challenges more deeply the business model that you have to be a service provider with a lot of infrastructure. with voip you need very little infrastructure. a distinguished ibm engineer dr carpenter spent 20 years at cern the european laboratory for particle physics. as the new chair of the ietf his next big challenge is overseeing ipv6 the next generation standard for information transfer and routing across the web. at cern dr carpenter helped pioneer advanced net applications during the development of the world wide web so he is well-placed to take on such a task. the net s growth and evolution depend on standards and protocols and ensuring the architecture works and talks to other standards is a crucial job of the ietf. the top priority is to ensure that the standards that make the net work are open and free for anyone to use and work with. the net is built on a protocol called tcp/ip which means transmission control protocol and internet protocol. when computers communicate with the net a unique ip address is used to send and receive information. the ietf is a large international community of network designers operators vendors and researchers working on the evolution of the net s architecture and the way this information is sent and received. they make sure it all knits together leaving no gaps. we ve seen some interesting effects over last few years explains dr carpenter. the net was growing at a fantastic rate at the end of the 90s. then there was a bit of a glitch in 2000. we are now seeing a very clear phase of consolidation and renewed growth. that renewed growth is also being buoyed by emerging economies like china which are showing fast uptake of broadband net and other technologies. the number of broadband subscribers via dsl (digital subscriber line) doubled in a year to 13 million according to figures released at the end of 2004. the challenges we face are about continuing to produce standards to allow for that growth rate explained dr carpenter. given it [the net] was designed for the whole community it has done well to reach millions. if you want to reach the whole population you have to make sure it can scale up. ipv6 the standard that will replace the existing ipv4 will allow for billions more addresses on the net and it is gradually being worked into network infrastructure across the world. the actual number of addresses with ipv4 is limited to four billion ip addresses. that clearly is not enough when you have 10 billion people to serve so there is technical solution the new version of ip - ipv6. it has much larger address space possibilities with no practical limits said dr carpenter. standards are vital to something as complex as the net and making sure standards are open and can work with across networks is a big task. the difference this next generation standard ipv6 will make to the average net user is almost invisible. our first goal is that it [ipv6] should make no difference - people should not notice a difference. it is like when the london telephone numbers got longer. a lot of the process will be invisible. people are usually given an ip address without knowing it. technically deployment has started and the standards for are just about settled said dr carpenter. the one problem with the net that may never disappear completely is security. to dr carpenter the solution comes out of technological and human behaviour. people have to be educated about sensible behaviour he says such as ignoring e-mails that claim you have won something. i don t think it is going to get worse. people will remain concerned about security and they probably should do - just as you would be concerned walking along a dark street. we have to do work to make sure there are better security internet standards. it is a never-ending battle in a sense. but he adds: even if security has improved you still worry a bit. unfortunately it is just part of life. we have a duty to do what we can.
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dutch bank to lay off 2 850 staff abn amro the netherlands largest bank is to cut 2 850 jobs as a result of falling profits. the cuts - amounting to 3% of the bank s workforce - will result in a one-off charge of 790m euros ($1.1bn). about 1 100 jobs will go in investment banking while 1 200 and 550 will go in it and human resources respectively. abn amro is the third large european bank to announce cutbacks in the past month following deutsche bank and credit suisse group. its profitability has been hit by a fall in mortgage lending in the united states - the bank s largest single market - following recent interest rate rises. abn amro s operations in the netherlands and the united kingdom will be hardest hit. jobs will also be lost in the us - which accounted for 46% of profit in the first half of 2004 - and across its operations in the americas and asia-pacific regions. the restructuring is designed to improve efficiency by reducing administrative costs and increasing focus on client service. the bank said it was on course for a 10% rise in net income this year but operating profits are set to fall because of a fall in us revenues. abn amro currently has more than 100 000 staff. to get any profit growth in the coming years they will have to lower costs so shedding jobs makes total sense ivo geijsen an analyst with bank oyens & van eeghen told bloomberg. europe s leading banks seem set for a period of retrenchment. deutsche bank said earlier this month it would reduce its german workforce by 1 920 while as many as 300 jobs will be lost at credit suisse first boston.
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warnings on woeful wi-fi security companies are getting worse at keeping their wireless data networks secure. a survey of wi-fi networks in london frankfurt new york and san francisco by rsa security found more than a third had basic security features turned off. by contrast last year s survey found that 15% of firms had failed to take basic steps to improve security. rsa warned that wi-fi s growing popularity made it much more likely that insecure networks would be found and exploited. wireless or wi-fi networks have become hugely popular over the last few years in offices because they are easy to set up and make going online much more convenient. this popularity shows no sign of slowing reveals the annual rsa security and netsurity survey which found an annual 66% growth rate in the number of wireless nets being installed in london and frankfurt. although most firms do take steps to turn on the security functions built in to the wi-fi standard and protect themselves from attack the survey found that a significant proportion were taking unnecessary risks. on average 33% of the wireless networks found by rsa and netsurity researchers in london frankfurt new york and san francisco had not used basic security systems. many firms were simply turning on their wireless net access points and use default settings that anyone familiar with wi-fi could easily find out. rsa said that 26% of wi-fi networks found london used default settings compared to 30% in frankfurt 31% in new york and 28% in san francisco. many users of wi-fi nets did not even turn on the encryption that scrambles data traffic between users and the access point helping them go online. this is despite a series of stories warning firms about the dangers of drive-by hacking in which computer criminals walk or drive around city centres using easy to use tools to spot wi-fi nets. these figures are another stark warning to unsecured businesses to get their act together said phil cracknell chief technology officer at netsurity. as more public wi-fi hotspots appear and people become more familiar with using them it was getting more likely that insecure would be found warned mr cracknell. accidental or intentional connection to a corporate network can bring with it a series of security issues including loss of confidential data and installation of malicious code he said.
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record year for chilean copper chile s copper industry has registered record earnings of $14.2bn in 2004 the governmental chilean copper commission (cochilco) has reported. strong demand from china s fast-growing economy and high prices have fuelled production said cochilco vice president patricio cartagena. he added that the boom has allowed the government to collect $950m in taxes. mr cartagena said the industry expects to see investment worth $10bn over the next three years. with these investments clearly we are going to continue being the principle actor in the mining of copper. it s a consolidation of the industry with new projects and expansions that will support greater production. australia s bhp billiton - which operates la escondida the world s largest open pit copper mine - is planning to invest $1.9bn between now and 2007 while state-owned codelco will spend about $1bn on various projects. chile the biggest copper producer in the world is now analyzing ways of to keep prices stable at their current high levels without killing off demand or leading customers to look for substitutes for copper. the copper price reached a 16-year high in october 2004. production in chile is expected rise 3.5% in 2005 to 5.5 million tonnes said mr cartagena. cochilco expects for 2005 a slight reduction on copper prices and forecasts export earnings will fall 10.7%.
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worldcom director admits lying the former chief financial officer at us telecoms firm worldcom has admitted before a new york court that he used to lie to fellow board members. speaking at the trial of his former boss bernard ebbers scott sullivan said he lied to the board to cover up the hole in worldcom s finances. mr ebbers is on trial for fraud and conspiracy in relation to worldcom s collapse in 2002. he pleads not guilty. the firm had been overstating its accounts by $11bn (£8.5bn). mr sullivan 42 has already pleaded guilty to fraud and will be sentenced following mr ebbers trial where he is appearing as a prosecution witness. mr ebbers 63 has always insisted that he was unaware of any hidden shortfalls in worldcom s finances. in the new york court on wednesday mr ebbers lawyer reid weingarten asked mr sullivan: if you believe something is in your interest you are willing and able to lie to accomplish it isn t that right on that date yes. i was lying replied mr sullivan. mr weingarten has suggested that mr sullivan is implicating mr ebbers only to win a lighter sentence something mr sullivan denies. mr sullivan also rejects a suggestion that he had once told fellow worldcom board member bert roberts that mr ebbers was unaware of the accounting fraud at worldcom. the trial of mr ebbers is now into its third week. under 23 hours of questioning from a federal prosecutor mr sullivan has previously told the court that he repeatedly warned mr ebbers that falsifying the books would be the only way to meet wall street revenue and earnings expectations. mr sullivan claims that mr ebbers refused to stop the fraud. mr ebbers could face a sentence of 85 years if convicted of all the charges he is facing. worldcom s problems appear to have begun with the collapse of the dotcom boom which cut its business from internet companies. prosecutors allege that the company s top executives responded by orchestrating massive fraud over a two-year period. worldcom emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2004 and is now known as mci.
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absa and barclays talks continue south africa biggest retail bank absa has said it is still in talks with uk bank barclays over the sale of majority stake in the group. in november absa said it was close to striking a deal with barclays. but the group said barclays is still waiting for the approval of south africa s banking and competition authorities to make a formal offer. absa also announced that it expects to see earnings grow by 20-25% in its current financial year. discussions with barclays are continuing but shareholders are advised that no agreement has been reached as to any offer being made by barclays to acquire a majority stake in absa absa said in a statement. if barclays buys a stake in absa it will be one of the largest foreign investments in south africa in recent years. absa currently has a market value of about $8.5bn (£4.4bn). analysts said absa s earnings forecast was better than expected. however the company warned that headline earnings growth would be trimmed by about four percentage points because of share options for a black economic empowerment transaction and a staff share incentive scheme. the south african group will release its results for the year to 31 march on 30 may.
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uk helps raped rwandan women britain is to give a £4m grant to help women survivors of the rwandan genocide who were raped and often deliberately infected with hiv/aids. an estimated 25 000 girls and women were raped during the 1994 genocide. about 800 000 tutsis and moderate hutus were killed by hutu militias after the assassination of an ethnic hutu leader. the five-year department for international development funding will enable more survivors to have access to anti-retroviral treatment. the plight of the infected women was overshadowed for a long time. it was overshadowed by rwanda s emergence from the 100 days of slaughter during which time the mass killings took place and the women s fate was largely a taboo subject. but many of the women were widowed and they now not only have their own children to care for but in many cases orphans too. as the women die the number of rwanda s orphans rises. until recently very few of the women have had access to anti-retroviral treatment. that is now starting to change. this funding is intended to make anti-retrovirals and other care available for some 2 500 women. mary kayitesi blewitt founder of the survivors fund (surf) one of the organisations through which the funds are being channelled said it was a recognition before it was too late that the survivors should be a priority for help.
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call to save manufacturing jobs the trades union congress (tuc) is calling on the government to stem job losses in manufacturing firms by reviewing the help it gives companies. the tuc said in its submission before the budget that action is needed because of 105 000 jobs lost from the sector over the last year. it calls for better pensions child care provision and decent wages. the 36-page submission also urges the government to examine support other european countries provide to industry. tuc general secretary brendan barber called for a commitment to policies that will make a real difference to the lives of working people. greater investment in childcare strategies and the people delivering that childcare will increases the options available to working parents he said. a commitment to our public services and manufacturing sector ensures that we can continue to compete on a global level and deliver the frontline services that this country needs. he also called for practical measures to help pensioners especially women who he said are most likely to retire in poverty . the submission also calls for decent wages and training for people working in the manufacturing sector.
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observers to monitor uk election ministers will invite international observers to check the forthcoming uk general election is fairly run. the move comes amid claims the poll could be marred by electoral fraud. a report by two mps committees called on thursday for urgent changes to the electoral registration system to combat vote rigging and boost turnout. but in a written response to labour mp gordon prentice the government said it would normally invite observers to any uk election. junior constitutional affairs minister christopher leslie said: i fully expect us to repeat our previous practice of doing so once the date for the next general election is announced. the government has looked at ways of boosting voter turnout which fell to 59% in the last general election in 2001. but trial all-postal ballots in four english regions last summer were hit by delays and some fraud allegations. liberal democrat peer lord greaves called last week for international observers at the general election - saying otherwise there could be months of court challenges on a scale not seen since the 19th century . thursday s report was drawn up by two committees scrutinising the work of the office of the deputy prime minister (odpm) and the department for constitutional affairs (dca). it said that with the growth of postal voting there was a strong case to tighten up fraud protection by requiring voters to register individually rather than by household. it also said about three million people eligible to vote are not registered to do so. figures for the 2001 general election suggest 29% of people aged between 18 and 24 and 19% of black voters were not on the electoral roll. young people in shared accommodation are thought to miss out because no one acts as head of the household to fill in the form. odpm committee chairman andrew bennett said individual voter registration as opposed to registration by household should be quickly introduced as it could dramatically reduce the chances of fraud . but his counterpart on the dca committee alan beith said it should be delayed until measures likely to increase registration have been put in place and proved effective. shadow constitutional affairs secretary oliver heald accused the government of dragging its feet over this badly needed measure . it is vital that we move ahead with the northern ireland system of individual electoral registration to safeguard the integrity of the britain s electoral system he said. the report said individual registration should be treated carefully as 12% of voters disappeared from the electoral roll in northern ireland when it was introduced in 2002. the report said the government should consider fines for unregistered voters but accepted many experts said it would be an expensive system that would be hard to enforce. it said incentives to register such as £20 council tax rebate were likely to be seen as gimmicks and risked undermining the integrity of the system mps said. instead they called for imaginative campaigns to boost interest.
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muslim police stops more likely uk muslims should accept that people of islamic appearance are more likely to be stopped and searched by police a home office minister has said. hazel blears said innocent muslims would be targeted because of the search for islamic extremists. qualifications for religious leaders to enter the uk could also be made tougher she told a commons inquiry. her comments have been described as irresponsible and outrageous by the islamic human rights commission (ihrc). the threat is most likely to come from those people associated with an extreme form of islam or who are falsely hiding behind islam the salford mp told the commons home affairs committee. it means that some of our counter-terrorism powers will be disproportionately experienced by the muslim community. it was a reality that should be recognised she said. if a threat is from a particular place then our action is going to be targeted at that area she added. on ministers of religions such as imams she said faith groups would be asked what other qualifications and skills such as civic knowledge and ability to engage the community should be demanded. last year ministers introduced a requirement that ministers should speak english to a certain level. ihrc chairman massoud shadjareh accused ms blears of playing an islamophobia card in the run-up to a general election. she is demonising and alienating our community he said. it is a legitimisation for a backlash and for racists to have an onslaught on our community. this sort of comment is just music to the ears of racists. later the prime minister s official spokesman urged people to put ms blears comments into context. the minister had been saying she understood there was a perception that stop and search was aimed at one community but that was not what was happening the spokesman said. what is happening is that those powers are aimed at those who are suspected of carrying out or planning certain activity who happen to come from one community. it is not aimed at a particular community it is not police policy to aim these powers at a particular community he added. statistics showed that of the 17 people found guilty of terrorist acts in the uk since the 11 september attacks only four of the 12 whose ethnic backgrounds were known were muslim he added figures published last week showed that people from ethnic minorities were increasingly likely to be targeted by police stop and search tactics. figures showed that for 2003/2004 asians were 1.9 times more likely to be stopped and searched compared with 1.7 times more likely in the previous year. separate figures on police searches in england and wales carried out under the terrorism act 2000 showed that ethnic minorities were more likely to be targeted. muslim groups have repeatedly claimed that their communities are being victimised under terror laws. in 2003/2004 12.5% searches under the laws were on asian people even though they make up 4.7% of the population. last july the police were accused of islamophobia by muslim groups after stop and search figures showed the numbers of asians targeted had risen by 300% since the introduction of anti-terror laws.
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hi-tech posters guide commuters interactive posters are helping londoners get around the city during the festive season. when interrogated with a mobile phone the posters pass on a number that people can call to get information about the safest route home. sited at busy underground stations the posters are fitted with an infra-red port that can beam information directly to a handset. the posters are part of transport for london s safe travel at night campaign. the campaign is intended to help londoners especially women avoid trouble on the way home. in particular it aims to cut the number of sexual assaults by drivers of unlicensed minicabs. nigel marson head of group marketing at transport for london (tfl) said the posters were useful because they work outside the mobile phone networks. they can work in previously inaccessible areas such as underground stations which is obviously a huge advantage in a campaign of this sort he said. the posters will automatically beam information to any phone equipped with an ir port that is held close to the glowing red icon on the poster. we started with infra-red because there are a huge number ir phones out there said rachel harker spokeswoman for hypertag which makes the technology fitted to the posters. it s a well established technology. hypertag is also now making a poster that uses short-range bluetooth radio technology to swap data. although the hypertags in the posters only pass on a phone number ms harker said they can pass on almost any form of data including images ring tones and video clips. she said that there are no figures for how many people are using the posters but a previous campaign run for a cosmetics firm racked up 12 500 interactions. before we ran a campaign there was a big question mark of: if we build it will they come she said. now we know that yes they will. the tfl campaign using the posters will run until boxing day.
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mrs howard gets key election role michael howard s ex-model wife sandra is to play a leading role in the conservative election campaign. mrs howard will make solo visits to target seats as well as accompanying her husband on his helicopter campaign trail criss-crossing the country. mr howard will host a news conference at the party s london hq every morning tory co-chairman liam fox said. we want michael to be as accessible as possible mr fox said adding that the party was not afraid of scrutiny. the tory leader wanted to meet as many ordinary members of the public mr fox said. tony blair has also said he is intending to get out and talk to as many people as possible during the election campaign. but labour campaign chiefs say there are no plans for mr blair to hold a daily news conference. mr fox responded by accusing the prime minister of hiding away from the scrutiny of london s media . the liberal democrats also say they are planning to hold daily news conferences with charles kennedy. on mrs howard s role mr fox said: sandra has already been campaigning with michael on a number of visits and has been undertaking short visits herself. that pattern will continue. it s worked very well up until now. mrs howard made her debut speech at the conservative party conference in bournemouth last october. she used her speech on the fringe to highlight the work of a drugs charity addaction which she supports. mrs howard has also appeared along side her husband on tv chat shows. during an interview on itv1 s this morning she said she often criticised her husband for not showing the side of him that she knows.
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iran budget seeks state sell-offs iran s president mohammad khatami has unveiled a budget designed to expand public spending by 30% but loosen the islamic republic s dependence on oil. the budget for the fiscal year starting on 21 march calls for the sell-off of 20% of the state s corporate holdings. mr khatami s second term as president ends on 1 august making this his last budget. but opposition from members of parliament who have attacked previous privatisations could block his plans. elections in may 2004 ousted many of mr khatami s supporters in parliament in favour of more hard-line religious conservatives. late last year they backed a law which would give parliament a veto over foreign investment. the ruling was a response to the involvement in telecoms and airport projects by turkish companies which hardliners accused of doing business with israel. it came not long after the expediency council - iran s ultimate decision-maker - blessed mr khatami s policy of selling stakes in sectors protected by the constitution such as energy transport telecoms and banking. continued obstruction of foreign investment could get in the way not only of privatisation plans but also of mr khatami s hope of modestly reducing the government s reliance on oil revenues. in an address to the majlis mr khatami predicted economic growth of 7.1% in 2005-6 up from 6.7% in the current year. he said he wanted to increase the 2005-6 budget to 1 546 trillion rials ($175.6bn; £93.6bn) from the previous year s 1 070 trillion. within that figure taxation would rise to $14.3bn a rise of over 40% from what is expected from the current year. in contrast oil revenues were expected to fall to $14.1bn from $16bn in the year to march 2005. current government expenditure should come from tax revenues mr khatami said. oil revenues should be used for productive investment. mr khatami has already been blocked by parliament from reducing the subsidies on many products including bread and petrol reducing his room to manoeuvre.
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lufthansa flies back to profit german airline lufthansa has returned to profit in 2004 after posting huge losses in 2003. in a preliminary report the airline announced net profits of 400m euros ($527.61m; £274.73m) compared with a loss of 984m euros in 2003. operating profits were at 380m euros ten times more than in 2003. lufthansa was hit in 2003 by tough competition and a dip in demand following the iraq war and the killer sars virus. it was also hit by troubles at its us catering business. last year lufthansa showed signs of recovery even as some european and us airlines were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. the board of lufthansa has recommended paying a 2004 dividend of 0.30 euros per share. in 2003 shareholders did not get a dividend. the company said that it will give all the details of its 2004 results on 23 march.
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pernod takeover talk lifts domecq shares in uk drinks and food firm allied domecq have risen on speculation that it could be the target of a takeover by france s pernod ricard. reports in the wall street journal and the financial times suggested that the french spirits firm is considering a bid but has yet to contact its target. allied domecq shares in london rose 4% by 1200 gmt while pernod shares in paris slipped 1.2%. pernod said it was seeking acquisitions but refused to comment on specifics. pernod s last major purchase was a third of us giant seagram in 2000 the move which propelled it into the global top three of drinks firms. the other two-thirds of seagram was bought by market leader diageo. in terms of market value pernod - at 7.5bn euros ($9.7bn) - is about 9% smaller than allied domecq which has a capitalisation of £5.7bn ($10.7bn; 8.2bn euros). last year pernod tried to buy glenmorangie one of scotland s premier whisky firms but lost out to luxury goods firm lvmh. pernod is home to brands including chivas regal scotch whisky havana club rum and jacob s creek wine. allied domecq s big names include malibu rum courvoisier brandy stolichnaya vodka and ballantine s whisky - as well as snack food chains such as dunkin donuts and baskin-robbins ice cream. the wsj said that the two were ripe for consolidation having each dealt with problematic parts of their portfolio. pernod has reduced the debt it took on to fund the seagram purchase to just 1.8bn euros while allied has improved the performance of its fast-food chains.
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smart search lets art fans browse if you don t know art but know what you like new search technology could prove a useful gateway to painting. artgarden developed by bt s research unit is being tested by the tate as a new way of browsing its online collection of paintings. rather than search by the name of an artist or painting users are shown a selection of pictures. clicking on their favourite will change the gallery in front of them to a selection of similar works. the technology uses a system dubbed smart serendipity which is a combination of artificial intelligence and random selection. it chooses a selection of pictures by scoring paintings based on a selection of keywords associated with them. so for instance a whistler painting of a bridge may have the obvious keywords such as bridge and whistler associated to it but will also widen the search net with terms such as aesthetic movement 19th century and water. a variety of paintings will then be shown to the user based partly on the keywords and partly on luck. it is much more akin to wandering through the gallery said jemima rellie head of the tate s digital programme. for richard tateson who worked on the artgarden project the need for a new way to search grew out of personal frustration. i went to an online clothes store to find something to buy my wife for christmas but i didn t have a clue what i wanted he said. the text-based search was restricted to looking either by type of garment or designer neither of which he found helpful. he ended up doing his present shopping on the high street instead. he thinks the dominance of text-based searching is not necessarily appealing to the majority of online shoppers. similarly with art browsing is often more important than finding a particular object. you don t arrive at tate britain and tell people what you want to see. one of the skills of showing off the collection is to introduce people to things they wouldn t have asked for he said. the tate is committed to making its art more accessible and technology such as artgarden can help with that said ms rellie. she hopes the technology can be incorporated on to the website in the near future. bt research is looking at extending the technology to other searching such as for music and films.
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parmalat bank barred from suing bank of america has been banned from suing parmalat the food group which went bust in 2003 after an accounting scandal. the bank - along with investors auditors and the group s managers - wants damages for being a victim of fraud at the hands of the italian firm. but a judge has barred bank of america and two auditors from the case. the bank and italaudit - formerly the italian arm of auditor grant thornton - face lawsuits and possible prosecution. a second auditor deloitte & touche has also been banned from the case. grant thornton - now rid of the italian unit at the centre of the case - is still being permitted to sue as are consob italy s stock market regulator hundreds of small investors and parmalat s new managers. parmalat collapsed in december 2003 after it emerged that the 4bn euros ($5.2bn; £2.8bn) it supposedly held in a bank of american offshore account did not in fact exist.
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more reforms ahead says milburn labour will continue to pursue controversial reforms if it wins a third term in power the party s election chief alan milburn has said. he pledged labour would encourage more people to achieve their aspirations. what we want is for more people to earn and own mr milburn told bbc radio 4 s today show. tory shadow chancellor oliver letwin called labour a brilliant machine for talking about things but said it did not deliver policies the country needs. meanwhile the liberal democrats president simon hughes said: new labour has lost people s confidence in a way old labour never did. mr milburn told today that labour wanted policies which encouraged increased social mobility in britain. pressed on incapacity benefits he said the tax and welfare system must provide the right incentives to people . no-one is talking about driving people into work but what we do know is there are one million people on incapacity benefit who want the opportunity to work providing the right level of support is there for them . however backbench labour mp karen buck warned against proposed changes in such benefits. she told the today programme: if the policy is seen as being about how do you make the feckless poor go back to work then it is not going to work on the one hand. and it is not going to improve our electoral chances on the other. mr milburn also sought to draw a line under the controversy about reports of a feud between gordon brown and prime minister tony blair. he stressed that mr brown would play the same role that he did in the last election. mr milburn gave more details of planned reforms in a speech to labour s fabian society in which he also praised mr brown as one of the leaders of the party s reform process. in the speech he backed choice in schools and hospitals wider home ownership and changes to the welfare system. mr milburn insisted that government reform must continue. our task is to rebuild the new labour coalition around one nation politics that recognise while life is hard for many all should have the chance to succeed he said. there is a glass ceiling on opportunity in this country. in our first two terms we have raised it. in our third term we have to break it. voters turned on the party when it failed to reform industrial relations in the 1960s he also told his audience. oliver letwin said the government had failed to deliver in any of the key public services such as cleaner hospitals discipline in schools and putting more police on the streets. he said ministers had not delivered cleaner hospitals with 5 000 people dying from infections last year. new labour had failed on school discipline because it had not implemented serious reforms so that teachers could run schools and which would give parents choice he went on. for the lib dems simon hughes said many pensioners are means tested for the money they needed and students who were told there wouldn t be tuition fees and more debt have been given exactly the opposite . he added: under new labour all households are still paying unfair council tax rather than a fairer alternative.
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murphy: that was a bruising battle that s what i call a tough game. it was very physical and fair play to the italians they made us work very hard for our victory. their organisation was very very good and they proved again that they are getting better and better as the years go by. it is by far the strongest italian team that we have faced. we knew all along that we would be a huge threat particularly the first game in the championship. it was not like the days gone by when you could get scores on the board early. we had to work our socks off and try and build our scores gradually. it was really hard work out there and the players have plenty of bumps and bruises to prove it. i m not too bad but there are one or two others who will be feeling it a bit on monday morning. in the backs we were not frustrated at such but the new rucking laws were a little bit problematical. the different interpretations between the referee and the players was a little difficult. but we managed to get the ball in our hands and i got a try near the end of the first half. it s always good to score. it was great work by brian and i always knew i had scored even though it went upstairs to the video referee. eddie (o sullivan) was very calm at half-time even though we were only 8-6 ahead. he spelled out what we needed to do and advocated getting the ball out of our own territory. that new ruck law made it a bit more difficult to get out of our own half. we were penalised a lot at the breakdown and if they had kicked all their chances at goal we would have been behind at the break. so really we went back to playing a territory game and simplifying things and having more patience on the ball. every one was a little down after the game following the injuries to brian and gordon. as yet we do not know the full extent of the injuries but it does not that good. now we have to focus on scotland and only six days to recover. it s a big ask after such a bruising encounter. i was very impressed the way the scots played against the french on saturday. it could so easily have gone their way but for a couple of decisions. we will be under no illusions it is going to be tough for us. in the meantime when in rome ... .
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humanoid robot learns how to run car-maker honda s humanoid robot asimo has just got faster and smarter. the japanese firm is a leader in developing two-legged robots and the new improved asimo (advanced step in innovative mobility) can now run find his way around obstacles as well as interact with people. eventually asimo could find gainful employment in homes and offices. the aim is to develop a robot that can help people in their daily lives said a honda spokesman. to get the robot running for the first time was not an easy process as it involved asimo making an accurate leap and absorbing the impact of landing without slipping or spinning. the run he is now capable of is perhaps not quite up to olympic star kelly holmes standard. at 3km/h it is closer to a leisurely jog. its makers claim that it is almost four times as fast as sony s qrio which became the first robot to run last year. the criteria for running robots is defined by engineers as having both feet off the ground between strides. asimo has improved in other ways too increasing his walking speed from 1.6km/h to 2.5km growing 10cm to 130cm and putting on 2kg in weight. while he may not quite be ready for yoga he does have more freedom of movement being able to twist his hips and bend his wrists thumbs and neck. asimo has already made his mark on the international robot scene and in november was inducted into the robot hall of fame. he has wowed audiences around the world with his ability to walk upstairs recognise faces and come when beckoned. in august 2003 he even attended a state dinner in the czech republic travelling with the japanese prime minister as a goodwill envoy. he is one of a handful of robots used by tech firms to trumpet their technological advances. technology developed for asimo could be used in the automobile industry as electronics increasingly take over from mechanics in car design. for the moment asimo s biggest role is an entertainer and the audience gathered to see his first public run greeted his slightly comical gait with amusement according to reports. robots can fulfil serious functions in society and the united nations economic commission for europe predicts that the worldwide market for industrial robots will swell from 81 000 units in 2003 to 106 000 in 2007.
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asia quake increases poverty risk nearly two million people across asia could be thrown into poverty because of the indian ocean tsunami the asian development bank (adb) has said. in its first overview of the disaster the adb said the impact on economic growth would be slight because major cities and factories escaped damage. but the blow to many low-income people could be enormous . the paris club of rich creditor nations on wednesday offered to freeze debts owed by tsunami-hit countries. the move was aimed at helping south asian governments find budgets to rebuild devastated coastal areas though so far only sri lanka indonesia and the seychelles have indicated that they will take it up. other countries believe their economies are strong enough to cope or wish to avoid being viewed as credit risks. poverty is potentially the most important impact of this natural disaster said adb chief economist ifzal ali. donor nations have promised to give $717m (£379m) in disaster relief over the next six months according to the united nations. mr ali added his voice to those warning that aid pledges must be promptly delivered saying the number of people at risk of poverty hinged on concerns over sanitation and health conditions and other basic needs being properly and quickly addressed . there are 1.9 billion people in asia living on less than $2 a day. the adb fears that 1 million indonesians could join them while in india just over half a million people - 645 000 - are at risk of falling into poverty. a quarter of a million sri lankans and 23 500 people in the maldives are also facing poverty. in the maldives where 43% of the population already lives on less than $2 a day this could rise to half. sri lanka and the maldives are the two countries the adb fears are most at risk of suffering lasting economic damage from the tsunami. sri lanka s government has estimated reconstruction costs at nearly $3bn. a government task force held meetings to discuss an emergency rebuilding plan with the adb world bank and japanese aid agencies on wednesday and promised to publish the plan within 10 days. indonesia malaysia thailand and india have enjoyed strong economic growth in recent years which should cushion them against reconstruction costs. although indonesia s northern province of aceh suffered the worst death toll the region s oil and natural gas production facilities have survived intact the report said. however it remains too soon to asses the damage to poor people s livelihoods in aceh because it would depend on how much farm land had been flooded by seawater. this is a profoundly tragic event for the region and for the millions who are suffering. but the economies of the affected countries except sri lanka and the maldives should emerge with minimal damage the adb report said. some businesses may even gain from the reconstruction efforts thereby creating jobs. at a meeting in thailand abd president thadao chino said he was confident of the country s own capabilities to restore normalcy to the affected areas and meet the rehabilitation requirements . thailand has said it does not wish to opt for a debt repayment freeze while india has also rejected international aid saying it can cope on its own resources. debt repayment holidays carry the risk of credit ratings downgrades making it more expensive to borrow money in future. indonesia however is pressing for greater help with its debts than the current freeze would bring. it is one of the world s most indebted countries.
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tory candidate quits over remark a conservative election challenger is quitting after being quoted as wanting a period of creative destruction in the public services . danny kruger who also works in the tory research unit had been due to take on tony blair in sedgefield. he says his remark last week was misrepresented but he will not contest the election for fear of damaging the conservative cause. tory leader michael howard accepted his decision with regret . mr kruger was quoted in the guardian newspaper saying: we plan to introduce a period of creative destruction in the public services. in a statement the party said the comment had been taken out of context. he fully supports the party s policies on and approach to the public services said the statement. however in order to avoid any further misrepresentation of his views and any damage to the party he has decided not to stand in the sedgefield constituency at the next election. mr kruger is continuing in his job at the tory campaign headquarters. labour election coordinator alan milburn claimed mr kruger had exposed the tory agenda for £35bn of cuts to public services. mr milburn said: he is not some unknown hopeful fighting an unwinnable seat. he is a man who has worked at the heart of conservative policy development... his claim that the tories were planning a period of creative destruction in the public services is not a rogue claim. it is the authentic and shocking voice of the conservative party. it reveals the true picture of what they would do.
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santy worm makes unwelcome visit thousands of website bulletin boards have been defaced by a virus that used google to spread across the net. the santy worm first appeared on 20 december and within 24 hours had successfully hit more than 40 000 websites. the malicious program exploits a vulnerability in the widely used phpbb software. santy s spread has now been stopped after google began blocking infected sites searching for new victims. the worm replaces chat forums with a webpage announcing that the site had been defaced by the malicious program. soon after being infected sites hit by the worm started randomly searching for other websites running the vulnerable phpbb software. once google started blocking these search queries the rate of infection tailed off sharply. a message sent to finnish security firm f-secure by google s security team said: while a seven hour response for something like this is not outrageous we think we can and should do better. we will be reviewing our procedures to improve our response time in the future to similar problems the google team said. security firms estimate that about 1m websites run their discussion groups and forums with the open source phpbb program. the worst of the attack now seems to be over as a search conducted on the morning of the 22 december produced only 1 440 hits for sites showing the text used in the defacement message. people using the sites hit by santy will not be affected by the worm. santy is not the first malicious program to use google to help it spread. in july a variant of the mydoom virus slowed down searches on google as the program flooded the search site with queries looking for new e-mail addresses to send itself to.
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greek duo cleared in doping case sprinters kostas kenteris and katerina thanou have been cleared of doping offences by an independent tribunal. the duo had been provisionally suspended by the iaaf for allegedly missing three drugs tests including one on the eve of the athens olympics. but the greek athletics federation tribunal has overturned the bans - a decision which the iaaf can now contest at the court of arbitration for sport. the pair s former coach christos tzekos has been banned for four years. kenteris 31 and thanou 30 had been charged with avoiding drug tests in tel aviv chicago and athens and failing to notify anti-doping officials of their whereabouts before the olympics. they withdrew from the olympics after missing a drugs test at the olympic village on 12 august. the pair then spent four days in a hospital claiming they had been injured in a motorcycle crash. it was the international olympic committee s demand that the iaaf investigate the affair that led to the hearing of the greek tribunal. the head of that tribunal kostas panagopoulos said it had not been proven that the athletes refused to take the test in athens. the charge cannot be substantiated he said. in no way was he (kenteris) informed to appear for a doping test. the same goes for thanou. kenteris s lawyer gregory ioannidis said: the decision means mr kenteris has been exonerated of highly damaging and unfounded charges which have been extremely harmful for his career. he has consistently maintained his innocence and this was substantiated by further evidence we were able to submit to the tribunal following its deliberations in january. this evidence shows mr kenteris was never asked to submit to a test by the international olympic committee so he could not possibly have been guilty of deliberately avoiding one. it shows he has no case to answer. mr kenteris should now be given the opportunity he deserves to rebuild his career in the full knowledge that there is no stain on his character. he has suffered greatly throughout this ordeal that has exposed both himself and his family to enormous pressures. but the iaaf said it was very surprised by the verdict. spokesman nick davies said: we note the decision of the greek authorities with interest. our doping review board will now consider the english version of the decision.
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anelka apologises for criticism manchester city striker nicolas anelka has issued an apology for criticising the ambitions of the club. anelka was quoted in a french newspaper as saying he would like to play in the champions league for a bigger club. but chairman john wardle said: i ve spoken to nicolas and he s apologised for anything that might have been mistakenly taken from the french press. we are a big club. nicolas told me that he agrees with me that we are a big club. wardle was speaking at the club s annual general meeting where he also confirmed the club had not received any bids for the former arsenal and real madrid striker. the club still owe french club psg £5m from the purchase of anelka in may 2002. he has been linked with a move to barcelona and liverpool and reds skipper steven gerrard also revealed he is an admirer from his time on loan at anfield. but wardle added: there s been no bids for nicolas anelka. no-one has come to me and said i would like to buy nicolas anelka. if a bid comes in for nicolas anelka i will speak to the board and then speak to kevin keegan. if there was a bid and it was a bid of substance and worth taking then between us we d decide. we still owe some money on nicolas which we have clear out so it would have to be above that. wardle did stress that the club was not inviting any offers for england winger shaun wright-phillips. he added: i ve no intention of selling shaun wright-phillips. if someone comes with a silly bid i ll have to discuss it. but we re not putting him on the shelf to sell. he is the heart and soul of this club and has his heart and sole in this club and he would be very upset if i put him in the shop window. he was an academy kid here he s just signed a new four-year deal i don t think he d do that unless he wanted to play for manchester city football club. city recently announced debts of £62m but wardle confirmed they would try and find funds to bring in players in the january transfer window. he said: like kevin i d like to see some players come in. we ve got to see what we can do - whether it s a on a bosman or not. we will try to be creative to generate some funds. but maybe we have to start looking at clubs like everton and bolton to see how they have been dealing in the transfer market and do a similar type of thing.
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sport
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branson show flops on us screens entrepreneur sir richard branson s us tv show the rebel billionaire is proving a flop in the ratings. the programme suffered poor viewing figures on its debut on the fox network three weeks ago and has lost one in five of its viewers since then. the show is seen as fox s answer to the apprentice featuring tycoon donald trump a ratings hit for rivals nbc. sir richard s show sees a group of young entrepreneurs compete to become the president of his business empire. the rebel billionaire has averaged five million viewers and is 91st in the rankings of all prime-time shows. the apprentice which has already completed its first season is still managing to pull in 16 million viewers while its prime-time ranking is number four. but fox has said it plans to stick with branson s show throughout its 12-episode run. it s going to remain on the air said the network s spokesman scott grogin. creatively we re extremely pleased with the show and hope the audience will find it he added. contestants on sir richard s show are confronted with business tasks to solve similar to the apprentice. they are also subjected to stunts like walking a plank suspended in mid-air. the rebel billionaire has marketed itself as a less materialistic version of the apprentice with sir richard shown jumping out of a taxi while trump is seen in a limousine.
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entertainment
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building giant in asbestos payout australian building products group james hardie has agreed to pay $1.1bn (£568m) to victims of asbestos-related diseases. the landmark deal could see thousands of people suffering from lung diseases - caused by asbestos the company once made - receive compensation. the move follows angry protests after the firm said a previous compensation fund was running out of money. a subsequent new south wales state inquiry criticised hardie s actions. in september the inquiry found that the company had misled the public about the amount of money set aside to cover its asbestos-related liabilities sparking the resignation of its then chief executive peter macdonald. campaigners welcomed news of the preliminary agreement. this is a momentous day in the fight for victims and their families said asbestosis sufferer bernie banton who leads a victims association. there is still a long way to go but we are getting there. james hardie chairwoman meredith hellicar said the deal provided for a funding arrangement that is affordable sensible and workable . at the end of the day we are dealing with compensation for people who are terminally ill. we don t know exactly how many of them there will be we don t know over what exact period they will fall ill she said. however the deal still has to receive the approval of hardie s shareholders. hardie which currently makes more than 80% of its revenues in the us was once australia s biggest supplier of asbestos building materials. in 2001 the company set up a fund to compensate asbestos victims but it later admitted the fund was running short of money. a decision by hardie to move its headquarters to the netherlands - while remaining a listed company in australia - provoked a damaging public outcry. victims groups accusing it of trying to escape its responsibilities by moving abroad a charge the company denies. australia s securities watchdog is currently investigating hardie s former chief executive and former chief financial officer over allegations of misleading investors and the general public.
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business
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ferdinand casts doubt over glazer rio ferdinand has said he is unsure of malcolm glazer s motives after the american billionaire launched a new offer to buy manchester united. the club have confirmed that the glazer family partnership have submitted proposals of a third bid. a lot of people want the club s interest to be with people who have grown up with the club and have got its interests at heart said ferdinand. no one knows what this guy will be bringing to the table. the central defender added on bbc radio five live: we will have to wait and see what glazer comes with. i would like to see the situation resolved either way. i think people are getting bored with him coming in and out of the news with new proposals. the other stuff off the pitch takes the shine off what is going on the pitch. glazer currently owns a 28.1% stake in the club and united s statement to the stock exchange said: the board has noted the recent press speculation on this subject. the board can confirm that it has now received a detailed proposal subject to various pre-conditions which may form the basis of an offer for manchester united from glazer. a further announcement will be made in due course. glazer s previous bids for the club which united supporters opposed were rejected by the board because of the high level of debt they would incur. but it is believed that glazer has substantially reduced the borrowing required for his latest move. he will still need the approval of major shareholders john magnier and jp mcmanus who own 28.9% of the club to succeed. but the irish duo have cut off talks with glazer over the proposed sale of their stake while fans remain opposed to his involvement.
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sport
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wine comedy up for six film gongs sideways a wine-tasting comedy starring paul giamatti is up for six independent spirit awards the art-house version of the oscars. the awards are held on 26 february the day before the oscars. spanish drama maria full of grace about a colombian woman who becomes a drug courier got five nominations. controversial biopic kinsey starring liam neeson as sex researcher alfred kinsey was one of four films to get four nominations. the awards now in their 20th year honour quirky low-budget films all of which must have a degree of independent financing. sideways is written and directed by alexander payne who directed the 2002 hit about schmidt winning jack nicholson his 12th academy award nomination. these awards for better or worse mean everything said sideways producer michael london adding they were a huge first step toward getting recognition from other awards. among the other films receiving four nominations apiece were brother to brother a drama about a young gay black man forced to live on the streets robbing peter and primer. primer a $7 000 (£3 650) tale of discovery won top prize at the sundance film festival earlier this year. walter salles critically acclaimed the motorcycle diaries and the forthcoming thriller the woodsman starring kevin bacon received three nominations each. also in the running with two nominations are high school comedy napoleon dynamite the door in the floor and garden state - written directed and starring scrubs star zach braff alongside natalie portman. the awards were announced by actors selma blair and dennis quaid in los angeles on tuesday.
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entertainment
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wenger handed summer war chest arsenal boss arsene wenger has been guaranteed transfer funds to boost his squad the summer. the club s managing director keith edelman stressed that the development of their new £350m stadium had no affect on wenger s spending power. the money is there. don t worry we ve got it edelman told bbc sport. hopefully we ll spend it this summer and in the coming years. arsene attends all our board meetings and he knows our finances are very strong. edelman added that it was pointless having a brand new stadium if the team did not match the surroundings. its great to have nice new surroundings but if the team aren t performing on the pitch then there isn t great respect in having a fabulous stadium he said. it s important that we had sufficient funds for our team in place before we began on the stadium.
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sport
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net fingerprints combat attacks eighty large net service firms have switched on software to spot and stop net attacks automatically. the system creates digital fingerprints of ongoing incidents that are sent to every network affected. firms involved in the smart sensing system believe it will help trace attacks back to their source. data gathered will be passed to police to help build up intelligence about who is behind worm outbreaks and denial of service attacks. firms signing up for the sensing system include mci bt deutsche telekom energis ntt bell canada and many others. the creation of the fingerprinting system has been brokered by us firm arbor networks and signatures of attacks will be passed to anyone suffering under the weight of an attack. increasingly computer criminals are using swarms of remotely controlled computers to carry out denial of service attacks on websites launch worms and relay spam around the net. we have seen attacks involving five and ten gigabytes of traffic said rob pollard sales director for arbor networks which is behind the fingerprinting system. attacks of that size cause collateral damage as they cross the internet before they get to their destination he said. once an attack is spotted and its signature defined the information will be passed back down the chain of networks affected to help every unwitting player tackle the problem. mr pollard said arbor was not charging for the service and it would pass on fingerprint data to every network affected. what we want to do is help net service firms communicate with each other and then push the attacks further and further back around the world to their source said mr pollard. arbor network s technology works by building up a detailed history of traffic on a network. it spots which computers or groups of users regularly talk to each other and what types of traffic passes between machines or workgroups. any anomaly to this usual pattern is spotted and flagged to network administrators who can take action if the traffic is due to a net-based attack of some kind. this type of close analysis has become very useful as net attacks are increasingly launched using several hundred or thousand different machines. anyone looking at the traffic on a machine by machine basis would be unlikely to spot that they were all part of a concerted attack. attacks are getting more diffuse and more sophisticated said malcolm seagrave security expert at energis. in the last 12 months it started getting noticeable that criminals were taking to it and we ve seen massive growth. he said that although informal systems exist to pass on information about attacks often commercial confidentiality got in the way of sharing enough information to properly combat attacks.
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tech
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