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+"Brown and Blair face new rift claims..For the umpteenth time, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are said to have declared all out war on each other...This time the alleged rift is over who should take the credit for the government's global aid and debt initiatives, particularly in the wake of the tsunami disaster - an issue many hoped and believed was above such things. It dominated the prime minister's monthly news conference, which saw Mr Blair start in full irritation mode as he was forced to bat away question after question about his relationship with his neighbour. As he told journalists: ""I am not interested in what goes in and out of newspapers. There is a complete unity of purpose."" And he again heaped praise on Mr Brown saying he was doing a great job, and would continue doing it - although he would not commit to any job for Mr Brown after the election...So why did he arrange his press conference at the last moment so it coincided with Mr Brown's long-arranged keynote speech on aid and debt, he was asked? By now Mr Blair had moved from irritation mode to his barely disguised fury setting. He snapped back that the hacks knew very well what the operational reasons were for the timing of his press conference. Well, not really, as it happens...And he repeated what a great man Gordon was and how united they were, before again sneering that he took absolutely no notice of what went in and out of the newspapers, preferring to get on with the job of doing the best for the country and the world. Although in the next breath he declared: ""I get increasingly alarmed by what I read in the newspapers"" before catching himself on and quickly adding: ""In so far as I read them of course."" He probably had good reason to be alarmed because the newspapers had been full of stories about the claimed open warfare between the two men...As far as the timing of the prime minister's press conference is concerned, there are two options. The first is that it was a calculated attempt to upstage the chancellor and seize back the initiative on the big issue of the moment. If that is the case it suggests that even the fear of seriously negative newspaper headlines is not enough to stop the squabbling. The second option is that it was an unavoidable coincidence, which would suggest the government has lost its once-famed ability to strictly co-ordinate announcements - through the infamous Downing Street grid - to avert just such allegations...Either way, the effect was the same - to overshadow the big announcements of government policy on a hugely pertinent issue. And there had been previous suggestions that the new year had started with a fresh outbreak of the warfare between the two men. Firstly, the prime minister insisted on Wednesday that he had been intimately involved in the development of the proposals to get G8 countries to freeze debt repayments from the tsunami-hit countries. It was claimed he had been embarrassed by the fact that Gordon Brown appeared to have taken the initiative over the government's response to the disaster while Mr Blair was still on holiday in Egypt...Then, as if to pour fuel on the flames, both men separately spoke about working on tsunami or wider aid and development policy with their cabinet colleagues Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Aid minister Hilary Benn and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott - without mentioning the other. All this came amid fresh claims that Mr Brown was still seething that he had been excluded from a prominent role in general election planning and had, as a result, started to set out his own platform. The fact that he used an article in the Guardian newspaper to set out what he believed ""should"" be in the manifesto, has embarked on a mini tour of Britain to set out his aid plans and will next week visit Africa on the same mission - often seen as the prime minister's ""turf"" - has only added to the impression of rival camps operating entirely independently of each other. The prime minister denied all that as well, repeating his insistence that it was inconceivable the economy and the chancellor would not be at the centre of the election campaign. But the big fear with many on the Labour benches now is that, unless a lid can be put on the speculation over the rivalry, it may even threaten to undermine the election campaign itself.",politics
+"Blair 'said he would stand down'..Tony Blair promised Gordon Brown he would stand down before the next election, a new book about the chancellor claims...But the prime minister changed his mind following intervention from allies in the Cabinet, according to the book. The book by Sunday Telegraph journalist Robert Peston said the pair had ""mutual animosity and contempt"" for each other. The book, Brown's Britain, said Tony Blair felt by November 2003 he had lost voters' trust...The author's sources, all unnamed ""allies"" of Mr Blair and Mr Brown, said the prime minister felt the Iraq war had undermined him and that he was no longer an asset to the Labour Party...The book, serialised in the Sunday Telegraph, alleges that Mr Blair told the chancellor at a dinner hosted by deputy PM John Prescott in November 2003 of his intention to stand down. ""At that stage he saw Gordon Brown and said, 'look you are the next most influential member of the government, I need your help to get through the next year,"" Mr Peston said. ""I myself recognise that I'm going to have to stand down before the election but help me to get through the year and I will then stand down.'"" But he changed his mind in June 2004, following intervention from allies in the Cabinet and the suspicion that the chancellor was deliberately manoeuvring against him, the book claims...Mr Peston told BBC News: ""My understanding is that they are not nearly as close or as friendly as they once were. ""What the book says is there now a pretty profound mutual mistrust, mutual animosity. ""I think in public you see this double act pretending everything is alright but in private I don't think the relationship is good because Brown, understandably, feels deeply betrayed - particularly over this issue of the leadership."" There has been fresh speculation of a rift recently, following their separate responses to the Asian tsunami. Rumours of a rift were fuelled by the sudden decision to hold Mr Blair's monthly media conference at the same time as a long-planned speech by Mr Brown on UK plans to tackle global poverty with a new ""Marshall Plan"" for Africa. There was speculation the pair were trying to outdo each other's response to the disaster...Former welfare minister Frank Field MP criticised the reported rivalry between the pair on GMTV's Sunday Programme...""What sort of model does it give to the nation when the two most important political leaders do nothing but fight it out together or use their aides to fight it out?"" the Labour MP for Birkenhead asked. He said the prime minister should sack Mr Brown, but did not believe Mr Blair was strong enough to do so. Conservative policy co-ordinator David Cameron, MP for Witney, added: ""If it wasn't so serious it would be funny. ""But it is serious - you've got the two most senior people in the government not concentrating on fighting crime, poverty or dirty hospitals - they are fighting each other."" Carol Walker, BBC News 24 political correspondent, added: ""There is a real concern that this could undermine the general election campaign. ""And clearly it is very bad news for the government at a time when it is trying to explain what it is doing to respond to the terrible problems thrown up by the tsunami disaster.""",politics
+"Blair dismisses quit claim report..Tony Blair has dismissed reports he told Gordon Brown he would quit before the next general election...""You don't do deals over jobs like this,"" the prime minister told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme. According to a new book, Brown's Britain, Mr Blair went back on a pledge to make way for Mr Brown after Cabinet allies intervened in June 2004. Mr Blair said the claims were ""reheated from six months ago"" and that he was concentrating on running the country. Mr Blair said: ""I've dealt with this six months ago. I said then you don't do deals over jobs like this - you don't...""What both of us are actually concentrating on are the issues that concern the country."" The book, by Sunday Telegraph journalist Robert Peston and serialised in the newspaper, said the pair had ""mutual animosity and contempt"" for each other...It claims Tony Blair felt by November 2003 he had lost voters' trust because of the Iraq war and that he was no longer an asset to the Labour Party. And that at a dinner hosted by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott he told Mr Brown of his intention to stand down. According to Mr Peston the prime minister said: ""Help me to get through the year and I will then stand down."" But he then changed his mind in June 2004, following intervention from allies in the Cabinet and the suspicion that the chancellor was deliberately manoeuvring against him, according to the book...Mr Peston told BBC News: ""My understanding is that they are not nearly as close or as friendly as they once were. ""What the book says is there is now a pretty profound mutual mistrust, mutual animosity. ""I think in public you see this double-act pretending everything is alright, but in private I don't think the relationship is good because Brown, understandably, feels deeply betrayed - particularly over this issue of the leadership."" But, in a wide-ranging BBC interview covering issues such as the Asian tsunami disaster, the Middle East peace process and Northern Ireland, Mr Blair said: ""When you get to the top in politics you get this huge swell around you. ""All sorts of people make all sorts of claims and counter-claims."" He admitted to a ""sense of frustration"" about the allegations which he said had been made ""countless times""...There has been fresh speculation of a rift recently, following their separate responses to the Asian tsunami. These rumours were fuelled by Mr Blair's decision to hold his monthly media conference at the same time as a long-planned speech by Mr Brown on UK plans to tackle global poverty with a new ""Marshall Plan"" for Africa. There was speculation the pair were trying to outdo each other's response to the disaster. But the prime minister said he had discussed these claims with the chancellor and dismissed them as a ""load of nonsense"". Former welfare minister Frank Field MP said the prime minister should sack Mr Brown, but did not believe Mr Blair was strong enough to do so...Tory leader Michael Howard accused the prime minister and Mr Brown of ""squabbling like schoolboys"". He told Sky News' Sunday with Adam Boulton: ""This is the politics of the playground and Britain really does deserve better."" The Liberal Democrat parliamentary chairman Matthew Taylor said the personal ambition of Mr Blair and Mr Brown was ""getting in the way of good government"". ""Either they need to grow up and put their squabbles to one side or they cannot expect the electorate to support a divided government at the next election."" During the interview Mr Blair also said the former home secretary David Blunkett would play a ""big role"" at the general election.",politics
+"Could rivalry overshadow election?..Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are desperately trying to stuff the genie of their rivalry back into the bottle...Along with any number of senior cabinet colleagues, they are insisting their only job is to win the next election and govern in the best interests of Britain. It is a message they are aiming directly at their backbenchers who are becoming irritated and even unnerved by the continuing claims and counter claims surrounding this alleged rift. Ian Gibson, for example, urged the two men to stop squabbling, declaring: ""For goodness sake, sometimes you have to rise above petulance and make sure that you do your job as effectively as you can."" Those with slim majorities are particularly fearful that the rift could hit their own hopes of re-election. Tony Blair will seek to reassure Labour MPs on Monday evening at their first meeting of the new year at Westminster - a behind-closed doors meeting which Gordon Brown is thought likely to also attend to show unity...Meanwhile the likes of Health Secretary John Reid and Labour peer Lord Haskins are warning of the electoral dangers of allowing this soap opera to continue. And they have both warned the rival camps to stop spreading the poison. Lord Haskins even suggested Mr Blair should reinstate Mr Brown as the central figure in the election planning...But this particular genie is unusually reluctant to return to captivity and many fear it is simply too late to repair the damage. They believe they will be fighting the next election with the sounds of open warfare between the two men ringing in their ears. And it matters little whether the rift is real or, as some try to suggest, simply the product of newspaper headlines and Westminster gossip. Few in Westminster actually believe that, simply because the evidence appears to contradict it...For example, the weekend's attempts by both men to play down the divisions failed to do the trick. Even as they were both insisting on their unity of purpose and claiming they would not be swayed by newspaper stories, they still managed to stir the speculation with their comments...Mr Blair talked about the ""New"" Labour manifesto - a move which seemed calculated to irritate the chancellor, who has long rejected the label. And Mr Brown pointedly refused to deny claims the prime minister had reneged on a deal to hand him the premiership last year. That claim was repeated in Robert Peston's book, a book which amply demonstrates this corrosive Downing Street soap opera is nowhere near its final act...For his part, Mr Brown insists his only motivation was to get Labour re-elected...The trouble is, both men have fallen short of offering simple, straightforward denials of the central claims. So they have both been accused of actually making matters worse by feeding the speculation with their own behaviour. The first thing to be said is that these suggestions have not come from nowhere. They started with and are sustained by ""friends"" of the two men. One only had to listen to the chancellor's friend and former spin chief Charlie Whelan last week to understand that there is a real anger from this camp at the prime minister's apparent attempts to confound Mr Brown's leadership ambitions. But it is not just public pronouncements from ex-aides...There are whispered briefings to selected journalists from both sides. It is no secret in Westminster, for example, that Downing Street believes the chancellor is indulging in a mammoth sulk and acting in a petty and deliberately provocative manner...Then there are the actions of the men themselves. Gordon Brown sets out what is seen as a rival manifesto then appears to embark on his own personal campaign. The prime minister responds by scheduling his monthly press conference to clash with a keynote speech by the chancellor. Meanwhile large numbers of backbench MPs insist voters are either entirely uninterested in the chatter, which they believe is a media-only obsession, or that they fear for the efficient running of a government beset by such rivalry. Either way, there is universal agreement that if this goes on through the general election it can only do the Labour party serious damage. There are signs that the two men appreciate the dangers and both want to put a lid on all the speculation. But with probably only four months to the next election, that looks like being a particularly difficult trick to pull off.",politics
+"Brown in appeal for Labour unity..Gordon Brown has made an appeal for unity after reports claimed Mr Blair went back on a pledge to stand down before the next general election...The chancellor would not comment on the reports, but insisted he would not be ""diverted or distracted"" from tackling the challenges faced by the country. His only ""motivation"" was to ensure Labour was re-elected, he insisted. Mr Blair earlier dismissed the claim he had reneged on a promise to stand aside for Gordon Brown as old news. According to a new book, Brown's Britain by Sunday Telegraph journalist Robert Peston, Mr Blair went back on a pledge to make way for Mr Brown after Cabinet allies intervened in June 2004...In an interview with BBC One's Breakfast with Frost, Mr Blair said: ""I've dealt with this six months ago. I said then you don't do deals over jobs like this - you don't. ""What both of us are actually concentrating on are the issues that concern the country.""..In a separate interview with BBC political editor Andrew Marr, Mr Brown said: ""It's very important that we all do what we can in a unified way to ensure the election of a Labour government. ""I think it is very important to stress that that is the motivation that I have. ""That is my purpose in politics, and that is what every day I seek to do. And I am not going to be diverted or distracted, nor is Tony Blair, by newspaper stories or books or rumours or gossip. ""The only reason why we are in government is to get on with the job in a unified way to deal with the challenges facing this country."" Mr Brown also said he had discussed the general election campaign with the prime minister on Saturday and pledged to play his part as he had been asked to do...But Mr Peston said the pair had ""mutual animosity and contempt"" for each other and that Mr Blair had decided in November 2003 he would quit because he felt he had lost voters' trust because of the Iraq war. He then changed his mind in June 2004, following intervention from allies in the Cabinet and the suspicion that the chancellor was deliberately manoeuvring against him, according to the book. Andrew Marr said: ""This is enormously damaging. Gordon Brown knows it as well as Tony Blair. ""I think the relationship is genuinely, privately, very poor indeed. Things are very difficult."" He added: ""Lots of ministers believe Tony Blair will attempt to move Gordon Brown out of the Treasury after the election. ""That depends on whether there's still a Labour government and their majority.""..Senior MPs are expected to raise concerns about the latest reports of infighting at the regular meeting of Labour backbenchers on Monday...Health Secretary John Reid said those fuelling such reports were damaging Labour's re-election chances and would not be easily forgiven. Fresh speculation of a rift recently followed Mr Blair and Mr Brown's separate responses to the Asian tsunami. These rumours were fuelled by Mr Blair's decision to hold his monthly media conference at the same time as a long-planned speech by Mr Brown on UK plans to tackle global poverty with a new ""Marshall Plan"" for Africa. There was speculation the pair were trying to outdo each other's response to the disaster. But the prime minister said he had discussed these claims with the chancellor and dismissed them as a ""load of nonsense"". Tory leader Michael Howard accused the prime minister and Mr Brown of""squabbling like schoolboys"". Liberal Democrat parliamentary chairman Matthew Taylor said the personal ambition of Mr Blair and Mr Brown was ""getting in the way of good government"".",politics
+"Blair pledges unity to Labour MPs..Tony Blair has sought to reassure Labour backbenchers that nothing will stand in the way of the party's bid for a third term in power...Mr Blair was speaking to MPs amid fresh rumours of a rift with Gordon Brown. A new book says the prime minister went back on a pledge to Mr Brown to stand down before the next general election. The chancellor has said he is focused on winning the poll and is due to join election supremo Alan Milburn for a Labour poster launch this week. Mr Blair told the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Monday: ""I know from everyone here, in Cabinet and government, nothing is going to get in the way of a unified Labour Party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need."" The prime minister and his chancellor arrived within seconds of each other and seemingly in good spirits at the start of the meeting which lasted around an hour. A new book, Brown's Britain by Sunday Telegraph journalist Robert Peston, says Mr Blair went back on a pledge to make way for Mr Brown after Cabinet allies intervened in June 2004...It has caused a new wave of concern among Labour MPs gearing up to defend their seats in an election, widely expected to be held in May, and several members are understood to have lined up to express their discontent at the PLP meeting. Health Secretary John Reid earlier warned that Labour members would not easily forgive anybody fuelling damaging speculation. He told BBC News: ""Those who co-operate or inspire these books, in my view, have to know that, whatever the short-term political or personal advantage that they think they might secure, they always do it by damaging the record, the unity and the re-election chances of the Labour Party and the government."" Mr Blair on Sunday dismissed claims of broken promises, saying: ""I've dealt with this six months ago. I said then you don't do deals over jobs like this - you don't.""..In a separate BBC interview, Mr Brown said he and the prime minister would not be distracted by ""gossip"". ""It's very important that we all do what we can in a unified way to ensure the election of a Labour government,"" he said...On Monday, Mr Blair's spokesman said: ""The prime minister is determined that he will get on with the business of government because he believes that what people want."" Mr Brown says he discussed the election campaign with Mr Blair on Saturday and promised to play his part...Mr Peston said the pair had ""mutual animosity and contempt"". Mr Blair had decided in November 2003 he would quit because he felt he had lost voters' trust because of the Iraq war...He had then changed his mind in June 2004, following intervention from Cabinet allies and suspicion that the chancellor was manoeuvring against him. Mr Brown allegedly said he could no longer believe anything Mr Blair told him. Conservative co-chairman Liam Fox likened the two men to ""self-obsessed schoolboys"". Liberal Democrat parliamentary chairman Matthew Taylor said their personal ambition was ""getting in the way of good government"". Ex-Labour leader Neil Kinnock said Mr Blair and Mr Brown could only deal with the media frenzy by continuing to say they would not allow a row to damage Labour or British interests. He told BBC Radio Five Live that Mr Brown would never encourage any kind of insurrection or coup.",politics
+"Blair and Brown criticised by MPs..Labour MPs have angrily criticised Tony Blair and Gordon Brown amid renewed reports of a rift between the two men...A meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party saw a succession of normally loyal members warn that feuding could jeopardise Labour's election hopes. The PM insisted nothing would derail Labour's campaign, despite a new book saying he has upset his chancellor by backing out of a pledge to stand aside. Mr Brown will again be in the public eye at the party's new poster launch. In what the party had hoped would be perceived as a show of unity, he is due to line up alongside Alan Milburn - the man controversially appointed as the party's election supremo - and deputy leader John Prescott for the event in London on Tuesday. Relations between Mr Brown and Mr Milburn are widely reported to be cool ever since Mr Blair brought the latter back into the Cabinet to run Labour's election campaign, a role successfully carried out by Mr Brown in both 1997 and 2001...Mr Blair told the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday: ""I know from everyone here, in Cabinet and government, nothing is going to get in the way of a unified Labour Party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need.""..The prime minister and his chancellor arrived within seconds of each other for the meeting of the PLP and were seemingly in good spirits as it started. New speculation about the state of their relationship was sparked by claims in Brown's Britain, by Sunday Telegraph journalist Robert Peston, which suggested Mr Blair went back on a pledge to make way for Mr Brown. Labour's Paul Flynn said Mr Blair and Mr Brown had a ""scorching"" from MPs adding: ""It was a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting like no other.""..Backbencher Stephen Pound said some MPs had threatend to expose those fuelling the reports if Mr Blair and Mr Brown did not ""stop this nonsense, this poisonous briefing"". Lord Campbell-Savours, a former MP, challenged Mr Brown to deny reports that he had told the prime minister he did not believe anything he said. Mr Prescott said MPs were entitled to complain about discipline after reading recent press reports...""They told us very clearly, it was the troops telling the leaders: get in line,"" he told BBC Radio 4's Today on Tuesday. Mr Prescott said there were occasional disagreements in any government. But he argued Mr Blair and Mr Brown could work successfully together and had produced a strong economy and better public services...The new book claims Mr Prescott hosted a dinner in November 2003 where the prime minister told Mr Brown he would stand down before the next election because he had lost trust over the Iraq war. He had then changed his mind in June 2004, following intervention from Cabinet allies and suspicion that the chancellor was manoeuvring against him, writes Mr Peston. Mr Prescott said there was a dinner but the discussions were confidential. ""Of course as a waiter for 10 years I have a professional ability here,"" he joked. Mr Blair has insisted he has done no deals over the premiership while Mr Brown says he will not let ""gossip"" distract him from helping a unified election campaign. The Conservatives say the two men are behaving like squabbling schoolboys and the Liberal Democrats claim personal ambition is obstructing good government.",politics
+"Labour MPs' fears over squabbling..If there is one thing certain to stiffen the spines of Labour MPs it is the prospect of losing their seats at a general election...And it was largely that fear that led to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown being read the riot act during a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party. The views expressed by both backbenchers and Labour peers over the claimed squabbling between the two men starkly demonstrated the widely-held view within the Labour party that the two most powerful figures in the government are jeopardising the next election. As one hugely-disgruntled backbencher said before the meeting: ""It is time they realised it's not just my seat they are threatening but if they go on like this they could put the election in doubt."" It is a sentiment that is now running throughout the Labour benches with MPs eager to underline the message to their leaders to stop the squabbling and get on with the job at hand...As Paul Flynn said: ""What has deeply upset the party is in this time of all times, when we wanted to come together, we wanted to lead on the global issues, to change politics for the next decade, the whole thing was wrecked by a piece of childishness by the two main people in the party, two people we greatly respect.""..Stephen Pound echoed the message, saying: ""We know that the one thing that could entirely jeopardise what we are trying to achieve, not for the Labour Party but for this country, is the appearance of division. We remember the 1980s"". They backed the suggestion that unless the squabbling stopped, the people briefing on behalf of the two men would be ""named and shamed"". The dressing down appears to have done the trick, with Mr Brown joining his alleged rival Alan Milburn - who the prime minister put in charge of election planning in Mr Brown's stead - and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at an election poster launch. But the effect of all this is to have achieved two things. Firstly, nobody is attempting to suggest any more that the stories of the rift between the chancellor and the prime minister are fictions created by the media and authors. Even Mr Prescott admitted that, had he still been a backbencher, he would have been giving Mr Blair and Mr Brown the same message...Secondly it has also underlined the view that the election campaign has, to all intents and purposes, kicked off. But whether the telling off and the subsequent change in behaviour by the two men will do any good - or can even be sustained through the campaign - remains to be seen...Even as the MPs were expressing their fears it emerged that, while Mr Brown is in Africa for a week, the prime minister is to deliver a keynote speech on election themes for a third term. And he is expected to repeat his recent insistence that the next manifesto will be ""New"" Labour through and through. Similarly, some were pointing out that the chancellor, during the election poster launch, once again refused to deny the claim that he told the prime minister he could never trust anything he said. None the less, what some believe now is that the effect of the warnings from the backbenchers will actually be to silence the Brown camp, effectively strengthening the prime minister's hand. For example, will those Brownite briefers suggest their man is unhappy at the prime minister's timing or subject matter, as may have been the case in the past? What all seem agreed on, however, is that this sniping simply cannot be allowed to go on through the election campaign. Mind you, we have heard similar pledges before.",politics
+"'Poll Idols' face first hurdles..Vote For Me - ITV1's Pop Idol style talent contest for would-be politicians - finally hits our screens this week...Over the next four days, hundreds of potential candidates will be whittled down by a panel of experts and public vote. The winner will then be encouraged to stand as an independent at the next general election, which is expected in the spring. But opinion is divided on whether any of the potential candidates unearthed so far have got what it takes to make it in politics. ""Any of them would make competent MPs,"" former independent MP Martin Bell insisted on BBC Radio 4's Today programme...Mr Bell, who will be offering his advice to the contestants on Wednesday, argues that Westminster has its share of ""odd balls"" and the show will engage ordinary voters. ""If it gets more people voting and more people interested in politics there is no harm in that,"" he said. But Sir Bernard Ingham, Margaret Thatcher's former press secretary, took a less charitable view, accusing the programme of ""corrupting politics""...He said the producers would not achieve their aim of re-engaging voters ""with that bunch of nutters"". To give Sir Bernard his dues, Monday evening's opening episode did attract more than a smattering of eccentrics and self-publicists. Among those chancing their arm were a druid priest and a former porn star, who insisted on removing her top to make her point about the legalisation of brothels. Among the more eccentric policy proposals was a public holiday on Bruce Forsyth's birthday and Bill Oddie for prime minister. The show follows the time-honoured Pop Idol format, with queues of nervous hopefuls and a panel of three experts judging their performance...The contestants were given 60 seconds to present their manifestos. Then the final 25 were tested on their lobbying ability. They were then cross-examined by the panel, which was chaired by ex-ITN political editor John Sergeant, with television host Lorraine Kelly taking the Nicki Chapman role. But the real star of the show is Kelvin MacKenzie, in the Simon Cowell, Mr Nasty seat...The former Sun editor dispensed a stream of well-crafted insults and one-liners. His advice for one young contestant was to ""get a haircut and a brain transplant"". Wheelchair user Kevin Donnellon was asked: ""Why on earth do you want our elected representatives to be disabled?"" ""Don't you care about the Inuit?"", implored guitar-toting environmental campaigner Barry Lim. ""I don't care about them. I care about myself and when the sun's shining I think - fantastic,"" replied Mr MacKenzie...Mr Lim later reduced the panel to fits of giggles as he outlined his plan to make people do community service instead of paying taxes. ""When the prime minister turns to the chancellor and says how much have we got in the coffers Mr Brown, he says well, prime minister, bad news, all the houses in Britain have been painted but actually nobody has paid any tax,"" observed Mr MacKenzie. ""That was an total disaster. I just couldn't seem to think of things to say,"" a crestfallen Mr Lim confided in the show's presenter, Jonathan Maitland. Irfan Hanif, a 25-year-old doctor from Bolton, made a good impression, even if he was a little thrown by Mr MacKenzie's suggestion that instead of being treated by the NHS, young drunks should ""given a good beating"" and left to die. Dominic Carman - son of late libel lawyer George Carman - was voted through to the final 25, on a platform of cutting defence spending to boost education. Opinion was more divided over Rodney Hylton-Potts, a 59-year-old convicted fraudster. Mr MacKenzie thought the smooth-talking former solicitor - with a hardline on crime and immigration - deserved a chance to progress. ""He could join the rest of the crooks in the Houses of Parliament."" But Ms Kelly said she ""would not trust him as far as she could throw him"". The series continues throughout the week, with the public given the chance to evict one prospective MP every night. ITV will not fund the election campaign for the eventual winner, but the publicity could give the winner a flying start over other candidates.",politics
+"Labour seeks to quell feud talk..Labour's leadership put on a show of unity at a campaign poster launch after MPs criticised Tony Blair and Gordon Brown over reports of their rift...Mr Brown was joined at the launch by John Prescott and Alan Milburn, the man controversially put in charge of election planning by Mr Blair. A private meeting on Monday saw normally loyal MPs warn that feuding could jeopardise their election hopes. It follows a new book charting disputes between prime minister and chancellor...The event was the first time Mr Milburn has shared a platform with the chancellor since taking Mr Brown's traditional poll planning role. But the pair chatted amicably and Mr Brown insisted he was happy with his current campaign task. Asked about how he would deal with claims that he did not trust the prime minister, Mr Brown replied: ""You can see that our record on the economy is about the British people trusting us to run the economy.""..He refused to comment on the new book, saying nobody should be distracted from the business of government. Mr Brown later told reporters: ""Of course I trust the prime minister."" Downing Street cited that comment when reporters' suggested Mr Brown had pointedly failed to deny claims he had once told Mr Blair: ""There is nothing you could ever say to me now that I could ever believe"". Labour's new posters say Britain is enjoying the lowest inflation since the 1960s, lowest unemployment for 29 years and the lowest mortgage rates for 40 years. They urge voters not to let the Tories take things backwards. Mr Milburn promised a poll campaign ""which is upbeat, confident and above all else optimistic about the future of our country""...Conservative co-chairman Liam Fox derided the photo call, saying: ""The show of unity was the worst acting I have seen since Prisoner Cell Block H."" Labour had broken promises by raising taxes 66 times and brought the slowest economic growth in the English-speaking world, he said...The prime minister and chancellor faced backbench discontent at Monday's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party over claims made in journalist Robert Peston's new book. Mr Blair told MPs and peers: ""I know from everyone here, in Cabinet and government, nothing is going to get in the way of a unified Labour Party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need."" Labour's Paul Flynn said the pair had had a ""scorching"" from MPs...On Tuesday, deputy prime minister Mr Prescott told BBC News: ""They told us very clearly, it was the troops telling the leaders: get in line."" The new book claims Mr Prescott hosted a dinner in November 2003 where the prime minister told Mr Brown he would stand down before the next election because he had lost trust over the Iraq war. Mr Blair then changed his mind in June 2004, after Cabinet allies intervened and amid suspicion the chancellor was manoeuvring against him, writes Mr Peston. Mr Prescott said there was a dinner but the discussions were confidential. ""Of course as a waiter for 10 years I have a professional ability here,"" he joked.",politics
+"Labour's election love-in..Peace and love have been in short supply in the Labour party in recent days...If press reports are to be believed, Alan Milburn and Gordon Brown have been at each other's throats over the contents of Labour's next election manifesto. But the pair were all smiles on Tuesday morning, as they joined John Prescott to unveil Labour's latest poster campaign. The event - at Old Billingsgate Fish Market on the banks of the Thames - was a carefully choreographed show of unity. And the surest sign yet that we are heading for a general election in the next few months. It was also one of the most bizarre photo opportunities of recent years...The first inkling something slightly odd was afoot was when - in place of the soft rock music normally chosen for such occasions - Labour's speakers crackled to life with the sound of Booker T and the MGs. Then a VW camper van trundled into view, decked out in that most mind-bending of psychedelic messages - ""lowest mortgage rate for 40 years"". As the side-door slid open, it looked for one glorious moment as if the Cabinet had decided to bury their differences and go on the road together, Scooby Doo-style. But, sadly, it wasn't the Cabinet who had raided the dressing-up box - just six rather ill-at-ease looking Labour students. Two were dressed as Regency dandies - to unveil a poster trumpeting ""the longest period of economic growth for 200 years"". Another pair of students were in a Beatle wig and Sgt Pepper jacket to highlight the ""lowest interest rates since the 1960s""...The remaining two were dressed in a vague approximation of disco chic to demonstrate the ""lowest unemployment since the seventies""...The politicians - led out by John Prescott - were soberly-suited as always. The event may have been designed to highlight Labour's economic success under Mr Brown, but there was little doubt who was in charge. The chancellor walked side-by-side with Mr Milburn, pointedly exchanging chit chat, as they approached the microphone. But it was Mr Milburn who took centre stage, speaking of the ""positive campaign"" the party hoped to stage in the ""coming weeks and months""...The mobile poster vans would ""let people know Britain is working again"". Mr Brown repeated the familiar mantras displayed on the posters and spoke of Labour's ""shared purpose"" and ""united dedication"". It was left to Mr Prescott to pay glowing tribute to the chancellor's record and, in a final flourish, to produce his famous pledge card, from 1997, claiming Labour has met all of its promises. The event was carefully stage-managed to underline Cabinet unity. And, more specifically, to demonstrate the ""central role"" Mr Brown will play in the election campaign, despite being sidelined as campaign chief in favour of Mr Milburn...But keen students of body language will have had a field day. There was much forced smiling for the cameras, but only Mr Prescott, who revels in such occasions, seemed to be truly enjoying himself. Mr Milburn made a point of turning to face the chancellor, as he spoke, nodding thoughtfully. But it was the former health secretary's final gesture, placing an arm on Mr Brown's back as they walked away from the microphones, which was perhaps the most telling. Thanks for dropping by Gordon, he might have been saying.",politics
+"Howard taunts Blair over splits..Tony Blair's feud with Gordon Brown is damaging the way the UK is governed, Tory leader Michael Howard has claimed in a heated prime minister's questions...Mr Howard asked: ""How can they fight crime when they are fighting each other?"" That question was later unveiled as the headline for new Tory campaign posters. But Mr Blair dismissed the talk of splits and said people's priorities at the next elections would be on the economic successes achieved by Labour. ""He can stick up whatever he likes on billboards about something in a book but what the public will concentrate on are the low mortgages, low inflation, low unemployment that we delivered and that he failed to,"" he said. The chancellor is currently on a high-profile tour of Africa to highlight new anti-poverty plans. But before doing so, he insisted he still trusted Mr Blair, despite claims to the contrary in a new book...Brown's Britain, by Robert Peston, says there is mutual animosity between the two men. It claims Mr Blair said in November 2003 he would stand down as prime minister before the next election. But he went back on his pledge after support from Cabinet allies and suspicion that Mr Brown was manoeuvring against him, it says...Mr Peston's book claimed that Mr Brown told Mr Blair: ""There is nothing you could ever say to me now that I could ever believe."" Mr Blair directly denied that quote on Wednesday. He again insisted there could be no deals about the premiership but twice declined directly to say whether or not he had offered to quit...The Tory leader countered that such agreements had been struck twice at dinners with the chancellor. He declared: ""He is the deals on meals prime minister. No wonder the chancellor is not a happy eater."" He continued: ""How can there be discipline in schools when there is no discipline in government, how can they clean up our hospitals when they don't clean up their act?"" Mr Blair said he would not respond to ""tittle tattle in books"" and promised to hail Labour's record on the economy, waiting lists and law and order ""from now until polling day"". Later at their poster launch Tory co-chairman Liam Fox said his party would exploit opportunities to show how ""juvenile"" the prime minister and chancellor were...Labour staged a show of unity at its own poster launch on Tuesday, where Mr Brown was joined by Alan Milburn, who Mr Blair controversially put in charge of election planning in place of the chancellor. But Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy told BBC News: ""The government is clearly split at the top. This kind of cosmetic exercise does not persuade anybody."" Later this week Mr Blair is expected to outline the direction of his party's next election manifesto. The prime minister and chancellor faced backbench discontent at Monday's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party over claims made Mr Peston's book.",politics
+"How political squabbles snowball..It's become commonplace to argue that Blair and Brown are like squabbling school kids and that they (and their supporters) need to grow up and stop bickering...But this analysis in fact gets it wrong. It's not just children who fight - adults do too. And there are solid reasons why even a trivial argument between mature protagonists can be hard to stop once its got going. The key feature of an endless feud is that everyone can agree they'd be better off if it ended - but everyone wants to have the last word...Each participant genuinely wants the row to stop, but thinks it worth prolonging the argument just a tiny bit to ensure their view is heard. Their successive attempts to end the argument with their last word ensure the argument goes on and on and on. (In the case of Mr Blair and Mr Brown, successive books are published, ensuring the issues never die.) Now this isn't because the participants are stupid - it's actually each individual behaving entirely rationally, given the incentives facing them. Indeed, there's even a piece of economic theory that explains all this. Nothing as obscure as ""post-neo-classical endogenous growth theory"" which the chancellor himself once quoted - but a ubiquitous piece of game theory which all respectable policy wonks are familiar with...It's often referred to as the ""prisoner's dilemma"", based on a parable much told in economics degree courses... about a sheriff and two prisoners. The story goes that two prisoners are jointly charged with a heinous crime, and are locked up in separate cells. But the sheriff desperately needs a confession from at least one of them, to provide enough evidence to convict them of the crime. Without a confession, the prisoners will get a minimal sentence on some trumped up charge...Clearly the prisoners' best strategy is to keep their mouths shut, and take the short sentence, but the clever sheriff has an idea to induce them to talk. He tells each prisoner separately, that if they confess - and they are the only one to confess - they'll be let off their crime. And he tells them that if they don't confess - and they are the only one not to confess - they'll get life. Now, if you are prisoner confronted with this choice, your best bet is to confess. If your partner doesn't confess, you'll get off completely. And if your partner does confess, you'd better confess to ensure you don't get life. The result is of course, both prisoners confess, so the sheriff does not have to let either one off. Both prisoners' individual logic was to behave that way, even though both would have been better if they had somehow agreed to shut up. Don't worry if you don't entirely follow it - you can to look it up on Google, where there are 283,000 entries on it...The prisoners' dilemma and all its ramifications have truly captured economists in the last couple of decades. It is a parable used to describe any situation where there is an obvious sensible choice to be taken collectively, but where the only rational choice individually is to behave selfishly...A cold war arms race for example - a classic case where both Russia and America would be better off with just a few arms, rather than a lot of arms. But as long as each wants just a few more arms than the other, an arms race ensues with the results that the individually logical decision to buy more arms, results in arms levels that are too high. What economics tells us is that once you're in a prisoners' dilemma - unless you are repeating the experience many times over - it's hard to escape the perverse logic of it. It's no good just exhorting people to stop buying arms, or to stop arguing when all their incentives encourage them to carry on. Somehow, the incentives have to change...In the case of the Labour Party, if you believe the rift between Blair and Brown camps is as bad as the reports suggest, Solomon's wisdom needs to be deployed to solve the problem. Every parent knows there are ingenious solutions to arguments, solutions which affect the incentives of the participants. An example, is the famous rule that ""one divides, the other chooses"" as a way of allocating a piece of cake to be sliced up between greedy children. In the case of an apparently endless argument, if you want it to come to an end, you have to ensure the person who has the last word is one who loses rather than the one who wins the row. The cost of prolonging the row by even one more briefing, or one more book for that matter, has to exceed the benefit of having the last word, and getting your point in. If the rest of the party can enforce that, they'll have the protagonists retreating pretty quickly.",politics
+"Blair looks to election campaign..Tony Blair's big speech will be looked back on as the performance that kicked off the election campaign...That poll may still be about 16 weeks away, but there can be little doubt left that the campaign is now in full swing. The prime minister used his speech to a selected audience in the south east to set out his broad brush election manifesto. There was a detailed account of the government's past record, with a major emphasis on the economy and public services. There was an attempt to draw the line under the gossip surrounding his rift with Chancellor Gordon Brown. And there was an insistence on the importance of the party continuing to operate as unremittingly ""New"" Labour - although that may continue to irritate his chancellor...There was little in terms of concrete proposals or what might form manifesto pledges, although the prime minister talked about a ""New Labour manifesto that will be aimed at all sections of society"". His was more a speech designed to remind people, and some in his own party, precisely what New Labour stood for, and to leave them in no doubt there would not be any shrinking away from that approach. And, for some, that means showing that New Labour actually does stand for something - that it is, as he said, more than ""an electoral device""...To that end he set out a broad programme aimed to appeal to both middle England voters who switched to the party in 1997 and stuck with it, possibly through some gritted teeth, in 2001, and to more traditional lower income old Labour supporters. In a key section, he declared: ""In our third term we can achieve an unprecedented widening of opportunity and prosperity. ""For the first time ever a whole generation growing up with unbroken economic stability. Every family - not just the fortunate few - knowing their children will have an inheritance at adulthood. ""Every pupil in every secondary school guaranteed a place in university or a quality apprenticeship. Every adult - including those who missed out at school - able to get the skills then need to advance. ""Home ownership extended to its highest ever level and to families who have never before been able to afford it. ""The highest ever level of employment with everyone in work guaranteed a decent wage and decent conditions""...Under what is to be the general election slogan ""Britain is working"", the prime minister time and again insisted the future direction would be unremittingly New Labour. That might get under the skin of Mr Brown, but he also heaped praise on him as the most successful post-war chancellor Britain has had. Probably the greatest ideological divide between the two men, in so far as there is one, is about the degree of private finance allowed into the public services...An unremittingly ""New"" Labour manifesto, as the prime minister is happy to make plain, will stress the importance of that - the belief patients and parents, for example, want a choice of good services before they start worrying about who has provided them. The chancellor is said to be far more sceptical about private finance, although there is no suggestion he opposes it in principle. With an election looming the next big speech from Gordon Brown will be closely examined for any signs of divisions and, in particular, the use of that little three letter word. But for now, all eyes have been focused on the next general election. And for many in Westminster, Mr Blair's performance has only succeeded in hardening the belief that will be on 5 May.",politics
+"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. But Chief Secretary to the Treasury Paul Boateng attacked the Tory plans. ""The Conservatives are committed to cutting Labour's public spending plans by a massive £35 billion,"" he said. ""Cuts on this scale cannot be found from cutting 'bureaucracy' but would require massive cuts to front-line public services such as schools, hospitals and the police."" The Liberal Democrats have said they would cut the number of Whitehall departments to make sure money reaches frontline services.",politics
+"Peers debate Crown succession law..Peers are debating proposals to change the rules governing the succession to the throne...Labour peer Lord Dubs' Succession to the Crown Bill aims to end the right of male heirs to succeed to the crown even if they have an older sister. The private member's bill would also abolish the ban on heirs to the throne marrying Roman Catholics. The Fabian Society's Sundar Katwala said the change was ""long overdue"" and that he expected a ""warm response"". The political reform group's general secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme there were some ""very out-dated features"" at the heart of Britain's constitution...""In 1998 the government said in principle it supported the idea of ending gender discrimination and that it would consult on how to come forward with its own measures. ""We hope they are warm towards it and don't say this is the wrong time."" He pointed out that it was 30 years since the sex discrimination act and urged politicians on all sides to back the bill. Mr Katwala added: ""This is long overdue. Parliament will have to do it eventually, the government, and I hope all of the political parties, might think this is a very simple thing to have in their manifestos.""..But he acknowledged that even if the bill did win support, it was unlikely to become law because the legislative programme is likely to be squeezed by the coming general election. He said he hoped the bill would be a ""gentle nudge"" to the government and suggested it would ""demand a response"". The bill, which is in the Lords for its second reading, has been adopted by former chief whip Ann Taylor in the Commons. The rule of succession is regulated not only through descent and tradition but also by the Act of Settlement which confirmed in 1701 that it was for Parliament to determine the title to the throne.",politics
+"UKIP's secret weapon?..By any measure, New Yorker Dick Morris is that thing Americans love over everything else - a winner...This is the man who, some pundits believe, was almost single-handedly responsible for Bill Clinton's sensational 1992 comeback victory. But Morris is no ideologue. He has worked as election strategist for any number of Republicans as well and, more recently, politicians from Mexico to Uruguay. Now he is back in London as the UK Independence Party's not-so-secret electoral weapon after returning from the Ukraine where he helped - you guessed it - opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko. If there is one regular criticism levelled at Morris, it is that he is too ready to switch allegiances. That he enjoys the game more than the politics...So why Britain and why UKIP which, despite its recent EU election successes, is not likely to pull off a sensational victory in the looming general election. On this subject, Morris appears almost evangelical...""I was on a cruise in the Mediterranean and, coincidentally, so was UKIP leader Roger Knapman. ""I had just written a piece saying how the English Channel was now wider than the Atlantic which he liked and it went from there"". But what is it about UKIP that particularly attracts him? Many might think it is simply another chance to practice his art, irrespective of the politics. ""I think the greatest threat to democracy in the world is not terrorism but bureaucratism"". A great soundbite, but a surprise coming from a New Yorker post 11 September. ""It is the growth of these bodies composed of experts who know better, who don't believe in letting democracy govern but believe in letting the correct solution be determined. ""That's international bankers, the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and, primarily, the European Union""...So he is out to help UKIP take Britain out of this organisation which he believes is unreformable and inherently undemocratic. And he is scathing of the Tory party which he also appears to believe is unreformable. ""The Tory party is schizophrenic about Europe. But until somebody says they are willing to leave the EU they can't possibly re-negotiate anything (as Michael Howard is pledged to do). ""It's like walking into a liquor store with a gun to rob it and saying: 'before I can proceed with the robbery I want to make clear I am not going to shoot anybody'"". Possibly a very American analogy, but another great soundbite. ""The basic point is that the EU seeks political integration to move the entire nexus of decision making away from Britain - and we oppose that and the Tories cannot be trusted to oppose it""...So is UKIP's job to destroy the Tories, as former member Robert Kilroy-Silk once notoriously declared? ""No. The aim of UKIP is to withdraw from the EU and if it has any relation to the Tories it is to stiffen the Tories' spine on the issue by having a large enough UKIP vote so that we move the Tories in the direction they are refusing to move...""But it's not just to shift the Tories. I think UKIP had a huge amount to do with Tony Blair's decision to hold a referendum on the European constitution and I think it had a huge amount to do with his refusal to go into the euro"". And, while we are on the subject of Mr Kilroy-Silk, Mr Morris despatches him with another of his neat soundbites. ""Robert Kilroy Silk is not a team player - it is a good idea our party stands for some thing and not some one""...So what is the big plan for the general election. How will he achieve the breakthrough? ""Look, we are not going to be forming the next government,"" he said. Neither does UKIP have to fight every seat. As with the 2004 US presidential election, he says, the outcome will be decided by a small number of swing seats - just as he believes it will in Britain. So, with limited resources, the aim is to target those seats and end the day with a significant group in the Commons. He also believes it is possible the internet could have a big part in the poll. ""The internet was a decisive factor in the 2004 presidential election - through blogs (individuals posting their views in online diaries). People just did it"". ""Anything can happen in the next general election. There is an inherent instability at the moment. ""Labour and the Tories have drawn the consensus so tightly and to the left there is room for another voice""...That might, he suggests, lead to a hung parliament with UKIP and others holding the balance of power. It is a huge task, surely. But there is undoubtedly a sense that the next general election may indeed produce some surprises - even while most still believe it is Labour's for the taking. UKIP's performance in last year's European elections was just such a shocker and showed that Mr Morris may have a point about the new consensus. And after all, he has a reputation to sustain.",politics
+"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.""",politics
+"Teens 'know little' of politics..Teenagers questioned for a survey have shown little interest in politics - and have little knowledge...Only a quarter of 14-16 year olds knew that Labour was the government, the Tories were the official Opposition and the Lib Dems were the third party. Almost all could identify Tony Blair, but only one in six knew who Michael Howard was, and just one in 10 recognised Charles Kennedy. The ICM survey interviewed 110 pupils for education watchdog Ofsted. Nearly half those pupils polled said it was not important for them to know more about what the political parties stand for. And 4% of those questioned thought the Conservatives were in power - while 2% of them believed the Lib Dems were. The survey also looked at issues of nationality. It found the Union flag and fish and chips topped the list of symbols and foods associated with being British. Many of the pupils also looked on themselves as English, Scottish or Welsh, rather than British; while the notion of being European hardly occurred to anyone.",politics
+"Defection timed to hit tax pledge..With impeccable and precisely-calculated timing, Tory defector Robert Jackson and his new Labour bosses have attempted to overshadow Michael Howard's latest announcement on taxation and spending...With just about everyone in Westminster now working towards a May general election, Mr Howard is eager to map out some clear and distinctive policies aimed at finally shifting the Tories' resolutely depressing poll showings. The big idea is his £35bn savings on waste and bureaucracy which Mr Howard has pledged to plough back into public services and tax cuts. And it was virtually certain his pledge on tax cuts was meant to be the core message from his interview on the BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme. He and his shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin have been edging towards an announcement on this front for some months now, but without any concrete pledges. But Mr Howard announced that, of the £35bn he has earmarked from savings, £12bn will be used to plug Labour's claimed financial black hole with any left over going to tax cuts in Mr Letwin's first budget. He would not be precise, but there are already suggestions he is set to announce lifting the threshold on income tax and reforming or abolishing inheritance tax. But he did, for the first time, say there would be such tax cuts...""At this election, people will have a clear choice between Mr Blair who will waste more and tax more and the Conservative party which will give value for money and tax less"". It is the Tories' attempt to open that famed ""clear blue water"" between them and the Labour party and return to a traditional Tory agenda that will both reassure the middle England voters who have abandoned him and appeal to core Conservative voters. So it is a pretty safe bet to assume that, when Robert Jackson finally decided to jump ship and swim over to the Labour benches, his new masters decided to time the announcement for the greatest possible impact. Mr Howard, however, was dismissive. ""These things happen from time to time. There are disagreements between Robert Jackson and me...""The election is not going to be decided on what Robert Jackson did,"" he added. And that is certainly true. The election will be decided on ""the economy stupid"". Other issues like the Iraq war and the ""trust"" thing will also play a major part. But it is the economy that will probably be the greatest influence over the way people finally vote. And many on the Tory benches have been crying out for Mr Howard to get back onto the old Tory tax cuts agenda. Mr Howard knows that risks accusations that, as a result, he would slash public services, so he has attempted to shoot that fox first. With polls suggesting voters would rather any government cash surpluses were spent on schools and hospitals before tax cuts, he has suggested that is exactly what he will do. Whether this will finally be enough to shift those polls remains to be seen.",politics
+"Tory leader unveils spending plan..Tory leader Michael Howard says his party can save £35bn in government spending by tackling waste...The money would be ploughed back into frontline services like the NHS and schools with the rest used to cut government borrowing and reduce taxes. The Tory leader has also shrugged off the defection of one of his MPs, Robert Jackson, a former minister, to Labour. Mr Howard said that these things happened in politics and it would not affect the outcome of the election. ""Let's be realistic - the election is not going to be decided on the basis of what Mr Jackson did"", he told BBC 1's Breakfast with Frost programme. However the defection on Saturday has cast a shadow over the launch of the Conservatives' spending plans. Fuller details are due to be unveiled on Monday...The bulk of the £35bn saved by tackling bureaucracy and inefficient systems will go back into frontline services, Mr Howard said. The £12bn left over would then be spent on reducing government borrowing, he added. However, the remainder would deal with some of the ""unfair taxes"". ""Almost every independent expert says if you get another Labour government you are going to have to pay higher taxes,"" Mr Howard insisted. ""Because borrowing is going up, it is out of control, that is bound to lead to higher taxes or higher interest rates or both. ""So part of the £12bn we are going to apply to filling the government's black hole, reducing the borrowing. ""The rest will be used to reduce these unfair taxes which are bearing so heavily on the people of our country today.""..Mr Howard is expected to say that around £6bn will be available for tax cuts when he makes his announcement on Monday. The cuts will be paid for out of the savings identified by business trouble-shooter David James. Home Office spending could be cut by £1.6bn, according to the final instalment of his year-long review. Savings of £153m at the Foreign Office and £336m at the Department for Culture Media and Sport, have also been identified. In all, almost a quarter of a million jobs and 168 public bodies would go under Mr James' proposals...Mr Howard said: ""All this adds up to a bottom line and the bottom line is at this election people will have a clear choice between Mr Blair, who will waste more and tax more, and a Conservative government that will give them value for money and tax less."" However, Chief Treasury Secretary Paul Boateng said: ""None of the Tories' figures add up so they can't make these savings and can't pay for any tax cuts, which means the only guaranteed cut from the Tories is £35bn of cuts, hitting frontline public services hard."" Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy added: ""People will not be taken in by Michael Howard's claims of £35bn worth of savings. ""This can't be achieved without drastic cuts in local services in their own communities."" A poll for the News of the World newspaper suggests the Conservatives are on course for their worst election defeat in a century. Labour will hold key marginal constituencies, winning a majority of 160, the Populus survey suggests. And the Liberal Democrats will take three key seats from the Conservatives, leaving the Tories with just 163 MPs, two less than they returned atLabour's 1997 landslide and their worst showing since 1906.",politics
+"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.",politics
+"'Best person' for top legal job..The ""best person for the job"" should be appointed lord chancellor, and not necessarily a lawyer or MP, the courts minister has told MPs...Under reforms, the post of lord chancellor is to be stripped of its judicial functions. ""The lord chancellor...no more needs to be a lawyer than the Secretary of Health needs to be a doctor,"" said courts minister Christopher Leslie. The Constitutional Reform Bill was entering its second reading on Monday. Mr Leslie said: ""The prime minister should be able to appoint the best person for the job whether they sit in the House of Lords or the House of Commons."" Under the reforms, the Law Lords will also be replaced as the UK's highest legal authority by a Supreme Court and judges will be appointed by an independent panel rather than ministers...In December the Lords rejected a plea by current Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer that the holder of the job should not necessarily be a lawyer or a peer. The peers voted by 229 to 206 to say in law that lord chancellors must also be peers. The debate was carried over from the last Parliamentary session, but with an impending general election time is crucial for the government to get the Bill passed. Mr Leslie said it was irrelevant whether the post was called Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs or Lord Chancellor. He said: ""What matters most is...whether it is reformed so that the post holder no longer has those conflicting duties. ""It is no longer appropriate for a government minister to have such unfettered discretion in the appointment of judges.""..Shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve criticised the government on its plans to change what he said was an ""exceptional institution,"" providing a ""champion of the independence of the judiciary"". The government had initially proposed to take this institution and ""smash it to pieces,"" Mr Grieve said. Convention should be ""nurtured and celebrated,"" but the government distrusted and disliked it instead. He warned that unless ministers backed down over the lord chancellor remaining a member of the House of Lords, the government would have ""great difficulty"" in getting the Bill through Parliament. Former Cabinet minister Douglas Hogg, whose father and grandfather served as lord chancellor, said the Bill was ""largely unnecessary, bureaucratic and expensive"". But the Tory MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham admitted the lord chancellor's role and office ""cannot be frozen in aspic"".",politics
+"The memory driving Brown's mission..The memory Gordon Brown says keeps returning to him - the one that he says is burnt into him - is that of a 12 year-old girl, whose parents died of Aids, and who is HIV positive herself...Mr Brown seems haunted by her eyes, desolate of all hope. And then he talks of those eyes that do inspire optimism: an extraordinary performance by schoolgirls of Kenya's largest slum, advancing with crowded menace, flicking their hips in a manner almost as disturbing, before the finale of a clenched fist salute and shout of ""free education - free education for all"". Mr Brown's message generally, that compassion must become action before that hope is squandered. But he is such a pivotal figure in British politics, it is almost impossible not to ask him why he is doing this. His answer, in part, is because of the missionaries that used to come to his father's church. Ever since, he says, Africa has been important to him...I've absolutely no doubt whatsoever this is heartfelt. But he also believes it is time for the world to see a new Gordon Brown. Not the dull, reassuring bank manager but a man driven by a moral passion - and it just so happens the Labour Party feels an awful lot happier ridding the world of debt than ridding the world of dictators...There's also a sense of liberation. If Mr Blair won't allow him to run the election campaign then he can at least pretend it was all getting tedious and he'd much rather be out examining social problems in the raw. It also goes some way to solving one of the overarching problems for all politicians of all parties: scepticism sliding into cynicism about politics itself. If he can help the world's poor just a little, then it shows politics isn't worthless. But is his vision for Africa too grand? Can poverty in the continent really be halved? Brown replies that no one thought the Berlin Wall would ever come down either. He's still got to overcome - not only the reluctance of other finance ministers in the world - but also the cynicism of experts who wonder whether debt relief will just be squandered by governments that just won't in the end spend wisely.",politics
+"Howard dismisses Tory tax fears..Michael Howard has dismissed fears from some Conservatives that his plans for £4bn tax cuts are too modest...He defended the package, saying it was a plan for the Tories' first Budget and he hoped to be able to go further. The Tories on Monday highlighted £35bn in ""wasteful"" spending they would stop to allow tax cuts, reduced borrowing and more spending on key services. Labour and the Liberal Democrats say the party's sums do not add up and claim it would cut frontline services. The Tory tax plan follows complaints from some of the party's MPs that Mr Howard and shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin have taken too long to unveil the proposals. Now they have promised a figure but have yet to reveal which taxes would be targeted...Tory backbencher Edward Leigh said the proposals were a step in the right direction but he told the Financial Times: ""I would come up sooner with much greater tax cuts."" Interviewed on BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show, Mr Howard said: ""It is perfectly true that I am being attacked on one side by people who think we ought to be promising much, much bigger tax cuts and spending cuts...""On the other side, there are people who say we won't be able to achieve these tax cuts. ""I think we have got it about right."" Mr Howard said voters faced a clear choice at the next election between more waste and more tax under Labour and Tory value for money and lower taxes. He added: ""I would like to be able to do more, and over time I am sure we will be able to do more, but at the start, we have got to recognise there is a limit to what we can do in one go, in our first Budget. ""I have got to be responsible about this.""..The latest Tory plans came as campaigning for the election - widely expected in May - gathered pace. The Liberal Democrats launched their pre-election platform, with leader Charles Kennedy saying his party was the ""authentic opposition"", particularly on the Iraq war, council tax and university tuition fees. Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable also branded the Tory plans as ""fantasy economics"". Labour hit back at the Tory proposals even before their publication with election coordinator Alan Milburn accusing Mr Howard of producing a ""fraudulent prospectus"". The party on Tuesday challenged the Tories to publish the full report from David James, the trouble-shooter they asked to identify possible savings. But the Tories are in turn demanding that Tony Blair spell out which taxes he would raise if he wins the election.",politics
+"Donor attacks Blair-Brown 'feud'..The reported feud between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown has prompted a Labour donor to say he will almost certainly refuse to give more funds...Duncan Bannatyne also attacked the government over Iraq and its ""poor"" response to the Asian tsunami crisis. His broadside came as ex-Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said he hoped Mr Brown would be premier at some point. Mr Bannatyne has previously given Labour £50,000. He made his fortune from care homes and health clubs...The 52-year-old on Tuesday said was he was reviewing his donations because of Cabinet disunity and international issues. His spokesman said it was highly unlikely he would give Labour more money, although he would remain a supporter and not fund the Conservatives...Robert Peston's new book has prompted more speculation about the Blair-Brown rift with its claims that the prime minister broke a promise made in 2003 to stand down. Mr Bannatyne said: ""Disunity in the Cabinet has a corrosive effect on the country. ""Gordon Brown is a great chancellor who has delivered a stable economy, but business wants that to continue and not be blown off course by petty squabbles based on personal ambition."" The businessman, whose latest venture is a casino in Newcastle, also voiced concern about the ongoing violence in Iraq...And he branded the UK government's response to the tsunami as ""piecemeal and poor"". ""The people there need practical help not just pledges of money,"" he said. ""The US has forces helping on the ground - we can do more."" British Navy ships have helped the relief effort and the prime minister has said the government could ultimately give hundreds of millions of pounds in aid. Mr Bannatyne is due to host a new television programme and is also appearing on BBC2 business start-up programme Dragon's Den. But his spokesman insisted his attack on Labour was not a publicity stunt...In a separate development, Robin Cook gave his support to Mr Brown's prime ministerial ambitions but told a lunch for political journalists winning the election had to be Labour's election. But he insisted the recent squabbles between Mr Blair and Mr Brown were not ""perceived as a problem by the voters,"" adding there was no impression of governmental incompetence. Mr Cook argued that more prominence was given to these matters because there was ""not an alternative source of opposition to the government"". He warned the ""Abstentions Party"" was the real challenge to Labour - and they would not be motivated by Mr Blair's promise to produce an ""unremittingly New Labour"" election manifesto. His comments come after Dave Prentis, the leader of Britain's biggest union Unison, told the Daily Record newspaper he wants a date to be set for Mr Blair to be replaced as Labour leader.",politics
+"Howard and Blair tax pledge clash..Tony Blair has said voters will have to wait for Labour's manifesto to see if the party has plans to increase tax...The premier was responding to a challenge from Tory leader Michael Howard who said Labour would raise taxes in its post-election Budget. Mr Blair derided Tory claims they could cut £35bn in ""wasteful spending"" saying the party had got its sums wrong. The two political leaders clashed just days after the opening salvoes of the pre-election period. Mr Howard told MPs that ""every independent expert"" from the International Monetary Fund to the Institute of Fiscal Studies had suggested the ""government was spending more than it is raising and a Labour chancellor would have to put up taxes"". Mr Blair replied: ""I think they are wrong for this very simple reason: that the Treasury forecasts on the economy have been proven right."" The Tories on Monday highlighted their plans for tax cuts worth £4bn, although the specific taxes to be cut have not been announced...They also spelled out their plans for reduced government borrowing and more spending on key services. Labour and the Liberal Democrats have said the party's sums do not add up and claim it would cut frontline services. But Mr Howard said voters faced a clear choice at the next election between more waste and more tax under Labour and Tory value for money and lower taxes. The Liberal Democrats have also launched their pre-election platform, with leader Charles Kennedy saying his party was the ""authentic opposition"", particularly on the Iraq war, council tax and university tuition fees. Labour hit back at the Tory proposals even before their publication with election coordinator Alan Milburn accusing Mr Howard of producing a ""fraudulent prospectus"".",politics
+"What really divides the parties..So what is the gap between Labour and the Tories nowadays?..One Starbucks, one Rymans and one small Greek cafe as it happens. Both parties have now completed their moves to new headquarters, with Labour creating its election hub just three doors away from the Tories' new headquarters in Victoria Street, just down the road from the Commons. That should make things a little easier if and when the crack-of-dawn election press conferences kick off. Unlike 2001, there should be no need for colleagues to have taxis gunning their engines outside, or to buy scooters, to get themselves between the tightly-timetabled events...And, to all intents and purposes, we already appear to be in that general election campaign. Certainly the press conference hosted by election co-ordinator Alan Milburn, in the rather compact new conference room - still smelling of new carpet and with the garish New Labour coffee mugs as yet unstained - had all the hallmarks of an election event...""Welcome to the unremittingly New Labour media centre,"" he said. And I'll bet he hadn't checked that one with Gordon Brown. Along with Work and Pensions Secretary Alan Johnson and Minister for Work Jane Kennedy, he then went on to tear into the Tory plans to scrap the New Deal welfare-to-work scheme, which they claimed would lead to an increase of almost 300,000 in unemployment. And they ridiculed the claims made on Monday by Michael Howard that he could save £35 billion of Labour waste and inefficiency to spend on public services while also offering £4 billion of tax cuts. Labour has come up with a figure of £22 billions worth of efficiency savings so, understandably perhaps, believe Mr Howard must be planning cuts to squeeze the extra £13 billion. These figures, based on the two parties' own detailed studies, will be battered to within an inch of their lives during the campaign. Wednesday was just the start.",politics
+"Amnesty chief laments war failure..The lack of public outrage about the war on terror is a powerful indictment of the failure of human rights groups, Amnesty International's chief has said...In a lecture at the London School of Economics, Irene Khan said human rights had been flouted in the name of security since 11 September, 2001. She said the human rights movement had to use simpler language both to prevent scepticism and spread a moral message. And it had to fight poverty, not just focus on political rights for elites...Ms Khan highlighted detentions without trial, including those at the US camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and the abuse of prisoners as evidence of increasing human rights problems. ""What's a new challenge is the way in which this age-old debate on security and human rights has been translated into the language of war,"" she said. ""By using the language of war, human rights are being sidelined because we know human rights do not apply in times of war."" Ms Khan said such breaches were infectious and were now seen in almost very major country in the world. ""The human rights movement faces a crisis of faith in the value of human rights,"" she said. That was accompanied by a crisis of governance, where the United Nations system did not seem able to hold countries to account...The Amnesty secretary-general said a growing gap between the perceived influence of human rights group and what they could actually achieve was fuelling scepticism. ""Public passivity on the war against terror is the single most powerful indictment on the failures of human rights groups,"" she said. Ms Khan said the movement had failed to mobilise public outrage about what was happening to the human rights system. There needed to be a drive to use simpler language, talking about the basic morality of the issues rather than the complexity of legal processes. Such efforts could make the issues more relevant to people across the world, she said...The human rights groups also had to recognise there were new groups which had to be tackled in new ways as power dripped away from state governments. Al-Qaeda, for example, was not going to be impressed by a traditional Amnesty letter writing campaign. More also needed to be done to develop a human rights framework for international business corporations. Amnesty International members voted in 2001 to extend the organisation's work from political and civil rights to cover social and economic rights too. Ms Khan said the human rights movement would make itself irrelevant if it turned away from the suffering caused by economic strife. ""We would be an elitist bunch working for the elites, for those who cannot read the newspaper of their choice rather than those who cannot read,"" she said. Despite her concerns, Ms Khan dubbed herself a ""hope-monger"", saying she was confident the passions of the human rights movement could overcome the new challenges.",politics
+"Blair sees greater Bush consensus..George W Bush will display a more consensual approach to world politics as he begins his second term as US President, Tony Blair has said...The prime minister said Mr Bush had learned military force was not the only way to fight terrorism. He understood that ""the best prospect of peaceful co-existence lies in the spread of democracy and human rights"", Mr Blair told the Guardian newspaper. Mr Bush was sworn in at a ceremony in Washington DC on Thursday...Echoing the new US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the prime minister said there has been a clear evolution of US policy since the war in Afghanistan in 2001. Mr Blair had personally seen the change over time in conversations with Mr Bush. The president understood that while military and security measures were important, there also needed to be a multilateral approach to solving the world's problems...Turning to critics' fears that the US was poised for further military action, Mr Blair refused to give succour to suggestions it was preparing for strikes against Iran. The prime minister conceded that the US had ""what appears to be a harder position"" towards the state than Europe. But the prime minister pointed out that until now the US had allowed Britain, France and Germany to take the lead in trying to halt the Iranian nuclear programme. Following claims that US forces had worked inside Iran to identify potential targets, Mr Blair was asked if the SAS had also been in the country. ""We never answer questions about special forces, but do not take that as indicating an affirmative,"" said Mr Blair...Mr Blair said he believed the president was keen to work with other countries while trying to spread democracy and human rights. ""It is significant, in my view, that he is coming to Europe as his first foreign visit,"" said Mr Blair. Following his inauguration, Mr Bush is due in Europe at the end of January.",politics
+"Kilroy-Silk quits 'shameful' UKIP..Ex-chat show host Robert Kilroy-Silk has quit the UK Independence Party and accused it of betraying its supporters...The MEP said he was ashamed to have joined the party, which he labelled as a ""joke"". He plans to stand in the next general election but refused to confirm he is setting up a new political party called Veritas - Latin for truth. UKIP leader Roger Knapman said he would ""break open the champagne"", adding: ""It was nice knowing him, now 'goodbye'."" However, he did say the ex-chat show host had been ""quite useful initially"". ""He has remarkable ability to influence people but, sadly, after the (European) election it became clear that he was more interested in the Robert Kilroy-Silk Party than the UK Independence Party so it was nice knowing him, now 'goodbye',"" Mr Knapman told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Mr Knapman rejected the idea Mr Kilroy-Silk posed a threat to UKIP and queried why he had failed to confirm rumours he was starting a new political party...Mr Kilroy-Silk explained his reasons to his East Midlands constituents at a meeting in Hinckley, Leicestershire. His decision came as UKIP officials began a process which could have triggered Mr Kilroy-Silk's expulsion. It marks the end of his membership of UKIP after just nine months. It began with a flood of publicity which helped UKIP into third place in last June's European elections but became dominated by rancour as he tried to take over the party leadership...Mr Kilroy-Silk accused his fellow UKIP MEPs of being content with growing fat ""sitting on their backsides"" in Brussels. He told BBC News 24: ""I tried to change the party, I nagged all the way through the summer to do things, to get moving because I thought it was criminal what they were doing, it was a betrayal."" Mr Kilroy-Silk also told Sky News there was ""masses of support"" for him to form a new party - something he has yet to confirm will happen...UKIP won 12 seats and 16.1% of the vote at the European elections on the back of its call for the UK to leave the European Union In his speech, Mr Kilroy-Silk says the result offered UKIP an ""amazing opportunity"" but the party's leadership had done nothing and ""gone AWOL"". There were no policies, no energy, no vision and no spokespeople, he said. ""The party is going nowhere and I'm embarrassed with its allies in Europe and I'm ashamed to be a member of the party,"" said Mr Kilroy-Silk...He said his conviction in Britain's right to govern itself had not changed. He would continue that campaign outside UKIP when he contested the general election in an East Midlands constituency. Reports of his new party plans have prompted a formal complaint to UKIP's disciplinary committee for bringing the party into ""disrepute"". On Thursday, the party challenged Mr Kilroy-Silk to stand down as an MEP so voters can get a genuine UKIP candidate.",politics
+"Blair blasts Tory spending plans..Tony Blair has launched an attack on Conservative spending plans, saying they are a ""ludicrous improbability""...The prime minister has told a Labour Party gathering that the Tory policies would cause economic failure. Tory leader Michael Howard has said his party would cut £35bn in ""wasteful"" spending to allow £4bn in tax cuts. On Saturday, Tory shadow home secretary David Davis said the Tories would fund the cuts by removing ""inefficiencies"" which had ""burgeoned"" under Labour. In his speech, Mr Blair contrasted a reformed Labour party, which had learned to occupy the political centre ground, with a hidebound Tory party, which he said would turn the clock back with spending cuts. Mr Blair said: ""The Conservative tax and spending proposals would put at risk, both Britain's hard-won economic stability - the lowest mortgages, inflation, unemployment, for decades - and the key investment in public services...""I believe that the Tory plans are as plain a call to return to the past as it's possible to imagine,"" he said. ""It's a recipe for exactly the same boom and bust economics and cuts in public services that were their hallmark in 18 years of Conservative government."" Mr Blair added: ""They, the Conservatives have learned nothing."" By contrast, he said, New Labour had listened to its electorate and changed...Mr Blair went on to list his government's achievements and to issue a rallying call to the party. ""So now we have a choice, we can defend this record and we can build on it and go on and fulfil the promise or give up and go back. And I say we have to fight."" In response, David Davis said the Tories would make cuts, such as removing regional assemblies, but would bring in more police officers and match Labour's spending on health and education. ""Everybody knows, having lived through this government the last seven years, that they faced lots of stealth tactics, lots of increases in taxes, but no improvement in public services,"" he said. Mr Davis said Labour had been responsible for ""huge waste, huge overspending, not on the frontline at all but on bureaucracy"". ""The public face a choice between more waste and more taxes with this government, less waste and lower taxes with a Tory government,"" he concluded...Gordon Brown has addressed the conference behind closed doors. The Chancellor said the Conservatives' plans would see some £50bn in spending cuts by 2011, which the Tories deny. Mr Brown also issued call for party unity and warn of the dangers of allowing themselves to be ""distracted or diverted"". According to an advance text released by officials, he told delegates: ""We must all show the strength and unity of purpose to take the long-term decisions necessary to meet them.""..Mr Brown warned that the Tories were planning ""the biggest cuts ever in the history of any election manifesto"". Meanwhile, Tory shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin accused Mr Blair of ""misrepresenting"" the party's proposals and questioned how Labour would fund its own plans. ""He still cannot accept the simple truth, which is that we will spend more on what matters to people - schools, hospitals and police - and that we will offer value for money and lower taxes,"" Mr Letwin said. ""Once again Mr Blair and his Chancellor have failed to answer the question that lies at the heart of this election - which taxes will they put up to fill the £8bn shortfall in their plans?""",politics
+"Lib Dems' 'bold' election policy..Charles Kennedy has told voters his Liberal Democrats will offer them an ""honest choice"" at the next general election...With the other two big parties battling over which will impose the lowest taxes, Mr Kennedy is going into the looming election pledged to increase taxation. It is a bold policy and certainly ensures there is that choice between the Lib Dems and the other two. With his party's previous pledge to increase taxes by one penny in the pound to spend on public services already adopted by the government, he has switched tack. Now he is promising to levy a ""modest"" increase of the same amount on earnings over £100,000 a year to allow him to finance a series of pledges. They are to scrap student fees, finance free long term care for the elderly and replace the council tax with a local income tax. That last policy will also see about 3% of the most well off paying more while others, pensioners in particular, will pay less...Labour and the Tories have attacked his policies as both unworkable and not properly costed...Inevitably they insist there is no need to raise taxes to fund improvements in services. The Tories claim they can improve services AND cut taxes through £35bn efficiency savings, while Labour has offered £22bn savings but has yet to map out precise tax proposals, although there is little chance they will propose increases. In many ways the argument between the Lib Dems and the others over taxation and spending echo the sort of arguments that raged between Labour and the Tories in the 1980s and early 1990s. But, unlike the old Tory-Labour debate, he believes voters are ready to see ""modest"" tax increases on the well off in order to fund improvements in services. That is a view partly endorsed by recent polls suggesting people would rather have cash spent on public services than tax cuts...Similarly there is a different tone to the Lib Dem approach to asylum and immigration, with Mr Kennedy stressing politicians should not ""foment an artificial debate"" about immigration and attacking Michael Howard's proposals for quotas. Once again, with the two other big parties singing similar songs on immigration, Mr Kennedy is stressing the different, more liberal approach of his party. Mr Kennedy was also in buoyant mood over his party's election chances, declaring the Tories were not going to be ""significant players"" in the poll. He repeated his pledge not to do post-election deals with either party after the election. Mr Kennedy went on to suggest the re-election of a Labour government with a small majority would amount to a ""massive vote of no confidence "" in Tony Blair's government. That suggests the Lib Dem leader believes he may well find himself in a powerful, even pivotal position in a vastly different House of Commons after the next election. It is a dream the third party has dreamed many times before.",politics
+"Kennedy's cautious optimism..Charles Kennedy is far too canny to make any grand claims about how his party may fare at the general election...In his 22 years in the Commons, he has seen his fair share of such claims dashed on the rocks of bitter experience and, he might say, the UK's political and electoral system. But even his caution cannot hide the fact that this is a party and a leader that believes it may well be on the way to something special in a few months' time. ""Look, I have already said I am not going to put any artificial limits on our ambitions this time around,"" he said. He still seems to accept that the most likely outcome is another Labour victory of some sort. And his general election pitch is designed around the notion of the Lib Dems as the ""real"" opposition...But doesn't that lead to the jibe that his is a party actively bidding to come second? He is prepared to go this far: ""A clear conclusion has been reached, including by Conservatives, that the Conservatives are not going to win this election. ""Therefore the potential is there for the Liberal Democrat advance to be one of the big stories of the election, given that we have the capacity to take on Labour and win as well as take on the Conservatives and win. ""This is really going to be the first modern three party UK election that we have all experienced"". But haven't we been here before, with suggestions in the 1980s that Labour was finished. Won't voters looking for an alternative to Labour still naturally gravitate to the Conservatives? ""The problem is that, geographically, the Conservative party has melted away in about a third of Britain. ""We have supplanted them as the main alternative to Labour in whole tracts of mainland Britain. And they are a party with an ageing and declining membership base and they just do not look vibrant or vital or in touch any longer with contemporary Britain""...Mr Kennedy is also eager to dispel any impression his party is the new party of the left and is likely to attract mostly disillusioned Labour voters...He insists his three headline commitments, to be financed from a 1% tax increase on those earning over £100,000 a year, will appeal right across the political spectrum. They are to replace the council tax with a local income tax, provide free long term care for the elderly and scrap student fees. He also believes being the only major party promising to increases taxes will not land him in the same trouble a similar policy did to Old Labour. ""I think the tax argument has moved on a lot in British politics particularly in the context of the forthcoming general election,"" he said. Under a Labour government the tax burden would have to rise, while the Tories' plans to increase spending in some areas while also reducing taxes is just incredible, he claims...""We are being straightforward with people, saying you know there is likely to be an increase in the tax burden, we are only recommending one specific tax rise for the top end of income scale earners to fund three specific policies""...""That is a clear cut choice for people, one I am very comfortable with and I think will distinguish us from the others"". As to his own future, he is clear. If, as expected, his party increases its showing at the election, he intends to go into the next parliament ""on the front foot with a view to leading it right through that parliament into the next election because I see that as the decisive opportunity for us"". That last remark reflects a view gaining ground in Westminster that, if the Tories do as badly as some fear, the election after next might really see that historic breakthrough by the third party. Perhaps then Mr Kennedy will be ready to put some of the caution to one side.",politics
+"Hague 'given up' his PM ambition..Former Conservative leader William Hague says he will not stand for the leadership again, having given up his ambition to be prime minister...Mr Hague, 43, told the Daily Telegraph he would now find a life dominated by politics too ""boring"" and unfulfilling. Mr Hague, who stepped down after his party's 2001 election defeat, does not rule out a return to the front bench. He also told the paper he hopes to remain MP for Richmond, North Yorks, and start a family with wife Ffion. Mr Hague, who recently had published the biography of William Pitt the Younger, also said he wanted to continue writing books and speech-writing...He told the newspaper: ""I don't know whether I will ever go back on to the front, but don't rush me."" Asked if he would stand for the leadership again, Mr Hague replied: ""No. Definitely not."" His determination to stay away from a central role will disappoint some senior Conservative members, who say the party needs him. Tim Collins, the shadow education secretary, said last week it would be a ""huge boost"" to the party if Mr Hague returned to the front bench. Mr Hague became an MP at 27 and Leader of the Opposition at 36. He said: ""I feel fortunate that, by the age of 40, I had crammed in an entire political career. ""I had been in the Cabinet and been leader of the party, so now I can branch out into other things...it is a very liberating feeling."" Mr Hague added that he may have misjudged his own ambition to be prime minister. ""Maybe I wasn't as driven by politics as I thought I was,"" he said.",politics
+"UKIP candidate suspended in probe..Eurosceptic party UKIP have suspended a candidate for allegedly suggesting the criminally insane should be killed...John Houston, 54, was due to stand in the East Kilbride seat in Lanarkshire at the next election. But he was suspended after his reported views, including the return of the British Empire, were sent to two Scottish newspapers. UKIP spokesman Mark Croucher said those who selected Mr Houston knew nothing of his views. The episode comes at a difficult time for UKIP, soon after the high-profile departure of MEP Robert Kilroy-Silk. Mr Houston is alleged to have said that the organs of the criminally insane should be ""made available to law-abiding members of the community"" and proposed the legalisation of drugs and the sex trade. The document reportedly said: ""We're looking for the resurrection of the British Empire. ""The problems for the human race - environmental and others - can only be dealt with on a global scale, and that calls for a radical alliance of the English-speaking nations, which they are uniquely able to do."" Mr Croucher said the main issue would be that Mr Houston's reported views had been presented as UKIP policy, which they were not. He said they might have been submissions to a committee working on the party's manifesto, but would not have been matched to Mr Houston when he was standing to become a candidate. He told BBC News: ""He appears to have said these things. We have suspended him as a member and as a candidate. ""By all accounts none of this was mentioned at his selection meeting. ""It is simply a distraction from the task in hand, the EU constitution, not individual idiocies."" Mr Houston was quoted in the Herald newspaper saying: ""I feel UKIP have over-reacted and overshot the runway.""..Peter Nielson, who is UKIP Scotland chairman, said he had suspended Mr Houston on Friday night. ""He will remain suspended while the matter is being investigated and then we will decide if and what further action will be taken."" He said that any evidence would be looked into and Mr Houston may be interviewed by the party. He added: ""I can't comment too much at the moment, I have one version from him but I haven't seen the papers yet.""",politics
+"Boothroyd calls for Lords speaker..Betty Boothroyd has said the House of Lords needs its own Speaker and that peers should lead the way on reforming the upper chamber...Baroness Boothroyd, who was the first woman to be Commons Speaker, said she believed Tony Blair initiated reforms without a clear outcome in mind. ""Now we have to take care of it ourselves and make the best of it,"" she told the BBC's Breakfast with Frost. In 1999 Labour removed all but 92 of the Lords' 750 hereditary peers. That was billed as the first stage of reform of the institution. The lord chancellor hinted further reforms could be unveiled in the next Labour manifesto...""I think we need to look very carefully at the relationship between the Lords and the Commons,"" Lord Falconer told BBC1's Breakfast With Frost. ""How it interacts with the Commons is a very, very important issue. ""We need to address the issue in the manifesto, but you will have to wait for when the manifesto comes."" The lord chancellor currently has the role of House of Lords speaker. He is also head of the judiciary and a member of the Cabinet as constitutional affairs secretary...Lady Boothroyd said she believed it was unacceptable for the lord chancellor to have the role of Speaker. ""I would really like to see a Speaker of the House of Lords,"" she said. ""I don't go for the idea of somebody - a lord chancellor - who is head of the judiciary, a senior Cabinet minister and Speaker of the Lords. ""I want somebody there who is going to look after that House and do a job there.",politics
+"New UKIP defection to 'Veritas'..The UK Independence Party has lost one of its two London Assembly members to Robert Kilroy-Silk's new political party, expected to launch on Wednesday...Damian Hockney said ex-chatshow host Mr Kilroy-Silk would ""deliver better"" as the leader of a eurosceptic party. He said Mr Kilroy-Silk had made him deputy party leader of Veritas, Latin for truth. Sources close to Mr Hockney said around eight other members of London UKIP were also planning to jump ship...Details of the coming week's events were hammered out at a meeting at Mr Kilroy-Silk's Buckinghamshire home on Sunday, the BBC News Website was told. The news came after UKIP suspended a candidate for allegedly suggesting the criminally insane should be killed. John Houston, 54, was due to stand in the East Kilbride seat in Lanarkshire at the next election. A spokesman for UKIP called on Mr Hockney to quit the London Assembly. UKIP asserts that Mr Hockney ""has a moral obligation, if not a legal one"" to stand down. Mr Hockney meanwhile told the BBC: ""I believe that Robert Kilroy-Silk can deliver better as a leader of a eurosceptic party than the current leadership of the UK Independence Party.""..On the suspension of Mr Houston, UKIP said those who selected him knew nothing of his views. Mr Houston is alleged to have said that the organs of the criminally insane should be ""made available to law-abiding members of the community"" and proposed the legalisation of drugs and the sex trade...The document reportedly said: ""We're looking for the resurrection of the British Empire. ""The problems for the human race - environmental and others - can only be dealt with on a global scale, and that calls for a radical alliance of the English-speaking nations, which they are uniquely able to do."" UKIP spokesman Mark Croucher said the main issue would be that Mr Houston's reported views had been presented as UKIP policy, which they were not.",politics
+"Baron Kinnock makes Lords debut..Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has officially been made a life peer during a ceremony in the House of Lords...He will be known Baron Kinnock of Bedwellty - after his former constituency. Lord Kinnock - who led Labour from 1983 until 1992 - was until recently one of Britain's EU commissioners. A former critic of the House of Lords, he has said he will use the Upper House to advocate its reform and to talk on issues like higher education. ""I accepted the kind invitation to enter the House of Lords as a working peer for practical political reasons,"" he said when his peerage was first announced. ""It is a good base for campaigning on national issues like education, sustainable transport, industrial change and the ageing society and global concerns, particularly poverty and oppression."" During his induction into the Upper House, Lord Kinnock was accompanied by Lords Leader Baroness Amos and Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, a former aide to the ex-Labour leader. It has been a long journey for the new Lord Kinnock from his earliest days as a rebellious youngster in the south Wales valleys. Born in 1942 in Tredegar to a miner father and nurse mother, he attended Lewis Boys' School in nearby Pengam, known then as the ""Eton of the valleys"". From there he went to Cardiff University, where he met his future wife Glenys, now a Labour MEP...After a brief career as a tutor for the Workers' Educational Association, he became an MP at the age of just 28 for his home seat of Bedwellty (later Islwyn). He gained a reputation as a left-wing firebrand, voting against his own Labour government's spending cuts proposals in 1975, and later rejecting a junior post in James Callaghan's administration. But he joined the shadow cabinet in 1980, and after Labour's heavy defeat in the 1983 he was elected leader. He took on the far-left Militant Tendency and began the long process of returning his party to the centre ground. He was not expected to win the 1987 election, when Margaret Thatcher was still riding high, but was bitterly disappointed to lose the next one in 1992 to John Major, and stepped down. He remained an MP until 1995, when he resigned to become European commission for transport. Four years later he became vice-president of the European Commission, with responsibility for internal reform. As he assumes the title of Lord Kinnock, he has also become chairman of the British Council, which promotes the UK's reputation for arts, science and education.",politics
+"'Super union' merger plan touted..Two of Britain's big trade unions could merge to form a ""super union"" of two million members...The move by Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) would be a seen as a bid to carry more weight with ministers and employers. Amicus has 1.2 million members and the TGWU has 800,000. Any merger would have to be approved by the unions' executives and their membership. It is understood meetings will be held on Wednesday about the proposal. Along with the GMB and Unison, the TGWU and Amicus worked closely together in the last year to hammer out a 56-point deal with Labour's leadership over equality at work, holidays and pensions - the Warwick Agreement. Both unions are remaining tight-lipped about the merger rumours, but one insider pointed out to the BBC News website that ""nobody is denying suggestions a merger could be on the agenda"" when the two unions' executives hold their meetings on Wednesday. Amicus's executive was due to meet in any case although the TGWU is holding specially scheduled talks.",politics
+"UKIP MEP attacked German 'empire'..A UK Independence Party MEP suggested Germany saw the EU as an 'empire' and was cheaper than using tanks, a new documentary has revealed. Mike Nattrass, UKIP's deputy leader, made the comments to an audience at a meeting during last September's Hartlepool by-election campaign. But challenged on the remark, he denied accusing Germany of using the EU as cover for a ""4th German Reich"". He says he was not ""German-bashing"" but saying peace was the EU's founding aim. The meeting was shown in a BBC 3 film on ex-UKIP MEP Robert Kilroy-Silk. The former chat show host quit the party earlier this month, calling it a joke...The documentary showed Mr Nattrass, apparently talking about the EU, telling the meeting: ""The Germans are the big losers here but they don't care because to them the project is worthwhile. ""It's like an empire for them spreading in all directions away from Germany into Hungary, into what they call the Sudetenland - Czechoslovakia, places like that. ""So it's cheaper for them to do it this way than roll the tanks in."" On Tuesday, he told the BBC News website he did not think the comments were offensive and worked happily with MEPs of different nationalities in the European Parliament. He argued that peace was the only reason for having the ""outdated"" EU as there was no economic justification. Pointing to Germany's trade interests as a country in the centre of Europe, Mr Nattrass said: ""The fact is that the EU benefits Germany but it does not benefit Britain. ""I'm not at all German-bashing. It's the truth."" A UKIP spokesman said: ""Mike has some passionate beliefs and sometimes uses excessively colourful language with which to express them.""..The documentary showed some of the tensions between Mr Kilroy-Silk and his fellow MEPs after UKIP took third place in last year's European elections. He denied wanting to be leader until October 2004, when he told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme he aspired to the job. Asked by the documentary makers why he had lied about his leadership ambitions, Mr Kilroy-Silk said: ""There was one thing I said that I shouldn't have said at the time. ""I was trying to be helpful to the party and it was the wrong thing to do, I should have told the truth."" The film also included footage of a row between Mr Kilroy-Silk, MEP Nigel Farage and party leader Roger Knapman about rumours that he was about to resign the UKIP whip in the European Parliament. Mr Kilroy-Silk told them he had not left the UKIP group - a move he announced shortly after the meeting. He told Mr Farage: ""Don't tell lies Nigel, now you've told too many. Most of the trouble had been caused by you."" UKIP officials claim it was in fact Mr Kilroy-Silk, not Mr Farage, who briefed newspapers he was leaving the group of MEPs...Later in unguarded, off-air comments in a television studio, Mr Kilroy-Silk was heard saying he was irritated by ""defending some of these right-wing fascist nutters"". Mr Kilroy-Silk separately said he had argued against UKIP working with such groups which believed homosexuality was a sin. A UKIP spokesman said there were more than 40 MEPs in the same group in the European Parliament. They were from a broad spectrum - some right-wing, some left-wing - but with a shared belief in the ""unfeasibility of the EU as it is now"". He did not defend other groups' religious beliefs but argued it was their right to hold such views - just as Mr Kilroy-Silk had a right to criticise Arab states. London UKIP MEP Gerard Batten said: ""Robert has made a variety of comments about UKIP and its MEPs. ""There are of course two sides to every story. What Robert does not say is that he was offered several positions which would have given him effective control of the party, but not the title of leader."" Mr Kilroy-Silk is to launch his own parry, Veritas, in Westminster on Wednesday.",politics
+"Kilroy launches 'Veritas' party..Ex-BBC chat show host and East Midlands MEP Robert Kilroy-Silk said he wanted to ""change the face of British politics"" as he launched his new party. Mr Kilroy-Silk, who recently quit the UK Independence Party, said ""our country"" was being ""stolen from us"" by mass immigration. He told a London news conference that Veritas - Latin for ""truth"" - would avoid the old parties' ""lies and spin"". UKIP leader Roger Knapman says he is glad to see the back of Mr Kilroy-Silk...Mr Kilroy-Silk promised a ""firm but fair"" policy on immigration and said they hoped to contest most seats at the forthcoming general election. He said Veritas would also announce detailed policies on crime, tax, pensions, health and defence over the next few weeks. Labour campaign spokesman Fraser Kemp said Veritas was joining ""an already crowded field on the right of British politics"". On Thursday Mr Kilroy-Silk is due to announce which constituency he will run in at the next general election - that will come amid speculation he has his sights set on Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon's Ashfield seat. He was joined in the new venture by one of UKIP's two London Assembly members, Damien Hockney who is now Veritas' deputy leader. UKIP's chairman Petrina Holdsworth has said the group will just be a parody of the party the men have left...Mr Kilroy-Silk quit UKIP last week after months of tension as he vied unsuccessfully for the leadership of that party. He said he was ashamed to be a member of a UKIP whose leadership had ""gone AWOL"" after the great opportunity offered by its third place at last June's European elections. ""While UKIP has turned its back on the British people, I shall not,"" he said. ""I will be standing at the next general election. I shall be leading a vigorous campaign for the causes I believe in. ""And, unlike the old parties, we shall be honest, open and straight.""..Mr Hockney also left UKIP saying Mr Kilroy-Silk would ""deliver better"" as the leader of a Eurosceptic party. A spokesman for UKIP called on Mr Hockney to quit the London Assembly. The party asserts that Mr Hockney ""has a moral obligation, if not a legal one"" to stand down. Its leader, Roger Knapman, has said he is glad to see the back of Mr Kilroy-Silk. ""He has remarkable ability to influence people but, sadly, after the [European] election it became clear that he was more interested in the Robert Kilroy-Silk Party than the UK Independence Party so it was nice knowing him, now 'goodbye',"" he said. UKIP officials also argue Mr Kilroy-Silk has not been ""straightforward"" in attacking the party he once wanted to lead...Veritas? It's the BNP in an expensive suit!..It's all well and good Robert Kilroy-Silk claiming, that 'Veritas' is a party that doesn't believe in ""lies and spin"", but the truth of the matter is, its completely useless, due to proportional representation, there is no chance that 'Veritas' will have any chance in claiming power, and change the two-horse race trend. In my opinion this is just a publicity stunt which has just been used as a smoke-screen for his anti-Islamism slurs which got him sacked from the television...I think that his views regarding immigration are shared by many. It really is time that the UK government ceased to be a paper tiger on this issue. In addition as an Ashfield constituent I would be more than interested in Kilroy -Silk opposing Geoff Hoon!!..Good to see the parties of the right splintering in the way the parties of the left have always done. Let's hope Kilroy-Silk, UKIP and the euro-sceptic wing of the Tory Party all fade further into obscurity so we can have some truth in the debate about Europe. We benefit enormously from our membership of the EU, we need to be at the heart of Europe, leading it and driving it to where we as a country want to go, not running away from it...All mouth and trousers. A clown. Trouble is, any votes he collects may just end up helping New Labour into a third term...Whatever Kilroy-Silk and UKIP do, none of their anti-European policies have any relevance outside middle England. This new party might gain support from right-wing England, but will have little impact in Wales or Scotland...Hopefully this all this fighting within euro-sceptic parties will allow them to slip out of the way and get people voting for real political parties which address more than one issue. England needs Europe to survive and as soon as people realise this the better, we can't rely on the USA forever!..At last an impetus for increasing the likely 40% turn out for the election. The electorate is disillusioned with British politics. Kilroy has one agenda - the UK - and I'll be voting for him...Both UKIP and RK-S are representatives of small-mindedness and a lack of vision for the whole of humankind. The interests of humanity and the world lie so much beyond the scope of these people's bickering that who, in the overall scheme of things, really cares about their petty tiff?..Many people believe you Kilroy. You may even believe yourself but switching horses midstream and then bad mouthing the steed that got you halfway seriously diminishes your credibility...The very idea of political parties born out of such negative feelings as Euroscepticism or British Supremacy is nauseating. One can only hope the public recognise these extremists for what they are and shun them at the polls...I've always thought that Kilroy-Silk was a self-publicising, egotist and this news does absolutely nothing to alter my opinion...Brilliant, about time this country had a plausible party!..Having seen the recent BBC 3 documentary and witnessed the thoroughly disgraceful chauvinistic behaviour of a number of senior UKIP figures I can well understand why Kilroy-Silk feels embarrassed to be associated with such people. Hopefully the UKIP members who are interested in the political debate will support his action...Fantastic news. Pro-Europeans now have far less to worry about from the right. The Conservatives are as confused as they have been since the mid-1990s, and the extreme anti-Europeans are fracturing themselves into splinter groups that split any votes they might get in local, European and general elections. Robert Kilroy-Silk's ego and vanity are his own (and his supporters') worst enemy...As a euro-enthusiast I could not be more delighted by Kilroy-Silk's behaviour. He took a party that was just building up a head of steam, and having exposed it to ridicule by attempting a coup-d'etat, he is now setting about the serious business of dividing it in two. The closer to straight-down-the-middle the better, as far as I am concerned, but in any eventuality, the two sceptic parties will exhaust their energies fighting each other...If every politician with ambitions to lead their party resorted to forming their own for that purpose, we'd have ballot papers a mile long! You've got to hand it to Kilroy-Silk for his sheer arrogance and supreme self-belief...Whilst not being a great fan of Kilroy I do agree with his comments about the UKIP leadership, and like him I am also leaving UKIP. I believe countless opportunities have been lost to discredit the EU and to show our people what belonging to the EU really means. The EU's comments last week about Michael Howard's plans to reform immigration show how little we govern our own country when they can turn round and say immigration is a matter for the EU and not individual member states. The sooner we leave this corrupt super-state the better..Does anyone else think that it is ironic that Euro-Sceptic Kilroy-Silk has used a Latin name for his new party, rather than a 'good old British' name? Is this indicative of the man - contradictory, vain and pompous?..I think Mr Kilroy-Silk has got a very good point. British politics has become too PC and as a result has no straight talking honest strong politicians. They are all interested in their own careers and not the people who put them in power. As a result I feel our democracy is being abused and I want it stopped. If Mr Kilroy-Silk lives up to half his promises he will get my vote...Honestly, who really cares? Man with tan leaves party with no plan, to set up party with no idea...As one of Kilroy-Silk's East Midlands constituents I hope those who voted for him are proud to have been taken in by such charming vacuity. I feel insulted by having him represent me in the European Parliament...UKIP tried hard to accommodate Robert Kilroy Silk, but he made it clear that only control of it would satisfy him. Someone so keen on complete control was bound to fall foul of UKIP's democratic nature...Kilroy is an able communicator and a capable politician, in exactly the way those who lead UKIP are not. He tried to make it work, but they didn't seem to want to grow up. He was left in the position of having to defend their gaffes to the media. This new party seems a logical next step for Kilroy. Good luck to the man, I say...Oh please! This is an amusing irrelevance. There is absolutely no chance of either of these parties communicating a sensible and constructive 'Eurosceptic' argument. They will play a key part in winning the country round to the idea of a reformed, more democratic, more dynamic Europe Union. Future generations will thank him for his ridiculousness...The refreshing thing about Robert is that he is open, honest and straight. What other politician can claim this. I have a suspicion that he talks for a larger part of the electorate that his critics would like. I shall be voting for him...The electorate of the East Midlands voted not for Kilroy-Silk but for the UKIP. Kilroy-Silk was made an MEP because of his position on the UKIP's party list. He has no mandate to represent the area and should resign from the European Parliament...I wouldn't write off Kilroy-Silk. While he's a clown and a one man band at the moment, he's a populist and that's always dangerous.The man clearly has an enormous ego and looking at our current political masters, that seems to be one of the factors in success...Good luck to Kilroy though I think he is doing more harm than good for both his new party and UKIP because their vote base is not strong enough for both parties to be successful and at the moment UKIP have the upper hand while Veritas are starting from square one and fighting a somewhat uphill battle...The man I once found cringe worthy on Day time TV, could well turn out to be my country's knight in shining armour. He expresses views which are now more than common amongst society today - but people are almost too scared to express them. Kilroy Silk has secured my vote, and many more like me. What's more, I look forward to the day when he claims victory, wrecks the EU, and rescues my great nation... without a hair out of place and his tan as perfect as ever!..Great Stuff. The longer the UK dithers over Europe, the richer we in Ireland become, as the only English-speaking country fully committed to Europe. Oh and send us over those hard-working immigrants - our economy needs them...This is just what the Europhiles pray for. As the main Eurosceptic party, UKIP should try to resolve its differences with Kilroy to show a united front and give the UK public a serious political voice against Europe. Having multiple parties with the same view point just splits the vote further...Thank goodness that Kilroy-Silk has gone - now UKIP at least has a chance in the election!..It is very sad to see the cause of Britain regaining its proper relationship with Europe damaged by this split within UKIP. Robert Kilroy-Silk could have a lot to offer. Instead we have a split party and a damaged cause. Under the present electoral system, people must work together, and small parties have no hope of representation. Last summer, UKIP achieved a major advance, partly and only partly due to Kilroy-Silk. It is a great shame this has been dissipated in in-fighting...UKIP has a wide platform of policies, not just withdrawal from the EU. This Kilroy-Silk conveniently ignores in the comments surrounding the launch of his own party. Neither the English Democrats nor the New Party were interested in letting him join them and take over their leadership speaks volumes. Veritas is the beginning of the end for Kilroy-Silk...If he believes in truth and democracy then he and the two assembly members should resign and force a by-elections to stand on their own platform rather than this backdoor approach to politics of being elected for one party then defecting to another...So UKIP was good enough for him to lead, not good enough for him to follow!..Interesting that a party committed to plain speaking should have a Latin name!..Every opinion poll points to an overwhelming anti-Europe feeling in this country. Kilroy-Silk could be on the verge of something huge if he can broaden his appeal beyond this one issue. He is an extremely able communicator with years of political experience. We wants quality schools, top hospitals, clean and efficient public transport, punishments that fit the crime, limited asylum, a purge on bureaucracy and less taxes. It needs courage and honesty, two qualities sadly lacking in our politicians. Kilroy-Silk may just have those very qualities. Recruit the right colleagues, Robert, and your time may have come!..Well if you cannot get enough limelight being an ordinary MP then go out and start up your own Party. It's all flash and no real policy here..Let's hope this is the start of both UKIP and Kilroy-Silk slipping into obscurity...Veritas? The name will doom it. But perhaps I am wrong for surely all modern schoolchildren will understand it since they do still learn Latin in the classroom do they not? The whole essence of what RKS represents is Euroscepticism, so explain to me how the too-twee label of Veritas symbolises that?",politics
+"Civil servants in strike ballot..The UK's biggest civil service union is to ballot its 290,000 members on strikes in protest at government plans to extend their pension age to 65...The Public and Commercial Services Union will co-ordinate any action with up to six other public sector unions. Unions have already earmarked 23 March for a one-day strike which could involve up to 1.4 million UK workers. The government says unions will be consulted before any changes are made to the pension system...PCS leader Mark Serwotka warned there could be further walkouts unless there was a government rethink...""For a government that lectures everyone on choice - choice on public service, choice on this and choice on that - isn't it ironic that they're saying to public sector workers there is no choice,"" he said. ""If you want the pension you were promised when you started you must work for an extra five years - that is working until people drop. ""In the 20th century, it's completely unacceptable."" BBC correspondent Stephen Cape said the combined unions represented ""a formidable force"" which could embarrass the government in the run-up to the General Election. A stoppage involving civil servants, in particular, could seriously disrupt or close government departments, agencies and museums, he said...Opposition to raising the retirement age is ""one thing all the unions are agreed on"", our correspondent added. Unison's 800,000 workers, the Transport and General Workers' Union's 70,000 and Amicus' 20,000 are among those being balloted about a 23 March walkout. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott held a private meeting with senior union figures on Thursday night. Our correspondent said that he understood no deal had been offered in that meeting but that there was room for further negotiations. There was ""some possibility"" of the strike action being avoided, he added.",politics
+"Blair Labour's longest-serving PM..Tony Blair has become the Labour Party's longest-serving prime minister...The 51-year-old premier has marked his 2,838th day in the post, overtaking the combined length of Harold Wilson's two terms during the 1960s and 1970s. If Mr Blair wins the next election and fulfils his promise to serve a full third term, he will surpass Margaret Thatcher's 11 years by the end of 2008. In 1997, Mr Blair became the youngest premier of the 20th century, when he came to power at the age of 43. The last prime minister to be installed at a younger age was Lord Liverpool, who was a year his junior in 1812...Mr Blair's other political firsts include becoming the first Labour leader to win two successive full terms in power after the 2001 Labour landslide. And the birth of the Blairs' fourth child, Leo, on 20 May, 2000, was the first child born to a serving prime minister in more than 150 years. The last ""Downing Street dad"" was Lord John Russell in 1848. Labour won a huge majority of 167 over the Conservatives in 2001, but Mr Blair has since been criticised by many in his own party. The war in Iraq and reforms of the health service and education system have provoked dissent from backbenchers...Gordon Brown, chancellor of the exchequer under Mr Blair, became Britain's longest-serving chancellor of modern times in 2004. Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock said the chancellor would be best placed to take over from Mr Blair. When asked about the future leadership of the party, he told ITV Wales' Waterfront programme: ""That contest is a long way away and it will occur only when the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, decides he's subscribed all he can and then wants to go. ""I think that the main contender will be Gordon Brown, who is a man of virtually unmatched capability and now great experience."" Both Mr Brown and Mr Blair rose to prominence when Lord Kinnock led Labour between 1983 and 1992.",politics
+"Tories leave door open for Archer..The Conservative Party would deal ""sympathetically"" with any application by disgraced peer Lord Archer to rejoin its ranks, its co-chairman has said...Dr Liam Fox told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme there was no place for ""vindictiveness"" in politics. Lord Archer spent two years in prison after being convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice. The former Tory deputy chairman's five-year suspension from the party has just elapsed...A jury ruled that Lord Archer lied during a libel trial against the Daily Star at the High Court in London in 1987...He won damages after the newspaper printed allegations about involvement with a prostitute. Dr Fox was asked if he would say yes or no if Lord Archer applied to rejoin. ""I'm sure that in line with people having served their sentence and having done some reparations for what they did wrong, we would look at that sympathetically. ""I don't believe in vindictiveness, I don't think that has any place in politics, unlike the prime minister and Alastair Campbell.""..Tory peer Lord Tebbit said he agreed with Dr Fox's view, and said the case should be looked at on its merits. ""After all, he is far from being the worst perjurer in the world,"" he added. Meanwhile, senior Conservative MP Sir Teddy Taylor warned that moves bring Lord Archer back into the fold could be controversial. He said: ""I suppose, on a Sunday in particular, we should always make provision for forgiving sinners. But there is no doubt it would be controversial."" Lord Archer, who was not available for comment, remains a popular figure among constituency Tory parties and is a successful fundraiser. He has not been seen in the House of Lords since his release from prison in July 2003, although there is nothing in the rules to prevent him from attending.",politics
+"Mandelson warns BBC on Campbell..The BBC should steer away from ""demonising"" ex-Downing Street media chief Alastair Campbell, Peter Mandelson has said...The European commissioner and former Labour minister was speaking amid claims that Mr Campbell is part of a Labour ""dirty tricks"" campaign. That charge was denied by Mr Mandelson, who said the Tories were afraid of Mr Campbell's campaigning skills. He warned the BBC that attacking Mr Campbell had brought it trouble before. That was a reference to the Hutton inquiry following a BBC story claiming Downing Street ""sexed up"" Iraq's weapons of mass destruction dossier...The affair prompted the resignation of BBC chairman Gavyn Davies, director-general Greg Dyke and reporter Andrew Gilligan. Labour has attracted media criticism for using new freedom of information laws to dig up information about Tory leader Michael Howard's past...Mr Mandelson, a former Labour communications director, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: ""I understand why the Tories will be gunning for Alastair Campbell because they fear his campaigning skills. ""What I understand less is why the BBC should be joining with the Tories in driving that agenda. ""In my experience of these things, parties which shout about dirty tricks and the like tend to do so because they fear a direct hit in some vulnerable part of their political anatomy. ""I suggest the BBC concentrates on the issues and helps the public to understand the policies and the choices that are at stake in the election rather than engages in the process politics, the trivialisation of the campaign. ""I think the BBC would be much better advised to leave all this stuff well alone, concentrate on the issues as I say, not resume their demonisation of Alastair Campbell - we all know where that led before.""..Mr Campbell is acting as an adviser for Labour, which denies engaging in personal campaigning. Conservative co-chairman Liam Fox said Mr Campbell's return and Labour poster plans attacking Mr Howard - recently withdrawn from the party's website - were a sign of ""abusive politics"". ""The government, despite the fact that they would say want to go forward, not back, seem intent on talking about history rather than their own record or even more importantly, about the future,"" he said on Sunday. Labour peer Baroness Kennedy, who is chairing the Power Inquiry into political disengagement, said people already thought politicians engaged in dirty tricks. ""This feeling of distrust is going to be enlarged if this campaigning on all sides is conducted in the way that it looks as if it just might,"" she said.",politics
+"'Debate needed' on donations cap..A cap on donations to political parties should not be introduced yet, the elections watchdog has said...Fears that big donors can buy political favours have sparked calls for a limit. In a new report, the Electoral Commission says it is worth debating a £10,000 cap for the future but now is not the right time to introduce it. It also says there should be more state funding for political parties and candidates should be able to spend more on election campaigning...There were almost £68m in reported donations to political parties in 2001, 2002 and 2003, with nearly £12m of them from individual gifts worth more than £1m. The rules have already been changed so the public can see who gives how much to the parties but the report says there are still public suspicions. The commission says capping donations would mean taxpayers giving parties more cash - something which would first have to be acceptable to the public and shown to work. ""While we are not in principle opposed to the introduction of a donation cap, we do not believe that such a major departure from the existing system now would be sensible,"" says its report. If there was to be a cap, it should be £10,000 - a small enough amount to make a difference but which would have banned £56m in donations between 2001 and 2003...Even without changes the commission does urge political parties to seek out more small-scale donations and suggests there should be income tax relief for gifts under £200. It also suggests increasing state funding for parties to £3m so help can be extended to all parties with at least two members in the House of Commons, European Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland Assembly. And it suggests new ways of boosting election campaigning, seen as a way of improving voter turnout. All local election candidates should be entitled to a free mailshot for campaign leaflets, says the watchdog. And there should be a shift in the amount of money allowed to be spent at elections from a national level to a local level to help politicians engage better with voters...The report suggests doubling the money which can be spent by candidates, while cutting national spending limits from £20m to £15m. The commission also says the spending limits for general elections should cover the four months before the poll - as happens with other elections. Electoral Commission chairman Sam Younger said: ""There is no doubt that political parties have a vital role to play in maintaining the health of our democracy and for this they need to be adequately resourced. ""Our research has shown that people want to be more informed about party politics and that they want politicians to be more visible and accessible. ""The public are reluctant for the state to fund parties but at the same time are unhappy with large private donations."" He called for a wider public debate on party funding to find the consensus needed for radical changes to the current system.",politics
+"Conservative backing for ID cards..The Tories are to back controversial government plans to introduce ID cards...The shadow cabinet revealed its support ahead of next week's Commons vote on a bill to introduce compulsory ID. The decision follows a ""tough meeting"" where some senior Tories argued vociferously against the move, party sources told the BBC. The bill, which ministers claim will tackle crime, terrorism and illegal immigration, is expected to be opposed by the Liberal Democrats...They have said the scheme is ""deeply flawed"" and a waste of money. Sources within the Conservative Party told the BBC Michael Howard has always been in favour of ID cards, and tried to introduce them when he was Home Secretary. The party has been ""agnostic"" on the issue until now but had now decided to come off the fence, the Tory source said. Despite giving their backing to ID cards, the Conservatives insisted they would hold ministers to account over the precise purpose of the scheme...They said they would also press Labour over whether objectives could be met and whether the Home Office would deliver them. And they pledged to assess the cost effectiveness of ID cards and whether people's privacy would be properly protected. ""It is important to remember that this bill will take a decade to come into full effect,"" a spokesman said. ""It will do nothing to solve the immediate problems of rising crime and uncontrolled immigration.""..Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said: ""This has all the signs of Michael Howard overruling colleagues' concerns over ID cards. ""The Tories should have the courage to try and change public opinion not follow it."" The new chairman of the Bar Council, Guy Mansfield QC warned there was a real risk that people on the ""margins of society"" would be driven into the hands of extremists. ""What is going to happen to young Asian men when there has been a bomb gone off somewhere? They are going to be stopped. If they haven't [ID cards] they are going to be detained.""",politics
+"Howard denies split over ID cards..Michael Howard has denied his shadow cabinet was split over its decision to back controversial Labour plans to introduce ID cards...The Tory leader said his front bench team had reached a ""collective view"" after holding a ""good discussion"", but admitted it was ""not an easy issue"". He had decided to support the plans as the police said they would help fight terror, crime and illegal immigration. The Lib Dems have pledged to oppose the bill when it is debated next Monday...Tory sources say senior party figures had argued vociferously against the ID card scheme. Among those reported to have serious reservations over the strategy were senior shadow cabinet members David Davis, Oliver Letwin and Tim Yeo. But Mr Howard denied Mr Yeo, his transport and environment spokesman, said the plans ""stink"". He also said he was confident shadow home secretary Mr Davis would ""set out the position very clearly"" when he stands up to debate the matter next week. Mr Howard said the police had said ID cards could ""help them foil a terror bomb plot in which people could lose their lives"". He added: ""When the police say that you have to take them seriously""...He acknowledged there were ""good libertarian arguments"" against the cards, but said the shadow Cabinet had weighed up all the ""conflicting interests"" before reaching its decision. ""I don't pretend that it is an easy decision but at the end of the day a decision has to be taken."" He also denied he was afraid of looking ""soft"" on the issue, compared to Labour. The Conservatives announced their support for the government plans on Monday evening...Sources within the party told the BBC Mr Howard had always been in favour of ID cards, and tried to introduce them when he was Home Secretary. But the Tories insisted they would hold ministers to account over the precise purpose of the scheme...They said they would also press Labour over whether objectives could be met and whether the Home Office would be able to deliver them. And they pledged to assess the cost effectiveness of ID cards and whether people's privacy would be properly protected. ""It is important to remember that this bill will take a decade to come into full effect,"" a spokesman said. Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten has branded the ID scheme a waste of money and ""deeply flawed"". He said: ""This has all the signs of Michael Howard overruling colleagues' concerns over ID cards.""..The chairman of the Bar Council, Guy Mansfield QC warned there was a real risk that people on the ""margins of society"" would be driven into the hands of extremists. ""What is going to happen to young Asian men when there has been a bomb gone off somewhere? They are going to be stopped. If they haven't [ID cards] they are going to be detained."" Tory ex-minister Douglas Hogg said he opposed the plans for ID cards branding them a ""regressive"" step which would intrude into the lives of ordinary citizens without any counterbalancing benefits. He predicted ultimately carrying the cards would become compulsory and that would lead to large numbers of Britain's ethnic minorities being stopped by police.",politics
+"Taxes must be trusted - Kennedy..Public trust in taxes is breaking down because Labour and Tories are not being straight with people on the issue, Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy has said...A day ahead of the government's pre-Budget report, Mr Kennedy used a speech to say his party was facing up to ""painful economic realities"". He said the current level of taxation was about right, although he would put a new 50% tax on top earners. Other parties have accused the Lib Dems of making uncosted promises. Mr Kennedy made it clear he was determined to counter that accusation. The Lib Dems have already published what they say are the full costings for all their plans and Wednesday's speech did not announce new policies...Speaking at the Commonwealth Club, Mr Kennedy said it was critical for a political party to have economic credibility, both on what it promised and what it was expected to deliver. He said. ""Budgets have to add up. Tough choices are needed in public spending."" The Lib Dems would cut ""low priority"" spending, including the government's ID cards scheme and the Child Trust Fund...Those cutbacks would free up funds for increasing basic state pensions for over-75s, putting more police on the streets and reintroducing fee eye and dental checks, he said. The Lib Dems argue they were honest about taxes in the past by calling for a 1p rise on income tax. Now they say the only simple tax rise they want is a new 50% tax band for top earners to pay for scrapping university tuition fees, providing free personal care for elderly and disabled people and keeping local taxes down. There would also be a local income tax to replace council tax and a number of changes to environmental taxes to ensure it is the ""polluter who pays""...The Lib Dems say the Tories have only laid out possible options for cutting taxes to grab headlines while Labour has hidden most of its tax rises. Mr Kennedy said: ""That contract with the people - that the government will only tax fairly and will spend their money wisely - can only be sustained if the political parties are straightforward about their plans. ""With the stealth tax strategy of Gordon Brown, the obvious unfairness of our current tax system - especially the council tax, and the empty promises of the Conservative party on this issue - it is no wonder that trust in taxation is breaking down."" He challenged the Treasury to open up its books so the National Audit Office can report on the government's performance...Conservative co-chairman Liam Fox said: Liam Fox said ""If Charles Kennedy is serious about making his budgets add up he should start by explaining how they would fund their 100 spending commitments. ""The reality is, the Lib Dems lack the courage to tackle waste and bureaucracy, and the only people who would face 'tough choices' would be the families who would be £630 worse off a year. "" And Chancellor Gordon Brown said the Lib Dem figures did not add up. He accused the party of claiming it would spend less while across the country committing itself to spend more.",politics
+"Galloway targets 'New Labour' MP..George Galloway is to stand against pro-Iraq war Labour MP Oona King at the next general election...Mr Galloway, who on Thursday won £150,000 in libel damages from the Daily Telegraph said he would contest Bethnal Green, in London, for Respect. The Glasgow Kelvin MP, who was expelled from Labour over his anti Iraq war stance, accused Ms King of being a ""New Labour stooge"". Ms King said she was ""delighted"" at the chance to take on Mr Galloway...Mr Galloway's current constituency is set to disappear under planned boundary changes in Scotland...The 50-year-old MP launched Respect, the Unity Coalition, in January along with 1,000 anti-war activists, and the Muslim Association of Britain. The party's declared aims are an end to the occupation of Iraq, the repeal of anti-union laws and the end of privatisation. Speaking from a cafe in Brick Lane, east London, Mr Galloway said he had accepted the party's invitation to stand with ""great honour and pride""...He added: ""Here in this constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow there is a New Labour stooge MP. ""A stooge who will sing any song, make any speech, do any dance, do anything she is told to by Tony Blair - irrespective of how her constituents are adversely affected or how strongly they feel to the contrary."" Ms King has represented the constituency since 1997. She said: ""I'm delighted I've been given the chance to finish him (Mr Galloway) off, and believe me I will. ""I know many people around the country will be grateful, not least his constituents in Scotland who he has shamelessly abandoned."" In June's European Parliament elections, Respect failed to gain enough votes for an MEP but did come first in Tower Hamlets borough, most of which is covered by the Commons constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow...A month later it gained a council seat in a by-election in St Dunstan's and Stepney Green ward, Tower Hamlets. Mr Galloway said that in next year's expected general election and local elections a year later, the party would ""turn the East End of London into a fortress"". Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have chosen prospective parliamentary candidates for Bethnal Green and Bow from the Bangladeshi population, which makes up almost half the electorate. The Telegraph was sued for libel by Mr Galloway after the newspaper claimed he received money from Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The newspaper said it was in the public interest to publish the claims, based on documents found in Baghdad. Mr Justice Eady said he was ""obliged to compensate Mr Galloway... and to make an award for the purposes of restoring his reputation"".",politics
+"Election deal faltered over Heath role..The Tories failed to hold onto power in 1974 after Liberals demanded Sir Edward Heath quit in return for co-operation...Documents released after 30 years reveal the failed negotiations by the then prime minister following the dramatic February general election. Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe appeared willing to form a coalition government. But it partly collapsed over the Conservative leader's own role, prompting the Queen to ask Harold Wilson to form a Labour government. The February 1974 general election surprised the nation when it created a hung parliament with no party in overall control. Sir Edward had gone to the country for a fresh mandate amid the spiralling economic crisis, a miners' strike and the subsequent three-day week. Labour emerged with the most seats - but its 301 MPs were 17 short of the number Mr Wilson needed to form a majority...Sir Edward, who had received more votes but had fewer MPs, believed he had the authority to remain at Number 10 providing the 14 Liberal MPs would support his government. He said the Liberals could keep out Labour in three ways: lend ad hoc support to his minority government, help draw up the government's programme, or have up to three Cabinet members in a coalition with the Conservatives. According to the documents released at the National Archives, the ""friendly and easy"" first meeting indicated that both Sir Edward and Mr Thorpe thought they had the makings of a deal. Mr Thorpe was in high spirits, having just led his party to a historic jump in support. He also argued for a grand coalition of all three main parties. But Sir Edward said that was impossible because the Labour left was set against it and the pair settled on trying for a Conservative-Liberal pact...Hours later Sir Edward's hopes of a deal unravelled as Mr Thorpe's colleagues refused to support him. ""Jeremy said he was encountering a rather embarrassing problem with his colleagues about the prime minister personally,"" reads a telephone memo for Mr Heath...""They feel they could not agree to serve as long as he is the prime minister. ""Asked if this was his own view he said - no it was not, I am very close to Ted and thought he was by far the most able man we had and he would be perfectly happy to serve - it was only some of his colleagues who were being difficult."" The following day, the stickling points had clearly become two-fold: Mr Thorpe's colleagues wanted electoral reform and Sir Edward's resignation. Mr Thorpe told Sir Edward: ""I am sorry this is obviously hell - a nightmare on stilts for you. ""Somehow I personally hope that we can work something out.""..Four hours later, Sir Edward called the Liberal leader back to Downing Street in a last attempt at a deal. The minutes of the meeting show how the chance of a coalition government quickly evaporated. ""The PM said he was bound to tell Mr Thorpe that his colleagues had told him that they would not agree to serve under any other prime minister. Mr Thorpe was at liberty to verify this by talking to one or two of the prime minister's colleagues."" Documents show that Sir Edward mulled over resigning and perhaps returning to coalition government in a Labour-led coalition. But he already knew Mr Wilson would not form a coalition with either the Liberals or the Conservatives because of the opposition of the Labour left. Within hours of his final talks with Mr Thorpe, Sir Edward told the nation he was resigning and the Queen invited Mr Wilson to form a new minority government.",politics
+"UKIP outspent Labour on EU poll..The UK Independence Party outspent both Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the European elections, new figures show...UKIP, which campaigned on a slogan of ""Say no to Europe"", spent £2.36m on the campaign - second only to the Conservatives' £3.13m. The campaign took UKIP into third place with an extra 10 MEPs. Labour's campaign cost £1.7m, the Lib Dems' £1.19m and the Greens' £404,000, according to figures revealed by the Electoral Commission on Wednesday. Much of the UKIP funding came from Yorkshire millionaire Sir Paul Sykes, who helped bankroll the party's billboard campaign. Critics have accused the party of effectively buying votes. But a UKIP spokesman said Labour and the Conservatives had spent £10m between them on the last general election. ""With the advantages of public money the others have, the only way the smaller parties can get their message across is by buying the advertising space,"" he added.",politics
+"Labour battle plan 'hides Blair'..The Tories have accused Tony Blair of being ""terrified"" of scrutiny after Labour unveiled details of how it will fight the next general election...In a break with tradition, the party will ditch the leader's battle bus and daily press briefings in Westminster. Instead Mr Blair will travel to key cities and marginal seats to deliver the party's message. Labour election chief Alan Milburn denied the party was trying to ""hide"" the prime minister...He promised ""the most positive and upbeat election campaign Labour has ever run"". But Tory co-chairman Liam Fox said Labour's plans showed Mr Blair was ""terrified of facing proper scrutiny""...""At a time when the British people are looking for more accountability and openness, this government turns its back on them; abandoning plans to tour the country and scared to face journalists in a press conference - it does rather beg the question, 'What have they got to hide?'"" The general election is widely expected next May and all the parties are stepping up their campaign preparations. Mr Milburn said the economy would take centre stage in Labour's campaign in what would be a ""watershed"" election and the ""last stand of the Thatcherites"". Mr Milburn said Labour's slogan would be ""Britain is working - Don't let the Tories wreck it.""..The tone of the campaign, said Mr Milburn, would be more conversational than rhetorical; more spontaneous less scripted; less national more local and less based on issues and more concentrated on people. The approach is particularly designed to appeal to women voters, he said. Mr Milburn brushed aside questions over why the chancellor was not present at the Cabinet meeting to discuss election strategy particularly since such importance was being given to the economy. ""I'm not privy to everybody's diary,"" he said. Mr Brown has headed Labour's preparations for previous polls but Mr Milburn is taking that role this time. In a break with the past, Labour will not hold a daily news conference in London. It will not be a ""battle bus"" style campaign either, he said...In previous elections, each party leader has had their own battle bus transporting national newspaper, television and radio reporters to staged campaign events around the country. Mr Milburn said Labour's media effort this time would focus more on local newspapers and broadcasters, with every local radio station given the chance to interview the prime minister. Mr Milburn said there would also be a greater effort to set up face-to-face meetings between ministers and the electorate. Former Downing Street media chief Alastair Campbell is also returning to advise Labour on media strategy and campaigning...Mr Milburn said no decision had been taken yet over whether David Blunkett would have a prominent role in the election. Liberal Democrat chief executive Lord Rennard suggested Labour was avoiding news conferences in London because it wanted less scrutiny of its record and proposals. ""Tony Blair seems to have disappeared from Labour leaflets and broadcasts,"" he said. ""In contrast Charles Kennedy will feature prominently in the Liberal Democrat campaign right across the country.""",politics
+"Campbell returns to election team..Ex-Downing Street media chief Alastair Campbell will return to the fold to strengthen Labour's general election campaign, the party has confirmed...Mr Campbell has consistently made public his keenness to play a part in the poll, expected in May. Both Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott have welcomed his return. ""He is a strong Labour Party member,"" Mr Prescott told BBC One's Breakfast With Frost programme...Mr Campbell quit Number 10 in August 2003 after being Tony Blair's right-hand man at the 1997 and 2001 elections. Labour have refused to discuss his exact new position and have not said how it would affect his Downing Street replacement David Hill. ""Of course Alastair's going to be part of the election campaign and I think that all of us who will also be part of the election campaign are very pleased about that,"" Ms Jowell told Sky News...But she said his return would not put anybody else's ""nose out of joint"". ""This is the daft thing about the way in which politics is written about,"" Ms Jowell added. ""There's room for everybody. We serve the country better if we make room for all the talent."" A Labour source told the Sunday Times Mr Campbell would ""effectively front"" the election media campaign but said he would be given no formal title...Labour strategists told the paper he would be ""set loose"" on Conservative leader Michael Howard in attacking his party's economic record when it was in power. ""They used pictures from the 1970s in the 1992 campaign to remind people of the winter of discontent - and now it's our turn,"" the source told the paper. ""Making Michael Howard leader gives us an unmissable opportunity to remind people what it was like to pay mortgage rates of 15% even if it was more than a decade ago."" Mr Campbell was at the centre of the government's row with BBC over Andrew Gilligan's story about the Iraq weapons dossier. The Hutton inquiry cleared him of ""sexing up"" the dossier in the run-up to the Iraq war. Since leaving Downing Street, he has toured the country with his one man show, An Audience With Alastair Campbell and presented a number of interview programmes for Channel 4.",politics
+"Conservative MP defects to Labour..A Conservative MP and former minister has defected to Labour...Robert Jackson, 58, MP for Wantage in Oxfordshire, said he was disillusioned with the party's leadership and its ""dangerous"" views on Europe. Prime Minister Tony Blair declared himself ""delighted"", saying Mr Jackson would be warmly welcomed by Labour MPs. Mr Jackson, who has clashed with his leaders over tuition fees and Europe in the past, served as higher education minister between 1987 and 1990. In a letter to his constituency chairman he wrote: ""It is in the country's best interest that Tony Blair rather than Michael Howard should form the next government."" While saying he admired Mr Blair's ""courageous"" leadership of the country, he bitterly criticised the Conservatives stance on Europe. ""The Conservative Party's hostility to Europe has now hardened to the point at which it advocates the unilateral denunciation of Britain's treaty obligations,"" he wrote...Mr Blair said Mr Jackson was a ""decent, fair-minded and dedicated public servant... who will be warmly welcome by Labour MPs and members"". ""As he rightly says, [the Conservatives] have learned nothing from their two election defeats and are, if anything, drifting further rightwards,"" he added. A spokesman for Michael Howard said Mr Jackson's views on policy issues were ""very different"" from those of the party leadership. ""He believes students should pay tuition fees, that Tony Blair should not be criticised over his handling of the Iraq war and that more powers should be given to Europe,"" the spokesman said. He added that it was not surprising Mr Jackson had chosen to leave the Conservatives. Mr Jackson is due to stand down at the next election. He is the third Conservative MP to defect to Labour since 1997.",politics
+"Tory 'stalking horse' Meyer dies..Sir Anthony Meyer, the Tory backbencher who challenged Margaret Thatcher for the party leadership in 1989, has died...He was 84, had been suffering from cancer for many months, and died at his London home. That failed ""stalking horse"" leadership challenge made it easier for Michael Heseltine to mount his own bid. That in turn paved the way for John Major to move into 10 Downing Street, after the second ballot. Meyer's constituency party, Clwyd North West, which he had represented as an MP for more than 20 years, deselected him as a result of that challenge. Sir Anthony John Charles Meyer was born on 27 October, 1920. Educated at Eton, and at New College, Oxford, he served in the Scots Guards from 1941 to 1945 and was wounded in tanks in Normandy. He worked under Edward Heath on Europe at the Foreign Office and subsequently won the Eton and Slough seat for the Tories in 1964 - by 11 votes. Labour regained the seat two years later, and Meyer had to wait until 1970 before he could re-enter Parliament. His prospects of a front bench slot remained remote because he tended to defy the party line.",politics
+"UK youth 'interested' in politics..The majority of young people are interested in politics, holding ""strong opinions"" on policies and have a ""keen appetite"" for direct action...Research undertaken for voting watchdog the Electoral Commission suggests 81% of 16 to 20-year-olds feel strongly about issues like crime and education. The survey findings are being released to coincide with the launch of the Y Vote Mock Elections 2005 initiative. Mock elections are planned to take place in schools across the UK...Electoral Commission boss Sam Younger said: ""We know that young people often feel disengaged from democratic life and we believe in working creatively to encourage their interest and participation. ""Mock elections can play an extremely valuable role in helping young people understand how the democratic process works and why it matters,"" he said. The survey of a sample of 500 British 16 to 20-year-olds and 500 21 to 25-year olds ""showed Britain's young people are far from apathetic about issues that matter to most of their lives"". The Y Vote initiative is being run jointly by the Electoral Commission, the Hansard Society and the Department for Education and Skills in the run-up to local elections and the general election, possibly on 5 May. Michael Rafferty, who is mock elections project manager at the Hansard Society, said he looked forward to seeing schools and colleges across the UK participating in the mock votes.",politics
+"MPs issued with Blackberry threat..MPs will be thrown out of the Commons if they use Blackberries in the chamber Speaker Michael Martin has ruled...The £200 handheld computers can be used as a phone, pager or to send e-mails. The devices gained new prominence this week after Alastair Campbell used his to accidentally send an expletive-laden message to a Newsnight journalist. Mr Martin revealed some MPs had been using their Blackberries during debates and he also cautioned members against using hidden earpieces...The use of electronic devices in the Commons chamber has long been frowned on. The sound of a mobile phone or a pager can result in a strong rebuke from either the Speaker or his deputies. The Speaker chairs debates in the Commons and is charged with ensuring order in the chamber and enforcing rules and conventions of the House. He or she is always an MP chosen by colleagues who, once nominated, gives up all party political allegiances.",politics
+"Talks aim to avert pension strike..Talks aimed at averting a series of national strikes over pensions reforms will take place this weekend...Five public sector unions will hold private talks with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at Labour's spring conference in Gateshead. They want the government to withdraw regulations - due to be introduced in weeks - which would raise the pension age for council workers from 60 to 65. Up to 1.4m workers could take part in a strike already earmarked for 23 March. However, all sides are anxious to avoid a major confrontation in the run up to the general election, said BBC labour affairs correspondent Stephen Cape. In four days, Britain's biggest union Unison will start balloting 800,000 local government workers on strikes. Other public sector unions have pledged to follow. It is just weeks before new regulations are introduced to raise the pension age of local government workers...The five unions meeting Mr Prescott want the government to withdraw these regulations. This would allow months of tough negotiations to follow, said our correspondent. But a spokesman for Mr Prescott warned that the changes to the local government pension scheme would have to go ahead in April. Privately ministers believe this will be the ""less painful"" option, our correspondent added. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) will co-ordinate any industrial action with up to six other public sector unions. PCS leader Mark Serwotka warned last week that there could be further walkouts unless there was a government rethink. ""For a government that lectures everyone on choice - choice on public service, choice on this and choice on that - isn't it ironic that they're saying to public sector workers there is no choice,"" he said. ""If you want the pension you were promised when you started you must work for an extra five years - that is working until people drop. ""In the 20th century, it's completely unacceptable.""..Unison's 800,000 workers, the Transport and General Workers' Union's 70,000 and Amicus' 20,000 are among those being balloted about a 23 March walkout. Mr Prescott held a private meeting with senior union figures last week. It is understood no deal was offered in that meeting but there was room for further negotiations.",politics
+"Stalemate in pension strike talks..Talks aimed at averting national strikes over pension reforms have ended without agreement after 90 minutes...Five public sector unions met Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at the Labour spring conference in Gateshead. They want the government to withdraw regulations - due to be introduced in weeks - which would raise the pension age for council workers from 60 to 65. Up to 1.4 million workers could take part in strikes earmarked for 23 March. Discussions will resume next week...A spokesman for Unison, Britain's biggest union, said after Saturday's meeting: ""At least we are still talking."" All sides are anxious to avoid a major confrontation in the run up to the general election, said BBC labour affairs correspondent Stephen Cape. In four days, Unison will start balloting 800,000 local government workers on strikes. Other public sector unions have pledged to follow. The five unions which met Mr Prescott want the government to withdraw these regulations. This would allow months of tough negotiations to follow, said our correspondent. But a spokesman for Mr Prescott warned that the changes to the local government pension scheme would have to go ahead in April...Privately ministers believe this will be the ""less painful"" option, our correspondent added. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) will co-ordinate any industrial action with up to six other public sector unions. PCS leader Mark Serwotka warned last week that there could be further walkouts unless there was a government rethink. ""For a government that lectures everyone on choice - choice on public service, choice on this and choice on that - isn't it ironic that they're saying to public sector workers there is no choice,"" he said. ""If you want the pension you were promised when you started you must work for an extra five years - that is working until people drop. ""In the 20th century, it's completely unacceptable.""..Unison's 800,000 workers, the Transport and General Workers' Union's 70,000 and Amicus' 20,000 are among those being balloted about a 23 March walkout. Mr Prescott held a private meeting with senior union figures last week. It is understood no deal was offered in that meeting but there was room for further negotiations.",politics
+"Parties warned over 'grey vote'..Political parties cannot afford to take older UK voters for granted in the coming election, says Age Concern...A survey for the charity suggests 69% of over-55s say they always vote in a general election compared with just 17% of 18 to 24 year olds. Charity boss Gordon Lishman said if a ""decisive blow"" was struck at the election it would be by older voters who could be relied on to turn out. A total of 3,028 adults aged 18 or over were interviewed for the study. Mr Lishman urged the next government to boost state pension...He also called for measures to combat ageism and build effective public services to ""support us all in an ageing society"". ""Older people want to see manifesto commitments that will make a difference to their lives,"" Mr Lishman said. ""Political parties must wake up to the fact that unless they address the demands and concerns of older people they will not keep or attract their vote."" In the survey carried out by ICM Research, 14% of people aged between 18 and 34 said they never voted in general elections. Among the over-65s, 70% said they would be certain to vote in an immediate election, compared with 39% of people under 55. Age Concern says the over-55s are ""united around"" key areas of policy they want the government to focus on. For 57%, pensions and the NHS were key issues, while the economy was important for a third, and tax was a crucial area for 25%...The report was welcomed by Conservative shadow pensions secretary David Willetts. ""The pensioners' voice must certainly be heard in the next election as they have never fitted into Blair's cool Britannia,"" he said. ""Labour's continued refusal to admit the true extent of the pensions crisis will be one of the monumental failures of this government."" He pointed to Tory plans to increase the basic state pension to reduce means testing, strengthen company pensions and encourage savings. A Liberal Democrat spokesman said the party took the issues raised in the report very seriously. He highlighted the party's promises to raise the basic state pension, provide free long-term care for the elderly and replace council tax, seen as a particular problem for pensioners on fixed incomes. Labour has said it wants to use savings reforms to Incapacity Benefit to improve the basic state pension and has set up a review of the council tax system.",politics
+"Blair to face trust issue head on..Tony Blair says he will be facing the issue of trust and his own integrity head on during the election campaign...During a question and answer session with first-time voters on Five News, Mr Blair said he had no option but to ""confront it"" by talking to people. He also dismissed claims government plans to get 50% of young people into university would devalue degrees. He was not ""forcing"" anyone to go to university, but places should be there for those who wanted them, he said. In answer to a question from 22-year-old Liverpool student David Dunne about concerns over the prime minister's personal integrity, Mr Blair said talking was the only answer. ""You've just got to confront it and say to people let's have a discussion on the things that worry you, the things that make you say 'I can't trust you' or 'I am against you on this.'"" The ""worst thing in politics"" was that the electorate only got ""little snatches of policy"" from things like Prime Minister's Questions and the news headlines. This was why he wanted to ""get out of the 30 seconds on the news,"" he added...By talking through policies at least people understood the reason for them, even if they did not agree with them, he said. Mr Blair also faced questions about British policy on Iran and its alleged nuclear weapons programme. He insisted there was no plan for an invasion of the country saying: ""Sometimes people say because of what has happened in Iraq this is the next place."" Instead there was a real chance of a ""peaceful resolution"" to the problem, he said.",politics
+"CSA chief who 'quit' still in job..The head of the ""failing"" Child Support Agency widely reported to have resigned three months ago is still at the helm of the troubled organisation...Doug Smith's departure was announced by Work Secretary Alan Johnson on 17 November as MPs grilled him over the agency's poor performance. His ""resignation"" was referred to by both Tory and Lib Dem leaders during that day's prime ministers questions. Officials now say he did not resign but will move on under civil service rules...Mr Smith's departure was reported widely at the time as his shouldering the blame for the failings of the Child Support Agency. In January the MPs who make up the Commons Work and Pensions Committee published a highly critical report into the ""failing"" agency noting the chief executive ""has now left"" and hoping ""the new leadership will bring a fresh approach to what is a failing organisation""...On that day's Today programme Mr Johnson was asked why Mr Smith had been allowed to resign rather than be sacked. He replied: ""The chief executive decided it was time to move on, there is a new chief executive coming in."" It now emerges that the widespread belief Mr Smith, made Commander of the Order of the Bath in the New Year honours, had left, was wrong. A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman confirmed Mr Smith was still in post and that he would continue in the job until a replacement was found. ""No date was ever given for Doug Smith's departure,"" she said adding that the post had been advertised...Tory work and pensions spokesman David Willetts said families affected by CSA failings would wonder why Mr Smith was still in his job three months after his departure was announced. The CSA has been surrounded by controversy since its introduction in 1993 to assess and enforce child support payments by absent parents...The work and pensions committee launched their inquiry into the CSA's performance after it became clear that, despite the introduction of a simpler system of calculating maintenance payments for new cases in 2003, a backlog of claims was still building up. It is currently chasing outstanding payments of more than £720m, while a further £947m has been designated as ""unrecoverable"". The MPs found American IT giant EDS' £456m system was ""nowhere near being fully functional and the number of dissatisfied, disenchanted and angry customers continues to escalate""...In November, when he surprised MPs and the watching media by announcing Mr Smith's departure, Mr Johnson said: ""I should tell you that Doug has decided that now is the time to stand aside and to allow a new chief executive to tackle the challenges ahead. ""Doug has exceeded the four years that senior civil servants are now expected to remain in a particular post. ""So Doug believes that we have reached the natural breakpoint at which he can hand over the reins."" Lib Dem Sir Archy Kirkwood, who chairs the Commons work and pensions committee, said that when Mr Johnson had announced Mr Smith was going he got the ""clear impression"" the CSA chief was retiring though it had since emerged that was not the case, and he may be seeking new employment opportunities...He added his committee was ""duty bound"" to allow the work and pensions secretary to get new management into place in the CSA and it would be ""premature"" to say anything further on the issue at the moment. But committee member and Tory MP Nigel Waterson said he was ""amazed"" Mr Smith was still in his job. ""When Mr Smith and the secretary of state came to give evidence, we were led to believe he was going shortly,"" he said. ""Even if he was working out three months notice, he should have been clearing his desk by now."" Asked on Thursday about Mr Smith's position Mr Johnson told BBC Radio 4's World at One he thought it was a ""non-story"". He added that he had been absolutely open when he announced Mr Smith's departure to the select committee and how people chose to interpret it was a ""different thing"". ""The major issue is have we got a new chief executive coming into this very important agency as quickly as possible and have we gone through the right selection process to make sure we've got the right people,"" he added.",politics
+"Blair moves to woo Jewish voters..Tony Blair has pledged to ""never, ever, ever"" attack Tory leader Michael Howard over his Jewish beliefs...The prime minister told the Jewish Chronicle: ""If you look at what I do, I attack Michael Howard politically."" Mr Blair also distanced himself from recent Labour campaign posters featuring Mr Howard, which critics claimed were ""anti-Semitic"". These were ""not intended to cause any offence to anyone on the Jewish community,"" Mr Blair insisted...One poster depicted Mr Howard and his shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin, who is also Jewish, as flying pigs. Another pictured the Tory leader swinging a pocket watch on a chain, which critics said echoed the Jewish money lender Shylock in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice...Others compared the image to the character Fagin in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. Labour has since taken the designs of its website, saying members had preferred other designs. During his interview with the Jewish Chronicle, Mr Blair said: ""I've been a very strong supporter of the Jewish community and Israel, and will always be so."" Pressed on whether he would draw attention to Mr Howard's Jewish beliefs in an attempt to attract Muslim support, he replied: ""The idea that I would allow anybody to make such a charge is outrageous. It's untrue. ""If you look what I do, I attack Michael Howard politically. I would never, ever, ever attack him on that basis.""..Mr Blair also defended his party's attitude towards the Jewish community, pointing out that it was his government that had introduced the Holocaust Memorial Day. He added that Labour also aggressively fought all forms of racism...Neither the Conservatives nor the Liberal Democrats wished to comment on Mr Blair's words. The prime minister was speaking as London's Labour mayor Ken Livingstone remains embroiled in a row over comments he made to a Jewish reporter from the city's Evening Standard newspaper. Mr Blair repeated calls for the mayor to apologise for likening the reporter, Oliver Finegold, to a concentration camp guard. Mr Livingstone ""should have withdrawn the comment immediately"" once he realised the journalist was Jewish, said Mr Blair. ""I'm sure that is what in truth he wants to do. Well, he should do it."" Mr Livingstone has said he could not sincerely say sorry for the comments he made, and claims he has been targeted by the newspaper. He conceded his comments may have been offensive but were not racist, and said earlier this week he would not apologise even if Mr Blair asked.",politics
+"Parties' plans for council tax..Anger at council tax rises spilled over into mass protests in 2003, when the average English bill rose 12.9%...Pensioners' protests spread - some marched, others simply refused to pay the increase. Some, such as 83-year-old Elizabeth Winkfield, said they would rather go to jail. The Audit Commission found the whole local government finance system was ""fundamentally flawed"" and all three of the main parties have said the system has to change...Labour says it wants to retain the property-based tax but reform it to make it fairer and says there is scope for councils to become more efficient. They say they are already helping pensioners with council tax bills, with a £100 lump sum for the over-70s and last year the government capped some local councils' budgets to keep demands down. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has said the current system is not sustainable in the long term and said there would be ""radical reform"". The party says this year's increases will be the lowest in a decade. A report last year looked at increasing the number of council tax bands and other forms of local taxation, such as reformed business rates, although no decisions have been made. An independent inquiry into its findings, the Lyons review, is due to report back at the end of 2005...The Tories have promised a reduction on bills for pensioners, who they say have been hardest hit by year-on-year increases in council tax. They say they can save £4bn on ""government waste"", of which £1.3bn could be used to cut pensioners' bills by an average of £340. It would not be means tested, say the Tories, because that would create more bureaucracy and could discourage people from saving for their retirement. Instead households where council tax payers are over 65 would get a rebate covering half their bill, up to a maximum of £500. The Tories also say they are suspicious about any proposals to revalue homes - currently graded according to their value in 1991 - because they believe seven million of homes could move up a band...The Liberal Democrats want to do away with the council tax altogether and switch to a local income tax of the kind seen in the USA, Norway and Switzerland. The rate would be set locally, but administered by the Inland Revenue which they say would save at least £300m. They say the council tax is the most unpopular and most unfair tax in Britain, because it puts a ""ceiling"" on what the richest pay. The party says it would aim for a £5,000 tax-free personal allowance, or a £7,000 allowance for the over-65s. After that income would be taxed up to £100,000. The Lib Dems say their plan is fairer, more efficient, has already been tested abroad and offers more accountability.",politics
+"Labour in constituency race row..Labour's choice of a white candidate for one of the UK's most multi-racial seats proves the need for all-black short lists, says a race group...Local councillor Lyn Brown was selected for West Ham, east London, in a contest between two white and five ethnic minority women. An Operation Black Vote spokesman said they now wanted to meet Labour party chairman Ian McCartney for discussions. Mr McCartney recently announced party consultation on all-black shortlists. However, Labour has so far unable been unable to comment on the implications of the West Ham result...Ashok Vishwanathan of Operation Black Vote, which aims to increase ethnic minorities' participation in the political process and their representation, said the result again showed all-women shortlists were not effective in getting minority women selected. ""I think all-black shortlists are the only way to cut to the chase and address the lack of minority candidates,"" Mr Vishwanathan said...Last month the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) also called for ethnic minority shortlists in certain circumstances. A CRE spokesman said the organisation had nothing to add on the shortlist issue specifically but would be working with all the political parties to address the under-representation of ethnic minorities in Parliament. ""We will be raising it with each of the party leaders on a formal basis and helping them find the most appropriate way forward,"" the spokesman said. Ethnic minorities make up 8% of the United Kingdom population but only 2% of MPs - 13 out of 659 - are from a visible minority group. Twelve of them represent Labour, and one is a Liberal Democrat. If ethnic minorities were represented in the House of Commons in proportion to their numbers in the population, there would be 42 ethnic minority MPs.",politics
+"MPs tout Lords replacement plan..A group of MPs has tried to raise the pressure on Tony Blair over reform to the House of Lords by publishing a detailed blueprint for change...The cross-party group has unveiled a draft bill proposing a smaller second chamber in which 70% of members would be elected. MPs and peers have failed to agree on reform since 1999 when 600 hereditaries lost their seats. The group says it can win support for removing the last 92 hereditaries. The government postponed plans to remove the remaining hereditary peers because they said they were unlikely to succeed after opposition in the Lords. Tony Blair has argued. there needs to be consensus on reforms. There have been suggestions there will be proposals for changing at least the powers of the Lords in Labour's manifesto...But the all-party group, including Tories Ken Clarke and Sir George Young, Labour's Robin Cook and Tony Wright and Liberal Democrat Paul Tyler, is confident its plan would win support from a ""large majority"". And they list former Conservative leader William Hague and former Labour leader Neil Kinnock as supporters of the plans. The group says the British public and a clear majority of MPs support replacing the Lords with a largely-elected second chamber. Their plan would see the House of Lords being renamed the Second Chamber of Parliament, and its members would be known as MSCPs...There would be 385 MSCPs, including 270 elected members, 87 appointed members and 16 bishops. They would serve for between 12 and 14 years. Mr Cook said holding elections for MSCPs on the same day as those for MPs might help motivate the electorate and increase voter turnout. He added: ""Over the last year I have seen many statements from senior figures of this government insisting the public must have the right of choice. ""What could be more important than a choice of the people who sit in our Parliament?""..The group believes pressure is growing for change and the government's current position is unsustainable. It wants all three main parties to include a commitment to a ""largely democratic"" second chamber in their manifestos. Mr Clarke said the issue ""went to the heart of reforming the health of the British political system"". And Mr Tyler said the prime minister's view that there was no agreement on the shape of the future of the Lords was flawed. ""The problem, I think, in the prime minister's mind is there doesn't appear to be a consensus that includes him,"" he said. ""We are providing a consensus"". The Elect the Lords Campaign said the draft bill was an important contribution to the debate. ""We believe this draft bill is detailed enough to form the basis of closer parliamentary scrutiny,"" said co-ordinator Peter Facey. ""In lieu of any other such clear proposals, the government must permit that to happen.""",politics
+"Hague's six-figure earnings shown..The rewards of leaving front-bench politics are shown in the latest annual register of members' interests...The register shows former Tory leader William Hague earning up to £820,000 on top of his MPs' salary, much of it from speaking fees. His former shadow chancellor Michael Portillo makes up to £560,000 a year - partly because of speeches and TV work. Ex-health secretary Alan Milburn earned up to £85,000 from speeches, articles and advice while not in the Cabinet...Mr Milburn was away from the frontbench for just more than a year between stepping down as health secretary and becoming Labour's election supremo. His declared interests include £20,000 from newspaper articles and fees of up to £35,000 for four speeches. He also commanded a salary of between £25,000 and £35,000 for being on investment company Bridgepoint Capital's European advisory committee. His time out of office will, however, have lost him his £71,433 minister's salary. Mr Hague's work outside Parliament included two one-man shows, which with other speaking fees netted him up to £480,000. He also earned up to £195,000 for a weekly column in the News of the World, and between £5,000 and £10,000 for presenting BBC'2's Have I Got News for You. Mr Hague was also paid an undisclosed amount for the newspaper serialisation of his biography of William Pitt the Younger and up to £135,00 for work as an adviser to various companies...Former Defence Secretary Michael Portillo makes some of his money as a non-executive director of BAE Systems. He is to stand down as an MP at the next election. And former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook was paid between £45,001 and £50,000 for the paperback edition of his book about his resignation from government. His declared income of up to £205,000 also includes payments for being a consultant to the Tote and for his regular column in the Guardian newspaper. The register also shows former Home Office Minister Ann Widdecombe declaring a £100,000 advance for her third and fourth novels. She also received up to £30,000 for acting as the Guardian's agony aunt and between £5,001 and £10,000 for appearing on ITV's Celebrity Fit Club. David Blunkett has become a paid adviser to Indepen Consulting Limited now he is not home secretary - he helps them with seminars about the relationship between government and business. He earns between £5,001and £10,000 for the work...Tony Blair's entry confirms that King Abdullah of Jordan paid for him to fly from a holiday in Egypt to official discussions - and for a sightseeing tour to Wadi Rum. Tory leader Michael Howard's only fresh entry is a Christmas hamper from the Sultan of Brunei. He also declares a trip to Mexico last year to address executives of News International, and helicopter and private jet travel paid for by supporters. Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy registered donations to his office from supporters, a free ticket to last year's Bafta awards and rent from a single-bedroom flat in London. The register only contains new information for December 2004 - but Monday saw the publication of the annual review of the register, with the year's details. The payments are shown in bands of up £5,000, making it difficult to calculate the exact earnings.",politics
+"Schools to take part in mock poll..Record numbers of schools across the UK are to take part in a mock general election backed by the government...Some 600 schools have already signed up for the Y Vote Mock Elections 2005 run by the Hansard Society and aimed at boosting interest in politics. Pupils in the schools taking part will learn the skills of speech writers, canvassers and political candidates. Schools Minister Stephen Twigg said engaging young people's interest was ""essential"" to the future of democracy...He added: said ""Young people who are engaged and motivated by the political process are essential to the future health of our democracy. ""The mock elections initiative provides an opportunity for pupils to develop their own understanding of how the democratic process works and why it matters. ""By experiencing the election process first hand - from running a campaign to the declaration of the final result - we hope that young people will develop the enthusiasm to take part in the future."" The Hansard Society, the Electoral Commission and the Department for Education and Skills are running the programme. Pupils will stand as party candidates, speech writers and canvassers. Michael Raftery, project manager at the Hansard Society, said: ""The Y Vote Mock Elections for schools mirror the excitement and buzz of a real election, raising awareness of citizenship, and the benefits of active democracy."" The mock votes will take place around 5 May, widely expected to be the date of the general election. Information packs, including ballot papers and manifesto guides, with elections happening in early May were sent out to the 3,000 schools invited to take part.",politics
+"Parties build up poll war chests..The Labour Party received more than £5m in donations in the final quarter of 2004, new figures show...This is nearly half of the £11,724,929 received by 16 political parties listed by the Electoral Commission. The Conservatives were in second place with donations totalling £4,610,849, while the Liberal Democrats received just over £1m. The majority of Labour's donations came from affiliated trade unions. There were also large sums from individuals. Lord Drayson, whose company PowderJect won multi-million pound contracts to provide smallpox vaccine to the government after the 11 September terror attacks, gave £500,000 to the party just days before Christmas...This followed an earlier donation of the same amount earlier in 2004. He was made a lord by Tony Blair last year. Other significant donations came from retired millionaire businessman and philanthropist Sir Christopher Ondaatje who gave the party a sum of £500,000, and refrigerator magnate William Haughey OBE who gave £330,000. The totals for the fourth quarter were well up on the same period of 2003, as the parties built up their war chests for the general election campaign. The largest donation to the Conservatives was a bequest from Ruth Beardmore of nearly £400,000. The joint founder of merchant bank Hambro Magan gave £325,417. There were also donations topping £250,000 for the Conservatives from Scottish Business Groups Focus on Scotland and the Institute of International Research, the world's largest independent conference company...Also among the gifts to the Tories were 24 donations totalling £161,840 from Bearwood Corporate Services. This company is controlled by the party's former treasurer Lord Ashcroft which has directed almost £300,000 to specific marginal constituencies over the past two years. The Liberal Democrats' largest donor was the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd, a company which promotes political reform and constitutional change, which gave a sum of £250,000. And fast food giants McDonald's are listed as donating a sum of £10,575. This was a fee the firm paid for a room for an event held with the work and skills foundation during the party's conference. The UK Independence Party, which lost its main donor Paul Sykes amid the row over Robert Kilroy-Silk's bid for the leadership last autumn, took in £63,081. Just £8,170 of this was cash and the remainder came in gifts in kind, such as office space and printing. Registered political parties are required to set out each quarter all donations over £5,000 to their headquarters and over £1,000 to local constituency parties they receive. It is an offence for a person to knowingly or recklessly make a false declaration about party donations.",politics
+"Kennedy predicts bigger turnout..Voters' ""pent up passion"" could confound predictions of a low turnout in the coming general election, Charles Kennedy has said...The Liberal Democrat leader predicted concerns over Iraq and other international and domestic issue would express themselves during the campaign. His comments come as an inquiry looks at how best to boost voter turnouts. Ex-foreign secretary Robin Cook said people were not apathetic but fed up of ""pager politics"" and not being heard. He, like Mr Kennedy, pointed to the hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrated against plans for the Iraq war...Mr Cook, who is giving evidence to the Power inquiry into voter turnout rates, told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme it was not fair to blame the public who were ""more interested in politics than ever before"". ""They are turned off by the way we do politics in Britain. There's a message there for politicians."" He urged politicians to avoid negative campaigning and to ""speak more from the heart"". ""We should be not so afraid to say what we stand for."" He also criticised the cult of personality politics: ""There's far too much interest in celebrities. ""Politics are in danger of becoming another branch of the celebrity industry."" The government has tried a number of things in an attempt to boost voter turnout, which fell to 59% in the last general election in 2001. This has included bringing in directly elected mayors to head local authorities and trialling postal voting.",politics
+"Iraq advice claim sparks new row..The Tories say ministers must respond in Parliament to claims that the legal advice used to justify the Iraq war was drawn up at Number 10...Downing Street has denied the claims, made in a new book about the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith's advice. Lord Goldsmith also denied them, saying he was not ""leaned on"" in any way. But the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats say they want the publication of the full legal advice given by the Attorney General...The government has consistently refused to publish Lord Goldsmith's advice on the legality of the war - saying such papers have always been kept confidential...But a short statement about Lord Goldsmith's position was presented in a written parliamentary answer on 17 March 2003 - just before a crucial Commons vote on the military action. It said it was ""plain"" Iraq continued to be in material breach of UN resolution 1441. In his new book, Lawless World, Philippe Sands, a QC and international law professor, suggests the parliamentary answer was written in Downing Street. According to Mr Sands, Lord Goldsmith had warned Tony Blair in a document on 7 March 2003 that the use of force against Iraq could be illegal and that it would have been safer to seek a second UN resolution sanctioning military action...Mr Sands told Newsnight the government had prepared a legal team to be able to defend its case, in case legal action was taken against the UK over the war. On 10 March, military chiefs reportedly asked for an unequivocal statement about the legality of the war to make sure troops could be defended in a court of law. The book, being serialised in the Guardian newspaper, says on 13 March Lord Goldsmith met then Home Office Minister Lord Falconer and Downing Street adviser Baroness Morgan. ""After that Downing Street proceeded to set out his [Lord Goldsmith's] view in a parliamentary answer which was then published on 17 March,"" said Mr Sands...Tory leader Michael Howard reiterated calls for the publication of the full legal advice given by the Attorney General, warning: ""This issue will not go away."" ""These revelations throw an intensive spotlight on to the cavalier way in which this government operates - even on an issue as important as peace and war. ""The government needs to act to restore public confidence and trust."" Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell repeated his party's calls for Lord Goldsmith's first piece of legal advice to be made public. ""The public interest, which the government claims justifies non-publication of the whole of the advice, can only be served now by the fullest disclosure.""..In a statement to Newsnight, Lord Goldsmith said: ""In my parliamentary answer on March 17 2003, I explained my genuinely held independent view, that military action was lawful under the existing Security Council resolutions. ""It was certainly not a view that I expressed as a result of being leaned on in any way, nor as I have already made clear, was it written by or at Number 10."" The prime minister's official spokesman also rejected the claims, saying: ""The attorney general made it clear the words and the judgement were his."" But ex-foreign secretary Robin Cook says all the advice should now be published. He said the claims suggested Parliament had only received a précis of Lord Goldsmith's second opinion - and that it was actually drafted in No 10. This would be wrong even if Lord Goldsmith had signed the statement, Mr Cook said, because the attorney general's advice should be an ""independent legal opinion"", not subject to ""political negotiation of this kind"".",politics
+"UKIP could sue Veritas defectors..The UK Independence Party could take legal action to unseat two London Assembly members who defected to Robert Kilroy Silk's Veritas Party...Damian Hockney, now Veritas deputy leader, and Peter Hulme-Cross were elected in 2004 on the list system. The party argues the pair should give up their seats as they won them as UKIP representatives, not as individuals. Mr Hockney said the law was clear that those elected on a list who quit their party should keep their seats. UKIP chairman Petrina Holdsworth urged the men to step down from the GLA in a letter...She said: ""The party has taken legal advice and it is clear that we could take legal proceedings against you which could result in the return of our seats and/or damages against you. ""We would however like you to be given an opportunity to reflect on what you have done, to restore your own credibility with the electorate and return the seats to the party which won them fair and square at the last election."" Mr Hockney said the law worked in exactly the same way for the GLA as it did for other electoral list systems. ""The Greater London Act is clear that if someone resigns who was elected on a list, their party whip the seat belongs to them and not the party."" He said Mr Hulme-Cross and himself had no intention of resigning and added that they felt that it was UKIP who were not being true to the electorate. He accused the party of signing up to a deal with the Tories in Europe, rather than sticking to an independent stance. But the claim was denied by UKIP spokesman, who said: ""Mr Hockney's accusations are like his sense of political morals - empty."" Veritas was formed by Mr Kilroy-Silk earlier this month after he quit UKIP following an unsuccessful bid to take over as leader.",politics
+"Prime minister's questions..So who, if anyone, is playing politics with the security of the nation?..Michael Howard has no doubt it is the prime minister who, he claims, is ""ramming"" through Parliament the controversial new anti-terror measures without proper debate. He didn't say so, but the Tories believe the prime minister is playing the fear card on this one so he can look tough in the run up to the general election And they believe Tony Blair is using the issue to suggest the Tories are soft on terrorism. Why on earth will the prime minister not simply take up the Tories' offer to extend the existing powers temporarily to allow proper parliamentary debate of the laws, he demanded. The prime minister claims this is the clearest indication that it is the Tories who are playing politics with the issue by attempting to score cheap political points in parliament. Is not the opposition against to the proposed laws ""in principle"", in which case delaying a decision for further debate would be pointless?..What this is really about, believes Mr Blair, is the Tories spotting an opportunity to embarrass, maybe even defeat the government. And that is more important to them than national security. Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy avoided suggesting anyone was playing politics with the issue. He preferred to state that, as with other issues like ID cards, the government's immediate instinct was authoritarian...As is his habit nowadays, the prime minister was less rough with Mr Kennedy than he had been with Mr Howard - he prefers a more exasperated tone suggesting he believes the Lib Dems have, once again, just missed the point. Apart from all that, it was electioneering as usual. The very first question to the prime minister from Derby North's Bob Laxton asked him, in effect, if he would carry on the excellent policy of pouring more resources into schools. Later Birmingham's Sion Simon even went so far as to suggest the Tories were such a shower that we should have the general election now. The prime minister almost blushed. This was not the appropriate place to announce election day, he stammered. But can anyone be in any doubt that that announcement is just days away - an announcement coming in the week beginning 4 April for an election on 5 May is where the big money is in the Commons. And perhaps that simple fact alone means everyone is seen to be playing politics with just about everything at the moment.",politics
+"Goldsmith denies war advice claim..The attorney general has denied his statement to Parliament about the legality of the Iraq war was drafted by Downing Street officials...Lord Goldsmith said Lord Falconer and Baroness Morgan played no part in drafting the answer. He added the answer represented his view that the war was legal, but was not a summary of his advice to the PM. The government has resisted calls to publish the full advice, saying such papers are always kept confidential...In a statement, Lord Goldsmith said: ""I was fully involved throughout the drafting process and personally finalised, and of course approved, the answer."" He said the answer had been prepared in his office with the involvement of Solicitor General Harriet Harman, two of his own officials, three Foreign Office officials, a QC, Christopher Greenwood and the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg...""No other minister or official was involved in any way."" He suggested the claim that Lord Falconer and Lady Morgan had drafted the answer were the result of a mis-transcription of his evidence to the Butler Inquiry into pre-war intelligence. ""As I have always made clear, I set out in the answer my own genuinely held, independent view that military action was lawful under the existing (UN) Security Council resolutions,"" he said. ""The answer did not purport to be a summary of my confidential legal advice to government."" Former foreign secretary Robin Cook said Lord Goldsmith's admission that his parliamentary answer was not a summary of his legal opinion suggested Parliament may have been misled. ""The attorney general may never have presented his answer as a summary, but others certainly did,"" he said. ""What is clear from his statement today is that he does not believe that it was a full, accurate summary of his formal opinion.""..Earlier, Tony Blair dismissed questions about the attorney general's advice, and said his Parliamentary statement had been a ""fair summary"" of his opinion. ""That's what he (Lord Goldsmith) said and that's what I say. He has dealt with this time and time and time again,"" Mr Blair told his monthly news conference in Downing Street. He refused to answer further questions on the issue...On the question of whether such papers have always been kept confidential, Tory MP Michael Mates, who is a member of the Commons intelligence and security committee and was part of the Butler inquiry, told the BBC: ""That, as a general rule, is right, but it's not an absolute rule."" He said there had been other occasions when advice had been published, most recently regarding Prince Charles's marriage plans. The government could not pick and choose when to use the convention, he said. Mr Mates added: ""This may be one of those special occasions... when it would be in the public interest to see the advice which the attorney general gave to the prime minister.""..The claims about Lord Falconer and Baroness Morgan's involvement were made in a book published this week by Philippe Sands QC, a member of Cherie Blair's Matrix Chambers. He also says Lord Goldsmith warned Tony Blair on 7 March 2003 that the Iraq war could be illegal without a second UN resolution sanctioning military action...A short statement about Lord Goldsmith's position presented in a written parliamentary answer on 17 March 2003 - just before a crucial Commons vote on the military action - did not suggest this. Former minister Clare Short, who resigned from the government over the Iraq war, said the ministerial answer was the same statement that was earlier shown to the cabinet as it discussed military action. She said the full advice should have been attached, according to the ministerial code, and demanded a Lords inquiry into the matter. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats say they still want the publication of the full legal advice given by the Attorney General. Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell said Lord Goldsmith's statement still did not clear up the outstanding issues. ""If his original advice of 7 March accepted that military action might be illegal, how was it that he resolved any such doubts by the time the Parliamentary answer was published on 17 March?"" he said. ""Only the fullest disclosure will now do.""",politics
+"Goldsmith: 'I was not leant on'..The attorney general has again denied being ""leant on"" by Downing Street to make the legal case for invading Iraq...Claims a written answer on the legality of the war was drafted by Downing Street were ""wholly unfounded,"" he insisted during stormy Lords exchanges. Lord Goldsmith said the answer represented his ""genuinely held independent view"" the war was legal. The text was released on the eve of a crucial Commons vote in which MPs backed the invasion of Iraq. Many Labour MPs have since indicated that the attorney general's answer played a pivotal role in their willingness to back the conflict. The government has resisted calls to publish the full advice, saying such papers are always kept confidential. In the House of Lords, the attorney general faced a call by former Tory lord chancellor Lord Mackay to now publish the ""full text"" of the advice - the suggestion was rejected. Another peer meanwhile, Lord Skidelsky, said not to publish the full legal opinion would ""strengthen the suspicion that the the original text was doctored for public consumption, in exactly the same way as the notorious intelligence dossier on weapons of mass destruction""...Last week Lord Goldsmith said in a statement: ""I was fully involved throughout the drafting process and personally finalised, and of course approved, the answer."" He said the answer had been prepared in his office with the involvement of Solicitor General Harriet Harman, two of his own officials, three Foreign Office officials, a QC, Christopher Greenwood and the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg. ""No other minister or official was involved in any way."" ""As I have always made clear, I set out in the answer my own genuinely held, independent view that military action was lawful under the existing (UN) Security Council resolutions,"" he said. ""The answer did not purport to be a summary of my confidential legal advice to government."" Former foreign secretary Robin Cook said Lord Goldsmith's admission that his parliamentary answer was not a summary of his legal opinion suggested Parliament may have been misled. ""The attorney general may never have presented his answer as a summary, but others certainly did,"" he said. ""What is clear from his statement today is that he does not believe that it was a full, accurate summary of his formal opinion.""..Tony Blair has dismissed questions about the attorney general's advice, and said his Parliamentary statement had been a ""fair summary"" of his opinion. ""That's what he [Lord Goldsmith] said and that's what I say. He has dealt with this time and time and time again,"" Mr Blair told his monthly news conference in Downing Street. He refused to answer further questions on the issue. On the question of whether such papers have always been kept confidential, Tory MP Michael Mates, who is a member of the Commons intelligence and security committee and was part of the Butler inquiry, told the BBC: ""That, as a general rule, is right, but it's not an absolute rule."" He said there had been other occasions when advice had been published, most recently regarding Prince Charles's marriage plans. The government could not pick and choose when to use the convention, he said. Mr Mates added: ""This may be one of those special occasions... when it would be in the public interest to see the advice which the attorney general gave to the prime minister."" A book published by Philippe Sands QC, a member of Cherie Blair's Matrix Chambers says Lord Goldsmith warned Tony Blair on 7 March 2003 that the Iraq war could be illegal without a second UN resolution sanctioning military action. A short statement about Lord Goldsmith's position presented in a written parliamentary answer on 17 March 2003 - just before a crucial Commons vote on the military action - did not suggest this.",politics
+"Tory expert denies defeat warning..The Conservatives' campaign director has denied a report claiming he warned Michael Howard the party could not win the next general election...The Times on Monday said Australian Lynton Crosby told the party leader to focus on trying to increase the Tories' Commons presence by 25 to 30 seats. But Mr Crosby said in a statement: ""I have never had any such conversation... and I do not hold that view."" Mr Howard later added there was not ""one iota"" of truth in the report. The strategist helped Australia's PM, John Howard, win four elections. Mr Howard appointed Mr Crosby as his elections chief last October. Mr Crosby's statement said: ""The Conservative Party has been making an impact on the issues of lower tax and controlled immigration over the past week."" It added: ""The Labour Party will be wanting to do all they can to distract attention away from the issues that really matter to people.""",politics
+"Manchester wins Labour conference..The Labour Party will hold its 2006 autumn conference in Manchester and not Blackpool, it has been confirmed...The much trailed decision was ratified by Labour's ruling National Executive Committee in a break with the traditional choice of a seaside venue. It will be the first time since 1917 that the party has chosen Manchester to host the annual event. Blackpool will get the much smaller February spring conference instead in what will be seen as a placatory move...For years the main political parties have rotated between Blackpool, Bournemouth and Brighton. And the news the much larger annual conference is not to gather in Blackpool will be seen as a blow in the coastal resort. In 1998 the party said it would not return to Blackpool but did so in 2002. The following year Bournemouth hosted the event before the party signed a two year deal for Brighton to host the autumn conference...Colin Asplin, Blackpool Hotel Association said: ""We have tried very hard to make sure they come back to Blackpool. ""Obviously we have failed in that. I just hope Manchester can handle the crowds. ""It amazes me that the Labour Party, which is a working class party, doesn't want to come to the main working class resort in the country."" The exact cost to Blackpool in terms of lost revenue for hotel accommodation is not yet known but it is thought that block bookings will be taken at the major Manchester hotels after the official announcement.",politics
+"Labour attacked on Howard poster..Labour has been accused of using anti-Semitic images in posters which critics claim depict Tory leader Michael Howard as Fagin...The poster shows Mr Howard hypnotising people with a pocket watch, saying: ""I can spend the same money twice."" The image prompted concern from the editor of the Jewish Chronicle but Labour insists it is simply anti-Tory. Labour later took the image off its website, saying an alternative idea had proved more popular with party members. The party will now use focus groups to test a poster showing Mr Howard and shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin with a blackboard reading: ""2+2=5""...The hypnotism poster has been compared to the portrayal of the Dickens character Fagin in the stage version of the musical Oliver! There was controversy over another poster choice offered to Labour members. It showed Mr Howard and Mr Letwin - who are both Jewish - as flying pigs. Mr Howard did not comment on the anti-Semitism claims when asked about the poster on Monday. Instead, he pointed to how Tony Blair had in 1997 complained about ""personalised abusive campaigning"". Mr Howard told Greater Manchester Radio: ""It is such a pity that Mr Blair doesn't practise what he preaches.""..Jewish Chronicle editor Ned Temko said there had been a mixed reaction to the first poster but e-mails from Jewish Chronicle readers showed deeper concern about the hypnotism image. ""Shylock and Fagin are inextricably linked to notions of centuries-old prejudice,"" he told BBC Radio 4's World At One. ""Whatever the idea is, I think it's a difficult exercise to use images like that and to argue that you can divorce them from their historical context or meaning."" Mr Temko said he blamed ""cock-up not conspiracy"", saying he did not detect inherent anti-Semitism in any of the parties' election campaigns...The poster is among one of a series of ideas shown to Labour members, who have been asked to choose which one should be used ahead of the election. Labour MP Louise Ellman said the hypnotism image was insensitive but urged people not to rush to call things anti-Semitic when they only challenged Tory economic policies. Labour campaign spokesman Fraser Kemp said the poster had been misunderstood. The image simply portrayed Mr Howard as a hypnotist, he argued. ""Concern has been expressed and clearly we have to take those views on board but I would emphasise that if you see the posters, the common theme... is that the Tories are trying to con you."" A Labour spokesman later said the timing of removing the controversial image from the party's website was not affected by the row. ""This has been up on the website for two weeks and there has only been a fuss in the last four days so a substantial number of people voted before there was any fuss,"" he said. But a Conservative spokeswoman said: ""This poster campaign - which was offensive to many people - was a big misjudgement by Labour's campaign team.""",politics
+"Milburn defends poster campaign..Labour's election chief Alan Milburn has defended his party's campaign posters amid Tory claims the ads were nothing short of ""sly anti-Semitism""...Mr Milburn said he appreciated people's concerns, but insisted that ""what they were was anti-Tory"" and ""not in any way, shape or form anti-Semitic"". He was responding to Tory spokesman Julian Lewis who said the ads were part of a wider trend of smearing the party. Labour has withdrawn two controversial posters and launched four new designs...A row was sparked after the party published posters appearing to depict Michael Howard, who is Jewish, as Fagin, and as a flying pig, amid claims they were anti-Semitic. The posters were labelled a ""big misjudgement"" by the Conservatives who said Labour's ""first shot in the election has badly backfired""...The posters were among a series of ideas shown to Labour members, who were asked to vote on their favourite. Labour has taken them off its website, saying members preferred other posters. The party's four new designs, launched on Tuesday, steer clear of the Fagin or flying pig images, but make clear that Labour is sticking to its strategy of targeting the Tory leader personally, with reminders of his record in office...The posters were among a series of ideas shown to Labour members, who have been asked to choose which one should be used ahead of the election. In the Commons, Tory spokesman Mr Lewis suggested the posters were part of a wider trend and reminded MPs that Labour chairman Ian McCartney last year described shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin as a ""21st Century Fagin""...""Given the outrage that that smear caused then, how could you have thought anything other than the fact that what you were doing in reviving it in your poster advertisements was nothing more and nothing less than a calculated campaign of sly anti-Semitism?"" Mr Milburn replied that they were not anti-Semitic. ""What they were was anti-Tory and I make no apologies at all for making clear to the British public exactly what the Conservative plans would mean,"" he said. ""I fully understand and indeed respect the views of those who have concerns about any poster designs that have appeared on the Labour Party website."" The Fagin and pigs might fly posters were taken off Labour's website on Monday after supporters voted for their favourite poster featuring Mr Howard and shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin holding a blackboard reading 2+2=5. A Labour spokesman later said their removal from the party's website was not affected by the row.",politics
+"Kilroy names election seat target..Ex-chat show host Robert Kilroy-Silk is to contest the Derbyshire seat of Erewash at the next general election...Labour's Elizabeth Blackman won the seat in 1997 and has a 6,932 majority. She says she will fight on her record ""as a hard-working constituency MP"". Mr Kilroy-Silk announced his plans a day after launching his new party, Veritas, the Latin for truth. The East Midlands MEP, who quit the UK Independence Party, wants his new group to ""change the face"" of UK politics. His choice of election constituency quashes speculation that he would stand against Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. UKIP won 31% of the vote in Erewash in last June's European elections - with Mr Kilroy-Silk among their candidates for the region. Until 1997, Erewash had been held by the Tories since 1970. Ms Blackman said she was proud of the government's achievements in the area. She declined to give her view of Mr Kilroy-Silk at this point...On Thursday, he told a London news conference that Veritas would avoid the old parties' ""lies and spin"". He said ""our country"" was being ""stolen from us"" by mass immigration and promised a ""firm but fair"" policy on immigration. Veritas says it hopes to contest most seats at the forthcoming general election but plans to announce detailed policies on crime, tax, pensions, health and defence over the next few weeks...UKIP leader Roger Knapman says he is glad to see the back of Mr Kilroy-Silk. Labour campaign spokesman Fraser Kemp said Veritas was joining ""an already crowded field on the right of British politics"". Mr Kilroy-Silk was joined in the new venture by one of UKIP's two London Assembly members, Damien Hockney, who is now Veritas' deputy leader...UKIP's chairman Petrina Holdsworth has said the group will just be a parody of the party the men have left. Mr Kilroy-Silk quit UKIP last week after months of tension as he vied unsuccessfully for the leadership of that party. He said he was ashamed to be a member of a UKIP whose leadership had ""gone AWOL"" after the great opportunity offered by its third place at last June's European elections. UKIP's leader, Roger Knapman, has said he is glad to see the back of Mr Kilroy-Silk. ""He has remarkable ability to influence people but, sadly, after the [European] election it became clear that he was more interested in the Robert Kilroy-Silk Party than the UK Independence Party so it was nice knowing him, now 'goodbye',"" he said. UKIP officials also argue Mr Kilroy-Silk has not been ""straightforward"" in attacking the party he once wanted to lead.",politics
+"Immigration to be election issue..Immigration and asylum have normally been issues politicians from the big parties have tiptoed around at election time...But no longer. Both Labour and the Tories have signalled their intention of making them central to their election campaigns. They have been struck by the level of concern amongst voters about the issues, with internal surveys showing they have the potential to swing large numbers of votes. That was also true at the last general election and the issue did briefly become a campaigning issue. But it sparked the probably predictable furore with claims politicians were either stoking up xenophobia or, alternatively, running scared of addressing the problem. But this time around it looks set to be one of the core battlegrounds with both the big parties competing to set out tough policies...The Tories are already committed to imposing annual limits on immigration, with a quota for asylum seekers and with applications processed outside the UK. Labour has already branded the proposal unworkable but party strategists have seen the Tories seizing a poll advantage over the issue...Now Home Secretary Charles Clarke has come up with alternative proposals for a points system to ensure only immigrants who can benefit the economy will be granted entry, and to kick out more failed asylum seekers. That has been attacked by the Tories as too little, too late and for failing to tackle the key issue of the numbers entering the UK. The Liberal Democrats have not been drawn too deeply into the argument but have called for a Europe-wide policy on immigration...But, while all the parties appear to agree the time has come to properly debate and address the issue, there are already signs they will run into precisely the same problems as before. Former union leader Sir Bill Morris has already accused both the big parties of engaging in a ""bidding war about who can be nastiest to asylum seekers""...""My concern is that, whilst the Labour Party and the Conservative Party will take a constructive approach to the debate, right-wing political parties, picking up on statements like `burden to Britain' will exploit this and create a lot of fear and uncertainty"". It is precisely that concern - and the possible suggestion the issue is playing to the far right's racist agenda - that will provoke strong reactions from many concerned with this issue. The challenge for the big parties is to ensure they can engage in the debate during the cut and thrust of a general election while also avoiding that trap.",politics
+"Kennedy begins pre-election tour..Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has begun a week-long tour to persuade voters they are the ""real opposition""...Mr Kennedy is visiting constituencies in Somerset and Hampshire on Monday - rural seats where his party is hoping to make gains from the Conservatives. Later he will visit places, such as Liverpool, where Labour is targeted. Labour say a Lib Dem vote could ""let the Tories in"", while the Tories say the Lib Dems would mean ""higher taxes, soft crime laws, more power to Europe"". Mr Kennedy's tour comes as he, Labour leader Tony Blair and Conservative leader Michael Howard all step up campaigning ahead of the next General Election, widely expected to be held on 5 May. On Tuesday Mr Kennedy will visit Leicester South, where Lib Dem MP Parmjit Singh Gill overturned a big Labour majority to win the seat in last year's by-election...Stops in Shrewsbury, North Dorset, Liverpool, Manchester, Basingstoke and west London are planned for later in the week. The Liberal Democrats say in the northern cities, the race is between them and Labour, while in southern seats - particularly the south west - it is between them and the Tories. Speaking to the BBC's Westminster Hour on Sunday, Mr Kennedy said the upcoming general election - widely tipped for 5 May - would be much more unpredictable than any others in ""recent experience"". Asked whether it was realistic to assume the Liberal Democrats could win the general election, he said: ""There's no limit to the ambitions we have as a party. ""But we have got to be responsible, we have got to be credible, we have got to demonstrate to people that we are up to that task.""..Mr Kennedy said the British public felt let down by Labour on issues from Iraq to top-up fees and the Conservatives were not ""asking the critical questions"". And he said people were ""highly sceptical"" about Labour and Conservative promises on tax. But he brushed off Labour suggestions a vote for his party would mean letting the Tories in ""by the back door"". ""If you look at the four previous parliamentary by-elections, the Liberal Democrats have demonstrated that, not only can we leapfrog the Conservatives where we start in a third place position, but we can go on to defeat the government. ""That's going to be the story, I think, of this coming general election.""",politics
+"Labour's core support takes stock..Tony Blair has told Labour supporters he's ""back"" and still hungry for the job of prime minister - but does that sum up the mood at the party's spring conference in Gateshead?..""The electorate are keener on the government than some Labour Party members,"" is the dry assessment of Graham Lane, leader of the Labour group on Newham Council. The problem, according to Mr Lane, is not continuing divisions over Iraq, foundation hospitals or tuition fees, or even voter apathy, but Mr Blair himself. ""I have a new slogan. Vote Blair, Get Brown. That's what I am telling people on the doorstep. Don't worry, he will be gone soon."" His friend, Saxon Spence, leader of Devon county Labour group, lays the blame for any lack of campaigning zeal on one issue above all others. ""You cannot underestimate the impact of the war in Iraq. We lost people from our local party who had some key roles.""..But the two friends were fired up by Gordon Brown's speech on Saturday, with its appeal to core Labour values on social justice, health and education...""There was real passion. I think we have all felt a little jaded, but it reminded us why we joined the party in the first place,"" said Mrs Spence. ""If he hadn't have walked off the stage, they would still be clapping,"" added Mr Lane. But for every Brownite at the spring conference there was an equally ardent fan of Mr Blair. Stephen Douglas, 26, from Wales, said after the PM's speech on Sunday: ""I think it was a bit of a turning point, given the roasting he has had on some issues. The guy still has it.""..Tony Martin, of Burnley, said: ""He is the first leader who has won us two terms. This bloke has delivered for us."" Malcolm Shipley, of Shipley, said it was ""as if he is coming round to the right approach again"". Katrina Bull, a prospective parliamentary candidate said Mr Blair had shown he could rouse the party's grassroots: ""I think if every voter was able to spend time in a room with Tony, the way we have today, we will have no problem with turnout."" She had just emerged from a Q&A session, in which Mr Blair - tieless and supremely at ease - answered questions posed via the party's website...A party of councillors from Nottingham agreed that there was nothing wrong with Mr Blair's leadership - and they were adamant that the campaigning strength of the party in their city was as strong as ever. Iraq, they insisted, would not be a factor for most voters. ""The biggest problem we have got at the moment is that we keep getting all these polls saying we are going to run away with the election. ""It might sound great, but it does create this sense of complacency among our own voters and I think that is the greater problem than Iraq,"" said Nottingham City Councillor Brian Parbutt. And even Mr Blair's most vocal critics seemed to agree on one thing - he is a master of the sort of glossy, high-profile campaigning that has become Labour's hallmark, epitomised by Friday's whistle-stop tour of marginal seats. A group of shop stewards from the Swan Hunter shipyard, who said they were facing redundancy, could barely suppress their anger at Mr Blair's failure to, as they saw it, shake off his Tory leanings and stand up for manufacturing in the North East...They were also scathing about the alleged benefits of showpiece projects such as conference venue Sage Centre, heralded by John Prescott and others this weekend as a symbol of Labour's success in urban regeneration...""It is no good having the Sage or Baltic if you haven't got the money for the entrance fee,"" said Terry Telford. But when asked about Mr Blair's bravura performance on Friday, the men agreed he was ""brilliant"". And they would all be out on the doorstep pushing the Labour message come election time. ""If you are not fired up about the election, then what's the point? There is no complacency as far as I can see in the Labour Party. We are fired up. We are up for this election,"" said Richie Porterhouse. Mr Telford agreed, but added it was becoming increasingly difficult to think of an answer when people asked ""What has Labour done for the North East?"" ""I have had doors slammed in my face,"" he said...Every activist I spoke to said they were proud of what they believed Labour had achieved in their local communities - the new hospitals and schools, the better life chances for young people. The problem they faced, they said, was converting this local feelgood factor into votes. But they could at least rely on one ""secret weapon"", as one activist put it - Tory leader Michael Howard.",politics
+"Campaign 'cold calls' questioned..Labour and the Conservatives are still telephoning the millions of people who have signed up to make sure they do not get marketing ""cold calls""...The parties say they can stick to the rules by ensuring that their calls are not marketing - for instance by asking about people's voting intentions. The Lib Dems are asking the watchdog overseeing the rules to stop the calls. The information commissioner's office says surveys are allowed but people had to be told if personal data was kept. Telephone call centres are expected to be used as never before by all the three major parties in the run-up to the general election...But seven million telephone numbers are on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) lists, which ban unsolicited sales and marketing calls. Both schemes are run by the Direct Marketing Association and backed by EU directives on privacy and electronic communications...The rules on marketing calls apply as much to politicians as to private sector companies. But that does not mean Labour and the Tories are not calling people signed up to the TPS. A Labour Party spokesman told the BBC News website the party avoided those on TPS lists when telephoning people about membership or fundraising. But that did not happen for ""voter identification"" calls. ""When we ask which party they will vote for, that is not marketing and we have very clear legal advice that it is not,"" he said. ""So it is not covered by the Telephone Preference Service.""..He said the party always asked people if they would be happy to be contacted again and if they said no, they were not rung again. A Conservative spokeswoman said the party stuck to the rules when it rang TPS subscribers. She said: ""We do apply TPS but in line with the law. We would not do things that are not allowed in the law."" Assistant information commissioner Phil Jones said it was classed as marketing if political parties telephoned people to encourage them to vote for them. But ""classic market research"", such as a poll of voter intentions, did not constitute direct marketing, he said. ""If a party is calling someone who is registered on TPS and records their voting intention with a view to using this information in the future, this should be clear to the voter concerned,"" said Mr Jones. ""If a party rings a person who is registered on TPS to ask about their voting intention and goes on to encourage that voter to support them, the party may well be in breach of the regulations. ""In summary, whether a party calling TPS registered voters to check their voting intentions will breach regulations will depend on the script used and whether the script is followed."" Mr Jones said the watchdog received ""very few complaints"" on the issue...Earlier, Lib Dem chairman Matthew Taylor wrote to the watchdog saying: ""The advice we have received on several previous occasions is that such phone calls are illegal."" He says evidence from local Lib Dem parties around the country suggests there are ""significant"" numbers of such calls. ""I hope you can therefore take swift and efficient action to ensure that this ceases,"" he tells the commissioner. Mr Taylor argues there should be new guidelines so all parties can act in the same way if the watchdog believes the rules allow parties to ring TPS numbers about voting intentions and later urge those people to vote for them.",politics
+"Lib Dems highlight problem debt..People vulnerable to problem debts should be afforded greater protection from banks aggressively promoting financial products, the Lib Dems say...Vincent Cable says one in eight households already struggle with debt and that will worsen if there is a hike in interest rates or unemployment. The Lib Dems' Treasury spokesman is unveiling a policy aimed at the issue. He wants to see ""proper health checks"" when loans are marketed so people know to take out payment protection...""Were economic conditions to deteriorate at all, large numbers of people could be affected because they have borrowed to the limit,"" Mr Cable told BBC News. ""Banks are very aggressively promoting debt in many cases there is a bigger problem ahead."" Mr Cable said the government's Consumer Credit Bill would target some of the ""extreme problems"" such as loan sharking, but ministers had been ""a bit complacent"" about the wider issue of debt levels. He said much of the payment protection currently available was ""extremely expensive"" and there were ""lots of exclusions""...Mr Cable added that the Office of Fair Trading should investigate the market. Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy meanwhile is in the middle of a tour of the UK aimed at persuading voters his is the ""real opposition"". Mr Kennedy is visiting a mixture of rural seats, where his party is hoping to make gains from the Conservatives, and urban areas traditionally associated with Labour. Labour say a Lib Dem vote could ""let the Tories in"", while the Tories say the Lib Dems would mean ""higher taxes, soft crime laws, more power to Europe"". Mr Kennedy's tour comes as he, Labour leader Tony Blair and Conservative leader Michael Howard all step up campaigning ahead of the next General Election, widely expected to be held on 5 May...The Liberal Democrats say in the northern cities, the race is between them and Labour, while in southern seats - particularly the south west - it is between them and the Tories. Speaking to the BBC's Westminster Hour on Sunday, Mr Kennedy said the upcoming general election - widely tipped for 5 May - would be much more unpredictable than any others in ""recent experience"". And he brushed off Labour suggestions a vote for his party would mean letting the Tories in ""by the back door"". ""If you look at the four previous parliamentary by-elections, the Liberal Democrats have demonstrated that, not only can we leapfrog the Conservatives where we start in a third place position, but we can go on to defeat the government. ""That's going to be the story, I think, of this coming general election.""",politics
+"Lib Dems target first-time buyers..The Liberal Democrats have unveiled plans to build 100,000 new ""affordable"" homes on publicly owned land...The party's scheme would allow people to buy a share in a home through a mutual home ownership trust, as a way of getting onto the housing ladder. The Lib Dems would also encourage the conversion of existing buildings in an effort to protect greenfield sites. Labour has already announced plans to help first-time buyers and the Tories would extend right-to-buy schemes...All the major parties are focusing on the issue in the run-up to the election after a survey suggested first-time buyers could not afford a home in 92% of UK towns. The Lib Dems say their ""mutual homes"" would let people buy a share of a property, usually worth about 5% of the building costs. Party leader Charles Kennedy said the homes would be affordable because they would be built on surplus public sector land, donated by central or local government. People would also only have to pay for the cost of the building and not the land, he added...They would spend about 30% of their monthly salary on rent and buying extra shares in the property. When they moved house, they would be able to cash in on any rise in property prices by selling their share. It would also allow councils to vary discounts to tenants given the right to buy their council homes so local needs were taken into account. Mr Kennedy said: ""Mutual homes will offer people the opportunity to build up an equity stake in a home gradually, investing only as much as they can afford.""..There are also plans to prevent high house prices forcing people out of their local communities. The kind of ""golden share"" used by the Lib Dems in South Shropshire could be rolled out more widely. Under the plan, councils secure deals with developers where they keep a 1% share in a property scheme so properties cannot be sold on the open market. Instead, they are sold at ""build cost"" to people who the local council decides have local needs. The party says its help for first-time buyers can be funded at no extra cost to the taxpayer. But the plans involve changing the VAT system, which the party says often makes it too expensive to renovate existing buildings...The Conservatives claimed the plans would amount to an extra tax of up to £11,000 on every new house. ""This is typical of Lib Dem hypocrisy,"" said Tory shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman. ""They claim that they want to help people on to the property ladder, but the small print of their policies reveal how they intend to price even more people out of the housing market."" The flagship Tory proposal on housing policy is to give a million more housing association tenants the right to buy their homes. Labour has said it will allow 300,000 council and housing association tenants to buy a share in their homes. Housing Minister Keith Hill said much of the Lib Dem plans mimicked the government's strategy. ""However, as usual, the Lib Dems' proposals are completely uncosted,"" he said. Mr Hill said he also asked whether the Lib Dems would match Labour's promise to spend £42bn on making refurbishing and repair council homes by 2010.",politics
+"Lib Dems unveil women's manifesto..The Liberal Democrats are attempting to woo female voters with the launch of their manifesto for women...Charles Kennedy is pledging a maternity income guarantee and a pension system based on years of residence rather than national insurance payments. He also thinks women will back plans to end university tuition fees and for free long-term care for the elderly. Both Labour and the Conservatives have said they also plan to boost pensions and to improve childcare support. Mr Kennedy says he wants to deal with policy areas that disadvantage women. ""Two million pensioners in Britain currently live below the government's own poverty line - two-thirds of whom are women,"" he said...He says that pensions based on the number of years worked ignore the contribution women make caring for children. The Lib Dem's Citizen's Pension, based on length of residency not on national insurance contributions, would address that imbalance, Mr Kennedy argues. Under the package, new mothers would be offered minimum guaranteed maternity pay of £170 a week for the first six months after the birth of their first child. Mr Kennedy also believes the party's plans to use the money saved from not introducing ""illiberal"" ID cards to boost police numbers by 10,000 would appeal to women too. The policies are not new announcements, but the way they are structured as a package to appeal to women is...Mr Kennedy also points to the fact that 40% of the party's candidates set to stand in winnable or target seats are women. Party strategists claim that where women candidates replace men turnout rises by 4%. Mr Kennedy began the pitch for female support with an interview on BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour on Monday. During the interview Mr Kennedy revealed that he planned to structure the party's general election campaign around the birth of his first child, which is expected in April. The baby and his wife Sarah would be ""priority number one"" even if it arrived in the middle of the election campaign, he said...Party strategists believe winning over a significant proportion of women voters is key to electoral success. A party spokesman said it was courting female votes because they tended to vote more than men and are believed to be more considered and open-minded in deciding who they vote for. Labour's deputy minister for women Jacqui Smith accused the Lib Dems of offering ""false promises"" to women and said their sums did not add up. She said: ""These proposals would increase the costs to the public purse drastically year on year, and hard working families will pay dearly, through either increased taxes or reduced spending on public services"". The Labour party has committed itself to ""universal, affordable and flexible"" childcare for parents of all 3 to 14 year-olds, including childcare centred on schools to be available from 8am to 6pm. In September, Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said she would like to see longer paid maternity leave, higher paternity pay and the extension of flexible working rights to carers, if Labour won a third term. The Conservatives are yet to unveil their manifesto plans for childcare but said in November they would increase maternity pay and pay the child tax credit in cash to parents to spend as they like, on a nanny, au pair or even a family member, such as a grandparent, acting as a carer. They were also consulting on making childcare costs tax deductible.",politics
+"Kennedy questions trust of Blair..Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy has said voters now have a ""fundamental lack of trust"" of Tony Blair as prime minister...He said backing his party was not a wasted vote, adding that with the Lib Dems ""what you see is what you get"". He made his comments at the start of a day of appearances on Channel Five in a session on The Wright Stuff programme. Questions from callers, a studio audience and the show's presenter covered Lib Dem tax plans, anti-terror laws and immigration...Mr Kennedy said during his nearly 22 years in Parliament he had seen prime ministers and party leaders come and go and knew the pitfalls of British politics. ""1983 was when I was first elected as an MP - so Tony Blair, Michael Howard and myself were all class of '83 - and over that nearly quarter of a century the world has changed out of recognition,"" he said. ""We don't actually hear the argument any longer: 'Lib Dems, good people, reasonable ideas but only if we thought they could win around here - it's a wasted vote'. ""You don't hear that because the evidence of people's senses demonstrates that it isn't a wasted vote."" But he said Mr Blair had lost the trust of the British people. ""There is a fundamental lack of trust in Tony Blair as prime minister and in his government,"" he said...""What we've got to do as a party - what I've got to do as a leader of this party - is to convey to people that what you see is what you get."" Mr Kennedy also used his TV appearance to defend his party's plans to increase income tax to 50% for those earning more than £100,000, saying it would apply to just 1% of the population. He said the extra revenue would allow his party to get rid of tuition and top-up fees, introduce free personal care for the elderly and replace the council tax with a local income tax. Mr Blair has already spent a day with Five and Michael Howard is booked for a similar session.",politics
+"Brown outlines third term vision..Gordon Brown has outlined what he thinks should be the key themes of New Labour's next general election bid...He said ensuring every child in Britain had the best start in life could be a legacy to match the NHS's creation. The chancellor has previously planned the party's election strategy but this time the role will be filled by Alan Milburn - a key ally of Tony Blair. The premier insisted Mr Brown will have a key role in Labour's campaign, and praised his handling of the economy...Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Mr Brown outlined his view of the direction New Labour should be taking. ""As our manifesto and our programme for the coming decade should make clear, Labour's ambition is not simply tackling idleness but delivering full employment; not just attacking ignorance, disease and squalor but promoting lifelong education, good health and sustainable communities."" BBC political editor Andrew Marr said that Mr Brown's article was ""a warning shot"" to Mr Blair not to try and cut him out of the manifesto writing process. ""It was, as always, coded and careful... but entirely deliberate,"" was Mr Marr's assessment. The prime minister was asked about Mr Brown's article and about his election role when he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Mr Blair said a decision had yet to be taken over how the election would be run but the chancellor's role would be ""central"". Mr Blair argued that under New Labour the country had changed for the better and that was ""in part"" because of Mr Brown's management of the economy. And he pledged childcare would be a ""centrepiece"" of Labour's manifesto. He also predicted the next general election will be a ""tough, tough fight"" for New Labour. But the prime minister insisted he did not know what date the poll would take place despite speculation about 5 May. Mr Blair said he was taking ""nothing for granted"" ahead of the vote - warning that the Tory strategy was to win power via the back door by hinting they were aiming to cut Labour's majority instead of hoping for an outright win.",politics
+"Labour's Cunningham to stand down..Veteran Labour MP and former Cabinet minister Jack Cunningham has said he will stand down at the next election...One of the few Blair-era ministers to serve under Jim Callaghan, he was given the agriculture portfolio when Labour regained power in 1997. Mr Cunningham went on to become Tony Blair's ""cabinet enforcer"". He has represented the constituency now known as Copeland since 1970. Mr Blair said he was a ""huge figure"" in Labour and a ""valued, personal friend""...During Labour's long period in opposition, Mr Cunningham held a number of shadow roles including foreign affairs, the environment and as trade spokesman. As agriculture minister he caused controversy when he decided to ban beef on the bone in the wake of fears over BSE. He quit the government in 1999 and in recent years has served as the chairman of the all-party committee on Lords reform and has been a loyal supporter of the government from the backbenches.",politics
+"Will Tory tax cuts lift spirits?..Michael Howard has finally revealed the full scale of his planned Tory tax cuts...Should he win the next general election, he has earmarked £4 billion that will be used to reduce taxes - although he still will not say which or how. This was the pre-election message many in his party have been pressing for and voters, he believes, will warm to. At its simplest, it is saying: ""Vote Tory and you can have it both ways"". Not only would his government stick to Labour spending plans on core public services, including health and education, it would increase spending on defence, police and pensions. And even after that was done, it would still have enough left over for a tax cut equivalent to about a penny off the basic rate of income tax...All the money would come from its £35 billion efficiency savings which would see the axe taken to bureaucracy, waste and the civil service. Of that, £23 billion would go on spending plans, with £8 billion to fill the black hole left, they claim, by Gordon Brown, and the rest going in tax cuts...Neither Mr Howard nor Mr Letwin would say exactly how they would use that cash, although a cut in the basic rate seems unlikely. Ideas already floated include raising tax thresholds and abolishing or reducing inheritance tax, although some in the Tory party are urging Mr Howard to announce something more eye-catching before the election. As the Tory leader declared, the aim of the exercise is to open up a real economic policy divide between Labour and the Tories. ""At this election, people will have a clear choice between Mr Blair who will waste more and tax more and the Conservative party which will give value for money and tax less,"" he said...It is a move back towards an almost traditional Tory message which previously suggested Labour was the party of tax rises and the Conservatives the party of tax cuts...The extension of that, however, was that Labour was also seen as the party of big spending on the public services while the Tories were the cutters. And that is where one of the problems lies for Mr Howard - can he persuade sceptical voters that they really can have it both ways with bigger spending on public services AND lower taxes? He insists he will not promise anything before the election that he cannot deliver if put into Downing Street. Labour, needless to say, claim his planned £35bn efficiency savings simply don't add up and that those sorts of figures are fantasy...One of New Labour's greatest successes before the historic 1997 election was to persuade voters, business and the City that it could be trusted to run the economy. So far that has not faced any real challenge, but independent analysts now claim a third New Labour government would be forced to either increase taxation or taxes to plug a black hole it has at the centre of its finances. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats are committed to increasing taxes for the most well off to finance their spending proposals launched earlier in the day. So, Mr Howard hopes his message will start to hit home during this unofficial election campaign and that his poll ratings might finally lift off the floor. And, while other issues like the Iraq war and trust will play a major part in that campaign, it is likely - and the prime minister probably hopes - that the economy will be the deciding factor.",politics
+"Teenagers to be allowed to be MPs..Teenagers will be able to become MPs under plans unveiled by ministers...In a written statement, Constitutional Affairs Minister Christopher Leslie said the current minimum age of 21 for an MP would be reduced to 18. The proposals follow a recommendation last year by elections watchdog the Electoral Commission. ""The government intends to legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to lower the age,"" said Mr Leslie, who was elected in 1997 at the age of 24. Even if the move does go ahead it is unlikely it will be in place before the next general election, widely predicted for May...The announcement from Mr Leslie - who was elected in 1997 in a formerly safe Tory seat - prompted calls for a lowering of the voting age to 16. The Votes at 16 alliance said it was a good thing to ""engage people"" by lowering the candidacy age but argued lowering the voting age would be much more effective. ""Candidacy affects only politicians. The voting age affects millions of younger people,"" said spokesman Alex Folkes. ""We would hope that the government will table a bill that is broad enough to allow for amendments to be brought to test support for a reduction in the voting age.""..Currently candidates in both local and national votes must be 21 while the voting age is 18. That is because the age of majority was reduced to 18 in 1969 but laws dating from 1695 which determine the current voting age stayed in place. Irish republican Bernadette Devlin was one of just a handful of 21-year-olds elected to Parliament in the 20th century winning a seat in 1969. But the youngest is understood to have been Tory Edward Turnour, who won the 1904 Horsham by-election aged 21 and 144 days and served in Parliament for 47 continuous years. Last April's report by the Electoral Commission said there was no strong argument for leaving the age for standing for election at 21. The commission found the most common approach around the world is for the voting age to be the same as the candidacy age.",politics
+"Labour's four little words..Labour has unveiled the four little words that will form the heart of its general election campaign which, for those just returned from the planet Galifray, is ""looming""...The slogan ""Britain forward not back"" (no, it's not an instruction from one of those inter-planetary Time Lords) is to become as much a part of our daily lives as the sky - it's always there but we mostly stop noticing. The word ""Britain"" is cast on a red background - a nod to Old Labour. ""Forward"" is in italics and cunningly slopes forward and, along with ""not back"", is set against a mushy pea green background. As one of the journalists assembled at the unveiling declared, it was all very post modern, or something. Great use of colour. Those ad men really do earn their money. And, coincidentally, the ad men who came up with the abandoned flying pigs and so-called ""Fagin"" posters which caused Tory protests have not been sacked but, as election supremo Alan Milburn declared, ""are doing a very good job""...Mr Milburn, in the latest in his series of pre-election-campaign campaigning, explained the slogan was the reaction to polling which suggests the public believe Labour and Tony Blair are the future while Michael Howard and the Tories would take the country backwards. ""Not many people talk about the years before 1997 as the good old days,"" he declared. It would be an aggressive campaign because things would inevitably boil down to a choice between Labour and the Tories...Nobody, he claimed, could picture Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy walking up Downing Street the day after polling. They could, however, picture Michael Howard or, of course, Tony Blair doing it. So it was only right that the campaign concentrated on rigorously examining the opposition's policies and past record. And Tony Blair would be in the very front line of that campaign, he said. ""Between now and the election the prime minister will be spending more time out of London than in it but in Britain, not overseas,"" he promised. ""He will be leading the domestic debate from the front, listening, taking the flak."" So, let's get on with it then.",politics
+"Tories outlining policing plans..Local communities would be asked to go to the polls to elect their own area police commissioner, under plans unveiled by the Conservatives...Party leader Michael Howard said the new role would replace ""inconspicuous"" police authorities. He said the new office would not supersede the job of a chief constable. The Lib Dems said the plan could let extreme groups run policing, while Labour criticised ""extravagant"" Tory promises on policing...Responding to the plans, the chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank and file officers, said it was essential operational independence was retained...Jan Berry said: ""It is a service, not a political football to be kicked around every time an election approaches. ""These plans could result in those with extreme political views dictating what actually happens on the ground,"" she warned. Outlining his crime manifesto, Mr Howard said elected police commissioners would be more accountable than police authorities which are made up of local councillors and magistrates. ""The commissioner will have the powers which existing police authorities have,"" he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. ""The trouble is, and it's no reflection on the people who are on the police authority - they are good people - but hardly anyone knows who they are."" Mr Howard said the authorities were not ""providing the local accountability that we want to see"" and that elected police commissioners would be more visible...Critics fear the move could hand control of the police to single-issue campaigners who would ignore the needs of the wider community. Lord Harris, who sits on the executive of Association of Police Authorities, said the plans seemed to suggest chief constables should be told what to do by a single politician. ""That is overturning nearly 200 years of the way in which we have organised policing in this country to avoid the politicisation of policing decisions,"" he said...Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said the plan was dangerous and ""could create conflict between chief constables and elected officials"". Mr Oaten said local people had too little control over policing but a far better solution would be for elected councillors to draw up a ""minimum policing guarantee"" with their chief constables. A Labour Party spokesman criticised Michael Howard's record, saying police numbers had fallen by 1,132 when he was home secretary. He said: ""Today the Tories are making more extravagant promises on the police without making clear how they would pay for them, other than through fantasy savings to the asylum system."" The Tories insists the commissioner role would not be like that of an American sheriff. Other Tory law and order plans include building more prisons and making criminals serve full jail sentences.",politics
+"TV debate urged for party chiefs..Broadcasters should fix a date for a pre-election televised debate between the three main political leaders, according to the Hansard Society...It would then be up to Tony Blair, Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy to decide whether to take part, the non-partisan charity said. Chairman Lord Holme argued that prime ministers should not have the right of veto on a matter ""of public interest"". ""The broadcasters should make the decision to go ahead,"" he said...Lord Holme's proposal for a televised debate comes just four months after millions of viewers were able to watch US President George W Bush slug it out verbally with his Democratic challenger John Kerry. He said it was a ""democratically dubious proposition"" that it was up to the incumbent prime minister to decide whether a similar event takes place here...If Mr Blair did not want to take part, the broadcasters could go ahead with an empty chair or cancel the event and explain their reasons why, Lord Holme said. ""What makes the present situation even less acceptable is that although Mr Howard and Mr Kennedy have said they would welcome a debate, no-one has heard directly from the prime minister,"" he said. ""It has been left to nudges and winks, hints and briefings from his aides and campaign managers to imply that Mr Blair doesn't want one, but we haven't heard from the prime minister himself.""..Lord Holme, who has campaigned for televised debates at previous elections, said broadcasters were ""more than willing to cooperate with the arrangements"". Opinion polls suggested that the idea had the backing of the public who like comparing the personalities and policies of the contenders in their own homes, he said...Lord Holme argued that as part of their public service obligations, broadcasters ""should make the decision to go ahead"" as soon as the election is called. An independent third-party body such as the Hansard Society or Electoral Commission could work out the ground rules so they were fair to participants and informative to the public, he said. ""It would be up to each party leader to accept or refuse,"" said Lord Holme...""If the prime minister's reported position is true and he does want to take part, he would then be obliged to say why publicly. ""The broadcasters would then have the option of cancelling the event for obvious and well-understood reasons, or going ahead with an empty chair. ""Either way would be preferable to the present hidden veto."" The Hansard Society has long campaigned for televised debates and has published reports on the issue in 1997 and 2001. Tony Blair has already ruled out taking part in a televised debate during the forthcoming election campaign. Last month he said: ""We answer this every election campaign and, for the reasons I have given before, the answer is no,"" he said at his monthly news conference.""",politics
+"Chancellor rallies Labour voters..Gordon Brown has issued a rallying cry to supporters, warning the ""stakes are too high"" to stay at home or protest vote in the next general election...The chancellor said the poll - expected to fall on 5 May - would give a ""clear and fundamental"" choice between Labour investment and Tory cuts. He told his party's spring conference the Tories must not be allowed to win. The Conservatives and Lib Dems insisted that voters faced higher taxes and means-testing under Labour...To a packed audience at Gateshead's Sage Centre, Mr Brown accused shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin of plotting cuts that were the equivalent of sacking every teacher, GP and nurse in the country. Laying into the Conservative's record in government he said: ""I give you this promise - with Labour, Britain will never return to the mistakes of ERM and 10% inflation, 15% interest rates, £3bn in lost reserves, 250,000 repossessed, one million in negative equity and three million unemployed. ""Never again Tory boom and bust...""This will be the central dividing line at the election, between a Conservative Party taking Britain back and planning deep cuts of £35bn in our services, and a Labour government taking Britain forward, which on a platform of stability will reform and renew our hospitals, schools and public services and, I am proud to say, spend by 2008 £60bn more."" Turning to the economy, the chancellor promised to continue economic stability and growth in a third term in power...He also pledged to continue the fight against child and pensioner poverty. And he promised help to get young people on the property ladder. ""My message to the thousands of young couples waiting to obtain their first home is that housing is rightly now at the centre of our coming manifesto,"" he said. ""And the next Labour government will match our low mortgage rates with a new first-time buyers' initiative."" In the speech, which prompted a standing ovation, he also promised to end teenage unemployment within the next five years...He also highlighted plans for 100% debt relief for the world's poorest countries, a national minimum wage for 16 and 17-year-olds, the creation of a network of children's centres and flexibility in maternity leave. Responding to the speech, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, George Osborne, said: ""This was more talk from Gordon Brown. ""We've heard it all before. Instead of talking about the future he kept on talking about the past. ""He completely failed to say which taxes he would put up to fill the black hole in his spending plans. ""There will be a simple choice at the election - value for money and lower taxes with the Conservatives, or more waste and higher taxes under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.""..Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor Vince Cable warned the picture was not as rosy as Mr Brown would like to portray it. ""For all his trumpeting of Labour's management of the economy, Gordon Brown's record is very mixed,"" he said. ""Gordon Brown has created a system of massive centralisation and bureaucracy, a system which subjects millions of people to means testing, and a system of taxation which is extremely complex. ""For all his positive words, Gordon Brown is faced with economic problems looming on the horizon, not least the unprecedented levels of personal debt facing the nation."" Also in Gateshead, the prime minister took questions sent in by e-mail, text message and telephone as part of Labour's attempt to engage the public in their campaign. Mr Blair told the audience he believed the Iraq war would have made Britain a safer place if its emerging democracy succeeded and that he wanted to bring troops home as soon as possible, but not before the job was done. He also said he wanted to carry on as PM ""because I still think that there are big changes our country needs"".",politics
+"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"".",politics
+"Fox attacks Blair's Tory 'lies'..Tony Blair lied when he took the UK to war so has no qualms about lying in the election campaign, say the Tories...Tory co-chairman Liam Fox was speaking after Mr Blair told Labour members the Tories offered a ""hard right agenda"". Dr Fox told BBC Radio: ""If you are willing to lie about the reasons for going to war, I guess you are going to lie about anything at all."" He would not discuss reports the party repaid £500,000 to Lord Ashcroft after he predicted an election defeat...The prime minister ratcheted up Labour's pre-election campaigning at the weekend with a helicopter tour of the country and his speech at the party's spring conference. He insisted he did not know the poll date, but it is widely expected to be 5 May...In what was seen as a highly personal speech in Gateshead on Sunday, Mr Blair said: ""I have the same passion and hunger as when I first walked through the door of 10 Downing Street."" He described his relationship with the public as starting euphoric, then struggling to live up to the expectations, and reaching the point of raised voices and ""throwing crockery"". He warned his supporters against complacency, saying: ""It's a fight for the future of our country, it's a fight that for Britain and the people of Britain we have to win.""..Mr Blair said that whether the public chose Michael Howard or Mr Kennedy, it would result in ""a Tory government not a Labour government and a country that goes back and does not move forward"". Dr Fox accused Mr Blair and other Cabinet ministers of telling lies about their opponents' policies and then attacking the lies. ""What we learned at the weekend is what Labour tactics are going to be and it's going to be fear and smear,"" he told BBC News. The Tory co-chairman attacked Labour's six new pledges as ""vacuous"" and said Mr Blair was very worried voters would take revenge for his failure to deliver. Dr Fox refused to discuss weekend newspaper reports that the party had repaid £500,000 to former Tory Treasurer Lord Ashcroft after he said the party could not win the election. ""We repay loans when they are due but do not comment to individual financial matters,"" he said, insisting he enjoyed a ""warm and constructive"" relationship to Lord Ashcroft...Meanwhile Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy is expected to attack Mr Blair's words as he begins a nationwide tour on Monday. Mr Kennedy is accelerating Lib Dem election preparations this week as he visits Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester, Somerset, Basingstoke, Shrewsbury, Dorset and Torbay. He said: ""This is three-party politics. In the northern cities, the contest is between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. ""In southern and rural seats - especially in the South West - the principal contenders are the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, who are out of the running in Scotland and Wales."" The Lib Dems accuse Mr Blair of making a ""touchy-feely"" speech to Labour delegates which will not help him regain public trust.",politics
+"Ferguson rues failure to cut gap..Boss Sir Alex Ferguson was left ruing Manchester United's failure to close the gap on Chelsea, Everton and Arsenal after his side's 1-1 draw with Fulham...Premiership leaders Chelsea and the Gunners endured a 2-2 stalemate on Sunday, giving United the chance to make up some ground in the league. But Ferguson said: ""I think what makes it so bad is that both our rivals dropped points at the weekend. ""It was a great opportunity - and we haven't delivered."" United went ahead through Alan Smith in the 33rd minute before Bouba Diop's superb 25-yard strike cancelled out the visitors' lead in the 87th minute. Ferguson described the result as an ""absolute giveaway"" after United had earlier missed a host of opportunities to finish off the encounter. He said: ""It was a good performance - some of the football was fantastic - but we just didn't finish them off. ""In fairness, it's a fantastic strike from the Fulham player."" The result leaves Ferguson's side fourth in the league on 31 points - four points behind Arsenal and a further five back from Chelsea.",sport
+"Old Firm pair handed suspensions..Celtic's Henri Camara and Nacho Novo of Rangers have both been suspended for offences missed by the referee in a recent Old Firm game...Both were given automatic one-match bans and 12 additional disciplinary points for their actions. That means Novo will miss a further two games because of his prior record. Camara will miss one additional game. Novo was found guilty of stamping on Celtic's Stephen Pearson. Camara was punished for kicking Gregory Vignal. ""I'm extremely disappointed. I don't know if there's a lot to add to that,"" said Rangers manager Alex McLeish of Novo's punishment. ""But what I will say is that I'm at a loss as to why that incident should be picked up and highlighted when there were so many other incidents during the game."" Both players will miss this weekend's games when Celtic host Dundee United and Rangers visit Kilmarnock unless they decide to appeal...The additional bans come into effect from 28 December meaning Camara will also be unavailable for the home game against Livingston while Novo will miss the meetings with Dundee United and Dunfermline. An SFA spokesman said: ""They have seven days to appeal but with matches coming along at the weekend they would need to do so before Friday. ""But if they do appeal it won't be heard before this weekend because it takes a bit of time to seat up an appeals tribunal."" Meanwhile, Bob Malcolm and Rangers have been informed by letter as to the outcome of the hearing regarding his reaction to Rangers being awarded a penalty in the same game. Malcolm, a substitute on the day, was taken from the Rangers dug-out and spoken to by police about an alleged gesture he made. But the SFA would not detail what, if any, punishment Malcolm would receive. ""Once Rangers receive our letter we will be in a position to make a comment on the findings,"" added the spokesman.",sport
+"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.""",sport
+"Ferguson rues failure to cut gap..Boss Sir Alex Ferguson was left ruing Manchester United's failure to close the gap on Chelsea, Everton and Arsenal after his side's 1-1 draw with Fulham...Premiership leaders Chelsea and the Gunners endured a 2-2 stalemate on Sunday, giving United the chance to make up some ground in the league. But Ferguson said: ""I think what makes it so bad is that both our rivals dropped points at the weekend. ""It was a great opportunity - and we haven't delivered."" United went ahead through Alan Smith in the 33rd minute before Bouba Diop's superb 25-yard strike cancelled out the visitors' lead in the 87th minute. Ferguson described the result as an ""absolute giveaway"" after United had earlier missed a host of opportunities to finish off the encounter. He said: ""It was a good performance - some of the football was fantastic - but we just didn't finish them off. ""In fairness, it's a fantastic strike from the Fulham player."" The result leaves Ferguson's side fourth in the league on 31 points - four points behind Arsenal and a further five back from Chelsea.",sport
+"Everton's Weir cools Euro hopes..Everton defender David Weir has played down talk of European football, despite his team lying in second place in the Premiership after beating Liverpool...Weir told BBC Radio Five Live: ""We don't want to rest on our laurels and say we have achieved anything yet. ""I think you start taking your eye off the ball if you make statements and look too far into the future. ""If you start making predictions you soon fall back into trouble. The only thing that matters is the next game."" He said: ""We are looking after each other and hard work goes a long way in this league. We have definitely shown that. ""Also injuries and suspensions haven't cost us too badly and we have a lot of self-belief around the place.""",sport
+"Spain coach faces racism inquiry..Spain's Football Federation has initiated disciplinary action against national coach Luis Aragones over racist comments about Thierry Henry...If found guilty Aragones could lose his job or face a fine of about £22,000. The federation had initially declined to take action against Aragones after comments he made during a national team training session in October. But its president Angel Maria Villar changed his mind after a request by Spain's anti-violence commission. Aragones insisted the comments, made to Henry's Arsenal club-mate Jose Antonio Reyes, were meant to motivate the player, and were not intended to be offensive...""I never intended to offend anyone, and for that reason I have a very easy conscience,"" he said at the time. ""I'm obliged to motivate my players to get the best results. ""As part of that job, I use colloquial language, with which we can all understand each other within the framework of the football world. "" England's players made a point of wearing anti-racism t-shirts when training before their friendly against Spain in Madrid last month...But the storm increased following racist chanting by Spanish fans at England's black players during the game, which Spain won 1-0. Spain's minister of sport Jaime Lissavetzky was quick to give his backing to the Federation's decision. ""Everyone who has a public function has to consider their declarations, and make sure they do not give a negative image,"" he said. ""We are going to have zero tolerance in questions of racism.""",sport
+"Spain coach faces racism inquiry..Spain's Football Federation has initiated disciplinary action against national coach Luis Aragones over racist comments about Thierry Henry...If found guilty Aragones could lose his job or face a fine of about £22,000. The federation had initially declined to take action against Aragones after comments he made during a national team training session in October. But its president Angel Maria Villar changed his mind after a request by Spain's anti-violence commission. Aragones insisted the comments, made to Henry's Arsenal club-mate Jose Antonio Reyes, were meant to motivate the player, and were not intended to be offensive...""I never intended to offend anyone, and for that reason I have a very easy conscience,"" he said at the time. ""I'm obliged to motivate my players to get the best results. ""As part of that job, I use colloquial language, with which we can all understand each other within the framework of the football world. "" England's players made a point of wearing anti-racism t-shirts when training before their friendly against Spain in Madrid last month...But the storm increased following racist chanting by Spanish fans at England's black players during the game, which Spain won 1-0. Spain's minister of sport Jaime Lissavetzky was quick to give his backing to the Federation's decision. ""Everyone who has a public function has to consider their declarations, and make sure they do not give a negative image,"" he said. ""We are going to have zero tolerance in questions of racism.""",sport
+"Benitez deflects blame from Dudek..Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has refused to point the finger of blame at goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek after Portsmouth claimed a draw at Anfield...Dudek fumbled a cross before Lomana LuaLua headed home an injury-time equaliser, levelling after Steven Gerrard put Liverpool ahead. Benitez said: ""It was difficult for Jerzy. It was an unlucky moment. ""He was expecting a cross from Matthew Taylor and it ended up like a shot, so I don't blame him for what happened."" Benitez admitted it was a costly loss of two points by Liverpool, who followed up their derby defeat against Everton with a disappointing draw. He said: ""We had many opportunities but didn't score and, in the end, a 1-0 lead was not enough. ""If you don't have any chances you have to think of other things, but when you are creating so many chances as we are there is nothing you can say to the players. It was a pity. ""We lost two points, but we have one more point in the table. Now we have another difficult game against Newcastle and we have to recover quickly from that.""",sport
+"Bellamy fined after row..Newcastle have fined their Welsh striker Craig Bellamy two weeks' wages - about £80,000 - following his row with manager Graeme Souness...But Bellamy, 25, has not been put on the transfer list, although he did not train with the first team on Tuesday. Magpies chairman Freddy Shepherd told the Newcastle Evening Chronicle: ""It is not about money. It is about a player thinking he is bigger than this club. ""No individual is, be it the chairman, the manager or a player."" Souness dropped Bellamy for Sunday's game against Arsenal, claiming the Welshman had feigned injury after being asked to play out of position. ""When I heard what the manager was saying I was in shock,"" Bellamy said. ""I thought 'not only has he gone behind my back, he's lying',"" he said in response to Souness' remarks. And the Wales international refused to apologise. ""I won't apologise because I have done nothing wrong,"" he told the Evening Chronicle. ""There's no doubt about it, I am out of here."" The difficult relationship between Souness and Bellamy boiled over at the weekend, and has led to a war of words in the media...Bellamy's claim that Souness had lied about the background to the bust-up was strongly denied by Shepherd, who accused the striker of ""cheating"" the club. ""I wish to put the record straight regarding the Bellamy situation,"" said Shepherd. ""Craig walked off the training ground saying his hamstring was tight (on Friday), but what he failed to reveal was that he had told other members of the squad before training that he intended to feign injury. ""When Graeme discovered this he immediately ordered Bellamy to attend a meeting in my office. ""At that meeting Bellamy admitted to Graeme and I that he had told the players that he was going to ""fake"" an injury in training and walk off. ""He also agreed at that meeting to apologise to his team-mates for his behaviour. He didn't do this which resulted in the action taken by the manager at the weekend, which I fully support. ""In my book this is cheating on the club, the supporters, the manager and his own team-mates. ""He is paid extremely well and I consider his behaviour to be totally unacceptable and totally unprofessional.""..Bellamy's latest outburst would appear to make his chances of a first-team recall remote. But even before Newcastle said the player would not be sold, Bellamy insisted he had no intention of handing in a transfer request. ""I don't want the fans to think for one minute that I wouldn't play for this club,"" he said. ""I'd play anywhere for this club, even in goal. ""It's a very difficult situation for me at the moment but I'd never ask to leave this club. ""This club means so much to me. I couldn't do it because I know I couldn't come back here and play against Newcastle. It would hurt too much.""",sport
+"McClaren eyes Uefa Cup top spot..Steve McClaren wants his Middlesbrough team to win their Uefa Cup group by beating Partizan Belgrade...Boro have already qualified for the knockout stages alongside Partizan and Villareal, at the expense of Lazio. But boss McClaren is looking for a victory which would mean they avoid a team that has played in the Champions League in Friday's third-round draw. ""To need a win to finish top is fantastic, but it is going to be a tough one,"" McClaren said. ""When the draw was made, I thought it was the toughest group of them all - and so it has proved. ""Lazio were favourites, Villarreal have been semi-finalists, and Partizan have fantastic experience in Europe. ""The pleasing thing is we did the business in the first two games. ""Winning those two has put us in a great position and it has been a fantastic experience playing these teams.""",sport
+"Spurs to sign Iceland U21 star..Tottenham are primed to snap up Iceland Under-21 international Emil Hallfredsson after he impressed on trial at White Hart Lane...The 20-year-old midfielder, who plays for FH Hafnarfjordur, also starred in the Uefa Cup match against Scottish side Dunfermline earlier this season. Spurs have agreed a fee for the player, who has yet to agree personal terms. ""He had offers from two other clubs but he decided to come to Tottenham,"" said Spurs sporting director Frank Arnesen. ""He is a left-sided player, a position we have been looking at and he showed so much talent in his time here that we decided to take him. ""It's down the road of bringing in talent, good prospects and giving them a place at Tottenham where they can improve.""",sport
+"McLeish ready for criticism..Rangers manager Alex McLeish accepts he is going to be criticised after their disastrous Uefa Cup exit at the hands of Auxerre at Ibrox on Wednesday...McLeish told BBC Radio Five Live: ""We were in pole position to get through to the next stage but we blew it, we absolutely blew it. ""There's no use burying your head in the sand, we know we are going to get a lot of criticism. ""We have to take it as we have done in the past and we must now bounce back."" McLeish admitted his team's defending was amateurish after watching them lose 2-0 to Guy Roux's French side...""I'm very disappointed because we didn't give ourselves a chance, losing the first goal from our own corner. It was amateur,"" he added. ""The early goal in the second half gave us a mountain to climb and we never created the same kind of chances as we did in the first half. ""It's difficult to take positives from the game. We've let the fans down.""",sport
+"O'Leary agrees new Villa contract..Aston Villa boss David O'Leary signed a three-and-a-half year contract extension on Thursday, securing his future at the club until summer 2008...O'Leary's future was in question, but Villa chairman Doug Ellis said he was happy to secure the deal. ""David's record since his arrival in 2003 is excellent and he shares the board's amibitions in taking this club forward,"" he told Villa's website. ""For this reason it was important we got this right."" O'Leary put pen to paper after deals were sorted for his right-hand men Roy Aitken and Steve McGregor. ""It was important to me Roy and Steve, an integral part of my team, should stay for the same time,"" O'Leary said on Thursday ahead of signing his new deal. ""Someone has to try and put Aston Villa back where they should belong and I'm up for the challenge.""Earlier in December, there were rumours O'Leary would quit if he is not offered a new deal before the end of the season...But he denied that, saying he was happy to take on the challenge of improving Villa's fortunes in the long term. ""I want to make sure by the end of the five years I would have been in charge that Villa are achieving top six finishes in the Premiership on a regular basis,"" said O'Leary, who took over at Villa Park in May 2003. ""But to achieve that, and take the next step forward, we do need to bring in quality players. ""I would like a couple next month if at all possible to set us on the way."" Meanwhile, O'Leary has rapped skipper Olof Mellberg for his comments before Sunday's derby with Birmingham...Mellberg spoke of his dislike of Villa's rivals ahead of the match, which Steve Bruce's side won 2-1. ""I've had more than a quiet word with Olof. It's been said within the whole group, not as a one-to-one,"" he told Villa's website. ""You shouldn't leave yourself open to be shot down. You shouldn't give people the chance to take cheap shots at you and he set himself up for that.""",sport
+"Gronkjaer agrees switch to Madrid..Jesper Gronkjaer has agreed a move to Atletico Madrid from Birmingham City...The 27-year-old winger spent just five months at St Andrews following a £2.2m move from Chelsea in July after playing for Denmark at Euro 2004. He is set to move during the January transfer window in a deal rumoured to be about £1.4m, subject to a medical. ""We will meet with the player's representative to finalise the contract and decide when he will sign,"" said Atletico sporting director Toni Munoz. Gronkjaer has been targeted by Blues fans and was sarcastically applauded when taken off against Everton last month. Boss Steve Bruce had said that he would be happy to let the Danish international go if the price was right. He added: ""I'm not going to say the decision to let him go is down to the fans' reaction towards him...""He has had a tough time since the summer with the loss of his mother and finding it difficult to adjust to a new club and a different area. ""He has been terrific and not missed a day's training and is someone if your daughter brought them home you would be delighted. ""It just hasn't quite worked out here for him. But we'd like to get back most of what we spent.""",sport
+"Benitez 'to launch Morientes bid'..Liverpool may launch an £8m January bid for long-time target Fernando Morientes, according to reports...The Real Madrid striker has been linked with a move to Anfield since the summer and is currently behind Raul, Ronaldo and Michael Owen at the Bernabeu. Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is keen to bolster his forward options with Djibril Cisse out until next season. ""If there is an attractive propostition it could be I would be keen to leave,"" admitted the 28-year-old Morientes. He added: ""Unfortunately, I'm not in control of the situation. I'm under contract to Real and they will make any decisions."" The fee could put Liverpool off a prospective deal but Real are keen to net the cash as they are reported to be preparing a massive summer bid for Inter Milan striker Adriano. The Reds are currently sixth in the Premiership, 15 points behind leaders Chelsea.",sport
+"Robertson out to retain Euro lure..Hearts manager John Robertson hopes a place in the knock-out stages of the Uefa Cup could help keep some of his out-of-contract players at the club...""It could help. If we get through and have another European tie it may encourage players to stay at least until the end of the season,"" he said. ""If we manage to get through it shows how well the club's progressing. ""They have to think whether they are going to get other clubs like that should they decide to move on."" A win for Robertson's side against Ferencvaros would put them through to the last 32 if Basle fail to beat Feyenoord. ""It's very much the player's prerogative but the fact that we've been playing European football for the last three or four years is obviously an incentive,"" added Robertson. ""But we want players who want to play for the football club, who are committed and a run in Europe always helps a little bit."" With the game being played at Murrayfield instead of Tynecastle because of Uefa regulations, Robertson sees both positive and negative aspects to the change of venue...""The pitch is not in the greatest condition. The Heineken Cup game was there at the weekend and the pitch is a bit threadbare,"" he said. ""It's not ideal but it's the same for both teams so we just have to go out and there and perform. That's the most important thing."" But he added: ""If Tynecastle could have hosted 30,000 it would have been fantastic but that's one of the benefits of Murrayfield - it allows us to bring even more of our supporters into it. ""There will be a good atmosphere and the Hearts fans have an important role to play. ""We need their encouragement, we need them to get right behind the side and make it as good an atmosphere as possible. ""Hopefully the players will respond to that and I know they will because it's a fantastic European night for the club.""",sport
+"Campbell rescues Arsenal..Sol Campbell proved to be an unlikely match-winner to earn Arsenal a hard-fought win at Portsmouth...The England defender lashed home a 25-yard shot for his first goal in 16 months to take Arsenal back into second spot, five points behind Chelsea. But before Campbell scored the best two chances of the game fell to Pompey striker Ricardo Fuller. In the first half he blasted wide when clear, and his control let him down in the second half when well placed. Portsmouth got plenty of bodies behind the ball to deny Arsenal space in the early stages. But their marking was slack at a corner and Patrick Vieira should have done better when the ball fell to him 16 yards out. A mistake by Arjan de Zeeuw let Thierry Henry in behind the Pompey defence on 17 minutes but as he bore down on goal Linvoy Primus got in a saving tackle. With just Fuller as an out-and-out striker, Portsmouth's shape made life difficult for Arsenal. But a delightful touch by Robin van Persie gave Henry a sight of goal, although the angle was too tight for his shot to trouble Jamie Ashdown...Ashdown caused hearts to flutter on 28 minutes when he missed his punch at a corner and Kolo Toure headed just wide and, as Arsenal began to press, Van Persie blasted over a good opportunity after Henry had set him up. Henry took a quick return pass from Vieira but Ashdown was out quickly to block, and there were some anxious seconds for Pompey as the ball ran loose before Matthew Taylor cleared. After playing second fiddle, Portsmouth should have taken the lead on 34 minutes. Referee Howard Webb played a good advantage to allow Steve Stone to send Gary O'Neil away but, having shrugged off Toure, the Pompey midfielder planted his shot wide from 10 yards. As half-time approached, Henry teased a shot through a ruck of players and inches wide. At the other end, Fuller broke clear but failed to hit the target as Toure closed him down...Fuller was given the best chance of the match so far on 48 minutes when Patrik Berger's break and slipped pass played him clear. But a poor first touch lost him the opportunity and even when he checked back and went down under Vieira's challenge, referee Webb was not interested. Fuller paid the price when he gave way on 55 minutes to Aiyegbeni Yakubu, who returned after six weeks out with a knee injury. But it needed alert reflexes and safe handling from Ashdown to cling on to Van Persie's shot as Henry sniffed for scraps...Portsmouth were growing in confidence and keeper Manuel Almunia had to stand his ground to beat away a powerful shot from Berger. Arsenal were struggling to find their rhythm but took the lead through the unlikely source of Campbell. The England defender needed little invitation as Pompey backed off to stride forward and lash a ferocious shot past Ashdown. Arsenal might have stretched their lead two minutes later when Mathieu Flamini escaped his marker to flash a header wide from Henry's free-kick. Almunia went full length to grab Berger's long-range shot, while Ashdown palmed away substitute Dennis Bergkamp's shot...Ashdown, Griffin, De Zeeuw, Primus, Taylor, Stone, O'Neil, Faye (Berkovic 83), Berger, LuaLua, Fuller (Yakubu 55)...Subs not used: Hislop, Quashie, Cisse...Almunia, Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Cole, Pires, Flamini, Vieira, Clichy, Van Persie (Bergkamp 68), Henry...Subs not used: Lehmann, Fabregas, Senderos, Hoyte...Cole...Campbell 75...20,170...H Webb (S Yorkshire).",sport
+"Reds sink 10-man Magpies..Titus Bramble's own goal put Liverpool on the comeback trail as injury-hit Newcastle were well beaten at Anfield...Patrick Kluivert's close-range finish put Newcastle ahead after 31 minutes, but they were pegged back as Bramble headed in Steven Gerrard's corner. Neil Mellor gave Liverpool the lead before half-time from Milan Baros' pass before the Czech added a third after rounding Shay Given on the hour. Newcastle then had Lee Bowyer sent off for two bookable offences. Liverpool brought back Luis Garcia after a hamstring injury, while Newcastle were forced to draft in Kluivert after Craig Bellamy was a late withdrawal with a back injury sustained in the warm-up. And Garcia should have crowned his return with a goal inside the opening minute when he took a pass from Baros but shot wildly over the top from eight yards. Olivier Bernard was only inches away from giving Newcastle the lead after 20 minutes, when he fired just wide from a free-kick 25 yards out. But Souness's side did go ahead 11 minutes later in highly controversial circumstances...Kluivert looked suspiciously offside when Kieron Dyer set Bowyer free, but the Dutchman was then perfectly placed to score from six yards. The lead lasted three minutes, with Liverpool back on terms as Bramble headed Gerrard's corner into his own net under pressure from Sami Hyypia. And Liverpool were ahead after 37 minutes when Baros slid a perfect pass into Mellor's path for the youngster to slip a slide-rule finish into Given's bottom corner. Garcia's finishing was wayward, and he was wasteful again in first-half injury time, shooting tamely at Given after good work by Xabi Alonso. Any hopes of a Newcastle recovery looked to be snuffed out on the hour when a brilliant turn and pass by Harry Kewell set Baros free and he rounded Given to score. Jermaine Jenas then missed a glorious chance to throw Newcastle a lifeline, shooting over from just eight yards out from Shola Ameobi's cross. Then Bowyer, who had already been booked for a foul on Alonso, was deservedly shown the red card by referee Graham Poll for a wild challenge on Liverpool substitute Florent Sinama-Pongolle...Dudek, Finnan, Hyypia, Carragher, Riise, Luis Garcia (Nunez 73), Gerrard, Alonso, Kewell (Traore 85), Baros, Mellor (Sinama Pongolle 75)...Subs not used: Hamann, Harrison...Bramble 35 og, Mellor 38, Baros 61...Given, Andrew O'Brien, Elliott, Bramble, Bernard, Bowyer, Dyer (Ambrose 80), Jenas, Milner (N'Zogbia 72), Kluivert (Robert 58), Ameobi...Subs not used: Harper...Bowyer (77)...Bowyer, Elliott, Bernard...Kluivert 32...43,856...G Poll (Hertfordshire).",sport
+"Strachan turns down Pompey..Former Southampton manager Gordon Strachan has rejected the chance to become Portsmouth's new boss...The Scot was Pompey chairman Milan Mandaric's first choice to replace Harry Redknapp, who left Fratton Park for rivals Saints earlier in December. ""I think it's a fantastic job for anybody apart from somebody who has just been the Southampton manager,"" Strachan told the BBC. Club director Terry Brady held initial talks with Strachan on Saturday. The former Scotland international added that joining Southampton's local rivals would not be a wise move. ""It's got everything going for it but I've got too many memories of the other side and I don't want to sour those memories,"" he said. ""Everything's right - it's 10 minutes away, there are good players there, a good set-up, a good atmosphere at the ground. ""There's lots to do but it's not right for somebody who has just been the Southampton manager."" Since Redknapp's departure, executive director Velimir Zajec and coach Joe Jordan have overseen first-team affairs...The duo had gone five matches unbeaten until Sunday's 1-0 defeat at home to champions Arsenal, but the club are still in a respectable 12th place in the Premiership table. Strachan left St Mary's in February, after earlier announcing his intention to take a break from the game at the end of the 2003-04 season. His previous managerial experience came at Coventry, whom he led for five years from 1996 to 2001.",sport
+"Henry tipped for Fifa award..Fifa president Sepp Blatter hopes Arsenal's Thierry Henry will be named World Player of the Year on Monday...Henry is on the Fifa shortlist with Barcelona's Ronaldinho and newly-crowned European Footballer of the Year, AC Milan's Andriy Shevchenko. Blatter said: ""Henry, for me, is the personality on the field. He is the man who can run and organise the game."" The winner of the accolade will be named at a glittering ceremony at Zurich's Opera house. The three shortlisted candidates for the women's award are Mia Hamm of the United States, Germany's Birgit Prinz and Brazilian youngster Marta...Hamm, who recently retired - is looking to regain the women's award, which she lost last year to striker Prinz. Fifa has changed the panel of voters for this year's awards. Male and female captains of every national team will be able to vote, as well as their coaches and Fipro - the global organisation for professional players.",sport
+"Newcastle to join Morientes race..Newcastle have joined the race to sign Real Madrid striker Fernando Morientes and scupper Liverpool's bid to snap up the player, according to reports...Liverpool were reported to have bid £3.5m for the 28-year-old Spanish international this week. But the Liverpool Echo newspaper has said Anfield boss Rafa Benitez will avoid a bidding war and instead turn his attentions to Nicolas Anelka. Real are believed to still want £7m before selling Morientes. Monaco are also in the race for the player they had on loan last season. Reports suggest Liverpool will lift their offer to £5m - the highest they are willing to go before bowing out of any deal...On Tuesday, Morientes had said: ""I like Liverpool and I am pleased that a club of their stature want to buy me. I have told Madrid that I want it to happen. ""Madrid know my situation and they know they must do something about me. They must sort out the situation by being sensible. ""I am in a position where I want to play, and I will have to look elsewhere to do that. If Madrid do not want me then it's in the best interests of everyone that they are realistic...""I haven't spoken to Rafa Benitez but I have always appreciated his work and I would like to play for him. But Benitez could yet turn his attentions to the younger Anelka should Morientes be reluctant to pledge his future to Liverpool. Anelka previously played at Anfield under Gerard Houllier before sealing his permanent switch to Manchester City.",sport
+"Blues slam Blackburn over Savage..Birmingham have confirmed Blackburn made a bid for Robbie Savage - but managing director Karen Brady has called it ""derisory""...Rovers have reportedly offered £500,000 up front for the Wales star, 30, with the fee rising to £2.2m. But Brady told The Sun the bid was ""a waste of fax paper and my time"". She added: ""The way things are going all this could affect the relationship between the clubs. They've got into Robbie's head. But he's not for sale."" Savage's future at Birmingham has been the source of speculation for several weeks, with some fans criticising his performances for the club earlier in the season. However, good displays against West Brom and Aston Villa have impressed Blues fans. ""The crowd gave me a massive standing ovation when I came off on Saturday which was nice,"" he said. ""It was fantastic even though I was criticised by a number of them in recent weeks and on Saturday it showed how much I mean to them. ""It's not for me to say (about transfer rumours), it's between the two clubs. ""I haven't created the speculation myself, I haven't phoned every national newspaper saying, 'Blackburn are trying to buy me'. It's not up to me."" Birmingham manager Steve Bruce insists he does not want to sell Savage. ""A lot is said and written about Sav but he has been terrific for Birmingham City the last two and a half years,"" he said...""The fans love him because he epitomises them. He works hard, They like people like that and there are not many like him. ""And why the hell should I sell him to someone else? I am not interested.""",sport
+"Gerrard happy at Anfield..Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has reiterated his desire to stay at Anfield and win trophies with the club...The 24-year-old England midfielder is determined to see out his contract, despite reported interest from Chelsea. He said: ""I'm signed here for this season and another two so there is no situation. There's a lot of speculation but that's not down to me. ""As club captain all I want to do is help us get back up the table and into the Champions League again."" Gerrard looked set to move to Chelsea during the summer and speculation of a switch to Stamford Bridge has again arisen, with the January transfer window approaching. He raised doubts about his Reds future when he said he wanted the club to prove they were title challengers in the very near future or he might leave. Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has insisted that Gerrard has promised him he wants to stay at Anfield. Benitez said: ""I said to Steven that I was sure he wanted to stay here and he said 'I do'...""I then said to him 'Look, if you want to win titles, you want medals and you want Liverpool to have these things then I am going to need your help'. ""I really think he wants to stay so now what we must do is make the squad stronger for him."" Meanwhile, Gerrard has urged the Anfield board to sign Real Madrid striker Fernando Morientes in the January transfer window. Morientes, 28, has already expressed a willingness to come to England. Gerrard added: ""He's a great player. He scores goals in the league, in cup competitions and also in the Champions League. ""I don't think he'd be able to play for us in Europe this season but if we are able to get hold of him, we'd be getting ourselves a great player...""He'd have Spanish coaches, a Spanish manager and we have got three or four Spanish players here now so they'll help him settle in. ""Rafael Benitez knows what he wants and he knows how to strengthen the squad he's got and if the right players become available at the right price I am sure we will strengthen. ""It would certainly be nice to see a few new faces in January to freshen things up.""",sport
+"Beckham rules out management move..Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham has no plans to become a manager when his playing career is over...""I am not interested in being a coach but I would like to have football schools,"" the England captain said on television station Canal Plus. ""I have wanted to do that since I went to the Bobby Charlton school. I'm going to open one in London and one in LA. ""My second passion is charity work - I am an ambassador for Unicef and it gives me great pride."" But Beckham revealed that his immediate priority was winning the Spanish league title with Real Madrid...Real slipped to 13 points behind leaders Barcelona with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Sevilla on Wednesday. Beckham admitted: ""It's disappointing and frustrating to see the results, considering the team we have. ""I would really like to win La Liga with Real Madrid - I have been here two years and we still have not done it."" In a wide-ranging interview, Beckham also revealed that his sending-off against Argentina - and the resulting media storm - had been the most significant moment in his career. Asked for his worst memory, he said: ""To be sent off against Argentina - it was not for the sending-off but for what happened afterwards. ""I was lucky because I had a manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who supported me and a strong family behind me but I believe that changed me. ""I believe it changed me for the better.""",sport
+"Mexicans tracking unhappy Juninho..Mexican outfit Red Sharks Veracruz hope to sign Juninho if the Brazilian decides to leave Celtic frustrated at his lack of first-team action...Their president, Gustavo Parente Sanchez, says Juninho ""does not wish to remain in Scottish football anymore"". Agent Brian Hassell insists that the 31-year-old Brazilian midfielder is determined to win back his place. ""But, if the manager is not going to pick him, that's a different ball game,"" he told The Sun. ""That's something we'd have to look at. Juninho deserves respect. He is not a little kid."" Hassell warns that Juninho could reconsider his future at Celtic unless he is given a run of games by the end of the January transfer window...Juninho was signed from Middlesbrough during the summer, but he has failed to live up to high expectations and has lost his place to 18-year-old Aiden McGeady. ""He has 50 caps for Brazil and he's the best signing Celtic ever made,"" insisted Hassell. ""He wants to play for Martin O'Neill, but does Martin O'Neill want to play him? ""Juninho is not someone who has come through the Celtic ranks. He deserves much more respect."" Sanchez is bullish about his hopes of prising Juninho from the Scottish champions, although Hassell believes Mexico would not be his preferred destination. ""We have already spoken with Juninho and he said, if he has no firm offer from a club in Spain, Veracruz will be his destination,"" Sanchez told his club's official website. Celtic manager O'Neill is no respecter of reputations. ""The onus is on Juninho to force his way into the team,"" he said. ""Players get a game on merit. That's the way it has always been and that is certainly the case at Celtic Park.""",sport
+"Celtic unhappy over Bulgaria date..Martin O'Neill hopes to block Stilian Petrov's call-up by Bulgaria during Celtic's busy festive programme...The Celtic manager does not view the friendly against Valenciana - a region of Spain - on 28 December as important. ""I can't say I was overly pleased at the fixture being played just after Christmas,"" said O'Neill. ""We will have to speak with the Bulgarian FA. It's their prerogative for them to arrange a fixture and our prerogative how we handle it."" Bulgaria's game comes between Celtic's Boxing Day meeting with Hearts and their 2 January fixture against Livingston. O'Neill believes the extra game will not help a midfielder whose season has already been affected by injury. ""They have organised a game at a rather awkward time,"" he added. ""When we were out playing Barcelona, I spoke with the Bulgarian manager, Hristo Stoichkov, and he mentioned this game to me. ""We pay his wages, we are the ones that if an awkward fixture is going to be played at some stage or another it should be to our benefit, rather than anyone else. ""I have said this before, but Bulgaria are the one nation who seem to organise a lot of friendly games.""",sport
+"Robben and Cole earn Chelsea win..Cheslea salvaged a win against a battling Portsmouth side just as it looked like the Premiership leaders would have to settle for a point...Arjen Robben curled in a late deflected left-footed shot from the right side of Pompey's box to break the home side's brave resistance. Chelsea had been continually frustrated but Joe Cole added a second with a 20-yard shot in injury-time. Nigel Quashie had Pompey's best chance when his effort was tipped over. The Fratton Park crowd were in good voice as usual and, even though Portsmouth more than held their own, Chelsea still managed to carve out two early chances. Striker Didier Drogba snapped in an angled shot to force home keeper Shaka Hislop into a smart save while an unmarked Frank Lampard had a strike blocked by Arjan De Zeeuw. But Pompey chased, harried and unsettled a Chelsea side as the south-coast side started to gain the upper hand and almost took the lead through Quashie...The midfielder struck a swerving long range shot which keeper Petr Cech tipped over at full stretch. Pompey stretched Arsenal to the limit recently and were providing a similarly tough obstacle to overcome for a Chelsea team struggling to exert any pressure. Velimir Zajec's players stood firm as the visitors came out in lively fashion after the break but, just as they took a stranglehold of the match, the visitors launched a counter-attack. Drogba spun to get a sight of goal and struck a fierce shot which rocked keeper Hislop back as he blocked before Arjan de Zeeuw cleared the danger...The home side were also left breathing a sigh of relief when a Glen Johnson header fell to Gudjohnsen who had his back to goal in a crowded Pompey goalmouth. The Icelandic forward tried to acrobatically direct the ball into goal but put his effort over. But, just like against Arsenal, Portsmouth let in a late goal when Robben's shot took a deflection off Matthew Taylor on its way past a wrong-footed Hislop. And Cole put a bit of gloss on a hard-fought win when he put a low shot into the bottom of the Pompey net...Hislop, Griffin, Primus, De Zeeuw, Taylor, Stone (Cisse 76), Quashie (Berkovic 83), Faye, O'Neil, Kamara (Fuller 65), Yakubu...Subs Not Used: Berger, Ashdown...Kamara...Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Gallas, Terry, Johnson, Duff, Makelele, Smertin (Cole 73), Lampard, Robben (Geremi 81), Drogba (Gudjohnsen 58)...Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Bridge...Paulo Ferreira, Robben, Lampard...Robben 79, Cole 90...20,210..A Wiley (Staffordshire).",sport
+"Newcastle line up Babayaro..Newcastle manager Graeme Souness is closing in on signing Chelsea defender Celestine Babayaro when the transfer window reopens...Souness is bidding to bolster his defence and, according to reports, contract negotiations are at an advanced stage with the player. Babayaro has been in the Premiership since 1997 when he moved to Chelsea for £2.25m from Anderlecht. But the 26-year-old has been surplus to requirements this season. Souness would not be drawn on specifics over individual players...But he said: ""All I can tell you is that the chairman has worked really hard in the last couple of months to try to do deals. ""We have said from day one we want to strengthen, and that is what we are hoping to do in the coming weeks.""",sport
+"Mourinho takes swipe at Arsenal..Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has attempted to pile the pressure on title rivals Arsenal ahead of the Gunners facing Newcastle on Wednesday...Arsenal will play the Magpies a day after Chelsea beat Portsmouth during a busy festive programme. And Mourinho said: ""They always seem to have two or three days' rest in which to recover. Perhaps it's something to do with the television schedule. ""All my players are tired, especially John Terry.""..Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho admitted his side were ""lucky"" to win at Fratton Park but is still unhappy with the amount of games in such a short space of time during this time of year. He added: ""We have had to play two matches in three days which is foreign to many of my players and, although I understand the traditions of football here at this time of year, it is not good for your health to do it...""You can sit back and smoke cigars, one after another, and it is a good life, but it is not actually good for you. ""Playing so many games is certainly not healthy, especially for teams who still have European commitment.""",sport
+"Wenger shock at Newcastle dip..Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted he is at a loss to explain why Newcastle are languishing in the bottom half of the table...The Gunners travel to St James' Park on Wednesday, with Newcastle 14th in the Premiership after a troubled season. And Wenger said: ""At the beginning of the season you would expect them to be fighting for the top four. ""I don't know how they got to be where they are. It looks to me from the outside that they have many injuries.""..Arsenal go into the game on the back of a 2-0 victory over Fulham on Sunday. And Wenger added: ""The best way to prepare for a game is to win the previous one. We will go to Newcastle in good shape. ""Fatigue won't play too big a part in the next few weeks as we have players coming back so I can rotate a bit more. ""We do not play a season with 11 players and I believe that all of our squad deserve a chance in the team."" Striker Thierry Henry, along with Robert Pires, scored against Fulham. And Henry afterwards described the display as ""beautiful to watch"". He said: ""What matters is winning and the three points, of course. That is the only thing that really matters. But it is more enjoyable when you play like we did against Fulham. ""We are playing as a team and that is important because there were some games when we maybe were not there as a team and suffered for that. Those were games we lost.""",sport
+"Ferguson hails Man Utd's resolve..Manchester United's Alex Ferguson has praised his players' gutsy performance in the 1-0 win at Aston Villa...""That was our hardest away game of the season and it was a fantastic game of football, end-to-end with lots of good passing,"" said the Old Trafford boss. ""We showed lots of character and guts and we weren't going to lose. ""I look at that fixture and think we've been there and won, while Arsenal and Chelsea have yet to come and Villa may have some players back when they do."" Ferguson also hailed senior stars Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane, who came off the bench for the injured John O'Shea. ""Roy came on and brought a bit of composure to the midfield which we needed and which no other player has got. ""Giggs was a tremendous threat and he brings tremendous penetration. ""All we can do is maintain our form, play as we are and we'll get our rewards.""",sport
+"TV calls after Carroll error..Spurs boss Martin Jol said his team were ""robbed"" at Manchester United after Pedro Mendes' shot clearly crossed the line but was not given...""The referee is already wearing an earpiece so why can't we just stop the game and get the decision right,"" said Jol after the 0-0 draw. ""But at the end of the day it's so obvious that Pedro's shot was over the line it's incredible. ""We feel robbed but it's difficult for the linesman and referee to see it."" Mendes shot from 50 yards and United goalkeeper Roy Carroll spilled the ball into his own net before hooking it clear. Jol added: ""We are not talking about the ball being a couple of centimetres or an inch or two over the line, it was a metre inside the goal. ""What really annoys me is that we are here in 2005, watching something on a TV monitor within two seconds of the incident occurring and the referee isn't told about it...""We didn't play particularly well but I am pleased - even now - with a point, although we should have had three."" Mendes could not believe the 'goal' was not given after seeing a replay. He said: ""My reaction on the pitch was to celebrate. ""It was a very nice goal, it was clearly over the line - I've never seen one so over the line and not given in my career. ""It's really, really over. What can you do but laugh about it? It's a nice goal and one to keep in my memory even though it didn't count. ""It's not every game you score from the halfway line."" Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson sympathised with Tottenham and said the incident highlighted the need for video technology. ""I think it hammers home what a lot of people have been asking for and that's that technology should play a part in the game,"" Ferguson told MUTV. ""What I was against originally was the time factor in video replays. ""But I read an article the other day which suggested that if a referee can't make up his mind after 30 seconds of watching a video replay then the game should carry on...""Thirty seconds is about the same amount of time it takes to organise a free-kick or take a corner or a goal-kick. So you wouldn't be wasting a lot of time. ""I think you could start off by using it for goal-line decisions. I think that would be an opening into a new area of football."" Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger also used the incident to highlight the need for video technology. ""When the whole world apart from the referee has seen there should be a goal at Old Trafford, that just reinforces what I feel - there should be video evidence,"" said Wenger. ""It's a great example of where the referee could have asked to see a replay and would have seen in five seconds that it was a goal.""",sport
+"Hodgson shoulders England blame..Fly-half Charlie Hodgson admitted his wayward kicking played a big part in England's 18-17 defeat to France...Hodgson failed to convert three penalties and also missed a relatively easy drop goal attempt which would have given England a late win. ""I'm very disappointed with the result and with my myself,"" Hodgson said. ""It is very hard to take but it's something I will have to get through and come back stronger. My training's been good but it just didn't happen."" Hodgson revealed that Olly Barkley had taken three penalties because they were ""out of my range"" but the centre could not convert his opportunities either, particularly the drop goal late on. ""It wasn't a good strike,"" he added. ""I felt as soon as it hit my boot it had missed. It's very disappointing, but I must recover."" Andy Robinson said he would ""keep working on the kicking"" with his squad. However, the England coach added that he would take some positives from the defeat...""We went out to play and played some very good rugby and what have France done?"" he said. ""They won the game from kicking penalties from our 10m line. ""It's very frustrating. The lads showed a lot of ambition in the first half, they went out to sustain it in the second but couldn't build on it. ""We took the ball into contact, and you know when you do that it is a lottery whether the referee is going to give the penalty to your side or the other side. ""We have lost a game we should have won. There is a fine line between winning and losing, and for the second week we've been on the wrong side of that line and it hurts.""..England went in at half-time with a 17-6 lead but they failed to score in the second half and Dimitri Yachvili slotted over four penalties as France overhauled the deficit. England skipper Jason Robinson admitted his side failed to cope with France's improved second-half display...""We controlled the game in the first half but we knew that they would come out and try everything after half-time,"" he said. ""We made a lot of mistakes in the second half and they punished us. They took their chances when they came. ""It's very disappointing. Last week we lost by two points, now one point.""",sport
+"Vickery out of Six Nations..England tight-head prop Phil Vickery has been ruled out of the rest of the 2005 RBS Six Nations after breaking a bone in his right forearm...Vickery was injured as his club side, Gloucester, beat Bath 17-16 in the West country derby on Saturday. He could be joined on the sidelines by Bath centre Olly Barkley, who sat out the derby due to a leg injury. Barkley will have a scan on Sunday and might miss England's trip to Six Nations leaders Ireland next weekend. The news is just the latest blow for coach Andy Robinson, who has seen his side lose their opening two matches in the 2005 Six Nations. Robinson is already without World Cup winners Jonny Wilkinson, Will Greenwood, Mike Tindall, Richard Hill and Trevor Woodman through injury. Vickery has broken the radius, a large bone in his forearm. He only returned to the England side last weekend after a long-term back injury, which was followed by a fractured eye socket. And the Gloucester prop was only recalled after Leicester tight-head Julian White suffered a neck injury which has already seen him ruled out of the Ireland game...Bath prop Matt Stevens is the only remaining tight-head in England's training squad and could be involved against Ireland. But he has to play second fiddle at club level to Duncan Bell, who excelled for England A against France and may now be called into the squad. The extent of Barkley's injury is not yet clear but Bath boss John Connolly rates him no better than ""50-50"" to face Ireland. Barkley played at inside cente in England's defeat by France and if he is unable to play, England's constantly-changing midfield will once again have to be altered...Robinson could choose to recall Mathew Tait or Henry Paul, although Tait endured a nightmare for Newcastle against Leicester on Saturday and Paul limped off with an ankle injury against Bath. In-form Leicester centre Ollie Smith is the other outstanding candidate, and two tries against Newcastle will have boosted his chances. Fly-half Andy Goode is also a strong contender for the match-day 22 after an immaculate kicking display on Saturday. England, fourth in the Six Nations table with zero points, play Ireland, top of the table, in Dublin on 27 February, kick-off 1500 GMT.",sport
+"Yachvili savours France comeback..France scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili praised his team after they fought back to beat England 18-17 in the Six Nations clash at Twickenham...Yachvili kicked all of France's points as they staged a second-half revival. ""We didn't play last week against Scotland and we didn't play in the first half against England,"" he said. ""But we're very proud to beat England at Twickenham. We were just defending in the first half and we said we had to put them under pressure. We did well."" Yachvili admitted erratic kicking from England's Charlie Hodgson and Olly Barkley, who missed six penalties and a drop goal chance between them, had been decisive. ""I know what it's like with kicking. When you miss some it's very hard mentally, but it went well for us,"" he said. France captain Fabien Pelous insisted his side never doubted they could secure their first win against England at Twickenham since 1997. France were 17-6 down at half-time, but Pelous said: ""No-one was down at half-time, we were still confident. ""We said we only had 11 points against us, which was not much. ""The plan was to keep hold of possession and pressure England to losing their composure."" France coach Bernard Laporte accepted his side had not played well. ""We know we have to play better to defend the title,"" he said. ""I'm not happy we didn't score a try but we're happy because we won.""",sport
+"Laporte tinkers with team..France coach Bernard Laporte has made four changes to the starting line-up that beat England for Saturday's Six Nations clash with Wales...He opted for Yannick Nyanga in the back row instead of Grand Slam winner Imanol Harinordoquy, who is back in the squad. Other changes see Julien Laharrague win his first cap at full-back, Aurelien Rougerie return after injury on the wing and Yannick Jauzion in at centre. But Laporte has resisted fan pressure to start Frederic Michalak at fly-half. The dependable Yann Delaigue keeps the number 10 jersey, despite clamours for the flair of Michalak. The 26-year-old Laharrague gets his chance despite playing on the wing for his club Brive...""We are launching him into the great international level,"" said team manager Jo Maso. ""He is young and this is a great opportunity for us and above all for him. ""There are 25 matches left before the World Cup so we must see as many players as possible. The competition is very high and open."" Jauzion, France's player of the year in 2004, would probably have played in the first two matches instead of the South African-born Liebeneberg had he been fit. The Stade Toulousain star wins his 23rd cap and is reunited with Damien Traille, with whom he forged an effective midfield in 2004. ""The return of Jauzion is going to be a plus for us,"" said Laporte. ""We are going to test him at an international level.""..Julien Laharrague (Brive), Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), Yannick Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais), Yann Delaigue (Castres), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), Yannick Nyanga (Beziers), Serge Betsen (Biarritz), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Fabien Pelous (Stade Toulousain, capt), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Sebastien Bruno (Sale), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais)..Replacements: William Servat (Stade Toulousain), Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), Gregory Lamboley (Stade Toulousain), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Pierre Mignoni (Clermont), Frederic Michalak (Stade Toulousain), Jean-Philippe Grandclaude (Perpignan)",sport
+"Lewsey puzzle over disallowed try..England's Josh Lewsey has claimed he was denied a late try in his side's Six Nations loss to Ireland...The Wasps wing insisted he grounded the ball when he was bundled over the line and said referee Jonathan Kaplan had made a wrong decision. ""I'm positive I touched the ball down over the line,"" Lewsey told BBC Sport. ""It certainly wasn't a turnover. ""I was driven over and I put the ball on the ground. The whistle went and I let go of the ball."" Lewsey added: ""One of the Irish players scooped it back after the whistle and to our surprise the referee then gave a turnover. ""As far as I'm concerned, that incident and Mark Cueto's effort from Charlie Hodgson's cross-field kick that led to what looked like a good try were the two key elements in the game.""..Cueto was also puzzled as to why his try had been disallowed by Kaplan. ""I don't think I could have been offside for, without a doubt, I was behind the ball,"" said the Sale player. ""The move was a planned technique, it was not off the cuff. We rehearse it time and time again. ""I wouldn't say we were robbed, some decisions go with you and some go against you. Today they went against us and that's tough at international level.""",sport
+"Fuming Robinson blasts officials..England coach Andy Robinson insisted he was ""livid"" after his side were denied two tries in Sunday's 19-13 Six Nations loss to Ireland in Dublin...Mark Cueto's first-half effort was ruled out for offside before the referee spurned TV replays when England crashed over in the dying minutes. ""[I'm] absolutely spitting. I'm livid. There's two tries we've been cost,"" Robinson told BBC Sport. ""We've got to go back to technology. I don't know why we didn't."" South African referee Jonathan Kaplan ruled that Cueto was ahead of Charlie Hodgson when the fly-half hoisted his cross-field kick for the Sale wing to gather...Kaplan then declined the chance to consult the fourth official when Josh Lewsey took the ball over the Irish line under a pile of bodies for what could have been the game-winning try. ""I think Mark Cueto scored a perfectly legal try and I think he should have gone to the video referee on Josh Lewsey,"" said Robinson. ""It is how we use the technology. It is there, and it should be used. ""I am still trying to work out the Cueto try. I have looked at both, and they both looked tries. ""We are very disappointed, and this will hurt, there is no doubt about that. ""We are upset now, but the referee is in charge and he has called it his way and we have got to be able to cope with that...""We did everything we could have done to win the game. I am very proud of my players and, with a couple of decisions, this could have been a very famous victory. ""I thought we dominated. Matt Stevens had an awesome game at tighthead prop, while the likes of Charlie Hodgson, Martin Corry and Lewis Moody all came through well. ""Josh Lewsey was awesome, and every one of the forwards stood up out there. Given the pressure we were under, credit must go to all the players. ""We have done everything but win a game of rugby, but Ireland are a good side. They defended magnificently and they've got every chance of winning this Six Nations."" England have lost their first three matches in this year's Six Nations and four out of their six games since Robinson took over from Sir Clive Woodward in September.",sport
+"O'Gara revels in Ireland victory..Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara hailed his side's 19-13 victory over England as a ""special"" win...The Munster number 10 kicked a total of 14 points, including two drop goals, to help keep alive their Grand Slam hopes. He told BBC Sport: ""We made hard work of it but it's still special to beat England. ""I had three chances to win the game but didn't. We have work to do after this but we never take a victory over England lightly."" Ireland hooker Shane Byrne echoed O'Gara's comments but admitted the game had been England's best outing in the Six Nations. Byrne said: ""It was a really, really hard game but from one to 15 in our team we worked really, really hard. ""We just had to stick to our defensive pattern, trust ourselves and trust those around us. All round it was fantastic."" Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll, who scored his side's only try, said: ""We are delighted, we felt if we performed well then we would win but with England also having played very well it makes it all the sweeter. ""We did get the bounce of the ball and some days that happens and you've just got to jump on the back of it.""..Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan was surprised that England coach Andy Robinson said he was certain Mark Cueto was onside for a disallowed try just before the break. ""Andy was sitting two yards from me and I couldn't see whether he was offside or not so I don't know how Andy could have known,"" said O'Sullivan...""What I do know is that England played well and when that happens it makes a very good victory for us. ""We had to defend for long periods and that is all good for the confidence of the team. ""I think our try was very well worked, it was a gem, as good a try as we have scored for a while."" O'Sullivan also rejected Robinson's contention England dominated the forward play. ""I think we lost one lineout and they lost four or five so I don't know how that adds up to domination,"" he said. O'Driscoll also insisted Ireland were happy to handle the pressure of being considered favourites to win the Six Nations title. ""This season for the first time we have been able to play with the favourites' tag,"" he said. ""Hopefully we have proved that today and can continue to keep doing so. ""As for my try it was a move we had worked on all week. There was a bit of magic from Geordan Murphy and it was a great break from Denis Hickie.""",sport
+"Thomas out of Six Nations..Wales captain Gareth Thomas has been ruled out of the rest of the Six Nations with a broken thumb...The full-back will have surgery on Monday after fracturing his thumb in the 24-18 win over France on Saturday. But Welsh legend Phil Bennett insisted Wales can cope without Thomas as they chase a first Grand Slam in 27 years. Bennett told BBC Sport: ""Such is the spirit in the camp, they'll put Kevin Morgan at 15, Rhys Williams at wing and just carry on."" Thomas will miss the match against Scotland on 13 March, and what promises to be a huge encounter against the Irish six days later. Bennett added: ""It's a setback. He's a great captain, he leads from the front and the boys love him."" Thomas was replaced at half-time by Williams as his side turned around a 15-6 deficit in Paris...""With Gareth missing I would think Michael Owen will be our captain,"" said Wales coach Mike Ruddock. ""He did a great job in the second half in France. He has been vice-captain all along throughout the championship."" Wales travel to Edinburgh to take on Scotland in a fortnight and then host Ireland in Cardiff in the final round of matches in what could be the Grand Slam and championship decider. Bennett, an inspirational fly-half for Llanelli and Wales in the 1970s, insisted the national team were entering a new golden period. ""It was a great game and a magnificent result for Wales,"" Bennett told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme...""The way this young team are blending, the glory days are on their way back. ""We couldn't get possession early on and France dominated and scored two tries. ""Had they been ruthless, Wales could have gone into the interval 30 points down. But they didn't take their chances. ""Wales defended fairly well but you cannot give that sort of quality ball to good sides. ""The All Blacks would have been ruthless and buried us in the first half. But the character we showed in the second half was quite outstanding.""",sport
+"Wales coach elated with win..Mike Ruddock paid tribute to his Wales side after they came from 15-6 down to beat France 24-18 in the Six Nations...""After going two tries down in 12 minutes we had to show character,"" said the national team coach. ""I didn't have to tell them anything at half-time because those players have stared down the barrel of a gun before. ""They decided they didn't want to do that again and came out fighting. It was a great team effort and we showed great character to come back."" Man-of-the-match Stephen Jones, who kicked three penalties, a drop goal and conversion, was ecstatic following after the win at Stade de France...""It's just a special moment. Two years ago we didn't win a single game in the Six Nations. But we're a very happy camp now,"" he said. ""We worked hard as a squad and I'm a proud Welshman. We've got hard matches to come, so we're just happy with the start."" Double try scorer Martyn Williams was keen not to talk about a possible Grand Slam for Wales. ""We've got more self-belief these days. Two or three years ago we might have collapsed after going behind so early. ""There's no mention of a Grand Slam among the players. We've got a tough game against Scotland at Murrayfield. They could bring us crashing down to earth.""",sport
+"Newcastle 27-27 Gloucester..Newcastle centre Mathew Tait answered his critics as he scored one try and made another, but he could not stop Gloucester grabbing a draw...The Falcons were 22-6 down at the break before Tait, recently axed by England after just one Six Nations outing, inspired his side to a 27-22 lead. A last-gasp touchdown from Luke Narraway pulled the visitors level. But Gloucester missed out on victory when Henry Paul fluffed the conversion and Seti Kiole was denied a late try. Newcastle had a couple of chances at the start of the second half with line-outs in the corner. But they failed to make them count until Joe Shaw found Dave Walder, who released Mark Mayerholfer in his own 22...The former All Black broke clear and popped the ball up for Tait on halfway. He chipped ahead for Michael Stephenson to scorch through for the try, which Walder converted to give Newcastle a lifeline. They grabbed it with both hands, Mayerhofler breaking through and Tait making a brilliant early run to cut inside and race 30m to score. Walder converted to make it 22-20 before he was just wide with a 40m penalty in the 70th minute...Mayerhofler then scythed through the middle for a try after Hall Charlton popped the ball up, and Walder's conversion took Newcastle 27-22 ahead. With three minutes of normal time left, Narraway was driven over for a try in the corner which levelled the scores at 27-27. Henry missed the conversion but Gloucester nearly won it when Kiole broke through only to be hauled down by Charlton and Tom May...Walder; May, Tait, Mayerhofler, Stephenson; Wilkinson, Grindal; Isaacson, Long, Ward; Gross, Hamilton; McCarthy, Harris, Dowson...Replacements: Peel, Wilson, Thompson, Parling, Sititi, Charlton, Shaw...Goodridge; Garvey, Simpson-Daniel, Fanolua, Kiole; Paul, Gomarsall; Wood, Curnier, Powell; Eustace, Brown; Forrester, Buxton, Balding...Replacements: Elloway, Sigley, Cornwell, Narraway, Page, Davies, Mauger.",sport
+"London Irish 19-33 Wasps..Wasps made light of the absence of several internationals to sink London Irish with a trio of second-half tries...Rob Hoadley returned to haunt his old club at the Madejski Stadium, scoring the opening try in the 43rd minute. Tom Voyce powered through the Irish defence for Wasps' second try before Richard Birkett went over unchallenged. Mark van Gisbergen added 18 points. Irish replied with three penalties and a Mark Mapletoft drop goal before Scott Staniforth ran in a consolation try. Barry Everitt, who replaced Mapletoft late in the game, added the conversion to become the fourth Premiership player to reach 1,000 points. He joins Jonny Wilkinson, Tim Stimpson and Paul Grayson in achieving that target. Wasps piled on the pressure in an attempt to grab a fourth try which would have secured them a bonus point, but they were denied by some desperate defending from Irish. Director of rugby Warren Gatland revealed that harsh words at half-time inspired his Wasps side to raise their game after the restart...""They got a roasting and it was a good second-half performance when they came out and played to instructions,"" he said. Gatland also singled out stand-in flankers Tom Rees and John Hart for special praise. ""They did very well. The back row played some fantastic rugby,"" he added. London Irish coach Gary Gold felt the result exposed his side's lack of consistency...Irish trailed by just two points at the break and Gold said: ""For 55 minutes we lived with the best but we have got to get back for the full 80 minutes."" Gold will now turn his attention to next week's Powergen Cup semi-final at struggling Leeds. ""We've got a good chance but with Leeds facing possible relegation they're going to come out firing,"" he added...Horak, Staniforth, Penney, Nordt, Bishop; Mapletoft, Edwards; Hatley, van der Walt, Hardwick; Kennedy, Casey; Gustard, Dawson, Murphy...Replacements: Everitt for Mapletoft (53), Hodgson for Edwards (77), Wheatley for Hatley (71), Paice for van der Walt (60), Strudwick for Kennedy (60), Danaher for Gustard (66), Reid for Murphy (47)..Van Gisbergen; Voyce, Erinle, Hoadley, Roberts; King, Richards; Payne, Greening, Dowd; Shaw, Purdy; Hart, Rees, Dallaglio...Replacements: Priscott for Roberts (71), Green for Dowd (71), Skivington for Shaw (71), Birkett for Hart (57), Gotting for Rees (39). Not used: Fury, Brooks",sport
+"Murray returns to Scotland fold..Euan Murray has been named in the Scotland training squad after an eight-week ban, ahead of Saturday's Six Nations match with Ireland...The Glasgow forward's ban for stamping ended on 2 February. ""I'm just happy to be back playing and be involved with the squad,"" said Murray on Monday. ""Hopefully I can get a couple of games under my belt and I might have a chance of playing later in the Six Nations. I'm just glad to be part of it all.""..Backs: Mike Blair (Edinburgh Rugby), Andy Craig (Glasgow Rugby), Chris Cusiter (The Borders), Simon Danielli (The Borders), Marcus Di Rollo (Edinburgh Rugby), Phil Godman (Edinburgh Rugby), Calvin Howarth (Glasgow Rugby), Ben Hinshelwood (Worcester Warriors), Andrew Henderson (Glasgow Rugby), Rory Lamont (Glasgow Rugby), Sean Lamont (Glasgow Rugby), Dan Parks (Glasgow Rugby), Chris Paterson (Edinburgh Rugby), Gordon Ross (Leeds Tykes), Hugo Southwell (Edinburgh Rugby), Simon Webster (Edinburgh Rugby) Forwards: Ross Beattie (Northampton Saints), Gordon Bulloch (captain, Glasgow Rugby), David Callam (Edinburgh Rugby), Bruce Douglas (The Borders), Jon Dunbar (Leeds Tykes), Iain Fullarton (Saracens), Stuart Grimes (Newcastle Falcons), Nathan Hines (Edinburgh Rugby), Allister Hogg (Edinburgh Rugby), Gavin Kerr (Leeds Tykes), Nick Lloyd (Saracens), Scott Lawson (Glasgow Rugby), Euan Murray (Glasgow Rugby), Scott Murray (Edinburgh Rugby), Jon Petrie (Glasgow Rugby), Robbie Russell (London Irish), Tom Smith (Northampton Saints), Jason White (Sale Sharks).",sport
+"Fear will help France - Laporte..France coach Bernard Laporte believes his team will be scared going into their game with England on Sunday, but claims it will work in their favour...The French turned in a stuttering performance as they limped to a 16-9 win against Scotland in the opening match of the Six Nations on Saturday. ""We will go to Twickenham with a little fear and it'll give us a boost,"" said the French coach. He added: ""We are never good enough when we are favourites."" Meanwhile, Perpignan centre Jean-Philippe Granclaude is delighted to have received his first call-up to the France squad. ""It's incredible,"" the youngster said. ""I was not expecting it at all. ""Playing with the France team has always been a dream and now it has come true and I am about to face England at Twickenham in the Six Nations."" Laporte will announce his starting line-up on Wednesday at the French team's training centre in Marcoussis, near Paris.",sport
+"Davies favours Gloucester future..Wales hooker Mefin Davies is likely to stay with English side Gloucester despite reported interest from the Neath-Swansea Ospreys...BBC Wales understands the Ospreys are interested in the 32-year-old, but that he would prefer to stay where he is. Davies, one of the stars of Saturday's RBS Six Nations win over England, is only on a year contract at Kingsholm. But the hooker has proved his worth to the Zurich Premiership side and is likely to get a new deal next season. The summer demise of the Celtic Warriors region left Davies in the cold and forced him to take a semi-professional contract with Neath RFC. Although he got match time with the Ospreys at the request of the Wales management, he admitted before his move to Gloucester that he was angry with the way he was treated. ""The WRU didn't give me any help off the field, it was very disappointing,"" Davies said at the time. ""It was a hard time throughout the summer, then deciding whether to accept an offer from Stade Francais which would have ended my Wales career.""",sport
+"Ref stands by Scotland decisions..The referee from Saturday's France v Scotland Six Nations match has defended the officials' handling of the game after criticism by Matt Williams...The Scotland coach said his side were robbed of victory by poor decisions made by the officials. But Nigel Williams said: ""I'm satisfied the game was handled correctly."" Meanwhile, Matt Williams will not be punished by the Scottish Rugby Union for allegedly using bad language in his comments about the officials. He denies having done so. Nonetheless, he was furious about several decisions that he felt denied his side a famous victory. But Nigel Williams told the Scottish Daily Mail: ""I spoke to Matt Williams at the post-match dinner. ""He made no mention of the disallowed try or any other refereeing decisions whatsoever. ""If Matt has issues with the match officials, then he is very welcome to phone me and discuss them. ""Ultimately there is a match assessor at every international game to give an impartial and objective view of the performance of the officials. ""That is the beginning and end of it.""",sport
+"Robinson ready for difficult task..England coach Andy Robinson faces the first major test of his tenure as he tries to get back to winning ways after the Six Nations defeat by Wales...Robinson is likely to make changes in the back row and centre after the 11-9 loss as he contemplates Sunday's set-to with France at Twickenham. Lewis Moody and Martin Corry could both return after missing the game with hamstring and shoulder problems. And the midfield pairing of Mathew Tait and Jamie Noon is also under threat. Olly Barkley immediately allowed England to generate better field position with his kicking game after replacing debutant Tait just before the hour. The Bath fly-half-cum-centre is likely to start against France, with either Tait or Noon dropping out...Tait, given little opportunity to shine in attack, received praise from Robinson afterwards, even if the coach admitted Cardiff was an ""unforgiving place"" for the teenage prodigy. Robinson now has a tricky decision over whether to withdraw from the firing line, after just one outing, a player he regards as central to England's future. Tait himself, at least outwardly, appeared unaffected by the punishing treatment dished out to him by Gavin Henson in particular. ""I want more of that definitely,"" he said. ""Hopefully I can train hard this week and get selected for next week but we'll have to look at the video and wait and see. ""We were playing on our own 22 for a lot of the first half so it was quite difficult. I thought we defended reasonably well but we've just got to pick it up for France.""..His Newcastle team-mate Noon hardly covered himself in glory in his first major Test. He missed a tackle on Michael Owen in the build-up to Wales' try, conceded a penalty at the breakdown, was turned over in another tackle and fumbled Gavin Henson's cross-kick into touch, all inside the first quarter. His contribution improved in the second half, but England clearly need more of a playmaker in the inside centre role. Up front, the line-out remains fallible, despite a superb performance from Chris Jones, whose athleticism came to the fore after stepping into the side for Moody. It is more likely the Leicester flanker will return on the open side for the more physical challenge posed by the French forwards, with Andy Hazell likely to make way. Lock Ben Kay also justified his recall with an impressive all-round display on his return to the side, but elsewhere England positives were thin on the ground.",sport
+"Bell set for England debut..Bath prop Duncan Bell has been added to England's 30-man squad to face Ireland in the RBS Six Nations...And with Phil Vickery sidelined for at least six weeks with a broken arm and Julian White out with a neck injury, Bell could make his England debut. Bell, 30, had set his sights on an international career with Wales. But last December, the International Rugby Board confirmed that he could only be eligible for England as he had travelled on tour with them in 1998. England coach Andy Robinson could take a gamble and call inexperienced Sale Sharks prop Andrew Sheridan into his front row. But Sheridan favours the loosehead side of the scrum and a more likely scenario is for uncapped Bell - who was among the tryscorers when England A beat France A 30-20 nine days ago - to be drafted in. Robinson also has an injury worry over centre Olly Barkley, who withdrew from Bath's starting line-up to face Gloucester last weekend...He was due to have a hospital scan on Monday, while Gloucester centre Henry Paul, who started at fly-half against Bath, limped out at Kingsholm because of an ankle problem. Despite Barkley's three missed penalties in the 18-17 defeat against France, he is expected to retain his place at inside centre, although Leicester's in-form prospect Ollie Smith would be an obvious replacement. Bath coach John Connolly rates Barkley as no better than a 50/50 chance to make the Dublin trip. Uncapped fly-half Andy Goode has been named in a 30-man training squad for the Ireland game, and he strengthened his selection claims by kicking 28 points during Leicester's record 83-10 win against Newcastle on Sunday. England's players are due to meet at their Surrey training base on Monday.",sport
+"O'Sullivan quick to hail Italians..Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan heaped praise on Italy after seeing his side stutter to a 28-17 victory in Rome...""It was a hell of a tough game,"" said O'Sullivan. ""We struggled in the first half because we hadn't the football. ""Italy played really well. They handled the ball well in terms of kicking it, if that's not an oxymoron. ""We said before the game that it might take until 10 minutes from the end for this game to be won, and that's how it turned out."" Ireland struggled to cope with Italy's fierce start and were indebted to skipper Brian O'Driscoll, who set up tries for Geordan Murphy and Peter Stringer. ""We had our first attack in the Italian half after 22 minutes,"" said O'Sullivan. ""We had a good return, with three first-half possessions in their half and we scored twice. ""The second half was about spending more time in their half."" Scrum-half Peter Stringer was also glad that Ireland escaped wtih a victory. ""All credit to them,"" he told BBC Sport. ""We knew it would be tough coming to Rome. They always give us a tough game here and they showed a lot of spirit. ""They had a lot of ball in the first half but we got a few scores when we got into their 22.""",sport
+"Italy 17-28 Ireland..Two moments of magic from Brian O'Driscoll guided Ireland to a workmanlike victory against Italy...A pair of classic outside breaks from the Ireland captain set up tries for Geordan Murphy and Peter Stringer. Italy led 9-8 early in the second half but Stringer's try gave Ireland a lead they never lost. The hosts cut the gap to 18-12 with 10 minutes left and nearly scored through Ludovico Nitoglia, but Denis Hickie's try ensured an Irish victory. Italy came flying out of the blocks and took the lead through a Luciano Orquera penalty after seven minutes...It could have been better for the hosts but the fly-half missed two kickable penalties and Ireland drew level with a Ronan O'Gara penalty midway through the first half. The Italians were driving at the heart of the Irish defence and, for the first quarter, the Irish pack struggled to secure any ball for their talented backs...When they finally did, just before the half-hour mark, O'Driscoll promptly created a sparkling try for Murphy. The Ireland captain ran a dummy scissors and made a magical outside break before drawing the full-back and putting the diving Murphy in at the corner. O'Gara missed the twice-taken conversion and the visitors found themselves trailing once again. Roland de Marigny took over the kicking duties for Italy from the hapless Orquera, and he landed a penalty either side of the break to edge Italy into a 9-8 lead...The only Ireland player offering a real threat was O'Driscoll, and it was his break that set up the second try for the visitors. Shane Horgan threw an overhead pass as he was about to be forced into touch and Stringer scooted over, with O'Gara landing the tricky conversion. A penalty apiece saw Ireland leading 18-12 as the game entered the final quarter, but they were lucky to survive when Italy launched a series of attacks. Winger Nitoglia dropped the ball as he reached for the line and Italy nearly rumbled over from a driving maul...An O'Gara penalty put Ireland more than a converted try ahead and they made the game safe when Hickie latched onto an inside pass from Murphy and crossed for a converted try. O'Driscoll limped off late on, joining centre partner Gordon D'Arcy on the sidelines, and the final word went to Italy. Prop Martin Castrogiovanni powered over for a try which was fitting reward for an Italian pack which had kept the Irish under pressure throughout...De Marigny; Mi Bergamasco, Canale, Masi, Nitoglia; Orquera, Troncon; Lo Cicero, Ongaro, Castrogiovanni; Dellape, Bortolami; Persico, Ma Bergamasco, Parisse...Perugini, Intoppa, Del Fava, Dal Maso, Griffen, Pozzebon, Robertson...Murphy, Horgan, O'Driscoll, D'Arcy, Hickie, O'Gara, Stringer, Corrigan, Byrne, Hayes, O'Kelly, O'Connell, S Easterby, Leamy, Foley...Sheahan, Horan, O'Callaghan, Miller, G Easterby, Humphreys, Dempsey...P O'Brien (New Zealand)",sport
+"Jones happy with Henson heroics..Wales fly-half Stephen Jones admitted he was happy to hand Gavin Henson responsibility for taking the match-winning kick against England...Jones had missed three earlier shots at goal when Wales, 9-8 down, were awarded a long-range penalty with four minutes left in Cardiff. ""I knew the percentages of Gavin reaching it were far higher than me,"" Jones said. ""When he said he wanted it, there were no problems."" Jones had seen a long-range effort fall a whisker under the crossbar on the hour, before Charlie Hodgson put England in front with 10 minutes left. ""I looked at where it was and I knew I was going to struggle to make it,"" Jones added. ""I said to Gareth (Thomas, the Wales captain) 'This is touch and go.' It was out of my range and obviously Gavin is phenomenal when it comes to distance. He was confident and fancied it. ""There were no questions that he'd miss it the way he was playing. He had a superb game."" Jones was happy to hail Henson's heroic contribution to Wales' first win over England in Cardiff since 1993. ""Physically he's a specimen: he's a balanced player, he glides when he runs and obviously he's got a great kicking game as well,"" Jones said...""His defence was superb, he made some great hits and he had a great game. ""I'm glad he's Welsh."" Victory over England for the first time since 1999 will no doubt fuel expectations of what Wales might achieve in this year's Six Nations. But they now face three away fixtures in Italy, France and Scotland before completing their campaign against Ireland in Cardiff. ""People all over the world want to see Wales back at the top table of world rugby,"" said a proud coach Mike Ruddock. ""But we are not there yet. The next step is finding the consistency to get further wins. ""We have to travel this week and we can't afford to get too giddy about this result. ""We have got to be professional and keep focused on facing Italy.""..None more so than Henson, who can now expect to have the same sort of spotlight thrust upon him as the likes of Jonny Wilkinson and Brian O'Driscoll. The confident 23-year-old is undaunted by the prospect of dealing with such weighty expectations however. ""I'm the sort of player who likes pressure on me,"" he said. ""It makes me more concentrated and I think I perform better under more pressure. ""I set a high standard against England and I've got to back it up next week. ""Two years ago when we played Italy I wasn't involved and we lost, so we've got to put that right next week.""",sport
+"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.""",sport
+"Kirwan demands Italy consistency..Italy coach John Kirwan has challenged his side to match the performance they produced in pushing Ireland close when they meet Wales on Saturday...Despite losing 28-17 in Sunday's Six Nations encounter, the Italians confirmed their continuing improvement. ""Our goal is to match every side we face and against Ireland we showed we could do that,"" said Kirwan. ""But the most important thing is that we build on that performance when we play Wales on Saturday."" Italy's half-backs had a mixed afternoon, with recalled scrum-half Alessandro Troncon impressing but fly-half Luciano Orquera having an off-day with the boot. Kirwan said: ""I was very happy with Troncon. He had an incredible game - he was very good in attack and defence. ""Orquera's kicking was off but he showed great courage in defence. ""He also followed the game plan. We have to give him confidence because he has the capability to do well.""",sport
+"Fit-again Betsen in France squad..France have brought flanker Serge Betsen back into their squad to face England at Twickenham on Sunday...But the player, who missed the victory over Scotland through injury, must attend a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday after being cited by Wasps. ""Serge has a good case so we are confident he will play,"" said France coach Bernard Laporte. The inexperienced Nicolas Mas, Jimmy Marlu and Jean-Philippe Grandclaude are also included in a 22-man squad. The trio have been called up after Pieter de Villiers, Ludovic Valbon and Aurelien Rougerie all picked up injuries in France's 16-9 win on Saturday...Laporte said he was confident that Betsen would be cleared by the panel investigating his alleged trip that broke Wasps centre Stuart Abbott's leg. ""If he was to be suspended, we would call up Imanol Harinordoquy or Thomas Lievremont,"" said Laporte, who has dropped Patrick Tabacco. ""We missed Serge badly against Scotland. He has now recovered from his thigh injury and played on Saturday with Biarritz."" France's regular back-row combination of Betsen, Harinordoquy and Olivier Magne were all missing from France's side at the weekend because of injury. Laporte is expected to announce France's starting line-up on Wednesday...Forwards: Nicolas Mas, Sylvain Marconnet, Olivier Milloud, William Servat, Sebastien Bruno, Fabien Pelous, Jerome Thion, Gregory Lamboley, Serge Betsen, Julien Bonnaire, Sebastien Chabal, Yannick Nyanga. Backs: Dimitri Yachvili, Pierre Mignoni, Frederic Michalak, Yann Delaigue, Damien Traille, Brian Liebenberg, Jean-Philippe Grandclaude, Christophe Dominici, Jimmy Marlu, Pepito Elhorga.",sport
+"Wales critical of clumsy Grewcock..Wales coach Mike Ruddock says England lock Danny Grewcock needs to review his actions after he kicked Dwayne Peel...Trouble flared at a ruck in the first half of Wales' 11-9 win in Cardiff as Grewcock came recklessly over the top with his boot, leaving Peel bloodied. Grewcock was sin-binned with Wales captain Gareth Thomas for retaliation. ""It's up to the citing commissioner,"" said Ruddock. ""I'm not saying it's deliberate, but Grewcock did a similar thing for Bath against Leinster."" Last June Grewcock was banned from rugby for two months for reckless use of a boot in a match against New Zealand...Six years earlier, also in New Zealand, Grewcock became only the second England player to be sent off in Tests. The player himself and his captain Jason Robinson have both said that the clash with Peel was accidental. ""If the ball is at the back of the ruck and I feel I can step over and disrupt it then I will do that,"" said Grewcock. But Ruddock feels that the England man should be more careful. ""The boy himself should look at his actions, it was a clumsy piece of footwork,"" he said. ""He's a great player and I don't want to knock him, we won't be calling for the match commissioner to review the incident. ""I'm not going to go too far with the lad. It could just be a clumsy action and Dwayne had just a minor cut. ""The referee's interpretation was that Grewcock was attempting to step over the ruck."" Ruddock also warned his RBS 6 Nations Championship rivals that his team can make massive improvements. ""We created more opportunities and also squandered them by taking more contact and playing more individually,"" said the coach. ""We've looked through things on the video debrief and there were definitely a lot of chances that we wasted."" In the forthcoming games, Ruddock may use penalty hero Gavin Henson as his first-choice kicker in place of Stephen Jones. ""Our first aim was to get Gavin settled into the team, but it's something we'll talk about in selection this week,"" said Ruddock.",sport
+"Henson stakes early Lions claim..The Six Nations may be a glittering prize in itself but every player from the four Home Unions will also have one eye on a possible trip to New Zealand with the Lions this summer...The player who staked the biggest claim for a place in the starting XV over the weekend was Gavin Henson. He's very confident. You just had to listen to his interview afterwards - he beamed with confidence - but although there's an element of arrogance it's good arrogance. He certainly showed some nice touches. He once showed a clean pair of heels to Mathew Tait when he got outside him, his defence was very good and he made some great kicks out of hand. And that's without even mentioning his majestic match-winning penalty. But I think we need to wait and see what happens because he needs to be put to the test. He needs to come up against Brian O'Driscoll or a big French midfield. Wales fly-half Stephen Jones was another player who impressed me. He gave good direction, he was very confident and he was a nice general for his side. He showed he can control a game. With Jonny Wilkinson not playing at the moment due to inury the number 10 shirt could be up for grabs and Jones, or maybe even Henson, could make the Lions team at fly-half...Jones stuck his hand up and he certainly looks a better bet than Charlie Hodgson after Saturday's game. Some of the Wales forwards surprised me because I thought they would be out-muscled in the tight five. England prop Julian White is a capable player but when it comes down to selection Gethin Jenkins is now going to have the upper hand because he came out on top. However, I still think White and Phil Vickery will be in the frame. Some English players did their cause no harm. I thought Joe Worsley had a solid game and Jason Robinson and Josh Lewsey both did nothing wrong. But it looked too soon for young Mathew Tait and I think it will be a while before we see him again. Despite being written off beforehand several Scots caught my eye against France...Tom Smith has been there and done it before, but the likes of Chris Cusiter, Jason White and Ally Hogg all made their mark. Hogg made a couple of good runs while White had a pretty robust game - his defence is right up there. Cusiter looked very lively and he could be a very good option for Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward. The star of Ireland's win over Italy in Rome looks like a certainty to make the starting XV against New Zealand. Brian O'Driscoll is a class act. He ran some good lines against Italy, made the breaks and fed his outside backs, although Italy defended man on man which made it easy for him. Gordon D'Arcy was unlucky to go off injured early on but I think you could get a Henson, D'Arcy, O'Driscoll combination in the Lions midfield. Paul O'Connell just needs to add a hard edge to his game and Malcolm O'Kelly keeps on going and seems to be putting his hand up, while Shane Byrne seems to be a lively character. But they will be a bit worried after the Italian pack drove them off their own ball on Sunday, although I used to play in Italy and I know how difficult it can be. One player who didn't impress me was Wales scrum-half Dwayne Peel. He choked late on in the second half when Wales were trailing. They had good possession and he kicked the ball away - I wouldn't want him as my Lions scrum-half after that.",sport
+"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 ... .",sport
+"Wales make two changes for France..Wales coach Mike Ruddock has made two changes from the team that beat Italy 38-8 for Saturday's trip to France...Kevin Morgan takes over from his injured Newport-Gwent Dragons colleague Hal Luscombe on the right wing. And in the pack Neath-Swansea Ospreys forward Ryan Jones is preferred at blindside flanker to Jonathan Thomas. Thomas, a try-scorer in Rome, drops down to the bench instead of Ian Gough, while Cardiff back Rhys Williams steps up in place of Morgan. Luscombe is sidelined by a hamstring problem sustained during the Six Nations game against Italy last weekend...However, the experienced and in-form Morgan was already pushing hard for a start at Stade de France. ""Due to his impressive performances from the bench, Kevin was very much in the selection mix anyway, and the unfortunate injury to Hal gives him the chance to start,"" said Ruddock. ""Now that Ryan Jones has recovered from injury, we have increased the options in the back row. ""Jonathan Thomas is unlucky to lose his spot after performing well against Italy and scoring a try, but such is the competition for places that every position is debated in detail. ""For this particular game, we felt we might not always be afforded the open spaces out wide we were able to exploit against Italy, so an extra big ball-carrier in the back-row is thought to be necessary on this occasion. ""Obviously, it's a 22-man game these days, and there is every chance that Jonathan will be making an impact from the bench."" Wales have beaten France on two of their last three visits to Paris, and another victory this time around would keep them firmly on course for a first Five or Six Nations title triumph since 1994. ""Graham Henry (former Wales coach) said a couple of years ago that we should 'be bold' when going to France, and he was proved right,"" said Ruddock. ""That is a great way to approach the game, and something we will further endorse with the players this week.""..G Thomas (Toulouse, capt); K Morgan (Newport-Gwent), T Shanklin (Cardiff), G Henson (Neath-Swansea), S Williams (Neath-Swansea); S Jones (Clermont Auvergne), D Peel (Llanelli); G Jenkins (Cardiff), M Davies (Gloucester), A Jones; (Neath-Swansea), B Cockbain (Neath-Swansea), R Sidoli (Cardiff); R Jones (Neath-Swansea), M Williams (Cardiff), M Owen (Newport-Gwent)...Replacements: R McBryde (Llanelli), J Yapp (Cardiff), J Thomas (Neath-Swansea), R Sowden-Taylor (Cardiff), G Cooper (Newport-Gwent), C Sweeney Newport-Gwent), R Williams (Cardiff).",sport
+"Ireland surge past Scots..Ireland maintained their Six Nations Grand Slam ambitions with an impressive victory over Scotland at Murrayfield...Hugo Southwell's try gave the Scots an early 8-0 lead but scores from locks Malcolm O'Kelly and Paul O'Connell put the visitors in command by half-time. A third try from wing Denis Hickie and third penalty from Ronan O'Gara, who kicked 13 points, extended the lead. Jon Petrie scored a second try for Scotland but late scores from John Hayes and Gavin Duffy sealed victory. After two hard-earned away victories, Eddie O'Sullivan' side can now look forward to welcoming England to Lansdowne Road in a fortnight. Scotland will try to give their coach Matt Williams a first Six Nations victory when Italy come to Edinburgh, but they again struggled to turn pressure into points. The home side started with tremendous intensity and dominated territory and possession in the opening 10 minutes. A powerful charge from flanker Jason White was carried on by Ali Hogg and when Ireland conceded a penalty close to their own line, Scotland kicked it to touch. The Irish defence foiled the home side on that occasion, but a stray hand in a ruck allowed Paterson to stroke over a penalty in the eighth minute...If that was a paltry reward for their early pressure, Scotland got the try they deserved when Paterson's searing break and Andy Craig's pass sent Southwell streaking to the right corner. Paterson was off target with the conversion and fly-half Dan Parks then missed a presentable drop-goal attempt. Ireland got themselves on the scoreboard with an O'Gara penalty and by the 24th minute the visitors were ahead. Stuart Grimes pulled down O'Kelly at a line-out, Ireland kicked the penalty to touch and from the set-piece, the big lock was driven over by the rest of his pack...O'Gara added the conversion and a further penalty, after Shane Horgan almost grabbed a second try from O'Gara's chip to the corner, only for the ball to spill from his hand. But Ireland still delivered a hammer blow to Scotland's hopes just before the interval. O'Connell - skipper in the absence of Brian O'Driscoll - powered through Parks' weak tackle after a free-kick from a scrummage to burrow over...Scotland suffered a further blow on the resumption when Ireland flanker Johnny O'Connor won another vital turnover, and O'Gara's basketball pass sent Hickie over in the left corner. O'Gara converted and then thumped over a 40m penalty to give the visitors a commanding 28-8 advantage. Scotland looked bereft of ideas but a half-break from Paterson sparked them back to life just before the hour. Stuart Grimes won a line-out and a well-worked move saw Petrie scuttle round the side of the ruck to dive over in the left corner. But it proved a false dawn, and Ireland reasserted their authority in the final 10 minutes. Peter Stringer and O'Kelly combined to put giant prop Hayes over in the right corner before replacement Gavin Duffy scorched away on the left, David Humphreys adding the final flourish with a touchline conversion...: C Paterson; S Danielli, A Craig, H Southwell, S Lamont; D Parks, C Cusiter; T Smith, G Bulloch (capt), G Kerr; S Grimes, S Murray; J White, A Hogg, J Petrie...R Russell, B Douglas, N Hines, J Dunbar, M Blair, G Ross, B Hinshelwood...G Murphy; G Dempsey, S Horgan, K Maggs, D Hickie, R O'Gara, P Stringer; R Corrigan, S Byrne, J Hayes, M O'Kelly, P O'Connell, S Easterby, J O'Connor, A Foley...F Sheahan, M Horan, D O'Callaghan, E Miller, G Easterby, D Humphreys, G Duffy...Joel Jutge (France)",sport
+"Wales win in Rome..Wales secured their first away win in the RBS Six Nations for nearly four years with a six-try victory in Rome...Tries from Jonathan Thomas, Tom Shanklin and Martyn Williams gave the visitors a 19-5 half-time advantage. Luciano Orquera did reply with one for Italy but second-half efforts from Brent Cockbain, Shane Williams and Robert Sidoli sealed victory. Fly-half Stephen Jones added four conversions as Wales maintained their superb start to this year's tournament. Starting full of confidence after their victory over England, the visitors scored the opening try after just four minutes. Diminutive wing Shane Williams fielded a kick ahead and danced past the onrushing Andrea Masi and Aaron Persico into the Italian half. His pass to Tom Shanklin appeared forward but when the centre was held up short, the ball was switched left and Michael Owen's long cut-out pass gave the lurking Thomas an easy run-in...Stephen Jones, who retained the kicking duties despite Gavin Henson's heroics against England, slotted an excellent conversion from wide out. Wales twice threatened further scores but failed to find the crucial pass, and Italy hit back out of the blue in the 11th minute...Henson, sporting gold boots rather than the silver variety that did for England, beat two players with ease out on the left touchline. But his attempted chip ahead was charged down by Orquera, who snaffled the loose ball and hared away from halfway to score in the right corner. With the Welsh line-out stuttering and Italy twice turning the visitors' scrum, the home side's forward power brought them back into it. But a clever high kick from Henson almost brought a try for Hal Luscombe when Roland de Marigny and Ludovico Nitoglia made a hash of claiming it as the ball bounced into touch...Wales regained control with a second try in the 21st minute, Henson lobbing up a high kick to the left corner where Shanklin jumped higher than Nitoglia to dot down his 15th Test try. Jones was unable to convert and De Marigny then hit the upright with a penalty attempt for Italy. Henson was also narrowly short with a long-range effort at goal, but Wales ended the half with a vital third score to give themselves some breathing space...Henson sent Luscombe streaking away and when he off-loaded to Martyn Williams, the flanker showed his nous to ground the ball against the padding of the post, Jones adding the conversion. Italy, who lost flanker Mauro Bergamasco with a head knock before half-time, built up a head of steam on the resumption. De Marigny landed a penalty to make it 19-8 and a Nitoglia break through the middle threatened a try only for the move to break down with a knock-on. But Wales put the outcome beyond doubt with two superb tries in four minutes before the hour. Their fourth after 53 minutes was sparked by another mazy run from Shane Williams, who beat several players with ease, and finished with a powerful angled run from lock Cockbain. Before Italy could recover from that blow, a strong surge from Gareth Thomas and great off-loads from Martyn Williams and replacement Kevin Morgan saw Shane Williams scamper over...With Jones converting both for a 33-8 lead, Wales had the luxury of sending on five more replacements for the final quarter. The icing on the cake came with a sixth try after more superb support work, Shane Williams and Ceri Sweeney combining to send Sidoli over in the left corner. The only downside for Wales was a hamstring injury suffered by Luscombe. But after back-to-back wins at the start of the tournament for the first time in 11 years, they will travel to Paris in a fortnight looking like genuine contenders...R de Marigny; Mirco Bergamasco, W Pozzebon, A Masi, L Nitoglia; L Orquera, A Troncon; A Lo Cicero, F Ongaro, M Castrogiovanni, S Dellape, M Bortolami (capt), A Persico, Mauro Bergamasco, S Parisse...G Intoppa, S Perugini, CA del Fava, D dal Maso, P Griffen, M Barbini, KP Robertson...G Thomas (capt); H Luscombe, T Shanklin, G Henson, S Williams; S Jones, D Peel; G Jenkins, M Davies, A Jones; B Cockbain, R Sidoli; J Thomas, M Williams, M Owen...R McBryde, J Yapp, I Gough, R Sowden-Taylor, G Cooper, C Sweeney, K Morgan...Andrew Cole (Australia).",sport
+"White prepared for battle..Tough-scrummaging prop Julian White is expecting a resurgent Wales to give him a rough ride in England's Six Nations opener in Cardiff on Saturday...The Leicester tight-head is in the form of his life, making the England number three shirt his own. But he knows Wales will put his technique under immense scrutiny. ""The Welsh scrum is a force to be reckoned with,"" he told BBC Sport. ""They have made a lot of changes for the better over the last few years."" White is also impressed with the Welsh pack's strength in depth. ""Gethin Jenkins is starting at loose-head for them. He has played a bit at tight-head but I think his favoured position is loose-head and he is very good,"" he added. The 31-year-old has made a massive contribution to the England and Leicester cause of late and is arguably the form tight-head prop in the world...He destroyed South Africa's Os du Randt in the scrum at Twickenham last autumn to give England the platform for an impressive 32-16 victory. Leicester, who signed White from Bristol when the West Country side were relegated from the Zurich Premiership in the summer of 2003, have also been aided by White's presence this season. The Tigers are sitting pretty at the top of the Premiership table and have also booked their place in the last eight of the Heineken Cup. ""I am pleased with my form,"" he said. ""But my form is helped by the people I play with at Leicester - people like Martin Johnson and Graham Rowntree. ""It's been a good season so far and to be in the starting XV for the first game of the Six Nations is what every player wants. ""I am delighted with the way things have gone but we have to get it right this weekend."" White is now one of the more experienced members of the England squad which takes to the field on Saturday. Injuries have taken their toll and coach Andy Robinson has been deprived of Richard Hill, Jonny Wilkinson, Martin Corry, Mike Tindall, Will Greenwood and Stuart Abbott...And with 27 caps and a World Cup winner's medal to his name, White is now in a position to offer his experience to youngsters such as centres Matthew Tait and Jamie Noon. ""I don't know how much experience a tight-head can give a centre but you are there to give them a pat on the back if things go wrong or to be there if they want to talk in any way,"" he added. ""When I first came into the squad, people like Jason Leonard and Martin Johnson were the first to come over and talk through things and help out...""It gives you a lot of confidence when people like that speak to you. ""I was in awe of a lot of them so to sit down and speak with them and realise you are on the same wavelength is good."" White missed the vast majority of last year's Six Nations because of a knee injury and is raring for the 2005 event to get going. And that is despite the opening game taking place amid the red-hot atmosphere in Cardiff. ""I enjoy the atmosphere. The Millennium Stadium is probably one of the best stadiums in the world,"" he said. ""To go down there and hear the shouting and the singing - it's one of my favourite places to play. ""This is probably the most even Six Nations for a long time. England, Ireland, France and Wales are all contenders. ""On form, Ireland should be favourites but you just don't know - that's the great thing about this tournament.""",sport
+"O'Driscoll saves Irish blushes..Two moments of magic from Brian O'Driscoll guided Ireland to a workmanlike victory against Italy...A pair of classic outside breaks from the Ireland captain set up tries for Geordan Murphy and Peter Stringer. Italy led 9-8 early in the second half but Stringer's try gave Ireland a lead they never lost. The hosts cut the gap to 18-12 with 10 minutes left and nearly scored through Ludovico Nitoglia, but Denis Hickie's try ensured an Irish victory. Italy came flying out of the blocks and took the lead through a Luciano Orquera penalty after seven minutes...It could have been better for the hosts but the fly-half missed two kickable penalties and Ireland drew level with a Ronan O'Gara penalty midway through the first half. The Italians were driving at the heart of the Irish defence and, for the first quarter, the Irish pack struggled to secure any ball for their talented backs...When they finally did, just before the half-hour mark, O'Driscoll promptly created a sparkling try for Murphy. The Ireland captain ran a dummy scissors and made a magical outside break before drawing the full-back and putting the diving Murphy in at the corner. O'Gara missed the twice-taken conversion and the visitors found themselves trailing once again. Roland de Marigny took over the kicking duties for Italy from the hapless Orquera, and he landed a penalty either side of the break to edge Italy into a 9-8 lead...The only Ireland player offering a real threat was O'Driscoll, and it was his break that set up the second try for the visitors. Shane Horgan threw an overhead pass as he was about to be forced into touch and Stringer scooted over, with O'Gara landing the tricky conversion. A penalty apiece saw Ireland leading 18-12 as the game entered the final quarter, but they were lucky to survive when Italy launched a series of attacks. Winger Nitoglia dropped the ball as he reached for the line and Italy nearly rumbled over from a driving maul...An O'Gara penalty put Ireland more than a converted try ahead and they made the game safe when Hickie latched onto an inside pass from Murphy and crossed for a converted try. O'Driscoll limped off late on, joining centre partner Gordon D'Arcy on the sidelines, and the final word went to Italy. Prop Martin Castrogiovanni powered over for a try which was fitting reward for an Italian pack which had kept the Irish under pressure throughout...De Marigny; Mi Bergamasco, Canale, Masi, Nitoglia; Orquera, Troncon; Lo Cicero, Ongaro, Castrogiovanni; Dellape, Bortolami; Persico, Ma Bergamasco, Parisse...Perugini, Intoppa, Del Fava, Dal Maso, Griffen, Pozzebon, Robertson...Murphy, Horgan, O'Driscoll, D'Arcy, Hickie, O'Gara, Stringer, Corrigan, Byrne, Hayes, O'Kelly, O'Connell, S Easterby, Leamy, Foley...Sheahan, Horan, O'Callaghan, Miller, G Easterby, Humphreys, Dempsey...P O'Brien (New Zealand)",sport
+"Barkley fit for match in Ireland..England centre Olly Barkley has been passed fit for Sunday's Six Nations clash with Ireland at Lansdowne Road...Barkley withdrew from Bath's team for Friday's clash with Gloucester after suffering a calf injury in training. Gloucester centre Henry Paul has also been cleared to play after overcoming an ankle injury. England coach Andy Robinson, who names his team on Wednesday, has called up Bath prop Duncan Bell following Phil Vickery's broken arm. With Vickery sidelined for at least six weeks and Julian White out with a neck injury, Bell could make his England debut. Bell, 30, had set his sights on an international career with Wales. But last December, the International Rugby Board confirmed that he could only be eligible for England as he had travelled on tour with them in 1998. ""I thought I'd burned all my bridges with England when I expressed an interest in wanting to play for Wales, so it's fantastic to get this opportunity,"" he said. Bell, who featured in the England A side which beat France 30-20 10 days ago, added: ""I recognise that I got into the England A squad because of injuries. ""And it's the same again in getting into the senior squad. But now that I have this opportunity I intend to take it fully if selected and play my heart out for my country.""..England coach Andy Robinson could take a gamble and call inexperienced Sale Sharks prop Andrew Sheridan into his front row. But Sheridan favours the loosehead side of the scrum and a more likely scenario is for uncapped Bell - who was among the try-scorers when England A beat France A 30-20 nine days ago - to be drafted in.",sport
+"Wales stars need a rest - Ruddock..Wales coach Mike Ruddock has defended his decision not to release any of the international stars for this weekend's regional Celtic League fixtures...Ruddock says the players will benefit from the rest, and their absence will give youngsters a chance to impress. ""We've got the WRU charter in place now which outlines exactly what happens,"" Ruddock told BBC Wales Sport. ""Once we're in the Six Nations, the players will only be released in his and the WRU's best interests."" The Ospreys and Scarlets say they are happy to support the Wales cause, but the Dragons have expressed disappointment at not being able to use their national squad players in Friday's game with Ulster. Ceri Sweeney, Gareth Cooper, Ian Gough and Kevin Morgan have been used sparingly by Ruddock in the opening two Six Nations wins and captain Jason Forster believes they would benefit from a game with the Dragons...""I'm sure the guys would want to come back to get some game time,"" Forster told BBC Wales Sport. ""It would also be a timely reminder to Mike [Ruddock] as to what they can do. ""And the supporters want to see the star players - no disrespect to the other guys - performing on the pitch."" Ruddock, though, is keen to protect his players from injury and fatigue. ""At this stage, there's nothing more [the players] can do in games to impress me further. ""We've got to look at it at another angle and see the opportunities that are provided for the younger players in the region. ""For example, the Dragons might use James Ireland this weekend. I've been looking at the lad - he's a great prospect for the future."" French and English clubs have requested to have all their international players available which means Stephen Jones, Gareth Thomas and Mefin Davies will play this weekend. The majority of Ireland and Scotland players have also been released for provincial duty.",sport
+"Munster Cup tie switched to Spain..Munster's Heineken Cup quarter-final tie against Biarritz on 3 April has been switched to Real Sociedad's Paseo de Anoeta stadium in San Sebastian...Real's ground holds 32,000 whereas the Parc des Sports Aguilera in Biarritz has a capacity of just 12,667. The Irish province will be given at least 8,000 tickets. ""The decision to move was a difficult one, but as we considered the fans as one of our primary objectives,"" said Biarritz chairman Marcel Martin. ""We hope we will be rewarded as a huge crowd behaving in the best rugby tradition."" The match will be the first Heineken Cup fixture to be played in Spain, and is expected to attract the biggest-ever attendance for a rugby match in the country. Ulster were the last Irish team to play at the Paseo de Anoeta stadium where they faced a Euskarians side during a pre-season tour in 1998.",sport
+"Williams says he will never quit..Defiant Matt Williams says he will not quit as Scotland coach even if his side slump to a new low with defeat by Italy at Murrayfield...That would leave the Scots as favourites to win the Wooden Spoon for the second year running. ""I have never quit anything in my life, apart from maybe painting the kitchen,"" he told BBC Sport. ""The support we have been given from Murrayfield in my whole time here has been 100%."" Williams has yet to experience an RBS Six Nations victory after seven attempts and Scotland have lost 12 of their 14 games under his leadership. But he rejected the comparison made in some media sources with Berti Vogts, recently sacked as Scotland football manager after a poor run of results...""How can a German football coach and an Australian rugby coach have anything in common?"" he asked. ""It is a bizarre analogy. It is so absurd that it borders on the humorous."" Williams insists that he is revelling in the pressure, despite the possibility of a second Six Nations series without a victory. ""That is not beyond the realms of possibility,"" he admitted. ""There's nothing much between the teams, so we could win the next three games or lose them. ""But I actually really enjoy seeing how you cope with such pressure as a coach. ""It helps the team grow and helps you grow as a coach. ""We could have won in Paris but for the last five minutes and now we have two defeats, but we were confident for those two first games and we are confident we can beat Italy too.""",sport
+"Pountney handed ban and fine..Northampton coach Budge Pountney has been fined £2,000 and banned from match-day coaching for six weeks for calling a referee ""a disgrace""...Pountney was found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute at a Rugby Football Union disciplinary hearing in London on Thursday night. Pountney criticised referee Steve Lander's performance in Northampton's defeat by Saracens on 5 February. The last two weeks of the six-week ban are suspended. Pountney pleaded guilty to the offence before a panel consisting of chairman Robert Horner, Nigel Gillingham and Jeff Probyn. The ban means former Scotland international Pountney cannot enter the playing enclosure, technical areas or go near the touchline, tunnel or players and officials' areas on the day of a game.",sport
+"France v Wales (Sat)..Stade de France, Paris..Saturday, 26 February..1600 GMT..BBC1, Radio 4 LW and this website..France may have beaten Scotland and England but they were tedious and uninspired throughout both matches. Wales, on the other hand, have played some fine rugby and have made their best start since they last won the title in 1994. They also have a good record at the Stade de France, having won their first two games there, in 1999 and 2001. Wales have made two changes from the team that thrashed Italy 38-8 in Rome...Kevin Morgan takes over from his injured Newport-Gwent Dragons colleague Hal Luscombe on the right wing. In the pack Neath-Swansea Ospreys forward Ryan Jones bas been brought on the blind-side flank to beef up the Wales back row in place of Jonathan Thomas. Wales coach Mike Ruddock is determined that his team will not go into their shells after their promising start to the championship. ""Graham Henry (former Wales coach) said a couple of years ago that we should 'be bold' when going to France, and he was proved right,"" said Ruddock. ""That is a great way to approach the game, and something we will further endorse with the players this week.""..Despite their stuttering displays in their first two games defending champions France are also unbeaten. Under-pressure coach Bernard Laporte has made four changes, with Yannick Nyanga, the debutant Julien Laharrague, Aurelien Rougerie and Yannick Jauzion coming into the side. France have been criticised for the absence of traditional ""French flair"" as they have ground their way to victory so far this year but captain Fabien Pelous sees hope on the horizon. ""I get the impression we are getting better,"" he said. ""Against Wales, which is different from the teams we have beaten, I hope we can show our proper game.""..J Laharrague; A Rougerie, Y Jauzion, D Traille, C Dominici; Y Delaigue, D Yachvili; S Marconnet, S Bruno, N Mas; F Pelous (capt), J Thion; S Betsen, Y Nyanga, J Bonnaire (Bourgoin)...W Servat, O Milloud, G Lamboley, I Harinordoquy, P Mignoni, F Michalak, J-P Grandclaude...G Thomas (capt); K Morgan, T Shanklin, G Henson, S Williams; S Jones, D Peel; G Jenkins, M Davies, A Jones; B Cockbain, R Sidoli; R Jones, M Williams, M Owen...R McBryde, J Yapp, J Thomas, R Sowden-Taylor, G Cooper, C Sweeney, R Williams.",sport
+"Woodward eyes Brennan for Lions..Toulouse's former Irish international Trevor Brennan could be one of Clive Woodward's many surprises when the 44-man Lions tour squad is announced...Brennan, who last played for Ireland against Samoa in 2001, is held in high esteem by the former England coach. ""If you speak to the players there's a huge amount of respect for the guy,"" Woodward told the Sunday Independent. ""Players tend to know better than most coaches. It's not just the Irish, but Welsh and English players as well."" The 31-year-old former Dublin milkman moved from Leinster to Toulouse in 2003 and immediately picked up a Heineken Cup winner's medal in an all-French final against Perpignan at Lansdowne Road...Brennan is highly-rated at Stade Toulousain, where he is used anywhere in the back five. Woodward is ensuring his preparations for the trip to New Zealand in June are as thorough as possible. ""I've spoken to quite a few players, and they probably don't know what they're actually saying when we're having these conversations,"" he told the newspaper. ""But you talk about certain players and they'll say if they think they're up to scratch or that they don't want them in their team. ""I haven't heard a bad word said against Trevor, which, considering he has a pretty tough guy reputation, is, to me, impressive.""",sport
+"Scotland v Italy (Sat)..Murrayfield, Edinburgh..Saturday, 26 February..1400 GMT..BBC1, Five Live and this website..Victory for the Azzurri in Rome last year saw Scotland end their campaign without a victory. And the pressure is on Scotland coach Matt Williams as he seeks a first Six Nations victory at the eighth attempt. Italy have lost both their opening games at home to Ireland and Wales, but travel to Edinburgh with high hopes...Their coach John Kirwan has warned his side they must eradicate the errors that blighted their loss to Wales however or risk suffering a third successive defeat. ""If the defeat against Wales has taught us anything, it's that at this level we can't make any mistakes,"" Kirwan said. ""In the Six Nations, every error you make will come at a high price. ""We have to be aggressive for 80 minutes, keep calm in every situation and display great maturity on the pitch...""It will be fundamental to keep cool in the difficult moments - in the key situations of the game."" Kirwan has recalled the experienced Cristian Stoica at centre and drafted in David dal Maso at open-side after star flanker Mauro Bergamasco was ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Scotland have also made two changes, Simon Webster replacing Simon Danielli on the wing and Simon Taylor returning for his first Test in a year, for injured flanker Jason White. Taylor's recovery from a serious knee injury is a major boost to Scottish hopes. ""He is one of the world-class players in the tournament and you want them in your team,"" acknowledged Williams...Despite a record of only two victories from 14 Tests, Williams insists he is revelling in the pressure. ""I actually really enjoy seeing how you cope with such pressure as a coach,"" he said, optimistic despite opening defeats to France and Ireland. ""We were confident for those two first games and we are confident we can beat Italy too,"" he added...: C Paterson; S Webster, A Craig, H Southwell, S Lamont; D Parks, C Cusiter; T Smith, G Bulloch (capt), G Kerr; S Grimes, S Murray; S Taylor, J Petrie, A Hogg...R Russell, B Douglas, N Hines, J Dunbar, M Blair, G Ross, B Hinshelwood...R de Marigny; Mirco Bergamasco, C Stoica, A Masi, L Nitoglia; L Orquera, A Troncon; A Lo Cicero, F Ongaro, M Castrogiovanni; S Dellape, M Bortolami (capt); A Persico, D Dal Maso, S Parisse...G Intoppa, S Perugini, CA del Fava, S Orlando, P Griffen, R Pedrazzi, KP Robertson.",sport
+"Preview: Ireland v England (Sun)..Lansdowne Road, Dublin..Sunday, 27 February..1500 GMT..BBC1, Radio 4 LW and this website..Ireland are going for their first Grand Slam since 1948 after two opening wins, and England represent their sternest test of the Championship so far. England were sloppy and leaderless in the defeats against Wales and France and another loss would be unthinkable. The pressure is on coach Andy Robinson and his side have to deliver...Despite England's dramatic dip in form since the World Cup final - they have lost eight of their last 13 matches - Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan says his side should not underestimate the visitors. ""Had they kicked their points they would have beaten France and that would have created a different landscape for Sunday,"" he said. ""This is England we are talking about. They have a depth of talent and a very good record against Ireland. ""They will target a victory in Dublin as the turning point in their Six Nations."" The differences between the sides is also highlighted in the team selections for the Dublin encounter...Ireland, despite having Gordon D'Arcy still out injured, have been boosted by the return of star skipper Brian O'Driscoll who missed the Scotland game with a hamstring injury. ""The knowledge that the England game was coming up really helped during rehabilitation,"" he said. ""The will to play in this game was enormous. It doesn't get much bigger than England at home."" As well as entering the tournament without players like Jonny Wilkinson, Mike Tindall and Richard Hill, England have now lost two tighthead props in Julian White and Phil Vickery while blind-side flanker Lewis Moody is a major concern. Robinson, who received a lot of flak for the inclusion and then dropping of centre Mathew Tait, has kept faith with kicking fly-half Charlie Hodgson despite his horror show at Twickenham. If England slump in Dublin, it will be their worst run of results in the Championship since 1987...But Robinson was bullish during the week about the game, saying that his side ""are going there to get in their faces"", and has identified the line-out and tackle area as the key to England's chances. And despite the recent results, skipper Jason Robinson believes there is nothing wrong with the mood in the camp. ""There is no lack of confidence in the team,"" said the Sale full-back. ""We have had a good week's training and we are all looking forward to the challenge. ""I still believe in this team. I know if we get our game right we will win the games.""..G Murphy; G Dempsey, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, D Hickie; R O'Gara, P Stringer; R Corrigan, S Byrne, J Hayes; M O'Kelly, P O'Connell; S Easterby, J O'Connor, A Foley...F Sheahan, M Horan, D O'Callaghan, E Miller, G Easterby, D Humphreys, K Maggs...J Robinson (capt); M Cueto, J Noon, O Barkley, J Lewsey; C Hodgson, H Ellis; G Rowntree, S Thompson, M Stevens; D Grewcock, B Kay; J Worsley, L Moody, M Corry...A Titterrell, D Bell, S Borthwick, A Hazell, M Dawson, A Goode, O Smith.",sport
+"Leeds v Saracens (Fri)..Headingley..Friday, 25 February..2000 GMT..The Tykes have brought in Newcastle prop Ed Kalman and Tom McGee from the Borders on loan while fly-half Craig McMullen has joined from Narbonne. Raphael Ibanez is named at hooker for Saracens in one of four changes. Simon Raiwalui and Ben Russell are also selected in the pack while Kevin Sorrell comes in at outside centre...- Friday's game at Headingley got the go-ahead on Friday after passing an early pitch inspection. Leeds: Balshaw; Rees, Christophers, Bell, Doherty; McMullen, Dickens; McGee, Rawlinson, Gerber; Murphy, Palmer (capt), Morgan, Parks, Popham. Replacements: Kalman, Regan, Hyde, Rigney, McMillan, Rock, Vickerman. Saracens: Bartholomeusz; Castaignede, Sorrell, Harris, Vaikona; Jackson, Bracken; Yates, Ibanez, Visagie; Raiwalui, Fullarton; Randell, Russell, Vyvyan (capt). Replacements: Cairns, Lloyd, Broster, Chesney, Johnston, Rauluni, Little.",sport
+"Worcester v Sale (Fri)..Sixways..Friday, 25 February..2000 GMT..They make just one change, with Tim Collier replacing Phil Murphy in the second row. In contrast, Sale are missing 14 players due to a combination of international call-ups and injuries. John Payne and Chris Rhys Jones come into the centres while scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth looks set to play on the wing...Delport; Pieters, Rasmussen, Lombard, O'Leary; Brown, Powell; Windo, Van Niekerk, Horsman; Collier, Gillies; Hickey, Sanderson, MacLeod- Henderson...Replacements: Fortey, Murphy, Daly, Vaili, Cole, Hayes, Trueman...Hanley; Mayor, Payne, Rhys Jones, Wigglesworth; Hercus, Redpath (capt); Turner, Roddam, Stewart; Day, Schofield; Caillet, Carter, Chabal...Replacements (from): Bozzi, Coutts, Anglesea, Lund, Martens, Riley, Duffy, C Jones.",sport
+"Robinson answers critics..England captain Jason Robinson has rubbished suggestions that the world champions are a team in decline...England were beaten 11-9 by Wales in their Six Nations opener in Cardiff last week and face current champions France at Twickenham on Sunday. Robinson said: ""We are certainly not on the decline. You lose one game and it doesn't make you a bad team. ""I have no doubt in the players we've got. We have still got the team to go out and beat anyone on our day."" England find themselves striving to avoid a third successive championship defeat for the first time since 1987. But full-back Robinson believes the new-look England team can stop the rot against France...""Last weekend we should have won the game,"" he said. ""But if we can under-perform and lose by only two points then I am sure if we play well this week we will get the win we need. ""We proved that in the autumn - when we put in some excellent performances - and we just need to build on that...""It was a disappointing start against Wales and we might be down on that. ""But we are certainly not out. We will come out fighting this week."" Robinson also had words of comfort for 18-year-old Newcastle centre Mathew Tait, who made his international debut against Wales but has been demoted from the squad to face France...""I have had a word with Mathew,"" said Robinson. ""I still believe in him. He is an outstanding player but we have gone for Olly (Barkley) because of the kicking. ""Mathew has just got to take it on the chin, keep working hard like he is doing and I'm sure he will feature in some of the games.""",sport
+"Sella wants Michalak recall..Former France centre Philippe Sella believes coach Bernard Laporte must recall Frederic Michalak to give his side any chance of beating Ireland...Sella admitted he had been impressed by current fly-half Yann Delaigue in the RBS Six Nations to date. But he told BBC Sport: ""Michalak is the answer both now and for the future. Delaigue deserved his chance but the time has come to bring back Michalak. ""He does have weaknesses but has the all-round game to upset Ireland."" The 22-year-old Michalak has spent much of the tournament on the bench after Delaigue impressed for Castres early in the season. With Michalak overlooked, the French stuttered to narrow wins over Scotland and then England before ironically playing their best rugby in the defeat to Wales. ""The Wales game was amazing to watch but never did I think the French could lose that game at half-time,"" said Sella...""Their only mistakes were that they didn't score enough points in the first half and were a little bit less focused in the second... but only a little bit."" Sella, however, insisted the pressure had eased on the under-fire Laporte, despite the defeat at the Stade de France. ""This season is very important for shaping a team for the 2007 World Cup,"" said Sella, ""which Laporte is doing very well. The French get better every game. ""It's difficult, though, when you change a team and you change your tactics as everything has to gel. ""But he has the players and the talent to take them all the way to World Cup victory. ""As a result, it is important that people give him time. It may not seem good now that we're not winning the Grand Slam but no one will care in two years time if we're world champions.""..The majority of media criticism centred on the way in which France produced a performance devoid of running rugby in their opening two games. But while Sella admitted he liked the more flowing style employed against Wales, he said ""the win was most important"". ""Winning is all that matters,"" he added. ""Ok, the flair may not have been so good, but the discipline, organisation and defence was there, which are all important ahead of 2007."" France play what Sella believes is their hardest game of the Six Nations against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday 12 March. The French go into the game as clear underdogs. But Sella added: ""People forget that France can still win the Six Nations and they'll be focused on that. ""But Ireland will be going for even more in front of their home crowd. It's going to be tough.""",sport
+"Umaga ready for Lions..All Blacks captain Tama Umaga has warned the British and Irish Lions will be his most fearsome opponents yet ahead of their summer tour...But Umaga, in England for Saturday's IRB Rugby Aid match, also backed New Zealand to win the three-Test series against the Lions. He told BBC Sport: ""It's potentially the most fearsome line-up I've ever come up against. They're awesome. ""But I'd back us all the way to beat them when they come over."" Lions boss Sir Clive Woodward is set to announce his squad for the June-July tour next month...When Woodward was appointed last year, it was widely believed he would rely heavily on his former England players. But Umaga said: ""He'd be hard pushed to do that now considering the shape of the Six Nations. ""Don't get me wrong, England have got a lot of talented guys and I'm sure there are some of them who'll make the Lions Test XV. ""But you can't disguise Wales and Ireland in particular. Some of the tries they've scored have been great. I'll admit it'll be fairly awesome lining up against the likes of Brian O'Driscoll.""..Umaga will meet O'Driscoll in Saturday's Rugby Aid match at Twickenham, with the Irish captain leading the Northern Hemisphere side. O'Driscoll is among a host of players in the Northern Hemisphere squad, coached by Woodward, that are tipped for Lions call-ups. ""It'll be good for us to get an early idea of some of these guys, although a lot can change between now and June,"" Umaga said. The 31-year-old admitted interest in the Lions tour was immense, calling it ""the biggest thing to hit New Zealand since Lord of the Rings"". He added: ""As players, it's enough for us to be driven by the rarity of playing the Lions. In fact, it's not just us All Blacks - it's the talk of the country.""..Umaga admitted the fear of injury weighed on his mind ahead of Saturday's charity game, which features a host of big names including George Gregan, Andrew Mehrtens and Chris Latham. But he admitted the value of the cause - proceeds of the match will go to aiding victims of the tsunami - easily won him over. ""The second [Southern Hemisphere coach] Rod Macqueen made the approach, I didn't hesitate. It was great when New Zealand Rugby then gave me the all clear. ""Thankfully I didn't know anyone that was involved in the tragedy of the tsunami but you couldn't miss all the horrific reports on the news. ""There are so many people that were affected, are still affected and will be affected for a long time. It's just good to know we can do something minor to help out.""..- The match will be televised on BBC One at 1400 GMT on Saturday.",sport
+"Umaga ready for ""fearsome"" Lions..All Blacks captain Tama Umaga has warned the British and Irish Lions will be his most fearsome opponents yet ahead of their summer tour...But Umaga, in England for Saturday's IRB Rugby Aid match, also backed New Zealand to win the three-Test series against the Lions. He told BBC Sport: ""It's potentially the most fearsome line-up I've ever come up against. They're awesome. ""But I'd back us all the way to beat them when they come over."" Lions boss Sir Clive Woodward is set to announce his squad for the June-July tour next month...When Woodward was appointed last year, it was widely believed he would rely heavily on his former England players. But Umaga said: ""He'd be hard pushed to do that now considering the shape of the Six Nations. ""Don't get me wrong, England have got a lot of talented guys and I'm sure there are some of them who'll make the Lions Test XV. ""But you can't disguise Wales and Ireland in particular. Some of the tries they've scored have been great. I'll admit it'll be fairly awesome lining up against the likes of Brian O'Driscoll.""..Umaga will meet O'Driscoll in Saturday's Rugby Aid match at Twickenham, with the Irish captain leading the Northern Hemisphere side. O'Driscoll is among a host of players in the Northern Hemisphere squad, coached by Woodward, that are tipped for Lions call-ups. ""It'll be good for us to get an early idea of some of these guys, although a lot can change between now and June,"" Umaga said. The 31-year-old admitted interest in the Lions tour was immense, calling it ""the biggest thing to hit New Zealand since Lord of the Rings"". He added: ""As players, it's enough for us to be driven by the rarity of playing the Lions. In fact, it's not just us All Blacks - it's the talk of the country.""..Umaga admitted the fear of injury weighed on his mind ahead of Saturday's charity game, which features a host of big names including George Gregan, Andrew Mehrtens and Chris Latham. But he admitted the value of the cause - proceeds of the match will go to aiding victims of the tsunami - easily won him over. ""The second [Southern Hemisphere coach] Rod Macqueen made the approach, I didn't hesitate. It was great when New Zealand Rugby then gave me the all clear. ""Thankfully I didn't know anyone that was involved in the tragedy of the tsunami but you couldn't miss all the horrific reports on the news. ""There are so many people that were affected, are still affected and will be affected for a long time. It's just good to know we can do something minor to help out.""..- The match will be televised on BBC One at 1400 GMT on Saturday.",sport
+"Campese berates whingeing England..Former Australian wing David Campese has told England to stop whingeing in the wake of their defeat to Ireland...England coach Andy Robinson lambasted referee Jonathan Kaplan for costing them the game after disallowing tries from Mark Cueto and Josh Lewsey. But Campese told BBC Sport: ""Robinson is living up to England's reputation as whingeing Poms. ""Stop going on about it as who really cares? They're acting like they're the first team to be cheated of a win.""..England are contemplating a complaint to the International Rugby Board after potential ""tries"" by Cueto in the first half and Lewsey late on were ruled out without recourse to the video referee. But Campese added: ""Scotland could have beaten France in the same way, but do you see them whingeing? ""Basically, things didn't go England's way and, in typical fashion, they make more of it when they believe they've lost unfairly.""..England are second bottom in the Six Nations table following defeats by Wales, France and Ireland. But although Campese admitted he was surprised about their current predicament, he insisted England were ""no longer world class"". ""England are beginning to realise that being world champions doesn't mean you deserve to win every game,"" he said. ""They lost a few key players and suddenly everyone's realised the ones on the fringes were not all that good in the first place. ""Added to that, the senior players aren't standing up and they can't do anything when the pressure mounts.""..Campese, a veteran of 101 international caps, said full-back Jason Robinson would now be the sole Englishman in his World XV. Robinson has been blamed for poor leadership in the tournament, while his coach has been castigated for appointing a full-back captain. ""I agree that you can't captain from full-back,"" said Campese. ""You need someone in the thick of the action, and it's very hard to give orders from all the way back there. ""Some people are leaders and some aren't. He's not but there's no one who stands out in England's pack - no clear-cut leaders."" Campese, though, defended coach Andy Robinson, who he believes was the ""only choice"" after Sir Clive Woodward's resignation...But he blamed ""a lack of talent in the England camp"" for making the current coach look poor. England face a potential wooden spoon match against Italy on 12 March. And the ex-Wallaby added: ""If England lost that, they'd be in bloody turmoil. That said, I don't think they will."" Campese has tipped Wales to win both the Six Nations and Grand Slam come the end of the tournament. ""It's been a surprising tournament,"" he said, ""and maybe Ireland have a little bit more talent overall. ""But playing at home is a major boost. And the possible Grand Slam decider at the Millennium Stadium will be just too much for the Irish.""",sport
+"O'Driscoll/Gregan lead Aid stars..Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll will lead the Northern Hemisphere team in the IRB Rugby Aid match at Twickenham...O'Driscoll heads a star-studded cast for the contest to raise funds for the tsunami appeal. The South will be led by George Gregan, one of four Wallabies, alongside five Springboks and four All Blacks including captain Tana Umaga. South African flanker Schalk Burger has shaken off a leg injury to take his place in the starting line-up. He will join fellow Springboks John Smit, Cobus Visagie and Victor Matfield in the South pack, with Jacque Fourie among the centres. The North side have been hit by the withdrawals of Scotland duo Gordon Bulloch and Chris Cusiter, plus France captain Fabien Pelous...But Leicester's England centre Ollie Smith has been added to the squad, giving him an opportunity to impress Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward, who takes charge of the North side. ""I think it's fantastic for Ollie,"" Tigers coach John Wells told BBC Radio Leicester. ""He was probably going to have the weekend off this week and I hope Clive gets the chance to see the qualities that Leicester and England have been seeing all year."" Woodward will also assess other potential Lions candidates such as Scotland pair Simon Taylor and Chris Paterson, Wales scrum-half Dwayne Peel and Ireland lock Paul O'Connell. ""I'm looking forward to working with such outstanding players,"" Woodward said. ""Both teams are fielding top-quality sides and I really hope that the rugby public and community get behind this game to raise as much money as possible for such a deserving cause."" Despite the withdrawal of Wales wing Rhys Williams, who is required for the Blues' Celtic League match with Munster, three other members of their Six Nations squad - Ceri Sweeney, John Yapp and Jonathan Thomas - will also play. ""Not only it is for a good cause but it gives these players the opportunity to play with and against some of the best players in the world,"" said WRU general manager Steve Lewis. Supporters can watch the teams train for free at Twickenham on Friday, 4 March. Woodward will put his North team through their paces at 1030 GMT, with the South side, coached by former Wallabies coach Rod Macqueen, due at the stadium at 1330...C Paterson (Scotland), B Cohen (England), B O'Driscoll (Ireland, capt), D Traille (France), O Smith (England), C Sweeney (Wales), D Humphreys (Ireland), D Peel (Wales); A Lo Cicero (Italy), P de Villiers (France), J Yapp (Wales), R Ibanez (France), P O'Connell (Ireland), M Bortolami (Italy), J Thomas (Wales), S Taylor (Scotland), L Dallaglio (England), S Parisse (Italy), Others to be added...C Latham (Australia); B Lima (Samoa), J Fourie (SA) T Umaga (New Zealand), S Bobo (Fiji); A Mehrtens (NZ) G Gregan (Aus, capt); C Hoeft (NZ), J Smit (SA), C Visagie (SA), S Maling (NZ), V Matfield (SA), S Burger (SA), P Waugh (Aus), T Kefu (Aus)...E Taukafa (Tonga), E Guinazu (Argentina), S Sititi (Samoa), O Palepoi (Samoa), M Rauluni (Fiji), T Delport (SA), A N Other.",sport
+"Harinordoquy suffers France axe..Number eight Imanol Harinordoquy has been dropped from France's squad for the Six Nations match with Ireland in Dublin on 12 March...Harinordoquy was a second-half replacement in last Saturday's 24-18 defeat to Wales. Bourgoin lock Pascal Pape, who has recovered from a sprained ankle, returns to the 22-man squad. Wing Cedric Heymans and Ludovic Valbon come in for Aurelien Rougerie and Jean-Philippe Grandclaude...Rougerie hurt his chest against Wales while Grandclaude was a second-half replacement against both England and Wales. Valbon, capped in last June's Tests against the United States and Canada, was a second half replacement in the win over Scotland...France coach Bernard Laporte said Harinordoquy had been axed after a poor display last weekend. ""Imanol has been dropped from the squad because the least I can say is that he didn't make a thundering comeback against Wales,"" said Laporte. ""We know the Ireland game will be fast and rough and we also want to be able to replace both locks during the game if needed, and Gregory Lamboley can also come on at number seven or eight. ""The Grand Slam is gone but we'll go to Ireland to win. ""It will be a very exciting game because Ireland have three wins under their belt, have just defeated England and have their eyes set on a Grand Slam."" France, who lost to Wales last week, must defeat the Irish to keep alive their hopes of retaining the Six Nations trophy. Ireland are unbeaten in this year's tournament and have their sights set on a first Grand Slam since 1948...Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), Pierre Mignoni (Clermont), Yann Delaigue (Castres), Frederic Michalak (Stade Toulousain), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Yannick Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), Ludovic Valbon (Biarritz), Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais), Cedric Heymans (Stade Toulousain), Julien Laharrague (Brive)..Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), Sebastien Bruno (Sale/ENG), William Servat (Stade Toulousain), Fabien Pelous (Stade Toulousain, capt), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Pascal Papé (Bourgoin), Gregory Lamboley (Stade Toulousain), Serge Betsen (Biarritz), Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), Yannick Nyanga (Béziers)",sport
+"Parker misses England clash..Tom Shanklin will start in the centre for Wales against England in Cardiff on Saturday after Sonny Parker failed to recover from a trapped neck nerve...Shanklin was first-choice wing in the autumn Tests, but prefers centre and will face England debutant Mathew Tait. Dragons three-quarter Hal Luscombe takes Shanklin's wing berth. Up front, Mefin Davies plays at hooker, open-side Martyn Williams is fit to start and lock Rob Sidoli replaces veteran Gareth Llewellyn. Davies wins the vote ahead of Robin McBryde, who sits on the bench having recently returned to action for the Scarlets following a neck injury...Sidoli is back for the first time since last season's Six Nations, the Blues second row back to form after a niggling groin problem. Williams, Sidoli's team-mate at Cardiff, is set to win his 50th cap, replacing the injured Colin Charvis after making a quicker-than-expected recovery from a neck disc problem. ""Initially when I had the diagnosis it was a case of trying to get fit for the Italy game next week, but fortunately my recovery has been a lot quicker than we all hoped,"" Williams told BBC Sport Wales. ""I haven't started a game since 1 January and would have preferred to have a couple of games in the lead-up to this, but the good thing with the injury is that I have kept up my fitness levels. ""I feel quite fresh and I just can't wait to play again."" Williams says he expects a torrid time from an England loose-forward trio of Lewis Moody, Joe Worsley and Andy Hazell. ""They are three top-class players, especially Worsley and Moody. They have been there and done it,"" Williams added. ""They were back-ups behind Richard Hill, Neil Back and Lawrence Dallaglio, but now they have come forward and proved what good players they are - there are no weaknesses there."" Luscombe gets the nod on the wing ahead of Dragons team-mate Kevin Morgan, who wins a place on the bench alongside uncapped Blues prop John Yapp...G Thomas (Toulouse (capt); H Luscombe (Dragons), T Shanklin (Blues), G Henson (Ospreys), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Clermont Auvergne), D Peel (Scarlets); G Jenkins (Blues), M Davies (Gloucester), A Jones (Ospreys), B Cockbain (Ospreys), R Sidoli (Blues), D Jones (Scarlets), M Williams (Blues), M Owen (Dragons)...R McBryde (Scarlets), J Yapp (Blues), J Thomas (Ospreys), R Jones (Ospreys), G Cooper (Dragons), C Sweeney (Dragons), K Morgan (Dragons).",sport
+"Stevens named in England line-up..England have named Bath prop Matt Stevens in the starting line-up for their Six Nations match against Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Sunday...Fellow Bath prop Duncan Bell will start on the bench, as coach Andy Robinson makes just one change to the team that was beaten by France. It will be Stevens' first start after two caps as a replacement against the All Blacks last year. Leicester duo Ollie Smith and Andy Goode have been drafted onto the bench. Stevens takes over from Phil Vickery, who suffered a broken arm playing for Gloucester last weekend. ""I'm confident Matt will grasp this opportunity and make his mark against Ireland,"" said Robinson...""All three players have shown outstanding form of late, most recently in the England A win against France A and for their club,"" added Robinson. ""Selection beckons when players demonstrate such consistent ability. ""This game against Ireland will be massive. We recognise it's a must-win game for us this season."" England confirmed that Sale Sharks prop Andrew Sheridan was not considered for selection because of an injury he picked up to the back of his ankle during last Friday's match against Leeds...J Robinson (Sale Sharks, capt); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), J Noon (Newcastle), O Barkley (Bath), J Lewsey (Wasps); C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), H Ellis (Leicester); G Rowntree (Leicester), S Thompson (Northampton), M Stevens (Bath), D Grewcock (Bath), B Kay (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps), L Moody (Leicester), M Corry (Leicester)...A Titterrell (Sale Sharks), D Bell (Bath), S Borthwick (Bath), A Hazell (Gloucester), M Dawson (Wasps), A Goode (Leicester), O Smith (Leicester).",sport
+"Bortolami predicts dour contest..Italy skipper Marco Bortolami believes Saturday's Six Nations contest against Scotland will be a scrappy encounter...With both sides looking for their first win of the championship, the third-round game at Murrayfield has been billed as a wooden-spoon decider. And Bortolami feels the Edinburgh contest could end up being a bruising battle of the packs. ""It will not be a pretty game because both teams are desperate to gain their first win,"" said the lock forward. Italy have only recorded three wins since they joined the Six Nations in 2000, but two of those have come against Scotland. This year, Italy opened up with a stubborn display against Ireland but ended up losing 28-17...However, they were thoroughly outplayed by an impressive Welsh side in Rome last time out. Now the Italians travel to Edinburgh hoping to claim their first away win in the Six Nations. ""Scotland played extremely well against France in Paris but not so well when Ireland came to Edinburgh,"" said Bortolami. ""We are still very disappointed with our last game against Wales in Rome and we are thoroughly determined to right the wrongs. ""As a nation, our quest is to be respected as a team worthy of a place in this tournament and we can only do this by winning games.""",sport
+"Corry backs skipper Robinson..England forward Martin Corry says Jason Robinson is the right man to lead the national team back to winning ways...After losses to Wales and France, critics have started to wonder whether Robinson can captain from full-back. But Corry has backed Robinson, who was given the role after the injury to fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, ahead of this weekend's trip to Ireland. ""Jason is doing a tremendous job. Every week my respect for him goes up,"" Corry told BBC Radio Five Live. ""He is an inspirational captain. When he talks with the squad he talks with a lot of sense. ""The players have a lot of respect for him. It's an honour to be in the England side and an honour to play under him.""..England are under immense pressure following their poor start to the year and victory is vital if they are to rescue their Six Nations campaign. But Corry insists England are in the right frame of mind for the contest. ""There is apprehension going into every game,"" he added. ""But you have to use that fear and put it into a positive mindset. ""When the whistle goes on Sunday, what has happened in the past does not count for anything...""We have not performed but if we put in a performance on Sunday then we can start turning results around. ""There are a lot of changes taking place with England and we are at the start of something. We have not got off to the greatest of starts but you need to experience the bad the before you can fully appreciate the good.""..A trip to Lansdowne Road is daunting at any time, especially against an Ireland side that are flying high after two impressive wins. They are the form team of the tournament and are tipped to claim their first Grand Slam since 1948. But Corry is relishing the prospect of taking on the Irish in their own backyard. ""They are full of confidence and are playing a great team game,"" he said. ""The forwards are creating a great platform and they have explosive runners out wide. ""If you look at the team on paper, they have stars from one to 15. It's a huge task but it is a great opportunity for us. ""Lansdowne Road is a tremendous venue to play in and we have to use it to our advantage.""",sport
+"Prop Jones ready for hard graft..Adam Jones says the Wales forwards are determined to set the perfect attacking platform for the backs by dominating the powerful France pack in Paris...The prop said: ""If we get stuffed in the front five our backs have had it. ""The mentality of the French is 'scrum, scrum, scrum'. We will see how good France are and the scrum is the key. ""I just hope [the backs] carry on where they left off against Italy. It's just up to us in the forwards to win the ball and give them the opportunity."" Wales have won two of their last three visits to Stade de France, having secured back-to-back wins under Graham Henry in 1999 and 2001. And with the likes of Shane Williams and Gavin Henson finding top form at the right time, Mike Ruddock's team is now one of international rugby's most potent attacking threats. ""Gavin is ridiculously talented. He has been bouncing around the place this week, so he is up for it,"" warned Jones...France have been criticised for their uncharacteristic one-dimensional play in their victories over Scotland and France. Captain Fabien Pelous has acknowledged his side needs to show more attacking flair, but stressed the game with be won or lost up front. The lock believes the Welsh forwards are not big enough to trouble his side in the scrum or line-out, but Jones insisted his fellow front-row colleagues have nothing to fear...""Gethin [Jenkins] won't be intimidated tomorrow, none of us will,"" said Jones, who will be facing France for the first time. ""We will go out there and front up and hopefully get the ball out to the backs. ""Me and Gethin are quite young so it is good to have someone of Mefin's experience in there. ""Mefin is a good thinker who puts things across. But what is the saying? If you are good enough you are old enough and Gethin certainly is. ""He is a really good player and I imagine he will be on the Lions tour [to New Zealand this summer].""",sport
+"Moody joins up with England..Lewis Moody has flown to Dublin to join England's camp ahead of their RBS Six Nations game against Ireland on Sunday...Despite joining the squad, the Leicester flanker only has a ""slim"" chance of playing because of an infection in his finger. A decision will be taken on Saturday as to whether the 26-year-old will be declared fit. If he fails to recover in time for the game, his place at the back of the pack will be taken by Andy Hazell. Chris Jones will then start the game on the bench. ""The chances of him playing are very slim,"" said coach Andy Robinson. ""The infection is deeper than was thought.""..Moody had to be put on a drip in an attempt to force antibiotics through his infected finger. He suffered the cut playing against France at Twickenham and it became infected during a 10-minute outing as a replacement for Leicester against Newcastle last Saturday. ""The mud got into it,"" Robinson added. ""He has had a big course of antibiotics but they haven't done the job we hoped they would."" Robinson has already been forced to make one change to the starting line-up with Bath prop Matt Stevens coming in for the injured Phil Vickery...The 22-year-old has only made 10 starts for his club but has made 49 appearances from the bench. ""It can be frustrating but I've had a lot more game time this season and I'm ready for it,"" Stevens said. ""I've been on tour with these boys and I've been in the England set-up for two years so I know the calls and the way they play."" Stevens will be winning his third cap on Sunday after coming on twice as a replacement on the tour to New Zealand last year...Robinson has confirmed that fly-half Charlie Hodgson will be the first-choice kicker despite his three missed penalties and a drop goal against France. ""Charlie's state of mind is very good,"" said Robinson. ""Obviously, we are all disappointed we lost the French game and the circumstances in which we did. ""But he responded well last week in his goalkicking for Sale and he will be our first-choice kicker this week.""..Robinson also admits his side must improve their line-out work against Irish duo Malcolm O'Kelly and Paul O'Connell, one of the most effective partnerships in the game. ""In each game we've missed a number of line-outs,"" he added. ""It cost us the game against Wales but it has improved. ""It was better against France and will have to go up another notch against Ireland. It will be a huge battle. ""Look at the way they tore us apart last year. If it doesn't function, we will be in for a torrid time.""",sport
+"Captains lining up for Aid match..Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll is one of four Six Nations captains included in the Northern Hemisphere squad for the IRB Rugby Aid match on 5 March...France's Fabien Pelous, Gordon Bullock of Scotland and Italy's Marco Bortolami are also in the Northern party. Sir Clive Woodward will coach the Northern team against Rod Macqueen's Southern Hemisphere team in a tsumani fund-raising match at Twickenham. ""I'm looking forward to working with such outstanding players,"" he said. It will be a chance for Woodward to assess some of his options before unveiling his British and Irish Lions touring party, who will visit New Zealand in the summer. ""The game promises to be a great spectacle,"" he said. ""Both teams are fielding top-quality sides and I really hope that the rugby public and community get behind this game to raise as much money as possible for such a deserving cause.""..L Dallaglio (England), B Cohen (England), A Rougerie (France), D Traille (France), F Pelous (France), R Ibanez (France), P de Villiers (France), B O'Driscoll (Ireland, capt), P O'Connell (Ireland), D Humphreys (Ireland), C Paterson (Scotland), C Cusiter (Scotland), G Bullock (Scotland), S Taylor (Scotland), A Lo Cicero (Italy), M Bortolami (Italy), S Parisse (Italy), D Peel (Wales), C Sweeney (Wales), J Thomas (Wales), R Williams (Wales), J Yapp (Wales)...C Latham (Australia); R Caucaunibuca (Fiji), J Fourie (S Africa) T Umaga (New Zealand), S Bobo (Fiji); A Mehrtens (New Zealand) G Gregan (Australia, capt); T Kefu (Australia), P Waugh (Australia), S Burger (S Africa); I Rawaqa (Fiji), V Matfield (S Africa); K Visagie (S Africa), J Smit (S Africa), C Hoeft (New Zealand). Reserves: B Reihana (New Zealand), B Lima (Samoa), E Taukafa (Tonga), O Palepoi (Samoa), S Sititi (Samoa), M Rauluni (Fiji), A N Other.",sport
+"Castaignede fires Laporte warning..Former France fly-half Thomas Castaignede has warned the pressure is mounting on coach Bernard Laporte following their defeat by Wales...France suffered a shock loss against the Welsh at the weekend after looking on course for an easy win. Castaignede told BBC Sport: ""The pressure is big on Laporte after a huge loss to New Zealand, a slim win over Scotland and a miracle against England. ""But the French have to get behind him and the team at Lansdowne Road."" Following victories over South Africa and Australia in November, France were deemed by many to be the world's leading side. But they were then trounced 45-6 by New Zealand and only just beat Scotland after the Scots had a try disallowed in their Six Nations opener. It then took some woeful spot kicking from Charlie Hodgson and Olly Barkley to help them to victory against England at Twickenham. <..Castaignede said: ""You can't say any of those results have eased the pressure on Laporte. ""Had England's kickers not been so bad, the position in the Six Nations would be very different now."" Laporte has been criticised for France's negative tactics in their wins over Scotland and England. But his side played a more free-flowing style against Wales, making a mockery of the opposition's defence in the first half before suffering a shock turnaround in fortunes after the interval. ""All the chat in France has been about how France will play against Ireland,"" said Castaignede ahead of the 12 March tie. ""Everyone wants to see the sort of play we saw against Wales. But everyone also wants a win."" Castaignede, a veteran of 43 international caps, admitted the French would go in as underdogs against Ireland...""Going to Ireland is never easy but the way they're playing right now, it's harder than ever,"" said Castaignede. ""They're very experienced and don't often lose at home. They've got some great forwards and some electric runners on the break."" Despite praising the Irish he claimed the Welsh had the upper hand in the Six Nations run-in. ""Ireland have such a good pack but Wales are something else on the break,"" he added. ""At the weekend they were simply awesome. As a Frenchman it was disappointing to see, but you had to admire it. ""Their commitment to every cause can make them win this championship."" The 30-year-old also tipped Yann Delaigue to start ahead of Frederic Michalak at number 10 after an impressive display in Paris last weekend. ""Delaigue played really well and admittedly Michalak played well too,"" said Castaignede. ""I'm just glad I'm not the one who has to make the decision.""",sport
+"Charvis set to lose fitness bid..Flanker Colin Charvis is unlikely to play any part in Wales' final two games of the Six Nations...Charvis has missed all three of Wales' victories with an ankle injury and his recovery has been slower than expected. ""He will not figure in the Scotland game and is now thought unlikely to be ready for the final game,"" said Wales physio Mark Davies. Sonny Parker is continuing to struggle with a neck injury, but Hal Luscombe should be fit for the Murrayfield trip. Centre Parker has only a ""slim chance"" of being involved against the Scots on 13 March, so Luscombe's return to fitness after missing the France match with hamstring trouble is a timely boost...Said Wales assistant coach Scott Johnson: ""We're positive about Hal and hope he'll be raring to go. ""He comes back into the mix again, adds to the depth and gives us other options. "" Replacement hooker Robin McBryde remains a doubt after picking up knee ligament damage in Paris last Saturday. ""We're getting that reviewed and we should know more by the end of the week how Robin's looking,"" added Johnson. ""We're hopeful but it's too early to say at this stage."" Steve Jones from the Dragons is likely to be drafted in if McBryde fails to recover.",sport
+"Robinson out of Six Nations..England captain Jason Robinson will miss the rest of the Six Nations because of injury...Robinson, stand-in captain in the absence of Jonny Wilkinson, had been due to lead England in their final two games against Italy and Scotland. But the Sale full-back pulled out of the squad on Wednesday because of a torn ligament in his right thumb. The 30-year-old will undergo an operation on Friday but England have yet to name a replacement skipper...Robinson said: ""This is very disappointing for me as this means I miss England's last two games in the Six Nations at Twickenham and two games for my club, Sale Sharks. ""But I'm looking to be back playing very early in April.""..Robinson picked up the injury in the 19-13 defeat to Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Saturday. And coach Andy Robinson said: ""I am hugely disappointed for Jason. ""As England captain he has been an immense figure during the autumn internationals and the Six Nations, leading by example at all times. I look forward to having him back in the England squad."" The announcement is the latest setback for Robinson's injury-depleted squad...Among the key figures already missing are Jonny Wilkinson, Mike Tindall, Will Greenwood, Julian White and Phil Vickery - a list which leaves Robinson short on candidates for the now vacant captaincy role. Former England skipper Jeremy Guscott told BBC Radio Five Live his choice would be Matt Dawson, even though he is does not hold a regular starting place...""The obvious choice is Dawson"" said Guscott. ""Especially given that Harry Ellis did not have his best game at scrum-half on Saturday. ""Dawson has the credentials and the experience, even though his winning record at captain is not great. ""The other option in Martin Corry, who is the standout forward at the moment. ""Unfortunately England cannot rely on leaders on the field at the moment."" England will announce their squad for the 12 March game against Italy on Saturday.",sport
+"England coach faces rap after row..England coach Andy Robinson is facing disciplinary action after criticising referee Jonathan Kaplan in his side's Six Nations defeat to Ireland...The Rugby Football Union (RFU) will investigate Robinson after deciding not to lodge a complaint against Kaplan. Robinson may even have to apologise for his comments in order to avoid sanction from the International Rugby Board. Robinson had said he was ""livid"" about Kaplan's decisions on Saturday to disallow two England ""tries."" The England coach went on to claim that ""only one side was refereed""...After reviewing tapes of the match, the RFU decided not to formally complain to the IRB over the standard of Kaplan's refereeing. Instead the RFU said in a statement they would, ""set out any concerns the England team management may have in a confidential manner""...An IRB spokesman said on the matter: ""We take all breaches of the code very seriously. ""Should the RFU resolve the issue to our satisfaction, as happened last month when the Scotland coach Matt Williams apologised for remarks made, it would be the end of the matter.""..Kaplan has vigorously defended his performance in England's 19-13 defeat at Landsdowne Road and admitted he was ""very disappointed"" with Robinson's remarks. And the South African has been appointed to take charge of Scotland's match against Wales on 13 March...The RFU recently fined Northampton coach Budge Pountney £2,000 and imposed a six-week ban for his criticism of referee Steve Lander after a Premiership match.",sport
+"Harinordoquy suffers France axe..Number eight Imanol Harinordoquy has been dropped from France's squad for the Six Nations match with Ireland in Dublin on 12 March...Harinordoquy was a second-half replacement in last Saturday's 24-18 defeat to Wales. Bourgoin lock Pascal Pape, who has recovered from a sprained ankle, returns to the 22-man squad. Wing Cedric Heymans and Ludovic Valbon come in for Aurelien Rougerie and Jean-Philippe Grandclaude...Rougerie hurt his chest against Wales while Grandclaude was a second-half replacement against both England and Wales. Valbon, capped in last June's Tests against the United States and Canada, was a second half replacement in the win over Scotland...France coach Bernard Laporte said Harinordoquy had been axed after a poor display last weekend. ""Imanol has been dropped from the squad because the least I can say is that he didn't make a thundering comeback against Wales,"" said Laporte. ""We know the Ireland game will be fast and rough and we also want to be able to replace both locks during the game if needed, and Gregory Lamboley can also come on at number seven or eight. ""The grand slam is gone but we'll go to Ireland to win. ""It will be a very exciting game because Ireland have three wins under their belt, have just defeated England and have their eyes set on a Grand Slam."" France, who lost to Wales last week, must defeat the Irish to keep alive their hopes of retaining the Six Nations trophy. Ireland are unbeaten in this year's tournament and have their sights set on a first Grand Slam since 1948...Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), Pierre Mignoni (Clermont), Yann Delaigue (Castres), Frederic Michalak (Stade Toulousain), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Yannick Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), Ludovic Valbon (Biarritz), Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais), Cedric Heymans (Stade Toulousain), Julien Laharrague (Brive)..Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), Sebastien Bruno (Sale/ENG), William Servat (Stade Toulousain), Fabien Pelous (Stade Toulousain, capt), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Pascal Papé (Bourgoin), Gregory Lamboley (Stade Toulousain), Serge Betsen (Biarritz), Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), Yannick Nyanga (Béziers)",sport
+"Wilkinson return 'unlikely'..Jonny Wilkinson looks set to miss the whole of the 2005 RBS Six Nations...England's World Cup-winning fly-half said last week he was hoping to recover from his latest injury in time to play some role in the championship. But Rob Andrew, coach of Wilkinson's club side Newcastle, said that with only two games left to play Wilkinson was unlikely to be fit in time. ""It would be irresponsible to put him straight into a Test match,"" Andrew told the Times. Wilkinson is recovering from a knee injury which followed long-term neck and arm injuries. He has not played for England since the World Cup final in November 2003, since when the stuttering world champions have lost nine of their 14 matches. Wilkinson is aiming to make his third start to the season in the Zurich Premiership match against Harlequins on 13 March...That game is the day after England play Italy in the Six Nations and six days before their final match of the championship against Scotland. ""We are hoping Jonny will be ready in a fortnight, but it is touch and go,"" said Andrew. ""His recovery is going very well and the key now is how he is reintroduced to playing and with it goal-kicking. ""He will probably have to come off the bench to start and it would be ridiculous and irresponsible to put him straight back into a Test match. ""We can't afford to get it wrong with a knee injury. We are in touch with England and they are relaxed about it."" Despite not playing for England, Wilkinson is still hoping to make the Lions tour to New Zealand this summer. Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward has not set a deadline for when Wilkinson has to start playing again in order to be considered for selection.",sport
+"England 'to launch ref protest'..England will protest to the International Rugby Board (IRB) about the referee's performance in the defeat by Ireland, reports the Daily Mail...England coach Andy Robinson has called on ex-international referees Colin High and Steve Lander to analyse several of Jonathan Kaplan's decisions. ""I want to go through the tape with Colin and Steve,"" Robinson told the Daily Mail. ""I want to speak to the IRB about it. I think only one side was refereed."" High, the Rugby Football Union's referees' manager, claimed Kaplan made three major errors which changed the outcome of Sunday's match. England were beaten 19-13 by the Irish in Dublin, their third straight defeat in the 2005 Six Nations. ""The International Rugby Board will be disappointed,"" High told the Daily Mail. ""Jonathan Kaplan is in the top 20 in the world but that wasn't an international performance. ""It would not have been acceptable in the Zurich Premiership. ""If one of my referees had done that, I would have had my backside kicked for making the appointment. ""If any English referee refereed like that in a European match, there would be an inquest. No question about that. ""If someone had performed like that, he would have been pulled from the next game.""",sport
+"Moore questions captaincy..Brian Moore believes the England captain should not be a full-back...Jason Robinson has led the team during their opening three defeats in the Six Nations tournament, in the absence of fly-half Jonny Wilkinson. The world champions have struggled since the retirement of former captain Martin Johnson, a lock forward. And former England captain Moore told the BBC: ""Full-backs are too far away from the action. That's not a reflection on Robinson personally."" He added: ""I just think the point of influence needs to move closer to the pack - which is, after all, where games usually start and finish."" Moore says a lack of cohesion in the forwards is one of the reasons why England have lost against Wales, France and Ireland in this year's tournament. ""Assertiveness in the pack isn't there, we're not getting enough people into the breakdowns,"" he explained. ""Wer'e not getting quick ball, which means the backs are being stifled. Their creativity depends on quick ball and we're not getting that.""..With injuries depriving him of key players like Wilkinson, coach Andy Robinson has given youngsters such as Harry Ellis and Jamie Noon a chance. And Moore believes the last two games against Italy and Scotland are a good opportunity to experiment further. ""The problem is the players that are around to replace the icons which have been lost because of retirement and injury don't have the requisite experience,"" Moore added. ""You can't do anything about that but play them. There are players who have been knocking on the door, it's time for them to be looked at in these last two games because there's nothing on them. ""We then go into next season with a greater certainty of who can and cannot handle the pressure of international rugby.""",sport
+"Owen set for skipper role..Wales number eight Michael Owen says replacing Gareth Thomas as Wales' captain will be straightforward because of the leadership quality in the squad...""You dream about playing for Wales, but it never enters your head that you will one day captain your country,"" he said. ""It's an easy job really because there are so many experienced players in the side, but it will be a massive honour."" Coach Mike Ruddock says the 24-year-old should take the armband from broken thumb victim Thomas against Scotland. Ruddock praised Owen's contribution as vice-captain and pack leader in this year's wins over England, Italy and France, notably his role in the second-half in Paris following Thomas' injury. The 22-cap Dragons man says that Thomas will be badly missed, though. ""Gareth is going to be a massive loss because he is a brilliant player and he has done a fantastic job since he has been captain,"" said Owen. ""He has put his own unique stamp on things. We are going to miss him but the strength of the squad is shown when you have someone like Kevin Morgan to step in.""..Owen admitted the Grand Slam had been mentioned within the squad but that no-one was getting carried away with the three victories over England, Italy and France. ""We can't get ahead of ourselves,"" he said. ""We have a massive game next up and we are just looking forward to preparing for that. ""Scotland are improving all the time. Like us they did well in France and were unlucky not to get a win. ""Against Ireland they played fantastically well in the first 15 minutes before falling away. ""They are probably going on a similar journey to the one we have been on in the last couple of years.""",sport
+"Italy aim to rattle England..Italy coach John Kirwan believes his side can upset England as the Six Nations wooden spoon battle hots up...The two sides, both without a win, meet on 12 March at Twickenham and Kirwan says his side will be hoping to make the most of England's current slump. ""We have to make sure the England and France games are tough for them. ""England have not been having the best of championships. That is a big one for us and them and I am sure my players will rise to the occasion,"" he said. But Kirwan admits that a lot of hard work will be needed with his kickers before the trip to London. Roland de Marigny and Luciano Orquera had a miserable time with the boot in the dire defeat to Scotland as Chris Paterson stole the show to give the hosts a much-needed 18-10 victory. Kirwan said: ""The kicking was the decisive factor in Scotland which cost us and it could go down to the kicking again next time. ""But I have a lot of confidence in my players and I am positive we can put everything together against England."" England, meanwhile, are licking their wounds and rueing what might have been had two decisions from referee Jonathan Kaplan not gone against them in the second half in Dublin. First Mark Cueto was judged offside as he chased fly-half Charlie Hodgson's kick, and then Kaplan opted not to call upon video evidence to see if Josh Lewsey had touched down after being driven over Ireland's line...But centre Jamie Noon believes the side at least showed better form than their previous two defeats. ""We definitely improved against an in-form Irish side,"" he said. ""We went to Dublin quietly confident that we would be able to compete, and I think we showed that. ""We have got to make sure we now take the form and positives into the Italy game. We are under no illusions that it is going to be easy, but we definitely need a win."" England have now equalled an 18-year low of four successive championship defeats, including France in Paris last season, and have lost four in a row under Andy Robinson. His predecessor, Sir Clive Woodward, began his seven-year reign with three defeats and two draws.",sport
+"Dal Maso in to replace Bergamasco..David dal Maso has been handed the task of replacing the injured Mauro Bergamasco at flanker in Italy's team to face Scotland on Saturday...Alessandro Troncon continues at scrum-half despite the return to fitness of Paul Griffen. The experienced Cristian Stoica is recalled at centre at the expense of Walter Pozzebon. ""We are going to Scotland for the first away win and nothing else,"" said manager Marco Bollesan. ""I really believe this is the team who will have all our faith for Saturday's game. ""We lost a player like Mauro Bergamasco who has been important for us, but (coach) John (Kirwan) has put together the best team at present, if not ever...R de Marigny (Parma); Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), C Stoica (Montpellier), A Masi (Viadana), L Nitoglia (Calvisano); L Orquera (Padova), A Troncon (Treviso); A Lo Cicero (L'Aquilla), F Ongaro (Treviso), M Castrogiovanni (Calvisano), S Dellape (Agen), M Bortolami (Narbonne, capt), A Persico (Agen), D dal Maso (Treviso), S Parisse (Treviso)...G Intoppa (Calvisano), S Perugini (Calvisano), CA Del Fava (Parma), S Orlando (Treviso), P Griffen (Calvisano), R Pedrazzi (Viadana), K Robertson (Viadana).",sport
+"Teenager Tait picked for England..Newcastle's teenage centre Mathew Tait has been named as a centre in England's team to face Wales in the Six Nations opener in Cardiff on Saturday...The 18-year-old will play alongside Falcons' team-mate Jamie Noon in England's midfield. Scrum-half Matt Dawson is also recalled, despite been left out of the initial squad after a row over clashing TV and training commitments. Bath lock Danny Grewcock will also start, pending a possible citing. England coach Andy Robinson has also awarded Gloucester flanker Andy Hazell his first Six Nations start. In another change to the side that lost to Australia in November, Leicester lock Ben Kay replaces Bath second row Steve Borthwick. Robinson was already without Jonny Wilkinson, Mike Tindall, Stuart Abbott, Richard Hill and Will Greenwood, while Mike Catt had been left out of England's squad...J Robinson (Sale Sharks, capt); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), M Tait (Newcastle), J Noon (Newcastle), J Lewsey (Wasps); C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), M Dawson (Wasps); G Rowntree (Leicester), S Thompson (Northampton), J White (Leicester), D Grewcock (Bath), B Kay (Leicester), L Moody (Leicester), A Hazell (Gloucester), J Worsley (Wasps). Replacements: A Titterrell (Sale Sharks), P Vickery (Gloucester), S Borthwick (Bath), J Forrester (Gloucester), H Ellis (Leicester), O Barkley (Bath), B Cohen (Northampton).",sport
+"Brit awards for Devon music acts..Devon singer Joss Stone and rock band Muse won coveted Brit awards during the event's 25th anniversary...Seventeen-year-old Stone, from near Cullumpton, won two awards: best British female act, and best urban act out of three award nominations. Muse, whose members met in south Devon, beat Franz Ferdinand, Jamie Cullum, Kasabian and The Libertines for best British live act. The band has sold about two million records worldwide...After beating Amy Winehouse, Jamelia, Natasha Bedingfield and PJ Harvey to the best British female prize, Joss Stone said: ""I don't know what to say. I don't like doing this at all. I'd like to thank my family for being really supportive and everybody that made my record with me."" ""I don't even know what to do right now. Thank you all you guys for voting for me, I feel sick right now."" Viewers of digital music TV channel MTV Base voted Stone the winner in the best urban act category. Ms Stone also performed her song Right To Be Wrong, backed by a gospel choir, at the 25th award ceremony at London's Earls Court. 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...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. Indie Rock group Muse consists of Matthew Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard who met in their early teens in Teignmouth, south Devon. Dominic Howard said of winning: ""We love playing live, it's very important for our band. So to win something like this really feels great."" The trio met aged 13 and formed the band Gothic Plague, changing its name to Fixed Penalty, Rocket Baby Dolls and finally Muse. The band released its first self-titled EP in 1998. The third studio album, Absolution, was released in 2003, providing the hit singles Time Is Running Out, Hysteria, and Butterflies And Hurricanes.",entertainment
+"Rock star sued by ex-girlfriend..Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars is being sued by his ex-girlfriend for $10 million (£5.4 million), claiming he broke a promise to take care of her...The woman, Robin Mantooth, said Mars promised her repeatedly that he would provide financial support in the event of the couple breaking up. When they split in December, Mantooth says Mars denied any such agreement. She is asking a Los Angeles court to award her half the musician's property, a monthly allowance and damages. Mantooth added that the pair became lovers in 1990, after which she abandoned her career as a documentary film-maker to move in with the guitarist at his Malibu home...She is also claiming that Mars, 53, has failed to provide her with any material support since they ceased to be a couple. Motley Crue recently reunited after being apart for a period of five years. They originally formed in the early 1980s and scored six hits in the UK, including Girls Girls Girls in 1987. They are embarking on a world tour later this year which will take in 60 cities across the US, Europe, Asia and Australia. Mars - real name Bob Allen Deal - underwent hip replacement surgery in October. He suffers from a degenerative rheumatic disease which causes ligaments and tendons to attach to the bone.",entertainment
+"Scissor Sisters triumph at Brits..US band Scissor Sisters led the winners at the UK music industry's Brit Awards, walking off with three prizes. The flamboyant act scored a hat-trick in the international categories, winning the best group, best album and best newcomer awards. Glasgow group Franz Ferdinand won two prizes, as did Keane and Joss Stone, who was voted best urban act by digital TV viewers. Robbie Williams' Angels was named the best song of the past 25 years. Scissor Sisters frontwoman Ana Matronic collected the best international album prize from singer Siouxsie Sioux. She told the audience: ""If you told us a year ago we would be getting these awards today we would have called you crazy. You guys made our dream come true.""..The band - whose self-titled LP was 2004's biggest-selling album - thanked ""all the members of the sisterhood"", adding: ""We wouldn't be here without you."" The US band, who opened the show with Take Your Mama, won the best international act and newcomer awards, as well as best international album...Franz Ferdinand, who were shortlisted in five categories, won best rock act and best British group, an award they dedicated to late DJ John Peel. But they missed out on best British live act, which went to Muse. Keane won best British album and breakthrough act. Will Young won the best single prize for Your Game. McFly won the best pop act prize, and Gwen Stefani picked up the best international female artist award. Eminem won the male prize...Best British male artist winner Mike Skinner - aka The Streets - does not usually attend award ceremonies, but the Birmingham hip-hop artist performed his hit Dry Your Eyes at the ceremony. However, he did not collect his prize. A bandmate informed the crowd Skinner was ""in the toilet"". After beating Amy Winehouse, Jamelia, Natasha Bedingfield and PJ Harvey to the best British female prize, Joss Stone said: ""I don't know what to say. I don't like doing this at all. I'd like to thank my family for being really supportive and everybody that made my record with me."" ""I don't even know what to do right now. Thank you all you guys for voting for me, I feel sick right now."" Viewers of digital music TV channel MTV Base voted Stone the winner in the best urban act category...Little Britain comedy duo Matt Lucas and David Walliams presented the best song prize to Robbie Williams dressed as his former Take That colleagues Gary Barlow and Howard Donald, leading him to quip he was ""always the talented man of the band""...Williams' track beat songs by Will Young, Queen, Kate Bush and Joy Division in a vote by BBC Radio 2 listeners to mark 25 years of the UK music industry ceremony. It is his 15th Brit award, having already received 10 solo awards and four with Take That. He told the audience: ""I'm just amazed that my career keeps going."" Keane frontman Tom Chaplin thanked fans for enduring ""rubbish gigs"" after they won the British breakthrough act prize. He added: ""A lot of people don't think it's cool that we've had the guts to be ourselves but it's a vital part of who we are as a band and receiving this is recognition of that.""..Natasha Bedingfield - in the running for best British female and best pop act - performed with her brother Daniel for the first time at Wednesday's event...The chart-topping siblings duetted on the Chaka Khan hit Ain't Nobody. Meanwhile, Joss Stone performed Right To Be Wrong backed by a gospel choir, while Lemar and Jamelia performed the Robert Palmer track Addicted To Love. Bob Geldof won a prize for his outstanding contribution to music. Of the 15 Brit awards for achievements in 2004, 10 were won by artists tipped in the BBC News website's Sound of 2004 list of artists to watch, published at the start of last year. Scissor Sisters, Franz Ferdinand, Keane, Joss Stone and McFly were all in the Sound of 2004 top 10. The other five Brits winners were already established before Sound of 2004 was compiled. The ceremony will be televised on ITV1 on Thursday.....I'm speechless. Best song of the last 25 years? Yeah right...I very much doubt that 'Angels' was even the best song of the week that it came out. Like every track Robbie has released as a single, it's a blatant but poor facsimile of something that someone else has done better before...Give us a break...!!!..Best song in 25 years, you must be joking. Its good if you like that sort of thing, but really!..Listened to Angels on Radio 1 this morning when I was driving into work. Had not heard it for a while. I love Robs voice, the lyrics and tune. Perfection!..As usual, the public have short memories when it comes to voting for ""the greatest"". There must be more than a dozen songs in the last 25 years that deserve this award more. It's not exactly groundbreaking. Presumably, the age range that could be bothered to vote is is pretty low.....I'm actually embarrassed to be British if that is the best song we have produced in the last 25 years!!..What about The Specials - Ghost Town, The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love With Someone... Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro, McAlmont & Butler - Yes, Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart... Angels is middle-of-the-road rubbish...Angels is a awful piece of sentimental claptrap. It's musically and lyrically inept; and fantastically overrated, a bit like Mr Williams himself. This result isn't very surprising though, The Brits has a long history of celebrating rubbish music!..Best of the last 25 years? Maybe. Cunning to make the timescale not include Stairway to Heaven or Bohemian Rhapsody, but it does kind of make it a bit of a hollow award really. Not much competition in the last 25 years after all...It's alright for a pop song - but the best song of the last 25 years???..There is no way on earth that song should have been voted the best of the last 25 years....it's a travesty...Rubbish! Who voted it for it to be included in any list? I am a regular listener to Radio 2 but I don't recall the invitation to vote for this bland, slushy rubbish which might appeal to the masses who wouldn't know a good song if it jumped up and bit them on the nose but is certainly NOT the best song of the last 25 years. How depressing and just when we thought manufactured 'pop' was on the way out - where on earth did this dreadful list appear from?..While I am biassed in that I thought Love Will Tear Us Apart should have won, in all seriousness, I think that the best song of the last 25 years should not include songs less than 5 years old as that would exclude songs which are popular because of novelty. Then again, well done Robbie, good show...You've got to be kidding...Angels is a great song, but not the best song of the last 25 years. Only the best song to be up for nomination at the Brits...I think Angels is a great song and deserved to be in the run up for this award but I don't think its the best song from the past 25 years! Right enough, it is better than some of the others in this catergory, for example, what was Will Young doing being nominated in the first place - he is alright but the song isn't that good! I'm happy for Robbie himself though!..Best song in the last 25 years? What a Joke! Think of all the great rock and pop songs released in the 80s and pretty much all of them are better than Angels. Phil Collins doesn't deserve awards for all the good songs he wrote? Angels is an overrated song, that got tiresome even before you had finished listening to it. Soppy rubbish at best. Hopefully manufactured rubbish will die down soon, and let the real artists who worked hard for there glory receive awards...So boringly obvious and typical of the bland nature of mainstream music in Britain today, for me it's proof that music and democracy just don't mix. Still, at least it wasn't Will Young.....Oh it's all just a bit of fun. People take these awards too seriously! Robbie has millions of loyal fans, while even non-fans know the words to angels. Him winning obviously reflects who votes in these awards. Personally I wanted Will Young to win, but that was not really due to his musical talent!..I hate the song, all it brings back is memories of school discos and no-one to slow-dance with!..I agree about Angels. I never get fed up hearing it. Whenever the song comes on the radio I turn the radio up, smile and sing along (very badly, that is why the radio has to be turned up to drown my voice out). The song makes me calm and serene and happy. Well done Robbie...I think that although Robbie Williams is a good performer, that Angels isn't really that good a song. It certainly isn't anywhere near as good as Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division or Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush...Angels is a fantastic song. All credit to Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers. It's a song that will be played forever and bridges all age groups...Robbie did in no way deserve that mantle. Whenever we have these awards it is always 'artists' from the past five years that seem to win the best of the best...We forget about the late 80s and early 90s for example. They weren't cool at the time, but because they are cool again now shows that the songs have greater longevity than people think...Yes Angels is the best song since the past 25 years, because it touches the soul as it carries a lot of meaning...I've always disliked Angels intensely. I believe it to be symbolic of the general capacity of British pre-teens, teens and middle aged women to accept low quality/ low aspirational music as ""classic"" songwriting. It's 'orrible. It seems obvious to me that people who like Robbie are people who don't particularly like music all that much. Folks without collections; folks who have never engaged in that madness one experiences when falling under the spell of pop music. Angels adds nothing - it is merely an irritating distraction - a wasp that refuses to go away on a summer's afternoon picnic. What a dreadful result. If you voted for it - you should feel ashamed of yourself - you probably only know a dozen songs or so don't you - so where do get off applying this uninformed filter and casting this ridiculous vote. Booo hisss..Angels, best song? You are kidding, right? Last five years I might be willing to accept, but 25, no way. Did whoever voted for this actually have ANY music knowledge prior to, say, 1995? Really quite insulting to the British music industry of the past quarter of a century...No surprise about Robbie Williams considering the list. Where on earth did the nominations list come from???? Compiled by an eleven year-old girl perhaps?? I mean, Will Young? Come on...What a load of crap, best song in the last 25 years - I don't think so!! What about all the REAL artists out there over the last 25 years - the list is endless, but Robbie Williams doesn't even come close...What a joke. That song has become such a bane to me that I have developed a Pavlovian response to the word 'Angels' where I thrash around, and scream ""no no no no no"" until someone tells me ""the radio's off"". Why a half-baked cheesy ditty like Angels, which has become the anthem for millions of romantic sops (think how many times it was sung on Pop Idol for example, and by whom), should be voted the best song of the past 25 years, is beyond me. If this is the song against which all others are judged, then musicians may as well give up...Why do we reward mediocrity so highly in this country?? The initial list was very weak anyway, but Angels the best song of the last 25 years!!!! I think not, I didn't realize Radio 2 had so many listeners under the age of 10!!..People have such short memories! A great song yes, but the best of the last 25 years? Not a chance. I think the person as opposed to the song has been voted for here...The Great British Public at work again. It's a mediocre, sentimental and safe song. Granted, it's not too bad, either. But can it stand up against ANYTHING by The Smiths (in particular ""How Soon is Now?"") or anything from the Stone Roses' first album? Nope...No, Because I'm not female and I'm not 10!..Ok I like Robbie and Angels is a decent song. But it is no way the best song of the past 25 years! The shortlist wasn't great but him winning it is a joke!..Predictable and laughable...The success of Angels at this years Brits reflects poorly on the state of British music over the last 25 years. The British public are brainwashed by the corporate pulp that is presneted to them as cutting edge music and true talent is being sadly missed. Whilst Angels is a popular song it is not even the best song in Robbie's repertoire never mind best song of the last 25 years...I am a huge Robbie fan and love that song. But I think there are a lot more outstanding songs / music out there that influenced music today, unfortunately they were left out of the list...Have Radio 2 listeners even heard of Joy Division? A band who, through two albums, have had a bigger impact on music, and continue to do so, over the last 25 years than Robbie Williams ever will...No doubt about it. There's not a song done by anyone with more emotion and feeling. Some people will adopt their slightly snobby stances, but Angels has hit home with a far larger audience than any other song...It should have been Joy Division.Those guys have played an influential part in shaping modern day music while Angels remains yet another pop song. I sincerely do not believe that in 25 years from now, the most influential artists will argue that Robbie Williams inspired their art in the way that the Byrds, the Beatles and Nick Drake have done for music today...Yes!! I think its a brilliantly written song with different meanings to different people. There were other great songs in the category... but somebody had to win! Robbie was a deserved winner...I am astounded that such a second-rate record has beaten such a line up of amazing songs! it's a terrible song, voted for by the masses who don't have the brains to appreciate innovative and exciting music...The best song of the past 25 years? Really? Come on, this is surely a joke? No? I think I need a long lie down.....It just goes to show that the british public do not have a clue about good quality music when they pick Robbie Williams over the beautifully talented Kate Bush and Joy Division. I suppose it's confirmed one thing - the British public are consistently dull :- <(..No offence Robbie, but pleeease! There must be a thousand better songs than a formulated cheesy pop song for kids. No one agrees with this and quite frankly it is an embarassment to the integrity of British music, and a further nail in the coffin!..I think Robbie deserves it, he has been the most iconic of any stars we have had in Britain since John Lennon and is an idol to millions worldwide. Anybody who says he doesn't deserve it is jealous of his success. The only real challenger was Queen but hey, Another One Bites the Dust!!..Obviously all the Karaoke singers in the UK voted for it...If this is the best song of the last 25 years then the British Music industry is in trouble. Sure Robbie is talented and produces excellent material, but this is not the best record...A sad day for music..It's not the type of music I normally like, but even as a diehard rock fan, I recognise that it is a good song and appelas to most people. That's why it has been voted best song of the last 25 years. It's a good all-rounder. Just like Robbie...Best song in 25 years? Since 1980? I'm confused. ""Angels"" isn't a bad song. It's a nice, catchy, formulaic anthem that ticks all the boxes. But this is not great music. If anything it's regressive. Bland even. I suppose it's just more evidence of how redundant the Brit Awards have become...Granted angels is a good song, however it really wasn't up against any other proper competition. The Queen's song was lackluster, and apart from Kate Bush, the other choices were pathetic! Also, why weren't the Stones there, David Bowie, etc, there are so many greater songs than Angels...I wonder if it was simply the fact that Robbie wasn't getting more awards so they had to make one up for him!..Best song of the last 25 years? What a ridiculuous concept, and an even more ridiculous winner. Sigh. On the upside, at least it wasn't Bohemian Rhapsody, for which we should all be thankful...Angels is without doubt a great song but I really don't think it deserves the title of best song in 25 years.perhaps the vote had more to do with teenage opinion on Robbies' goodlooks than the actual song!!! Don't get me wrong, I'm not disputing his looks, but there are more deserved winners...It would have been a travesty had Angels not won. Without Angels, Robbie Williams may well not be where he is now, and Britain would have been deprived of one of its most charismatic and talented performing artists. It has to be seen performed live, with 125,000 people singing along to be fully appreciated. Well done Rob...I find it hard to believe that 'Angels' is the best we have to show for the past 25 years! I'm rapidly redifining 'best' in my own head now to mean 'most gratuitously played at weddings and funerals because people think it has deep meaning'. What about Britpop? Blur, Oasis, Suede, Pulp... not only making fantastic songs but also making changes, doing something different. Why must 'best' always come down to most commercially popular?..I've nothing against Robbie, I actually like his music, but how can this possibly be the best song from the last 25year? The Brits has proved to be nothing more than a bargaining tool between the pop moguls to boost band profiles and record sales. The same goes with the Scissor Sisters, I think this is a superb record and thoroughly deserves the newcomer award, but the album comes no where near U2's new record, neither are they in the same league. Once again there have been some baffling discisions made, they are not for artisic reasons, but for profit...No surprise really, it's voted for by the general public. Since when did they have taste in music?..Personally I find Angels by Robbie Williams to be one of the most irritating songs I have ever heard!..It absolutely deserved to win. It is a song that has united the generations and will continue to be played for many years to come...It's an absolute joke, however most of the original 25 were very poor choices as well. All in all a pretty pointless exercise !..The song is overplayed and oversentimental. Out of the rather poor five choices that were left, it should have gone to either Joy Division or Queen. I suppose we should be thankful that it didn't end up in the hands of Will Young though...Although it has nostalgia value, there is no way it deserved to win. Everybody knows the words to Bohemian Rhapsody, Nothing Compares 2 U, etc. Much better songs and more timeless. Give it to someone with real talent...Although Angels is a good song I think that anyone with the slightest musical taste will realise that this is not the best song of the last 25 years. This is just another example of record company manipulation to keep an artist in the public eye. Why not give him an award for the greatest pair of trousers if that's all it means!",entertainment
+"Jamelia's return to the top..R&B star Jamelia had three Brit nominations to go with her triple triumph at last year's Mobo awards...The Birmingham-born singer, full name Jamelia Davis, was signed to a record label at the age of 15 and released her first single So High at 18. She released four number ones from her 2000 album Drama, including the top five hit Money featuring the vocals of reggae artist Beenie Man. She racked up five Mobo nominations in 2000, winning one for best video. But in the same year she also fell pregnant and decided to take a break from music to bring up her daughter Teja, who was born in March 2001. While she originally planned to get back to work pretty swiftly after giving birth it was actually two years before she released another single. During her absence R&B music exploded and a whole host of female artists were on the scene, meaning Jamelia had to once again prove herself. Her comeback song Bout featuring Rah Digga only just scrapped into the top 40...It was her next single, Superstar, that really put her back on the map as one of Britain's most popular female R&B singers, holding her own in a music scene dominated by US artists such as Beyonce and Ashanti...Superstar was followed by Thank You, winner of best single at the 2004 Mobos, which reached number two in the UK charts. The autobiographical song, which deals with domestic abuse, hit number one in New Zealand and Australia. Next came the song See It In A Boy's Eyes, which was especially written for her by Coldplay's Chris Martin. His involvement with the song meant not only was it given massive publicity but it was also greeted favourably by a new audience who would not usually listen to R&B. She now combines singing with modelling and supporting charities including the NSPCC and Make Trade Fair. Despite her huge success in recent years, Jamelia remains down-to-earth about her fame and her chances of lasting in the fickle music business, partly due to motherhood. ""When I first got into the industry, I'd be away from home for months at a time. But now I have other things in my life. I still want to make it, but it's not the end of the world if I don't,"" commented Jamelia.",entertainment
+"Cult band Kasabian surge forward..Indie dance band Kasabian built up a cult following throughout 2004 to secure three Brit Award nominations...The four-piece Leicester band blends dark electronics with rock, earning Kasabian places on the best British group, rock act and live act shortlists. They have also earned a reputation as outspoken and charismatic, in contrast to fellow Brit nominees such as Keane and Snow Patrol. ""British music needs a kick up the arse and Britain needs a new band to breathe life into the British people again,"" declared Kasabian's singer Tom Meighan...""No-one's doing it at the minute. Music feels like it's in the afterlife right now. We don't want people to give up on it. ""The serpent's going to rise from the sea and scare all the pirates away!"" Meighan grew up in Leicester with Kasabian songwriter/guitarist Sergio Pizzorno and bassist Chris Edwards, a trio which began making music from the age of 17...They enlisted guitarist and keyboard player Christopher Karloff after spotting him in a pub. ""We saw his long sideburns and thought 'hey, he looks the part, we'll ask him,'"" said Meighan. Inspired by Britpop and a mutual love of hardcore, an early 1990s genre that fused house music with hip hop beats and a dark sensibility, they added an electronic element to the traditional guitar sound. ""We got a computer and we cut rock'n'roll up, because there's no point in going back to how it was,"" said Meighan. ""It's all about new ideas and creativity.""..The band's original approach is reflected in its name, inspired by Linda Kasabian - the getaway driver of US serial killer Charles Manson. Coincidentally it is also the Armenian term for ""butcher"". Kasabian moved into a remote farmhouse in Rutland to record their debut album, benefiting from its isolation but also managing to sneak in a few parties while they were there. Signed to the RCA record label, Kasabian tested the water with two singles, Club Foot and LSF, which reached numbers 19 and 10 in the UK singles chart respectively...They built up their following on the summer festival circuit, opening both Glastonbury and T in the Park, and at a series of ""guerilla gigs"" at unusual venues including Half Time Orange, a pub next to Leicester City football club's headquarters. Kasabian's self-titled album was released last September to widespread critical acclaim, its indie dance stance drawing comparisons to The Stone Roses, Primal Scream and The Happy Mondays...Regarding it as ""both a fiery assertion of rock 'n' roll ethics and proof that a siege mentality is alive and well in the badlands of Rutland Water"", the NME's praise was typical of the album's reception. As 2004 progressed Kasabian would score a further two hits - Processed Beats and Cutt Off - and embark upon a well-received UK tour. ""We take our music seriously, definitely, but we want to have fun with it,"" said Pizzorno. ""This is not a job to us,"" added Meighan. ""This is the best life we could ever have. This is what it's all about and without it we'd be lost souls. But music needs us as well.""",entertainment
+"Brits debate over 'urban' music..Joss Stone, a 17-year-old soul singer from Devon, beat Dizzee Rascal, Jamelia, Lemar and The Streets to win best British urban act at the Brit Awards. Her victory has reignited the debate about what urban music is.......I'm not really comfortable with the word urban. It's a word that's been manufactured in this country and America to describe black music. The word urban seems to cover such a broad range of black music that it's wrong. How far are the Brits removed from inner-city music and what people are doing? It's so far removed that I don't expect them to get it bang on. The music industry isn't championing music from our particular genre very well anyway. People don't feel like that's anything to do with us. I don't feel like urban music's just been celebrated by [Joss Stone] winning or her being nominated, or by the Brits acknowledging that there's an urban music scene because it's all a kick in the teeth at the end of the day. It's not really relevant. If Joss Stone is the closest thing that they feel comfortable championing because of what she looks like and how she sounds and who she's signed to, then so be it. It's got nothing to do with what's really going on.....Urban as a genre is very broad. If you look underneath urban, there are a number of core elements that include hip-hop, R&B, garage and into that obviously comes soul. Joss Stone is a soul artist. Her first album was called The Soul Sessions. So urban is a very broad brushstroke that is the umbrella over the top of sub-genres, and there are offshoots of all of those. Joss Stone has had amazing success [in the US] given that she's a UK artist. What has really captured everybody's imagination is that here you have a 17-year-old from Devon with a voice to die for and a bunch of really, really good tunes and she looks good - I think that's what's done it...The award for best British urban act was voted for by viewers of MTV Base.....I don't think Joss was not a worthy winner. She makes soul music and that definitely comes under the category of what we describe as urban. The fact that she's from Devon is the interesting thing because most of the music we cover is made in large cities and she's literally rural. The great thing about urban music is that there's a big range. If there is some sort of root with black music or dance music in Britain, I think that's where you can call it urban - that's where this new sub-category, or uber-category, has come from. Joss Stone is certainly not old enough to have had some of the experiences of an older soul singer, but you couldn't argue that she was being inauthentic with her emotions - it is coming from somewhere genuine. It has to come across as real. That's the only cut-off point we have here and that's the only way by which we judge people.....What urban means to us as an organisation is the politically correct term to describe music which originated from a black background. Music should become inclusive and if we are fighting for a multi-cultural Britain, then we should be fighting for inclusion rather than exclusion. If Joss Stone can be accepted within the urban music community, I think acts from other ethnicities doing classical music and rock should be accepted too. Race doesn't make a difference if everyone is included. Out of all the awards dished out yesterday, I'm still trying to find out what people of other races received any sort of recognition or award.....A type of music (especially street music) that originates from a city, and typically reflects or is characteristic of urban life...She might not be urban, but when did R&B become the hip hop tainted thing it is now? R&B stands for Rhythm And Blues, remember!..That Joss Stone is rubbish is certain. If anyone deserves to win an award for urban music (I think probably should include Hip-Hop, Soul & Funk at least but not rock or pop) this year its the Streets, although Dizzee Rascal stakes a good claim..She definitely deserved to win a prize, Joss Stone's albums are quite simply amazing, easily better than anything else that was released last year. This whole debate about what is urban, what isnt urban is completely pointless and probably fueled by urban artists who weren't nominated or didn't win. I cant see why people can't just congratulate her for the talent that she is...She did deserve it, but I agree with the comments about urban music. Its a stupid phrase, and particularly British. In the states they tend to use hip hop and R&B, if I say hip hop here a lot of people have no idea what I'm talking about. Very strange...What's in a name? A rose by any other name etc... If people want to call it urban, why not? If we really analysed it, the term 'dance music' is misleading because it doesn't describe everything you can dance to...Whilst I agree that the term 'urban' is open to interpretation, it strikes me as simply weird that Joss Stone has won. 'Urban' to me is what I hear being played in parties in the inner cities - I live in Brixton and have never heard The Soul Sessions pumping out of of a bass heavy sound system in any parties I've been to. Good luck to Joss Stone, let's celebrate her victory - let's also question why, with artists so successful and talented as Jamelia, Lemar, Kanye West, Dizzee Rascal, Alicia Keys and Outkast - we didn't see a single black artist on stage collecting an award...So, what you're saying is that any music that has black heritage is not allowed to be sung by anyone who isn't black. And, if it is, then they shouldn't be acknowledged for it even if they're pretty dam good at it? She's 17, has an amazing voice, and won. Good on her. Oh, but she's not ""black"" well, let's make her feel real bad about it then. How dare she! Though hang on, didn't the so-called 'public' vote on this one?..This idea of pigeonholing whatever is popular at the time is no different than what was happening in the 1940s and 50s in relation to what ""Jazz"" was. The media then called anything that had a swinging beat, syncopated melody or soulful feeling ""Jazz"", much to the chagrin of the artists. It would mean that ""blues"" would be put in the same mould as ""bebop"", ""cool"" and ""ragtime"", all very different styles at that time. Jazz was and remains such a massively misunderstood term. And so what of ""Urban"" music? In truth it's a lazy term to categorise music that you don't really understand. Soul and garage are worlds apart musically (Marvin Gaye v Tuff Jam?), but no doubt have their connections. If we just let the music speak for itself and not judge the success of an artist by the number of awards won, then maybe we can enjoy the music for what it is, rather than what it represents...I demand a prize for rural music! Sucks to the cities- it's way better out here. We have hay, for one thing...Excluding her from what has become known as urban music would be as bad as excluding Lenny Kravitz or Hendrix from rock music for being black surely? I dont understand the point that Ty is making. If Lemar, who makes music which is less soulful than Joss' work won, he might have said nothing. (btw i'm black too)..How can she be ""urban"" if she spent most of her life in the Devon countryside? Nonsense...I love Joss to bits and don't care what her branding is - it's amazing music, full stop. Stop puting it all in brackets and let's just call it music, and let's especially drop the black / urban tag - nearly all music came from black origin, this just sets an example that it is ok to pigeonhole people and their music by their colour...Surely the point of having an urban music category is simply to acknowledge artists that are making what is (historically) considered urban music, irrelevent of the colour of their skin, or where they originate from. Joss Stone is simply singing a certain type of music that can be considered urban in style, just as someone from an inner city, and indeed not from the USA could sing country music. If that person was good at it and authentic in sound, would we criticise it being referred to as country music or the artist for representing that style?..The term urban in reference to a music genre in UK has developed, in part, from the controversy surrounding the branding of the MOBO Awards. The very term 'Music of Black Origin' has confused and offended many people. This is particularly strange given the existence of the Asian Music Awards. It appears that the use of 'black' or 'white' in relation to music makes people feel uncomfortable. The term 'urban' therefore, has been invoked to sidestep the debate of which type of music came first 'black' or 'white' thereby rendering the issue colourblind. The result is now a redundant new debate as to what 'urban' also means. Perhaps we should have created a new term altogether to describe the various strains of soul/RnB and Hip-Hop, one which does not also mean something else - as we have done with 'Crunk'...Urban is just a word that's come about recently to describe ""black"" music that's become popular now. The word wasn't even in use, or common use five of six years ago. It's just a way of the industry clumping it all together without having to call it black music, because some people are oversensitive and might call them racist for it...I'm in a band that has been called ""urban"", and I despise the label. I'd hate to think I belonged to any neat marketing niche, because that's all it is. Ever since the music channels and record comapnies tried to fracture what they consider 'music of black origin', these labels have been used to undermine the status of good music into a commodity. Look at all the TV broadcasters, unable to reach young people without condesending, they simply play some 'urban' music on the soundtrack as if its some dreadful cheap lift music. Ignore the labels, it is what it is, just music...As a black man, I think I agree with some of the statements at least the statements made by the key executives. Black people should lead the music they invented . We should stop calling a genre meaningless, northing is meaningless. The real question is would Joss Stone would have been that successful doing the music she was doing if she were black? Same thing, with Streets, Amy Winehouse, etc. Who's ever heard of Terri Walker or Rhian Benson.. They are both 10 times better than Joss Stone and both of them have won Urban Music Awards and i think Mobos , but why not Brits????..So what if Joss Stone won the Urban awards. Her music is great soul and surely that is under the 'Urban' banner? What if The Streets had won? Would people be whining because Mike Skinner is white... It seems that a lot of the fuss is about race where the real issue should be music and nothing else...Urban is PC version for saying black music. I'm not doubting Ms Stone's talent, but why didn't Jamelia or Lemar get a Brit? This reminds me of what happened to Craig David and Soul II Soul in the past, getting nominations are easy to get, but picking up a Brit seems to be the hardest thing...Refreshing to see people making reasonable, intelligent comments on any topic these days. More power to you, people! You have said it: there is music you like and music you don't like - who cares what label you put on it?..That entire category was a mess. How can you have people like Dizzee Rascal up against Joss Stone? Its like putting Eminem against Bob Geldof. She should have been nominated for Best British R & B act. Joss Stone deserved to win an award for her talents, but I don't think it was very 'urban' of her to sing angels with Robbie Williams...Urban is a nonsense term - music of black origin? Well doesn't that include rock? Music made in the inner cities? Well almost all bands end up making music in London/Manchester etc. And doesn't that make some weird implication that all black people live in cities? It doesn't make any sense...Why does music have to be put into a genre? It's music, you like it or you don't. Simple as that...I play in a heavy metal band. We are urban music as far as I'm concerned. We live in cities and spend our working life in an urban environment; It therefore directly shapes what we write musically...""Urban"" seems to be the new name for all styles of black music. Why it needed a rebrand I don't know as the name is misleading. Oasis originate from a city and characterise the urban life they know, therefore more than fit the term ""urban"" yet as they're a white rock band they won't be described as such...Joss Stone has a fantastic voice and great timing and delivery - what other reason do they need to award her the Brit? All this ""urban"" and other such categorisation is just the red-tape of the music business and is best ignored...Yeah, she deserved it. She is talented. Urban is a crap, meaningless, politically correct and probably actually racist marketing term though. There's only two kinds of music: good and bad.",entertainment
+"Row threatens Hendrix museum plan..Proposals to open a museum dedicated to Jimi Hendrix are flailing because of a row over the home of his late father...The run-down house in Seattle has already been moved wholesale once and local authorities are now demanding it be moved to another site. Hendrix supporters hoped to turn the home into a museum for the guitarist. ""The mayor is going to go down as the mayor who destroyed Jimi Hendrix's house,"" said Ray Rae Marshall of the James Marshall Hendrix Foundation. The foundation moved the building, in which Al Hendrix lived between 1953 and 1956, when the land it was built on was to be developed for housing in 2002. Now the City of Seattle wants its new plot to be used for development, giving a deadline of 22 February for the home to be moved. Mr Goldman said the authority had promised the house could remain on its new site and be turned into a memorial and community centre. Seattle officials said no such deal had been offered...""We never said, 'You can own this property,'"" said John Franklin, chief of its operations department. ""From our perspective, it was a temporary situation. We have not threatened to demolish the house. We've simply asked that they have to move it."" Now Mr Goldman is calling for the authority to pay to move the building to Seattle's central district, where Hendrix grew up. Janie Hendrix, the guitarist's stepsister, said the family were still hoping the guitarist would be honoured by having a road named after him. ""That's something my father really wanted to see,"" she said. ""It would be nice if we didn't have to fight for everything to get it."" Hendrix was widely considered one of the most important guitarists of his time. He died of drug overdose in 1970 at the age of 27.",entertainment
+"No jail for singer Courtney Love..Singer Courtney Love has been spared jail for assault and drug offences, but must serve three years probation...She had back-to-back court appearances in two separate cases in Los Angeles, first pleading no contest to attacking a woman with a whisky bottle. In the second, Ms Love, 40, pleaded guilty to possessing a forged prescription and painkiller oxycodone. She must also do 100 hours community service, have drug treatment, attend Narcotics Anonymous and pay a fine. The ex-Hole singer's lawyer Howard Weitzman said Ms Love had ""turned her life around"" and she was ""clean and sober""...The assault charge stemmed from April 2004, when Ms Love found musician Kristin King in her boyfriend's home. Ms King said the singer ""threw the bottle at the left side of my face"" in an ""angry, vicious and erratic"" attack. Ms Love was originally charged with the more serious offence of assault with a deadly weapon, but that was reduced to assault. Judge Rand Rubin said she must:..- Spend three years on probation. - Have one year's anger management counselling. - Have one year's drug rehabilitation. - Do 100 hours community service. - Pay $1,000 (£535) fine. - Have random drug tests. - Go to three Narcotics Anonymous meetings per week..In the drugs case, she was sentenced to 18 months probation, to run concurrently with the probation for the assault. That offence stemmed from October 2003, when she suffered an overdose after breaking a window at her boyfriend's home. In a separate case relating to the same incident, Ms Love was sentenced to 18 months in drug rehabilitation for being under the influence of cocaine and opiates. In another case last October, she pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for hitting a man on the head with a microphone stand at a New York City nightclub. Last month her lawyers said she had won back custody of Frances Bean, her 12-year-old daughter with former Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. The girl was removed from her care following her double arrest in October 2003. Cobain committed suicide in 1994.",entertainment
+"Rapper Kanye West's shrewd soul..US hip-hop star Kanye West - who leads the race for this year's Grammys with 10 nominations - rose to prominence by producing songs for artists such as Jay-Z and Alicia Keys...He then emerged from his behind-the-scenes role to become an artist as well as a producer. But his solo career almost ended before it began after a near-fatal car crash left West with his jaw wired shut in 2002. The resulting song, Through the Wire, became West's first UK hit in April 2004 and subsequent album The College Dropout became a transatlantic success, both critically and commercially. West, 26, began rapping as a teenager at his Chicago school, inspired by the beats and rhymes of 1980s pioneers Run DMC...Hip-hop producer No ID encouraged West to sample old soul and R&B hits then revive them with an updated sound, an approach that would become his trademark. ""I feel like a lot of the soul that's in those old records that I sample is in me,"" he said. ""So when I hear them and I put them with the drums and I bring them to the new millennium, it's just like God's doing that. I'm one with them records right there. It's a blessing.""..Leaving his Chicago art school after only one year - a move which would later inspire the title of his album - West began his music career co-producing songs for artists Mase and the Madd Rapper. This drew the attention of superstar rapper Jay-Z, who signed West up to his Roc-A-Fella record label to produce numerous artists on his roster. West's work gained mainstream recognition when he produced the singles Takeover and Izzo (HOVA) on Jay-Z's own 2001 album Blueprint. Incorporating samples of Five to One by The Doors and the Jackson Five's I Want You Back respectively, the hits were credited with injecting soul back into hip-hop...As their success attracted further production work for Jay-Z ('03 Bonnie & Clyde) and artists such as Ludacris (Stand Up) and Alicia Keys (You Don't Know My Name), West announced plans for a solo album. Driving home from a late-night Los Angeles recording session in October 2002, he was involved in the car crash that left his jaw fractured in three places. ""Anytime I hear about any accident my heart sinks in and I just thank God that I'm still here,"" he later said. ""That steering wheel could have been two inches further out, and that would have been it.""..West's account of the accident sampled Chaka Khan's hit Through the Fire to become the heart of his completed solo album The College Dropout. Released last year, it was by turns smooth, humorous and sharp and largely avoided the clichéd hip-hop preoccupation with guns, girls and jewellery...Through the Wire was quickly joined in the UK and US charts by Slow Jamz, on which West collaborated with rapper Twista and Ray actor Jamie Foxx. The College Dropout spawned two further UK hits and a string of award nominations. West was shortlisted for 10 Grammys - including nominations for artist and album of the year - and took the best hip-hop artist, producer and album titles at last year's Music of Black Origin (Mobo) Awards. Now a respected rapper and producer in the influential field of hip-hop, Kanye West is unlikely to regret his decision to leave college early.",entertainment
+"Singer Christina Aguilera to wed..Pop star Christina Aguilera is to marry music executive Jordan Bratman, the singer's agent has confirmed...Bratman, 26, proposed to Grammy-winning singer Aguilera, 23, on holiday at an undisclosed location. The pair have been together for more than two years. ""No wedding plans have been set yet,"" said Aguilera's agent Meghan Prophet. Aguilera burst onto the pop scene in 1999, winning a best new artist Grammy in 2000. Her hits include What a Girl Wants, Dirrty and Beautiful. Bratman presented his fiancee with a diamond ring designed by jeweller Stephen Webster on Friday, said Ms Prophet. New York-born Aguilera reached number one in the UK with her debut hit Genie in a Bottle in October 1999. Her early success was cemented by two further Grammys in subsequent years. In 2002, Aguilera won best pop collaboration for the hit track Lady Marmalade with Lil' Kim, Maya and Pink, and last year she picked up the award for best female pop vocal performance for Beautiful. Her most recent single, Car Wash, featuring Missy Elliott, reached number four in the UK charts last November.",entertainment
+"Brits return Keane to number one..Brits success has helped return Keane's award-winning album Hopes and Fears back to the top of the UK album chart...The debut album, which took the best British album title at the Brits on Tuesday, moved up seven places from number eight to number one. Also capitalising on Brits success were the Scissor Sisters whose eponymous album moved three places to number two. U2's latest single Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own took the top spot in the singles chart, ahead of Elvis. The track, from their current album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, pushed Eminem's Like Toy Soldiers from number one to number three...Elvis' Wooden Heart, which entered the chart at number two, is the sixth in a series of 18 reissues to mark the 70th anniversary of Presley's birth. There are currently six re-released Elvis' tracks occupying spots in the top 40 singles chart including Are You Lonesome Tonight at number 20, It's Now or Never at number 27 and Jailhouse Rock at number 37. Soldier, by Destiny's Child, Ti and Lil Wayne, debuted at number four, while Almost Here, the duet from former Westlife star Brian McFadden and Delta Goodrem, fell from number three to number five. There was more follow up to Brits success for Franz Ferdinand won best rock act and best British group last week. Their self-titled album moved from 13 to number four. Last week's number one album Tourist, by Athlete, fell to number three.",entertainment
+"U2's desire to be number one..U2, who have won three prestigious Grammy Awards for their hit Vertigo, are stubbornly clinging to their status as one of the biggest bands in the world...The most popular groups in the history of rock all have several things in common. The music must be inspired and appeal across generations and be distinctive, if not always groundbreaking. But such success is down to more than music. They have to be compelling performers, charismatic and intelligent enough to make good decisions and keep their feet on the ground. They also have to want it. They have to want to be the biggest band ever and not stop wanting it. The Beatles had it, the Rolling Stones still have it, REM hold onto it and Queen were it in a catsuit. And U2 have it in spades, and keep churning it out. Their new album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, comes 28 years after the schoolfriends got together in Dublin and 17 years after The Joshua Tree cemented their place on the all-time rock A-list...They may have lost some of the edginess and raw, youthful force that propelled them to the top, but they have lost none of the desire or ability to craft songs and albums...Vertigo, the first single from the new album, went straight into the UK singles chart at number one, knocking Eminem off the top spot and giving them their 26th top 10 hit. ""The challenge is to be bigger and bolder and better - to make records the whole world will listen to,"" Bono recently said. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr echoed those sentiments: ""We're very competitive - we want to be on the radio, have big singles. We don't want to be thought of as a veteran band."" The band have done ""everything in their considerable powers"" to ensure they remain the biggest band in the world, according to Q magazine editor Paul Rees...""This makes them hugely determined and formidable."" He added: ""They are equally determined to push themselves to make music that continues to stand up. ""As such, they've constantly re-invented and challenged themselves. They are, perhaps, alone as the only rock band that has got better with age."" The other key ingredient was the fact they were highly organised, Mr Rees said. ""They do everything in the right way."" The group were born when Mullen put an appeal for bandmates on a high school notice board, attracting fellow pupils Paul Hewson (Bono, vocals), Adam Clayton (bass), David Evans (The Edge, guitar) and his brother Dick...Dick Evans soon dropped out and the four-piece were known as The Feedback and The Hype before settling on U2...By 1978, they had won a talent contest and got noticed by a manager, Paul McGuinness. ""They were brilliant, but very coarse,"" McGuinness recently said. ""In a way, they were doing exactly what they do now. Only badly."" They struggled to attract record company attention, later being described as ""pretty damn average"" and ""strange and eerie"" by scouts who saw them live. They released two Ireland-only singles, which topped the national charts in 1979 and 1980, leading to a deal with Island and their debut album Boy. The stadium-filling, anthemic sound was U2's aim from the start, and their third album, War, saw them make the breakthrough on both sides of the Atlantic, going to number one in the UK and 12 in the US. Songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day brought success and an image as a political and spiritual band - which Bono rejected as a cliche...His stage performances - which included flag-waving, speaker-climbing and drum-throwing - earned him a reputation as an electric performer, and their appearance at 1985's Live Aid is widely seen as sealing their global stardom...In 1987, The Joshua Tree broke sales records and saw the band reach the height of their powers with hits including Where the Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For and With Or Without You. Those songs took the band's epic, atmospheric sound to a simple, powerful and popular pinnacle. The end of the decade marked a crucial point for the band - they had reached the top but still yearned for new challenges and achievements. These came in the form of explorations of different branches of rock and forays into electronic dance music, plus wildly extravagant stage shows, while still trying to retain their mass appeal. The Achtung Baby album in 1991 was followed by Zooropa, Pop and their corresponding stadium tours, which featured giant olives, flying cars, live phone calls to the White House and Bono's transformation into alter-egos The Fly and MacPhisto. He was also building a parallel reputation - not always to the pleasure of his bandmates - as a campaigner on issues from global debt to Aids. Before the release of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, they had sold 125 million albums around the world. But they still want more.",entertainment
+"Lasting influence of legend Charles..Ray Charles, who has won a string of posthumous Grammy Awards, belonged to a pioneering generation of artists that had a huge influence on the course of rock and pop music...His sound encompassed so many styles - blues, gospel, jazz, rock 'n' roll, even country - and had a real impact on the nascent UK beat and R&B scenes...Compared in stature to Elvis Presley by some commentators, Charles' songs cast their spell on such 1960s stalwarts as Joe Cocker, Steve Winwood, Eric Burdon and Van Morrison. His influence has extended to contemporary artists such as Norah Jones, with whom he recently recorded a duet. If James Brown was the godfather of soul, then Ray Charles was indisputably one of its founding fathers. Along with Sam Cooke, he was instrumental in bringing together the gospel fervour of the deep south Baptist church with the ""devil's"" music of R&B to pave the way for a new generation of soul artists...Without Charles, it is hard to imagine the tear-stained Atlantic R&B sound of Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding or Wilson Pickett. He was also a talented jazz composer, arranger and band leader, playing at the Newport Jazz Festival and Carnegie Hall and recording with noted jazz musicians such as Milt Jackson and David ""Fathead"" Newman. Unfortunately, he also shared another trait common among many jazz artists of the era - that of heroin addiction, which led to him being arrested in 1965. His string of 1950s Atlantic R&B successes included songs that would be covered by the first-generation rock 'n' roll greats, including I've Got A Woman (Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley) and Hallelujah, I Love Her So (Eddie Cochran). After the exuberance of his 1959 signature song What'd I Say, Charles turned towards a more pop-oriented style, recording Hoagy Carmichael's sentimental string ballad Georgia On My Mind, and the upbeat Hit The Road Jack...He also won acclaim in the country arena with his interpretations of Hank Williams standards such as Your Cheating Heart and You Win Again. More than 40 years after its release, his 1962 ABC album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is still regarded as a classic. His version of Don Gibson's I Can't Stop Loving You topped the pop and R&B charts in the US. In 1972, he made a rare foray into protest songs with his album A Message from the People...On it, he took a stand on poverty and civil rights - echoing similar recordings of the era from progeny such as Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye. More than 20 years later, he would embrace contemporary production with his 1993 album My World, which featured hip-hop beats - although Charles claimed at the time not to know what hip-hop was. Among the tributes that poured in from all sections of the music world when Charles died aged 73 in June 2004 was one from his friend, the producer Quincy Jones, who described him as a ""brother in every sense of the word"". ""There will never be another musician who did as much to break down the perceived walls of musical genres as much as Ray Charles did,"" he said. Former Manfred Mann singer Paul Jones, who sang on 1960s hits such as Come Tomorrow and Sha La La, said Charles was one of his heroes. ""I'm quite sure my own writing was influenced by him,"" he told BBC News Online. ""I would put money on the proposition that Ray Charles will have an influence on music forever.""",entertainment
+"Grammys honour soul star Charles..The memory of soul legend Ray Charles dominated the music world's leading music ceremony on Sunday as he was given eight posthumous Grammy Awards...Charles, who died in 2004, got honours including record and album of the year, while Alicia Keys and actor Jamie Foxx performed a musical tribute to him. R&B star Keys won four awards herself at the Grammy ceremony in Los Angeles. U2, Usher, Norah Jones and Kanye West got three each. West led the race going into the ceremony with 10 nominations...Charles' last album, Genius Loves Company, a collection of duets that has sold more than two million copies, was named album of the year and best pop vocal album. His song Here We Go Again with Norah Jones won record of the year and best pop vocal collaboration, while Heaven Help Us All with Gladys Knight picked up best gospel performance. Jones said: ""I'm glad he's getting recognised, because of who he is and how much I love him."" Actor Jamie Foxx - who is nominated for an Oscar for playing Charles in the hit movie Ray - dedicated a rendition of Georgia on My Mind to ""old friends"". Keys, looking to replicate her Grammys success of 2002, when she won five, picked up best R&B song for You Don't Know My Name and best R&B album for The Diary of Alicia Keys. She also shared the award for best R&B vocal performance by a duo or group with Usher for My Boo...Usher's other victories were for best contemporary R&B album for Confessions and best rap/sung collaboration for Yeah!, featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris. Kanye West dominated the rap categories, winning best rap song for Jesus Walks and best rap album for The College Dropout. But in one of the night's biggest shocks, he lost out in the battle to be named best new artist to pop rock act Maroon 5. Vertigo by rock giants U2 won three trophies - best rock song, best short video and best rock vocal performance by a duo or group. One of the other main awards, song of the year, went to US singer-songwriter John Mayer for Daughters. Mayer also won best male pop vocal performance. Britney Spears picked up her first ever Grammy for her song Toxic, which was named best dance recording...Rod Stewart also won the first Grammy of his career, getting the best traditional pop album award for Stardust... The Great American Songbook: Volume III. In 2003, Stewart said he was ""astounded"" he had never won a Grammy - but ""they tend not to give it to the British unless you're Sting"". There were few other high-profile British victors this year. Annie Lennox, metal group Motorhead and dance act Basement Jaxx all took home trophies. But Elvis Costello, who had four nominations, and Joss Stone and Franz Ferdinand, who were both up for three awards, got nothing...Beach Boys veteran Brian Wilson was another first-time winner - for best rock instrumental performance. ""It represents triumph and achievement in music that I feel that I deserved, and I'm really glad I won,"" he said. A live recording of composer John Adams' 11 September tribute, On the Transmigration of Souls, performed by the New York Philharmonic, won three classical prizes. And former US President Bill Clinton picked up the second Grammy of his career, winning the spoken word award for the audio version of his autobiography My Life.",entertainment
+"Abba reunite for musical premiere..The original stars of Swedish pop quartet Abba have reunited for the home premiere of hit musical Mamma Mia! which is based on the band's songs...It is the first time in almost 20 years that the four, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, have met publicly. Faltskog has been a virtual recluse since the band split up in 1982. The musical, which has become a global phenomenon, will be performed in Swedish for the first time. Fans camped outside Stockholm's Cirkus theatre in the snow for a glimpse of the stars. The premiere marks Abba's first public reunion since the legendary band's acrimonious break-up in the early 1980s. It was thought that Faltskog would appear in London for the musical's fifth anniversary celebrations in April 2004 but she stayed away due to her fear of flying...Original Abba member Bjorn Ulvaeus set about translating the musical into the band's mother tongue for the celebrated homecoming, alongside Swedish artist Niklas Stromstedt. Almost all of Abba's original songs, which have sold more than 350 million records worldwide, were written and recorded in English. The musical, set on a small Greek island, tells of the story of a young woman and her fiercely independent single mother. The show will include such classics as Super Trouper, SOS and Dancing Queen. There are currently 14 productions being staged worldwide, including New York and London, with road shows in Toronto, South Korea and Madrid. More than 20 million people around the world have seen the show.",entertainment
+"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.",entertainment
+"T in the Park sells out in days..Tickets for Scotland's biggest music festival have sold out in record time, five months before the event is held...The 12th annual T in the Park festival, which takes place at Balado near Kinross in July, sold out just four days after the line-up was announced. Green Day, the Foo Fighters and Keane are among the acts that had already been lined up to appear at the event. However, the organisers have revealed Scots favourites Travis as well as soulman James Brown will also appear...Last year tickets sold out 10 weeks before the festival but organisers confirmed that all 130,000 for the two-day event had been sold. Geoff Ellis, CEO of festival organisers Big Day Out Ltd, said this year's event promises to be the best yet. ""After last year's sell-out, we did think this year's event would sell slightly earlier, however this is way beyond our expectations,"" Mr Ellis said...""We are extremely proud that fans are so excited about T in the Park that they have made absolutely sure that their place at Balado is booked for 2005, and we will deliver one of the greatest events yet for them in July."" More than 120 acts will play on eight stages over the weekend of 9 and 10 July. Brit Award winners Keane and The Streets are among the main attractions, while The Killers and dance act The Prodigy are also on the bill. Both Green Day and The Foo Fighters last played at the festival in 2002, the same year Oasis and Basement Jaxx were among the headline acts.",entertainment
+"Black Sabbath top rock album poll..Black Sabbath have topped a list of the best British rock albums of all time...The band once fronted by Ozzy Osbourne led a poll of Kerrang! magazine readers with their 1970 self-titled debut. The band have three more efforts on the list, including fifth-placed Paranoid. Osbourne appears more than any other act, with two solo records featured. The top five includes Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden and Sex Pistols. Queen, Muse, Manic Street Preachers and The Clash complete the top 10. A mix of heavy metal, punk, glam rock and even dance music makes up the list. Motorhead, Judas Priest and Prodigy are included along with newer acts like The Darkness and Lostprophets...Kerrang! editor Ashley Bird said: ""It's amazing to see so many incredible homegrown albums in one list, and without any of the abysmal fashion bands that currently clog up the music scene. ""These are the real opinions of proper rock fans.""..Formed by four teenage friends in the West Midlands in the late 1960s, Black Sabbath are one of Britain's most successful heavy rock bands. Their debut was a UK top 10 hit in 1970 and sold more than a million copies in the US. Osbourne said the band's success in the Kerrang! poll was a triumph for British rock. He said: ""Back then you'd hear: 'If you go to San Francisco, be sure to wear a flower in your hair'. ""We lived in Aston, Birmingham. The only flowers I ever saw were on a gravestone in our local cemetery."" Despite being disliked by many critics, Black Sabbath's subsequent albums included multi-million sellers but internal rows led to Osbourne leaving in 1979. The band continued without Osbourne, who went on to solo success but also had to battle alcoholism and legal action over his music allegedly inciting teenagers to commit suicide. He was eventually cleared of the charges. Osbourne, who bit off the head of a live bat on stage in 1982, rejoined the band to play the Live Aid charity concert in 1985. After many changes in line-up, the original four members reunited to play live dates in 1997. Black Sabbath have reunited regularly in recent years while Osbourne has gone on to wider fame with his family through MTV documentary series The Osbournes.",entertainment
+"Michael film signals 'retirement'..Singer George Michael has said that a new film about his life is the start of a retirement from public view...The pop star said it would be a much more ""behind the scenes affair"", and called his own genre of music ""dead"". ""I thought I should explain myself before I disappear,"" said Michael, who was at the Berlin film festival to launch the documentary. The film, A Different Story, chronicles Michael's life and career from the 1980s and his personal struggles. The 41-year-old chart-topper told reporters in the German capital that he wanted to ""move his career into a different form"", but added that he does not know what it is going to be yet...""I'm still going to be making music,"" he said, but added that he was ""not going to be around"". He hinted at discontent with the current state of music industry, and said: ""I don't really think that there is anyone in the modern pop business who I feel I want to spar with."" Michael said that the film, directed by Southan Morris, would put his two decades of fame into context. ""It's almost as much for me as for my fans, in terms of trying to make sense of the last 22 years and bring it to a close in a proper way,"" he said. The documentary chronicles the highs and lows of his life in the public gaze, from his meteoric rise as one half of pop duo Wham! to his arrest for lewd conduct in a Los Angeles toilet in 1998. The film also deals with the loss of Michael's partner Anselmo Feleppa from an Aids-related condition in 1993. A Different Story, which is being shown at the Berlin Film Festival, has been screened by BBC One.",entertainment
+"Hendrix guitar fetches £100,000..A much-loved guitar belonging to Jimi Hendrix has been sold for £100,000 at an auction in London...The 1965 Fender Stratocaster was one of a number of guitars included in the sale dedicated to the rock legend. The vast archive of instruments, signed records and posters were collected by a dedicated fan who had become friendly with the star. The auction was billed as the biggest collection of Hendrix memorabilia to go under the hammer. The majority of the items were collected by fan Bob Terry who began collecting at the age of 17. He later sold it on to another collector...Hendrix, widely considered one of the best guitarists of his era, died of a drug overdose in 1970 at the age of 27. The 1965 Fender Stratocaster was used by the musician on tour and in his studio. A poem written by Hendrix two weeks after his infamous appearance at the Monterey Festival where he set light to his guitar went for £10,000. The Jimi Hendrix Experience's first single Hey Joe, signed by all the band, was sold for £2,000. The sale, hosted by auctioneers Cooper Owen, was held at the Hard Rock Cafe in London.",entertainment
+"German music in a 'zombie' state..The German music business - the third largest in the world - is ""in the state of a zombie"" because it has failed to respond to the challenge posed by downloading and piracy, a leading industry figure has said...Tim Renner, the head of Universal Music Germany until last year, told BBC World Service's The Music Biz programme that the country's music industry was now struggling to survive. Renner warned that unless the industry accepted ""new realties"" - such as downloading - its decline could become irreversible. ""The problem the music industry has got is that they aren't willing to accept that the classic way of doing business is over and out,"" he stated. ""So the music industry in its current form over here is pretty much in the state of a zombie.""..The music market in Germany peaked in 1997, with sales of 2.6bn euros (£1.8bn). Since 2000, sales have plummeted to just 1.6bn euros (£1.1bn) in 2003. In the space of one year - between 2002 and 2003 - CD album sales fell by 13.8%. But a study by the Society for Consumer Research found that at the same time, more than twice as many recordable CDs had music recorded on them than CD albums were sold. Mr Renner pointed out that, because profit comes mainly from the longevity of a good-selling record, this was particularly damaging...""You need time,"" he added. However, Peter Zombic, the managing director of the International Federation of Phonographic Industry in Germany, said he did not feel the situation was as ""dramatic"" as Mr Renner believed. ""It's quite true that we have severe problems in Germany - but that's true in other parts of the world and in most developed markets too,"" he argued. ""We have a severe problem with piracy, especially internet piracy, and we also have a severe problem of private copying. ""I don't agree that the music industry lost control over the music market - in fact, especially in regard to Germany talent, the market is quite successful."" He did, however, admit that copyright owners have ""partly lost control of their copyright"", due to piracy and copying...But he refuted suggestions that the industry had been too slow to respond to digital downloading. ""We were the first to implement a download service - back in 1997,"" he argued. ""At that time it was not successful, because of the advent of piracy - it was the Napster time, when P2P services became popular. ""It still is quite difficult for the music industry to compete with a price that is zero as far as the illegal product is concerned."" Mr Zombic also called for a change to the perception in Germany that private copying of music is not a problem. German law does allow people to make copies of CDs for their family and close friends, without fear of breaking copyright. Mr Zombic said that this legal framework was a ""huge problem"". ""There is a widespread attitude that private copying is a hobby, it's nice, it's fun,"" he added. ""We try to make clear it's not nice and it's not fun - it's endangering the creativity in our country.""",entertainment
+"Musical treatment for Capra film..The classic film It's A Wonderful Life is to be turned into a musical by the producer of the controversial hit show Jerry Springer - The Opera...Frank Capra's 1946 movie starring James Stewart, is being turned into a £7m musical by producer Jon Thoday. He is working with Steve Brown, who wrote the award-winning musical Spend Spend Spend. A spokeswoman said the plans were in the ""very early stages"", with no cast, opening date or theatre announced...A series of workshops have been held in London, and on Wednesday a cast of singers unveiled the musical to a select group of potential investors. Mr Thoday said the idea of turning the film into a musical had been an ambition of his for almost 20 years. It's a Wonderful Life was based on a short story, The Greatest Gift, by Philip van Doren Stern. Mr Thoday managed to buy the rights to the story from Van Doren Stern's family in 1999, following Mr Brown's success with Spend Spend Spend. He later secured the film rights from Paramount, enabling them to use the title It's A Wonderful Life.",entertainment
+"Famed music director Viotti dies..Conductor Marcello Viotti, director of Venice's famous La Fenice Theatre, has died in Germany at 50...Viotti, director of La Fenice since 2002, conducted at renowned opera houses worldwide including Milan's La Scala and the Vienna State Opera. His time at La Fenice coincided with its reopening in 2003 after it was destroyed by fire in 1996. He fell into a coma after suffering a stroke during rehearsals for Jules Massenet's Manon last week...He conducted some of the best orchestras in the world including the Berlin Philharmonic and the English Chamber Orchestra. Viotti was born in Switzerland and studied the piano, cello and singing at the Lausanne Conservatory. His career breakthrough came in 1982 when he won first prize at the Gino Marinuzzi conducting competition in Italy. Viotti established himself as chief conductor of the Turin Opera and went on to become chief conductor of Munich's Radio Orchestra. At La Fenice Viotti was widely acclaimed for his production of the French composer Massenet's Thais and some of his other productions included Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata and Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos...The last opera he directed at La Fenice was Massenet's Le Roi de Lahore. Viotti's debut at the New York's Metropolitan Opera came in 2000 with Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly, followed by La Boheme, La Traviata and Fromental Halevy's La Juive. Giampaolo Vianello, superintendent of the Fenice Theatre Foundation, said: ""I am filled with extreme sadness because, other than a great artist, he is missed as a friend - a main character in the latest joyous times, during the rebirth of our theatre."" Viotti's last public performance was on 5 February when he conducted Vincenzo Bellini's Norma at the Vienna State Opera.",entertainment
+"TV presenter Deeley drops CD:UK..Cat Deeley has resigned as host of ITV1's Saturday morning children's music show CD:UK after six years...The 28-year-old host who also presents Stars In Their Eyes said she wanted to concentrate on new television projects. ""I've had a great few years, met some really incredible people and been given some wonderful opportunities,"" the presenter said. Deeley will host her last show on 5 March and guest presenters will stand in until a replacement is found...The long-running presenter said: ""I would like to take this opportunity to thank the CD:UK team and all the viewers that have watched, supported the show and let me gate crash their Saturday morning. ""Whilst obviously I am really sad to say goodbye, I'm immensely excited about the future."" Deeley formerly co-hosted SM:tv, the children's show which airs before CD:UK on a Saturday morning, alongside hit presenters Ant and Dec. She won a Children's Bafta award for best presenter in December 2001 and also fronted BBC One's Fame Academy series.",entertainment
+"The Producers scoops stage awards..The Producers has beaten Mary Poppins in the battle of the blockbuster West End musicals at the Olivier Awards...The Producers won three prizes at the UK's most prestigious annual theatre awards, while Mary Poppins won two. Mel Brooks' hit show triumphed in the battle for best new musical, where it was up against Mary Poppins and Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White. Alan Bennett's The History Boys was the big winner in the straight theatre categories, picking up three trophies. But all eyes were on the musical prizes after The Producers, Mary Poppins and The Woman in White all had high-profile openings in the last six months...The Producers' Nathan Lane, a last-minute replacement for Richard Dreyfuss, beat his former co-star Lee Evans to win best musical actor. Lane has already left the production. A smash hit on Broadway before moving to London, the show also won best musical performance in a supporting role for Conleth Hill, who plays director Roger DeBris. Mary Poppins' awards came for best choreography and best musical actress for its star Laura Michelle Kelly. It led the nominations going into Sunday's ceremony at London's Hilton hotel, up for nine awards. Both shows are stage adaptations of 1960s films. The History Boys, set in a grammar school in the early 1980s and partly based on Bennett's experiences as a teacher, was named best new play...It also won best actor for Richard Griffiths, who beat his Harry Potter film co-star Michael Gambon, nominated for Endgame, as well as Jonathan Pryce and Ben Whishaw. The play also won National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner best director and Bennett got a special award for outstanding contribution to British theatre. Dame Judi Dench, who starred in All's Well That Ends Well at the Gielgud, lost out in the best supporting role category to Amanda Harris, who played Emilia in Othello for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Olivier Awards have been handed out by the Society of London since 1976...- Best lighting design - His Dark Materials designed by Paule Constable at the Olivier. - Best sound design - The Woman in White designed by Mick Potter at the Palace. - Best new opera - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Royal Opera House. - Outstanding achievement in opera - Thomas Ades and the Royal Opera House for the world premiere of The Tempest. - Best costume design - All's Well That Ends Well designed by Deirdre Clancy at the Gielgud. - Best Revival - Hamlet by William Shakespeare at The Old Vic. - Best set design - His Dark Materials designed by Giles Cadle at the Olivier. - Outstanding musical production - Grand Hotel at the Donmar Warehouse. - Best supporting role in a musical - Conleth Hill for The Producers at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. - Best theatre choreographer - Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear for Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward. - Best actor - Richard Griffiths for The History Boys at the Lyttelton. - Outstanding achievement or performance in an affiliate theatre - Andrew Scott for A Girl in A Car With A Man at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court. - Best new dance production - Rambert Dance Company's Swamp at Sadler's Wells. - Outstanding achievement in dance - San Francisco Ballet for their season at Sadler's Wells. - Best performance in a supporting role - Amanda Harris for Othello at Trafalgar Studios. - Best actress - Clare Higgins for Hecuba at the Donmar Warehouse. - Best musical actor - Nathan Lane for The Producers at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. - Best musical actress - Laura Michelle Kelly for Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward. - Best director - Nicholas Hytner for The History Boys at the Lyttelton. - Best new play - The History Boys by Alan Bennett at the Lyttelton. - Best new musical - The Producers at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. - Special award - Alan Bennett for his outstanding contribution to British theatre",entertainment
+"Rocker Doherty in on-stage fight..Rock singer Pete Doherty has been involved in a fight with his band's guitarist at their biggest gig to date...Babyshambles played for 5,000 fans at London's Brixton Academy on Tuesday. The former Libertines singer traded blows with guitarist Patrick Walden. They were separated and bundled off stage before returning to end the set. The show was earlier held up due to audience overcrowding. On Monday Doherty faced blackmail and robbery charges in court, which he denies. He is out on £50,000 bail and the judge agreed to extend his 2200 GMT curfew deadline by two hours so he could play the Brixton gig...Babyshambles, which he formed after his acrimonious departure from the Libertines, played a warm-up show at The Garage, north London, on Monday. On Tuesday, Doherty and his three bandmates were introduced to the crowd by Mick Jones, the former Clash guitarist who produced the Libertines' second album. Babyshambles took the stage to a frenzied reception at 2200 GMT, launching into their last single, Killamangiro, which reached number eight in December. But the group had to stop during the next song to persuade fans not to push forward and allow security guards to pull people out of the crush. Doherty appealed to fans to calm down, saying: ""There's a few people getting hurt down the front, you've got to move back.""..The music resumed minutes later but after several more songs, the singer appeared to accidentally disconnect Walden's guitar, leading the pair to trade kicks and punches. Bouncers stepped in and the band left the stage, but returned after five minutes and finished their 50-minute performance with no further trouble. Doherty, 25, had to be home by midnight to observe the curfew, which is one of the conditions of his bail. On Monday, the judge agreed to allow him to perform on condition that requests for changes to his bail terms were ""not too regular an occurrence"". The singer was arrested with fellow musician Alan Wass on 2 February after an alleged dispute with documentary-maker Max Carlish at a London hotel. They are next due in court on 18 April.",entertainment
+"The Sound of Music is coming home..The original stage production of The Sound of Music is to be performed for the first time in the Austrian capital, 40 years after the film was released...The first full-scale theatrical production of the musical will make its debut in Vienna on Saturday. Julie Andrews starred in the 1965 film version of the Rogers and Hammerstein classic set in the Alpine country. But despite being one of the most successful musicals of all time, it is barely known inside Austria...The film was never shown in any cinema in Austria and was not broadcast on television until the early 1990s. The musical is based on the true story of the von Trapp family who formed a singing troupe and escaped from Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938...Sensitivities about Nazism during wartime Austria and issues towards the von Trapp family themselves could explain Austria's reluctance to embrace the musical. Another source of irritation for Austrians is the song Edelweiss, which is considered an traditional folk song by many filmgoers. The song was actually an invention by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Many also consider the film to portray a kitsch image of Austria, including yodelling, goat-herds and lederhosen. The production is being staged at a Viennese opera house, the Volksoper, beginning on Saturday. Maria, the novice nun who falls in love with Baron von Trapp, will be played by Austro-Australian actress and singer Sandra Pires.",entertainment
+"Download chart debut is delayed..The inclusion of downloaded music in the official singles chart has been delayed for a month...The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) had planned to include download formats in the chart from 20 March. But the date has been put back to 17 April to create a ""level playing field"" for independent labels. The BPI is concerned that independent repertoire is not adequately represented online and said they were looking at ways of rectifying it...BPI chairman Peter Jamieson said: ""The inclusion of download formats in the Official UK Singles Chart is the most significant development in the charts for 20 years...""But for a multitude of reasons the current chart representation of independent repertoire at the major download outlets is poor. ""I am very pleased we have secured this delay on behalf of independents. We have to try and establish a realistic 'level playing field' of opportunity. The Official UK Charts are run by The Official UK Charts Company (OCC) - a joint venture between the BPI and the British Association of Record Dealers (BARD). At an OCC board meeting on Wednesday, the OCC board agreed with BPI members that the 20 March start date be postponed. Download formats will now be included in the Official UK Singles Chart for the first time in the chart published on 17 April - the sales week beginning 10 April. The US has already merged downloaded singles into its Billboard Hot 100 chart.",entertainment
+"Rapper films music video in jail..A US rapper awaiting trial for murder has filmed part of a music video in jail, angering a sheriff who says he was tricked into letting TV crews in...C-Murder, a former member of rap group Tru, was filmed in his orange prison suit for the video for his Y'all Heard of Me single in a New Orleans jail. He is awaiting a second trial after an original conviction was thrown out. ""I'm not pleased,"" Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee said. ""He will not make another video in my jail."" Footage for the video was filmed by two crews who had permission to interview C-Murder - one from Court TV and one from a local cable show...But Mr Lee said he did not know the rapper had filmed the video and made an album behind bars, and said he was fooled into letting the cameras in. The rapper's lawyer Ron Rakosky said: ""The bottom line is, we didn't do anything wrong."" Mr Rakosky said it was better than C-Murder, real name Corey Miller, ""just sitting there, wasting away"". ""Here's a guy in jail, making constructive use of his time instead of withering away,"" he said. ""He's lost more than three years of his life, locked up for a crime he did not commit.""..But local group Victims and Citizens Against Crime said he should not be working behind bars. ""He is a suspect in a murder case. I don't think he should be allowed these privileges, especially earning money, until his name is totally cleared,"" the group's president Beverly Siemssen said. In 2003, C-Murder was found guilty of killing a 16-year-old in a nightclub, but that decision was thrown out last April. He is now facing a second trial on a charge of second-degree murder. With two brothers in the group Tru, he had two US top 10 albums in the late 1990s before going solo, when he scored another three top 10 albums.",entertainment
+"Music man to the Oscars..Bill Conti's job of musical director of the Oscars show is not for the faint-hearted since conducting the orchestra is the ultimate plate-spinning assignment...This year marks Conti's 17th turn at the helm of the Academy Awards orchestra. ""The excitement is a live performance as a musician,"" he says. ""All of your colleagues, everyone in the film industry is in the theatre. All the important people. ""I guess it's just a television show but we always think it's a bit more.' The orchestra strikes up more than 110 times during the average Oscars show. As well as playing the presenters and winners on and off stage, it also performs during the commercial breaks to entertain the live audience in the house...""It's a very busy evening, it takes a certain amount of preparation of music, orchestrating, sketching rehearsing, before the show. But you don't know what the unexpected will be and as the musical director, it's exciting,"" explains Conti. And much of the preparation goes into mastering scores that will never be performed. ""We don't know who the winners will be. So when they say, 'the winner is', we have five different pieces of music in front of us, they say the name, we play the appropriate one immediately,"" adds Conti...The orchestra is often called upon to play when the winners ramble on too long during their acceptance speeches, despite being told to be brief by the show's producers...The decision to drown out or 'kill' the offending star with music is relayed from the director's box to the orchestra via Conti's earpiece. ""I don't feel good about it at all. It's not my call though,"" he says. ""When the director says 'music' the orchestra plays and he takes a long shot of the hall. We don't usually see the person speaking while his microphone is cut off. ""The person that's been cut off, who's 10 feet from me, is glaring at me like it's death time."" On occasions, some stars have taken it upon themselves to send a warning shot across the bows of the musical director before they start to speak. ""Julia Roberts, when she came on, she asked me to not get ready to play because she had so much to do,"" he says. Conti received an Oscar in 1983 for the original score of The Right Stuff. He also received two nominations in the original song category in 1976 for Gonna Fly Now from Rocky and in 1981 for the title song from For Your Eyes Only...""It's a moment in the sun,"" he says. ""When people get up there, some people, this is hard to believe, people that spend their lives in front of the camera or audiences entertaining, might get a little flustered. ""But there's this moment in time when the biggest award that they could possibly get in their life has been handed to them and they're either not in control or they want to thank everyone that they ever met.""..The image of the Oscars telecast is one of slick presentation and smooth transitions between performances and the award categories. Behind the scenes, the key players, such as Conti, have a bewildering array of technical props to deal with. ""There's a big script and video monitors you have to watch and there are also audio controls. I can control hearing in my ears, the left ear or the right ear - different things at different times...""I have to communicate with the director. I have a little microphone that's attached to my headset. To open up that microphone, I have a footswitch,"" he explains. Conti's most nerve-wracking moment came during his first Oscars show as musical director, in 1977, when a member of the orchestra alerted him that they could smell smoke. Conti immediately told the show's director: ""I start cursing and screaming, I tell him we're not going to die for this show - you must do something or I'm going to climb out of this pit with 60 musicians and we're going to be home in 10 minutes. ""'Oh no Bill don't do anything,"" came the response. ""Imagine these elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen of the orchestra, 60 or so of them in the pit and while we're playing, firemen with their helmets and their hatchets crawling among us trying to find the reason for the smoke."" The smell turned out to be new paint smouldering on the music stands. ""No one died, it's not a big story, but it was scary at the time,"" laughs Conti. When the ceremony is over, the music director attends the annual Governor's Ball with his family. ""I have a drink and relive the show,"" he says. ""I'm not for too much carousing. I go home and unwind. It takes me about a day.""",entertainment
+"Church urges Nelly show boycott..Church ministers are trying to prevent rapper Nelly performing in Arkansas, saying they do not want his ""vile and filthy lyrics"" in their town...More than 20 Jonesboro ministers urged music fans to boycott Nelly's 12 March concert at Arkansas State University in a bid to have it cancelled. ""Jonesboro is a wonderful city because of what does not come here,"" said the Reverend Adrian Rodgers. But a venue spokesman said more than 5,500 tickets had been sold so far...Mr Rodgers, of the Fullness of Joy Church, said he was concerned about the rapper's lyrics that include references to drugs, sex and violence, and songs that the minister said were demeaning to women. Ministers were worried that bringing such acts to Jonesboro would lead to problems. ""Tear the tickets up,"" Mr Rodgers said. ""Do not go and do not allow your children to go.""..Tim Dean, director of the Arkansas State University venue, said ticket sales had been brisk. ""It would appear that with ticket sales over 5,000, many others have expressed their right to find Nelly's music entertaining and worth spending their time and money on,"" he said. Nelly has sold more than 30 million singles and albums worldwide, and in September 2004 simultaneously occupied the number one and two positions in the US albums chart. He has had 12 UK hit singles, including Hot in Herre, Dilemma and recent number one Over and Over.",entertainment
+"Rap feud in 50 Cent's G-Unit crew..US rap star 50 Cent has said he has thrown protege The Game out of his G-Unit gang in a feud that has apparently involved two shootings...In a radio interview on Monday, 50 Cent said the newcomer was disloyal in conflicts with other rappers. A man was shot in the thigh outside New York's Hot 97 studios while 50 Cent was on air. More shots were fired outside his management offices two hours later. 50 Cent appeared on The Game's debut album, which was number one in the US. 50 Cent, whose second album is about to be released after his debut made him one of hip-hop's biggest stars, has been involved in recent rivalries with fellow artists including Fat Joe, Nas and Jadakiss...He has claimed credit for the success of The Game, who has become the hottest new star on the rap scene. Both were drug dealers and were shot before turning to music...In an interview with Hot 97 on Saturday, The Game described some of 50 Cent's rivals as ""my friends"" and said he would not turn on them. ""Nas is one of my friends, and Jada's really a homie,"" he said. ""50's beef is 50's beef and I really don't know where all this stems from."" When 50 Cent appeared on the same station two days later, he said The Game was no longer a member of G-Unit. ""Every record he's selling is based on me being on his record with him,"" he said. When the shooting took place outside the studio, the interview was ended and the rapper was escorted out of the building by security personnel...An unidentified 24-year-old Los Angeles man is stable with a gunshot wound to the upper thigh. Police say The Game's associates may have heard the interview and gone to the studio, where they confronted 50 Cent's entourage. Officers are also investigating a later shooting in which eight bullets were fired into the door of 50 Cent's management company, Violator. No arrests have been made in relation to either incident. 50 Cent's second album, The Massacre, is released on Thursday, five weeks after The Game's debut, Documentary, went to number one...Elliott Wilson, editor-in-chief of hip-hop magazine XXL, said the feud would boost publicity for 50 Cent's release. ""It helps him obviously in terms of exposure. You can't ask for better promotion,"" he said. But he added: ""I think he's making more and more enemies. ""You definitely feel like is he doing too much of a Tupac spiral, like me against the world. You bring more people wanting to see you fail."" Tupac Shakur was shot dead in 1996.",entertainment
+"Prodigy join V Festival line-up..Essex act Prodigy are to headline the second stage at this year's V Festival, joining main stage headliners Scissor Sisters and Franz Ferdinand...The event, which is in its 10th year, will be held at two venues - Hylands Park in Essex and Weston Park in Staffordshire on 20 and 21 August. Meanwhile, rock veterans New Order have joined the T in the Park line-up alongside Athlete and Green Day. The Manchester band will play on 9 July at Scotland's biggest festival. It will be their debut performance at the music event which is held over the weekend of 9 and 10 July in Balado near Kinross. Other bands at the sold-out festival include Queens of the Stone Age, The Killers, Keane, The Streets and Foo Fighters...A month later at the V Festival, Prodigy will play at Weston Park on Saturday 20 August and Hylands Park on Sunday 21 August and the Chemical Brothers vice versa. It will be the Chemical Brothers' only UK festival performance of the year. V festival director Bob Angus said: ""With the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers now confirmed to headline the second stage, we are headed for a really stellar line-up. ""We pride ourselves on putting on an unbeatable live music experience and V Festival 2005 will not disappoint."" Tickets for the V festival go on sale on Friday 11 March.",entertainment
+"DJ double act revamp chart show..DJ duo JK and Joel are taking over BBC Radio 1's flagship chart show on Sunday, adding showbiz news, celebrity interviews and between-song banter...They hope to boost ratings for the long-running show, which has been overtaken in popularity by independent radio's Hit 40 UK rundown. ""Radio 1's chart show is an institution and remains the station's single most popular show,"" says JK, also known as Jason King. ""For years people have been tuning in at four o'clock with their tape recorders ready to record their favourite tunes. Not that I ever did that. ""But things have moved on a lot now so it was time for a change.""..That change involved ejecting previous host Wes Butters and relocating King and DJ partner Joel Ross from their weekend afternoon Radio 1 slot. The pair have worked together for a decade - meeting on Viking Radio in Hull before moving to Manchester station Key 103 and winning two Sony Radio awards. They also presented gadget series Playboyz and car show Motor Maniacs for cable TV channel Granada Men and Motors, and Pure Soap on BBC Three...On the revamped chart show their cheeky, laddish banter will punctuate star interviews and competitions, film and DVD charts plus a look at future single releases, in addition to the singles chart itself. ""The chart rundown is no longer the only point of the programme,"" says Ross. ""The show used to be the only way to discover who was in the Top 40. Now you can just click on the internet to find that out, so the show has plenty of extra items too."" The show's reduced reliance upon the Top 40 also reflects the fact that music fans are now more likely to download songs in digital format rather than buy them on compact disc, vinyl or cassette...""I personally buy downloads rather than CD singles,"" says 27-year-old Ross. ""Even my grandma can download songs now. JK is still struggling with the technology, though."" ""But it's premature for people to say that the singles chart is dead,"" Ross adds. ""While sales of singles on traditional formats are down, interest in songs has been revived by download sales, which will be incorporated into our main chart rundown from April. ""Music fans still want to know what is the most popular song of the week.""..Ross will be plumping for chart success from rapper Verbalicious and the Stereophonics on Sunday, while King is more of an R&B and dance music fan. ""So listeners will get the advantage of both our music tastes,"" says King, 30, who describes outgoing host Butters as ""an extremely professional and competent broadcaster""...""The advantage Joel and I have is that we're a double act, with a rapport between us that makes the show much more interactive,"" King says. ""Wes has a great broadcasting career ahead of him. And if not, I could always use a cleaner,"" he jokes. Ross says the pair have done their best to ignore the weight of expectation placed upon the revamped show. ""Other people can worry about that, we are going to continue doing what we do well,"" he says. ""At the end of the day this is a radio show that is meant to be entertaining. Nobody died.""",entertainment
+"Rapper 50 Cent scores chart first..Rapper 50 Cent has become the first solo artist to have three singles in the US top five in the same week...His track Candy Shop remained at the top of the charts, while Disco Inferno crept up from six to five. 50 Cent also appears on rap protege The Game's song How We do, number four in the US but now outside the UK top ten. The pair had a recent dispute which saw The Game thrown out of 50 Cent's rap collective G-Unit, accusing him of disloyalty in an ongoing feud...50 Cent, who burst onto the music scene in 2003, has had less success in the UK charts, with three singles making the top ten. His debut album, Get Rich And Die Tryin', narrowly missed out on becoming a UK chart topper...But in the US, he headed the 2003 end of year charts for the album and R&B and hip hop artists. Newcomer The Game's debut reached the top of the charts five weeks ago, while 50 Cent's second collection The Masscre was released in the US at the end of last week. Last May, R&B star Usher scored a chart first, with three concurrent singles in the US Top 10, a feat which was previously matched only by The Bee Gees and The Beatles. The hit songs were taken from the 24-year-old's Confessions album, which topped the American chart for eight weeks.",entertainment
+"Goodrem wins top female MTV prize..Pop singer Delta Goodrem has scooped one of the top individual prizes at the first Australian MTV Music Awards...The 21-year-old singer won the award for best female artist, with Australian Idol runner-up Shannon Noll taking the title of best male at the ceremony. Goodrem, known in both Britain and Australia for her role as Nina Tucker in TV soap Neighbours, also performed a duet with boyfriend Brian McFadden. Other winners included Green Day, voted best group, and the Black Eyed Peas. Goodrem, Green Day and the Black Eyed Peas took home two awards each. As well as best female, Goodrem also took home the Pepsi Viewers Choice Award, whilst Green Day bagged the prize for best rock video for American Idiot. The Black Eyed Peas won awards for best R 'n' B video and sexiest video, both for Hey Mama. Local singer and songwriter Missy Higgins took the title of breakthrough artist of the year, with Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian taking the honours for best pop video. The VH1 First Music Award went to Cher honouring her achievements within the music industry. The ceremony was held at the Luna Park fairground in Sydney Harbour and was hosted by the Osbourne family. Artists including Carmen Electra, Missy Higgins, Kelly Osbourne, Green Day, Ja Rule and Natalie Imbruglia gave live performances at the event.",entertainment
+"REM announce new Glasgow concert..US band REM have announced plans to perform for 10,000 Scottish fans in a rescheduled gig...The band will play in what has been dubbed Europe's biggest tent on Glasgow Green on Tuesday, 14 June. They were forced to pull out of a concert at the SECC in Glasgow last month after bassist Mike Mills contracted flu. Fans who bought tickets for the original 22 February show can attend the rescheduled concert. The June gig will act as a warm-up for REM's open air concert at Balloch Castle Country Park, on the banks of Loch Lomond, four days later...Promoters Regular Music booked Glasgow Green as the SECC was not available on the most suitable date. Mark Mackie, director of Regular Music, said: ""It is fantastic news and it really shows REM's commitment to their Scottish fans that they are coming back to Glasgow for what will be a truly unique gig."" The REM gigs will kick-start what promises to be a memorable summer for Scottish music lovers...Grammy Award winners U2 will play Hampden on 21 June while Oasis will also perform at the national stadium in Glasgow on 29 June. Coldplay have announced a concert at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow on 1 July and T in the Park will be held at Balado, near Kinross, from 9-10 July. Ticketweb and the SECC box office will write to customers who bought tickets for the February gig asking if they want to attend the new show. Those who bought tickets in person are being urged to return to the point of purchase. Anyone who cannot make the concert will be given a refund. The cut-off date for swapping tickets is 1 April, when those remaining will go on sale to the public.",entertainment
+"Rapper 50 Cent ends protege feud..Rapper 50 Cent has ended his public feud with his protege The Game as the pair said they wanted to be good role models for their communities...The row blew up when 50 Cent threw The Game out of his G-Unit crew and accused him of being disloyal. A member of The Game's entourage was reportedly shot outside a radio station where 50 Cent was being interviewed. But the pair shook hands as they handed over money to music projects for New York's deprived areas on Wednesday...The Game, whose real name is Jayceon Taylor, told a news conference: ""I want to apologise. I'm almost ashamed to have participated in the things that went on over the last few weeks."" Chart-topper 50 Cent, real name Curtis Jackson, said the truce came on the anniversary of the death of the Notorious BIG in 1997, who was part of a volatile feud between the east and west coast rap scenes. ""We're here today to show that people can rise above the most difficult circumstances and together we can put negativity behind us,"" 50 Cent said...""A lot of people don't want to see it happen, but we're responding to the two most important groups - our family and our fans."" The Boys Choir of Harlem got a cheque for $150,000 (£77,800) from 50 Cent, while The Game handed over $103,500 (£53,400). The Game also made a contribution to the Compton schools music programme. 50 Cent announced he has launched the G-Unity Foundation ""to help people overcome obstacles and make a chance for the better in their lives""...""I realised that if I'm going to be effective at that, I have to overcome some of my own,"" he said. ""Game and I need to set an example in the community."" 50 Cent is no stranger to feuds, with rapper Ja Rule among the targets for ridicule in his songs. On his latest album, released earlier this month, he turned his attentions to Fat Joe and Nas, who have both worked with Ja Rule. Both he and The Game have admitted drug dealing in the past and have both been shot.",entertainment
+"Musicians to tackle US red tape..Musicians' groups are to tackle US visa regulations which are blamed for hindering British acts' chances of succeeding across the Atlantic...A singer hoping to perform in the US can expect to pay $1,300 (£680) simply for obtaining a visa. Groups including the Musicians' Union are calling for an end to the ""raw deal"" faced by British performers. US acts are not faced with comparable expense and bureaucracy when visiting the UK for promotional purposes...Nigel McCune from the Musicians' Union said British musicians are ""disadvantaged"" compared to their US counterparts. A sponsor has to make a petition on their behalf, which is a form amounting to nearly 30 pages, while musicians face tougher regulations than athletes and journalists. ""If you make a mistake on your form, you risk a five-year ban and thus the ability to further your career,"" says Mr McCune...""The US is the world's biggest music market, which means something has to be done about the creaky bureaucracy,"" says Mr McCune. ""The current situation is preventing British acts from maintaining momentum and developing in the US,"" he added...The Musicians' Union stance is being endorsed by the Music Managers' Forum (MMF), who say British artists face ""an uphill struggle"" to succeed in the US, thanks to the tough visa requirements, which are also seen as impractical. The MMF's general secretary James Seller said: ""Imagine if you were an orchestra from the Orkneys? Every member would have to travel to London to have their visas processed.""..""The US market is seen as the holy grail and one of the benchmarks of success, and we're still going to fight to get in there. ""It's still very important, but there are other markets like Europe, India and China,"" added Mr Seller. A Department for Media, Culture and Sport spokeswoman said: ""We're aware that people are experiencing problems, and are working with the US embassy and record industry to see what we can do about it."" A US Embassy spokesman said: ""We are aware that entertainers require visas for time-specific visas and are doing everything we can to process those applications speedily."" ""We are aware of the importance of cultural exchange and we will do our best to facilitate that,"" he added.",entertainment
+"Angels 'favourite funeral song'..Angels by Robbie Williams is the song Britons would most like played at their funeral, a survey has suggested...While the melancholy hit topped the UK poll, Europeans favoured Queen's more upbeat anthem The Show Must Go On as their first choice. Frank Sinatra's My Way was second in the UK vote with Monty Python's Always Look on the Bright Side of Life in third place. More than 45,000 people were surveyed by digital TV station Music Choice...The European chart, which included Denmark, France and Germany, put Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven in second and AC/DC's Highway to Hell in third. Queen's Who Wants to Live Forever was highly favoured by both UK and European voters...Both lists featured only one traditional or classic song each, with Britons requesting the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards' Amazing Grace and their continental counterparts opting for Mozart's Requiem. ""Wanting to share your most treasured musical gem with those you're leaving behind is the perfect way to sign off and leave a lasting impression,"" Music Choice music and marketing manager Simon George said.",entertainment
+"U2 stars enter rock Hall of Fame..Singer Bruce Springsteen has inducted Irish rock band U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in New York...The lavish ceremony, celebrating the 50th anniversary of rock 'n' roll, also saw the induction of the Pretenders, Percy Sledge, the O'Jays and Buddy Guy. ""This was a band that wanted to lay claim to this world and the next one, too,"" said Springsteen. Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr, who formed U2 at school in 1977, begin a world tour on 28 March. Introducing the band, Springsteen mocked Bono as the man who ""single-handedly pioneered the Irish mullet"", poking fun at ""one of the best and most endearingly messianic complexes in rock 'n' roll"". But he also spoke of the group's enduring stature, adding that it was the only band of the last 20 years where he knew all four members' names...U2's contemporaries, the Pretenders, led by Chrissie Hynde - took to the stage to perform My City Was Gone with inductee Neil Young. ""We are a tribute band,"" said Hynde, 53. ""We're paying tribute to James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon, without whom we would not have been here,"" she said, referring to the premature deaths of two of the band's guitarists from drug overdoses...Britain's Rod Stewart introduced Percy Sledge, citing his best-known hit When a Man loves a Woman as ""one of the best performances I've ever heard"". Justin Timberlake introduced soul group the O'Jays, a gospel-style quartet from Ohio, who performed a medley of their best-known songs including Back Stabbers, Love Train and For the Love of Money. ""Anyone who's ever written, produced or performed something soulful stands in the shadows of these giants,"" said Timberlake...Joining the ceremony at New York's Waldorf Astoria were legendary R&B star Bo Diddley, who performed with Eric Clapton and Robbie Robertson...Clapton, alongside BB King, also introduced fellow guitarist Buddy Guy and recalled seeing him play as a teenager in England. ""He was for me what Elvis was probably like for other people,"" he said. ""My course was set and he was my pilot,"" said Clapton who joined Guy and King in a performance of Let Me Love You Baby. Also performing at the ceremony was veteran musician Jerry Lee Lewis who continued his reputation as a rowdy piano-pounder despite his 69 years, kicking over his stool and sitting on the piano during a rendition of Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.",entertainment
+"Tough schedule delays Elliot show..Preview performances of the £3m musical Billy Elliot have been delayed to give the child actors a less arduous rehearsal schedule...Director Stephen Daldry made the decision to re-schedule the previews to protect the young stars. Three boys will rotate the demanding role of ballet dancer Billy, which requires them to sing, dance and act. The show's opening night on 12 May at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London remains unaffected by the changes. Preview performances will now be held on 14, 20 and 27 April. ""This is one of the most ambitious projects I have been involved with,"" said Daldry. ""The decision has been made to push back our preview performances in order to give our company, with a cast including 45 children, a little extra time so they are as fully prepared as possible.""..He added: ""The young Billy Elliots in particular, making their professional stage debuts in the West End, will benefit from a little extra time to familiarise themselves with all aspects of the production.""..The three boys playing Billy are James Lomas, 15, George Maguire, 14, and Liam Mower, 12. The other major child parts will also be rotated between young actors. Such are the demands of the show that producers set up a stage school in Newcastle to train potential stars for the show. Child labour laws also mean the young actors can only work for a limited period each week. Adult actors in the show include Tim Healy as Billy's father and Haydn Gwnne as his dance teacher Mrs Wilkinson. Sir Elton John has composed the music. Daldry directed the successful film version of Billy Elliot, adapted from Lee Hall's script. Both were nominated for Oscars, alongside Julie Walters, who played Billy's teacher.",entertainment
+"Singer Ian Brown 'in gig arrest'..Former Stone Roses singer Ian Brown was arrested after a fight during a concert in San Francisco on Tuesday, his spokesman has said...A fan jumped on stage and attacked the singer, who then became involved in a fracas with a security guard, Fiction Records spokesman Paul Smernicki said. He said Brown was arrested at his hotel after the show at the Great American Music Hall but released without charge. San Francisco police said they could find no record of his arrest. Mr Smernicki said he had been told a fan ""rugby-tackled"" the singer during the gig, which resulted in ""pushing and shoving""...Brown then got into a brawl with another man who tried to restrain him - without realising he was a security guard, Mr Smernicki added. The star went off for 15 minutes before returning to finish his set. Police took witness statements and apprehended Brown at his hotel, Mr Smernicki said. But he was released without charge and ""as far as we're aware, that's the end of it"", Mr Smernicki added. A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department said he may have been detained but they could find no record of the incident. Brown, 42, was lead singer with The Stone Roses, one of the most seminal bands in British rock, until they split in 1996. He has since forged a successful solo career, scoring nine UK top 30 singles since 1998. In 1998, he was sentenced to four months in jail for using threatening behaviour towards an aeroplane captain and stewardess.",entertainment
+"No UK premiere for Rings musical..The producers behind the Lord of the Rings musical have abandoned plans to premiere the show in London because no suitable theatre was available...The £11.5m show will make its debut in Toronto in March 2006, after it was found that all three West End theatres with sufficient capacity were booked. The musical is not expected in London before December 2006. Producer Kevin Wallace said it would be ""worth waiting for"". ""It will be like nothing they have ever seen before."" ""I know there will be a lot of disappointed British Tolkien fans who hoped to see the show in London, but we couldn't get a London theatre in time,"" added the British producer. The world premiere of the stage musical, co-produced by Canadian theatrical impresarios David and Ed Mirvish, will take place at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre next year...""Toronto really wanted this premiere. The Tolkien books and films are hugely popular in Canada,"" said Mr Wallace, shortly after signing the deal in Canada. ""We hope the anticipation and excitement over here will create an even bigger buzz by the time we open in London."" Auditions begin in Canada on Thursday, but up to five British actors may join the cast, under a deal struck with Canadian Actors' Equity. The music for the show is being written by Bollywood composer AR Rahman, who was behind Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End musical Bollywood Dreams, and in conjuction with the Finnish group Varttina...""There will be no singing and dancing Hobbits. The music will be in a very traditional mould and draw on ethnic traditions,"" assured Mr Wallace. The musical's British director is Matthew Warchus, best known for staging the worldwide stage hit Art. ""The production will be a hybrid of text, physical theatre, music and spectacle never previously seen on this scale,"" he said. ""Only in the theatre are we actually plunged into the events as they happen. The environment surrounds us and we are in Middle Earth."" New Zealander Peter Jackson took 10 years to bring JRR Tolkien's fantasy trilogy to the big screen, winning Academy Awards for best film and best director for the final film The Return of the King in 2004.",entertainment
+"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.",entertainment
+"Snow Patrol bassist exits group..Snow Patrol had ""no other course of action"" but to ask their co-founder and bassist to leave the band, lead singer Gary Lightbody has said...Mark McClelland had been in the band for more than 10 years since its formation at Dundee University. Lightbody said ""over the last 18 months touring has taken its toll on the rest of the band's relationship with him"". He said: ""This is the hardest decision we have ever had to make and believe us when we say we didn't make it lightly."" The group, originally from Northern Ireland, has only achieved mainstream success in the last year with the single Run and award-winning album Final Straw. In a statement on the band's website, Lightbody said: ""I started the group with Mark 10 years ago and he was a massive part of Snow Patrol and my life throughout that decade.""..He added: ""It got to the stage that things couldn't go on as they were, so we felt there was no other course of action but this. ""I know you will all be distressed and may not understand this news but we had to do what was best for the band."" Snow Patrol are currently working on the follow-up to their breakthrough third album. The band is set to play support to U2 on a number of summer stadium gigs. Last month, they were the big winners in Ireland's top music honours, the Meteor Awards, picking up accolades for best band and album. It followed nominations for the Brit Awards and the Mercury Music Prize. The band formed in 1994 when Lightbody and McClelland met as students at Dundee University.",entertainment
+"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).",entertainment
+"Spider-Man creator wins profits..Spider-Man creator Stan Lee is to get a multi-million dollar windfall after winning a court battle with comic book company Marvel...A judge has upheld Lee's demand for 10% of Marvel's profits from the hugely successful Spider-Man films. Spider-Man and its sequel made $1.6bn (£857m) at box offices worldwide. Of the cut now due to Lee, 82, who created Spider-Man in 1962, his lawyer said: ""It could be tens of millions of dollars, that's no exaggeration."" US District Court Judge Robert W Sweet ruled Lee should get a tenth of profits generated since November 1998 by Marvel TV and movie productions involving the company's characters. Lee took legal action in 2002, saying Marvel shut him out of ""jackpot"" profits from the first blockbuster film...He said the company - where he worked for more than 60 years - had gone back on agreement to give him the 10%. As well as Spider-Man, Lee co-created the Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Daredevil and Fantastic Four characters. He said: ""I am gratified by the judge's decision although, since I am deeply fond of Marvel and the people there, I sincerely regret that the situation had to come to this."" The ruling also means he is entitled to a slice of profits from DVD sales and certain merchandise. Marvel said it would appeal and did not expect the decision to impact on financial forecasts for 2004 and beyond. The New York court did not rule on Lee's claims to a share of profits from some Spider-Man and Hulk movie merchandise, which will be decided at a future trial, Marvel said.",entertainment
+"Fry set for role in Hitchhiker's..Actor Stephen Fry is joining the cast of the forthcoming film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy...Fry will provide the voice of The Guide, an electronic book which accompanies the story's hero Arthur Dent on his travels around the galaxy. Martin Freeman, John Malkovich, Bill Nighy and Alan Rickman are co-starring in the film, due for release in May. The late Douglas Adams' original 1977 scripts have also been turned into a series of successful books...""Being asked to do the voice of The Guide is like having your birthday on Christmas Day, discovering a winning lottery ticket in your stocking and having chocolate poured all over you,"" said Fry, a self-confessed fan of the book. The film's executive producer Robbie Stamp said that Adams, who died in 2001, would have been ""delighted"" with the choice of Fry for the role...""His humour and intelligence are perfect for the voice of The Guide,"" added Mr Stamp. Adams wrote the screenplay based on his book before his premature death, while a new radio series was aired 26 years after the first broadcast and included many of the original cast members. Hollywood star Malkovich will play religious cult leader Humma Kavula, which was especially created by Adams for the new film. Freeman, who starred in hit BBC comedy The Office, will play the role of Arthur Dent, who begins his intergalactic voyage following the destruction of the Earth.",entertainment
+"Bollywood draws global stars..British actress Antonia Bernath is making her debut in Kisna - the Warrior Poet, marking a growing trend for non-Indian stars to appear in Bollywood films...Directed by Bollywood veteran Subhash Ghai, the film is set in the British Raj and Bernath plays an army general's daughter who falls in love with a rural boy, Kisna. ""I liked the fluid nature of film-making. We improvised quite a lot,"" says Bernath. ""At times it felt very chaotic but Mr Ghai was quite clear about what he wanted."" Picked from more than 200 girls in an audition in London, Bernath cut short her education at Bristol's Old Vic Theatre School to take up the opportunity. It is not often that somebody gets to play the lead role straight out of a drama school. She spent three weeks learning Hindi and taking dance lessons. ""Initially, I was a bit sceptical about how people would respond to me,"" Bernath says. ""But I found the Hindi film industry very warm and encouraging. I even had a few offers before the work on Kisna was completed.""..Films are one of India's biggest exports and those like Lagaan and Monsoon Wedding have broken the traditional boundaries of colour and culture. Spurred by this, Bollywood producers are trying to go global in all aspects of film-making, be it technical or artistic...From young heart-throbs like Nick Moran of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to model Sophie Dahl, many non-Indian stars want to make the most of this opportunity. ""Bollywood has truly gone global,"" says Taran Adarsh, editor of Indian film journal Trade Guide. ""Directors are now attempting to woo non-Asian audience to increase their share in the overseas film market."" Kisna has been shot simultaneously in Hindi and English, with the English print shortened by an hour to accommodate the Western audience. The film even has a song composed in English by AR Rahman, the director of the popular West End musical, Bombay Dreams. ""Identification is a popular cinematic device. Use of European or American actors can be viewed as a step in that direction,"" says Adarsh...The cast of Kisna also includes British actors Michael Maloney, Caroline Langrishe and Polly Adams...Another actress, Annabelle Wallace, plays the lead role in a bilingual romantic comedy Dil Jo Bhi Kahey (Whatever the Heart Says), which also stars Indian screen legend Amitabh Bachchan. Actor and Producer Aamir Khan's forthcoming venture The Rising is set against the backdrop of the Indian mutiny of 1857, with British actor Toby Stephens in a key role. But it isn't only the Western actors looking eastwards. Bollywood sweetheart Aishwarya Rai, recently seen in Bride and Prejudice alongside New Zealand actor Martin Henderson, is building her international career. And, many other Bollywood stars have their eyes set on Hollywood. ""Hollywood or Bollywood, it's the box office that determines whether something is a passing phase or a trend,"" says Adarsh...Kisna - the Warrior Poet opens in the UK on 21 January.",entertainment
+"Hollywood hunts hits at Sundance..The Sundance Film Festival, the movie industry's top destination for uncovering the next independent hits and new talent, opens on Thursday...The event will see screen executives decamp from Hollywood to Park City, Utah, for 11 days to search for low-key movies that could make it big in 2005. Open Water, Napoleon Dynamite, Garden State and Super-Size Me were all snapped up at last year's festival. But stars like Keanu Reeves and Pierce Brosnan also have films showing there. The festival is being opened by a screening of quirky comedy Happy Endings, starring former Friends actress Lisa Kudrow and Maggie Gyllenhaal, on Thursday...Kudrow's Friends co-star, David Schwimmer, plays a divorced drunkard in Duane Hopwood, while Brosnan stars as a hit man in comedy The Matador. Keanu Reeves appears in coming-of-age tale Thumbsucker while Kevin Costner and Michael Keaton are among the other big names whose films are involved. Robert Redford founded Sundance in 1981 and it has gone on to showcase future successes such as Reservoir Dogs, The Blair Witch Project and The Full Monty. But it has received criticism that it has become more commercial and mainstream over the years. ""As much as the press argues that Sundance has completely changed, it hasn't changed that much,"" festival director Geoffrey Gilmore said. ""It's still a place for discovery. It's a place for common ground among film-makers and audiences more than it is the celebrity stuff."" Other films generating interest before this year's festival include Hustle & Flow, about an aspiring rapper, The Squid and the Whale, an autobiographical film by writer-director Noah Baumbach, and comedy/drama Pretty Persuasion. It also has two new international cinema competitions.",entertainment
+"Actress Roberts takes spider role..Actress Julia Roberts will play the part of a spider in a new film version of children's classic Charlotte's Web...She will voice Charlotte, who teams up with a girl to save their friend Wilbur the pig, in the story by EB White. The film - a mix of live action and animation - will be Roberts' first project since the birth of her twins, Hazel and Phinnaeus, two months ago. Oprah Winfrey will voice a goose, John Cleese will voice a sheep and Steve Buscemi a rat in the 2006 film...Ten-year-old Dakota Fanning will play Fern, the girl at the centre of the story, in the film to be directed by 13 Going on 30 film-maker Gary Winick. Filming is due to begin in Melbourne, Australia, later this month. Charlotte's Web has sold 45 million copies since it was published in 1952. An animated version was made in 1973 but this will be the first live action film. The actor who will voice Wilbur the pig has yet to be revealed.",entertainment
+"Film production 'falls' 40% in UK..The number of British films produced in the UK fell 40% in 2004, with movies starring Johnny Depp and Jude Law among those affected, Screen Daily has said...Twenty-seven British films were made in the UK last year following a drop in funding, compared with 45 in 2003, according to the trade weekly. It attributed the drop to tighter tax laws and reduced funding from sources such as the National Lottery. UK and US co-productions in Britain fell from 102 in 2003 to 81 last year...Last year the government closed tax loopholes that many film investors had taken advantage of to fund films in the UK. Several projects were shelved as they faced the implications of this clampdown, coupled with the reduction in movie funding from traditional sources including the lottery and Miramax Films. Shooting on period drama Tulip Fever, which was to star Jude Law and Keira Knightley, was postponed indefinitely while shooting of The Libertine starring Johnny Depp was moved to the Isle of Man...""There isn't anything coming in to replace (the funds),"" said The Libertine's executive producer Marc Samuelson. ""We are in a hiatus."" Films with ""medium"" budgets of up to £9m, a similar level to box office hits Vera Drake, Calendar Girls and Enduring Love, are expected to be worst hit by the tax clampdown. The strength of the pound against the dollar is expected to have resulted in a fall in the number of US films shot in the UK during 2004, Screen International added. Big budget co-productions, such as the Harry Potter series, continued to be shot in the UK, however. The UK Film Council said the drop was partly due to 2003 being an especially good year for British film production, when Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Wimbledon and Thunderbirds were all filmed in the UK...""The drop was expected as there was no way 2003's record level of production could be bettered,"" the council's spokesperson said. ""The reduction in indigenous film production in 2004 was due to a variety of factors, including the continuing long-term trend towards co-production of films in more than one country and changes to financing arrangements."" It was ""too early"" to predict whether the downward trend in UK production would continue throughout 2005, the UK Film Council said. In September the government introduced subsidies worth up to £4m per film for medium budget films, under new Treasury measures. It is also due to announce a replacement for UK film tax relief scheme Section 48 in July.",entertainment
+"Fantasy book wins Hollywood deal..A British author has had the film rights to her children's bestseller snapped up for a seven-figure sum, with Ridley Scott set to direct...Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother, a fantasy set 6,000 years ago, is the first in a planned series of six books. Film studio Fox has bought the rights for around $4m (£2.13m) for Scott's company Scott Free to develop. The director said he was ""thrilled"" with the project. ""Wolf Brother is an enchanting book,"" he said. Paver, who lives in London and previously worked as a lawyer, began writing the book in 1982 while studying biochemistry at Oxford University...She was an established author of love stories when she turned the work-in-progress into a children's novel. It was published in 2004, with Paver earning an advance of $5m (£2.8m) - the highest sum ever paid for a debut children's book. Wolf Brother tells the story of Torak, a 12-year-old hunter who lives in the forest. After his father is killed he teams up with a wolf cub and sets out to rid the forest of an evil force. Paver is currently writing the second book in the series. ""Michelle Paver lives and breathes the worlds she writes about,"" said a spokesman for the author. ""I've told her about the film deal but at the moment she is writing the second book and her mind is 6000 years away deep in the primeval forest.""",entertainment
+"The comic book genius of Stan Lee..Stan Lee, the man responsible for a string of comic superheroes that have become household names, has won a court battle for a slice of the profits from the hit Spider-Man movies...Many marvel at the man who gave his characters extraordinary powers and everyday headaches - a formula which revolutionised comics. Born in 1922 to poor working-class Jewish immigrants from Romania, Stan Lieberman, got a job in Timely Publications, a company owned by a relative. He was assigned to the comics division and - thanks to a fertile imagination - rose to editor by the age of 18. For more than 20 years, he was ""the ultimate hack"" - knocking out crime stories, horrors, westerns, anything to sate the appetite of his juvenile readership. Words of more than two syllables were discouraged. Characters were either all good or bad, with no shades of grey. So embarrassed was Lieberman by much of what he was writing that he refused to put his real name on the byline. He assumed the ""dumb name"", Stan Lee, now legally adopted...By the time he was 40, Lee had decided he was too old for the comic game. His British-born wife, Joan, suggested he had nothing to lose and, for his swansong, should write the kind of characters he really wanted to create. After a rival comic had come up with a superteam consisting of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, Timely needed to respond...Lee's answer, in 1961, was the Fantastic Four - a team of astronauts who gained super powers after being bombarded with cosmic rays. They were to change Lee's life, and the comics industry, forever. Lee gave each character individual, everyday teenage problems such as dandruff, ingrown toenails and acne. They would frequently fall out with their parents and each other. The fan letters poured in. Without immediately knowing it, Stan Lee had ushered in the golden age of comics, and his imagination was rekindled. His Marvel universe spawned the new title of Marvel Comics. Soon after, nerdy Peter Parker was transformed - after a bite from an irradiated spider - into someone who could crawl up the sides of New York's skyscrapers. Spider-Man was born. He was to become an icon of modern popular culture. Spidey, as he is affectionately known, had quite extraordinary powers - yet he had problems at work, at home and with his girlfriends. At last, the teenager was no longer just the sidekick, but the main hero. And the hero was no longer just brawn, he had brains too...""Just because he's a hero and has super powers doesn't mean he doesn't have problems,"" Stan Lee told the BBC. The Incredible Hulk, The Mighty Thor, Iron Man and the rest all grappled with problems like drug abuse, bigotry and social inequality. Radically, Lee gave the artists responsible for the comic designs credits for their work. Jack Kirby, Frank Miller, John Romitaand and others achieved cult status in their own right. Other superheroes broke new ground in other ways. Daredevil was blind, Black Panther was black and Silver Surfer pondered the state of humanity. Lee's influence remains. Some years ago the Marvel hero, Northstar, came out of the closet. In its heyday, Marvel was selling 50 million copies a year. Until he retired from editing in 1971, Stan Lee wrote all the copy for Marvel's covers...In 1999, his Stan Lee Media venture, aimed at marrying comic-strips with the internet, went spectacularly wrong. Lee went bankrupt and his business partner landed in prison for fraud. In 2001 though, he started a new company entitled POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment, which is currently developing films and television programmes. His latest project is a superhero based on a real person - Jay J Armes, who has metal claws after losing both hands aged 12 and fights crime with a tiger. But his 40-year-old creations are still as enduring as ever - with X-Men, The Hulk and Daredevil have all been turned into Hollywood action movies in the last five years. But Spider-Man has been the biggest box office hit, with the 2002 original and its 2004 sequel taking almost $1.6bn (£857m) in ticket sales around the world - before DVD and merchandise sales are counted. It seems Stan Lee is as indestructible as his heroes.",entertainment
+"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.",entertainment
+"Carry On star Patsy Rowlands dies..Actress Patsy Rowlands, known to millions for her roles in the Carry On films, has died at the age of 71...Rowlands starred in nine of the popular Carry On films, alongside fellow regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor. She also carved out a successful television career, appearing for many years in ITV's well-loved comedy Bless This House. Rowlands died in Hove on Saturday morning, her agent said...Born in January 1934, Rowlands won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Speech and Drama scholarship when she was just 15...After spending several years at the Players Theatre in London, she made her film debut in 1963 in Tom Jones, directed by Tony Richardson. She made her first Carry On film in 1969 where she appeared in Carry On Again Doctor. Rowlands played the hard-done-by wife or the put-upon employee as a regular Carry On star. She also appeared in Carry On at your Convenience, Carry On Matron and Carry On Loving, as well as others...In recent years she appeared in BBC mini-series The Cazalets and played Mrs Potts in the London stage version of Beauty and the Beast. Agent Simon Beresford said: ""She was just an absolutely favourite client She never complained about anything, particularly when she was ill, she was an old trouper. ""She was of the old school - she had skills from musical theatre and high drama, that is why she worked with the great and the good of directors. ""She didn't mind always being recognised for the Carry On films because she thoroughly enjoyed making them. She was a really lovely person and she will be much missed."" Her last appearance on stage was as Mrs Pearce in the award-winning production of My Fair Lady at the National Theatre. Previously married, she leaves one son, Alan. Her funeral will be a private, family occasion, with a memorial service at a later date.",entertainment
+"Tautou 'to star in Da Vinci film'..French actress Audrey Tautou, star of hit film Amelie, will play the female lead in the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, it has been reported...The movie version of Dan Brown's best-selling novel is being directed by Ron Howard and also stars Tom Hanks. Tautou will play Hanks' code-cracking partner, according to various newspapers. She is currently starring in A Very Long Engagement, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Jeunet was also responsible for directing Tautou in Amelie in 2001, which launched the actress into the mainstream...She also starred as the lead role in critically-acclaimed film Dirty Pretty Things in 2002. Oscar-winning director Ron Howard chose Tautou for the part, preferring a French actress to a big name Hollywood star. UK actress Kate Beckinsale had been widely tipped as a possibility for the role alongside Vanessa Paradis and Juliette Binoche. The thriller upon which the movie is based has sold more than 17 million copies and is centred on a global conspiracy surrounding the Holy Grail mythology. The Louvre Museum, scene of the gruesome murder at the beginning of the novel, recently gave permission for filming to take place there, showbusiness newspaper Variety reported. The $100m movie will be produced by Columbia/Sony Pictures and is due for release on May 19, 2006 in the United States and France.",entertainment
+"Double win for Sea Inside..Spanish movie The Sea Inside has been named best picture and star Javier Bardem best actor at the Bangkok International Film Festival...Based on the true story of a paralysed man's battle to end his life, The Sea Inside was best foreign language film at the 2005 Golden Globe Awards. Annette Bening and Ana Geislerova shared the best actress award at the Bangkok festival. This year's event was scaled down following the Asian tsunami disaster...Falling Down and The Phantom of the Opera director Joel Schumacher won a lifetime achievement award while Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai was honoured for promoting Asian cinema. ""It's a great honour, I want to share this honour with my Thai colleagues,"" Wong said. French writer Christophe Barratie and Korean writer Park Chan-Chook shared the best screenplay award for Les Choristes and Old Boy respectively. Now in its third year, the Bangkok International Film Festival is donating profits from ticket sales to the tsunami relief fund.",entertainment
+"BBC denies Blackadder TV comeback..The BBC has said there are no plans in the pipeline for a new series of hit comedy Blackadder, which ended in 1989...Tony Robinson, who played the servant Baldrick, told ITV1's This Morning the show's star, Rowan Atkinson, was ""more keen than he has been in the past"". Robinson added he would ""love"" to do another series, each of which was set in a different era, ranging from the 15th century to World War I. But the BBC said on Thursday there were no plans for a comeback...In the final series all the main characters were killed off charging towards German lines after being ordered out of their trench. The poignant finale was later voted the best farewell episode of a TV series. A host of other UK actors, including Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Miranda Richardson, also appeared in the show. Blackadder returned for a one-off special filmed to celebrate the arrival of the millennium in 1999. It was shown at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich before being screened on BSkyB.",entertainment
+"Corbett attacks 'dumbed-down TV'..Ronnie Corbett has joined fellow comedy stars Victoria Wood and David Jason in attacking the declining standards of British television programmes...Speaking to the Radio Times, the Two Ronnies star said there is too much bad language and reality TV. ""You get fed up watching shows with not much care and love,"" he complained. Corbett, soon to reunite with Ronnie Barker for a new Two Ronnies series, also criticised quiz shows like the BBC's They Think It's All Over. ""It's just laughing at each other and thinking, 'Aren't we clever?'"" said the 74-year-old comedian. Corbett is the latest comedy star to bemoan the ""dumbing down"" of modern TV programmes. In an interview published in the Radio Times in January, Victoria Wood slated comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for his character Ali G's ""horrible"" brand of ""victim"" humour...""With so many good writers and good performers, it's a shame people can't just write a script and have other people learn it,"" she said. And last week Only Fools and Horses star David Jason criticised British TV for being ""too safe and too cheap"". ""We've got to be careful not to dumb down for the audience,"" he said. ""They shouldn't be sitting at home on the sofa vegetating."" Corbett said he and Barker were always mindful of their family audience while making The Two Ronnies. ""Our material was good-natured,"" he said. ""We knew what would upset the average man in the street. ""There's a lot of swearing on TV today. They even have documentaries with the f-word.""..Corbett goes on to criticise ""reality programmes where they put people in a house for a fortnight and film them doing everything"". The Two Ronnies ran from 1971 to 1987 and attracted 17 million viewers at its peak. Its bespectacled stars will return later this year in The Two Ronnies Sketchbook, which will combine classic sketches with newly recorded material. Corbett claims he and Barker differ from today's celebrities in that they did not allow their success to go to their heads. ""We were never temperamental, fractious or walked out slamming doors,"" he said. ""We were fussy though,"" he added. ""We wanted everything done properly.""",entertainment
+"Smith loses US box office crown..New comedy Diary of a Mad Black Woman has ended Will Smith's reign at the top of the North American box office...Based on a play by Tyler Perry, who also stars as a gun-toting grandmother, the film took $22.7m (£11.8m) in its first three days of release. After topping the chart for two consecutive weeks, Smith's romantic comedy Hitch dropped to second place with takings of $21m (£10.9m). Keanu Reeves' supernatural thriller Constantine dropped a place to three. Based on the Hellblazer comics, the film took $11.8m (£6.1m) on its second week of release. Two new entries came next in the chart, with Wes Craven's horror movie Cursed, about a werewolf loose in Los Angeles, in fourth position with $9.5m (£4.9m)...Action comedy Man of the House, starring Tommy Lee Jones as a Texas ranger assigned to protect a cheerleader squad, came in at fifth with $9m (£4.6m). Clint Eastwood's boxing drama Million Dollar Baby - recipient of four Academy Awards, including best picture - continued to perform well in sixth place with takings of $7.2m (£3.74m). Martin Scorsese's Hollywood biopic The Aviator - which won five Oscars, all in minor categories - held on in ninth place. The low-budget feature Diary of a Mad Black Woman stars Kimberly Elise as a woman thrown out on the streets by her philandering husband. With the help of her grandmother Madea (one of three roles played by Perry), she plots revenge. Perry, 34, is one of America's best-known black playwrights but is a newcomer to film. Once made homeless after investing his own money in unsuccessful productions of his work, he now lives in the mansion in which Diary of a Mad Black Woman was filmed.",entertainment
+"BBC to pour £9m into new comedy..The BBC is to invest £9m in developing new comedy and entertainment programmes outside London...The changes come as part of a shake-up of several departments to create shows that appeal to a wider range of people. Changes are also being made to teams in the factual and daytime departments outside London. Director of television Jana Bennett said the changes were about ""getting the best ideas on screen as efficiently and effectively as we can"". ""The new structure in each genre is designed to ensure that happens,"" she said...A number of new roles are being created in each department, including a head of comedy commissioning based in Glasgow. The new person will be in charge of the £9m budget and their role will be to develop shows outside the capital, both within the BBC and with independent production companies. Jane Lush, controller of entertainment commissioning, said, ""Entertainment and comedy are incredibly important to our audiences; I'm confident these changes will help us get the very best programmes on screen."" Similar positions will also be created in the other departments, with the new commissioning editor for documentaries based in Bristol and the daytime commissioning editor in Birmingham. Ms Bennett said the new roles would benefit those making programmes within the BBC as well as those making shows for the channel independently. ""A strong independent sector and a flourishing in-house production base are not mutually exclusive and will stimulate the competition that will deliver the best ideas to the audience,"" she said.",entertainment
+"How the Academy Awards flourished..The 77th annual Academy Awards are taking place on 27 February with the stars of the movie-making world once again holding their breath to discover who will be showered with the honours this year. But from humble beginnings, how did the modern day extravaganza become the behemoth it is today?..HOW IT ALL STARTED The first Academy Awards were handed out in 1929 at a comparatively low-key dinner held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel - just over the road from their modern day home...Just 250 guests attended with ticket prices at $5...The first film to win was Wings, which starred Clara Bow in the only silent movie to win the big award. For the first 10 years or so, the winners list was handed to the newspapers so they could publish them at 11pm, but in 1940 the winners were published in the Los Angeles Times at 8.45pm meaning guests entering the ceremony knew already knew the results. As a result the sealed envelope system was introduced, leading to the secrecy and suspense-filled night that happens today. WHEN AND WHERE The tradition of holding the awards at a banquet continued until 1942 but with increasing interest came a growing guest list and it became impractical to host it as a dinner...The ceremonies were then transferred to theatres with the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre the first to host the expanded event. Other venues included the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Shrine Auditorium. They are now held at the Kodak Theatre, which opened in 2002 just across the road from its original home and holds 6,000 people. Until 1954 they were held on a Thursday, then swapped around from Monday to Wednesday before Sunday night was settled on, although the month swapped from May to April to March and now its current month of February. The first televised ceremony was in 1953, with Bob Hope as the MC. WHO WAS OSCAR? There is no solid evidence as to how the trophy became to be known as Oscar...One popular story is that Academy librarian Margaret Herrick said the statue looked like her uncle Oscar. A journalist apparently overheard this conversation and used the phrase in an article...The first time it is thought to have been used in print was when columnist Sidney Skolsky used it to describe Katherine Hepburn's first best actress win in 1934. The Academy officially adopted the nickname in 1939. The trophy was designed by MGM art director Cedric Gibbons. Since its inception 2,530 Oscars have been handed out. In support of the war effort, the Academy handed out plaster Oscar statuettes during WWII. After the war, winners exchanged the plaster awards for the real thing. Fifty-five statues were stolen in en route to the awards in 2000, 52 were recovered nine days later. Winners were unaffected as a new batch was rushed out. WHO SITS IN JUDGEMENT? The Academy was set up in 1927 as a non-profit organisation with 36 members from different film disciplines. Douglas Fairbanks Sr was the first president and oversaw the first awards. There are now 5,700 members of the Academy - with membership by invitation only to those who are seen to have achieved distinction in the movies and are therefore seen as fit to judge their peers. Some of the criteria for admittance includes: film credits that reflect the high standards of the Academy, receipt of an Academy Award nomination, achievement of unique distinction, earning of special merit, or making an outstanding contribution to film. THE STARS WHO LEFT EMPTY-HANDED While many of the biggest films and movie-makers have been honoured by the Academy, there is still surprise at those that did not receive any nominations that later went on to become classics...Among the overlooked films were Hobson's Choice, Dirty Harry, The 39 Steps, The Searchers and King Kong. Actors that failed to win for their iconic roles included Al Jolson in the Jazz Singer (1927), Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1944), Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain (1952) and Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men (1957). Alfred Hitchcock also failed to win an award despite five nominations. His enduring influence on the horror genre was finally recognised with an honorary gong in 1968. THE SHOW ALWAYS GOES ON Not even war has halted the glittering Hollywood event. There were calls for it to be cancelled in 2003 during the war in Iraq, but as it didn't stop during World War II or the Vietnam war...Documentary winner Michael Moore ensured nobody forgot about the Iraq war though and used his acceptance speech to criticise the American invasion. The ceremony was muted with the glitz turned down and many female stars opting for demure dark dresses. The ceremony has been postponed on three occasions. Los Angeles floods in 1938 saw it put back a week. The death of Martin Luther King saw it postponed for two days in 1968 as a mark of respect and there was a 24-hour delay following the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. CONTROVERSIES AND OTHER GAFFES Three people have refused Oscars, including actor George C Scott who said the whole thing was ""demeaning"". Writer Dudley Nichols refused his Academy Award in 1935 for his screenplay for The Insider because the Writers' Guild was striking at the time. Marlon Brando turned down his best actor Oscar for The Godfather in 1973 in protest as Hollywood's apparent discrimination against Native American people. He sent along a woman called Sacheen Littlefeather to collect his award. She was later revealed to be Native American actress Maria Cruz...The following year Robert Opal interrupted proceedings when he streaked, flashing a peace sign as well as everything else. The TV network managed to pan away and avoid too much nudity. Opal was murdered in 1979. Frank Capra was the butt of one major gaffe in 1934 when the host opened out best picture envelope and declared ""come on up and get it, Frank"" to which Frank Capra bounded up to the stage before realising that he had meant Frank Lloyd had won for Cavalcade...Capra vowed he would never to go the awards again but went the following year to collect his award for It Happened One Night.",entertainment
+"Hoffman hits out over modern film..Hollywood legend Dustin Hoffman has hit out at the quality of current films and theatre productions...The star of Rain Man and Tootsie said the film culture was ""in the craphouse"" at a press conference on Tuesday. The 67-year-old also said he stopped working a few years ago because he lost his ""spark"" for acting. Hoffman is in the UK to publicise his new comedy, Meet the Fockers, which also stars Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand and Ben Stiller...He said: ""You go to the cinema and you realise you're watching the third act. There is no first or second act. ""There is this massive film-making where you spend this incredible amount of money and play right to the demographic. ""You can tell how much money the film is going to make by how it does on the first weekend. ""The whole culture is in the craphouse. It's not just true in the movies, it's also true in the theatre. ""Broadway, and now London is the same, special effects are in great demand. It's not a good time culturally.""..Hoffman also said he stopped working a few years ago and moved into directing and writing. He said: ""I just lost that spark I always had. ""A couple of years ago I didn't like the parts I was getting. ""Studios weren't interested in the kind of films that people of my generation wanted to see. ""I thought I would stop and just try writing and directing. I wasn't aware of the depression that set in."" Recently, Hoffmann has returned to film, with roles in I Heart Huckabees, Finding Neverland and now Meet the Fockers, which is the sequel to Meet the Parents. Meet The Fockers opens in the UK on Friday.",entertainment
+"Johnny Depp: The acting outlaw..Johnny Depp, whose latest role was Peter Pan creator JM Barrie in Finding Neverland, is celebrated as one of Hollywood's most maverick talents. Depp has become an unlikely major star, given his preference for taking dark and idiosyncratic roles instead of surefire box office hits. He has had a long-running working relationship with the equally unconventional director Tim Burton. Depp was born in Kentucky in 1963 and at first wanted to be a rock star, playing in a number of bands and supporting acts such as Iggy Pop and The B-52s in Florida. On a visit to Los Angeles, his former wife introduced him to actor Nicolas Cage...In 1984 he started his film career playing a doomed teenager in horror film Nightmare On Elm Street. Two years later he played a soldier in Oliver Stone's Vietnam epic Platoon. But it was TV that first made Depp a star. He played undercover cop Tommy Hanson in the US series 21 Jump Street for three years from 1987...In 1990 he began his partnership with Burton in the dark fairy tale Edward Scissorhands, about a young man with blades for hands. He won plaudits in 1993 for the downbeat film What's Eating Gilbert Grape, where he played a sensitive youth looking after an overweight mother and a retarded younger brother, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Another role under Burton, Ed Wood, starred Depp as the crazed cult film-maker Wood, in 1994. He played a much more serious, sensitive role in his next major film, Donnie Brasco, where he portrayed an undercover cop infiltrating a mafia ring. In 1997 he directed his only film to date - The Brave, the story of an Indian man offered money to appear in a snuff film...Two years later he played Hunter S Thompson in Terry Gilliam's ambitious but poorly-received big screen adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He worked again with Tim Burton in the 1999 horror film Sleepy Hollow, and appeared opposite Dame Judi Dench and Juliette Binoche in Chocolat. His performance in Pirates of the Caribbean, which earned him Golden Globe and Bafta nominations, had many critics thinking he based it upon the mannerisms of his friend, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. His latest role in Finding Neverland explored JM Barrie's relationship with Sylvia (Kate Winslet) and her children. Depp's charismatic performance drew an audience of adults and children alike into Barrie's vivid imagination, and he was called the ""fifth child of the group"" by the film's director Marc Forster...He has two children of his own with French singer Vanessa Paradis, having previously been in a long-term relationship with British model Kate Moss. The theme of children's literature in Depp's career - and his long association with Tim Burton - are set to continue in his next role, playing Willy Wonka in a remake of Roald Dahl's classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. British TV comedy fans might also remember Depp's guest role in the final episode of BBC sketch programme The Fast Show, cited as his favourite show. It was another surprise move in Depp's varied and intriguing career.",entertainment
+"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.",entertainment
+"Roxy Music on Isle of Wight bill..Roxy Music will appear at June's Isle of Wight music festival, along with Morrissey, Supergrass and Idlewild...REM have already been confirmed as headliners for the three-day event, which takes place from 10-12 June. Original band members Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzerana, Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson will take to the stage on the Saturday night of the festival. The band are also working in the studio on new material, their first since the 1982 album Avalon. Roxy Music were formed in 1971 by Ferry, Mackay and Brian Eno, with Manzanera joining the following year. Their first hit was 1972's Virginia Plain, with other hits including Street Life, Love Is The Drug and the 1981 John Lennon cover, Jealous Guy. Roxy Music's back catalogue was re-released in 2000, leading to the band undertaking a world tour in 2001. Morrissey will also play on Saturday at the festival, while Supergrass and Idlewild have been confirmed for the Friday.",entertainment
+"Music mogul Fuller sells company..Pop Idol supremo Simon Fuller has sold his 19 Entertainment company to an US entrepreneur in a $156m (£81.5m) deal...Robert Sillerman's Sports Entertainment Enterprises, which is to be renamed CFX, recently also bought an 85% share in the estate of Elvis Presley. Mr Fuller has been appointed to the CFX board and will plan and implement the company's creative strategy. The 19 firm handles a roster of music artists, TV shows and PR strategies for stars including the Beckhams. The deal sees Mr Fuller receive £64.5m in cash and about 1.9 million shares in Sports Entertainment. There will also be a further £19.2m in either cash or stocks by the end of the financial year in June. Mr Fuller has signed a long-term agreement with the company which will see him continue to expand and develop entertainment brands. He said: ""This is a hugely exciting new partnership for myself and 19 Entertainment...""CKX will provide 19 with a powerful platform for global growth and allow us to fully take advantage of all the amazing opportunities that lie ahead. I cannot wait to get started.""..Mr Fuller was the creative drive behind Pop Idol and its US offspring American Idol. 19 Management runs the careers of many of its successful contestants including Will Young, Gareth Gates and Kelly Clarkson. The company was set up 15 years ago by Mr Fuller, taking the name from his first successful single - 19 by Paul Hardcastle. Fuller was the driving force behind the Spice Girls phenomenon, using canny marketing and catchy pop songs to secure their place as the most lucrative girl group in history. He then put together S Club 7, who had their own TV show as well as a music career. Mr Sillerman's deal to buy the Presley estate sees him control the operation of Graceland, as well as money from the late star's music and films. Presley's daughter Lisa Marie retains possession of Graceland and many of her father's ""personal effects"".",entertainment
+"Johnny Cash manager Holiff dies..The former manager of Johnny Cash, Saul Israel Holiff, has died at the age of 79, his family said...Mr Holiff, who was also a concert promoter, managed Cash's career between 1960 and 1973, quitting when he thought the singer's career had peaked. ""I was guilty for underestimating him repeatedly,"" he once said. The Canadian music manager, who also managed Tommy Hunter and the Statler Brothers, had been in declining health, according to his family. An entrepreneur from an early age, Mr Holiff served as a rear air gunner in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, afterwards setting up a drive-in restaurant. He briefly dabbled in acting, before setting up offices in Nashville and Los Angeles for his concert and artist promotion business. In 1970, RPM weekly magazine presented Holiff with a special award as the Canadian music industry's man of the year. Mr Holiff retired when he was in his late 40s, returning to education as a mature student at the University of Victoria, where he graduated with a degree in history. He passed away on 17 March. According to his wishes, there will be no funeral service.",entertainment
+"UK 'world's biggest music buyer'..UK consumers are the biggest music buyers in the world, according to new figures released on Tuesday by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI)...But global sales of recorded music were flat in 2004, with growing sales in DVD music videos offset by online and physical piracy in major markets. The UK music industry recorded an overall 3% increase in volume sales, mostly due to its robust albums market. However, world music sales declined by 1.3% to $33.6 billion (£17.7 billion). The UK CD albums market grew by 4.5% in 2004 with a record 174.6 million units sold. On average every Briton buys 3.2 CDs per person per year...Around 26,000 albums are released in the UK each year, making Britain second only to the US in terms of the number of releases. Overall sales were driven by new UK-signed artists such as Keane, Katie Melua and Scissor Sisters, whose debut album sold almost 1.6 million copies in the UK. ""A slew of great new British artists have met UK music fans' demand for great music,"" said BPI chairman Peter Jameson. The best-selling album globally was Usher's Confessions - one of eight albums to sell more than five million copies in 2004...The growth in the DVD market and a sharp increase in sales of digital music ensured a strong market in the US. The total number of tracks downloaded last year were up more than tenfold on 2003. Digital sales in the US in the first two months of 2005 are already more than double that of the same period in 2004...However, some markets in Continental Europe and Asia - notably Sweden, Finland, France, Spain and South Korea - have been drastically hit by internet piracy. Australia, Italy and the Netherlands also saw a decline. ""On the positive side digital sales are booming,"" said John Kennedy, chief executive of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI). ""However, commercial piracy and illegal file-sharing are continuing to depress our markets. ""The priority in the coming year is to step up the advance of legitimate digital sales and sustain our anti-piracy efforts."" ""The main choice today's music fan now has to make is whether to get music legally or illegally,"" added Mr Jameson.",entertainment
+"Pixies take on Reading and Leeds..Pixies, Foo Fighters and Iron Maiden will headline this summer's Leeds and Reading festivals...The trio of rock heavyweights will top the bill for the three-day events at Bramham Park, near Wetherby, and at Richfield Avenue, Reading. They are the Pixies' and Iron Maiden's only UK festival gigs, while Foo Fighters are also at T In The Park. The Killers, Razorlight and Queens of the Stone Age are also playing the twin festivals, to be held on 26-28 August. Other acts in this year's line-up include The Charlatans, Marilyn Manson and Kings of Leon. Pete Doherty's band Babyshamblers will appear on the NME/Radio One stage along with Kasabian, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Bloc Party...Organiser Mean Fiddler said more acts were still to be confirmed for the summer event. ""We are all very excited to be going back to Reading and intend to have a fantastic time,"" said Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson. ""We're sure fans will too."" It will the first time the veteran British metal band have played Reading in 23 years. At Leeds, Iron Maiden will headline the first day of the festival on the Friday, Pixies will follow on Saturday and the Foo Fighters will close the event on Sunday. The Pixies will headline the first day of Reading, while Foo Fighters will play on Sunday and Iron Maiden will close the event. Weekend tickets are now on sale priced at £125 each.",entertainment
+"Vera Drake leads UK Oscar hopes..Mike Leigh's film Vera Drake will lead British hopes at this year's Academy Awards after getting three nominations...Imelda Staunton was nominated for best actress for her role in the abortion drama, while Leigh received nods for best director and original screenplay. Kate Winslet was also nominated in the best actress category for her role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And Clive Owen and Sophie Okonedo both got nominated for supporting roles in Closer and Hotel Rwanda respectively. Owen has already been made bookmakers' favourite for best supporting actor for the role in Closer that has already clinched him a Golden Globe award...And it is the first nomination for actress Okonedo, chosen for her performance in Hotel Rwanda, about the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It is also a debut nomination for Staunton, 49, who told BBC News 24 she had not thought the film would appeal to Academy voters. ""It was an extraordinary time making the film and I can't believe what has happened this morning,"" she said. ""I hope it just shows Mike up to be the extraordinary filmmaker he is. ""We are also dealing with a very difficult subject matter and it is amazing to have it accepted in this way."" Leigh, who had previously received three Oscar nominations for Secrets and Lies and Topsy Turvy, told BBC News 24 the latest success was ""amazing"". He said: ""We hoped that Imelda Staunton would get a nomination but I never expected to get director and screenplay. It's just absolutely wonderful...""I think people are aware that it's about life - and I hope it is the warmth and compassion that really talks to people."" Winslet said she was ""ecstatic"" about the fourth nomination of her career. ""Being nominated means so much to me. To be nominated for a film that was released a while ago, I feel so honoured and overwhelmed,"" she said. John Woodward, chief executive of the UK Film Council, said it was ""extremely heartening"" to see British filmmaking talent recognised on the global stage. ""Britain has a hugely talented industry and these nominations show why National Lottery investment in film pays major dividends for our culture and economy."" Among a total of 24 British nominees, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Charles Hart are up for best original song for Learn To Be Lonely, from The Phantom of the Opera movie...Cinematographer John Mathieson, who was nominated for Gladiator in 2001, is also up for The Phantom of the Opera. And Finding Neverland has garnered two more nominations for Brits. Gemma Jackson, who has also worked on Bridget Jones's Diary and Iris, is up for art direction while costume designer Alexandra Byrne, whose previous films have included Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Elizabeth, is in the running. The UK has two contenders in the best live action short film category. Wasp was made by ex-children's TV presenter Andrea Arnold while Little Terrorist is the work of Ashvin Kumar. This year's awards will be handed out in Hollywood on 27 February.",entertainment
+"Moreno debut makes Oscar mark..Catalina Sandino Moreno has joined a rare group of actresses who have been nominated for an Oscar for starring in a foreign language film...The Colombian-born actress was the final hope for director Joshua Marston, who scoured the US and Colombia for a lead for Maria Full of Grace. The film sees the 23-year-old play a teenage drug mule who smuggles heroin by swallowing pellets in condoms. Plaudits have been raining down on her for her gritty performance, making it all the more surprising that this is her first film. Her previous acting experience was in amateur productions in her home city of Bogota at the Ruben Di Pietro theatre academy. She has already received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Awards leading actress category but these rarely overlap with Academy Awards, instead recognising quirkier, low-budget films. And at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival the jury could not choose between her and Charlize Theron's Oscar winning performance in Monster so gave them a tied award. Sandino Moreno is now being regarded as one of the most promising actresses around at the moment. But she is taking her time committing to her next project, hoping to land a strong Spanish script and would love to be able to work with directors Pedro Almodovar or Alejandro Amenabar.",entertainment
+"Bening makes awards breakthrough..Film actress Annette Bening is up for an Oscar for her starring role in the award-winning film Being Julia...Bening, who was born in Texas in 1958, has gained prominence for a string of key roles. Although an Oscar has so far eluded her, her status as one of Hollywood's favourite actresses remains solid. One of the biggest Oscars buzzes in recent years was for Bening's role as troubled Carolyn Burnham in 1999's American Beauty. But her deliciously neurotic portrayal of surburban life turning sour was overlooked in favour of Hilary Swank's leading role in Boys Don't Cry. After opening her career in the theatre - and gaining a Tony Award nomination in 1986 - Bening had a low-key spell in television. She then made her film debut as a sex-starved wife in 1988's The Great Outdoors, opposite comics Dan Akroyd and John Candy...Following a cameo in Postcards From The Edge, Bening's breakthrough role came in 1990, playing seductive con artist Myra Langtry in The Grifters - a role that won her an Oscar nomination. Despite some rave reviews, Bening did not win the best supporting actress Academy Award...However the high-profile performance enabled Bening to capture roles in a number of big budget Hollywood productions, co-starring with some of Hollywood's greatest players, including Robert De Niro and Harrison Ford. But it was her role opposite Warren Beatty in 1991 gangster flick Bugsy which had the greatest impact. Bening played Virginia Hill, another role which won her high critical acclaim, but the film only picked up two of a staggering 12 Oscar nominations...Bugsy was the start of a very significant liaison for Bening - she married Beatty, with whom she had a child as the couple promoted the film in Europe. The couple now have four children together. A pair of contrasting yet successful performances peppered Bening's career in the mid-1990s. She played Michael Douglas' opposite number in romantic comedy The American President, and as a ""fiery"" Queen Elizabeth I in a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III...Bening was the first choice to play the female lead in American Beauty, director Sam Mendes' film debut which was a critical and commercial success - but the actress had to be content with a Bafta award for her strong performance. But current film Being Julia has made Bening an award-winning actress rather than the perennial nominee, with success at the Golden Globes. The witty tale of revenge and love set in 1930s London sees the eponymous theatrical diva - played by Bening - grow tired of her success and fall for a young American - and could be the role which finally wins her the coveted Academy Award.",entertainment
+"Oscars steer clear of controversy..The Oscars nominations list has left out some of the most controversial films of the past year in favour of safer, less contentious cinema...If best film nominees were drawn on the basis of column inches, two of the front-runners would have had to be Michael Moore's Bush-baiting documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. Both films polarised opinion but had critics talking, and the public turning up to see them - Fahrenheit 9/11 breaking US box office records for a documentary, and The Passion of the Christ making more than US$370m (£196m) in the US alone. But this year's Academy Awards have shied away from the big name controversies, with The Passion of the Christ - a film accused of being anti-Semitic - receiving nominations only in the 'minor' categories of cinematography, makeup and musical score...Fahrenheit 9/11 has also been overlooked, despite winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2004...Moore's caustic documentary may have been affected by its distributors' decision to enter it in the best picture category, rather than best documentary, says Tim Dams, the news editor of trade magazine Screen International. But he also believes the strong political viewpoint of Moore's film does not sit well with the Academy. ""If you look at past Oscar winners and nominees, the very conservative Oscar voters tend to go for very conservative, epic-style pictures. Fahrenheit 9/11 didn't really fit in to that category. ""They tend to go for films like Titanic, Gladiator, and the Lord of the Rings, films with scale that often aren't too contentious,"" he said. While he said the Oscar voting panel were not ""snubbing"" Moore's film, he thought it was unlikely a documentary could ever seriously compete in a best film category. ""I think it's more a misjudgement by the people putting it out rather than a deliberate snub,"" he said...The problem with Mel Gibson's film, he believed, was that the voting panel may have been cautious in nominating a film with dialogue in Aramaic, an ancient Middle Eastern language...""Hollywood doesn't tend to like foreign-language films - no-one's ever tried doing a film in a dead language,"" he said. But aside from these two films, some potentially contentious pictures have won nominations. The German film The Downfall, a biopic tracing the final days of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in his Berlin bunker, has been recognised in the best foreign film category. The film has caused some controversy in showing Hitler as a fallible but human man, rather than a semi-mythical, historical monster. But Mr Dams said: ""It's not an inflammatory film. It has done very well in Germany, and it's a film that portrays Hitler as a human rather than some kind of devil or monster."" Another 'contentious' film, Mr Dams said, has gained a nomination in the best documentary section through the force of its charm...Independent film-maker Morgan Spurlock may have forced fast-food giant McDonalds to withdraw its 'super size' portions in the US after he went on a month-long diet eating nothing but McDonalds meals - and filmed his progress...The film has been a hit around the world. Mr Dams said: ""It's a political film, but it's quite fun and punky and well-paced. ""Morgan Spurlock is a really likeable guy. It's a very accessible film, and it doesn't beat you over the head with its views. ""While in Fahrenheit 9/11 there are moments of comedy, I think the way that Super Size Me is put together - the fact it's a very likeable film - means it's won through on charm."" Dam's pick at this year's Oscars? The Aviator, Martin Scorsese's biopic of aviation pioneer and Hollywood player Howard Hughes. Tinseltown, it seems, likes nothing more than a picture about one of its own.",entertainment
+"Kidman wins photographer battle..Actress Nicole Kidman has won a restraining order against two paparazzi photographers who she claims left her fearful of leaving her Sydney mansion...The Oscar-winning star took action against Jamie Fawcett and Ben McDonald after a bugging device was found outside her home earlier this week. Lawyers for the pair denied allegations they had planted the device. The Australian actress is currently in Sydney to film her latest movie, Eucalyptus, with Russell Crowe. Kidman was prompted to take action following a reported high-speed car chase with members of the paparazzi in Sydney last weekend...According to local newspaper the Daily Telegraph, the incident involved paparazzi driving through red lights and on the wrong side of the road in pursuit of Kidman's vehicle. Lawyers for Mr Fawcett and Mr McDonald denied that the pair were involved in the chase. Kidman sought the ""apprehended violence"" orders - normally used in Australia in cases of domestic violence and similar incidents - after being advised to do so by local police. ""Nicole would like to make it clear that she acknowledges she is a public figure and that reporters and photographers have a job to do and she respects that,"" said Kidman's publicist Wendy Day. ""However, these are specific actions against two individuals who, over a period of time, have caused her to feel threatened, intimidated and unable to leave her home without fearing for her safety."" Magistrate Lee Gilmore, who issued the restraining order at Waverley Local Court in Sydney, said she understood the photographers were entitled to earn a living but there had to be limits to their behaviour. ""Miss Kidman says she's willing to put up with some of it, but it's gone beyond that,"" she said. ""I do believe the allegation in relation to the driving is a serious issue.""",entertainment
+"Bookmakers back Aviator for Oscar..The Aviator has been tipped by UK bookmakers as the favourite to win the best film award at this year's Oscars...Ray star Jamie Foxx is clear favourite in the best actor category while Million Dollar Baby's Hilary Swank is tipped to win the best actress prize. Bookmakers predict Cate Blanchett will be named best supporting actress. William Hill and Ladbrokes have given The Aviator 4/9 and 8/13 odds of winning best film, with Million Dollar Baby in second place at 9/4...Bet Direct and Bet 365 also tip The Aviator, with the majority of bookmakers regarding Finding Neverland as the outsider. The Aviator is also widely tipped to win the best director prize for Martin Scorsese. British star Clive Owen is second favourite at William Hill to take the best supporting actor award, for his performance in Closer. The favourite in that category is Sideways star Thomas Hayden Church. Vera Drake star Imelda Staunton has 5/1 odds of winning the best actress Oscar at Bet 365 and William Hill, ahead of fellow UK star Kate Winslet who has odds of 25/1 at William Hill...Mike Leigh is the outsider in the best director category for Vera Drake, a position he holds jointly with Ray's Taylor Hackford at bookmakers VC Bet. This year's Academy Awards will be handed out in Hollywood on 27 February. X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne will present Sky television's live coverage of the event. Meanwhile, Clive Owen's best supporting actor nomination has led a bookmaker to shorten his odds of becoming the next James Bond. He has moved from 4/1 to 5/2 favourite to play 007, with Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor joint second favourite. ""Clive Owen's nomination has sparked a betting frenzy from James Bond fans, who feel that his heightened global recognition will have done his chances of becoming the next Bond a world of good,"" said William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams.",entertainment
+"Van Gogh festival film withdrawn..Murdered director Theo van Gogh's controversial film Submission has been pulled from the Rotterdam Film Festival because of security fears...It was one of three of his works to be shown as part of a freedom of expression event in tribute to the late film-maker's life. The film is critical of the treatment of women under Islam. Its TV screening is thought to have led to his murder. The 10-day Dutch festival begins on Wednesday. Submission was made with liberal Somali-Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali and was due to be shown on 30 January. Van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death in November 2004 several months after receiving death threats following Submission's first broadcast on Dutch television. Two of Van Gogh's other films will be shown as planned, including the theatrical world premiere of his last feature 06/05...Festival director Sandra den Hamer said: ""The festival reflects what happens around us and within cinema itself."" The festival opens with the French film The 10th District Court, Moments of Trials made by Raymond Depardon. The event sees 14 films competing to win three Top Tiger Awards which aim to introduce promising new talent. New sections added to this year's festival include Cinema of the Future and Cinema of the World, with special focus on Russian and south-east Asian productions. There is also an Iraqi-German offering entitled Underexposure, which looks at life in Iraq after Saddam Hussein.",entertainment
+"Douglas set for Indian adventure..Actor Michael Douglas is to co-produce and star in an adventure film about a diamond robbery set in India...The new picture is expected to be similar to Douglas's action films of the 1980s, Romancing The Stone and The Jewel Of The Nile. Another Hollywood star is being lined up to co-star, while the rest of the cast will be Indian. Aishwarya Rai, star of Bride and Prejudice, is the ""preferred choice"" of the Indian studio involved in the film...On a visit to India, the 60-year-old actor said he hoped to start shooting Racing The Monsoon next year. Douglas added that it had been inspired by a Wall Street Journal article about India's 'angadias', who courier money and diamonds around India...The actor's own production company, Further Films, is working in partnership with two Indian film-making concerns to bring the picture to the screen. Shailendra Singh, the founder of India's Percept Films, said there would be ""a lot of India"" in the movie - and that an Indian train would play a big role. ""The train will be a crucial part of the film. The chase and most of the stunts will be on the train,"" said Mr Singh. Swashbuckling adventure film Romancing The Stone saw Douglas's female co-star Kathleen Turner win a Golden Globe award for her performance in 1985.",entertainment
+"Russian film wins BBC world prize..Russian drama The Return (Vozvrashchenie) has been named winner of the BBC Four World Cinema Award...The film tells the story of two adolescent boys who are subjected to a harsh regime when their strict father returns after a 10-year absence. Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, The Return previously won the 2003 Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was presented at an awards ceremony held in London on Thursday and hosted by Jonathan Ross. The winner was chosen by a panel which included X Files actress Gillian Anderson, critic Roger Clarke and Touching the Void director Kevin McDonald...Ross, who is the presenter of BBC One's Film 2005, was also involved in the deliberations. A shortlist of six films from around the world had been drawn up from which the panel chose. Other nominees included the Motorcycle Diaries, Zatoichi and Hero. A viewer poll saw director Zhang Yimou's martial arts epic Hero emerge as the favourite with 32% of votes cast. Tragedy struck the production of The Return when one of the young stars, 15-year-old Vladimir Girin, drowned in a lake. The winner of the World Cinema Award last year was the French animated feature Belleville Rendezvous",entertainment
+"Incredibles win animation awards..The Incredibles movie has beaten Shrek 2 to the main prizes at Hollywood's animation awards, the Annies...The superhero film was named best animated feature while Brad Bird won best director, writer and voice actor for his role as designer Edna Mode. The Incredibles won a total of 10 awards - but Shrek 2, which had seven nominations, went home empty-handed. The two movies will compete with Shark Tale in the best animated film category of the Oscars at the end of February...The Incredibles' awards came despite Shrek 2's greater box office success. Shrek 2 took $881m (£468m) around the world, compared with $576m (£306m) for The Incredibles. SpongeBob SquarePants was named best animated TV show while TV comedy King of the Hill picked up two prizes including one for actress Brittany Murphy's voice work. Tom Kenny, who provides the voice for SpongeBob SquarePants, hosted Sunday's ceremony at the Alex Theater, Los Angeles. The awards are handed out by the International Animated Film Society. Finding Nemo won nine Annies last year.",entertainment
+"Actor Scott is new Bond favourite..Bookmaker William Hill has stopped taking bets on who will be the next James Bond, following a succession of large wagers on actor Dougray Scott...The firm closed the book on Friday, saying ""insider information"" could have contributed to the number of bets. ""In the past gambles like this have often been right,"" William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said. The closing list gave Scott odds of 6-9, followed by Oscar nominee Clive Owen at 5-2. Scott first found fame in the TV series Soldier Soldier and has since then starred in such films as Mission Impossible II and the wartime drama Enigma...Mr Adams said one punter had placed a bet of £870 on the 39-year-old actor at odds of 8-1. ""She told us she had some inside information, perhaps she knew he had been to a casting, but she wouldn't say,"" he said. Others thought to be in the running include Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor and Australian star Hugh Jackman, both of whom have odds of 4-1. Colin Farrell, Jude Law and Troy star Eric Bana have also been tipped for the role in the past...A large number of bets on actor Colin Salmon to become the first black James Bond were dismissed as a publicity stunt a month ago. The next Bond film, originally due for release in 2005, has been delayed until 2006 due to Sony's takeover of the MGM studio. The most recent, Die Another Day, was released in late 2002 and saw Pierce Brosnan make his final appearance as the secret agent. The actor was originally due to make a fifth appearance as Bond, but was released from his contract in 2004.",entertainment
+"Singer's film to show at festival..A documentary which takes a candid look at the life of chart-topping singer George Michael will be shown at this year's Berlin Film Festival...A Different Story will screen in the Panorama section of the festival, which runs from 10-20 February. It features the singer talking about both his career and his personal life, from his days in Wham! through to more recent events. Michael will attend the festival to introduce the screening on 16 February. Director Southan Morris and executive producer Andy Stephens will also attend the festival...The 93 minute film will see Michael discussing his early days in Wham! along with his later career, including his legal battles with record label Sony and his stance against the Iraq war and American politics. It will also touch upon his turbulent personal life, including his arrest in a Beverly Hills park toilet in 1998 for ""lewd behaviour"", and the death of his boyfriend Anselmo Feleppa from Aids. The film, which includes previously unseen footage of the singer also features contributions from Michael's former Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley, as well as ex-Wham! backing singers Pepsi and Shirlie. Other contributors include Sting, Mariah Carey, Elton John, Noel Gallagher, Geri Halliwell and Simon Cowell. This year's festival will open with Man To Man, a historical epic starring Joseph Fiennes and Kristin Scott-Thomas. It will be one of 21 films competing for the festival's top prize, the Golden Bear. Other films in competition will include The Life Aquatic, a quirky comedy starring Bill Murray, and the biopic Kinsey, which features Liam Neeson. The full programme will be announced on 1 February.",entertainment
+"De Niro film leads US box office..Film star Robert De Niro has returned to the top of the North American box office with his film Hide and Seek...The thriller shot straight to the number one spot after taking $22m (£11.7m) at the box office. De Niro recently spent three weeks at the top with comedy Meet The Fockers, which was at number five this week. Oscar hopefuls The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby and Sideways all cashed in on their multiple nominations with stronger ticket sales...In Hide and Seek, De Niro plays a widower whose daughter has a creepy imaginary friend. Despite lukewarm reviews from critics, the film took more than the expected $18m (£9.5m). ""The element of a real actor in a psychological thriller certainly elevated it,"" said Bruce Snyder, president of domestic distribution at 20th Century Fox. Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby led the Oscar hopefuls with $11.8m (£6.3m), coming in at number three during its first weekend of wide release. The Aviator, a film biography of Howard Hughes that leads the Oscar field with 11 nominations, was at number six for the weekend with $7.5m (£4m). Oscar best-picture nominee Sideways entered the top ten for the first time in its 15th week of release. It came in seventh $6.3 (£3.35m). Last week's top film, Ice Cube's road-trip comedy Are We There Yet?, slipped to second place with $17m (£9m), while Coach Carter fell two places to number four, taking $8m (£4.25m) in its third week. Rounding out the top ten were In Good Company - starring Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson - Racing Stripes and Assault on Precinct 13.",entertainment
+"Films on war triumph at Sundance..A study of the United States at war in the past 50 years has picked up one of the main awards at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival in Utah, in the US...Why We Fight scooped the grand jury prize for documentaries at the world's leading independent film festival. British director Sean McAllister's The Liberace of Baghdad - about a pianist in war-torn Iraq - won a special prize in the world documentary category. Both Why We Fight and The Liberace of Baghdad were made for the BBC. Why We Fight is due to be screened on BBC Four in March...The Sundance festival was founded by actor Robert Redford in 1981. This year's festival - which ended on Sunday after a 11-day run - has been dominated by the themes of war and politics. In the new world cinema drama category, the Angolan film The Hero triumphed to win the grand jury prize. The film - an Angolan/French/Portuguese production - tells the story of a veteran of the country's civil war who returns home to face a new battle of survival. Twelve films competing in the new world cinema documentary category focused on countries and people under siege...Finnish film The Three Rooms of Melancholia looks at the war in Chechnya and Shake Hands With The Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire tells the story of a UN mission to Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. But it was Dutch documentary Shape of the Moon - a study of an extended family in Indonesia - which took the top prize. Meanwhile, French-Israeli production Wall, which looks at Israel's controversial security wall separating it from the Palestinian territories, picked up a world cinema special jury prize for documentaries. In the main drama category, Forty Shades of Blue was named winner of the grand jury prize. The film tells the tale of a forbidden tug-of-love between a father, his Russian immigrant girlfriend and his son...During its 24-year history, the Sundance Film Festival has showcased successes such as Reservoir Dogs, The Blair Witch Project and The Full Monty. Last year's festival provided a platform for hits such as Open Water, Napoleon Dynamite, Garden State and Super-Size Me. The festival is held in the mountain resort of Park City, east of Salt Lake City, which sees its population rise from 7,500 to 45,000 during the festival.",entertainment
+"Career honour for actor DiCaprio..Actor Leonardo DiCaprio's ""exceptional career"" has been honoured at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival...The star was presented with the award by Martin Scorsese, who directed him in Oscar-nominated movie The Aviator. ""It's a lifetime achievement award, which is completely and utterly surreal, given I'm only 30 years old,"" DiCaprio said. ""But what has it been? Almost 17 years now. I've done quite a few films."" A retrospective of his movies was shown...""What's really exciting, for me, is that this is what I really love doing,"" he added. ""It's what I want to do for the rest of my life."" DiCaprio began his movie career in horror film Critters 3, before moving onto roles in The Basketball Diaries, Romeo and Juliet, Titanic and Gangs of New York. The achievement award was created to commemorate the California festival's 20th anniversary and coincided with DiCaprio's portrayal of millionaire Howard Hughes in The Aviator...Veteran actress Jane Russell, who starred in Hughes' 1943 film The Outlaw, said was impressed by DiCaprio's quest for authenticity when he previously discussed the role with her. ""I was very happy that (DiCaprio) came and cared to come up and find out what (Hughes) was really like,"" she said. The Aviator has taken pole position in this year's Oscars race with 11 nominations, including nominations for best film, best actor for DiCaprio and best director for Scorsese.",entertainment
+"Howl helps boost Japan's cinemas..Japan's box office received a 3.8% boost last year, with ticket sales worth 211bn yen (£1.08bn)...The surge was led by animated movie Howl's Moving Castle, which took 20bn yen (£102m) to become the biggest film in Japan in 2004. It is expected to match the 30.7bn yen (£157m) record of Hayao Miyazaki's previous film Spirited Away. Japan Motion Picture Producers figures showed that 170 million cinema admissions were made in Japan in 2004. The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise, was the biggest foreign movie hit in Japan last year, taking 13.8bn yen (£70.7m)...It was followed by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Finding Nemo and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The second highest-grossing Japanese film was romantic drama Crying Out Love in the Centre of the World, followed by Be With You and Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation. Japanese films accounted for 37.5% of Japan's box office total last year, with foreign films taking the remaining 62.5%. This represented a 4.5% gain for the proportion of Japanese films in 2004 compared to 2003. The number of Japanese films released rose to 310 in 2004 from 287 the previous year. Sales of movies on DVD and video amounted to 497bn yen (£2.54bn) for the year.",entertainment
+"Keanu Reeves given Hollywood star..Actor Keanu Reeves, best known for his role in the Matrix movies, has been awarded a star on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame...The 40-year-old attended the unveiling of the star with his mother, Patricia, and thanked her for inspiring him to become an actor. ""When I was 15 years old I asked my mom if it was OK to be an actor,"" Reeves said. ""She said: 'Whatever you want'."" His star is the 2,277th to be embedded in the pavement on Hollywood Boulevard...The actor, who was born in the Lebanese capital Beirut, also spoke of how he dropped out of school to pursue an acting career. ""Hollywood was calling,"" he said, ""So I got in my car, a 1969 British racing green Volvo with holes in the floor and bricks holding up the seats. I was a young man full of hopes and dreams."" Reeves first found fame in the teen comedy Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and went on to combine such blockbusters as Speed, The Devil's Advocate and the Matrix series, with smaller films including My Own Private Idaho. More recently he was seen in Something's Gotta Give alongside Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. His next film, the supernatural thriller Constantine, is released in the US later this month and opens in the UK in March.",entertainment
+"De Niro completes box office coup..Robert De Niro has completed a transatlantic box office double by topping the UK and US film charts with two different films at the same time...Comedy sequel Meet the Fockers, in which he stars with Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand, shot to the top of the UK chart at the weekend. It took £7.2m in three days - eight times more than the number two, Closer. Assault on Precinct 13 was in third. At the same time, US audiences were won over by his new thriller Hide and Seek. In Meet the Fockers, he picks up the role of an uptight father and ex-CIA agent from 2000 hit comedy, Meet the Parents...It is a big leap to his role in Hide and Seek, a supernatural horror in which he plays a widower whose daughter's imaginary friend turns nasty. In the UK box office chart, Meet the Fockers pushed Closer off the top spot while police action movie Assault On Precinct 13, starring rapper Ja Rule, made £750,000 in its first weekend. London Underground thriller Creep was another new entry at six while quirky comedy Sideways, which got five Oscar nominations last week, entered in eighth place. The Oscar nominations do not seem to have had an impact on fans' choices at cinemas. Leading contenders The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby and Ray all suffered substantial drops in takings compared with the previous weekend.",entertainment
+"Day-Lewis set for Berlin honour..Actor Daniel Day-Lewis is to be presented with an award for his career in film at the Berlin Film Festival...The 47-year-old, whose credits include his Oscar-winning performance in My Left Foot, will be presented with the Berlinale Camera award on 15 February. The honour, awarded since 1986, honours figures in cinema that the festival feels ""particularly indebted to"". Man to Man, a historical epic starring Kristin Scott Thomas, opens the German festival on 10 February. A candid documentary about the life and career of singer George Michael, A Different Story will also be screened at the 10-day event. '..Day-Lewis has competed four times at the Berlin Film Festival, with films In The Name Of The Father (1994), The Crucible (1997), The Boxer (1998) and Martin Scorsese's Gangs Of New York (2003). The festival praises him for his ""sensational start"" with roles in My Beautiful Launderette and costume classic A Room With A View, and a ""great number of celebrated roles"" in subsequent productions. Japan's oldest film studio will also be honoured along with Day-Lewis. Shochiku film studios, which was founded 110 years ago, will become the first cinematic institution to receive the Berlinale Camera award. Famous Japanese directors including Akira Kurosawa have had films produced at the studio.",entertainment
+"US composer recreates Bach score..A US musicologist has recreated a lost musical score by German composer Johann Sebastian Bach...The 1728 composition, called Wedding Cantata BWV 216, was found among the papers of Japanese pianist Chieko Hara, who died in Japan in 2001 aged 86. The work, written for the wedding of a daughter of a German customs official, was missing for 80 years. Joshua Rifkin - a composer and leading interpreter of Bach - has recreated the missing instrumental parts...He said he originally wanted to let the lost cantata lie in rest. ""Maybe a fragment should stay a fragment,"" said Rifkin. ""Then I thought of palaeontologists, from one bone they figure the entire dinosaur. This is my dinosaur."" The eight rediscovered pages consist of vocal pieces in German for soprano and alto, with the seven movements lasting for a total of between 20 and 25 minutes. The instrumental parts were entirely lost except for two recycled movements, a duet and an aria which had been used elsewhere in Bach's work. Rifkin likened the challenge to a ""musical Rubik's cube"". ""I could not reconstruct what Bach wrote but I could give the people of today an idea of what his music was like,"" he said. ""It sounds like Bach's music, but the listener should not know which part is Bach's and which part is mine.""",entertainment
+"Applegate's Charity show closes..US musical Sweet Charity has cancelled its run on Broadway after poor ticket sales for its early shows...Star Christina Applegate had to pull out of pre-Broadway performances earlier this month with a broken foot. Producer Barry Weissler said he was ""deeply proud"" of the show, but said the decision to close it was ""painful but fiscally responsible"". Applegate, who starred in TV comedy Married With Children, had been hoping to make her Broadway debut in the show. The 33-year-old injured herself while performing in Chicago, and had been hoping to recover in time for its official New York opening on 21 April. She had received mixed reviews for performances in Minneapolis and Chicago. Previews of the $7.5m (£4m) show were due to begin on 4 April. Sweet Charity tells the story of Charity Hope Valentine, a dancer who always falls in love with the wrong man. It was first performed on Broadway in 1966 with Gwen Verdon in the title role, while Shirley MacLaine starred in the 1969 film version.",entertainment
+"Ray Charles studio becomes museum..A museum dedicated to the career of the late legendary singer Ray Charles is to open in his former recording studio in Los Angeles...His longtime publicist Jerry Digney said the museum would house ""archive materials from recordings, to awards, to ephemera, to wardrobe"". A tour bus used by Charles and his entourage over the years will also be on permanent display. It is hoped the museum will be ready for visitors in late 2007...Mr Digney said the recording studio and offices had been used by Charles for many years, and was where he recorded much of his last album, Genius Loves Company. It is hoped the museum will also house an education centre. The building had been declared a historic landmark by the city of Los Angeles just before Charles' death in June 2004 at the age of 73. Following his death, Charles won eight Grammy Awards, including album of the year for Genius Loves Company, a collection of duets.",entertainment
+"Britney attacks 'false tabloids'..Pop star Britney Spears has attacked ""false"" and ""desperate"" US tabloid magazines, questioning their honesty after they reported she was pregnant...In a letter on her website, the singer named celebrity tabloids Us Weekly, In Touch and Star as the worst offenders. ""Until you face what is going on in your life, I guess you'll remain a false tabloid,"" the 23-year-old wrote. Stories about the state of her marriage to Kevin Federline and rumours about a pregnancy have recently appeared. But the chart-topping singer's letter did not shed any further light on those stories. In February, Spears clashed with Us Weekly for publishing pictures of her honeymoon in Fiji without permission. The couple, who married in Los Angeles last September, claimed staff took photographs of them which were later sold...They said they allowed the pictures to be taken after they were assured they would only be used for a private scrapbook, which they later received as a souvenir. Us magazine was unrepentant about their decision to publish, saying: ""Britney should start her own magazine if she'd like to dictate her own coverage."" ""Coming from a celebrity who sold pictures of both her wedding and her stepdaughter, it's unlikely the issue here is privacy,"" they added. Spears claimed that other magazines were approached with the pictures but chose to contact her instead.",entertainment
+"Abba queen enters music rich list..The woman behind the Abba musical Mamma Mia! has joined a list of British-based music millionaires...Producer Judy Craymer is the highest new entry in the Sunday Times' music rich list, with a £67m fortune. Ms Craymer remortgaged her home to finance her idea of a musical based around Abba's hits, which has since become a global triumph. Teenage soul singer Joss Stone is a new entry on a list of Britain's young music millionaires with £5m...Ms Craymer, who developed Mamma Mia! with playwright Catherine Johnson and members of Abba, is at number 31 on the music rich list. But taking the top spot for a second year is former record label boss Clive Calder, whose wealth has risen to £1.3bn. Mr Calder is the man behind acts including Britney Spears. He made his fortune by selling his independent label Zomba to record giant BMG. Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney is second on the list with £800m - up £40m on last year. Andrew Lloyd-Webber's wealth rose an estimated £300m on last year, to £700m, while theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh's fortune rose from £340m to £400m...His recent hits have included the West End show Mary Poppins. But Pop Idol mogul Simon Fuller has seen his wealth plummet from £220m last year to £75m after selling his entertainment company 19 for less than expected, according to the Sunday Times. Joss Stone, the 17-year-old soul singer from Devon, was a new entry in the young music millionaires list. The list also features Charlotte Church, Coldplay, Daniel Bedingfield, Will Young and David and Victoria Beckham. At number one is Dhani Harrison, son of the late Beatle George Harrison, who has inherited £140m. The Beckhams - who qualify thanks to Victoria's former singing career - are in second place with £75 million between them - up £10m on last year.",entertainment
+"Casino Royale is next Bond movie..Casino Royale, author Ian Fleming's first James Bond book, is to be the next Bond film, with Goldeneye director Martin Campbell behind the camera...It will be the 21st James Bond film to hit the big screen, and speculation has been rife over who will play the lead. Casino Royale was turned into a spoof spy movie by John Huston in 1967, with David Niven in the lead role. Pierce Brosnan led the past four Bond films but said producers axed him after offering him the chance to return. Among the favourites to take over the coveted role are Scottish actor Dougray Scott, Oscar nominee Clive Owen and Australian star Hugh Jackman. Producers say no decision has yet been made on who will become the seventh actor, including Niven, to play Bond on film. Kill Bill director Quentin Tarantino had talked of wanting to take on the Casino Royale project, and said he had spoken to Brosnan about it...Shooting on Casino Royale is expected to begin once Campbell has finished work on The Legend of Zorro, a sequel to The Mask of Zorro, starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Antonio Banderas. Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson expect the film to be released in 2006...The script will once again be developed by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade who have both worked on two previous Bond movies. Fleming's book saw the introduction of Bond pitted against a Russian spy in a game of baccarat. Simultaneously, a woman arrives on the scene to take his eye off the game. The novel is one of Fleming's most violent and sadistic stories, with 007 suffering a savage beating from his nemesis Le Chiffre. In addition to the 1967 film, it was also adapted for television in 1954 with actor Barry Nelson as an Americanised ""Jimmy"" Bond. MGM Vice Chairman Chris McGurk said: ""Martin (Campbell) is an incredibly exciting film-maker. Goldeneye was a wonderful movie and helped reinvigorate the Bond franchise. We're thrilled to have him back to direct the newest Bond."" New Zealand-born Campbell moved to the UK in 1966 and directed TV series such as The Professionals, Minder and Bergerac. His film credits include Edge of Darkness, Vertical Limit and Beyond Borders, which starred Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen.",entertainment
+"Berlin celebrates European cinema..Organisers say this year's Berlin Film Festival, which opens on Thursday with period epic Man to Man, will celebrate a revitalised European cinema...Of the 21 films in competition for the Golden and Silver Bear awards, more than half are from Europe with France particularly well represented. Festival director Dieter Kosslick says this strong showing signals ""a new consciousness for European films"". ""They're on an incredible winning streak,"" he told the Reuters agency. ""This isn't to say there aren't any good American films,"" he continued. ""It's just that there are more good European films.""..However, Mr Kosslick refused to accept that widespread opposition to the Iraq war had turned audiences against Hollywood imports. ""There is no anti-American mood,"" he said. Some 350 films will be screened at this year's festival, with a further 300 shown at the European Film Market that runs alongside it. More than a dozen celebrities are scheduled to attend, among them Will Smith, Kevin Spacey and Keanu Reeves. But Mr Kosslick says more would be coming had the Academy Awards not been brought forward to 27 February. ""I'm not worried that we won't be able to fill the red carpet with stars,"" he said, though he admitted the festival may be moved to January next year to avoid a similar clash. The 10-day Berlinale runs until 20 February.",entertainment
+"India to deport Bollywood actress..India has ordered the deportation of Iranian-born model and actress Negar Khan to Norway after saying she was working illegally on her visa...Khan has had raunchy roles in music videos and Bollywood films over the past two years. The distressed actress told media she was being driven straight to the airport after a routine appointment at the Bombay immigration office. Immigration officials said she had been warned about her visa last year...Khan told an Indian news channel on her mobile phone: ""They are not even letting me go home to get my bags. I have no clothes or money on me. ""They did not give me any notice. I don't know why they are taking me away like this. There is nothing wrong with my visa. It says I work here... They are not allowing me to even call a lawyer."" Bipin Bihari, deputy police chief in Bombay, said Khan was being sent back to Norway, from which she holds a passport, on the first available flight. ""She was on a visitor's visa but she has engaged in several commercial ventures,"" he said. ""We issued notices last year, in view of which she had gone back to Norway, but she has returned again this year to work."" One of Khan's biggest successes was the steamy Hindi song Chadti Jawani (Rising Youth). Khan was involved in controversy when topless photos alleged to be of her appeared in a Norwegian magazine.",entertainment
+"Ray DVD beats box office takings..Oscar-nominated film biopic Ray has surpassed its US box office takings with a combined tally of $80m (£43m) from DVD and video sales and rentals...Ray's success on DVD outstripped its $74m (£40m) US box office total, earning more than $40m (£22m) on the first day of the DVD's release alone. Ray has been nominated in six Oscar categories including best film and best actor for Jamie Foxx. The film recounts the life of blues singer Ray Charles, who died in 2004. In its first week on home entertainment release the film was the number one selling DVD, with the limited edition version coming in at number 11. Sony horror film The Grudge, starring Michelle Gellar, was the US' second best-selling DVD, with Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere's romantic comedy Shall We Dance? at number three. Foxx's critically acclaimed performance as Ray has already earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award for best actor, as well as a prestigious Golden Globe. Ray director Taylor Hackford, responsible for the classic 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman, has also received an Oscar nomination in the best director category. The film's three other Oscar nominations are for costume, film editing and sound mixing.",entertainment
+"MCI shares climb on takeover bid..Shares in US phone company MCI have risen on speculation that it is in takeover talks...The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Qwest has bid $6.3bn (£3.4bn) for MCI. Other firms have also expressed an interest in MCI, the second-largest US long-distance phone firm, and may now table rival bids, analysts said. Shares in MCI, which changed its name from Worldcom when it emerged from bankruptcy, were up 2.4% at $20.15. Press reports suggest that Qwest and MCI may reach an agreement as early as next week, although rival bids may muddy the waters. The largest US telephone company Verizon has previously held preliminary merger discussions with MCI, Reuters quoted sources as saying...Consolidation in the US telecommunications industry has picked up in the past few months as companies look to cut costs and boost client bases. A merger between MCI and Qwest would be the fifth billion-dollar telecoms deal since October. Last week, SBC Communications agreed to buy its former parent and phone trailblazer AT&T for about $16bn. Competition has intensified and fixed-line phone providers such as MCI and AT&T have seen themselves overtaken by rivals. Buying MCI would give Qwest, a local phone service provider, access to MCI's global network and business-based subscribers. MCI also offers internet services...MCI was renamed after it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April last year. It hit the headlines as Worldcom in 2002 after admitting it illegally booked expenses and inflated profits. The scandal was a key factor in a global slide in share prices and the reverberations are still being felt today. Shareholders lost about $180bn when the company collapsed, while 20,000 workers lost their jobs. Former Worldcom boss Bernie Ebbers is currently on trial, accused of overseeing an $11bn fraud.",business
+"BT offers equal access to rivals..BT has moved to pre-empt a possible break-up of its business by offering to cut wholesale broadband prices and open its network to rivals...The move comes after telecom regulator Ofcom said in November that the firm must offer competitors ""real equality of access to its phone lines"". At the time, Ofcom offered BT the choice of change or splitting into two. Ofcom is carrying out a strategic review aimed at promoting greater competition in the UK telecom sector. BT's competitors have frequently accused it of misusing its status as the former telecoms monopoly and controller of access to many customers to favour its own retail arm...This latest submission was delivered to the watchdog ahead of a deadline for the second phase of its review...""Central to the proposals are plans by BT to offer operators lower wholesale prices, faster broadband services and transparent, highly-regulated access to BT's local network,"" the former monopoly said in a statement. ""The United Kingdom has the opportunity to create the most exciting and innovative telecoms market in the world,"" BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen said. ""BT has a critical role to play, and today we are making a set of far-reaching proposals towards that framework,"" he said. BT wants lighter regulation in exchange for the changes, as well as the removal of the break-up threat...The group is to set up a new Access Services division - with a separate board which would include independent members - to ensure equal access for rivals to the ""local loop"", the copper wires that run between telephone exchanges and households. The company also unveiled plans to cut the wholesale prices of its most popular broadband product by about 8% from April in areas of high customer demand...It added that it plans to invest £10bn in the next five years to create a ""21st Century network"". To meet the growing demand for greater bandwidth, BT said it would begin trials in April with a view to launching higher-speed services nationally from the autumn...Telecom analysts Ovum welcomed the move, saying BT had ""given a lot of ground""...""The big question now is whether the industry, and particularly Ofcom feels BT's proposals go far enough ...Now the real negotiation begins,"" director of telecoms research Tony Lavender said. Internet service provider (ISP) Plus.net also backed the proposals saying ""we will be entirely happy if Ofcom accepts them"". ""BT has been challenged to play fair and its plans will introduce a level playing field. The scenario now is how well people execute their business plans as a service provider,"" chief executive Lee Strafford said. Chris Panayis, managing director of ISP Freedom2surf said that it would make the situation clearer for business. ""I think it's the first productive thing we've had from BT,"" he said...AOL backed the price cuts but said regulation was still needed to ensure a level playing field. ""This is a reminder to Ofcom that as long as BT can change the dynamics of the whole broadband market at will, the process of opening up the UK's local telephone network to infrastructure investment and competition remains fragile,"" a spokesman said. ""Ofcom needs to return to regulation of the wholesale broadband service [IPStream] and provide more robust rules for local loop unbundling if consumers are to see the benefits of increased competition and infrastructure investment."" More than 100 telecom firms, consumer groups and other interested parties are expected to make submissions to the regulator during this consultation phase. Ofcom is expected to spend the next few weeks examining the proposals before making an announcement within the next few months.",business
+"Jobs growth still slow in the US..The US created fewer jobs than expected in January, but a fall in jobseekers pushed the unemployment rate to its lowest level in three years...According to Labor Department figures, US firms added only 146,000 jobs in January. The gain in non-farm payrolls was below market expectations of 190,000 new jobs. Nevertheless it was enough to push down the unemployment rate to 5.2%, its lowest level since September 2001. The job gains mean that President Bush can celebrate - albeit by a very fine margin - a net growth in jobs in the US economy in his first term in office. He presided over a net fall in jobs up to last November's Presidential election - the first President to do so since Herbert Hoover. As a result, job creation became a key issue in last year's election. However, when adding December and January's figures, the administration's first term jobs record ended in positive territory...The Labor Department also said it had revised down the jobs gains in December 2004, from 157,000 to 133,000...Analysts said the growth in new jobs was not as strong as could be expected given the favourable economic conditions. ""It suggests that employment is continuing to expand at a moderate pace,"" said Rick Egelton, deputy chief economist at BMO Financial Group. ""We are not getting the boost to employment that we would have got given the low value of the dollar and the still relatively low interest rate environment."" ""The economy is producing a moderate but not a satisfying amount of job growth,"" said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. ""That means there are a limited number of new opportunities for workers.""",business
+"News Corp eyes video games market..News Corp, the media company controlled by Australian billionaire Rupert Murdoch, is eyeing a move into the video games market...According to the Financial Times, chief operating officer Peter Chernin said that News Corp is ""kicking the tyres of pretty much all video games companies"". Santa Monica-based Activison is said to be one firm on its takeover list. Video games are ""big business"", the paper quoted Mr Chernin as saying. We ""would like to get into it""...The success of products such as Sony's Playstation, Microsoft's X-Box and Nintendo's Game Cube have boosted demand for video games. The days of arcade classics such as Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Donkey Kong are long gone. Today, games often have budgets big enough for feature films and look to give gamers as real an experience as possible. And with their price tags reflecting the heavy investment by development companies, video games are proving almost as profitable as they are fun...Mr Chernin, however, told the FT that News Corp was finding it difficult to identify a suitable target. ""We are struggling with the gap between companies like Electronic Arts (EA), which comes with a high price tag, and the next tier of companies,"" he explained during a conference in Phoenix, Arizona. ""These may be too focused on one or two product lines."" Activision has a stock market capitalisation of about $2.95bn (£1.57bn), compared to EA's $17.8bn. Some of the games industry's main players have recently been looking to consolidate their position by making acquisitions. France's Ubisoft, one of Europe's biggest video game publishers, has been trying to remain independent since Electronic Arts announced plans to buy 19.9% of the firm. Analysts have said that industry mergers are likely in the future.",business
+"Call to overhaul UK state pension..The UK pension system has been branded inadequate and too complex by a leading retirement think-tank...The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) said replacing the state pension with a ""citizen's pension"" would help tackle inequality and complexity. The change would see pensions being calculated on length of residency in the UK rather than National Insurance (NI) contributions. Reform could reduce poverty by aiding people with broken employment records...The PPI added that once the state system was reformed the government should look at options to overhaul private and workplace pensions. The think tank's proposals were made in response to the recent publication of the Pensions Commission's initial report into UK retirement savings. According to the Pensions Commission's report 12 million working people are not saving enough for their retirement. As a result, living standards could fall for the next generation of UK pensioners. The report added that a combination of higher taxes, higher savings and/or a higher average retirement age was needed to solve the UK pension crisis.",business
+"Singapore growth at 8.1% in 2004..Singapore's economy grew by 8.1% in 2004, its best performance since 2000, figures from the trade ministry show...The advance, the second-fastest in Asia after China, was led by growth of 13.1% in the key manufacturing sector. However, a slower-than-expected fourth quarter points to more modest growth for the trade-driven economy in 2005 as global technology demand falls back. Slowdowns in the US and China could hit electronics exports, while the tsunami disaster may effect the service sector...Economic growth is set to halve in Singapore this year to between 3% and 5%. In the fourth quarter, the city state's gross domestic product (GDP) rose at an annual rate of 2.4%. That was up from the third quarter, when it fell 3.0%, but was well below analyst forecasts. ""I am surprised at the weak fourth quarter number. The main drag came from electronics,"" said Lian Chia Liang, economist at JP Morgan Chase. Singapore's economy had contracted over the summer, weighed down by soaring oil prices. The economy's poor performance in the July to September period followed four consecutive quarters of double-digit growth as Singapore bounced back strongly from the effects of the deadly Sars virus in 2003.",business
+"Turkey knocks six zeros off lira..Turkey is to relaunch its currency on Saturday, knocking six zeros off the lira in the hope of boosting trade and powering its growing economy...The change will see the end of such dizzyingly-high denominations as five million lira - enough for a short taxi ride - and the 20m note, worth $15. These valuations were the product of decades of inflation which, as recently as 2001, was as high as 70%. Inflation has since been tamed and economic prospects are improving...The currency - officially to be known as the new lira - will be launched at midnight on 1 January. From that point, the one-million lira note will become the new one-lira coin. The government hopes the change will be seen as a promise of growing economic stability as Turkey embarks on the long process of trying to join the European Union...On an everyday level, it is hoped the change will stimulate more international trade and end confusion among foreign investors and Turks alike. ""The transition to the new Turkish lira shows clearly that our economy has broken the vicious circle that it was imprisoned in for long years,"" said Sureyya Serdengecti, head of the Turkish Central Bank. ""The new lira is also the symbol of the stable economy that we dreamed of for long years.""..The Turkish economy teetered on the brink of collapse in 2001 when the lira plunged in value and two million people lost their jobs...Turkey had to turn to the International Monetary Fund for financial assistance, accepting a $18bn loan in return for pushing through a wide-ranging austerity programme. These tough measures have borne fruit. Inflation fell below 10% earlier this year for the first time in decades while exports are up 30% this year. Meanwhile, the economy is expanding at a healthy rate, with 7.9% growth expected in 2004. The government hopes that the new currency will cement the country's economic progress, two weeks after EU leaders set a date for the start of Turkey's accession talks...The slimmed-down lira is likely to be widely welcomed by the business community...""The Turkish lira has been like funny money,"" Tevfik Aksoy, chief Turkish economist for Deutsche Bank, told Associated Press. ""Now at least in cosmetic terms it will look like real currency."" However, some do not feel quite so happy about seeing the nominal value of their investments reduced. ""If a person has 10 billion lira in investments this will suddenly decrease,"" shop owner Hayriye Evren, told Associated Press. ""This will definitely affect people psychologically.""",business
+"S Korea spending boost to economy..South Korea will boost state spending next year in an effort to create jobs and kick start its sputtering economy...It has earmarked 100 trillion won ($96bn) for the first six months of 2005, 60% of its total annual budget. The government's main problems are ""slumping consumption and a contraction in the construction industry"". It aims to create 400,000 jobs and will focus on infrastructure and home building, as well as providing public firms with money to hire new workers...The government has set an economic growth rate target of 5% for next year and hinted that would be in danger unless it took action. ""Internal and external economic conditions are likely to remain unfavourable in 2005,"" the Finance and Economy Ministry said in a statement...It blamed ""continuing uncertainties such as fluctuating oil prices and foreign exchange rates and stagnant domestic demand that has shown few signs of a quick rebound"". In 2004, growth will be between 4.7% and 4.8%, the ministry said. Not everyone is convinced the plan will work. ""Our primary worry centres on the what we believe is the government's overly optimistic view that its front loading of the budget will be enough to turn the economy around,"" consultancy 4Cast said in a report...The problem facing South Korea is that many consumers are reeling from the effects of a credit bubble that only recently burst. Millions of South Koreans are defaulting on their credit card bills, and the country's biggest card lender has been hovering on the verge of bankruptcy for months. As part of its spending plans, the government said it will ask firms to ""roll over mortgage loans that come due in the first half of 2005"" . It also pledged to look at ways of helping families on low incomes...The government voiced concern about the effect of redundancies in the building trade. ""Given the economic spill over and employment effect in the construction sector, a sharp downturn in the construction industry could have other adverse effects,"" the ministry said...As a result, South Korea will give private companies also will be given the chance to build schools, hospitals, houses and other public buildings. It also will look at real estate tax system. Other plans on the table include promoting new industries such as bio-technology and nano-technology, as well as offering increased support to small and medium sized businesses. ""The focus will be on job creation and economic recovery, given that unfavourable domestic and global conditions are likely to dog the Korean economy in 2005,"" the ministry said.",business
+"Latin America sees strong growth..Latin America's economy grew by 5.5% in 2004, its best performance since 1980, while exports registered their best performance in two decades...The United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said the region grew by 5.5% this year. The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) said regional exports reached $445.1bn (£227bn;331bn euros) in 2004. Doubts about the strength of the US recovery and overheating of the Chinese economy do however pose risks for 2005. Both organisations also warned that high oil prices raise the risk of either inflation or recession...Nevertheless, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) still forecasts growth of 4% for 2005. Strong recovery in some countries, such as Venezuela and Uruguay, boosted the overall performance of the region. ECLAC also said that the six largest Latin American economies (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela) grew by more than 3% for only the second time in 20 years. Chinese and US economic strength helped boost exports, as did strong demand for agricultural and mining products. In fact, Latin American exports to China grew 34%, to $14bn. Higher oil prices also helped boost exports, as Mexico and Venezuela are important oil exporters. Regional blocs as well as free trade agreements with the US contributed to the region's strong performance, the IADB said.",business
+"Asia shares defy post-quake gloom..Indonesian, Indian and Hong Kong stock markets reached record highs...Investors seemed to feel that some of the worst-affected areas were so under-developed that the tragedy would have little impact on Asia's listed firms. ""Obviously with a lot of loss of life, a lot of time is needed to clean up the mess, bury the people and find the missing,"" said ABN Amro's Eddie Wong. ""[But] it's not necessarily a really big thing in the economic sense.""..India's Bombay Stock Exchange inched slightly above its previous record close on Wednesday. Expectations of strong corporate earnings in 2005 drove the Indonesian stock exchange in Jakarta to a record high on Wednesday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index may be benefiting in part from the potential for its listed property companies to gain from rebuilding contracts in the tsunami-affected regions of South East Asia. In Sri Lanka, some economists have said that as much as 1% of annual growth may be lost. Sri Lanka's stock market has fallen about 5% since the weekend, but it is still 40% higher than at the start of 2004...Thailand may lose 30bn baht (£398m; $768m) in earnings from tourism over the next three months, according to tourism minister Sontaya Kunplome...In the affected provinces, he expects the loss of tourism revenue to be offset by government reconstruction spending. Thailand intends to spend a similar sum - around 30bn baht - on the rebuilding work. ""It will take until the fourth quarter of next year before tourist visitors in Phuket and five other provinces return to their normal level,"" said Naris Chaiyasoot, director general at the ministry's fiscal policy office. In the Maldives the cost of reconstruction could wipe out economic growth, according to a government spokesman. ""Our nation is in peril here,"" said Ahmed Shaheed, the chief government spokesman. He estimated the economic cost of the disaster at hundreds of millions of dollars. The Maldives has gross domestic product of $660m. ""It won't be surprising if the cost exceeds our GDP,"" he said. ""In the last few years, we made great progress in our standard of living - the United Nations recognised this. Now we see this can disappear in a few days, a few minutes."" Shaheed noted that investment in a single tourist resort - the economic mainstay - could run to $40m. Between 10 and 12 of the 80-odd resorts have been severely damaged, and a similar number have suffered significant damage...However, many experts, including the World Bank, have pointed out that it is still difficult to assess the magnitude of the disaster and its likely economic impact. In part, this is because of its scale, and because delivering aid and recovering the dead remain priorities. ""Calculators will have to wait,"" said an IMF official in a briefing on Wednesday. ""The financial and world community will be turning toward reconstruction efforts and at that point people will begin to have a sense of the financial impact.""",business
+"Booming markets shed few tears..The market, former British government minister Michael Heseltine once said, has no morality...And indeed, stock exchange traders around Asia have wasted little time regretting the victims of this week's disaster. Stock markets in Indonesia and India have hit all-time highs this week; even in Sri Lanka, more comprehensively affected, the main index has lost only 5% since the waves hit. Bigger markets further afield have barely twitched. The MSCI World share index, a measure of global stock market performance, hit its highest level this week since early 2001; the BBC Global 30 has risen by 3% in the past week. And this at a time when - all sentiment aside - insurance costs are already estimated in the tens of billions of dollars, and countries around the region are looking at trimming their growth forecasts...In fact, the markets are being perfectly rational...For a start, the notional insurance cost of the disaster will have little bearing on corporate bottom lines. The overwhelming majority of the victims will have had no insurance: according to estimates from India, only one-quarter of those affected there were wealthy enough to afford insurance, and only one-quarter of that group at most will have taken out policies. Indonesia is likely to have even lower take-up rates. And where insurance certainly is in place - in, for example, the many tourist complexes affected - the costs will be borne in far-away corners of the global reinsurance market, rather than landing locally...Second, stock markets do not trade the sort of companies likely to have been damaged. Most of the biggest companies traded on the soaring Jakarta Stock Exchange are in oil, technology and financial services - none of which have been hit by the flooding. Tourist businesses, the most likely sufferers, are either foreign-owned or too small to have their shares listed. Those that are listed have suffered: Confifi Hotel Holdings, a small Sri Lankan tourism firm, has halved in value this week. But there are winners as well as losers. Asian stock markets are heavily inclined towards property and construction companies, many of which will be rubbing their hands over the reconstruction opportunities. In Indonesia, shares in state construction companies Adhi Karya and Semen Gresik have jumped sharply this week...More broadly, the academic consensus is that major disasters are largely neutral in their longer-term economic impact...According to the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center at Colorado State University, there is little evidence that disasters are inevitably followed by a depression. The need to find money to replace lost and damaged property is balanced by the beneficial effect of reconstruction activity; there is rarely, the centre says, any sort of rebuilding boom, but in most cases sizeable indirect losses are avoided. A study of the 1993 Des Moines floods, from the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware*, found that 70% of local businesses were no worse off after the disaster, and another 18% felt themselves better off. ""Although it is commonly assumed on the basis of anecdotal evidence that disasters result in business failures and bankruptcies on a large scale, our research indicates that most businesses, even those that are especially hard-hit, do indeed recover,"" the authors concluded...But disasters have a vast psychological impact, and markets are driven by psychological factors...In particular, many analysts warn of panic spreading unchecked through the global financial system, as investors seek to cover themselves against the unforeseeable effects of unguessable events. In fact, again, the risks here are lower than they seem. Even the costliest natural disaster is rendered minuscule by the global capital market - currently $30 trillion and rising. A series of recent shocks, the Colorado centre has argued, have demonstrated that this seamless global contagion hardly ever happens: market tremors rarely translate into economic slumps, and economic woes rarely seriously undermine markets. The trillion-dollar debts of Japan's banks, for example, have had no effect on stock markets further afield than Tokyo. And the US stock market was on its way down long before 11 September, 2001; it rose by 20% during the six months following the attacks. ""It is not that the broking community is indifferent to disasters or feelings,"" one Bombay trader said this week. ""But the reaction would have been seen if business had been affected. Business sense probably tends to overrule everything else.""",business
+"Asian quake hits European shares..Shares in Europe's leading reinsurers and travel firms have fallen as the scale of the damage wrought by tsunamis across south Asia has become apparent...More than 23,000 people have been killed following a massive underwater earthquake and many of the worst hit areas are popular tourist destinations. Reisurance firms such as Swiss Re and Munich Re lost value as investors worried about rebuilding costs. But the disaster has little impact on stock markets in the US and Asia...Currencies including the Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah weakened as analysts warned that economic growth may slow. ""It came at the worst possible time,"" said Hans Goetti, a Singapore-based fund manager. ""The impact on the tourist industry is pretty devastating, especially in Thailand."" Travel-related shares dropped in Europe, with companies such as Germany's TUI and Lufthansa and France's Club Mediterranne sliding. Insurers and reinsurance firms were also under pressure in Europe...Shares in Munich Re and Swiss Re - the world's two biggest reinsurers - both fell 1.7% as the market speculated about the cost of rebuilding in Asia. Zurich Financial, Allianz and Axa also suffered a decline in value...However, their losses were much smaller, reflecting the market's view that reinsurers were likely to pick up the bulk of the costs. Worries about the size of insurance liabilities dragged European shares down, although the impact was exacerbated by light post-Christmas trading. Germany's benchmark Dax index closed the day 16.29 points lower at 3.817.69 while France's Cac index of leading shares fell 5.07 points to 3.817.69. Investors pointed out, however, that declines probably would be industry specific, with the travel and insurance firms hit hardest. ""It's still too early for concrete damage figures,"" Swiss Re's spokesman Floiran Woest told Associated Press. ""That also has to do with the fact that the damage is very widely spread geographically.""..The unfolding scale of the disaster in south Asia had little immediate impact on US shares, however. The Dow Jones index had risen 20.54 points, or 0.2%, to 10,847.66 by late morning as analsyts were cheered by more encouraging reports from retailers about post-Christmas sales. In Asian markets, adjustments were made quickly to account for lower earnings and the cost of repairs. Thai Airways shed almost 4%. The country relies on tourism for about 6% of its total economy. Singapore Airlines dropped 2.6%. About 5% of Singapore's annual gross domestic product (GDP) comes from tourism. Malaysia's budget airline, AirAsia fell 2.9%. Resort operator Tanco Holdings slumped 5%...Travel companies also took a hit, with Japan's Kinki Nippon sliding 1.5% and HIS dropping 3.3%. However, the overall impact on Asia's largest stock market, Japan's Nikkei, was slight. Shares fell just 0.03%. Concerns about the strength of economic growth going forward weighed on the currency markets. The Indonesian rupiah lost as much as 0.6% against the US dollar, before bouncing back slightly to trade at 9,300. The Thai baht lost 0.3% against the US currency, trading at 39.10. In India, where more than 2,000 people are thought to have died, the rupee shed 0.1% against the dollar Analysts said that it was difficult to predict the total cost of the disaster and warned that share prices and currencies would come under increasing pressure as the bills mounted.",business
+"Split-caps pay £194m compensation..Investors who lost money following the split-capital investment trust scandal are to receive £194m compensation, the UK's financial watchdog has announced...Eighteen investment firms involved in the sale of the investments agreed the compensation package with the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Splits were marketed as a low-risk way to benefit from rising share prices. But when the stock market collapsed in 2000, the products left thousands of investors out of pocket. An estimated 50,000 people took out split-capital funds, some investing their life savings in the schemes. The paying of compensation will be overseen by an independent company, the FSA said...Further details of how investors will be able to claim their share of the compensation package will be announced in the new year. ""This should save investors from having to take their case to the Financial Ombudsman Service, something, no doubt, that will be very welcome,"" Rob McIvor, FSA spokesman, told BBC News. Agreeing to pay compensation did not mean that the eighteen firms involved were admitting any guilt, the FSA added. Any investor accepting the compensation will have to waive the right to take their case to the Financial Ombudsman Service...The FSA has been investigating whether investors were misled about the risks posed by split-capital investment trusts. The FSA's 60 strong investigation team looked into whether fund managers colluded in a so-called ""magic circle"", in the hope of propping up one another's share prices...Firms involved were presented with 780 files of evidence detailing 27,000 taped conversations and over 70 interviews. In May, the FSA was widely reported as having asked firms to pay up to £350m in compensation. Mr McIvor told the BBC that the final settlement figure was smaller because two unnamed firms had pulled out of the compensation negotiations. Investors in these two firms may now have to take any compensation claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service or the courts.",business
+"French suitor holds LSE meeting..European stock market Euronext has met with the London Stock Exchange (LSE) amid speculation that it may be ready to launch a cash bid...Euronext chief Jean-Francois Theodore held talks with LSE boss Clara Furse the day after rival Deutsche Boerse put forward its own bid case. The German exchange said it had held ""constructive, professional and friendly"" talks with the LSE. But Euronext declined to comment after the talks ended on Friday. Speculation is mounting that the Germans may raise their bid to £1.5bn. Deutsche Boerse previously offered £1.3bn, which was rejected by the LSE, while Euronext is rumoured to have facilities in place to fund a £1.4bn cash bid. So far, however, neither have tabled a formal bid. But a deal with either bidder would create the biggest stock market operator in Europe and the second biggest in the world after the New York Stock Exchange...There was speculation Euronext would use Friday's meeting as an opportunity to take advantage of growing disquiet over Deutsche Boerse's own plans for dominance over the London market. Unions for Deutsche Boerse staff in Frankfurt has reportedly expressed fears that up to 300 jobs would be moved to London if the takeover is successful. ""The works council has expressed concerns that the equities and derivatives trade could be managed from London in the future,"" Reuters news agency reports a union source as saying. German politicians are also said to be angry over the market operator's promise to move its headquarters to London if a bid were successful...Meanwhile, LSE shareholders fear that Deutsche Boerse's control over its Clearstream unit - the clearing house that processes securities transactions - would create a monopoly situation. This would weaken the position of shareholders when negotiating lower transaction fees for share dealings. LSE and Euronext do not have control over their clearing and settlement operations, a situation which critics say is more transparent and competitive. The German group's ownership of Clearstream has been seen as the main stumbling block to a London-Frankfurt merger. Commentators believe Deutsche Boerse, which has now formally asked German authorities to approve its plan to buy the LSE, may offer to sell Clearstream to gain shareholder approval. Euronext, so far, has given little away as to what sweeteners it will offer the LSE - Europe's biggest equity market - into a deal.",business
+"Troubled Marsh under SEC scrutiny..The US stock market regulator is investigating troubled insurance broker Marsh & McLennan's shareholder transactions, the firm has said...The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked for information about transactions involving holders of 5% or more of the firm's shares. Marsh has said it is co-operating fully with the SEC investigation. Marsh is also the focus of an inquiry the New York attorney-general into whether insurers rigged the market. Since that inquiry was launched in October, Marsh has replaced its chief executive and held a boardroom shake-out to meet criticism by lessening the number of company executives on the board. Prosecutors allege that Marsh - the world's biggest insurance broker - and other US insurance firms may have fixed bids for corporate cover. This is the issue at the heart of the inquiry by New York's top law officer, Eliot Spitzer, and a separate prosecution of five insurers by the State of California. The SEC's investigation into so-called related party transactions includes dealings in the Trident Funds, managed by MMC Capital, the company's private equity firm. Marsh's new chief executive, Michael Cherkasky, is trying to negotiate a settlement with Mr Spitzer. Mr Spitzer has built up a reputation as a fierce critic and campaigner against corporate America's misdeeds...The uncertainty unleashed by the scandal has prompted three credit rating agencies - Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch - to downgrade Marsh in recent weeks. According to the Financial Times, insurance analysts are now questioning whether Marsh will be able to maintain its strong record of earning growth as they draw up forecasts for the first quarter of next year. Doubts also exist over how much the company may have to pay regulators and lawyers to put the scandal behind.",business
+"Could Yukos be a blessing in disguise?..Other things being equal, the notion of entrepreneurs languishing in jail while their companies are sold off for a song ought to be bad for business...But in the looking-glass world of modern Russia, the opposite might just be true, a new report* has argued. The study, from the Centre for Economic Policy Research, does not praise the rough handling of oil company Yukos. But it argues that more rigorous tax policing has benefited all Russian firms, even targets of the tax police. ""An increase in tax enforcement can increase the amount [of dividends and other income] outside shareholders will receive, even accounting for increased levels of taxation,"" the authors say...The paper's reasoning is complex, and is based on a sophisticated model of the relationship between tax regimes and corporate governance - in particular, the propensity of management to steal from the company. The calculations demonstrated what many Russian analysts already knew: that increasing the tax rate increases the amount that managers steal, since undeclared income becomes relatively more valuable. In the West, meanwhile, higher tax rates translate far more smoothly into higher government revenues. On the other hand, increasing the rigour with which taxes are collected encourages companies to become more transparent, forcing them to be able to demonstrate their financial position far more accurately. The net result, the authors say, is that the extra amount companies pay in tax is more than compensated for by greater efficiency and financial soundness...After Vladimir Putin became president in 2000, he did not raise taxes, but put a lot of effort - too much, critics argue - into enforcement...Since then, the Russian stock market has more than trebled in value, a rise the authors attribute at least in part to the newly tough approach. The report highlights the case of Sibneft, a Russian oil company that came close to merging with Yukos last year. After Mr Putin came to power, the company's overall effective tax rate rose from 2.6% to 10.4%, and Sibneft was the target of a series of aggressive raids by fiscal police. But shareholders benefited hugely: Sibneft started to pay dividends - $53m in 2000 and almost $1bn in 2001 - and closed down the network of opaque subsidiaries it had previously used for siphoning off unofficial funds. According to the authors, although a variety of changes were sweeping through Russian industry at the time, the increase in tax enforcement is the only likely explanation for the change of fortunes at Sibneft and many of its peers...Does this analysis make sense? In part, certainly. For all its faults, corporate Russia has become far more orderly and law-abiding since 2000. Companies have rushed to list their shares on international stock exchanges - something unthinkable in the wilder days of the 1990s - and most large firms now produce their accounts to international standards. Foreign direct investment, long negligible, is starting to flow in serious amounts - $7bn in 2003 - and stock market returns have been among the healthiest in Europe. But the authors' model does not quite cover all the complexities. For a start, the model assumes that the various parties have clearly-defined motivation: companies want to maximise profit, governments want to maximise tax revenue. In fact, the alarmingly close connections between big business and government in Russia - connections often greased by bribery - blur the apparently antagonistic relationship. Companies can, for example, persuade officials to overlook non-payment of taxes...And the authors' definition of tax enforcement seems unrealistically Western. Genuine, disinterested tax collection might well work wonders in Russia; the problem with recent examples has been the erratic and unpredictable way laws are enforced. The case against Yukos, for example, has moved in fits and starts, with little clarity from the government about its intentions, and little faith from investors that the letter of the law would be followed. As far as most commentators are concerned, the state is pursuing Yukos out of a political vendetta, rather than simply to enforce fiscal rectitude. Since Yukos' founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was arrested a year ago, the Russian market has dropped by 10% - an indication that few investors feel optimistic about the salutary effect on corporate performance.",business
+"Nasdaq planning $100m share sale..The owner of the technology-dominated Nasdaq stock index plans to sell shares to the public and list itself on the market it operates...According to a registration document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nasdaq Stock Market plans to raise $100m (£52m) from the sale. Some observers see this as another step closer to a full public listing. However Nasdaq, an icon of the 1990s technology boom, recently poured cold water on those suggestions...The company first sold shares in private placements during 2000 and 2001. It technically went public in 2002 when the stock started trading on the OTC Bulletin Board, which lists equities that trade only occasionally. Nasdaq will not make money from the sale, only investors who bought shares in the private placings, the filing documents said. The Nasdaq is made up shares in technology firms and other companies with high growth potential. It was the most potent symbol of the 1990s internet and telecoms boom, nose-diving after the bubble burst. A recovery in the fortunes of tech giants such as Intel, and dot.com survivors such as Amazon has helped revive its fortunes.",business
+"Giving financial gifts to children..Your child or grandchild may want the latest toy this Christmas, but how about giving them a present that will help their financial future?..Gifts of the financial variety might have a longer lasting impact. It may encourage children to save or start a fund which could count towards university costs, for example...The government is trying to encourage saving at an early age, through its new Child Trust Fund. The first vouchers, worth £250 or £500 for low-income families, will be distributed from January. All children born after 1st September 2002 will be eligible. Parents will need to decide which financial institution will manage this gift in time for the start of the scheme in April 2005...Parents and relatives will be able to top up the fund with up to £1,200 a year, which will grow free of income and capital gains tax. As the Child Trust Fund will not be in force in time for Christmas, relatives could invest their gifts in a higher rate children's deposit account, and use this as a feeder fund...There are accounts designed to start children off in the savings habit and they often pay a higher rate of interest. Some of the best instant-access accounts currently available include the Ladybird account from the Saffron Walden Building Society, paying 5.35% for a minimum balance of £1 and the Alliance & Leicester FirstSaver which pays 5.25%, also starting at £1...Interest earned by children is subject to income tax. However, children, like adults, have a personal income tax allowance (£4,745 for the current tax year)...If the account holds money gifted by friends and relatives - but not parents - any interest earned from the savings account may be set against the allowance. As long as the total amount of interest falls within the allowance, then no tax will be payable. When the account is opened a form ""R85"", available from the bank or building society, should be completed. This confirms that the account holder is a non-taxpayer and allows interest to be received without the deduction of income tax...The tax rules are different for parents who save on behalf of a child. Only £100 of interest (per parent) can be tax-free. Where interest exceeds this level, the whole of the interest will be taxed on the parent. This is to prevent parents from holding their own cash savings in their children's names and taking advantage of the tax allowances. Where both parents and other relatives are saving on behalf of a child, consideration should be given to opening separate accounts - one for parents' gifts and one for gifts from other relatives. Therefore, it may be preferable for parents to contribute to the Child Trust Fund which is tax free, with any gifts from relatives that take the total above the annual £1,200 limit being directed to a deposit account...Another favourite solution is Premium Bonds. With the promise of riches far greater than a mere deposit account, they make great presents. The parent or guardian will be responsible for the Bonds and will receive notification of the purchase. Any prizes will be sent to the parent or child's guardian. The minimum for each purchase is £100 and Bonds are sold in multiples of £10...There are gift opportunities beyond cash accounts and these should not be ignored...Over the longer term, stock market funds have outperformed other types of investment, although in the shorter term they can be volatile. One of the benefits of investing for children is that investment is generally for the longer term - more than ten years - which helps to reduce the risks associated with investing in shares. One way to spread the risk is to invest in the stock market through a unit or investment trust. These are pooled investment funds which give access to a wide range of shares. These funds may be actively managed, where a fund manager picks individual stocks based on a view of their future potential, or passive, where a manager invests in all the shares that comprise a stock market index, for example, the FTSE 100. Exchange Traded Funds offer an alternative way to track a stock market. These are single shares that give the return of an underlying index (so are really another form of tracker). The difference is that the charges are quite low. The only drawback with all financial gifts is that the children gain an absolute right to the money at age 18, and parents will have no control over how it is spent. For larger gifts it may be worthwhile taking professional advice on the establishment of a suitable trust that will allow ongoing control over the capital and income.",business
+"Air China in $1bn London listing..China's national airline is to make its overseas stock market debut with a dual listing in London and Hong Kong, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has said...Air China plans to raise $1bn (£514m) from the flotation. Share trading will begin on 15 December, the LSE said. For China's aviation authorities, the listing is part of the modernisation of its airline sector to cope with soaring demand for air travel. No further details of the share price or number of shares were given...The LSE has been working hard to woo Chinese companies to choose London, rather than New York for their listings. It opened an Asia-Pacific office in Hong Kong last month. ""We are delighted that Air China has chosen London for its listing outside China,"" said LSE chief executive Clara Furse. ""The London Stock Exchange offers ambitious Chinese companies access to the world's most international equity market combined with high regulatory and corporate governance standards,"" she said. A spokesman for the LSE said: ""We've been engaged with them (Air China) for about 18 months, two years now."" As part of its pitch to bring listings to London, the LSE is thought to be highlighting the extra costs and red-tape imposed by new US laws passed since the Enron scandal, whilst stressing London's strong regulatory environment...Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder began a three-day visit to Beijing on Monday by signing a deal worth 1bn euros ($1.3bn; £690m) for Airbus to sell 23 new planes to Air China, the Deutsche Welle radio station reported. China's booming economy has created huge demand for air travel among middle-class Chinese, turning the country into a sales battleground between rival plane makers Airbus and Boeing. Air China's long-awaited flotation is part of a strategy to modernise a dozen state-owned carriers, which have been reorganised into three groups under Air China, China Southern and China Eastern. Merrill Lynch are sole bookrunners for Air China's flotation, which will take the form of a share placing with institutional investors in London, though retail investors may be able to buy Air China shares in Hong Kong. Air China's primary listing will be in Hong Kong, with a secondary listing in London. The shares will be denominated in Hong Kong dollars. However, investors may be wary of Chinese stocks. The collapse last week of China Aviation Oil, the Singapore-listed arm of a Chinese jet fuel trader, has cast the spotlight on corporate governance shortcomings at Chinese firms.",business
+"Oil prices reach three-month low..Oil prices have fallen heavily for a second day, closing at three-month lows after news that US crude stocks have improved ahead of winter...London Brent crude closed at $40.15 on Thursday - a drop of 5.1% - having dived below $40 a barrel for the first time since mid-September. US light crude traded in New York lost more than $2 to $43.25, its lowest close since 10 September. The price of both benchmark crudes has dropped 12% in two days. The falls were triggered when the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday that US crude stocks were 3.5% higher than a year ago. The news calmed worries about winter shortages. Weak US fuel and heating oil stocks have been a persistent factor in pushing up oil prices. ""It's amazing how quickly sentiment changed,"" said Rick Mueller, an analyst at Energy Security Analysis. Analysts also attributed the fall to mild early-winter weather, which has tempered demand for heating oil...The stronger fuel inventories helped boost US stock markets to nine-month highs on Wednesday, though only the Nasdaq index had hung onto those gains by the end of Thursday...In London, the FTSE 100 index closed 15 points higher at 4,751. The long-awaited drop in oil prices helped to ease persistent investor jitters over the impact of energy costs on company profits and economic growth. However, traders warned that the fall could be short-lived if there is a cold snap in North America this winter or any major supply problems in other parts of the world...The price of crude is still up about 30% on the start of 2004, but has fallen from the record of $55.67 set in late October. Opec nations have increased production to 25-year highs to meet global demand and this has helped rebuild US stocks hit by supply disruptions after Hurricane Ivan in September. Traders were also encouraged by comments on Wednesday from the energy minister of Opec member Algeria. Chakib Khelil said the cartel was likely to keep output unchanged when it meets next week. However, some analysts believe the sharp fall in crude prices may harden Opec's attitude to over-production, leading to a scaling back of oil output...Fears still remain over the level of US heating oil stocks, which are rising but remain down on 2004 levels. A cold spell in north America would start to deplete supplies and could spark further price rises. Analysts, however, say prices will fall further if inventories continue to rise. ""Mother Nature is going to be huge in the next several weeks,"" said Kyle Cooper, at Citigroup Global Markets. ""Long term I think we're headed to $30-35 but I don't think we're doing that yet. We have a lot of winter left."" John Person, president of National Futures Advisory Services, said the EIA data indicated there should be adequate supplies for the next three months in the US. .",business
+"Arsenal 'may seek full share listing'..Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein has said the club may consider seeking a full listing for its shares on the London Stock Exchange...Speaking at the Soccerex football business forum in Dubai, he said a full listing was ""one of the options"" for funding after the club moves to its new stadium. The club - which is currently listed on the smaller Ofex share exchange - is due to move into its new 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium at Ashburton Grove for the start of the 2006/07 season. Mr Dein also warned the current level of TV coverage of the Premiership may be reaching saturation level, with signs that match attendances have been dropping off in the first few months of this season...When Arsenal moves to its new stadium it will see its proportion of turnover from media earnings drop from 52% this season to 34% in two years' time. The club is hoping to increase matchday earnings from 29% to 40% of turnover, and has not ruled out other money-earning means, including a full share listing. ""When the new stadium opens we will go through a thorough financial review,"" Mr Dein said...""Listing would be one option, but we are flexible and no decisions have been made on that issue yet. ""We want to be in the best financial health - maybe clubs can do it (listing), Manchester United have been a success.""..Mr Dein said that, although television money and coverage had driven the English game forward in the past 10 years, he feared there might now be too many games being shown. Since the formation of the Premier League in season 1992/93, Premiership clubs have seen their income from television soar. ""Television has been the driving force over the past 10 years... but we must constantly improve if we want to remain as the world's leading league competition. ""We must monitor the quality of the product and ensure attendances do not decline, and we must balance that with the quantity of exposure on TV too. ""I think we have practically reached saturation point... sometimes I think less is more.""..The club is funding its move to Ashburton Grove through a number of sources, including debt from banks, from money it already has and will receive in coming years from sponsors, and from the sale of surplus property, including its Highbury Stadium. It is also looking to create new revenue streams from overseas markets, including Asia. ""We have two executives travelling round Japan and China at the moment building relationships with organisations and clubs, and we know our supporters clubs are growing there too, as they are around the world. ""We have got a very good product, so it is very important we go and look at these markets, and make sure we are on the case.""",business
+"Markets signal Brazilian recovery..The Brazilian stock market has risen to a record high as investors display growing confidence in the durability of the country's economic recovery...The main Bovespa index on the Sao Paolo Stock Exchange closed at 24,997 points on Friday, topping the previous record market close reached the previous day. The market's buoyancy reflects optimism about the Brazilian economy, which could grow by as much as 4.5% in 2004. Brazil is recovering from last year's recession - its worst in a decade...Economic output declined 0.2% in 2003 and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva - elected as Brazil's first working-class president in 2002 - was strongly criticised for pursuing a hardline economic policy...Investors have praised his handling of the economy as foreign investment has risen, unemployment has fallen and inflation has been brought under control. Analysts believe the stock market will rise above the 25,000 mark for the first time before too long. ""There should be more space for gains until the end of the year, somewhere up to 27,000 points,"" said Paschoal Tadeu Buonomo, head of equities trading at brokers TOV. Brazil's currency, the real, also rose to its highest level against the dollar in more than two years on Friday. Although interest rates still stand at a punitive 17.25%, inflation has fallen from 9% to 7% while exports are booming, particularly of agricultural products. ""For the first time in decades, we have all three economic policy pillars in line during a recovery,"" Finance Minister Antonio Palocci told the Associated Press news agency. ""Government accounts are in surplus, we have a current account surplus and inflation is under control.""..Investors were deeply suspicious of President da Silva, a former trade union leader who campaigned on a programme of extensive land redistribution and a large rise in the minimum wage. However, Mr da Silva has stuck to an orthodox monetary policy inherited from his predecessor even in the face of last year's economic crisis. This has earned him the disapproval of rural farm workers, thousands of whom who took to the streets of Brasilia on Thursday to protest against government policies. President da Silva has defended his policies, arguing that Brazil cannot afford to continue the cycle of boom and bust which afflicted it in recent decades.",business
+"Markets fall on weak dollar fears..Rising oil prices and the sinking dollar hit shares on Monday after a finance ministers' meeting and stern words from Fed chief Alan Greenspan...The London FTSE fell 0.8% while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 2.11%, its steepest fall in three months. G20 finance ministers said nothing about supporting the dollar, whose slide could further jeopardise growth in Japan and Europe. And Mr Greenspan warned Asian states could soon stop funding the US deficit...On Monday afternoon, the euro was close to an all-time high against the dollar at above $1.30. Oil pushed higher too on Monday, as investors fretted about cold weather in the US and Europe and a potential output cut from oil producers' group Opec, although prices had cooled by the end of the day. In London, the benchmark Brent crude price closed down 51 cents at $44.38 a barrel, while New York light sweet crude closed down 25 cents at $48.64 a barrel. The slide comes as the US has been attempting to talk up the traditional ""strong dollar"" policy...The latest to pitch in has been President George W Bush himself, who told the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in Chile that he remained committed to halving the budget deficit. Together with a $500bn trade gap, the red ink spreading across America's public finances is widely seen as a key factor driving the dollar lower. And last week US Treasury Secretary John Snow told an audience in the UK that the policy remained unaltered. But he also said that the rate was entirely up to the markets - a signal which traders took as advice to sell the dollar. Some had looked to the G20 meeting for direction. But Mr Snow made clear exchange rates had not been on the agenda...For the US government, letting the dollar drift is a useful short-term fix...US exports get more affordable, helping perhaps to close the trade gap. In the meantime, the debt keeps getting bigger, with Congress authorising an $800bn rise in what the US can owe - taking the total to $8.2 trillion. But in a speech on Friday, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan warned that in the longer term things are likely to get tricky. At present, much of gap in both public debt is covered by selling bonds to Asian states such as Japan and China, since the dollar is seen as the world's reserve currency. Similarly, Asian investment helps bridge the gap in the current account - the deficit between what the US as a whole spends and what it earns. But already they are turning more cautious - an auction of debt in August found few takers. And Mr Greenspan said that could turn into a trend, if the fall of the dollar kept eating into the value of those investments. ""It seems persuasive that, given the size of the US current account deficit, a diminished appetite for adding to dollar balances must occur at some point,"" he said.",business
+"Google shares fall as staff sell..Shares in Google have fallen 6.7% after employees and early investors in the web search took advantage of the first chance to sell their holdings...Restrictions were imposed ahead of its flotation in August, to prevent shares being dumped quickly onto the market. In one of the most closely-watched initial public offerings in stock market history, the US-based company sold 19.6 million shares at $85 each. Google shares have risen since but fell $12.33 on Tuesday to close at $172.55. The restriction - known as a lockup - is being eased piecemeal: in all, some 227 million additional shares will become free to trade by February 2005. Selling the shares could turn many of Google's workers into millionaires...There were fears that the potential increase of shares in circulation from Tuesday would ease demand for stock. However, analysts say they expected most shareholders would be holding back from selling all their shares immediately, as Google's good performance and future growth potential means demand will hold...In its first earnings report since floating on the stock market, Google said it made a net profit of $52m in the three months ending 30 September. Sales surged to $805.9m in the third quarter, up from $393.9m a year earlier. Google's main service - its internet search - is free to users, so the firm makes much of its money from selling advertising space linked to the words for which its users search. It also sells the use of its technology to companies who need to make either their websites, or their internal information systems, searchable.",business
+"Five million Germans out of work..Germany's unemployment figure rose above the psychologically important level of five million last month...On Wednesday, the German Federal Labour Agency said the jobless total had reached 5.037 million in January, which takes the jobless rate to 12.1%. ""Yes, we have effectively more than five million people unemployed,"" a government minister said earlier on ZDF public television. Unemployment has not been this high in Germany since the 1930s...Changes to the way the statistics are compiled partly explain the jump of 572,900 in the numbers. But the figures are embarrassing for the government. ""With the figures apparently the worst we've seen in the post-war period, these numbers are very charged politically,"" said Christian Jasperneite, an economist with MM Warburg. ""They could well put an end to the recent renaissance we've seen by the SPD [the ruling Social Democrats] in the polls, and with state elections due in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia, they may have an adverse effect on the government's chances there.""..The opposition also made political capital from the figures. It said there are a further 1.5 million-2 million people on subsidised employment schemes who are, in fact, looking for real jobs. It added that government reforms, including unpopular benefit cuts, do not go far enough. Under the government's controversial ""Hartz IV"" reforms, which came into effect at the beginning of the year, both those on unemployment benefits and welfare support and those who are long-term unemployed are officially classified as looking for work. The bad winter weather also took its toll, as key sectors such as the construction sector laid off workers. Adjusted for the seasonal factors, the German jobless total rose by 227,000 in January from December.",business
+"India power shares jump on debut..Shares in India's largest power producer, National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC) have risen 13% on their stock market debut...The government's partial sell-off of NTPC is part of a controversial programme to privatise state-run firms. The 865 million share offer, a mix of new shares and sales by the government, raised 54bn rupees($1.2bn). It was India's second $1bn stock debut in three months, coming after the flotation by software firm Tata. The share offer was eleven times oversubscribed. ""It is a good investment bet,"" said Suhas Naik, an investment analyst from ING Mutual Fund. ""Power needs in India are set to rise and NTPC will benefit from that."" Analysts say the success of the NTPC flotation would encourage the government to reduce stakes in more power companies. NTPC has said it will use the money from the share sale to feed the growing needs of the country's energy-starved economy. The firm is the largest utility company in India, and the sixth largest power producer in the world.",business
+"Turkey turns on the economic charm..Three years after a gruelling economic crisis, Turkey has dressed its economy to impress...As part of a charm offensive - ahead of 17 December, when the European Union will decide whether to start entry talks - Turkey's economic leaders have been banging the drum to draw attention to recent achievements. The economy is growing fast, they insist. Education levels among its young and large population are rising. Unemployment levels, in percentage terms, are heading fast towards single digits. Inflation is under control. A new law to govern its turbulent banking system is on the cards. The tourism industry is booming and revenues from visitors should more than double to $21bn (£10.8bn) in three years...Moreover, government spending is set to be frozen and a burdensome social security deficit is being tackled. Income and corporate taxes will be cut next year in order to attract $15bn of foreign investment over the next three years. A loan restructuring deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is pretty much in the can. And following recent macroeconomic restructuring efforts, its currency is floating freely and its central bank is independent...The point of all this has been to convince Europe's decision makers that rather than being a phenomenally costly exercise for the EU, allowing Turkey in would in fact bring masses of economic benefits...""The cake will be bigger for everybody,"" said Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener earlier this month. ""Turkey will not be a burden for the EU budget."" If admitted into the EU, Turkey would contribute almost 6bn euros ($8bn; £6bn) to its budget by 2014, according to a recent impact study by the country's State Planning Organisation. As Turkey's gross domestic output (GDP) is set to grow by 6% per year on average, its contribution would rise from less than 5bn euros in 2014 to almost 9bn euros by 2020. Turkey could also help alleviate a labour shortage in ""Old Europe"" once its population comes of age. By 2014, one in four Turks - or about 18 million people - will be aged 14 or less. ""A literate and qualified Turkish population,"" insisted Mr Sener, ""will make a positive impact on the EU.""..This runs contrary to the popular view that Turkey is getting ready to dig deep into EU taxpayers' wallets. However, Turkey's assertions are confirmed by Brussels' own impact studies, which indeed say that Turkish membership would be good news for the EU economy. But only over time. Costs are projected to be vast during the early years of Turkey's membership, with subsidies alone estimated to exceed 16.5bn euros and, according to some predictions, balloon to 33.5bn euros. This would include vast agricultural subsidies and regional aid, though such payments should decline as the country's farm sector, which currently employs one in three Turks, would employ just one in five by 2020...Such high initial expenses would be coupled with risks that the benefits flagged up by Turkey's government would never be delivered, say those who feel the Turkish project should be shunned...Some fear that rather than providing an educated, sophisticated labour force for Europe at large, the people who will leave Turkey to seek work abroad will be poor, uneducated - and plentiful. More recently, less palatable concerns - at least in liberal European circles - have been voiced, with senior EU or member state officials talking darkly of a ""river of Islam"", an ""oriental"" culture and a threat to Europe's ""cultural richness"". Of course, many opponents are politically motivated - their views ranging from xenophobic prejudices about the country's Muslim traditions to well-documented concerns about the government's human rights record. Yet their economic arguments should not be dismissed out of hand...Critics insist that much of the optimism about Turkey's economic roadmap has been over-egged - an argument amplified by a 134% rise in the country's current account deficit to $10.7bn during the first 10 months of this year...The country's massive debt - which includes $23bn owed to the IMF and billions borrowed via the international bond markets - also remains a major obstacle to its ambition of joining the EU. ""In the new member states of the European Union, gross public debt is typically about 40% of gross domestic product,"" says Reza Moghadam, assistant director of the IMF's European Department. ""At about 80% of GDP, Turkey's gross debt is double that figure."" Turkey's debts have largely arisen from its efforts to push through banking reform after a run on the banks in 2001 caused the country's devastating recession. ""There is no question that although Turkey is doing much better than in the past, it remains quite vulnerable,"" says Michael Deppler, director of the IMF's European Department. ""Its debt is far too high for an emerging economy."" A key factor for EU decision makers should be whether or not Turkey has met its economic criteria. But economics is not a science. And although the state of Turkey's economy is important, as is its pace of reform, the final decision on 17 December will be taken by politicians who will, of course, be guided by their political instincts.",business
+"SBC plans post-takeover job cuts..US phone company SBC Communications said it expects to cut around 12,800 jobs following its $16bn (£8.5bn) takeover of former parent AT&T...SBC said 5,125 positions would go as a result of network efficiencies. Another 1,700 will go from its sales department, 3,400 from business operations and 2,600 across legal, advertising and public relations. SBC currently employs 163,000 people while AT&T employs 47,000. The takeover was announced on Monday. The deal will be financed with $15bn of shares as well as a $1bn special dividend paid to AT&T shareholders...It effectively marks the end of AT&T, which was founded in 1875 by telephone pioneer Alexander Graham Bell and is one of the US's best-known companies. SBC and AT&T said estimated cost savings of at least $2bn from 2008 were a main driver for the merger. AT&T is a long-distance telecoms firm, while SBC is mainly focused on the local market in the western US. Both also have data network businesses. The takeover is subject to approval by AT&T's shareholders and regulators. The companies said they expected to complete the agreement during the first half of 2006.",business
+"German bidder in talks with LSE..Deutsche Boerse bosses have held ""constructive, professional and friendly"" talks with the London Stock Exchange (LSE), its chief has said...Werner Seifert met LSE chief executive Clara Furse amid rumours the German group may raise its bid to £1.5bn ($2.9bn) from its initial £1.3bn offer. However, rival suitor Euronext also upped the ante in the bid battle. Ahead of talks with the LSE on Friday, the pan-European bourse said it may be prepared to make its offer in cash. The Paris-based exchange, owner of Liffe in London, is reported to be ready to raise £1.4bn to fund a bid...The news came as Deutsche Boerse held its third meeting with the LSE since its bid approach in December which was turned down by the London exchange for undervaluing the business. However, the LSE did agree to leave the door open for talks to find out whether a ""significantly-improved proposal"" would be in the interests of LSE's shareholders and customers. In the meantime, Euronext, which combines the Paris, Amsterdam and Lisbon stock exchanges, also began talks with the LSE. In a statement on Thursday, Euronext said any offer was likely to be solely in cash, but added that: ""There can be no assurances at this stage that any offer will be made."" A deal with either bidder would create the biggest stock market operator in Europe and the second biggest in the world after the New York Stock Exchange. However, neither side has made a formal offer for the LSE, with sources claiming such a step may still be weeks away...Deutsche Boerse could also face mounting opposition to a bid at home. Among sweeteners reported to have been discussed by Mr Seifert with Ms Furse were plans to move the management of its cash and Eurex derivatives market to London, as well as two members of its executive board. But, Hans Reckers, a board member of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, said that cash trading should also remain in Frankfurt, something Deutsche Boerse could move to the UK. ""It is not just the headquarters of the Boerse but also important market segments that must stay permanently in Frankfurt. This has special importance for the business activities of the banks and the consultants,"" he said. Local government officials in Frankfurt's state of Hessen have also spoken out against the move. ""It is our wish that the headquarters stay here to maintain Frankfurt's standing as the number one financial centre in continental Europe,"" Alois Rhiel, its minister for economic affairs added.",business
+"Amex shares up on spin-off news..Shares in American Express surged more than 8% on Tuesday after it said it was to spin off its less profitable financial advisory subsidiary...The US credit card to travel services giant said off-loading American Express Financial Advisors (AEFA) would boost its profitability. AEFA has more than 12,000 advisers selling financial advice, funds and insurance to 2.5 million customers. Over the years it has delivered poor profits and even some losses...""This is an excellent move by American Express to focus on its core businesses, and sell off a laggard division, which has been a problem for quite some time,"" said Marquis Investment Research analyst Phil Kain. Analysts estimate that a stand-alone AEFA could have a market value of $10bn (£5.3bn). The unit was acquired by American Express 20 years ago as Investors Diversified Service, of Minneapolis, at a time when firms were amassing one-stop financial empires. However, the business of selling investments was never integrated with the rest of the group.",business
+"Axa Sun Life cuts bonus payments..Life insurer Axa Sun Life has lowered annual bonus payouts for up to 50,000 with-profits investors...Regular annual bonus rates on former Axa Equity & Law with-profits policies are to be cut from 2% to 1% for 2004. Axa blamed a poor stock market performance for the cut, adding that recent gains have not yet offset the market falls seen in 2001 and 2002. The cut will hit an estimated 3% of Axa's policyholders. The rest will know their fate in March...The cuts on Axa's policies will mean a policyholder who had invested £50 a month into an endowment policy for the past 25 years would see a final maturity payout of £46,998. This equated to a annual investment growth rate of 8% Axa said. With-profits policies are designed to smooth out the peaks and troughs of stock market volatility. However, heavy stock market falls throughout 2001 and 2002 forced most firms to trim bonus rates on their policies. ""The stock market has grown over the past 18 months, however not enough to undo the damage that occurred during 2001 and 2002,"" Axa spokesman Mark Hamilton, Axa spokesman, told BBC News. Axa cut payouts for the same investors last January.",business
+"Chinese dam firm 'defies Beijing'..The China Three Gorges Project Corp is refusing to obey a government order to stop construction of one of its giant dams, the Chinese state press has said...The builder of the Three Gorges Dam is continuing work on the sister Xiluodu dam, said the Beijing News. The Xiluodu dam is one of 30 such large-scale construction projects called to a halt because of a lack of proper environmental checks. The Beijing News said the company may instead choose to pay a fine. The firm has also ignored orders to stop construction at two of its other projects - the Three Gorges Underground Power Plant and the Three Gorges Project Electrical Power Supply Plant...So far, only 22 of the 30 construction projects targeted by China's State Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) for having not carried out mandatory environmental impact assessments have complied with its shutdown order. The China Three Gorges Project Corp could now face a fine up to 200,000 yuan ($24,000; £12,700). Last week, it denied that its projects violated regulations. ""The Three Gorges Corporation has all along abided by the law and have built our projects in accordance with the law,"" it said...The Sepa order comes as the Chinese government appears to be trying to cool the country's booming economy. Previously it has encouraged construction of new electricity generating capacity to solve chronic energy shortages, which forced many factories into part-time working last year. In 2004, China increased its generating capacity by 12.6% to 440,700 megawatts (MW). The Xiluodu Dam is designed to produce 12,600 MW of electricity, and is being built on the Jinshajiang - or ""river of golden sand"" as the upper reaches of the Yangtze are known. It is a sister project to the main Three Gorges Dam downstream where more than half a million people have had to be relocated, drawing criticism from environmental groups and overseas human rights activists.",business
+"Stock market eyes Japan recovery..Japanese shares have ended the year at their highest level since 13 July amidst hopes of an economic recovery during 2005...The Nikkei index of leading shares gained 7.6% during the year to close at 11,488.76 points. In 2005 it ""will rise toward 13,000"", predicted Morgan Stanley equity strategist Naoki Kamiyama. The optimism in the financial markets contrast sharply with pessimism in the Japanese business community. Earlier this month, the quarterly Tankan survey of Japanese manufacturers found that business confidence had weakened for the first time since March 2003...Slower economic growth, rising oil prices, a stronger yen and weaker exports were blamed for the fall in confidence. Despite this, traders expect strength in the global economy to benefit Japan, which has been close to sliding into recession in recent months. Structural reform within Japan and an anticipated end to the banking sector's bad debt problems should also help, they say.",business
+"Iraqi voters turn to economic issues..Beyond the desperate security situation in Iraq lies an economy in tatters...A vicious cycle of unemployment, poor social services and poverty has been made worse by a lack of investment. So there is much hope that an elected government will break the deadlock. ""First rule of law, then the economy,"" says Radwan Hadi, deputy managing director of Aberdeen-based oil and gas consultancy Blackwatch Petroleum Services, which entered Iraq in 2003. Mr Hadi's view about what the new government's priorities should be is shared by many Iraqis. The economy has become the second-most dominant issue for many political parties ahead of Sunday's election, according to Bristol University political scientist Anne Alexander, who is working on a project that looks at governance and security in post-war Iraq...Job creation ranks high both on election manifestos and on the Iraqi people's wish list. Nobody knows exactly how many Iraqis are out of work, but it is clear that the situation is dire. ""Estimates of Iraq's unemployment rate vary, but we estimate it to be between 30-40%,"" the Washington-based independent think-tank The Brookings Institution says in its Iraq Index. But some progress has been made, largely thanks to the country's oil revenues which have exceeded $22bn since June 2003...Iraq's infrastructure is on the mend, with notable improvements having been made in areas such as electricity supply, irrigation, telephone networks and the re-opening of hospitals. But serious problems remain and the growing divide between haves and have-nots is angering voters. One Iraqi woman told Ms Alexander about her frustration as she watched TV adverts for private hospitals soon after having failed to track down basic medicines from Baghdad's pharmacies. Observes Mr Hadi: ""The economy at present marks a big divide; the rich get richer, the poor get poorer."" An indication of this can be seen in the world of finance where, in contrast with the daily plight of ordinary people, 19 private banks operate, only one of which is run in accordance with Islamic banking principles. Hopes are high for the future of finance, so foreign banks have been buying into the sector. National Bank of Kuwait has bought a majority stake in Credit Bank of Iraq, the Jordanian investment bank Export & Finance Bank has bought 49% of National Bank of Iraq...Foreign firms also hope to cash in on the reconstruction effort. Bechtel's efforts to rebuild schools and restore power have attracted controversy as well as boosting its bottom line while Halliburton has enjoyed a wealth of military contracts. But the involvement of foreign firms in the health and banking sectors and beyond sits uneasily with many Iraqis who are accustomed to the state taking responsibility for functions that are essential to making society work, observes Ms Alexander. ""It is seen as a selling off of Iraq's assets and bringing in multinationals at the expense of Iraqi businesses and Iraqi workers,"" she says. Consequently, the transitional government has been forced to backtrack in recent months over its proposal to allow 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi assets, she explains. In the West, it is easy to forget that the otherwise brutal Baathist regime used to look after the majority of Iraq's citizens rather well in terms of job creation, social security and healthcare. Opinion polls suggest that ""people still want the state to take a leading role in providing these things"", Ms Alexander says...Yet in some areas of the economy, investment from abroad is still warmly welcomed, insists Mr Hadi, an Iraqi who left the country three decades ago. ""I think the private sector will evolve incredibly fast,"" Mr Hadi says. ""Iraq's vast natural resources can support any magnitude of economic growth.""..Many foreign companies say they are keen to get in on the act, yet few are actually entering the country in any meaningful way. But there are exceptions. Mr Hadi's Blackwatch is just one of many small operators preparing for a much bigger future. Blackwatch's Baghdad-based affiliate Falcon Group has dozens of people working for it across the country in Kirkuk and Baghdad, and its engineers and geo-scientists work with the Iraqi oil ministry to hammer out technology transfer issues, Mr Hadi points out. ""These guys are trying to work. The Iraqi business people will do business at all times. ""Life goes on in Iraq, the people take responsibility, they want to live normal lives.""",business
+"EU 'too slow' on economic reforms..Most EU countries have failed to put in place policies aimed at making Europe the world's most competitive economy by the end of the decade, a report says...The study, undertaken by the European Commission, sought to assess how far the EU has moved towards meeting its economic targets. In 2000, EU leaders at a summit in Lisbon pledged the European economy would outstrip that of the US by 2010. Their economic targets became known as the Lisbon Agenda. But the Commission report says that, in most EU countries, the pace of economic reform has been too slow, and fulfilling the Lisbon ambitions will be difficult - if not impossible...Only the UK, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands have actually followed up policy recommendations. Among the biggest laggards, according to the report, are Greece and Italy. The Lisbon Agenda set out to increase the number of people employed in Europe by encouraging more older people and women to stay in the workforce. It also set out to raise the amount the private sector spends on research and development, while bringing about greater discipline over public spending and debt levels. Combined with high environmental standards and efforts to level the playing field for businesses throughout the EU, the plan was for Europe to become the world's most dynamic economy by 2010. Next week, the Commission will present revised proposals to meet the Lisbon goals. Many people expect the 2010 target to be quietly dropped.",business
+"China continues breakneck growth..China's economy has expanded by a breakneck 9.5% during 2004, faster than predicted and well above 2003's 9.1%...The news may mean more limits on investment and lending as Beijing tries to take the economy off the boil. China has sucked in raw materials and energy to feed its expansion, which could have knock-on effects on the rest of the world if it overheats. But officials pointed out that industrial growth had slowed, with services providing much of the impetus. Growth in industrial output - the main target of government efforts to impose curbs on credit and investments - was 11.5% in 2004, down from 17% the previous year...Still, consumer prices - at 2.4% - rose faster than in 2004, adding to concern that a sharp rise in producer prices of 7.1% could stoke inflation. And overall investment in fixed assets was still high, up 21.3% from the previous year - although some way off the peak of 43% seen in the first quarter of 2004. The result could be higher interest rates. China raised rates by 0.27 percentage points to 5.8% - its first hike in nine years - in October 2004...Despite the apparent rebalancing of the economy the overall growth picture remains strong, economists said. ""There is no sign of a slowdown in 2005,"" said Tim Congdon, economist at ING Barings...China's economy is not only gathering speed thanks to domestic demand, but also from soaring sales overseas. Figures released earlier this year showed exports at a six-year high in 2004, up 35%. Part of the impetus comes from the relative cheapness of the yuan, China's currency. The government keeps it pegged close to a rate of 8.28 to the US dollar, - much to the chagrin of many US lawmakers who blame China for lost jobs and competitiveness. Despite urging to ease the peg, officials insist they are a long way from ready to make a shift to a more market-set rate. ""We need a good and feasible plan and formulating such a plan also needs time,"" National Bureau of Statistics chief Li Deshui told Reuters. ""Those who hope to make a fortune by speculating on a renminbi revaluation will not succeed in making a profit.""",business
+"Japan's ageing workforce: built to last..In his twenties he battled tuberculosis for eight years, then went on to run his own clothing business before marrying in his late thirties. And the 101-year-old Torao Toshitsune has eaten raw fish pretty much every day throughout his life...Mr Toshitsune is one of Japan's 23,000 centenarians - a club that is growing by 13% annually, and where the oldest member is 114. At his neat Osaka detached house, where he lives with one of his sexagenarian daughters, Mr Toshitsune keeps a regular routine of copying out Buddhist sutras and preparing the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Between tasks, this remarkably active senior citizen reveals what his next goal is: ""Well, what's most important for me is to be Japan's number one."" Mr Toshitsune wants to outlive everyone. And when it comes to longevity, Japan, as a country, appears to be doing just that. Women can expect to live until 85, men until 78, four years longer than Americans and Europeans...On the outskirts of Kyoto, 83-year-old Yuji Shimizu contemplates this phenomenon during a round of golf with his younger friends, who are in their seventies...""I think this is because the food industry and the environment have improved,"" he remarks. ""On average, we can live longer."" Whether it's the diet, or the traditional family structure where roles were clearly defined, or just something in the genes, Japan's elderly are remarkable. But while life may be a game of golf for Mr Shimizu, his grandchildren have huge problems ahead. Japan is the world's least fertile nation with childbirth rates of just two thirds of that in the US...By 2007, Japan's population is expected to peak at 127 million, then shrink to under 100 million by the middle of the century. This means 30 million fewer workers at a time when the number of elderly will have almost doubled...""In the year 2050, if the birth rate remains the same people over 60 will make up over 30% of the population,"" explains Shigeo Morioka of the International Longevity Centre in Tokyo. So how will Japan's finances stay on track? After a decade of economic stagnation and huge deficit spending, the public sector debt is already about 140% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), the highest rate among industrialised countries. The International Monetary Fund predicts that as the falling birth rate takes grip from 2010, the cost of running Japan's welfare state will double to more than 5% of GDP, while current account balances will deteriorate by over 2%. But unfortunately, Japan appears poorly prepared both financially and politically. Glen Wood, Vice President of Deutsche Securities Japan, asks; ""Who's going to fund the pension fund for the next generation and indeed who are going to be the new Japanese worker? ""Who is going to build the economy, who are going to be the leaders? Who are going to be the producers of the GDP going forward?"" One option is further welfare reform. Another is immigration, possibly from the Philippines and Indonesia. But so far, any emerging policy appears restricted to a limited number of nursing staff...Standing next to Tokyo harbour is a version of New York's Statue of Liberty. But, as yet, Japan is not ready for an Ellis Island...""Japan has never really liked that option in its history and I think it's an option that's becoming more and more plausible and necessary,"" insists Mr Wood. In Japan, as in Europe which also faces a workforce decline, immigration is a very sensitive subject. But for the Japanese economy, facing 8% fewer consumers by 2050 means slumping domestic sales of cars, hi-tech kit and home appliances, perhaps even another property crash...Of course the Japanese could always have more children. The government is currently considering financial rewards for procreative couples similar to those in operation in Australia. But there would be no pay back until 2030, when today's babies are taxpayers, and the demographic crisis, like in Europe, starts to unfold in 2010. In contrast to Japan - and of course the European Union - the US population is expected to increase by 46% to 420 million by the middle of the century. Although President Bush must re-devise Social Security to take account of a 130% rise in America's over 65s, the IMF foresees a positive contribution to the US current account balance from the combined forces of fertility and immigration...Some voices in Japanese industry are calling for radical changes to the nature of the Japanese labour market. They want a shift towards financial services, though doubts persist over the country's ability, let alone willingness, to move away from manufacturing. ""Japan still has problems getting a viable banking system, let alone shifting their auto business or their semi-conductor business or the broad based tech manufacturing business overseas,"" says Mr Wood. Japan can either drive some radical reforms or else run the risk of a vicious ageing recession. Falling demand and a lower tax take could result in soaring budget pressures and a basket case currency. Come 2020, Japan could be more dependent on a shrinking workforce than any other industrialised power. There are fears that the world's number two economy is doomed to a permanent recession. But none of this is Mr Toshitsune's concern anymore. At 101, he chuckles that, he feels fine.",business
+"GE sees 'excellent' world economy..US behemoth General Electric has posted an 18% jump in quarterly sales, and in profits, and declared itself ""in great shape""...""We are benefiting from our growth initiatives and an excellent global economy,"" said GE's chief executive Jeff Immelt. GE is the US' biggest firm based on stock market valuation. GE's net profits were $5.37bn (£2.86bn) for the final three months of 2004, while sales came in at $43.7bn. The group, whose businesses range from jet engines to the NBC television channel, forecast sustained growth at between 10-15% for this year and next. GE's shares rose 1% on the news before ending Friday 0.24% lower...""The industries GE is in are doing very well. The materials, financial and industrial sectors are all picking up,"" said Steve Roukis, an analyst at fund manager Matrix Asset Advisors, which has shares in GE. GE said orders in the fourth quarter were 15% higher than in the same period of 2003, ""with growth across the board"". ""In the fourth quarter, nine of our 11 businesses delivered at least double-digit earnings growth,"" said Mr Immelt. Full year 2004 gains were less spectacular, but still respectable. Net profit was up 6% at $16.6bn. Last year, GE bought Vivendi Universal, merging it with NBC to form NBC Universal. The success of Universal Studio's film 'Ray', a portrait of jazz musician Ray Charles, has helped boost earnings at the unit.",business
+"UK economy facing 'major risks'..The UK manufacturing sector will continue to face ""serious challenges"" over the next two years, the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) has said...The group's quarterly survey of companies found exports had picked up in the last three months of 2004 to their best levels in eight years. The rise came despite exchange rates being cited as a major concern. However, the BCC found the whole UK economy still faced ""major risks"" and warned that growth is set to slow. It recently forecast economic growth will slow from more than 3% in 2004 to a little below 2.5% in both 2005 and 2006...Manufacturers' domestic sales growth fell back slightly in the quarter, the survey of 5,196 firms found. Employment in manufacturing also fell and job expectations were at their lowest level for a year...""Despite some positive news for the export sector, there are worrying signs for manufacturing,"" the BCC said. ""These results reinforce our concern over the sector's persistent inability to sustain recovery."" The outlook for the service sector was ""uncertain"" despite an increase in exports and orders over the quarter, the BCC noted...The BCC found confidence increased in the quarter across both the manufacturing and service sectors although overall it failed to reach the levels at the start of 2004. The reduced threat of interest rate increases had contributed to improved confidence, it said. The Bank of England raised interest rates five times between November 2003 and August last year. But rates have been kept on hold since then amid signs of falling consumer confidence and a slowdown in output. ""The pressure on costs and margins, the relentless increase in regulations, and the threat of higher taxes remain serious problems,"" BCC director general David Frost said. ""While consumer spending is set to decelerate significantly over the next 12-18 months, it is unlikely that investment and exports will rise sufficiently strongly to pick up the slack.""",business
+"Bank holds interest rate at 4.75%..The Bank of England has left interest rates on hold again at 4.75%, in a widely-predicted move...Rates went up five times from November 2003 - as the bank sought to cool the housing market and consumer debt - but have remained unchanged since August. Recent data has indicated a slowdown in manufacturing and consumer spending, as well as in mortgage approvals. And retail sales disappointed over Christmas, with analysts putting the drop down to less consumer confidence...Rising interest rates and the accompanying slowdown in the housing market have knocked consumers' optimism, causing a sharp fall in demand for expensive goods, according to a report earlier this week from the British Retail Consortium. The BRC said Britain's retailers had endured their worst Christmas in a decade...""Today's no change decision is correct,"" said David Frost, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). ""But, if there are clear signs that the economy slows, the MPC should be ready to take quick corrective action and cut rates. ""Dismal reports from the retail trade about Christmas sales are worrying, if they indicate a more general weakening in consumer spending.""..Mr Frost added: ""The housing market outlook remains highly uncertain. ""It is widely accepted that, if house prices start falling more sharply, the risks facing the economy will worsen considerably."" CBI chief economist Ian McCafferty said the economy had ""slowed in recent months in response to rate rises"" but that it was difficult to gauge from the Christmas period the likely pace of activity through the summer. ""The Bank is having to juggle the emergence of inflationary pressures, driven by a tight labour market and buoyant commodity prices, against the risk of an over-abrupt slowdown in consumer activity,"" he said. ""Interest rates are likely to remain on hold for some time.""..On Thursday there was more gloomy news on the manufacturing front, as the Office for National (ONS) statistics revealed British manufacturing output unexpectedly fell in November - for the fifth month in the past six. The ONS said manufacturing output dropped 0.1% in November, matching a similar unrevised fall in October and confounding economists' expectations of a 0.3% rise. Manufacturers' organisation, the EEF, said it expected the hold in interest rates to continue in the near future. It also said there was evidence that manufacturers' confidence may be waning as the outlook for the world economy becomes more uncertain...""So far the evidence suggests that last year's rate increases have helped to rebalance the economy without damaging the recovery in manufacturing,"" said EEF chief economist, Steve Radley. ""However, should the business outlook start to deteriorate, the Bank should stand ready to cut rates."" Some economists have predicted rates will drop later in the year, although others feel the Bank may still think there is a need for a rise to 5% before that happens. The Bank remains concerned about the long-term risks posed by personal debt - which is rising at 15% a year - if economic conditions worsen.",business
+"Tobacco giants hail court ruling..US tobacco companies have welcomed an appeal court's decision to reject the government's $280bn (£155bn) claim for alleged deceit about smoking dangers...Tobacco stocks rose sharply on Wall Street after the 2-1 decision. The court in Washington found the case - filed by the Clinton administration in 1999 - could not be brought under federal anti-racketeering laws. Anti-smoking groups urge the government to fight on, but the Justice Department has not said if it will appeal. Among the accused were Altria Group, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard Tobacco, Liggett Group and Brown and Williamson. They were delighted by the decision, which sent Reynolds shares up 4.5% and Altria shares up 5.11%...Charles A Blixt, executive vice-president of RJ Reynolds Tobacco, said the ruling ""dramatically transforms"" the government's lawsuit. Altria Group said, in a statement, the government now ""must not only prove that the companies have engaged in fraudulent behaviour in the past, but that they are likely to do so in the future.""..The government had claimed tobacco firms... - manipulated nicotine levels to increase addiction. - targeted teenagers with multi-billion dollar advertising campaigns. - lied about the dangers of smoking and ignored research to the contrary....Prosecutors wanted the cigarette firms to ""disgorge"" $280bn in profits accumulated over the past 50 years and impose tougher rules on marketing their products. They brought the case under racketeering laws, which were passed to deny mafia gangs the profits of their crimes. But the tobacco companies denied that they illegally conspired to promote smoking and defraud the public. They also said they had already met many of the government's demands in a landmark $206bn settlement reached with 46 states in 1998. The three-judge panel in the District of Columbia's Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that the US government could not sue the firms under the anti-racketeering laws. Judge David Sentelle, in his ruling, said such laws were aimed at putting an end to illegal conduct going forward. ""We hold that the language of (the law) and the comprehensive remedial scheme of (the law) preclude disgorgement as a possible remedy in this case,"" he wrote. The Justice Department refused to say if it would appeal. ""All we're saying today is that we have received the ruling and are reviewing it,"" a spokeswoman said on Friday. But William Corr of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids urged the government to continue pressing its case. ""Today's ruling should not be an excuse for this administration to seek a weak settlement that lets the tobacco industry off the hook,"" he said.",business
+"Steady job growth continues in US..The US created fewer jobs than expected in December, but analysts said that the dip in hiring was not enough to derail the world's biggest economy...According to Labor Department figures, 157,000 new jobs were added last month. That took 2004's total to 2.2 million, the best showing in five years. Job creation was one of last year's main concerns for the US economy. While worries still remain, the conditions are set for steady growth in 2005, analysts said. The unemployment rate stayed at 5.4% in December, and about 200,000 jobs will need to be created each month if that figure is to drop...""It was a respectable report,"" said Michael Moran, analyst at Daiwa Securities...""Payroll growth in December was a little lighter than the consensus forecast, but we had upward revisions to the prior two months and an increase in manufacturing employment."" ""Manufacturing is a cyclical area of the economy and if it's showing job growth, it's a good indication that the economy is on a solid growth track."" That means that the Federal Reserve is likely to continue its policy of raising interest rates. The Fed lifted borrowing costs five times last year to 2.25%, citing evidence the US economic recovery was becoming more robust...Job creation was one of last year's main concerns for the US economy, and proved to be a main topic of debate in the US presidential election. While demand for workers is far from booming, the conditions are set for steady growth. ""Overall, compared to the previous year it looks great, it just keeps going stronger and stronger and I expect that to be the case"" in 2005, said Kurt Karl, economist at Swiss Re in New York. Meanwhile, economists cautioned against reading too much into data from the Federal Reserve showing an unexpected $8.7bn drop in consumer debt in November. A fall in consumer spending, which makes up about two-thirds of all US economic activity, could help limit the extent of any future interest rate rises. But economists said there could be a number of reasons for a fall in the borrowing, which include credit cards and personal loans, while noting that such figures can vary on a month-to-month basis.",business
+"Glazer makes new Man Utd approach..Malcolm Glazer has made a fresh approach to buy Manchester United, which could lead to a bid valuing the Premiership club at £800m...The US tycoon, who has been wooing the club for the last 12 months, has approached the United board with ""detailed proposals"", it has confirmed. Mr Glazer, who owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, hopes this will lead to a formal bid being accepted. His new offer is expected to contain substantially less debt. Mr Glazer has already had one takeover attempt turned down by the Red Devils and responded by using his 28.1% shareholding to vote off three board members last November...Man United had turned down the bid because it was based on a high level of borrowing. But newspapers have speculated recently that the tycoon had gained the support of leading banks to come up with a stronger and less debt-laden bid. Last week, however, Mr Glazer issued a statement to the Stock Exchange distancing himself from a new bid...Meanwhile, United's chief executive David Gill said in December that talks would not resume unless Glazer came up with ""definitive proposals"". Now the board has confirmed that the US bidder is back, with a statement issued on Sunday reading: ""The board can confirm it has now received a detailed proposal subject to various preconditions which may form the basis of an offer. ""A further announcement will be made in due course.""..To succeed Malcolm Glazer will still need the approval of major shareholders John Magnier and JP McManus, who own 28.9% of the club. But the Irish duo have cut off talks with Glazer over the proposed sale of their stake and have so far made no comment on his latest approach. United fans have reacted with anger at the announcement. They have vehemently opposed any proposed takeover by Glazer since he first showed interest in the club in September 2003 and after Sunday's announcement they vowed to fight on. ""We will fight tooth and nail to stop him whatever his offer says. We do not want him or anybody else taking over United,"" said Mark Longden of the Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association. ""The campaign against this proposed takeover will continue as it has done since Glazer first showed interest in the club.""",business
+"Wall Street cheers Bush victory..The US stock market has closed higher in response to George W Bush's victory in the presidential elections...The benchmark Dow Jones share index closed more than 1% higher at 10,137, while the Nasdaq rose 0.9% to 2,004. Many investors believe that Mr Bush's policies are more business-friendly than those of his Democrat challenger, John Kerry. The higher share prices also reflect relief that a clear winner has emerged from what proved to be a tight poll...Investors had worried that the outcome of the poll would be inconclusive, paving the way for a repeat of the legal wrangling that marred the 2000 election...The Dow lost 5% of its value in the three weeks immediately after that election, when it was unclear who would occupy the White House. Mr Kerry conceded defeat on Wednesday, abandoning last-ditch hopes of carrying the vote in the swing state of Ohio. ""The relief for the markets may be that we have a decision and can move forward,"" said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management. Some analysts predicted that the jump in share prices would be short-lived, saying investors would quickly focus once again on the health of the US economy. ""I would look at the stock market rally for Bush as kind of a one-day event,"" said Ken Mayland at Clearview Economics. The US' recent economic performance has been mixed, with solid growth offset by disappointingly low job creation figures, and mounting worries over a record budget deficit. Elsewhere in the financial markets on Wednesday, the dollar dipped slightly against the euro and climbed against the yen, while US oil prices closed up $1.26 at $50.88 a barrel in New York. The rise in oil prices partly reflects the view that President Bush is less likely than Mr Kerry to release supplies from the US' strategic oil reserve. Share prices in London, Frankfurt and Paris also closed higher...Successive polls in the run-up to Tuesday's election had shown the two candidates running neck and neck...Economic issues, as well as the war in Iraq, were the forefront of the campaign. In key swing states such as Ohio, which has suffered substantial job losses in the past four years, President Bush's handling of the economy became a crucial election issue. Senator Kerry attacked President Bush's economic record during his campaign, hammering home the fact that a net 800,000 jobs were lost during his term in office. President Bush focused on the fact that two million jobs have been created in the past year, claiming that it has vindicated his tax-cutting agenda. As for future policies, both candidates pledged to bring America's $422bn federal budget deficit under control. Senator Kerry planned to increase taxes on those earning more than $200,000 a year. President Bush has placed reform of the pensions system at the heart of his economic agenda for a second term. However, economists have said both candidates' economic programmes rested on questionable assumptions about future growth.",business
+"Business confidence dips in Japan..Business confidence among Japanese manufacturers has weakened for the first time since March 2003, the quarterly Tankan survey has found...Slower economic growth, rising oil prices, a stronger yen and weaker exports were blamed for the fall. December's confidence level was below that seen in September, the Bank of Japan said. However, September's reading was the strongest for 13 years. ""The economy is at a pause but unlikely to fall"", the economy minister said. ""It will feel a bit slower (next year) than this year, and growth may be a bit more gentle but the situation is that the recovery will continue,"" said economy minister Heizo Takenaka. In the Bank of Japan's December survey, the balance of big manufacturers saying business conditions are better, minus those saying they are worse, was 22, down from 26 in September...Japan's economy grew by just 0.1% in the three months to September, according revised data issued this month. With the recovery slowing, the world's second biggest economy is now expected grow by 0.2% in 2004. The Tankan index is based on a survey of 10,227 firms. Big manufacturers were even more pessimistic about the first quarter of 2005; their views suggest the March reading could go as low as 15 - still in positive territory, but weaker. The dollar's decline has strengthened the yen, making Japanese exports more expensive in the US. China's attempts to cool down its fast-growing economy have also hit Japanese industry's sales abroad. Confidence among non-manufacturers was unchanged in the final quarter of 2004, but it is forecast to drop one point in the March survey. Nonetheless, Japanese firms have been stepping up capital investment, and the survey found the pace is quickening. Companies reported they expect to invest 7.7% more in the year to March 2005 than the previous year - up from expectations of 6.1% increase in the September Tankan.",business
+"Millions 'to lose textile jobs'..Millions of the world's poorest textile trade workers will lose their jobs under new trade rules to be introduced in the new year, a charity has warned...The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is to end its Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) on midnight of 31 December. Christian Aid condemned the move, saying it would see almost a million jobs in Bangladesh alone being axed. However, supporters of the change claim it will mean increased efficiency and lower costs for Western consumers...It will also see more jobs created in India and China, advocates argue. The WTO said that many developing countries support the end of quotas and stressed that funding was available to countries such as Bangladesh to help them make the transition to a fully liberalised market. ""There will be a period of adjustment required,"" said WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell. ""Some countries will do better than others but there is no one who is suggesting that no developing country will do well out of this. ""Some countries where it may appear that orders will dry up have seen orders surging and there are many companies who will continue with existing trading relationships.""..Christian Aid has called on British firms not to simply ""cut and run"" but look after their workers, in a new report called Rags To Riches To Rags...It added that with few employment alternatives available many sacked garment workers could end up in far worse jobs - with some of the mainly female workers forced into the sex trade. The WTO itself has warned that as many as 27 million jobs could be lost as a result of liberalisation in the textile industry. Some of the world's fastest developing countries which rely on textile exports to build growth - for example in Bangladesh textiles account for almost 85% of the country's exports and the industry employs around 1.5 million people. The MFA pact has helped developing countries get a bigger share of the world market. ""The losers in this new trade landscape will be some of the most vulnerable workers in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Nepal,"" Andrew Pendleton, Christian Aid's head of Trade Policy, said. ""They will be hard-pressed to cope when garment industries there lose their protection. ""We are deeply concerned that the New Year will spell misery for huge numbers of garment workers."" The WTO said there was no consenus among its members to retain the quotas and emphasised that funding was available to countries such as Bangladesh to help them adjust to the liberalised market...It added that the impact of the changes for workers most affected by the shake-up had not been considered, adding such seismic changes to policy should ""put the interests of poor people first - rather than simply aiming to liberalise markets at any cost"". While the current MFA was not perfect, its did allow Third World countries like Bangladesh to get onto the first rung of industrial development, Christian Aid said. ""International trade must not be governed by a 'race to the bottom' that pitches one set of poor people against another,"" Mr Pendleton added.",business
+"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.",business
+"Fannie Mae 'should restate books'..US mortgage company Fannie Mae should restate its earnings, a move that is likely to put a billion-dollar dent in its accounts, watchdogs have said...The Securities & Exchange Commission accused Fannie Mae of using techniques that ""did not comply in material respects"" with accounting standards. Fannie Mae last month warned that some records were incorrect. The other main US mortgage firm Freddie Mac restated earnings by $5bn (£2.6bn) last year after a probe of its books. The SEC's comments are likely to increase pressure on Congress to strengthen supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...The two firms are key parts of the US financial system and effectively underwrite the mortgage market, financing nearly half of all American house purchases and dealing actively in bonds and other financial instruments. The investigation of Freddie Mac in June 2003 sparked concerns about the wider health of the industry and raised questionsmarks over the role of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), the industry's main regulator. Having been pricked into action, the OFHEO turned its attention to Fannie May and in September this year said that the firm had tweaked its books to spread earnings more smoothly across quarters and play down the amount of risk it had taken on. The SEC found similar problems. The watchdog's chief accountant Donald Nicolaisen said that ""Fannie Mae's methodology of assessing, measuring and documenting hedge ineffectiveness was inadequate and was not supported"" by generally accepted accounting principles.",business
+"US to rule on Yukos refuge call..Yukos has said a US bankruptcy court will decide whether to block Russia's impending auction of its main production arm on Thursday...The Russian oil firm has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US in an attempt to halt the forced sale. However, Judge Letitia Clark said the hearing would continue on Thursday when arguments in the case would be heard. Russian authorities are due to auction off Yuganskneftegas on 19 December to pay a huge tax bill sent to Yukos...Russian prosecutors are forcing the sale of the firm's most lucrative asset Yuganskneftegas to help pay a $27bn (£14bn) back tax bill, which they claim is owed by Yukos...Filing for bankruptcy protection in the US was ""a last resort to preserve the rights of our shareholders, employees and customers,"" said Yukos chief executive Steven Theede. The company added it had opted to take action through American courts as US bankruptcy law gives worldwide jurisdiction over a debtor company's property and because it was seeking a judiciary willing to protect the value of shareholders' investments. However, as the firm is based in Russia and has no significant US assets, lawyers are unsure of the outcome of the case. ""We are here to stop 60% of our body from being cut off on Sunday,"" Zack Clement, a lawyer for Yukos, told Judge Clark in an emergency hearing in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday. As well as the bid to get Chapter 11 bankruptcy - which protects firms from creditors, allowing them to continue trading as they restructure their finances - the group also made a claim for damages against the Russian government. Yukos asked the Houston court to order Russia to arbitration so that it can press claims for billions of dollars in damages over a ""campaign of illegal, discriminatory and disproportionate"" tax claims. Mr Clement said that under Russian law, the Russian government was obliged to enter into arbitration as set out in international law...He added that the opening bid for the firm's Yuganskneftgas unit was $8bn - less than half of the $20bn that Yukos advisers say it is worth. ""We believe the only significant bidder at the auction on Sunday is Gazprom,"" he said, referring to Russia's natural gas giant. Yukos maintains that the forced auction is illegal and ""will cause the company to suffer immediate and irreparable harm."" Many commentators believe the Russian government's aggressive pursuit of Yukos is a politically-motivated response to the political ambitions of its former chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Mr Khodorkovsky, who had funded liberal opposition groups, was arrested in October last year on fraud and tax evasion charges and is still in jail Analysts believe that if its production unit is auctioned off, it is likely to be bought up by a government-backed firm, like Gazprom, effectively bringing a large chunk of Russia's lucrative oil and gas industry back under state control.",business
+"J&J agrees $25bn Guidant deal..Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has agreed to buy medical technology firm Guidant for $25.4bn (£13bn)...Guidant is a key producer of equipment that combats heart problems such as implant defibrillators and pacemakers. Analysts said that the deal is aimed at offsetting Johnson & Johnson's reliance on a slowing drug business. They also pointed out that more mergers are likely because the drug and healthcare industries are fragmented and are under pressure to cut costs. A number of Johnson & Johnson's products are facing patent expirations, while the company is also battling fierce competition from generic products. Meanwhile, demand for defibrillators, which give the heart a small electric shock when an irregular heartbeat or rhythm is detected, is expected to increase, analysts said. The move by Johnson & Johnson has been widely expected and the firm will pay $76 for each Guidant share, 6% more than Wednesday's closing price. Analysts say that US antitrust regulators could force the firms to shed some overlapping stent operations. Stents are tubes that are used to keep an artery open after it has been unblocked.",business
+"Libya takes $1bn in unfrozen funds..Libya has withdrawn $1bn in assets from the US, assets which had previously been frozen for almost 20 years, the Libyan central bank has said...The move came after the US lifted a trade ban to reward Tripoli for giving up weapons of mass destruction and vowing to compensate Lockerbie victims. The original size of Libya's funds was $400m, the central bank told Reuters. However, the withdrawal did not mean that Libya had cut its ties with the US, he added...""We are in the process of opening accounts in banks in the United States,"" the central bank's vice president Farhat Omar Ben Gadaravice said. The previously frozen assets had been invested in various countries and are believed to have included equity holdings in banks. The US ban on trade and economic activity with Tripoli - imposed by then president Ronald Regan in 1986 after a series of what the US deemed terrorist acts, including the 1988 Lockerbie air crash - was suspended in April. Bankers from the two country's had been working on how to unfreeze Libya's assets.",business
+"Cactus diet deal for Phytopharm..A slimming aid made from a southern African cactus is set to be developed by UK firm Phytopharm and Unilever...Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever will help the pharmaceutical firm develop the snacks containing Hoodia extract. Phytopharm shares jumped 10.7% on the news, with analysts saying sales of $600m (£309m) a year were possible. The plant, licensed to Phytopharm in 1997, has been used for thousands of years by the Sans bushmen of the Kalahari desert to stave off hunger. Studies have reportedly shown the plant curbs appetite instead of reducing calorific intake like many existing products...Phytopharm will receive an initial fee of £6.5m from Unilever - out of a potential total of £21m - as well as future royalties on product sales. Under the deal, production of the Hoodia cactus at Phytopharm's nursery in South Africa will also rise from eight million plants to potentially hundreds of millions, said Phytopharm chief executive Richard Dixey. The firm had initially hoped to market a slimming drug from Hoodia with Pfizer. But the research collaboration came to an end in 2003. Analysts said Unilever could launch the new products in 2007. ""This deal goes a long way to restoring the market faith in Phytopharm's pipeline after the Pfizer exit,"" said analyst Erling Refsum at Nomura.",business
+"Brazil plays down Varig rescue..The Brazilian government has played down claims that it could step in to save the country's biggest airline...Brazil's airport authority chief Carlos Wilson had claimed the government was on the brink of stepping in to save Varig, Brazil's flagship airline. However, the country's vice president Jose Alencar has said the government still is looking for a solution. Varig is struggling under a huge debt burden of an estimated debt of 6.5 billion reais ($2.3bn or £1.2bn). Asked whether a rescue was on the cards following a meeting of the country's Congress to discuss the airline's crisis, Mr Alencar replied: ""No, I don't think so. We will see.""..Earlier, Mr Wilson had said that president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has decided to step in and a decree of some kind of intervention could be signed this week. ""In practice, it will be an intervention, although this is not the technical name used"", he said. An intervention means that the government would take administrative control of the company and its finances. For that to happen Varig's main shareholder, the non-profit Ruben Berta Foundation which represents the airline's employees, would have to be removed, Mr Wilson said. However, no jobs would be lost and the airline would keep on flying, he added. Varig, which operates in 18 countries apart from Brazil, has been driven to the brink of collapse because of the country's economic downturn...The depreciation of Brazil's currency has had a direct impact on the airline's dollar debt as well as some of its costs. Business has improved recently with demand for air travel increasing and a recovery in the Brazilian economy. The airline could also win a sizeable windfall from a compensation claim against the government. On Tuesday the courts awarded Varig 2bn reais ($725m), after ruling in favour of its compensation claim against the government for freezing tariffs from 1985 to 1992. But the government can appeal the decision.",business
+"Bombardier chief to leave company..Shares in train and plane-making giant Bombardier have fallen to a 10-year low following the departure of its chief executive and two members of the board...Paul Tellier, who was also Bombardier's president, left the company amid an ongoing restructuring. Laurent Beaudoin, part of the family that controls the Montreal-based firm, will take on the role of CEO under a newly created management structure. Analysts said the resignations seem to have stemmed from a boardroom dispute. Under Mr Tellier's tenure at the company, which began in January 2003, plans to cut the worldwide workforce of 75,000 by almost a third by 2006 were announced. The firm's snowmobile division and defence services unit were also sold and Bombardier started the development of a new aircraft seating 110 to 135 passengers...Mr Tellier had indicated he wanted to stay at the world's top train maker and third largest manufacturer of civil aircraft until the restructuring was complete. But Bombardier has been faced with a declining share price and profits. Earlier this month the firm said it earned $10m (£19.2m) in the third quarter, down from a profit of $133m a year ago. ""I understand the board's concern that I would not be there for the long-term and the need to develop and execute strategies, and the need to reshape the management structure at this time,"" Mr Tellier said in a statement on Monday. Bombardier said restructuring plans drawn up by Mr Tellier's would continue to be implemented. Shares in Bombardier lost 65 Canadian cents or 25% on the news to 1.90 Canadian dollars before rallying to 2.20 Canadian dollars.",business
+"Brazil approves bankruptcy reform..A major reform of Brazil's bankruptcy laws has been approved by the country's Congress, in a move which it is hoped will cut the cost of borrowing...The bill, proposed in 1993, has finally been approved by the leadership of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The old law, dating from 1945, gave priority first to workers, second to tax revenue and finally to creditors. The new legislation changes this, giving priority to creditors and limiting payments to workers. The new regulations will limit payments to workers to 150 times the minimum monthly salary, which is currently $94. The law also makes it more difficult for a company to declare bankruptcy. However, when a firm is declared bankrupt it will gain protection from creditors for 180 days while a recovery plan is worked out...The proposals were opposed in the past by leftist parties, including Mr Lula's Worker Party. They considered that they undermined workers' rights. But President Lula became a defender of the reforms, arguing that the country's bank lending margins were among the highest in the world and were damaging the economy. According to Andreas Adriano of Latin Trade Magazine, the new bankruptcy law will help in reducing the spread - difference between the interest rates of the banks and federal bonds. Nevertheless, Mr Adriano said to reduce the basic interest rate the Central Bank needs to change its policy, focusing not only on inflation but also on economic growth.",business
+"Retail sales show festive fervour..UK retail sales were better than expected in November as Christmas shoppers began their seasonal flock to the High Street, figures show...The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said retail sales rose 0.6% on the month and 6.1% on the year. But the figures, along with this week's inflation report, could trigger another interest rate rise in the New Year. However, recent data from the British Retail Consortium showed a 0.2% slip in High Street sales during November...The ONS data confounded analyst expectations. Many had expected sales to fall slightly in November as shoppers put off buying Christmas presents until December. However, retailers' attempts to draw in the crowds may be behind November's unexpected rise in sales, they say. Aggressive tactics, such as one-day discount sales adopted by stores such as Marks & Spencer, appear to have paid off. ""Price discounting has certainly accounted for much of this because the value of retail sales hasn't grown as much as volumes,"" said Investec economist David Page. The figures sparked a rally for sterling as the data supported the view that it is too early to assume that base rates have peaked.",business
+"Cairn shares slump on oil setback..Shares in Cairn Energy, a UK oil firm, have closed down 18% after a disappointing drilling update and a warning over possible tax demands...The company said tests had shown no significant finds in one of its Indian oil fields, but was upbeat about the potential of other areas. It also said the Indian government had told it to pay a production tax, for which Cairn argues it is not liable. Cairn's shares have jumped by almost 400% this year. Investors had piled into Cairn after the company announced significant oil finds in India this year. Chief executive Bill Gammell said on Friday he was ""disappointed"" with exploration in the so-called N-C extension area in Rajasthan. Investors had held high hopes of major oil finds in this area. But Cairn said estimates had been revised in what was a ""significant downgrade of the initial expectation""...Cairn also said that the government believed the company was liable to pay taxes under its production-sharing contract. The company said the rate would be about 900 rupees ($20.40; £10.50) per tonne, or seven barrels, of oil. A spokesman for the firm said that the tax would wipe 5% of the field's current value...""Cairn refutes the government's position,"" Mr Gammell said. He insisted that the contract made it clear that the tax should be shouldered by the licensee - India's state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) - and not the contractor. ""We have a pretty strong legal case here,"" he added, saying it would only become an issue once the firm started production. Investors took a dim view of the statements though. The shares closed down 247p, or 18%, at 1115 pence. ""I think people were slightly over-ambitious for how quickly Cairn would be able to develop and potentially offload these reserves,"" said analyst Jason Kenney at ING...The disappointments overshadowed increased production targets for Cairn's existing oilfields. The company raised targets for its Mangala and Aishwariya fields in India from 60,000 barrels a day to between 80,000 and 100,000 barrels a day. Its Mangala field, thought to contain a billion barrels, is its biggest find to date. ""These two fields will provide the core of the future developments in Rajasthan,"" Mr Gammell said. Cairn added that it would be appraising another field early next year. Mr Gammell set up the company in the 1980s and has successfully switched its focus to South Asia from interests in the US and Europe. Cairn, which also operates in Nepal and Bangladesh, was catapulted into the FTSE 100 index of leading UK shares earlier this year after the sharp rise in its share price.",business
+"French boss to leave EADS..The French co-head of European defence and aerospace group EADS Philippe Camus is to leave his post...Mr Camus said in a statement that he has accepted the invitation to return full-time to the Lagardere group, which owns 30% of EADS. ""I will give up my role as soon as the board of directors asks me to do so,"" he said. Airbus head Noel Forgeard is now set to replace Mr Camus, bringing the company's power struggle to an end. Fighting between Mr Camus and Mr Forgeard has hit the headlines in France and analysts feared that this fighting could destabilise the defence and aerospace group. French finance minister Herve Gaymard is on record as saying that he ""deplored"" the infighting at the company. The company should now be able put this dispute behind it, with the departure of Mr Camus and with the clear support given to Mr Forgeard by the Lagardere group, the main French shareholder of EADS. The other main shareholders of EADS are the French government (15%) , who also support Mr Forgeard, and Germany's DaimlerChrysler (30%). Rainer Hertrich, the German co-head of EADS will also step down when his contract expires next year...Mr Camus recently came under pressure as it became clear that the A380 superjumbo was running over budget. EADS - Airbus' majority owner - admitted earlier this week that the project was running 1.45bn euros (£1bn; $1.9bn) over budget. But Mr Forgeard has denied this, telling French media that there is no current overrun in the budget. ""But for the sake of transparency, we told our shareholders last week that if we look at the forecast for total costs of the project up to 2010, there is a risk that we will go over by around 10%, which is about 1bn euros (£686m; $1.32bn),"" he told France's LCI Television. Due to enter service in 2006, the A380 will replace the Boeing 747 jumbo as the world's biggest passenger aircraft.",business
+"AstraZeneca hit by drug failure..Shares in Anglo-Swedish drug have closed down 8% in UK trade after the failure of its Iressa drug in a major clinical trial...The lung cancer drug did not significantly prolong survival in patients with the disease. This setback for the group follows the rejection by the US in October of its anti-coagulant pill Exanta. Meanwhile, another of its major money spinners - cholesterol drug Crestor - is facing mounting safety concerns. ""This would be two of the three blockbuster drugs that were meant to power the company forward failing... and we've got risks on Crestor,"" said Nick Turner, analyst at brokers Jefferies...AstraZeneca had hoped to pitch its Iressa drug against rival medicine Tarceva. But Iressa proved no better than a placebo in extending lives in the trial involving 1,692 patients. Tarceva - made by OSI Pharmaceuticals, Genentech and Roche - has already proved to be successful in helping prolong the life of lung cancer patients. AztraZeneca has now appointed a new executive director to the board. John Patterson will be in charge of drug development. The company said Mr Patterson would make ""substantial changes to the clinical organisation and its processes"". ""I am determined to improve our development and regulatory performance, restore confidence in the company and value to shareholders,"" said chief executive Tom McKillop.",business
+"Strong quarterly growth for Nike..Nike has reported its best second-quarter earnings, helped by strong demand for its athletic shoes and Converse sneakers...The global sports giant said it posted a profit of $261.9m (£135.6m), for the three months to 30 November, up from $179.1m in the same period last year. Revenues increased 11% to $3.1bn, from $2.8bn for the same period in 2003. Nike, whose products are endorsed by Tiger Woods among other sports stars, said ""demand continues to grow"". The results came after a strong first quarter of the year for the firm based in Beaverton, Oregon...Philip Knight, chairman and chief executive, said: ""Nike's second-quarter revenues and earnings per share reached all-time high levels as a result of solid performance across our global portfolio. ""Our businesses in the United States and emerging markets such as China, Russia and Turkey, combined with favourable European exchange rates, helped drive much of this growth."" He added: ""With the first half of our fiscal year in the books, we remain confident that our business strategy and consistent execution will allow us to deliver on our goals of healthy, profitable growth."" The firm reported worldwide futures orders for athletic footwear and gear, scheduled for delivery from December 2004 to April 2005, of $4.9bn. That is 9.1% higher than such orders reported for the same period last year.",business
+"Stormy year for property insurers..A string of storms, typhoons and earthquakes has made 2004 the most expensive year on record for property insurers, according to Swiss Re...The world's second biggest insurer said disasters around the globe have seen property claims reach $42bn (£21.5bn). ""2004 reinforces the trend towards higher losses,"" said Swiss Re. Tightly packed populations in the areas involved in natural and man-made disasters were to partly to blame for the rise in claims, it said. Some 95% of insurance claims were for natural catastrophes, with the rest attributed to made-made events...The largest claims came from the US, which was struck by four hurricanes, and Japan, which suffered the highest concentration of typhoons for decades plus a major earthquake...Europe suffered fewer natural disasters, but 191 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured in March after the terrorist attack on train stations in Madrid. The damages claimed in 2004 eclipsed previous years, including 2001 when the 11 September attacks pushed claims up to $37bn. Swiss Re said it had registered about 300 natural and man-made disasters around the world in 2004. Twenty-one thousand people lost their lives in the catastrophes with a cost to the global economy of around $105bn (£54bn).",business
+"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.",business
+"Irish company hit by Iraqi report..Shares in Irish oil company Petrel Resources have lost more than 50% of their value on a report that the firm has failed to win a contract in Iraq...Reuters news agency reported that Iraq's Oil Ministry has awarded the first post-war oilfield contracts to a Canadian and a Turkish company. By 1700 GMT, Petrel's shares fell from 97p ($1.87) to 44p ($0.85). Petrel said that it has not received any information from Iraqi authorities to confirm or deny the report...Iraq is seeking to award contracts for three projects, valued at $500m (£258.5m). Turkey's Everasia is reported by Reuters to have won a contract to develop the Khurmala Dome field in the north of the country. A Canadian company, named IOG, is reported to have won the contract to run the Himrin field. Ironhorse Oil and Gas has denied to Reuters that it is the company in question. These two projects aim to develop Khurmala field to produce 100,000 barrels per day and raise the output of Himrin. The winners of the contract are to build new flow lines and build gas separation stations. The contract to develop the Suba-Luhais field has not yet been awarded as Iraq's Oil Ministry is studying the offers. If Iraq's cabinet approves the oil ministry's choice of companies, then this will be the first deal that Iraq has signed with a foreign oil company. Iraq is still trying to boost its production capacity to match levels last seen in the eighties, before the war with Iran. Oil officials hope to double Iraq's output by the end of the decade.",business
+"Yukos unit fetches $9bn at auction..A little-known Russian company has bought the main production unit of oil giant Yukos at auction in Moscow...Baikal Finance Group outbid favourite Gazprom, the state-controlled gas monopoly, to buy Yuganskneftegas. Baikal paid 260.75bn roubles ($9.37bn: £4.8bn) for Yugansk - nowhere near the $27bn Russia says Yukos owes in taxes. Yukos reacted immediately by repeating its view that the auction was illegal in international and Russian law, and said Baikal had bought itself trouble...""The company considers that the victor of today's auction has bought itself a serious $9bn headache,"" said Yukos spokesman Alexander Shadrin. He said the company would continue to make ""every lawful move"" to protect tens of thousands of shareholders in Yukos from ""this forcible and illegitimate removal of their property"". Meanwhile, Tim Osborne, head of Yukos main shareholders' group Menatep, said that Yukos may have to declare itself bankrupt, and that legal action would be taken, outside Russia, against the auction winners. Reports from Russia say Baikal has paid a deposit of nearly $1.7bn from a Sberbank (Savings Bank) account to the Russian Federal Property Fund, for Yugansk...The sale came despite a restraining order issued by a US court dealing with the firm's bankruptcy application for Chapter 11 protection. Yukos has always insisted the auction was state-sponsored theft but Russian authorities argued they were imposing the law, trying to recover billions in unpaid taxes. There were originally four registered bidders, and with its close ties to the Kremlin, state-backed gas monopoly Gazprom had been seen as favourite. But just two companies turned up for the auction, Gazprom and the unknown Baikal Finance Group, named after a large freshwater lake in Siberia. And, according to Tass news agency, Gazprom did not make a single bid, leaving the way open for Baikal, which paid above the auction start price of 246.75bn roubles...Mystery firm Baikal Finance Group is officially registered in the central Russian region of Tver, but many analysts believe it may be linked to Gazprom. Kaha Kiknavelidze, analyst at Troika Dialog, said: ""I think a decision that Yugansk should end up with Gazprom was taken a long time ago. So the main question was how to structure this transaction...""I would not exclude that the structure of the deal has slightly changed and Gazprom now has a partner. ""I would also not exclude that Baikal will decline to pay in 14 days, that are given by law, and Gazprom is then recognised as the winner. This would give Gazprom an extra 14 days to accumulate the needed funds. ""Another surprise was that the winner paid a significant premium above the starting price."" However, Gazprom has announced it is not linked to Baikal in any way. And Paul Collison, chief analyst at Brunswick UBS, said: ""I see no plausible explanation for the theory that Baikal was representing competing interests. ""Yugansk will most likely end up with Gazprom but could still end up with the government. There is still potential for surprises."" Yugansk is at the heart of Yukos - pumping close to a million barrels of oil a day. The unit was seized by the government which claims the oil giant owes more than $27bn in taxes and fines. Yukos says those tax demands are exorbitant, and had sought refuge in US courts...The US bankruptcy court's initial order on Thursday - to temporarily block the sale - in response to Yukos filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, was upheld in a second ruling on Saturday. The protection, if recognised by the Russian authorities, would have allowed Yukos' current management to retain control of the business and block the sale of any company assets. Yukos has said the sale amounts to expropriation - punishment for the political ambitions of its founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Mr Khodorkovsky is now in jail, on separate fraud charges. But President Vladimir Putin has described the affair as a crackdown on corruption - and the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow says most Russians believe the destruction of Yukos is now inevitable. Hours before the auction lawyers for Menatep, a group through which Mr Khodorkovsky and his associates control Yukos, said they would take legal action in other countries. Menatep lawyers, who were excluded from observing the auction, said they would retaliate by seeking injunctions in foreign courts to impound Russian oil and gas exports.",business
+"S&N extends Indian beer venture..The UK's biggest brewer, Scottish and Newcastle (S&N), is to buy 37.5% of India's United Breweries in a deal worth 4.66bn rupees ($106m:£54.6m)...S&N will buy a 17.5% equity stake in United, maker of the well-known Kingfisher lager brand, and make a public offer to buy another 20% stake. A similar holding will be controlled by Vijay Mallya, chair of the Indian firm. The deal was a ""natural development"" of its joint venture with United, said Tony Froggatt, S&N's chief executive...Its top brands include Newcastle Brown Ale, Foster's, John Smith's, Strongbow and Kronenbourg. In 2002 S&N and United agreed to form a strategic partnership, one that would include a joint venture business and a UK investment in the Indian brewer. The joint venture was established in May 2003. with both parties having a 40% stake in the venture - Millennium Alcobev. Millennium Alcobev will now be merged with United, which expects post-merger to have about half of India's beer market...India, with a population of more than one billion, consumes about 1.2 billion bottles of beer every year. Kingfisher has market share of about 29%. In addition to the equity stake S&N is to invest 2.47bn rupees in United through non-convertible redeemable preference shares. Meanwhile, United's budget airline, Kingfisher Airlines, is to buy 10 A320 aircraft from Airbus and has the option to buy 20 more aircraft in a deal worth up to $1.8bn. The airline, the brainchild of Mr Mallya, expects to start its operations by the end of April. The new airline would break even in the very first year of operation, Mr Mallya said.",business
+"Euronext 'poised to make LSE bid'..Pan-European group Euronext is poised to launch a bid for the London Stock Exchange, UK media reports say...Last week, the LSE rejected a takeover proposal from German rival Deutsche Boerse - the 530 pence-a-share offer valued the exchange at about £1.35bn. The LSE, which saw its shares rise 25%, said the bid undervalued the business. Euronext - formed after the Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam exchanges merged - is reportedly working with three investment banks on a possible offer. The LSE, Europe's biggest stock market, is a key prize, listing stocks with a total capitalisation of £1.4 trillion...Euronext already has a presence in London due to its 2001 acquisition of London-based options and futures exchange Liffe. Trades on the LSE are cleared via Clearnet, in which Euronext has a quarter stake...Euronext, which also operates an exchange in Lisbon, last week appointed UBS and ABN Amro as additional advisors. It is also working with Morgan Stanley. Despite the rejection of the Deutsche Boerse bid last week, Werner Seifert, chief executive of the Frankfurt-based exchange, may well come back with an improved offer. It has long wanted to link up with London, and the two tried and failed to seal a merger in 2000. Responding to the LSE's rebuff, Deutsche Boerse - whose market capitalisation is more than £3bn - said it believed it could show its proposal offered benefits, and that it still hoped to make a cash bid...Last week the LSE said not only was the bid undervalued, but that it had ""been advised that there can be no assurance that any transaction could be successfully implemented"". However, it has indicated it is open for further talks. Meanwhile, German magazine Der Spiegel said part of Mr Seifert's negotiations with the LSE were about where to base the future board of any merged exchange. While Mr Seifert has suggested a merged company would be run out of London, the mayor of Frankfurt has raised concerns that such a move could cost German jobs. Many analysts believe German Boerse has more financial firepower than Euronext if it came to a bidding war.",business
+"Christmas shoppers flock to tills..Shops all over the UK reported strong sales on the last Saturday before Christmas with some claiming record-breaking numbers of festive shoppers...A spokesman for Manchester's Trafford Centre said it was ""the biggest Christmas to date"" with sales up 5%. And the Regent Street Association said shops in central London were also expecting the ""best Christmas ever"". That picture comes despite reports of disappointing festive sales in the last couple of weeks...The Trafford Centre spokeswoman said about 8,500 thousand vehicles had arrived at the centre on Saturday before 1130 GMT. ""We predict that the next week will continue the same trend,"" she added...It was a similar story at Bluewater in Kent. Spokesman Alan Jones said he expected 150,000 shoppers to have visited by the end of Saturday and a further 100,000 on Sunday. ""Our sales so far have been 2% up on the same time last year,"" he said. ""We're very busy, it's really strong and people will be shopping right up until Christmas. ""Over the Christmas period we're expecting people to spend in excess of £200m at the centre.""..On Saturday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the St David's Shopping Centre in Cardiff said it looked like being its busiest day of the year with about 200,000 shoppers expected to have visited by the close of play. At the St Enoch's Shopping Centre in Glasgow, more than 140,000 shoppers - an all-time record - were expected to have passed through the doors by its closing time of 1900 GMT. Senior business manager Jon Walton said: ""It has been phenomenal - absolutely mobbed. ""Every week footfall has been showing strong growth and at the weekends it has been going mad."" Regent Street Association director Annie Walker said on Saturday: ""The stores were heaving today and a lot of people are going to be doing last minute shopping as many people finished work on Friday and can go in the week.""..She said reports of a slump in pre-Christmas sales were related to the growing popularity of internet sales. ""I do think this has had a lot to do with reports of lower sales figures,"" she said. ""Internet shopping has gone up enormously and not all stores have websites.""",business
+"Mystery surrounds new Yukos owner..The fate of Russia's Yuganskneftegas - the oil firm sold to a little-known buyer on Sunday - is the subject of frantic speculation in Moscow...Baikal Finance Group emerged as the auction winner, agreeing to pay 260.75bn roubles (£4.8bn; $9.4bn). Russia's newspapers claimed that Baikal was a front for gas monopoly Gazprom, which had been expected to win. The sale has destroyed Yukos, once the owner of Yuganskneftegas, said founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky. ""Yuganskneftegas has been sold in the best traditions of the 90s. The authorities have made themselves a wonderful Christmas present - Russia's most efficient oil company has been destroyed,"" the Interfax news agency quoted Mr Khodorkovsky as saying via his lawyers...Gazprom had been expected to win the auction but is thought to have failed to get finance for the deal after a US court injunction barred it from taking part. Last week, Yukos filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in a last-ditch attempt to hang on to Yuganskneftegas, which accounts for 60% of its output. A US judge banned Gazprom from taking part in the auction and barred international banks from providing the firm with cash. ""They screwed up the financing,"" said Ronald Smith, an analyst at Renaissance Capital in Moscow. ""And Gazprom doesn't have this sort of money lying around.""..Gazprom has denied that it is behind the purchase. ""It is a front for somebody but not necessarily for Gazprom,"" said Oleg Maximov, an analyst at Troika Dialog in Moscow. ""We don't know if this company is linked 100% to Gazprom...""We tried to find it, but we couldn't and as far as I know, the papers had the same result."" The sale has however bought time for Gazprom to raise the money needed for the purchase, analysts said. One scenario is that Baikal will not pay when it is supposed to in two weeks time, putting Yuganskneftegas back in the hands of bailiffs and back within the reach of Gazprom. Yukos is not planning on letting go of its unit without a fight and has threatened legal action against any buyer. Menatep, Yukos main shareholders' group, has also threatened legal action. Yukos claims that it is being punished for the political ambitions of its founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is now in jail facing separate fraud charges. It has been hit with more than $27bn in taxes and fines and many observers now say that the break up of the firm that accounts for 20% of Russia's oil output is inevitable.",business
+"Euronext joins bid battle for LSE..Pan-European stock market Euronext has approached the London Stock Exchange (LSE) about a possible takeover bid...""The approach is at an early stage and therefore does not require a response at this point,"" LSE said. Talks with the European stock market and with rival bidder Deutsche Boerse will continue, the LSE said. Last week, the group rejected a £1.3bn ($2.5bn) takeover offer from Deutsche Boerse, claiming that it undervalued the business. LSE saw its shares surge 4.9% to a new high of 583p in early trade, following the announcement on Monday...The offer follows widespread media speculation that Euronext would make an offer for LSE. Experts now widely expect a bidding war for Europe's biggest stock market, which lists stocks with a total capitalisation of £1.4 trillion, to break out. Commentators say that a deal with Euronext, which owns the Liffe derivatives exchange in London and combines the Paris, Amsterdam and Lisbon stock exchanges, could potentially offer the LSE more cost savings than a deal with Deutsche Boerse...A weekend report in the Telegraph had quoted an unnamed executive at Euronext as saying the group would make a cash bid to trump Deutsche Boerse's offer. ""Because we already own Liffe in London, the cost savings available to us from a merger are far greater than for Deutsche Boerse,"" the newspaper quoted the executive as saying. Euronext chief executive Jean-Francois Theodore is reported to have already held private talks with LSE's chief executive Clara Furse. Further reports had suggested that Euronext could make an offer in excess of the LSE's 533p a share closing price on Friday. However, Euronext said it could not guarantee ""at this stage"" that a firm offer would be made for LSE. There has been extensive speculation about a possible takeover of the company since an attempted merger with Deutsche Boerse failed in 2000.",business
+"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"".",business
+"Diageo to buy US wine firm..Diageo, the world's biggest spirits company, has agreed to buy Californian wine company Chalone for $260m (£134m) in an all-cash deal...Although Diageo's best-known brands include Smirnoff vodka and Guinness stout, it already has a US winemaking arm - Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines. Diageo said it expects to get US regulatory approval for the deal during the first quarter of 2005. It said Chalone would be integrated into its existing US wine business...""The US wine market represents a growth opportunity for Diageo, with favourable demographic and consumption trends,"" said Diageo North America president Ivan Menezes. In July, Diageo, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, reported an annual turnover of £8.89bn, down from £9.28bn a year earlier. It blamed a weaker dollar for its lower turnover. In the year ending 31 December 2003, Chalone reported revenues of $69.4m.",business
+"Tokyo says deflation 'controlled'..The Japanese government has forecast that the country's economic growth will slow to 1.6% in the next fiscal year starting in April 2005...While it predicts this fall from the current 2.1% level, it said it was making progress on ending deflation. The figures were given by economics minister Heizo Takenaka who said the economy would grow by 2% in 2006/07. He said the consumer price index (CPI) would rise 0.1% in the next fiscal year, the first gain since 2000/01. ""We are attempting to make real economic conditions better and to overcome deflation. I think we are on track,"" said Mr Takenaka. Deflation - or falling consumer prices - has plagued Japan for more than five years. To ease the problem the Bank of Japan has regularly flooded the money market with excess cash to keep short term interest rates at 0% in an attempt to spur economic activity.",business
+"No seasonal lift for house market..A swathe of figures have provided further evidence of a slowdown in the UK property market...The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), British Bankers Association (BBA) and Building Societies Association (BSA) all said mortgage lending was slowing. CML figures showed gross lending fell by 4% in November as the number of people buying new homes fell. Elsewhere, the BBA added underlying mortgage lending rose by £4m in November, compared to October's £4.29m. The CML said that loans for new property purchases fell 25% year-on-year to 85,000 - the lowest total seen since February 2003...Data from the CML showed lending fell to just over £25bn in November, from £25.5bn a year earlier. Separate figures from the Building Societies Association showed the value of mortgage approvals -- loans agreed but not yet made -- stood 32% lower than at the same time last year, at a seasonally-adjusted £2.98bn. The figures come hot on the heels of new data from property website Rightmove which suggested owners must indulge in a ""winter sale"" and slash prices by up to 8%. Miles Shipside, commercial director at Rightmove, said sellers would have to be ""more realistic with their asking prices"" to tempt buyers. The average asking price of a home fell by more than £600 from £190,329 in November to £189,733 in December, while the length of time it takes to sell a home rose to 81 days from 53 in the summer...Rightmove said estate agents were set to enter 2005 with a third more properties on their books than a year ago. ""Even once the quieter holiday period is over, sellers will find themselves competing with a lot of other properties on the market. In any business, excess supply and low demand means one thing - cut prices,"" Mr Shipside said...""The proof is that some properties that have been appropriately discounted are selling, even in the current market."" Overall, asking prices have fallen 3.3% from their July peaks as the equivalent of £6,500 has been cut from an average property. A host of mortgage lenders and economists have predicted that property prices will either fall or stagnate in 2005. ""What is apparent is a picture of a slowing market, but one that should remain stable as we return to more normal volumes of lending over 2005 as a whole,"" CML director general Michael Coogan said. ""It's a fairly consistent picture, showing that mortgage demand has fallen back again, which is consistent with a continuing correction in the housing market,"" Investec economist Philip Shaw said. ""However, the figures do suggest only a modest weakening, and we stand by our view that the property market will remain in the doldrums for some time, though a collapse is still unlikely.""",business
+"Yukos seeks court action on sale..Yukos will return to a US court on Wednesday to seek sanctions against Baikal Finance Group, the little-known firm which has bought its main asset...Yukos has said it will sue Baikal and others involved in the sale of Yuganskneftegas for $20bn in damages. Yukos' US lawyers will attempt to have Baikal assets frozen after the Russian government ignored a US court order last week blocking the sale. Baikal's background and its motives for buying the unit are still unclear...Russian newspapers have claimed that Baikal - which bought the Yuganskneftegas production unit for $9.4bn (261bn roubles, £4.8bn) on Sunday at a state provoked auction - has strong links with Surgutneftegas, Russia's fourth-biggest oil producer. Many observers believe that the unit, which produces 60% of Yukos' oil output, could ultimately fall into the hands of Surgutneftegas or even Gazprom, the state gas firm which opted out of the auction...The Russian government forced the sale of Yukos' most lucrative asset as part of its action to enforce a $27bn back tax bill it says the company owes. Yukos' US lawyers claim the auction was illegal because the firm had filed for bankruptcy and therefore its assets were now under the protection of US bankruptcy law which has worldwide jurisdiction. On Wednesday, Yukos will also seek further legal remedies to prevent the break-up of the group. ""We believe the auction was illegal and we intend to pursue all legal recourses available to us,"" Yukos spokesman Mike Lake told Agence France Press. ""If it exports that oil, it will be marketing a stolen product,"" he added. The future ownership of Yuganksneftegas remains unclear amid widespread suggestions that Baikal was established as a front for other interests...Speaking on Tuesday, President Putin said Baikal was owned by individual investors who planned to build relationships with other Russian energy firms interested in the development of Yuganskneftegas. President Putin also suggested that China's National Petroleum Corporation could play a role in the unit's future after signing a commercial agreement with Gazprom to work on joint energy projects. Yukos has claimed that the sale of its main asset will lead to the collapse of the company. Commentators and Yukos itself claim the firm is the target of a government campaign to destroy it because of the political ambitions of its founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.",business
+"Indy buys into India paper..Irish publishing group Independent News & Media is buying up a 26% stake in Indian newspaper company Jagran in a deal worth 25m euros ($34.1m)...Jagran publishes India's top-selling daily newspaper, the Hindi-language Dainik Jagran, which has been in circulation for 62 years. News of the deal came as the group announced that its results would meet market forecasts. The company reported strong revenue growth across all its major markets...Group advertising revenues were up over 10% year-on-year, the group said, with overall circulation revenues are expected to increase almost 10% year-on-year. This was helped by the positive impact of ""compact"" newspaper editions in Ireland and the UK, it said. ""2004 has proven to be an important year for Independent News & Media,"" said chief executive Sir Anthony O'Reilly. ""Our simple aim at Independent is to be the low cost producer in every region in which we operate. I am confident that we will show a meaningful increase in earnings for 2005.""..Meanwhile, the group made no comment about the future of the Independent newspaper despite recent speculation that Sir Anthony had held talks with potential buyers over a stake in the daily publication. He has consistently denied suggestions that the Independent and the Independent on Sunday are up for sale. Buy it is understood that the recent success of the smaller edition of the Independent, which has pushed circulation up by 20% to 260,000, has prompted interest from industry rivals, with Daily Mail & General Trust tipped as the most likely suitor. The loss-making newspaper is not expected to reach break-even until 2006.",business
+"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.",business
+"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.",business
+"Bush to get 'tough' on deficit..US president George W Bush has pledged to introduce a ""tough"" federal budget next February in a bid to halve the country's deficit in five years...The US budget and its trade deficit are both deep in the red, helping to push the dollar to lows against the euro and fuelling fears about the economy. Mr Bush indicated there would be ""strict discipline"" on non-defence spending in the budget. The vow to cut the deficit had been one of his re-election declarations. The federal budget deficit hit a record $412bn (£211.6bn) in the 12 months to 30 September and $377bn in the previous year...""We will submit a budget that fits the times,"" Mr Bush said. ""It will provide every tool and resource to the military, will protect the homeland, and meet other priorities of the government."" The US has said it is committed to a strong dollar. But the dollar's weakness has hit European and Asian exporters and lead to calls for US intervention to boost the currency. Mr Bush, however, has said the best way to halt the dollar's slide is to deal with the US deficit. ""It's a budget that I think will send the right signal to the financial markets and to those concerned about our short-term deficits,"" Mr Bush added. ""As well, we've got to deal with the long-term deficit issues.""",business
+"House prices drop as sales slow..House prices fell further in November and property sale times lengthened as rate rises took their toll, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors found...A total of 48% of chartered surveyor estate agents reported lower prices in the three months to November - the highest level in 12 years. Meanwhile the number of sales dropped 32% to an average of 22 per surveyor. The amount of unsold properties on their books rose for the sixth month in a row to an average of 67 properties. ""The slowdown occurring in the market has given buyers more power to negotiate, but this time of year is traditionally a quiet one,"" RICS housing spokesman Ian Perry said. ""The decision by the Bank of England not to increase interest rates further and the healthy economy is allowing confidence to consolidate.""..The figures support recent data from the government and other bodies which all point to a slowdown in the housing market. On Monday, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, British Bankers Association and Building Societies Association all said mortgage lending was slowing. The figures were published as another survey by property website Rightmove said the average asking price of a home fell by more than £600 from £190,329 in November to £189,733 in December. Around the UK, the Midlands and South saw the biggest price falls, while London prices fell but at less than the national rate. In Scotland, where prices have remained on an upward path, increases were more ""moderate"", RICS added. But the news failed to dent confidence that sales will recover in future, with surveyors at their most optimistic in a year - as new purchase inquiries stabilised despite holding at lower levels. ""Sales usually pick up in the New Year and I am confident this year will be no exception,"" Mr Perry added. Looking ahead, the group is anticipating a quiet start to 2005 with the market picking up in the second half - prompting a 3% rise in prices over the coming 12 months.",business
+"Fresh hope after Argentine crisis..Three years after Argentina was hit by a deadly economic crisis, there is fresh hope...The country's economy is set to grow about 8% this year after seeing 9% growth last year, a sharp turnaround from 2002 when output fell 11%. The unemployment rate is improving, too: It is set to slip below 13% by the end of the year, down from 20% in May 2002. True, problems remain, but the overall picture is one of vast improvement. Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) admits this. ""The Argentine authorities are proud, should be proud, of the strong performance of the economy,"" Thomas Dawson, an IMF director, said earlier this month...Argentina has made a remarkable recovery from a hideous and lengthy recession which in 2001 culminated in the government halting debt repayments to its private creditors. The debt default sparked a deep and prolonged economic crisis which, at least initially, was made worse by the government's decisions. Pension payments were halted and bank accounts frozen as part of austerity measures introduced by the government to deal with the country's massive debts. In response, angry crowds of ordinary Argentines took to the streets where dozens of lives were lost in clashes with the police. Two presidents and at least three finance minister resigned in less than a month. Argentina was on the brink of collapse. The fix was found in the currency markets with the abandonment of the peso's decade-long peg to the US dollar in February 2002. The subsequent devaluation saw thousands of people's life savings disappear. Scathes of companies went bust. ""Three years ago, every sector [of the economy] was hit by the crisis,"" said entrepreneur Drayton Valentine. It really was dire...But since then, the general mood on the ground has improved dramatically, in part because the devaluation helped attract fresh direct investment from abroad and stimulate business within Brazil. ""Agriculture and tourism are helping,"" said entrepreneur Drayton Valentine...Mr Valentine, who was born in the United States but grew up in Argentina, was fortunate: At the time of the crisis, his savings were held in dollar accounts abroad. But now he is using his money to help with the start-up a trading company. He explained that initially, his firm is going to export building materials to Spain and United States. Then, he would like to diversify to other areas, depending on the market. ""Locally there is a sense of recovery, many companies are exporting now,"" he said, noting that a lot of firms, which were closed during the crisis, are re-opening...But not all that shines is gold. Argentina is still burdened by its failure to pay private creditors at the end of 2001. President Nestor Kirchner's administration is still trying to hammer out an agreement with the creditors, but with the debts' nominal value standing at around $100bn it is not proving easy. Debt defaults make further lending agreements both difficult and expensive to negotiate. Argentina's current offer implies that the creditors would get just 25 cents for each dollar they are owed, according to the creditors. Understandably, they want more and until they do, both they and others are loath to continue lending. For President Kirchner, this proves a hopeless challenge. Real losses have been suffered and somebody has to pay, observed Jack Boorman, adviser to IMF's managing director, Rodrigo Rato. ""Everyone needs to keep in mind the enormous cost on the part of both creditors and the Argentine society and people that will have been endured by the time a settlement is reached,"" he said. ""The cost is enormous, and continues to be paid, and will not be reversed by any restructuring.""..With the international negotiations being troubled, it is of little help to President Kirchner that the domestic situation remains strained as well...This is partly because there are still bank account holders who are waiting to recover some of their deposits. ""The situation is bad for those who had previously chosen to save in Argentina, "" said Carlos Baez Silva, president of AARA, an association that represents bank account and bond holders. Few people have recovered more than about half their savings, Mr Baez Silva estimated, pointing out that many of the savers who have lost out are pensioners or others who once trusted the government, people who set aside money for the future in the belief that their investment would be safe. ""A lot of them invested in good faith,"" he said. ""The Argentine state responded by taking most of their investments."" The affair has made Mr Baez Silva disillusioned with the country's legal system. On occasion, the Supreme Court has ruled against the interests of the people he represents, he says, insisting that the system cannot be trusted. ""People have to deposit their money in the banks, not necessarily because they trust them but because crime is so high that people cannot have their money in their homes beneath their mattresses."" Mr Valentine, who was born in the United States but grew up in Argentina, agreed. ""If I have to save pesos [the local currency] there is not much problem, but I will think twice before I deposit dollars in a bank"".",business
+"Disney settles disclosure charges..Walt Disney has settled charges from US federal regulators that it failed to disclose how family members of directors were employed by the company...The media giant was not fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but has agreed to refrain from any future violations of securities law. Disney failed to tell investors that between 1999 and 2001 it employed three adult children of three then directors. The firm has neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in the settlement...The three Disney directors in question in the central matter of the SEC's investigation - Reveta Bowers, Stanley Gold and Raymond Watson - have all since left the company, with Ms Bowers and Mr Watson both retiring, and Mr Gold quitting in 2003. Their children were paid between $60,000 (£30,800) and $150,000 a year, with shareholders not being informed. The SEC also found that Disney did not disclose that a 50% Disney-owned subsidiary company - Lifetime - employed the wife of current Disney director John Bryson, and that she earned more than $1m a year. Louise Bryson remains with Lifetime...Disney also failed to disclose payments to Air Shamrock, an airline owned by Mr Gold and fellow former Disney directors Roy Disney. Finally, Disney also did not reveal that it provided more than $200,000 annually for office space, secretarial services, and a leased car and driver to former director Thomas Murphy. ""Shareholders have a significant interest in information regarding relationships between the company and its directors,"" said SEC deputy enforcement director Linda Thomsen. ""Failure to comply with the SEC's disclosure rules in this area impedes shareholders' ability to evaluate the objectivity and independence of directors.""",business
+"Putin backs state grab for Yukos..Russia's president has defended the purchase of Yukos' key production unit by state-owned oil firm Rosneft, saying it followed free market principles...Vladimir Putin said it was quite within the rights of a state-owned company to ensure its interests were met. Rosneft bought 100% of Baikal Finance Group, in a move that amounts to the renationalisation of a major chunk of Russia's booming oil industry. Rosneft will now control about 16% of Russia's total crude oil output. Yukos share jumped in Moscow, climbing as much as 50% before being suspended...Rosneft is already in the process of merging with Gazprom, the world's biggest gas company, a move that will see Gazprom return to majority state-ownership...Baikal was the surprise buyer of oil and gas giant Yukos's main production division at a forced auction on Sunday. ""Everything was done by market methods,"" Mr Putin said at his year-end press conference in Moscow. Shedding some light on the Kremlin's motivation, Mr Putin referred to a period of so-called ""cowboy capitalism"" that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union...He said privatisations carried out in the early 1990s had involved trickery, including law breaking, by people seeking to acquire valuable state property. ""Now the state, using market methods, is safeguarding its interests. I think this is quite normal,"" the Russian president said. A Rosneft spokesman has said the acquisition is part of its plan to build a ""balanced, national energy corporation.""..The latest announcement comes after more than a year of wrangling that has pushed Yukos, one of Russia's biggest companies to the brink of collapse. The Russian government put Yukos's Yuganskneftegas subsidiary up for sale last week after hitting the company with a $27bn (£14bn) bill for back taxes and fines...Analysts say that Yukos's legal attempts to block the auction by filing for bankruptcy protection in the US are probably what caused this week's cloak-and-dagger dealings. Gazprom, the company originally tipped to buy Yuganskneftegas, was banned from taking part in the auction by a US court injunction. By selling the Yukos unit to little-known Baikal and then to Rosneft, Russia is able to circumvent a host of tricky legal landmines, analysts said. ""You cannot sue the Russian government,"" said Eric Kraus, a strategist at Moscow's Sovlink Securities. ""The Russian government has sovereign immunity."" ""The government is renationalising Yuganskneftegas.""..Even so, analysts reckon that the saga still has a long way to go. The Rosneft announcement came just hours after Yukos accused Gazprom of illegally taking part in Sunday's auction. It has said it will be seeking damages of $20bn. The claim was made at the latest hearing in the US bankruptcy court in Houston, Texas, where Yukos, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. If found in contempt of the US court order blocking the auction, Gazprom could face having foreign assets seized. Yukos' lawyers had also been expected to try to have Baikal's assets frozen. Lawyers claimed the auction was illegal because Yukos - with an office in Houston - had filed for bankruptcy and therefore its assets were under the protection of US law which has worldwide jurisdiction. Further muddying the waters is a merger between Rosneft and Gazprom which authorities have said will go ahead as planned.",business
+"Troubled Marsh under SEC scrutiny..The US stock market regulator is investigating troubled insurance broker Marsh & McLennan's shareholder transactions, the firm has said...The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked for information about transactions involving holders of 5% or more of the firm's shares. Marsh has said it is co-operating fully with the SEC investigation. Marsh is also the focus of an inquiry the New York attorney-general into whether insurers rigged the market. Since that inquiry was launched in October, Marsh has replaced its chief executive and held a boardroom shake-out to meet criticism by lessening the number of company executives on the board. Prosecutors allege that Marsh - the world's biggest insurance broker - and other US insurance firms may have fixed bids for corporate cover. This is the issue at the heart of the inquiry by New York's top law officer, Eliot Spitzer, and a separate prosecution of five insurers by the State of California. The SEC's investigation into so-called related party transactions includes dealings in the Trident Funds, managed by MMC Capital, the company's private equity firm. Marsh's new chief executive, Michael Cherkasky, is trying to negotiate a settlement with Mr Spitzer. Mr Spitzer has built up a reputation as a fierce critic and campaigner against corporate America's misdeeds...The uncertainty unleashed by the scandal has prompted three credit rating agencies - Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch - to downgrade Marsh in recent weeks. According to the Financial Times, insurance analysts are now questioning whether Marsh will be able to maintain its strong record of earning growth as they draw up forecasts for the first quarter of next year. Doubts also exist over how much the company may have to pay regulators and lawyers to put the scandal behind.",business
+"US firm pulls out of Iraq..A US company has pulled out of a major contract to rebuild Iraq's transport system after attacks on reconstruction efforts, Pentagon officials have said...Contrack International, of Arlington, Virginia, heads a coalition of firms working on a series of schemes. Its withdrawal from the $325m (£170m) contract in November is thought to be the largest cancellation to date. Contrack said ""the original scope of work that was envisioned could not be executed in a cost-effective manner"". But the firm denied reports it was withdrawing completely from Iraq. ""Members of the joint venture including Contrack are committed to the ongoing reconstruction efforts, are actively working in Iraq and continue to look for new construction opportunities in the country,"" it said in a statement. The Pentagon's Project and Contract Office (PCO) in Baghdad said it had taken over Contrack's management of the subcontractors working on the transportation projects...US firms and their workers have been targets of attacks, and security concerns are said to be a major reason for the slow pace of reconstruction in Iraq. Of the $18.4bn in reconstruction funds approved by Congress, less than $2bn has been spent. Lt Col Eric Schnaible of the PCO told the Associated Press news agency Contrack's withdrawal from the transportation contract was a ""mutually agreed-to separation"" and did not indicate a movement by US companies to leave Iraq. ""Some parts of the country are a whole lot more permissive than others,"" he added. ""Where we can get the work done, good things are happening.""",business
+"Boeing secures giant Japan order..Boeing is to supply Japan Airlines with up to 50 of its forthcoming 7E7 planes in a deal that could be worth as much as $6bn (£3.1bn) for the US giant...Japan Airlines has made a firm order for 30 of the aircraft, at $120m each, with the option to buy 20 more. Asia's biggest airline joins Japanese rival All Nippon as one of the first carriers to order the mid-size 7E7, which Boeing says is super-economical. Airbus this week announced the first pre-sale of its 7E7 rival - the A350. Boeing's great European competitor is to sell 10 of its forthcoming A350 to Spanish carrier Air Europe, which has the option to buy two more in a deal that could be worth more than $1.8bn. Both the 7E7 and the A350 are being designed to be as fuel-efficient as possible in the 200- to 300-seat sector, and each will be available in both short and long range versions...Japan Airlines said it had looked at both aircraft before choosing the 7E7, also known as the Dreamliner. ""We chose the 7E7 after carefully considering both it and Airbus' aircraft,"" said a Japan Airlines spokesman. ""The 7E7 fits better for what we needed and it could be delivered when we hoped to get it."" Boeing continues to enjoy a dominance over Airbus in Japan, and Japanese companies are taking key roles in building the 7E7. The first 7E7s will be delivered to Japan Airlines in April 2008. Boeing has set itself a target of getting 200 firm commitments for the 7E7 by the end of this year, and has orders for 56 so far. Airbus hopes to have 50 orders in place for the A350 by mid-2005.",business
+"Banker loses sexism claim..A former executive at the London offices of Merrill Lynch has lost her £7.5m ($14.6m) sex discrimination case against the US investment bank...An employment tribunal dismissed Stephanie Villalba's allegations of sexual discrimination and unequal pay. But the 42-year-old won her claim of unfair dismissal, resulting from her sacking in August 2003. Her partial victory is likely to cap her compensation to about £55,000, a tiny fraction of what she asked for. The extent of damages will be assessed in the New Year. The action - the biggest claim heard by an employment tribunal in the UK - had been viewed as something of a test case...The tribunal decided that Ms Villalba had been unfairly dismissed because, having been removed from a senior post, she was entitled to wait to see if a suitable alternative position could be found in the organisation. Ms Villalba, the former head of Merrill's private client business in Europe, has made no decision on whether to appeal...A spokesman for her lawyers described the decision as ""very disappointing"", but pointed to some criticism of Merrill's procedures within the lengthy judgement. The tribunal upheld Ms Villalba's claim of victimisation on certain specific issues, including bullying e-mails in connection with a contract, but said it found no evidence of ""laddish culture"" at the bank. ""We said from the start that this case was about performance not gender,"" Merrill said in a statement. ""Ms Villalba was removed by the very same person who had promoted her into the position and who then replaced her with another woman. ""Merrill Lynch is dedicated to creating a true meritocracy where every employee has the opportunity to advance based on their skills and hard work.""..Based in London's financial district, Ms Villalba worked for Merrill's global private client business in Europe, investing funds for some of Merrill's most important customers. But in 2003 her employers told her she had no future after 17 years with the company, and she was made redundant. Merrill Lynch denied Ms Villalba's claims and said she was removed from her post because of the extensive losses the firm was suffering on the continent. The firm had told the tribunal that Ms Villalba's division had been losing about $1m a week. Merrill said Ms Villalba lacked the leadership skills to turn around the unit.",business
+"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.",business
+"Police detain Chinese milk bosses..Chinese police have detained three top executives at milk firm Yili, with reports suggesting that they are being investigated for embezzlement...Yili - full name Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial - confirmed its chairman, chief financial officer and securities representative were all in custody. The company, China's third-largest milk producer, is to hold an emergency meeting to debate the issue. A Yili spokesman said it may now move to oust chairman Zheng Junhuai. The spokesman did not say why the three had been detained by the police. The official Xinhua News Agency said the arrest was linked to alleged embezzlement...Yili has recently been the subject of intense media speculation over its financial operations. Executives are suspected of wrongly using 417m yuan ($50.4m; £26m) of company funds to support a management buyout back in July 2003. Yili's shares were suspended on Tuesday, having fallen by 10% on Monday. The company and its two main rivals - market leader Mengniu Dairy and second place Bright Dairy - dominate a Chinese milk market that has grown by almost 30% over the past five years. Analysts wondered if the scandal at Yili - the latest to befall Chinese companies this year - could be followed by further revelations of corporate wrongdoing. ""Investors wonder if Yili's scandal, one of a slew to be uncovered this year, isn't just the tip of the iceberg,"" said Chen Huiqin, an analyst at Huatai Securities.",business
+"India's Deccan seals $1.8bn deal..Air Deccan has ordered 30 Airbus A320 planes in a $1.8bn (£931m) deal as India's first low-cost airline expands in the fast-growing domestic market...Air Deccan was set up last year and wants to lure travellers away from the railway network and pricier rivals. The potential of the Indian market has attracted attention at home and abroad. Beer magnate Vijay Mallya recently set up Kingfisher Airlines, while UK entrepreneur Richard Branson has said he is keen to start a local operation...The country has a population of more than a billion people and many observers feel that it is underserved by airlines. Recently however, the booming economy has boosted personal spending power and helped swell the middle classes and the corporate sector. India's government has given its backing to cheaper and more accessible air travel. ""The days of flying being a symbol of only maharajas or the rich are over,"" the minister for civil aviation Praful Patel said earlier. Infrastructure is being built to handle the expected increase in demand and on Tuesday, Agence France Presse reported that a group led by Germany's Siemens won the contract to build a private airport near Bangalore. India's airports authority and the state government will own 13% each of the finished transport hub. For its part, Air Deccan, set up by army officer and silk farmer Gorur Gopinath, plans to increase its fleet to 60 aircraft within five years. To help finance the expansion the company may sell a 25% stake to an investor for about $50m. When it was set up the firm offered tickets that were 50% cheaper than other Indian airlines. It said it was basing its business model on European firms such as Ireland's Ryanair.",business
+"Venezuela and China sign oil deal..Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has offered China wide-ranging access to the country's oil reserves...The offer, made as part of a trade deal between the two countries, will allow China to operate oil fields in Venezuela and invest in new refineries. Venezuela has also offered to supply 120,000 barrels of fuel oil a month to China. Venezuela - the world's fifth largest oil exporter - sells about 60% of its output to the United States. Mr Chavez's administration, which has a strained relationship with the US, is trying to diversify sales to reduce its dependence on its largest export market...China's quick-growing economy's need for oil has contributed to record-high oil prices this year, along with political unrest in the Middle East and supply bottlenecks. Oil prices are finishing the year roughly 30% higher than they were in January 2004...In 2004, according to forecasts from the Ministry of Commerce, China's oil imports will be 110m tons, up 21% on the previous year. China has been a net importer of oil since the mid 1990's with more than a third of the oil and gas it consumes coming from abroad. A lack of sufficient domestic production and the need to lessen its dependence on imports from the Middle East has meant that China is looking to invest in other potential markets such as Latin America. Mr Chavez, who is visiting China, said his country would put its many of its oil facilities at the disposal of China. Chinese firms would be allowed to operate 15 mature oil fields in the east of Venezuela, which could produce more than one billion barrels, he confirmed. The two countries will also continue a joint venture agreement to produce stocks of the boiler fuel orimulsion. Mr Chavez has also invited Chinese firms to bid for gas exploration contracts which his government will offer next year in the western Gulf of Venezuela. The two countries also signed a number of other agreements covering other industries including mining.",business
+"Jarvis sells Tube stake to Spain..Shares in engineering group Jarvis have soared more than 16% on news that it is offloading its stake in London underground consortium Tube Lines...The sale of the 33% stake to Spain's Ferrovial for £146m ($281m) is a lifeline to Jarvis, which was weighed down by debts of more than £230m. The company recently warned it could go under if it did not secure a refinancing deal by mid-January 2005. But now its banks have agreed to extend its credit facilities until March 2006...The company also said it had agreed terms over the completion of 14 of its biggest construction projects under the government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI)...Jarvis wants to scale back the division, which has proved too costly and has been blamed for many of its problems. Instead, it plans to focus on UK rail renewal, roads and plant hire work. Madrid-based Ferrovial already holds a 33% stake in Tube Lines, which maintains the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. The Spanish group has been keen to snap up more UK infrastructure assets, having bought Amey in 2003. Jarvis said the sale, which raked in more than the £100m analysts had expected, would ""substantially"" enhance its financial position. ""I am now confident that we can now move forward in 2005 towards rebuilding Jarvis and return it to growth as a profitable business,"" said chief executive Alan Lovell. Shares in Jarvis were up more than 16% to 18 pence by the close of trade on Friday.",business
+"Honda wins China copyright ruling..Japan's Honda has won a copyright case in Beijing, further evidence that China is taking a tougher line on protecting intellectual property rights...A court ruled that Chongqing Lifan Industry Group must stop selling Honda brand motorbikes and said it must pay 1.47m yuan ($177,600) in compensation. Internationally recognized regulation is now a key part of China's plans for developing its economy, analysts said. Beijing also has been threatened with sanctions if it fails to clamp down...Chinese firms copy products ranging from computer software and spark plugs to baby milk and compact discs. Despite the fact that product piracy is a major problem, foreign companies have only occasionally won cases and the compensation awarded has usually been small. Still, recent rulings and announcements will have boosted optimism that attitudes are changing. Earlier this week China said that in future it will punish violators of intellectual property rights with up to seven years in jail. And on Tuesday, Paws Incorporated - the owner of the rights to Garfield the cat - won a court battle against a publishing house that violated its copyright. Other firms that have taken legal action in China, with varying degrees of success, include Yamaha, General Motors and Toyota...The problem of piracy is not limited to China, however, and the potential for profit is huge. The European Union estimates that the global trade in pirated wares is worth more than 200bn euros a year (£140bn; $258bn), or about 5% of total world trade. And it is growing. Between 1998 and 2002, the number of counterfeit or pirated goods intercepted at the EU's external borders increased by more than 800%, it said. Last month the EU said it will start monitoring China, Ukraine and Russia to ensure they are going after pirated goods. Other countries on the EU's hit list include Thailand, Brazil, South Korea and Indonesia. Any countries that are not making enough of an effort could be dragged to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a step that could trigger economic sanctions, the EU warned.",business
+"Air Jamaica back in state control..The Jamaican government is regaining control of Air Jamaica in an bid to help the ailing company out of its financial difficulties...The firm has failed to make money since the state sold a majority stake to hotel tycoon Gordon Stewart in 1994. In common with many carriers, Air Jamaica, with debts of $560m (£291m), has been hit by high fuel costs and the impact of the 11 September attacks. The company will be restructured with the aim of finding a new buyer. ""The administration is committed to a viable national airline that will serve as a major catalyst for our economy,"" said Finance Minister Omar Davies. The 35-year-old airline transports about 55% of all passengers to the island and its pilots are reportedly among the best paid in the industry, with senior members of staff earning in excess of $234,000 a year.",business
+"Battered dollar hits another low..The dollar has fallen to a new record low against the euro after data fuelled fresh concerns about the US economy...The greenback hit $1.3516 in thin New York trade, before rallying to $1.3509. The dollar has weakened sharply since September when it traded about $1.20, amid continuing worries over the levels of the US trade and budget deficits. Meanwhile, France's finance minister has said the world faced ""economic catastrophe"" unless the US worked with Europe and Asia on currency controls. Herve Gaymard said he would seek action on the issue at the next meeting of G7 countries in February. Ministers from European and Asian governments have recently called on the US to strengthen the dollar, saying the excessively high value of the euro was starting to hurt their export-driven economies. ""It's absolutely essential that at the meeting of the G7 our American friends understand that we need coordinated management at the world level,"" said Mr Gaymard...Thursday's new low for the dollar came after data was released showing year-on-year sales of new homes in the US had fallen 12% in November - with some analysts saying this could indicate problems ahead for consumer activity...Commerce Department data also showed consumer spending - which drives two thirds of the US economy - grew just 0.2% last month. The figure was weaker than forecast - and fell short of the 0.8% rise in October. The official US policy is that it supports a strong dollar but many market observers believe it is happy to let the dollar fall because of the boost to its exporters...The US government has faced pressure from exporter organisations which have publicly stated the currency still has further to fall from ""abnormal and dangerous heights"" set in 2002. The US says it will let market forces determine the dollar's strength rather than intervene directly. Statements from President Bush in recent weeks highlighting his aim to cut the twin US deficits have prompted slight upturns in the currency. But while some observers said the quiet trade on Thursday had exacerbated small moves in the market, most agree the underlying trend remains downwards. The dollar has now fallen for a third consecutive year and analysts are forecasting a further, albeit less dramatic weakening, in 2005. ""I can see it finishing the year around $1.35 and we can see that it's going to be a steady track upward for the euro/dollar in 2005, finishing the year around $1.40,"" said Adrian Hughes, currency strategist with HSBC in London.",business
+"Quake's economic costs emerging..Asian governments and international agencies are reeling at the potential economic devastation left by the Asian tsunami and floods...World Bank president James Wolfensohn has said his agency is ""only beginning to grasp the magnitude of the disaster"" and its economic impact. The tragedy has left at least 25,000 people dead, with Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and Indonesia worst hit. Some early estimates of reconstruction costs are starting to emerge. Millions have been left homeless, while businesses and infrastructure have been washed away...Economists believe several of the 10 countries hit by the giant waves could see a slowdown in growth...In Sri Lanka, some observers have said that as much as 1% of annual growth may be lost. For Thailand, that figure is much lower at 0.1%. Governments are expected to take steps, such as cutting taxes and increasing spending, to facilitate a recovery...""With the enormous displacement of people...there will be a serious relaxation of fiscal policy,"" Glenn Maguire, chief economist for the region at Societe Generale, told Agence France Presse. ""The economic impact of it will certainly be large, but it should not be enough to derail the momentum of the region in 2005,"" he said. ""First and foremost this is a human tragedy."" India's economy, however, is less likely to slow because the areas hit are some of the least developed. The regional giant has enjoyed strong growth in 2004. But India now faces other problems, with aid workers under pressure to ensure a clean supply of water and sanitation to prevent an outbreak of disease...Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has estimated the destruction at 20bn baht ($510m). Analysts said that figure is likely to rise and the country's tourist industry is likely to be hardest hit. Thailand's fishing and real estate sectors also will be affected by Sunday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake, which sent huge waves from Malaysia to Africa. Malaysia said as many as 1,000 fishermen will be affected and that damage to the industry will be ""significant"", Agence France Presse reported. Rapid rebuilding will be key to limiting the impact of the tragedy. ""In three months, we should rebuild 70% of the damage in the three worst hit provinces,"" said Juthamas Siriwan, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The outlook for Sri Lanka is less optimistic, with analysts predicting that the country's tourist industry will struggle to recovery quickly. Tourism is a vital to many developing countries, providing jobs for 19 million people in the south east Asian region, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).",business
+"Disaster claims 'less than $10bn'..Insurers have sought to calm fears that they face huge losses after an earthquake and giant waves killed at least 38,000 people in southern Asia...Munich Re and Swiss Re, the world's two biggest reinsurers, have said exposure will be less than for other disasters. Rebuilding costs are likely to be cheaper than in developed countries, and many of those affected will not have insurance, analysts said. Swiss Re has said total claims are likely to be less than $10bn (£5.17bn). Swiss Re believes that the cost would be substantial but that it is unlikely to be in double-digit billions, the Financial Times reported. Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurance company, said that its exposure is less than 100m euros (£70m; $136m)...At least 10 countries have been affected, with Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Thailand among the worst hit. The region's resorts and Western tourists are expected to be among the main claimants...Lloyds of London told the Financial Times it expected its exposure to be limited to ""holiday resorts, personal accident, travel insurance and marine risks"". A spokeswoman for Hanover Re, Europe's fifth-largest reinsurance firm, estimated tsunami-related damage claims would be in the low double-digit millions of euros. The company has paid out about 300 million euros (£281m; $400m) to cover damage caused recently by four major hurricanes in the US...But insurers have not had long to assess the economic impact of the damage and reports of more casualties and destruction are still coming through...""So many things are unclear, it is just too early to tell,"" said Serge Troeber, deputy head of Swiss Re's natural disasters department. ""You need very complicated processes to estimate damages. Unlike the hurricanes, you can't just run a model."" He anticipated that his own company's total claims would be less then those from the hurricanes, which the company put at $640m. Allianz, a leading German insurer, said it did not know yet what its exposure would be. However, it said the tidal waves were unlikely to have a ""significant"" impact on its business. Zurich Financial said they could not yet assess the cost of the disaster...The impact on US insurance companies is not expected to be heavy, analysts said...Most US insurers have relatively little exposure to Asia and those that do, pass on a lot of the risk to reinsurance companies or special catastrophe funds. Insured damage could be a fraction of the ""billions of dollars worth of destruction in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldive Islands and Malaysia,"" said Prudential Equity Group insurance analyst Jay Gelb. ""US insurers are likely to have only minimal to no exposure. It's more likely the Bermuda-based reinsurance [companies] might have some exposure,"" said Paul Newsome, an insurance analyst at AG Edwards & Co...Many of the affected countries, such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka or the Maldives, do not usually buy insurance for these kinds of disasters, said a US-based insurance expert. Early estimates from the World Bank put the amount of aid needed for the worst affected countries including Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Thailand, at about $5bn (£2.6bn), similar to the cash offered to Central America after Hurricane Mitch...Mitch killed about 10,000 people and caused damage of about $10bn in 1998. But the cost of the tsunamis on the individuals involved is incalculable. ""We cannot fathom the cost of these poor societies and the nameless fishermen and fishing villages ... that have just been wiped out. Hundreds of thousands of livelihoods have gone,"" said Jan Egeland, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Tourists cutting short their holidays in affected areas may suffer a financial impact too. The Association of British insurers warned that travel insurance does not normally cover cutting short a holiday. It said loss of possessions will usually be covered, but the Association stressed the importance of checking the wording of travel policies.",business
+"India-Pakistan peace boosts trade..Calmer relations between India and Pakistan are paying economic dividends, with new figures showing bilateral trade up threefold in the summer...The value of trade in April-July rose to $186.3m (£97m) from $64.4m in the same period in 2003, the Indian Government said. Nonethless, the figures represent less than 1% of India's overall exports. But business is expected to be boosted further from 2006 when the South Asian Free Trade Area Agreement starts. Both countries eased travel and other restrictions as part of the peace process aimed at ending nearly six decades of hostilities...Sugar, plastics, pharmaceutical products and tea are among the major exports from India to its neighbour, while firms in Pakistani have been selling fabrics, fruit and spices. ""If the positive trend continues, two-way trade could well cross half a billion dollars this fiscal year,"" India's federal commerce Minister Kamal Nath said. According to official data, the value of India's overall exports in the current fiscal year is expected to reach more than $60bn, while in Pakistan's case it is set to hit more than $12bn. Meanwhile, the Indian Government said the prospects for the country's booming economy remained ""very bright"" despite a ""temporary aberration"" this year. Its mid-year economic review forecasts growth of 6-6.5% in 2004, compared with 8.2% in 2003. Higher oil prices, the level of tax collections, and an unfavourable monsoon season affecting the farm sector had hurt the economy in April-September, it said.",business
+"US to probe airline travel chaos..The US government is to investigate two airlines- US Airways and Delta Air Lines' Comair subsidiary - after travel chaos over the Christmas weekend...Staff calling in sick at US Airways and computer failures at Comair left 30,000 passengers stranded and 10,000 pieces of baggage undelivered. US Airways is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years, and battling to cut costs. It is currently trying to negotiate pay cuts with flight and baggage staff...Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said he was ""deeply concerned"" at the disruption to passengers, and ordered a thorough investigation. Comair's computer breakdown plunged its flight-crew scheduling system into disarray. Altogether, some 1,100 flights were cancelled over the holiday long weekend. Mr Mineta said it was important to understand ""what happened, why it happened and whether the carriers properly planned for the holiday travel period and responded appropriately to consumer needs in the aftermath""...Adding to the atmosphere of chaos were mountains of luggage left to pile up when a third of US Airways' baggage handling staff called in sick. There was also a shortage of US Airways flight attendants, with nearly a fifth saying they were too sick to work, leading to many flight cancellations. However, union officials denied there had been a deliberate ""sickout"". They said that many people have flu at this time of year and that the airline is chronically understaffed...US Airways ended up cancelling over 100 flights on Christmas Day, stranding passengers in as many as 119 airports. Ground crews at US Airways, the seventh-largest US airline, which is now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, face a court-imposed pay cut next month. The airline needs to negotiate other paycuts if it is to find a route out of bankruptcy. It is looking for paycuts totalling $800m...""US Airways has a full-scale employee mutiny on its hands,"" commented Michael Boyd, an industry consultant. Disruptions to flight schedules could discourage customers from flying with US Airways, reducing revenues. US Airways had to cancel approximately 65 flights on Thursday, 180 on Friday, 140 on Saturday, 43 on Sunday and 15 on Monday, said industry officials. The airline said it was ""embarrassed by the situation"" and ""deeply regrets any inconvenience caused to customers,"" The probe will focus on the industry's compliance with a 1999 agreement aimed at improving the quality of passenger service that has so far allowed airlines to avoid congressionally-mandated standards. Analysts said the Christmas chaos cast doubt on US Airway's ability to emerge from bankruptcy - and was likely to worsen the finances of troubled Delta, parent of Comair. Comair ""deeply regrets the inconvenience to all of our customers caused by the severe winter storm in the Ohio River Valley during the busy holiday season, exacerbated by problems with the airline's crew scheduling system, causing additional flight delays and cancellations,"" the Delta subsidiary said in a statement.",business
+"S Korean lender faces liquidation..Creditors of South Korea's top credit card firm have said they will put the company into liquidation if its ex-parent firm fails to back a bail-out...LG Card's creditors have given LG group until Wednesday to sign up to a $1.1bn rescue package. The firm avoided bankruptcy thanks to a $4.5bn bail-out in January 2004, which gave control to the creditors. LG Group has said any package should reflect the firm's new ownership, and it will not accept an unfair burden. At least seven million people in South Korea use LG Card's plastic for purchases...LG Card's creditors have threatened parent group LG Group with penalties if it fails to respond to their demands...""Creditors would seek strong financial sanctions against LG Group if LG Card is liquidated,"" said Yoo Ji-chang, governor of Korean Development Bank (KDB) - one of the card firm's major creditors. LG Group has said providing further help to the credit card issuer could hurt its corporate credibility and could spark shareholder lawsuits. It says it wants ""fair and reasonable guidelines"" on splitting the financial burden with the creditors, who now own 99.3% of LG Card. The creditors have asked the government to mediate to avoid any risk to the stability of financial markets, KDB said. Analysts believe a compromise is likely. ""LG Group knows the impact on consumer demand and the national economy from a liquidation of LG Card,"" said Kim Yungmin, an equity strategist at Dongwon Investment Trust Management...LG Card almost collapsed in 2003 due to an increase in overdue credit card bills after the bursting of a credit bubble. The firm returned to profit in September 2004, but now needs a capital injection to avoid being delisted from the Korea Stock Exchange. The exchange can delist a company if its debt exceeds its assets for two years running. LG card's creditors fear that such a move would triggered massive debt redemption requests that could bankrupt the firm, which owes about $12.05bn. ""Eventually, LG Group will have to participate, but they have been stalling to try to earn better concessions,"" said Mr Kim.",business
+"Dollar hits new low versus euro..The US dollar has continued its record-breaking slide and has tumbled to a new low against the euro...Investors are betting that the European Central Bank (ECB) will not do anything to weaken the euro, while the US is thought to favour a declining dollar. The US is struggling with a ballooning trade deficit and analysts said one of the easiest ways to fund it was by allowing a depreciation of the dollar. They have predicted that the dollar is likely to fall even further...The US currency was trading at $1.364 per euro at 1800 GMT on Monday. This compares with $1.354 to the euro in late trading in New York on Friday, which was then a record low...The dollar has weakened sharply since September when it traded about $1.20 against the euro. It has lost 7% this year, while against the Japanese yen it is down 3.2%. Traders said that thin trading levels had amplified Monday's move. ""It's not going to take much to push [the dollar] one way or the other,"" said Grant Wilson of Mellon Bank. Liquidity - a measure of the number of parties willing to trade in the market - was about half that of a normal working day, traders said.",business
+"Video phone help for deaf people..Deaf people who prefer to communicate using British Sign Language (BSL) could soon be having their phone conversations relayed using webcams or videophones and an interpreter...The Video Relay Service is being piloted by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), but the organisation says unless the service is provided at the same rate as voice calls it will be beyond most people's pockets. The RNID is urging telecoms regulator, Ofcom, to reduce the cost of the service from the current £7.00 per minute and make it the same as ordinary phone calls. The service works by putting a deaf person in visual contact with a BSL interpreter via a webcam or video phone, and the interpreter then relays the deaf person's conversation using a telephone and translates the other person's response into sign language...For many deaf people, especially those born deaf, BSL is a first and preferred means of communication...Until now, the only alternative has been to use textphones which means having to type a message and have it relayed via an operator. ""In the past, I've used textphones but they have problems,"" said Robert Currington who is taking part in the pilot. ""I communicate in BSL; my written English is not very good and it takes me longer to think in English and type my message."" ""I sometimes find it difficult to understand the reply."" The RNID says the UK is lagging behind other countries which are already making relay services available at the cost of an ordinary phone call. ""There are no technical or economic reasons for not providing equivalent access to services for deaf people,"" said RNID technology director, Guido Gybels. ""In the US and Australia, sign language relay services have already been made universally available at the same cost as a voice call. ""By failing to provide and fund the video relay service for sign language users, the telecommunications sector is effectively discriminating against an already disenfranchised group.""..Ofcom says it has plans to review the services that telecoms companies are obliged to provide early next year. And new technology, including the Video Relay Service, will be discussed with interested parties in the near future. But a spokesman said its powers were limited by legislation. ""Any proposals to extend existing arrangements to cover new services would be for government to consider,"" he said. Mr Currington, like many of the UK's 70,000 BSL users, will be hoping that a way can be found to make a cost-effective service available. ""The relay service makes phone conversations a pleasure,"" he said. ""I can show my emotions more easily in BSL in the same way hearing people express emotions through voice calls.""",tech
+"Virus poses as Christmas e-mail..Security firms are warning about a Windows virus disguising itself as an electronic Christmas card...The Zafi.D virus translates the Christmas greeting on its subject line into the language of the person receiving infected e-mail. Anti-virus firms speculate that this multilingual ability is helping the malicious program spread widely online. Anti-virus firm Sophos said that 10% of the e-mail currently on the net was infected with the Zafi virus...Like many other Windows viruses, Zafi-D plunders Microsoft Outlook for e-mail addresses and then uses mail-sending software to despatch itself across the web to new victims. To be infected users must open up the attachment travelling with the message which bears the code for the malicious bug. The attachment on the e-mail poses as an electronic Christmas card but anyone opening it will simply get a crude image of two smiley faces...The virus' subject line says ""Merry Christmas"" and translates this into one of 15 languages depending of the final suffix of the e-mail address the infected message has been sent to. The message in the body of the e-mail reads: ""Happy Holidays"" and this too is translated. On infected machines the virus tries to disable anti-virus and firewall software and opens up a backdoor on the PC to hand over control to the writer of the virus. The virus is thought to have spread most widely in South America, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Hungary. The original Zafi virus appeared in April this year. ""We have seen these hoaxes for several Christmases already, and personally I prefer traditional pen and paper cards, and we recommend this to all our clients too,"" said Mikko Hypponen, who heads F-Secure's anti-virus team.",tech
+"Fast lifts rise into record books..Two high-speed lifts at the world's tallest building have been officially recognised as the planet's fastest...The lifts take only 30 seconds to whisk passengers to the top of the 508m tall TFC 101 Tower in Taipei, Taiwan. The Guinness Book of Records has declared the 17m per second speed of the two lifts the swiftest on Earth. The lifts also have a pressure control system to stop passengers' ears popping as they ascend and descend at high speed...In total, the TFC Tower has 61 lifts, 34 of them double-deckers, and 50 escalators to shuttle people around its 106 floors. The TFC 101 Tower is due to be officially opened on 31 December...The super-fast lifts can speed up to 24 passengers to the tip of the tower in about 30 seconds, while ascending their 382m track. The 17m/s top speed of the lifts translates to about 38mph (61km/h). Curiously the lifts take longer to descend and spend almost a whole minute returning to ground level from the top of the TFC Tower. The key new technologies applied in the world's fastest elevators include:... - A pressure control system, which adjusts the atmospheric pressure inside a car by using suction and discharge blowers, preventing ""ear popping"". - An active control system which tries to balance the lift more finely and remove the sources of vibrations. - Streamlined cars to reduce the whistling noise produced by running the lifts at a high speed inside a narrow shaft...""The certification of our elevators as world record-holders by the authoritative Guinness World Records is a great honour for us,"" said Masayuki Shimono, president of manufacturer Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems which installed the lifts. The first record for the world's fastest passenger elevators was published in the first edition of the Guinness Book of Records in 1955. ""As such, it is an interesting indicator of how technology has advanced in the 50 years since that first edition, when the record was 426m per minute, or 25.6 km/h, less than half the speed of the new record,"" said Hein Le Roux, specialist researcher at the Guinness World Records. Taipei's TFC 101 Tower is more than 50m taller than the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - formerly the world's tallest skyscraper.",tech
+"Broadband in the UK gathers pace..One person in the UK is joining the internet's fast lane every 10 seconds, according to BT...The telecoms giant said the number of people on broadband via the telephone line had now surpassed four million. Including those connected via cable, almost six million people have a fast, always-on connection. The boom has been fuelled by fierce competition and falling prices, as well as the greater availability of broadband over the phone line. ""The take-up rate for broadband is accelerating at a terrific pace,"" said Ben Verwaayen, BT's chief executive. ""We will be in a very strong position to hit our five million target by summer 2006 much earlier than we had previously expected.""..The last million connections were made over the past four months, with thousands of people being added to the total every day of the week...Those signing up to broadband include those that get their service direct from BT or via the many companies that re-sell BT lines under their own name. Part of the surge in people signing up was due to BT stretching the reach of ADSL - the UK's most widely used way of getting broadband - beyond six kilometres. Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line technology lets ordinary copper phone lines support high data speeds. The standard speed is 512kbps, though faster connections are available. According to BT, more than 95% of UK homes and businesses can receive broadband over the phone line. It aims to extend this figure to 99.4% by next summer. There are also an estimated 1.7 million cable broadband customers in the UK.",tech
+"Hollywood campaign hits websites..Movie studio efforts to stop pirated films being shared on peer-to-peer networks have claimed a high-profile victim...The campaign of legal action is thought to be behind the closure of the widely used Suprnova.org website. The site was the most popular place for people swapping and sharing links for the BitTorrent network. A recent study showed that more than half of the peer-to-peer traffic during June was for the BitTorrent system...In a message posted on Suprnova.org on Sunday, the site's controllers said the site was ""closing down for good in the way that we all know it"". If the site did return, the message said, it would not be hosting any more torrent links. It continued: ""We are very sorry for this, but there was no other way, we have tried everything. "" The only parts that would keep going, said the operators of the Suprnova site, were the discussion forums and net chat channels. The site is thought to have closed following an announcement by the Motion Picture Association of America that it was launching legal action against those operating BitTorrent servers rather than end users. Because of the way that BitTorrent works, server sites do not host the actual file being shared, instead they host a link that points people to others that have it. By targeting servers, the MPAA hopes to cripple BitTorrent's ability to share files. In the opening days of the MPAA campaign, the organisation filed 100 lawsuits against operators of BitTorrent server site. The launching of the legal seems to be having an effect. Phoenix Torrents, another popular BitTorrent site, has also decided to shut down and, though it gave no reasons for the closure, it is thought to be motivated by the threat of legal action. Last week Finnish police raided a BitTorrent site based in the country that, according to reports, let 10,000 users shared pirated films, software, music and games.",tech
+"Poles play with GameBoy 'blip-pop'..A group of artists in Poland has taken the cacophony of blips, boops and beeps created as players bash buttons on Nintendo's handheld GameBoy console to a new level...The Gameboyzz Orchestra Project has taken the game sounds to put together music tunes they have dubbed ""blip-pop."" Think of it as Donkey Kong meets Norman Cook, or maybe Tetris takes on Kraftwerk. Any way you slice it, the sound is distinct. All the sounds are made by six Nintendo GameBoys, with a mixture of older models and newer Advance SP handhelds. The Gameboyzz Orchestra Project tweaks the software a bit, and then connects the units through a mixing board...Jarek Kujda, one of the project's founding members has been into electronic music and video games, for a while now...""I was playing some experimental music and three, four years ago when I first used a GameBoy in my band as a drum machine,"" said Kujda. He realised that the console could be used as a rudimentary synthesizer. He wondered, if one GameBoy can make music, what would happen if he put six of them together? Kujda found five other people who were interested and the Gameboyzz Orchestra Project was born. ""Gameboyzz Orchestra Project is more of an improvisational project,"" said Kudja. ""We prepare some patterns before a concert, and then improvise during the concert."" The group plays maybe four or five shows a year. Malgorzata Kujda, Jarek's younger sister and a fellow band member, describes a Gameboyzz Orchestra Project concert as a lot of noise. ""For example, I make music with more hard beats and noises,"" she said. ""But each of us makes another music, a different sound. And then in the concert we just improvise, and that I think is more fun for us.""..The Gameboyzz Orchestra Project admits they get mixed reactions from audiences. Some love the group's music, and others are not quite sure what to make of it...In the world of electronic music, these purveyors of blip-pop are not unique. But Jarek Kujda says they try to be unique. ""We have lots of people making music on old school stuff, electronic old school stuff like Commodore, Atari, Spectrum,"" he said. ""We want to play only experimental music, not cover songs. We're something like an electronic jam session."" The Gameboyzz Orchestra Project's tracks are available online and the group hopes to make a CD next year. And they have sponsorship, courtesy of the Polish distributor of Nintendo products. The members of the Gameboyzz Orchestra Project do not expect serious competition anytime soon. A GameBoy Advance costs about US $200 in Poland these days, which is still way beyond the reach of most Polish gamers, or musicians...Clark Boyd is technology correspondent for The World, a BBC World Service and WGBH-Boston co-production",tech
+"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.",tech
+"EU software patent law delayed..Controversial new EU rules for the patenting of computer-based inventions have been put on hold due to a last minute intervention from Poland...Poland - a large and therefore crucial EU member - has requested more time to consider the issue, especially as it relates to the patenting of software. Critics say the law would favour large companies over small, innovative ones. They say it could have massive ramifications for developments such as open source software...Polish ministers want to see the phrasing of the text of the Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions changed so that it excludes the patenting of software. The planned law has ignited angry debate about whether the EU should allow the patenting of computer programs and internet business methods as currently happens in the US. So, for instance, US-based Amazon.com holds a patent on 'one-click shopping'. Critics claim the law, which the EU says is needed to harmonise with the US, is little more than a law on ideas. ""Patent rights, it is claimed, protect inventors but in this case it is exclusively the interests of the big companies that are protected,"" Eva Lichtenberg, a Austrian Green member of the European Parliament said in a statement. ""Smaller, innovative firms cannot afford the patenting and legal costs that the directive would inflict on them,"" she added. The European Parliament has already clashed with the European Union on the issue and there have been accusations that the process to decide the issue has been undemocratic. The directive has been subject to several previous delays.",tech
+"Apple sues 'Tiger' file sharers..Apple has taken more legal action to stop online leaks of its new products...The computer giant has sued three men for releasing preview versions of its latest Mac OSX software onto file-sharing sites prior to its release. It said two versions of the operating system, codenamed Tiger, were put onto the net in October and December. It is the second time in two weeks Apple has taken legal action to protect its future products. Tiger is due to be shipped in early 2005. Last week, it filed a lawsuit against ""unnamed individuals"" who leaked details about new products onto the web...The latest action was against members of the Apple Developer Connection, a group of programmers which gets to see test versions of upcoming software so they can develop or change their own programs to work with them. ""Members of Apple Developer Connection receive advance copies of Apple software under strict confidentiality agreements, which we take very seriously to protect our intellectual property,"" Apple said in a statement...It added that its future financial results were very much dependent on developing and improving its operating systems and other software. It is thought the men used sites which employ BitTorrent technology. With BitTorrent technology, sites do not host actual files being shared, instead they host a link that points people to others that have the particular file. Last week, the Motion Picture Association of America launched a legal campaign targeting websites that operate using the BitTorrent system in an effort to clamp down on movie piracy. Apple is no stranger to taking legal action against those who leak product information. In December 2002, it sued a former contractor who allegedly put drawings, images and engineering details of its PowerMac G4 computer online. The latest action was filed on Monday in the US District Court in California. It comes just weeks before the MacWorld conference in San Francisco, used to showcase new products.",tech
+"Apple unveils low-cost 'Mac mini'..Apple has unveiled a new, low-cost Macintosh computer for the masses, billed as the Mac mini...Chief executive Steve Jobs showed off the new machine at his annual MacWorld speech, in San Francisco. The $499 Macintosh, sold for £339 in the UK, was described by Jobs as the ""most important Mac"" made by Apple. Mr Jobs also unveiled the iPod shuffle, a new music player using cheaper flash memory rather than hard drives, which are used in more expensive iPods...The new computer shifts the company into new territory - traditionally, the firm is known as a design and innovation-led firm rather than as a mass-market manufacturer. The Mac mini comes without a monitor, keyboard and mouse, and a second version with a larger hard drive will also be sold for $599...The machine - which will be available from 22 January - was described by Jobs as ""BYODKM... bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse"". In an attempt to win over Windows PC customers, Mr Jobs said it would appeal to people thinking of changing operating systems. ""People who are thinking of switching will have no more excuses,"" he said. ""It's the newest and most affordable Mac ever."" The new computer has been the subject of speculation for several weeks and while few people will be surprised by the announcement many analysts had already said it was a sensible move. In January, Apple sued a website after it published what it said were specifications for the new computer. Ian Harris, deputy editor of UK magazine Mac Format, said the machine would appeal to PC-owning consumers who had purchased an iPod...""They want a further taste of Mac because they like what they have seen with iPod."" Harris added: ""Everybody thought that Apple was happy to remain a niche maker of luxury computers, and moving into a market dominated by low margin manufacturers like Dell is a bold move. ""But it shows that Apple is keen to capitalise on the mass market success it's had with the iPod. The Mac mini will appeal to PC users looking for an attractive, 'no fuss' computer."" The new iPod shuffle comes in two versions - one offering 512mb of storage for $99 (£69 in the Uk) and a second with one gigabyte of storage for $149 (£99) - and went on sale Tuesday. The music player has no display and will play songs either consecutively or shuffled. The smaller iPod will hold about 120 songs, said Mr Jobs. Mr Jobs told the delegates at MacWorld that iPod already had a 65% market share of all digital music players.",tech
+"Speech takes on search engines..A Scottish firm is looking to attract web surfers with a search engine that reads out results...Called Speegle, it has the look and feel of a normal search engine, with the added feature of being able to read out the results. Scottish speech technology firm CEC Systems launched the site in November. But experts have questioned whether talking search engines are of any real benefit to people with visual impairments...The Edinburgh-based firm CEC has married speech technology with ever-popular internet search. The ability to search is becoming increasingly crucial to surfers baffled by the huge amount of information available on the web...According to search engine Ask Jeeves, around 80% of surfers visit search engines as their first port of call on the net. People visiting Speegle can select one of three voices to read the results of a query or summarise news stories from sources such as the BBC and Reuters. ""It is still a bit robotic and can make a few mistakes but we are never going to have completely natural sounding voices and it is not bad,"" said Speegle founder Gordon Renton. ""The system is ideal for people with blurred vision or for those that just want to search for something in the background while they do something else. ""We are not saying that it will be suitable for totally blind people, although the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) is looking at the technology,"" he added. But Julie Howell, digital policy manager at the RNIB, expressed doubts over whether Speegle and similar sites added anything to blind people's experience of the web. ""There are a whole lot of options like this springing up on the web and one has to think carefully about what the market is going to be,"" she said. ""Blind people have specialised screen readers available to them which will do the job these technologies do in a more sophisticated way,"" she added...The site uses a technology dubbed PanaVox, which takes web text and converts it into synthesised speech. In the past speech technology has only been compatible with broadband because of the huge files it downloads but CEC says its compression technology means it will also work on slower dial-up connections. Visitors to Speegle may notice that the look and feel of the site bears more than a passing resemblance to the better known, if silent, search engine Google. Google has no connection with Speegle and the use of bright colours is simply to make the site more visible for those with visual impairments, said Mr Renton. ""It is not a rip-off. We are doing something that Google does not do and is not planning to do and there is truth in the saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,"" he said. Speegle is proving popular with those learning English in countries such as Japan and China. ""The site is bombarded by people just listening to the words. The repetition could be useful although they may all end up talking like robots,"" said Mr Renton.",tech
+"Broadband steams ahead in the US..More and more Americans are joining the internet's fast lane, according to official figures...The number of people and business connected to broadband jumped by 38% in a year, said the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In a report, it said there were more than 32 million broadband connections by the end of June 2004. But the US is still behind compared to other nations, ranked 13th in the world by a UN telecoms body...During his 2004 re-election campaign, President George W Bush pledge to ensure that affordable high-speed net access would be available to all Americans by 2007...According to the report by the FCC, broadband is becoming increasingly popular, with people using it for research and shopping, as well as downloading music and watching video. The total number of people and businesses on broadband rose by to 32.5 million in the year ending June 2004, compared to 23.5 million in June 2003. Whereas in the UK, most people hook up to broadband via Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology which lets ordinary copper phone lines support high data speeds. But in the US, cable leads the way, accounting for 18.6 million lines. Broadband over the phone line makes up 11.4 million connections, according to the FCC figures.",tech
+"Napster offers rented music to go..Music downloading, for those that have rejected the free peer to peer services, can be a costly business...The cost of paying even as little as 70p per track can add up, particularly for those people who own one of the new generation of players that can store thousands of songs. Paying per track for music is becoming as outmoded as paying per minute for internet access and alternative monthly or yearly subscription models are springing up as a more convenient, and ultimately cheaper way of owning music...""Music fans are moving away from buying the traditional bundled package of a dozen or more songs that we used to call an album to newer ways that fit their lifestyle; either single tracks or subscriptions services,"" said Paul Myers, chief executive of Wippit, a UK-based music download service. While iTunes is doing good business with its sales of individual tracks to iPod owners, others are questioning whether the concept of owning music is even valid in the digital age. Napster is due to launch a new rental subscription service - dubbed Napster to Go in the UK in the next few months. The service can be used on players that support Microsoft Windows latest Digital Rights Management technology known as Janus. This includes players made by Samsung, Rio and Creative...Currently on offer in beta-version in the US, the service costs $15 per month for unlimited downloads. The technology ensures that music downloaded to the player only remains playable while the user subscribes to the service. Users need to update their license on a monthly basis or the tunes will no longer play...This has outraged some digital music lovers, especially as Napster already offers a cheaper service for downloading music to the PC. Napster claims the higher price is a result of record labels charging more for the to-go service and says it also offers ""greater value"" for customers. Mr Myers is not convinced a rental model will work for consumers. ""We've been offering our unlimited music subscription service for more than three years now and our customers know what they want. Format interoperability, excellent value and the reassurance that music purchased from Wippit is theirs to keep and enjoy on whatever device they choose,"" he said. ""Who wants to download a track that won't play next month if you decide to unsubscribe to the service or change portable player for an iPod or the latest mobile phone?"" Wippit offers a download subscription service for £4.99 per month or £50 per year. It has a catalogue of around 60,000 songs.",tech
+"Broadband soars in 2004..If broadband were a jumbo jet, then 2003 would have seen it taxiing down the runway, firing up its engines and preparing for take-off. But this year has seen it soar...In the spring it literally took to the skies as Lufthansa and British Airways trialled it on flights. This perhaps said more about how indispensable people were beginning to perceive the technology, rather than how useful sky-high broadband would actually be. It was flying high and by the autumn, five million Britons had signed up for high-speed net access at home...Such enthusiasm is unlikely to dampen any time soon and experts predict that by the end of next year the numbers will have risen to more than eight million, or more than 30% of homes. The two key factors in whetting people's appetite were falling prices and a huge marketing push. When operators such as BT and Telewest offered standard 512K broadband for less than £20 at the beginning of the year, it was as if an invisible barrier had been breached - broadband had truly gone mass market. A feeding frenzy followed as firms vied for eyeballs in a price war reminiscent of that following the mass market take-up of dial-up. Broadband for less than £10 was even touted by some firms, although such a low price raised eyebrows among more established companies questioning how they are able to sustain such business models...For those who became broadbanders in 2004 there was no turning back and the days of waiting for the modem to kick in began to seem as outdated an idea as a jungle without celebrities. The rest of the world was also falling in love with the benefits of fast internet access, to the tune of 100 million connections worldwide by April, prompting research firm Point Topic to declare it one of the fastest growing technologies ever. By September, the number of broadband connections in the UK finally overtook dial-up and in December BT announced that it was making a new broadband connection every 10 seconds...Broadband was being mentioned on the 10 O'clock News and in the tabloids; the Sun even carried a cartoon joke about it. But two of the most significant pieces of news for broadband were items that did not make the headlines. In May, BT quietly announced that it was shaving 70% off the cost of allowing other operators access to its telephone exchanges, so-called local loop unbundling. The vital local loop is the crucial link between telephone exchanges and homes. At the moment BT has a stranglehold on more than 80% of these lines making it the key voice in deciding what ADSL products get into homes. With cheaper local loop unbundling, rivals to BT can offer faster services that will leave the broadband of today looking positively tortoise-like. It will mean the UK will finally catch up with countries such as France and the Netherlands, where homes are routinely enjoying speeds of up to 15Mb (megabits per second). And the major price fall means that, rather than just talk about it, companies are actually starting to get their own equipment into BT's exchanges. It may not seem that exciting but it is a remarkable transition given that just a few years ago the arguments over local loop unbundling bore more than a passing resemblance to the Northern Ireland peace talks - fraught, bitter and with no end in sight...Another big piece of news for broadband users in 2004 was the extension of BT's reach, meaning more than 95% of the population could get broadband, regardless of how far away from the exchange they lived...There was a slight caveat for those wanting to upgrade to 1Mbps broadband, they still have to live within six kilometres of a broadband-enabled exchange. For thousands frustrated by their inability to get the technology, the news meant they could finally join in. Broadband is not just about fast access over the telephone and cable operators NTL and Telewest also had a bumper year. The biggest news for them was increased speeds, introducing 2Mb and 3Mb services for users and offering a free upgrade to those on 512K. The cable operators are limited in their reach and it is perhaps testament to how big a deal local loop unbundling could become that even they are considering extending their range via this route. Broadband can seem confusing for consumers, with the huge amount of operators offering so many different products, some with capped bandwidth and different length contracts and set-up fees. It is unlikely to get any less easy to understand in 2005 but remains a plane worth catching. As it gets faster and offers extras such as cheap telephone calls online, the only real thing to remember for the coming year is to enjoy the ride.",tech
+"Half of UK's mobiles 'go online'..Multimedia mobile phones are finally showing signs of taking off, with more Britons using them to go online...Figures from industry monitor, the Mobile Data Association (MDA), show the number of phones with GPRS and MMS technology has doubled since last year. GPRS lets people browse the web, access news services, mobile music and other applications like mobile chat. By the end of 2005, the MDA predicts that 75% of all mobiles in the UK will be able to access the net via GPRS. The MDA say the figures for the three months up to 30 September are a ""rapid increase"" on the figure for the same time the previous year. About 53 million people own a mobile in the UK, so the figures mean that half of those phones use GPRS. GPRS is often described as 2.5G technology - 2.5 generation - sitting between 2G and 3G technology, which is like a fast, high-quality broadband internet for phones...With more services being offered by mobile operators, people are finding more reasons to go online via their mobile. Downloadable ringtones are still proving highly popular, but so is mobile chat. BandAid was the fastest ever-selling ringtone this year, according to the MDA, and chat was given some publicity when Prime Minister Tony Blair answered questions through mobile text chat. Multimedia messaging services also looked brighter with 32% of all mobiles in the UK able to send or receive picture messages. This is a 14% rise from last September's figures. But a recent report from Continental Research reflects the continuing battle mobile companies have to actually persuade people to go online and to use MMS. It said that 36% of UK camera phone users had never sent a multimedia message, or MMS. That was 7% more than in 2003. Mobile companies are keen for people to use multimedia functions their phones, like sending MMS and going online, as this generates more money for them. But critics say that MMS is confusing and some mobiles are too difficult to use. There have also been some issues over interoperability, and being able to send MMS form a mobile using one network to a different one.",tech
+"Blinx sequel purrs nicely..The original Blinx was intended to convert many platform game lovers to Microsoft's then new Xbox console...Its sharp graphics and novel gameplay, with the main character able to pause, slow, rewind and fast-forward time, were meant to lure many fans to the new machine. But poor design meant the game became a very frustrating affair with players often stranded half-way through a level without the required tools to finish. Thankfully, the sequel has fixed many of the original faults. This time around you do not play as Blinx but instead you are given the chance to create two unique cat characters and two pig characters...The character generator is very detailed and a few minutes of tweaking and adjusting will create a unique personality to unleash on the game...As the game progresses you swap between the two rival factions, pig and feline, assuming the role of your created characters. The thrust of the game sees the two factions competing to recover pieces of a missing Time Crystal. As in the original, your feline persona can control time, but this time the pigs get to control space. There are a number of puzzles which require control over time to solve while the pigs can create things such as warps, space bubbles and void traps in order to progress. The control over space and time is achieved through a number of VCR-style icons and is quite intuitive...Annoyingly, the puzzles are a little too obviously flagged up and most gamers will find it more of a chore than a challenge to solve them. The game has also tried to emulate franchises such as Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank on PS2 and so there are a number of combat elements. These are a little predictable and tend to drag the general polish of the game down to a more dulled affair. But the game's excellent graphics, easily the best-looking platform game around, sound and dollops of humour make it an attractive game for younger platform fans...Blinx 2 is out on Xbox now.",tech
+"The year search became personal..The odds are that when you fire up your browser, you go straight to your favourite search engine, rather than type in a web address...Some may see this as the height of laziness, but in an era of information overload, search has become a vital tool in navigating the net. It is symptomatic of how the way we use the internet is changing. And as Google has shown, there is money in offering a service that people cannot live without. There is no shortage of companies vying for the loyalty of web searchers, offering a wealth of different services and tools to help you find what you want. Over the past 12 months, giants of the technology world such as Microsoft and Yahoo have sought to grab a slice of the search action. ""User experience has contributed to people searching more,"" said Yonca Brunini of Yahoo. As people become more familiar with the internet, they tend to spend more time online and ask more queries, she said. ""The other second thing is broadband,"" Ms Brunini told the BBC News website. ""This will do to internet what colour has done to TV.""..But search is hardly a new phenomenon. It has been around since the early days of the net...Veteran surfers will remember old-timers like Hotbot and Altavista. ""Search was always important,"" said Urs Holzle, Google vice-president of operations. ""We trumpeted that in 1999. It is even truer now as there are more users and more information."" ""People didn't realise that search was the future. The financials have something to do with it."" Google has shown web commerce can work through its targeted small adverts, which appear at the top and down the right-hand side of a page and are related to the original search. These small ads helped Google reach revenues of $805.9m for the three months to September. Others have woken up to the fact that you can make money out of web queries. ""Once you see there is a market, Microsoft is bound to step to it. If Microsoft sees search as important, then nobody queries it,"" said Mr Holzle...Microsoft is just one of the net giants muscling in on search. Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, Amazon and a handful of smaller outfits are all seeking to capture eyeballs...Web users face a plethora of choices as each company tries to outflank Google by rolling out new search products such as desktop search. It reflects how the battlefield has shifted from the net to your PC. Search is not just about finding your way around the web. It is now about unlocking information hidden in the gigabytes of documents, images and music on hard drives. For all these advances, search is still a clumsy tool, often failing to come up with exactly what you had in mind. In order to do a better job, search engines are trying to get to know you better, doing a better job of remembering, cataloguing and managing all the information you come across. ""Personalisation is going to be a big area for the future,"" said Yahoo's Yonca Brunini. ""Whoever cracks that and gives you the information you want is going to be the winner. We have to understand you to give you better results that are tailored to you."" This is perhaps the Holy Grail of search, understanding what it is you are looking for and providing it quickly. The problem is that no one yet knows how to get there.",tech
+"IBM frees 500 software patents..Computer giant IBM says 500 of its software patents will be released into the open development community...The move means developers will be able to use the technologies without paying for a licence from the company. IBM described the step as a ""new era"" in how it dealt with intellectual property and promised further patents would be made freely available. The patents include software for a range of practices, including text recognition and database management. Traditional technology business policy is to amass patents and despite IBM's announcement the company continues to follow this route...IBM was granted 3,248 patents in 2004, more than any other firm in the US, the New York Times reports. For each of the past 12 years IBM has been granted more US patents than any other company. IBM has received 25,772 US patents in that period and reportedly has more than 40,000 current patents. In a statement, Dr John E. Kelly, IBM senior vice president, Technology and Intellectual Property, said: ""True innovation leadership is about more than just the numbers of patents granted. It's about innovating to benefit customers, partners and society...""Our pledge today is the beginning of a new era in how IBM will manage intellectual property."" In the past, IBM has supported the non-commercial operating system Linux although critics have said this was done only as an attempt to undermine Microsoft...The company said it wanted to encourage other firms to release patents into what it called a ""patent commons"". Adam Jollans, IBM's world-wide Linux strategy manager, said the move was a genuine attempt to encourage innovation. ""We believe that releasing these patents will result in innovation moving more quickly. ""This is about encouraging collaboration and following a model much like academia."" Mr Jollans likened the plan for a patent commons to the way the internet was developed and said everyone could take advantage of the result of collaboration. ""The internet's impact has been on everyone. The benefits are there for everyone to take advantage of."" Stuart Cohen, chief executive of US firm Open Source Development Labs, said the move could mean a change in the way companies deal with patents...""I think other companies will follow suit,"" he said. But not everyone was as supportive. Florian Mueller, campaign manager of a group lobbying toprevent software patents becoming legal in the European Union,dismissed IBM's move as insubstantial. ""It's just diversionary tactics,"" wrote Mr Mueller, who leadsnosoftwarepatents.com, in a message on the group's website. ""Let's put this into perspective: We're talking aboutroughly one percent of IBM's worldwide patent portfolio. They filethat number of patents in about a month's time,"" he added. IBM will continue to hold the 500 patents but it has pledged to seek no royalties from the patents. The company said it would not place any restrictions on companies, groups or individuals who use them in open-source projects. Open source software is developed by programmers who offer the source code - the origins of the program - for free and allow others to adapt or improve the software. End users have the right to modify and redistribute the software, as well as the right to package and sell the software. Other areas covered by the patents released by IBM include storage management, simultaneous multiprocessing, image processing, networking and e-commerce.",tech
+"Yahoo moves into desktop search..Internet giant Yahoo has launched software to allow people to search e-mail and other files on their PCs...The firm is following in the footsteps of Microsoft, Google and Ask Jeeves, which have offered similar services. Search has become a lucrative and hotly-contested area of expansion for net firms, looking to extend loyalty beyond the web. With hard drives providing bigger storage, users could need more help to locate important files, such as photos...The desktop search technology has been licensed from a US-based firm X1 Technologies. It is designed to work alongside Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail programs. Searching e-mail effectively is becoming increasingly important, especially as the amount of spam increases. According to research from message analysts the Radicati Group, up to 45% of businesses' critical information is stored in e-mail and attachments. Yahoo's software can also work separately on the desktop, searching for music, photos and other files. Users can search under a variety of criteria, including file name, size, date and time. It doesn't yet incorporate web searching, although Yahoo has promised that future versions will allow users to search both web-based and desktop data. ""We are all getting more and more files on our desktop but the real commercial opportunity lies with linking this through to web content,"" said Julian Smith, an analyst with research firm Jupiter. ""It is all about extending the idea of search and getting a closer relationship with consumers by organising not just how they search on the internet but the files on your computer as well,"" he said. Search engines are often the first port of call for users when they go onto the web. The new foray into desktop search has rung alarm bells for human rights groups, concerned about the implications to privacy. And not everyone is impressed with the functionality of such services. Alexander Linden, vice president of emerging technologies at analyst firm Gartner,downloaded the Google product but has since removed it. ""It was just not very interesting,"" he said. He believes the rush to enter the desktop business is just a way of keeping up with rivals. ""Desktop search is just one of many features people would like but I'm suspicious of its usefulness,"" he said. More useful would be tools that can combine internet, intranet and desktop search alongside improvements to key word searching, he said.",tech
+"Rings of steel combat net attacks..Gambling is hugely popular, especially with tech-savvy criminals...Many extortionists are targeting net-based betting firms and threatening to cripple their websites with deluges of data unless a ransom is paid. But now deep defences are being put in place by some of the UK's biggest net firms to stop these attacks. Increasing numbers of attacks and the huge amounts of data being used to try to bump a site off the web are prompting firms to adopt the measures. ""Net firms are realising that it's not just about anti-virus and firewalls,"" said Paul King, chief security architect at Cisco. ""There are more things that can be done in the network to protect data centres."" Mr King said the only way to properly combat these so-called Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks was with intelligent net-based systems. Many of the gambling sites suffering DDoS attacks are in offshore data and hosting centres, so any large scale data flood could knock out access to many more sites than just the one the criminals were targeting, said Mr King. This overspill effect was only likely to grow as attacks grow in size and scale...Malcolm Seagrave, security expert at Energis, said the most common types of attacks hit sites with 10 megabytes of data over short periods of time. Bigger attacks sending down 200 megabytes of traffic or more were rarely seen, he said. ""It does feel like they are turning the dial because you see this traffic gradually growing,"" he said...So far there have been no attacks involving gigabytes of data, said Mr Seagrave. However, he added that it was only a matter of time before such large attacks were mounted. Maria Capella, spokeswoman for net provider Pipex, said that when DDoS attacks were at their height, customers were getting hit every four to five days. The defences being put in place constantly monitor the streams of data flowing across networks and pluck out the traffic destined for target sites. ""It's about understanding what's genuine traffic and keeping attack traffic from going to the site,"" she said. ""We study the profile of their traffic and as soon as we see an anomaly in the profile that's when we start to get the backbone engineering boys to see if we are going to sustain an attack,"" said Ms Capella. This traffic can be hard to spot because DDoS attacks typically use thousands of computers in many different countries, each participating machine only sends a small part of the entire data flood...Typically these computers have been infected by a virus or worm which reports its success and the net address of compromised machines back to the malicious hacker or hi-tech criminal that set off the virus. Hijacked computers are known as zombies or 'bots and collections of them are called 'bot nets. Many spammers rent out 'bot nets to help them anonymously send junk mail...Most of the zombies are based outside the country that hosts the target site so getting the attacking PCs shut off can be difficult. Often Pipex and other net suppliers do get advance notice that an attack is about to happen. ""The serious players tend to precede an attack with some kind of ransom e-mail,"" said Ms Capella. ""We ask, as part of the service we provide, that customers notify us of anything they have in advance that would give us forewarning."" Once an attack is spotted dedicated net hardware takes over to remove the attack traffic and ensure that sites stay up. Energis took a similar approach, said Mr Seagrave. ""We have technology out there that allows us to detect attacks in minutes rather than let network engineers spend hours pulling the information together,"" said Mr Seagrave. Also net firms were starting to work more closely together on the problem of DDoS attacks and pool information about where they are coming from. Information gathered on attacks and where they originated has led to some arrests. He said Energis also did its own intelligence work to get in insight into which sites criminal gangs plan to target. ""We have people in places where they shouldn't be, monitoring tech sites,"" he said. Sometimes though, he said, spotting the next victim was easy. ""You can see them going alphabetically through the list with the gambling sites, trying one after another,"" said Mr Seagrave.",tech
+"US hacker breaks into T-Mobile..A man is facing charges of hacking into computers at the US arm of mobile phone firm T-Mobile...The Californian man, Nicholas Lee Jacobsen, was arrested in October. Mr Jacobsen tried at least twice to hack T-Mobile's network and took names and social security numbers of 400 customers, said a company spokesman. The arrest came a year after T-Mobile uncovered the unauthorised access. The US Secret Service has been investigating the case. ""T-Mobile has stringent procedures in place where we monitor for suspicious activity so that limited his activities and we were able to take corrective action immediately,"" Peter Dobrow, a T-Mobile spokesperson said. It is thought that Mr Jacobsen's hacking campaign took place over at least seven months during which time he read e-mails and personal computer files, according to court records...Although Mr Jacobsen, 21, managed to get hold of some data, it is thought he failed to get customer credit card numbers which are stored on a separate computer system, said Mr Dobrow. T-Mobile confirmed that the US Secret Service was also looking into whether the hacker accessed photos that T-Mobile subscribers had taken with their camera phones. The Associated Press agency reported that Mr Jacobsen also read personal files on the Secret Service agent who was apparently investigating the case. A Los Angeles grand jury indicted Mr Jacobsen with intentionally accessing a computer system without authorisation and with the unauthorised impairment of a protected computer between March and October 2004. He is currently on bail. T-Mobile is a subsidiary company of Deutsche Telekom and has about 16.3 million subscribers in the US.",tech
+"Windows worm travels with Tetris..Users are being warned about a Windows virus that poses as the hugely popular Tetris game...The Cellery worm installs a playable version of the classic falling blocks game on PCs that it has infected. While users play the game, the worm spends its time using the machine to search for new victims to infect on nearby networks. The risk of infection by Cellery is thought to be very low as few copies of the worm have been found in the wild...The Cellery worm does not spread via e-mail like many other viruses. Instead it browses computer networks for PCs that have not shut off all the insecure ways they connect to other machines. When it infects a machine, Cellery installs a version of Tetris that users can play. As the game starts up the worm also starts a music file to accompany it. At the same time the virus starts scouring networks for other vulnerable machines. The virus does no damage to machines but heavily infected networks could slow down as scanning traffic builds. Productivity may suffer too if users spend time playing Tetris. PCs running Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP could be vulnerable to the worm. ""If your company has a culture of allowing games to be played in the office, your staff may believe this is simply a new game that has been installed - rather than something that should cause concern,"" said Graham Cluley, spokesman for anti-virus firm Sophos. So far the number of people infected by Cellery is thought to be very small and the risks of further infection is very low. Sophos urged users and companies to update their anti-virus software to keep themselves protected.",tech
+"US state acts to stop 'spammers'..US state Texas has filed a lawsuit against two men believed to be among the world's top five spammers...It is seeking millions of dollars in damages in a civil lawsuit filed earlier this week. The Texas attorney general said it started the legal action as messages sent by the alleged spammers broke three laws governing e-mail marketing. The company named in the lawsuit denied any wrongdoing and said it complied with all relevant laws...The Texas lawsuit was filed against Ryan Samuel Pitylak, a University ofTexas student, and Mark Stephen Trotter of California. Both are thought to be the top executives in three companies - PayPerAction LLC., Leadplex LLC. and Leadplex Inc - that are suspected of sending out many millions of unwanted e-mail messages. ""Illegal spam must be stopped,"" said Greg Abbott, Texas attorney general announcing the legal action. ""Spam is one of the most aggravating and pervasive problems facing consumers today."" The attorney general alleges that messages sent by Mr Pitylak and Mr Trotter's companies broke the 2003 Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (Can-Spam) as well as the Texas Electronic Mail and Solicitation Act and Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. All three acts confer cash penalties for each violation of their terms. If the men are found guilty and all penalties are applied, the two men could face a damages bill running into millions. Mr Abbott said the messages sent by the pair broke laws by using misleading subject lines, not identifying themselves as adverts and offering services for which they had no licence to do so in Texas. Lawyers for the alleged spammers said the lawsuit was groundless and the two men would defend themselves strongly against the accusations. ""Leadplex and PayPerAction are legitimate internet marketing companies that are in complete compliance with the federal Can-Spam Act,"" said Lin Hughes, speaking on behalf of Mr Pitylak and Mr Trotter. In a similar move the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has won a court order that stops an international group of spammers sending sexually explicit e-mail. The FTC took the action because the messages being sent violated several parts of the CAN-Spam Act. In particular, the pornographic messages did not identify themselves as being sexually explicit, had deceptive subject headings, did not have working opt-out mechanisms, failed to mention they were adverts and did not give the sender's real world address. The court order stops the spammers sending e-mail and freezes assets prior to a hearing on a permanent injunction.",tech
+"World tour for top video gamers..Two UK gamers are about to embark on a world tour as part of the most lucrative-ever global games tournament...Aaron Foster and David Treacy have won the right to take part in a tournament offering $1m in total prize money. The cash will be handed out over 10 separate competitions in a continent-hopping contest organised by the Cyberathlete Professional League. As part of their prize the pair will have their travel costs paid to ensure they can get to the different bouts...The CPL World Tour kicks off in mid-February and the first leg will be in Istanbul. All ten bouts of the tournament will be played throughout 2005, each one in a different country. At each stop $50,000 in prize money will be up for grabs. The tournament champion for each leg of the CPL World Tour will walk away with a $15,000 prize. The winner of the grand final will get a prize purse of $150,000 from a total pot of $500,000...Winners of each stage of the tour automatically get a place at the next stop. The world tour stops are open to any keen gamer that registers. Online registration for the first stop opens this weekend. Some pro-players are winning a spot at the tour destinations through qualifying events organised by CPL partners. Winners at these qualifiers get seeded higher in the elimination parts of each tournament. Mr Foster and Mr Treacy get the chance to attend the World Tour as members of the UK's Four-Kings gaming clan. Towards the end of 2004 Four-Kings staged a series of online Painkiller competitions to reveal the UK's top players of the PC game. The best eight players met face-to-face in a special elimination event in late December where Mr Foster and Mr Tracey proved their prowess at Painkiller. As part of their prize the pair also get a contract with Four-Kings Intel which is one of the UK's few pro-gaming teams. ""There are a lot of people who take gaming very seriously and support their local or national team with the same passion as any other sport,"" said Simon Bysshe who filmed the event for Four-Kings and Intel. More than 80,000 people have downloaded the movie of the tournament highlights. ""Professional gaming is here to stay and will only grow in popularity,"" he said.",tech
+"Souped-up wi-fi is on the horizon..Super high-speed wireless data networks could soon be in use in the UK...The government's wireless watchdog is seeking help on the best way to regulate the technology behind such networks called Ultra Wideband (UWB). Ofcom wants to ensure that the arrival of UWB-using devices does not cause problems for those that already use the same part of the radio spectrum. UWB makes it possible to stream huge amounts of data through the air over short distances. One of the more likely uses of UWB is to make it possible to send DVD quality video images wirelessly to TV screens or to let people beam music to media players around their home. The technology has the potential to transmit hundreds of megabits of data per second. UWB could also be used to create so-called Personal Area Networks that let a person's gadgets quickly and easily swap data amongst themselves. The technology works over a range up to 10 metres and uses billions of short radio pulses every second to carry data. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas products with UWB chips built-in got their first public airing...Currently, use of UWB is only allowed in the UK under a strict licencing scheme. ""We're seeking opinion from industry to find out whether or not we should allow UWB on a licence-exempt basis,"" said a spokesman for Ofcom...Companies have until 24 March to respond. In April the EC is due to start its own consultation on Europe-wide adoption of UWB. The cross-Europe body for radio regulators, known as the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), is carrying out research for this harmonisation programme. Early sight of the CEPT work has caused controversy as some think it over-emphasises UWB's potential to interfere with existing users. By contrast a preliminary Ofcom report found that it would be quite straight-forward to deploy UWB without causing problems for those that already use it. The Ofcom spokesman said it was considering imposing a ""mask"" or set of technical restrictions on UWB-using devices. ""We would want these devices to have very strict controls on power levels so they can not transmit a long way or over a wide area,"" he said. Despite the current restrictions the technology is already being used. Cambridge-based Ubisense has about 40 customers around the world using the short-range radio technology, said David Theriault, standards and regulatory liaison for Ubisense. He said that UWB was driving novel ways to interact with computers. ""It's like having a 3D mouse all the time,"" he said. He said that European decisions on what to do with UWB allied with IEEE decisions on the exact specifications for it would help drive adoption. Prior to its adoption as a way for gadgets and computers to communicate, UWB was used as a sensing technology. It is used to spot such things as cracks under the surface of runways or to help firemen detect people through walls.",tech
+"EA to take on film and TV giants..Video game giant Electronic Arts (EA) says it wants to become the biggest entertainment firm in the world...The US firm says it wants to compete with companies such as Disney and will only achieve this by making games appeal to mainstream audiences. EA publishes blockbuster titles such as Fifa and John Madden, as well as video game versions of movies such as Harry Potter and the James Bond films. Its revenues were $3bn (£1.65bn) in 2004, which EA hoped to double by 2009. EA is the biggest games publisher in the world and in 2004 had 27 titles which sold in excess of one million copies each. Nine of the 20 biggest-selling games in the UK last year were published by EA...Gerhard Florin, EA's managing director for European publishing, said: ""Doubling our industry in five years is not rocket science."" He said it would take many years before EA could challenge Disney - which in 2004 reported revenues of $30bn (£16bn) - but it remained a goal for the company. ""We will be able to bring more people into gaming because games will be more emotional."" Mr Florin predicted that the next round of games console would give developers enough power to create real emotion...""It's the subtleties, the eyes, the mouth - 5,000 polygons doesn't really sell the emotion...""With PS3 and Xbox 2, we can go on the main character with 30,000 to 50,000 polygons,"" he said. ""With that increased firepower, the Finding Nemo video game looks just like the movie, but it will be interactive."" Mr Florin said that more than 50% of all EA's games were sold to adults and played by adults, but the perception remained that the video game industry was for children. ""Our goal is to bring games to the masses which bring out emotions."" EA said the video game industry was now bigger than the music industry. ""Nobody queues for music anymore.""..""You can't ignore an industry when people queue to buy a game at midnight because they are so desperate to play it,"" he said, referring to demand for titles for such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Halo 2...Jan Bolz, EA's vice president of sales and marketing in Europe, said the firm was working to give video games a more central role in popular culture. He said the company was in advanced stages of discussions over a reality TV show in which viewers could control the actions of the characters as in its popular game The Sims. ""One idea could be that you're controlling a family, telling them when to go to the kitchen and when to go to the bedroom, and with this mechanism you have gamers all over the world 'playing the show',"" said Mr Bolz...He also said EA was planning an international awards show ""similar to the Oscars and the Grammys"" which would combine video games, music and movies. Mr Bolz said video games firm had to work more closely with celebrities. ""People will want to play video games if their heroes like Robbie Williams or Christina Aguilera are in them."" Mr Florin said the challenge was to keep people playing in their 30s, 40s and 50s. ""There's an indication that a 30 year old comes home from work and still wants to play games. ""If that's true, that's a big challenge for TV broadcasters - because watching TV is the biggest pastime at present.""",tech
+"Tech helps disabled speed demons..An organisation has been launched to encourage disabled people to get involved in all aspects of motorsport, which is now increasingly possible thanks to technological innovations...The Motorsport Endeavour Club left the starting grid yesterday at the Autosport International 2005 show at Birmingham's NEC, with several technologies to adapt vehicles on display...Motorcycle racer, Roy Tansley, from Derby developed his electronic sequential gear changer following an accident which resulted in part of his left leg being amputated. ""I needed to find a way of changing gear and generally you do that with your left leg,"" Mr Tansley told the BBC News website. ""In simple terms, I needed to invent a left foot - initially it was quite a Heath Robinson device."" Mr Tansley had to argue his case to be allowed to continue competing with motorcycle racing's governing body, the Autocycle Union. ""At that time they wouldn't let any amputee race at all, but eventually they told me I could have a licence as long as I raced sidecars."" Mr Tansley's invention, the Pro-Shift, is designed to work with Hewland gearboxes which are widely used in motorcycle racing. In addition to helping disabled riders to compete, Mr Tansley reckons that the Pro-Shift saves at least 20 seconds per lap when he competes in the Isle of Man TT. As a result, there has been considerable interest in the product from other riders keen to improve their performance. ""I'm not prejudiced, I'll sell to able-bodied people if I have to!"" he joked...Another exhibit on the Motorsport Endeavour stand is a Subaru Impreza rally car, adapted to accommodate a variety of disabilities. The vehicle belongs to ParaRallying, the world's only rally school for disabled drivers which is based in Lincolnshire...""We use the latest technology supplied by an Italian company,"" said rally driver Dave Hawkins who runs the company. ""The cars have electronic throttles, electronic brakes, electronic clutches - we've yet to turn anybody away."" Mr Hawkins - a paraplegic himself - says his customers have included right or left arm amputees, quadriplegics, people who have had strokes and a woman who had had all four limbs amputated. ParaRallying uses a Vauxhall Astra GSI with an automatic gearbox and manual Subaru Imprezas. The car on display is fitted with a 'duck clutch' - a switch on the gear stick used instead of the clutch pedal. It also has a second ring behind the steering wheel to operate the throttle and a hand operated brake bar...When Joy Rainey started competing in motorsport in 1974 she was continuing the family tradition - her father, Murray, is a former Australian Formula 3 champion...And it was Rainey Senior who modified a sports racer to accommodate his daughter's small stature so that she could take part in hill climbs. She uses an ordinary road car by putting extensions on the pedals, a cushion behind her back and raising the seat. ""But in a competition car you have to have everything right or you'll lose the balance of the car,"" she said. ""I bring everything back to me - steering wheel, steering column, gear lever and pedals."" When she recently took part in the London to Sydney Marathon she shared the driving with her partner, Trevor, who now does the engineering work. He designed a system for their Morris Minor so that the adaptations could be totally removed in under a minute. The Motorsport Endeavour Club is hoping that putting such technologies on display will result in more disabled people becoming involved in all areas of the sport and at every level.",tech
+"Web photo storage market hots up..An increasing number of firms are offering web storage for people with digital photo collections...Digital cameras were the hot gadget of Christmas 2004 and worldwide sales of the cameras totalled $24bn last year. Many people's hard drives are bulging with photos and services which allow them to store and share their pictures online are becoming popular. Search firms such as Google are also offering more complex tools for managing personal photo libraries. Photo giants such as Kodak offer website storage which manages photo collections, lets users edit pictures online and provides print-ordering services. Some services, such as Kodak's Ofoto and Snapfish, offer unlimited storage space but they do require users to buy some prints online. Other sites, such as Pixagogo, charge a monthly fee. Marcus Hawkins, editor of Digital Camera magazine, said: ""As file sizes of pictures increase, storage becomes a problem. ""People are using their hard drives, backing up on CD and DVD and now they are using online storage solutions...""They are a place to store pictures, to share their pictures with families and friends and they can print out their photos.""..While many of the services are aimed at the amateur and casual digital photographer, other websites are geared up for enthusiasts who want to share tips and information. Photosig is an online community of photographers who can critique each other's work. On Tuesday, Google released free software for organising and finding digital photos stored on a computer's hard drive. The tool, called Picasa, automatically detects photos as they are added to a PC - whether sent via e-mail or transferred from a digital camera...The software includes tools for restoring colour and removing red eye, as well as sharpening images. Photos can then be uploaded to sites such as Ofoto. Many people use the sites to edit and improve their favourite photographs before ordering prints. Mr Hawkins added: ""The growth area is that you can order your prints online. Friends and family can also access pictures you want them to see and they can print them out too. ""Rather than just a place to dump your pictures, it's about sharing them.""..The vast majority of pictures remain on a PC's hard drive, which is why search tools, such as those offered by Google, become increasingly important. But some historians and archivists are concerned that the need for perfect pictures will mean that those poor quality prints which offered a tantilising glimpse of the past may disappear forever. ""It's one thing taking pictures, it's another finding them,"" said Mr Hawkins. ""But this is the same problem that has always existed - how many of us have photos in wallets tucked away somewhere?""",tech
+"Speak easy plan for media players..Music and film fans will be able to control their digital media players just by speaking to them, under plans in development by two US firms...ScanSoft and Gracenote are developing technology to give people access to their film and music libraries simply by voice control. They want to give people hands-free access to digital music and films in the car, or at home or on the move. Huge media libraries on some players can make finding single songs hard. ""Voice command-and-control unlocks the potential of devices that can store large digital music collections,"" said Ross Blanchard, vice president of business development for Gracenote. ""These applications will radically change the car entertainment experience, allowing drivers to enjoy their entire music collections without ever taking their hands off the steering wheel,"" he added...Gracenote provides music library information for millions of different albums for jukeboxes such as Apple's iTunes. The new technology will be designed so that people can play any individual song or movie out of a collection, just by saying its name. Users will also be able to request music that fits a mood or an occasion, or a film just by saying the actor's name. ""Speech is a natural fit for today's consumer devices, particularly in mobile environments,"" said Alan Schwartz, vice president of SpeechWorks, a division of ScanSoft. ""Pairing our voice technologies with Gracenote's vast music database will bring the benefits of speech technologies to a host of consumer devices and enable people to access their media in ways they've never imagined."" The two firms did not say if they were developing the technology for languages other than English. Users will also be able to get more information on a favourite song they have been listening to by asking: ""What is this?"" Portable players are becoming popular in cars and a number of auto firms are working with Apple to device interfaces to control the firm's iPod music player. But with tens of thousands of songs able to be stored on one player, voice control would make finding that elusive track by Elvis Presley much easier. The firms gave no indication about whether the iPod, or any other media player, were in mind for the use of the voice control technology. The companies estimate that the technology will be available in the fourth quarter of 2005.",tech
+"Cable offers video-on-demand..Cable firms NTL and Telewest have both launched video-on-demand services as the battle between satellite and cable TV heats up...Movies from Sony Pictures, Walt Disney, Touchstone, Miramax, Columbia and Buena Vista will be among those on offer. The service is similar to Sky Plus, as users can pause, fast forward and rewind content, but they cannot store programmes on their set top box - yet. It could sound the death knell for some TV channels, Telewest predicts. ""It allows us to demonstrate a clear competitive advantage over Sky for the first time in many years,"" said Telewest chief executive Eric Tveter...""Video-on-demand will offer a deeper range of content than currently exists on TV. There will be less compromising around the TV schedule and some of the less popular channels may go by the wayside,"" said Philip Snalune, director of products at Telewest. Telewest customers in Bristol and NTL viewers in Glasgow will be the first to test the new service, which sees a raft of movies on offer for 24 hour rental. During the year, the service will be extended to all cable regions. Films will range in price from £1 or £2 for archived movies to £3.50 for current releases. New releases initially on offer will include 50 First dates, Kill Bill: Volume 2, Gothika and The Station Agent. In addition, NTL is offering children's programmes, adult content, music video and concerts. Telewest will launch similar services later in the year. NTL is also offering viewers the chance to catch up with programmes they have missed. Its pick of the week service will offer a selection of BBC programmes from the previous seven days such as Eastenders, Casualty, Top Gear and Antiques Roadshow. The BBC is trialling a similar service, offering broadband users the chance to watch programmes already broadcast on their PC. For Telewest it is the beginning of a £20m investment in TV-on-demand which will also see the launch of a personal video recorder (PVR). PVR has been a big success for Sky because it gives customers control over programmes. Satellite customers without PVR cannot pause, rewind or fast forward their programmes...With both services on offer from Telewest, Mr Tveter is confident the cable firm can dent not just the viewing figures for terrestrial TV but also gain a huge competitive advantage over Sky...""We offer the best of both worlds and most households have an interest in having both video-on-demand and PVR,"" he said. Video rental stores may also have to watch their back. ""Video-on-demand is better than having a video-store in your living room and is more convenient,"" he said. NTL said it had not ruled out the possibility of offering a PVR but for the moment is concentrating on video-on-demand. ""PVR is a recording mechanism whereas what we are offering is truly on demand,"" said a spokesman for the company. Video-on-demand has the added advantage of not requiring a separate set-top box or extra remote controls, he added. Adam Thomas, an analyst at research firm Informa Media believes the time is ripe for video-on-demand to flourish. ""While Sky will remain the dominant force in UK pay TV for some time to come, NTL and Telewest seem well placed to successfully ride this second wave of VOD enthusiasm and, if marketed correctly, this could help them eat into Sky's lead,"" he said.",tech
+"Cyber crime booms in 2004..The last 12 months have seen a dramatic growth in almost every security threat that plague Windows PCs...The count of known viruses broke the 100,000 barrier and the number of new viruses grew by more than 50%. Similarly phishing attempts, in which conmen try to trick people into handing over confidential data, are recording growth rates of more than 30% and attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Also on the increase are the number of networks of remotely controlled computers, called bot nets, used by malicious hackers and conmen to carry out many different cyber crimes...One of the biggest changes of 2004 was the waning influence of the boy hackers keen to make a name by writing a fast-spreading virus, said Kevin Hogan, senior manager in Symantec's security response group. Although teenage virus writers will still play around with malicious code, said Mr Hogan, 2004 saw a significant rise in criminal use of malicious programs. The financial incentives were driving criminal use of technology, he said. His comment was echoed by Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant from anti-virus firm Sophos. Mr Cluley said: ""When the commercial world gets involved, things really get nasty. Virus writers and hackers will be looking to make a tidy sum.""..In particular, phishing attacks, which typically use fake versions of bank websites to grab login details of customers, boomed during 2004. Web portal Lycos Europe reported a 500% increase in the number of phishing e-mail messages it was catching. The Anti-Phishing Working group reported that the number of phishing attacks against new targets was growing at a rate of 30% or more per month. Those who fall victim to these attacks can find that their bank account has been cleaned out or that their good name has been ruined by someone stealing their identity. This change in the ranks of virus writers could mean the end of the mass-mailing virus which attempts to spread by tricking people into opening infected attachments on e-mail messages. ""They are not an efficient way of spreading viruses,"" said Mr Hogan. ""They are very noisy and they are not technically challenging."" The opening months of 2004 did see the appearance of the Netsky, Bagle and MyDoom mass mailers, but since then more surreptitious viruses, or worms, have dominated...Mr Hogan said worm writers were more interested in recruiting PCs to take part in ""bot nets"" that can be used to send out spam or to mount attacks on websites...In September Symantec released statistics which showed that the numbers of active ""bot computers"" rose from 2,000 to 30,000 per day. Thanks to these ""bot nets"", spam continued to be a problem in 2004. Anti-spam firms report that, in many cases, legitimate e-mail has shrunk to less than 30% of messages. Part of the reason that these ""bot nets"" have become so prevalent, he said, was due to a big change in the way that many viruses were created. In the past many viruses, such as Netsky, have been the work of an individual or group. By contrast, said Mr Hogan, the code for viruses such as Gaobot, Spybot and Randex were commonly held and many groups work on them to produce new variants at the same time. The result is that now there are more than 3,000 variations of the Spybot worm. ""That's unprecedented,"" said Mr Hogan. ""What makes it difficult is that they are all co-existing with each other and do not exist in an easy to understand chronology.""..The emergence of the first proper virus for mobile phones was also seen in 2004...In the past, threats to smart phones have been largely theoretical because the viruses created to cripple phones existed only in the laboratory rather than the wild. In June, the Cabir virus was discovered that can hop from phone to phone using Bluetooth short-range radio technology. Also released this year was the Mosquito game for Symbian phones which surreptitiously sends messages to premium rate numbers, and in November the Skulls Trojan came to light which can cripple phones. On the positive side, Finnish security firm F-Secure said that 2004 was the best-ever year for the capture, arrest and sentencing of virus writers and criminally-minded hackers. In total, eight virus writers were arrested and some members of the so-called 29A virus writing group were sentenced. One high-profile arrest was that of German teenager Sven Jaschen who confessed to be behind the Netsky and Sasser virus families. Also shut down were the Carderplanet and Shadowcrew websites that were used to trade stolen credit card numbers.",tech
+"Dublin hi-tech labs to shut down..Dublin's hi-tech research laboratory, Media Labs Europe, is to shut down...The research centre, which was started by the Irish government and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was a hotbed for technology concepts. Since its opening in 2000, the centre has developed ideas, such as implants for teeth, and also aimed to be a digital hub for start-ups in the area. The centre was supposed to be self-funded, but has failed to attract the private cash injection it needs. In a statement, Media Labs Europe said the decision to close was taken because neither the Irish Government nor the prestigious US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was willing to fund it. Prime Minister Bertie Ahern had wanted to the centre to become a big draw for smaller hi-tech companies, in an attempt to regenerate the area...About three dozen small firms were attracted to the area, but it is thought the effects of the dot.com recession damaged the Labs' long-term survival. The Labs needed about 10 million euros (US$13 million) a year from corporate sponsors to survive. ""In the end, it was too deep and too long a recession,"" said Simon Jones, the Labs' managing director. Ian Pearson, BT's futurologist, told the BBC News website that the closure was a ""real shame"". BT was just one of the companies that had worked with the Labs, looking at RFID tag developments and video conferencing. ""There were a lot of very talented, creative people there and they came up with some great ideas that were helping to ensure greater benefits of technology for society. ""I have no doubt that the individuals will be quickly snapped up by other research labs, but the synergies from them working as a team will be lost.""..Noel Dempsey, the government's communications minister, said Mr Ahern had been ""very committed"" to the project. ""He is, I know, very disappointed it has come to this. At the time it seemed to be the right thing to do,"" he said. ""Unfortunately the model is not a sustainable one in the current climate.""..During its five years, innovative and some unusual ideas for technologies were developed. In recent months, 14 patent applications had been filed by the Labs. Many concepts fed into science, engineering, and psychology as well as technology, but it is thought too few of the ideas were commercially viable in the near-term. Several research teams explored how which humans could react with technologies in ways which were entirely different. The Human Connectedness group, for example, developed the iBand, a bracelet which stored and exchanged information about you and your relationships. This information could be beamed to another wearer when two people shook hands. Other projects looked at using other human senses, like touch, to interact with devoices which could be embedded in the environment, or on the body itself. One project examined how brainwaves could directly control a computer game. The Labs, set up in an old Guinness brewery, housed around 100 people, made up of staff, researchers, students, collaborators and part-time undergraduate students. It is thought more than 50 people will lose their jobs when the Labs close on 1 February. According to its latest accounts, Media Lab Europe said it spent 8.16 million euros (about US$10.6 million) in 2003 and raised just 2.56 million euros (US$3.3 million).",tech
+"Games help you 'learn and play'..'God games' in which players must control virtual people and societies could be educational, says research...A US researcher has suggested that games such as The Sims could be a good way to teach languages. Ravi Purushotma believes that the world of The Sims can do a better job of teaching vocabulary and grammar than traditional methods. The inherent fun of game playing could help to make learning languages much less of a chore, said Mr Purushotma...There must be few parents or teachers that do not worry that the lure of a video game on a computer or console is hard to resist by children that really should be doing their homework. But instead of fearing computer games, Ravi Purushotma believes that educationalists, particularly language teachers should embrace games. ""One goal would be to break what I believe to be the false assumption that learning and play are inherently oppositional,"" he said. He believes that the ""phenomenal ability"" of games such as The Sims and others to capture the interest of adolescent audiences is ripe for exploitation. The hard part of learning any language, said Mr Purushotma, were the basic parts of learning what different words refer to and how they are used to build up sentences. Boring lessons drumming vocabulary into pupils couched in terms they do not understand has made many languages far harder to learn than they should be. ""The way we often teach foreign languages right now is somewhat akin to learning to ride a bike by formally studying gravity,"" he said...By contrast, said Mr Purushotma, learning via something like The Sims may mean students do not feel like they are studying at all. This was because The Sims does not rely solely on words to get information across to players. Instead the actions of its computer controlled people and how they interact with their world often makes clear what is going on. The incidental information about what a Sim was doing could reinforce what a player or student was supposed to be learning, said Mr Purushotma. By contrast many language lessons try to impart information about a tongue with little context. For instance, he said, in a version of The Sims adapted to teach German, if a player misunderstood what was meant by the word ""energie"" the actions of a tired Sim, stumbling then falling asleep, would illustrate the meaning. If necessary detailed textual information could be called upon to aid players' or students' understanding...One of the drawbacks of The Sims, said Mr Purushotma, was the lack of spoken language to help people brush up on pronunciation. However, online versions of The Sims, in which people have to move in, meet the neighbours and get to know the local town, could be adapted to help this. Although not wishing to claim that he is the first to suggest using a game can help people learn, Mr Purushotma believes that educationalists have missed the potential they have to help...Getting a simulated person to perform everyday activities in a make-believe world and having them described in a foreign language could be a powerful learning aid, he believes. Before now, he said, educational software titles suffer by comparison with the slick graphics and rich worlds found in games. But, he said, using pre-prepared game worlds such as The Sims has never been easier because tools have been made by its creators and fans that make it easy to modify almost any part of the game. This could make it easy for teachers to adapt parts of the game for their own lessons. ""I'm hoping now to re-create a well-polished German learning mod for the sequel by this summer,"" he told the BBC News website. ""I'm encouraged to hear that others are thinking of experimenting with Japanese and Spanish."" Earlier work with a colleague on using Civilisation III to teach students about history showed that it could be a powerful way to get them to realise that solving a society's problems can not always come from making a single change. A report on the experiment said: ""Students began asking historical and geographical questions in the context of game play, using geography and history as tools for their game, and drawing inferences about social phenomena based on their play."" Mr Purushotma's ideas were aired in an article for the journal Language Learning and Technology.",tech
+"Hacker threat to Apple's iTunes..Users of Apple's music jukebox iTunes need to update the software to avoid a potential security threat...Hackers can build malicious playlist files which could crash the program and let them seize control of the computer by inserting Trojan code. A new version of iTunes is now available from the Apple website which solves the problem. Security firm iDefence, which notified users of the problem, recommended that users upgrade to iTunes version 4.7.1. The problem affects all users of iTunes - Windows and Mac OS - running versions 4.7 and earlier. Users can automatically upgrade iTunes by opening the ""look for updates"" window in the program. The security firm says users should avoid clicking on or accessing playlist files - which have the file extension of .pls or .m3u - which have come from unknown sources. Itunes is the world's most popular online music store with more than 200 million songs downloaded since it launched in 2003.",tech
+"Format wars could 'confuse users'..Technology firms Sony, Philips, Matsushita and Samsung are developing a common way to stop people pirating digital music and video...The firms want to make a system that ensures files play on the hardware they make but also thwarts illegal copying. The move could mean more confusion for consumers already faced by many different, and conflicting, content control systems, experts warned. They say there are no guarantees the system will even prevent piracy...Currently many online stores wrap up downloadable files in an own-brand control system that means they can only be played on a small number of media players. Systems that limit what people can do with the files they download are known as Digital Rights Management systems. By setting up the alliance to work on a common control system, the firms said they hope to end this current fragmentation of file formats. In a joint statement the firms said they wanted to let consumers enjoy ""appropriately licensed video and music on any device, independent of how they originally obtained that content"". The firms hope that it will also make it harder for consumers to make illegal copies of the music, movies and other digital content they have bought. Called the Marlin Joint Development Association, the alliance will define basic specifications that every device made by the electronics firms will conform to. Marlin will be built on technology from rights management firm Intertrust as well as an earlier DRM system developed by a group known as the Coral Consortium...The move is widely seen as a way for the four firms to decide their own destiny on content control systems instead of having to sign up for those being pushed by Apple and Microsoft. Confusingly for consumers, the technology that comes out of the alliance will sit alongside the content control systems of rival firms such as Microsoft and Apple. ""In many ways the different DRM systems are akin to the different physical formats, such as Betamax and VHS, that consumers have seen in the past,"" said Ian Fogg, personal technology and broadband analyst at Jupiter Research. ""The difference is that it is very fragmented,"" he said. ""It's not a two-horse race, it's a five, six, seven or even eight-horse race"" Mr Fogg said consumers had to be very careful when buying digital content to ensure that it would play on the devices they own. He said currently there were even incompatibilities within DRM families. Although initiatives such as Microsoft's ""Plays for Sure"" program could help remove some of the uncertainty, he said, life was likely to be confusing for consumers for some time to come...Shelley Taylor, analyst and author of a report about online music services, said the locks and limits on digital files were done to maximise the cash that firms can make from consumers. Apple's iTunes service was a perfect example of this, she said. ""Although iTunes has been hugely successful, Apple could not justify its existence if it did not help sell all those iPods,"" she said...She said rampant competition between online music services, of which there are now 230 according to recent figures, could drive more openness and freer file formats. ""It always works out that consumer needs win out in the long run,"" she said, ""and the services that win in the long run are the ones that listen to consumers earliest."" Ms Taylor said the limits legal download services place on files could help explain the continuing popularity of file-sharing systems that let people get hold of pirated pop. ""People want portability,"" she said, ""and with peer-to-peer they have 100% portability."" Cory Doctorow, European co-ordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation which campaigns for consumers on many cyber-rights issues, expressed doubts that the Marlin system would achieve its aims. ""Not one of these systems has ever prevented piracy or illegal copying,"" he said. He said many firms readily admit that their DRM systems are little protection against skilled attackers such as the organised crime gangs that are responsible for most piracy. Instead, said Mr Doctorow, DRM systems were intended to control the group that electronics firms have most hold over - consumers. ""The studios and labels perceive an opportunity to sell you your media again and again - the iPod version, the auto version, the American and UK version, the ringtone version, and so on.""",tech
+"Peer-to-peer nets 'here to stay'..Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are here to stay, and are on the verge of being exploited by commercial media firms, says a panel of industry experts...Once several high-profile legal cases against file-sharers are resolved this year, firms will be very keen to try and make money from P2P technology. The expert panel probed the future of P2P at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier in January. The first convictions for P2P piracy were handed out in the US in January. William Trowbridge and Michael Chicoine pleaded guilty to charges that they infringed copyright by illegally sharing music, movies and software. Since the first successful file-sharing network Napster was forced to close down, the entertainment industry has been nervous and critical of P2P technology, blaming it for falling sales and piracy. But that is going to change very soon, according to the panel...The music and film industries have started some big legal cases against owners of legitimate P2P networks - which are not illegal in themselves - and of individuals accused of distributing pirated content over networks. But they have slowly realised that P2P is a good way to distribute content, said Travis Kalanick, founder and chairman of P2P network Red Swoosh, and soon they are all going to want a slice of it. They are just waiting to come up with ""business models"" that work for them, which includes digital rights management and copy-protection standards...But, until the legal actions are resolved, experimentation with P2P cannot not happen, said Michael Weiss, president of StreamCast Networks. Remembering the furore around VCRs when they first came out, Mr Weiss said: ""Old media always tries to stop new media. ""When they can't stop it, they try to control it. Then they figure out how to make money and they always make a lot of money."" Once the courts decided that the VCR in itself was not an illegal technology, the film studios turned it into an extremely lucrative business. In August 2004, the San Francisco-based US Court of Appeals ruled in favour of Grokster and StreamCast, two file-sharing networks. The court said they were essentially in the same position that Sony was in the 1980s VCR battle, and said that the networks themselves could not be deemed as illegal...P2P networks usually do not rely on dedicated servers for the transfer of files. Instead it uses direct connections between computers - or clients. There are now many different types of P2P systems than work in different ways. P2P nets can be used to share any kind of file, like photos, free software, licensed music and any other digital content. The BBC has already decided to embrace the technology. It aims to offer most of its own programmes for download this year and it will use P2P technology to distribute them. The files would be locked seven days after a programme aired making rights management easier to control. But the technology is still demonised and misunderstood by many. The global entertainment industry says more than 2.6 billion copyrighted music files are downloaded every month, and about half a million films are downloaded a day. Legal music download services, like Apple iTunes, Napster, have rushed into the music marketplace to try and lure file-sharers away from free content. Sales of legally-downloaded songs grew tenfold in 2004, with 200 million tracks bought online in the US and Europe in 12 months, the IFPI reported this week. But such download services are very different from P2P networks, not least because of the financial aspect...There are several money-spinning models that could turn P2P into a golden egg for commercial entertainment companies. Paid-for-pass-along, in which firms receive money each time a file is shared, along with various DRM solutions and advertiser-based options are all being considered. ""We see there are going to be different models for commoditising P2P,"" said Marc Morgenstern, vice president of anti-piracy firm Overpeer...""Consumers are hungry for it and we will discover new models together,"" agreed Mr Morgenstern. But many net users will continue to ignore the entertainment industry's potential controlling grip on content and P2P technology by continuing to use it for their own creations. Unsigned bands, for example, use P2P networks to distribute their music effectively, which also draws the attention of record companies looking for new artists to sign. ""Increasingly, what you are seeing on P2P is consumer-created content,"" said Derek Broes, from Microsoft. ""They will probably pay an increasing role in helping P2P spread,"" he said. Looking into P2P's future, file sharing is just the beginning for P2P networks, as far as Mr Broes is concerned. ""Once some of these issues are resolved, you are going to see aggressive movement to protect content, but also in ways that are unimaginable now,"" he said. ""File-sharing is the tip of the iceberg.""",tech
+"Text message record smashed..UK mobile owners continue to break records with their text messaging, with latest figures showing that 26 billion texts were sent in total in 2004...The figures collected by the Mobile Data Association (MDA) showed that 2.4 billion were fired off in December alone, the highest monthly total ever. That was 26% more than in December 2003. The records even surpassed the MDA's own predictions, it said. Every day 78 million messages are sent and there are no signs of a slow down. Before December's bumper text record, the previous highest monthly total was in October 2004, when 2.3 billion were sent. Text messaging is set to smash more records in 2005 too, said the MDA, with forecasts suggesting a total of 30 billion for the year...Even though mobiles are becoming increasingly sophisticated with much more multimedia applications, texting is still one of the most useful functions of mobiles. People are using SMS to do much more too. Booking cinema tickets, text voting, and news or sports text alerts are growing popular. Mobile owners have also given the chance to donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee's (DEC) Asian Tsunami fund by texting ""Donate"" to a simple short code number. Looking further ahead in the year, the MDA's chairman Mike Short, has predicted that more people will go online through their mobiles, estimating 15 billion WAP page impressions. Handsets with GPRS capability - an ""always on"" net connection - will rise to 75%, while 3G mobile ownership growing to five million by the end of 2005. These third generation mobiles offer a high-speed connection which means more data like video can be received on the phone. Globally, mobile phone sales passed 167 million in the third quarter of 2004, according to a recent report from analysts Gartner. That was 26% more than the previous year. It is predicted that there would be two billion handsets in use worldwide by the end of 2005.",tech
+"Big war games battle it out..The arrival of new titles in the popular Medal Of Honor and Call of Duty franchises leaves fans of wartime battle titles spoilt for choice...The acclaimed PC title Call of Duty has been updated for console formats, building on many of the original's elements. For its part, the long-running Medal of Honor series has added Pacific Assault to its PC catalogue, adapting the console game Rising Sun. Call of Duty: Finest Hour casts you as a succession of allied soldiers fighting on World War 2 battlefronts including Russia and North Africa. It is a traditional first-person-viewed game that lets you control just one character, in the midst of a unit where cohorts constantly bark orders at you. On a near-identical note, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault does all it can to make you feel part of a tight-knit team and plum in the middle of all-out action. Its arenas are the war's Pacific battles, including Guadalcanal and Pearl Harbour. You play one character throughout, a raw and rather talkative US soldier...Both games rely on a carefully stage-managed structure that keeps things ticking along. When this works, it is a brilliant device to make you feel part of a story. When it does not, it is tedious...A winning moment is an early scene in Pacific Assault, where you come under attack at the famous US base in Hawaii. You are first ushered into a gunboat attacking the incoming waves of Japanese planes, then made to descend into a sinking battleship to rescue crewman, before seizing the anti-aircraft guns. It is one of the finest set-pieces ever seen in a video game. This notion of shuffling the player along a studiously pre-determined path, forcibly witnessing a series of pre-set moments of action, is a perilous business which can make the whole affair feel stilted rather than organic. The genius of something like Half Life 2 is that it skilfully disguises its linear plotting by various means of misdirection. This pair of games do not really accomplish that, being more concerned with imparting a full-on atmospheric experience...Call of Duty comes with a suitably bombastic score and overblown presentation. Finest Hour has a similar determination, framing everything in moody wartime music, archive footage and lots of reflective voice-overs...Letting you play a number of different roles is an interesting ploy that adds new dimensions to the Call of Duty endeavour, even if it sacrifices the narrative flow somewhat. The game's drawback could be said to be its format; tastes differ, but these wartime shooters often do seem to work better on PC. The mouse control is a big reason why, along with the sharper graphics a top-end computer can muster and the apparent notion that PC games are allowed to get away with a bit more subtlety. Call of Duty on PC was more detailed, plot-wise and graphically, and this new adaptation feels a little rough and ready. Targeting with the PS2 controller proved tricky, not helped by unconvincing collision-detection. You can shoot an enemy repeatedly with zero question as to your aim, yet the bullets will just refuse to hit him. Checkpoints are so few and far between that when you get shot, which happens regularly, you are set harshly far back, and will find yourself covering vast tracts of scorched earth again and again. The game wants to be a challenge, and is, and many players will like it for that. It is as dynamic a battlefield simulator as you will experience and even if it is not as refined as its PC parent, the sense of being part of the action is thoroughly impressive...Both of these games feature military colleagues who are disturbingly bad shots and prone to odd behaviour. And in Pacific Assault in particular, their commands and comments are irritatingly meaningless...But the teamwork element in titles like this is superficial, designed to add atmosphere and camaraderie rather than affect the gameplay mechanics at all. Of the two games, Pacific Assault gets more things right, including little points like auto-saving intelligently and having tidier presentation. It engages you very well and also looks wonderful, making the most of the lush tropical settings that are reminiscent of the glorious Far Cry, although we had to ramp up the settings on a high-spec machine to get the most out of them. Finest Hour is by no means bad, and it is only because the PC original was so dazzling that this version sometimes feels underwhelming. Those looking for a wartime game with plenty of atmosphere and a hearty abundance of enemies to shoot will be contented. But they will also have a niggling puzzlement as to why it does not break a little more ground rather then just being competent.",tech
+"Mobiles rack up 20 years of use..Mobile phones in the UK are celebrating their 20th anniversary this weekend...Britain's first mobile phone call was made across the Vodafone network on 1 January 1985 by veteran comedian Ernie Wise. In the 20 years since that day, mobile phones have become an integral part of modern life and now almost 90% of Britons own a handset. Mobiles have become so popular that many people use their handset as their only phone and rarely use a landline...The first ever call over a portable phone was made in 1973 in New York but it took 10 years for the first commercial mobile service to be launched. The UK was not far behind the rest of the world in setting up networks in 1985 that let people make calls while they walked. The first call was made from St Katherine's dock to Vodafone's head office in Newbury which at the time was over a curry house. For the first nine days of 1985 Vodafone was the only firm with a mobile network in the UK. Then on 10 January Cellnet (now O2) launched its service. Mike Caudwell, spokesman for Vodafone, said that when phones were launched they were the size of a briefcase, cost about £2,000 and had a battery life of little more than 20 minutes...""Despite that they were hugely popular in the mid-80s,"" he said. ""They became a yuppy must-have and a status symbol among young wealthy business folk."" This was also despite the fact that the phones used analogue radio signals to communicate which made them very easy to eavesdrop on. He said it took Vodafone almost nine years to rack up its first million customers but only 18 months to get the second million. ""It's very easy to forget that in 1983 when we put the bid document in we were forecasting that the total market would be two million people,"" he said. ""Cellnet was forecasting half that."" Now Vodafone has 14m customers in the UK alone. Cellnet and Vodafone were the only mobile phone operators in the UK until 1993 when One2One (now T-Mobile) was launched. Orange had its UK launch in 1994. Both newcomers operated digital mobile networks and now all operators use this technology. The analogue spectrum for the old phones has been retired. Called Global System for Mobiles (GSM) this is now the most widely used phone technology on the planet and is used to help more than 1.2 billion people make calls. Mr Caudwell said the advent of digital technology also helped to introduce all those things, such as text messaging and roaming that have made mobiles so popular.",tech
+"Fast moving phone viruses appear..Security firms are warning about several mobile phone viruses that can spread much faster than similar bugs...The new strains of the Cabir mobile phone virus use short-range radio technology to leap to any vulnerable phone as soon as it is in range. The Cabir virus only affects high-end handsets running the Symbian Series 60 phone operating system. Despite the warnings, there are so far no reports of any phones being infected by the new variants of Cabir...The original Cabir worm came to light in mid-June 2004 when it was sent to anti-virus firms as a proof-of-concept program. A mistake in the way the original Cabir was written meant that even if it escaped from the laboratory, the bug would only have been able to infect one phone at a time...However, the new Cabir strains have this mistake corrected and will spread via short range Bluetooth technology to any vulnerable phone in range. Bluetooth has an effective range of a few tens of metres. The risk of being infected by Cabir is low because users must give the malicious program permission to download on to their handset and then must manually install it. Users can protect themselves by altering a setting on Symbian phones that conceals the handset from other Bluetooth using devices. Finnish security firm F-Secure issued a warning about the new strains of Cabir but said that the viruses do not do any damage to a phone. All they do is block normal Bluetooth activity and drain the phone's battery. Anti-virus firm Sophos said the source code for Cabir had been posted on the net by a Brazilian programmer which might lead to even more variants of the program being created. So far seven versions of Cabir are know to exist, one of which was inside the malicious Skulls program that was found in late November. Symbian's Series 60 software is licenced by Nokia, LG Electronics, Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung, Sendo and Siemens.",tech
+"Doors open at biggest gadget fair..Thousands of technology lovers and industry experts have gathered in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES)...The fair showcases the latest technologies and gadgets that will hit the shops in the next year. About 50,000 new products will be unveiled as the show unfolds. Microsoft chief Bill Gates is to make a pre-show keynote speech on Wednesday when he is expected to announce details of the next generation Xbox...The thrust of this year's show will be on technologies which put people in charge of multimedia content so they can store, listen to, and watch what they want on devices any time, anywhere. About 120,000 people are expected to attend the trade show which stretches over more than 1.5 million square feet. Highlights will include the latest trends in digital imaging, storage technologies, thinner flat screen and high-definition TVs, wireless and portable technologies, gaming, and broadband technologies. The show also includes several speeches from key technology companies such as Intel, Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard among others. ""The story this year remains all about digital and how that is completely transforming and revolutionising products and the way people interact with them,"" Jeff Joseph, from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) told the BBC News website. ""It is about personalisation - taking your MP3 player and creating your own playlist, taking your digital video recorder and watch what you want to watch when - you are no longer at the whim of the broadcasters.""..Consumer electronics and gadgets had a phenomenal year in 2004, according to figures released by CES organisers, the CEA, on Tuesday. The gadget explosion signalled the strongest growth yet in the US in 2004. Shipments of consumer electronics rose by almost 11% between 2003 and 2004. That trend is predicted to continue, according to CEA analysts, with wholesale shipments of consumer technologies expected to grow by 11% again in 2005. The fastest-growing technologies in 2004 included blank DVD media, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TVs, digital video recorders (DVRs), and portable music players. ""This year we will really begin to see that come to life in what we call place shifting - so if you have your PVR [personal video recorder] in your living room, you can move that content around the house. ""Some exhibitors will be showcasing how you can take that content anywhere,"" said Mr Joseph. He said the products which will be making waves in the next year will be about the ""democratisation"" of content - devices and technologies that will give people the freedom to do more with music, video, and images. There will also be more focus on the design of technologies, following the lead that Apple's iPod made, with ease of use and good looks which appeal to a wider range of people a key concern...The CEA predicted that there would be several key technology trends to watch in the coming year. Gaming would continue to thrive, especially on mobile devices, and would reach out to more diverse gamers such as women. Games consoles sales have been declining, but the launch of next generation consoles, such as Microsoft's Xbox and PlayStation, could buoy up sales. Although it has been widely predicted that Mr Gates would be showcasing the new Xbox, some media reports have cast doubt on what he would be talking about in the keynote. Some have suggested the announcement may take place at the Games Developers Conference in the summer instead. With more than 52% of US homes expected to have home networks, the CEA suggested hard drive boxes - or media servers - capable of storing thousands of images, video and audio files to be accessed through other devices around the home, will be more commonplace. Portable devices that combine mobile telephony, digital music and video players, will also be more popular in 2005. Their popularity will be driven by more multimedia content and services which will let people watch and listen to films, TV, and audio wherever they are. This means more storage technologies will be in demand, such as external hard drives, and flash memory like SD cards. CES runs officially from 6 to 9 January.",tech
+"Microsoft debuts security tools..Microsoft is releasing tools that clean up PCs harbouring viruses and spyware...The virus-fighting program will be updated monthly and is a precursor to Microsoft releasing dedicated anti-virus software. Also being released is a software utility that will help users find and remove any spyware on their home computer. Although initially free it is thought that soon Microsoft will be charging users for the anti-spyware tool...The anti-spyware tool is available now and the anti-virus utility is expected to be available later this month. Microsoft's Windows operating system has long been a favourite of people who write computer viruses because it is so ubiquitous and has many loopholes that can be exploited. It has proved such a tempting target that there are now thought to be more than 100,000 viruses and other malicious programs in existence. Latest research suggests that new variants of viruses are being cranked out at a rate of up to 200 per week. Spyware is surreptitious software that sneaks on to home computers, often without users' knowledge. In its most benign form it just bombards users with pop-up adverts or hijacks web browser settings. The most malicious forms steal confidential information or log every keystroke that users make. Surveys have shown that most PCs are infested with spyware. Research by technology firms Earthlink and Webroot revealed that 90% of Windows machine have the malicious software on board and, on average, each one harbours 28 separate spyware programs. Before now Microsoft has left the market for PC security software to specialist firms such as Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro and many others. It said that its virus cleaning program would not stop machines being infected nor remove the need for other anti-virus programs. On spyware freely available programs such as Ad-Aware and Spybot have become widely used by people keen to keep the latest variants at bay. Microsoft's two security tools have emerged as a result of acquisitions the company has made over the last two years. In 2003 it bought Romanian firm GeCAD Software to get hold of its anti-virus technology. In December 2004 it bought New York-based anti-spyware firm Giant Company Software. Last year Microsoft also released the SP2 upgrade for Windows XP that closed many security loopholes in the software and made it easier for people to manage their anti-virus and firewall programs.",tech
+"File-swappers ready new network..Legal attacks on websites that help people swap pirated films have forced the development of a system that could be harder to shut down...One site behind the success of the BitTorrent file-swapping system is producing its own software that avoids the pitfalls of the earlier program. A test version of the new Exeem program will be released in late January. But doubts remain about the new networks ability to ensure files being swapped are ""quality copies""...In late December movie studios launched a legal campaign against websites that helped people swap pirated movies using the BitTorrent network. The legal campaign worked because of the way that BitTorrent is organised. That file-sharing system relies on links called ""trackers"" that point users to others happy to share the file they are looking for. Shutting down sites that listed trackers crippled the BitTorrent network. One of the sites shut down by the legal campaign was suprnova.org which helped boost the popularity of the BitTorrent system by checking that trackers led to the movies or TV programmes they claimed to...Now the man behind suprnova.org, who goes by the nickname Sloncek, is preparing to release software for a new file-swapping network dubbed Exeem. In an interview with Novastream web radio, Sloncek said Exeem would combine ideas from the BitTorrent and Kazaa file-sharing systems. Like BitTorrent, Exeem will have trackers that help point people toward the file they want. Like Kazaa these trackers will be held by everyone. There will be no centrally maintained list. This, said Sloncek, should make the system less vulnerable to legal action aimed at stopping people swapping pirated movies and music. The Exeem software has been under development for a few months and is currently being tested by a closed group of users. An early public version of the software should be available before February. Sloncek said that currently only a Windows version of the software was in development. There were no plans for a Linux or Mac version. He said that costs of writing the software will be paid for by adverts appearing in the finished version of the program. Despite Suprnova administrator Sloncek's involvement with Exeem, the basic technology appears to have been developed by a firm called Swarm Systems that is based on Caribbean island Saint Kitts and Nevis...Users of the Exeem system will be able to rate files being swapped to help stop the spread of fake files, Sloncek told Novastream...Dr Johan Pouwelse, a researcher at the Delft University of Technology who studies peer-to-peer networks, said Exeem was the next evolution in file-sharing systems. But, he said, it would struggle to be as popular as BitTorrent and Suprnova because early versions were not taking enough care to make sure good copies of files were being shared. ""Exeem cannot prevent pollution,"" he said. ""The rating system in Exeem seems flawed because it is easy to insert both fake files and fake ratings,"" he said. Studies have shown that organisations working for record labels and movie studios have worked to undermine Kazaa by putting in fakes. By contrast moderators on Suprnova made sure files being shared were high quality. ""The moderators are the difference between having a system that works and one that's full of crap like Kazaa,"" he said. ""There is a fundamental tension between distribution and integrity,"" he said. Mr Pouwelse said that future versions of file-sharing systems are likely to incorporate some kind of distributed reputation system that lets moderators prove who they are to the network and rate which files are worth downloading. When big files were being shared moderation systems were key, said Mr Pouwelse. He added that the legal attacks on BitTorrent had driven people away from sites such as Suprnova but many users had simply migrated to other tracker listing sites many of which have seen huge increases in traffic. ""It's hard to compete with free,"" he said. No-one from the Motion Picture Association of America was immediately available for comment on the file-sharing development.",tech
+"Games win for Blu-ray DVD format..The next-generation DVD format Blu-ray is winning more supporters than its rival, according to its backers...Blu-ray, backed by 100 firms including Sony, is competing against Toshiba and NEC-backed HD-DVD to be the format of choice for future films and games. The Blu-Ray Association said on Thursday that games giants Electronic Arts and Vivendi would both support its DVD format. The next generation of DVDs will hold high-definition video and sound. This offers incredible 3D-like quality of pictures which major Hollywood studios and games publishers are extremely keen to exploit in the coming year. In a separate press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Toshiba announced that DVD players for its technology would be on the market by the end of 2005...""As we move from standard definition video images to high-definition images, we have a much greater need for storage,"" Richard Doherty, from Panasonic's Hollywood Laboratories, one of the pioneers of Blu-ray, told the BBC news website. ""So by utilising blue laser-based technology we can make an optical laser disc that can hold six times as much as today's DVD."" A Blu-ray disc will be able to store 50GB of high-quality data, while Toshiba's HD-DVD will hold 30GB. Mr Doherty added that it was making sure the discs could satisfy all high-definition needs, including the ability to record onto the DVDs and smaller discs to fit into camcorders. Both Toshiba and Blu-ray are hopeful that the emerging DVD format war, akin to the Betamax and VHS fight in the 1980s, can be resolved over the next year when next-generation DVD players start to come out. When players do come out, they will be able to play standard DVDs too, which is good news for those who have huge libraries of current DVDs...But the support from Vivendi and Electronics Arts is a big boost to Blu-ray in the battle for supremacy...Gaming is a $20 billion industry worldwide, so is as crucial as the film industry in terms of money to be made. ""The technical requirement for game development today demands more advanced optical-disc technologies,"" said Michael Heilmann, chief technology officer for Vivendi Universal. ""Blu-ray offers the capacity, performance and high-speed internet connectivity to take us into the future of gaming."" EA, a leading games developer and publisher, added that the delivery of high-definition games of the future was vital and Blu-ray had the capacity, functionality and interactivity needed for the kinds of projects it was planning. Sony recently announced it would be using the technology in its next generation of PlayStations. Mr Doherty said gamers were ""ravenous"" for high-quality graphics and technology for the next generation of titles. ""Gamers, especially those working on PCs, are always focused on more capacity to deliver textures, deeper levels, for delivering higher-resolution playback.""..He added: ""The focus for games moving forward is on increased immersion...""Gaming companies really like to focus on creating a world which involves creating complicated 3D models and textures and increasing the resolution, increasing the frame rate - all of these are part of getting a more immersive experience."" Fitting these models on current DVD technologies means compressing the graphics so much that much of this quality is lost. As games move to more photo-real capability, the current technology is limiting. ""They are thrilled at the advanced capacity to start to build these immersive environments,"" said Mr Doherty. Currently, graphics-intensive PC games also require multiple discs for installation. High-definition DVDs will cut down on that need. Likewise, consoles rely on single discs, so DVDs that can hold six times more data mean much better, high-resolution games. Blu-ray has already won backing from major Hollywood studios, such as MGM Studios, Disney, and Buena Vista, as well as top technology firms like Dell, LG, Samsung and Phillips amongst others. While Toshiba's HD-DVD technology has won backing from Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros. ""The real world benefits (of HD-DVD) are apparent and obvious,"" said Jim Cardwell, president of Warner Home Video. Mr Cardwell added that rapid time to market and dependability were significant factors in choosing to go with HD-DVD. Both formats are courting Microsoft to be the format of choice for the next generation Xbox, but discussions are still on-going. Next generation DVDs will also be able to store images and other data. CES is the largest consumer electronics show in the world, and runs from 6 to 9 January.",tech
+"More power to the people says HP..The digital revolution is focused on letting people tell and share their own stories, according to Carly Fiorina, chief of technology giant Hewlett Packard...The job of firms such as HP now, she said in a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), was to ensure digital and physical worlds fully converged. She said the goal for 2005 was to make people the centre of technology. CES showcases 50,000 new gadgets that will be hitting the shelves in 2005. The tech-fest, the largest of its kind in the world, runs from 6 to 9 January. ""The digital revolution is about the democratisation of technology and the experiences it makes possible,"" she told delegates. ""Revolution has always been about giving power to the people."" She added: ""The real story of the digital revolution is not just new products, but the millions of experiences made possible and stories that millions can tell."" Part of giving people more control has been about the freeing up of content, such as images, video and music. Crucial to this has been the effort to make devices that speak to each other better so that content can be more easily transferred from one device, such as a digital camera, to others, such as portable media players. A lot of work still needs to be done, however, to sort out compatibility issues and standards within the technology industry so that gadgets just work seamlessly, she said...Ms Fiorina's talk also touted the way technology is being designed to focus on lifestyle, fashion and personalisation, something she sees as key to what people want...Special guest, singer Gwen Stefani, joined her on-stage to promote her own range of HP digital cameras which Ms Stefani has helped design and which are heavily influenced by Japanese youth culture. The digital cameras, which are due to go on sale in the US by the summer, are based on the HP 607 model. The emphasis on personalisation and lifestyle is a big theme at this year's CES, with tiny, wearable MP3 players at every turn and rainbow hues giving colour to everything. Ms Fiorina also announced that HP was working with Nokia to launch a visual radio service for mobiles, which would launch in Europe early this year. The service will let people listen to radio on their mobiles and download relevant content, like a track's ringtone, simultaneously. The service is designed to make mobile radio more interactive...Among the other new products she showcased was the Digital Media Hub, a big upgrade to HP's Digital Entertainment Centre. Coming out in the autumn in the US, the box is a networked, high-definition TV, cable set-top box, digital video recorder and DVD recorder. It has a removable hard drive cartridge, memory card slots, and Light Scribe labelling software which lets people design and print customised DVD labels and covers. It is designed to contain all a household's digital media, such as pre-recorded TV shows, pictures, videos and music so it can all be managed in one place. The hub reflects the increasing move to re-box the PC so that it can work as part of other key centres of entertainment. Research suggests that about 258 million images are saved and shared every day, equating to 94 billion a year. Eighty per cent of those remain on cameras. Media hubs are designed to encourage people to organise them on one box. Ms Fiorina was one of several keynote speakers, who also included Microsoft chief Bill Gates, to set out what major technology companies think people will be doing with technologies and gadgets in the next 12 months. In a separate announcement during the keynote speech, Ms Fiorina said that HP would be partnering MTV to replace this year's MTV Asia music award. MTV's Asia Aid will be held in Bangkok on 3 February, and is aimed at helping to raise money for the Asian tsunami disaster.",tech
+"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.",tech
+"Apple unveils low-cost 'Mac mini'..Apple has unveiled a new, low-cost Macintosh computer for the masses, billed as the Mac mini...Chief executive Steve Jobs showed off the new machine at his annual MacWorld speech, in San Francisco. The $499 Macintosh, sold for £339 in the UK, was described by Jobs as the ""most important Mac"" made by Apple. Mr Jobs also unveiled the iPod shuffle, a new music player using cheaper flash memory rather than hard drives, which are used in more expensive iPods...The new computer shifts the company into new territory - traditionally, the firm is known as a design and innovation-led firm rather than as a mass-market manufacturer. The Mac mini comes without a monitor, keyboard and mouse, and a second version with a larger hard drive will also be sold for $599...The machine - which will be available from 22 January - was described by Jobs as ""BYODKM... bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse"". In an attempt to win over Windows PC customers, Mr Jobs said it would appeal to people thinking of changing operating systems. ""People who are thinking of switching will have no more excuses,"" he said. ""It's the newest and most affordable Mac ever."" The new computer has been the subject of speculation for several weeks and while few people will be surprised by the announcement many analysts had already said it was a sensible move. In January, Apple sued a website after it published what it said were specifications for the new computer. Ian Harris, deputy editor of UK magazine Mac Format, said the machine would appeal to PC-owning consumers who had purchased an iPod...""They want a further taste of Mac because they like what they have seen with iPod."" Harris added: ""Everybody thought that Apple was happy to remain a niche maker of luxury computers, and moving into a market dominated by low margin manufacturers like Dell is a bold move. ""But it shows that Apple is keen to capitalise on the mass market success it's had with the iPod. The Mac mini will appeal to PC users looking for an attractive, 'no fuss' computer."" The new iPod shuffle comes in two versions - one offering 512mb of storage for $99 (£69 in the Uk) and a second with one gigabyte of storage for $149 (£99) - and went on sale Tuesday. The music player has no display and will play songs either consecutively or shuffled. The smaller iPod will hold about 120 songs, said Mr Jobs. Mr Jobs told the delegates at MacWorld that iPod already had a 65% market share of all digital music players.",tech
+"Napster offers rented music to go..Music downloading, for those that have rejected the free peer to peer services, can be a costly business...The cost of paying even as little as 70p per track can add up, particularly for those people who own one of the new generation of players that can store thousands of songs. Paying per track for music is becoming as outmoded as paying per minute for internet access and alternative monthly or yearly subscription models are springing up as a more convenient, and ultimately cheaper way of owning music...""Music fans are moving away from buying the traditional bundled package of a dozen or more songs that we used to call an album to newer ways that fit their lifestyle; either single tracks or subscriptions services,"" said Paul Myers, chief executive of Wippit, a UK-based music download service. While iTunes is doing good business with its sales of individual tracks to iPod owners, others are questioning whether the concept of owning music is even valid in the digital age. Napster is due to launch a new rental subscription service - dubbed Napster to Go in the UK in the next few months. The service can be used on players that support Microsoft Windows latest Digital Rights Management technology known as Janus. This includes players made by Samsung, Rio and Creative...Currently on offer in beta-version in the US, the service costs $15 per month for unlimited downloads. The technology ensures that music downloaded to the player only remains playable while the user subscribes to the service. Users need to update their license on a monthly basis or the tunes will no longer play...This has outraged some digital music lovers, especially as Napster already offers a cheaper service for downloading music to the PC. Napster claims the higher price is a result of record labels charging more for the to-go service and says it also offers ""greater value"" for customers. Mr Myers is not convinced a rental model will work for consumers. ""We've been offering our unlimited music subscription service for more than three years now and our customers know what they want. Format interoperability, excellent value and the reassurance that music purchased from Wippit is theirs to keep and enjoy on whatever device they choose,"" he said. ""Who wants to download a track that won't play next month if you decide to unsubscribe to the service or change portable player for an iPod or the latest mobile phone?"" Wippit offers a download subscription service for £4.99 per month or £50 per year. It has a catalogue of around 60,000 songs.",tech
+"Rings of steel combat net attacks..Gambling is hugely popular, especially with tech-savvy criminals...Many extortionists are targeting net-based betting firms and threatening to cripple their websites with deluges of data unless a ransom is paid. But now deep defences are being put in place by some of the UK's biggest net firms to stop these attacks. Increasing numbers of attacks and the huge amounts of data being used to try to bump a site off the web are prompting firms to adopt the measures. ""Net firms are realising that it's not just about anti-virus and firewalls,"" said Paul King, chief security architect at Cisco. ""There are more things that can be done in the network to protect data centres."" Mr King said the only way to properly combat these so-called Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks was with intelligent net-based systems. Many of the gambling sites suffering DDoS attacks are in offshore data and hosting centres, so any large scale data flood could knock out access to many more sites than just the one the criminals were targeting, said Mr King. This overspill effect was only likely to grow as attacks grow in size and scale...Malcolm Seagrave, security expert at Energis, said the most common types of attacks hit sites with 10 megabytes of data over short periods of time. Bigger attacks sending down 200 megabytes of traffic or more were rarely seen, he said. ""It does feel like they are turning the dial because you see this traffic gradually growing,"" he said...So far there have been no attacks involving gigabytes of data, said Mr Seagrave. However, he added that it was only a matter of time before such large attacks were mounted. Maria Capella, spokeswoman for net provider Pipex, said that when DDoS attacks were at their height, customers were getting hit every four to five days. The defences being put in place constantly monitor the streams of data flowing across networks and pluck out the traffic destined for target sites. ""It's about understanding what's genuine traffic and keeping attack traffic from going to the site,"" she said. ""We study the profile of their traffic and as soon as we see an anomaly in the profile that's when we start to get the backbone engineering boys to see if we are going to sustain an attack,"" said Ms Capella. This traffic can be hard to spot because DDoS attacks typically use thousands of computers in many different countries, each participating machine only sends a small part of the entire data flood...Typically these computers have been infected by a virus or worm which reports its success and the net address of compromised machines back to the malicious hacker or hi-tech criminal that set off the virus. Hijacked computers are known as zombies or 'bots and collections of them are called 'bot nets. Many spammers rent out 'bot nets to help them anonymously send junk mail...Most of the zombies are based outside the country that hosts the target site so getting the attacking PCs shut off can be difficult. Often Pipex and other net suppliers do get advance notice that an attack is about to happen. ""The serious players tend to precede an attack with some kind of ransom e-mail,"" said Ms Capella. ""We ask, as part of the service we provide, that customers notify us of anything they have in advance that would give us forewarning."" Once an attack is spotted dedicated net hardware takes over to remove the attack traffic and ensure that sites stay up. Energis took a similar approach, said Mr Seagrave. ""We have technology out there that allows us to detect attacks in minutes rather than let network engineers spend hours pulling the information together,"" said Mr Seagrave. Also net firms were starting to work more closely together on the problem of DDoS attacks and pool information about where they are coming from. Information gathered on attacks and where they originated has led to some arrests. He said Energis also did its own intelligence work to get in insight into which sites criminal gangs plan to target. ""We have people in places where they shouldn't be, monitoring tech sites,"" he said. Sometimes though, he said, spotting the next victim was easy. ""You can see them going alphabetically through the list with the gambling sites, trying one after another,"" said Mr Seagrave.",tech
+"Apple Mac mini gets warm welcome..The Mac mini has been welcomed by Apple fans, industry experts and PC users...The release of the tiny, low-cost machine is seen as a good move for Apple which currently has a small share of the desktop computer market. Mac watchers and some analysts say the Mac mini will go a long way to help Apple appeal to the mass of consumers. They speculate that the Mac mini will be bought by iPod owners and those wanting an easy-to-use and administer second home computer...""It's the bravest move they have made yet,"" said Jonny Evans, news editor at Macworld magazine. Mr Evans said the combination of low cost, small size and huge numbers of iPod users could make it a big success...He thought that the machine would appeal to those that like Apple technology but who before now have balked at paying high prices for its hardware. ""It's deeply affordable,"" he said. ""Plus you know that you do not get viruses or all of the associated problems."" Already, he said, PC owning friends had declared that they would be buying one. Interest in the new products launched at Macworld expo was so strong that websites for Apple's store and the show struggled to cope with demand. According to response statistics gathered by Netcraft many visiting the Apple store in the wake of Mr Jobs' speech suffered lengthy response times. The Macworld Expo site was completely overwhelmed and went offline...""I think fundamentally it's a good idea because it's cheap even for a PC,"" said Nick Ross, deputy labs editor at PC Pro. Apple's work on making things easy to use would also help the Mac mini win fans, he said. ""I think people expect it just to work now and really it should,"" hesaid. The Mac mini could find a role in homes that need a second computer that is easy to install and administer, he said. ""For browsing the web, e-mail and all kinds of basic duties it's going to be absolutely adequate,"" said Mr Ross. Ian Fogg, broadband and personal technology analyst at Jupiter Research, agreed that the Mac mini could be very popular. ""Apple has been hoping that sales of the iPod will have a halo effect on the sales of the Mac,"" he said...Before now, he said, Apple has been seen as a premium brand. But, he said, the Mac mini changed that perception. ""It's a particularly good price when you see that it's Apple that is doing it,"" he said. Apple expects the Mac mini to sell for £339 in the UK and $499 in the US. Adding extras such as a larger hard drive, more memory and networking options will increase the basic price. It will go on sale from 22 January. ""For consumers interested in style, design and small size - which is what the majority of iPod customers are interested in - it's a natural next step,"" said Mr Fogg. Apple has traditionally done well in the market that the Mac mini is aimed at, said Mr Fogg, who also expected many PC makers to release copycat devices in reaction...His only misgivings were over how easy other consumers, other than iPod owners, would find using the machine. He said anyone wanting to use the Mac mini with the peripherals from an old computer may find it odd to have something so small and sleek next to a hulking monitor. ""They'd be much more likely to pair a Mac mini with a LCD or flat panel monitor which increases the upgrade cost,"" he said. Those with flat screens and LCD monitors are likely to have bought them recently and not be in the market for a new machine...There are also questions over whether the Mac mini will work with very old peripherals, such as display, keyboard and mouse. The Mac mini also fell short of being a media server that can be a video recorder as well as a store for all the digital music, movies and images people accumulate, said Mr Fogg. ""The Mac mini is not quite ready for that yet,"" he said. ""It does not have the right connectors that fit a TV screen or enough storage."" Said Mr Fogg: ""It's very much a computer."" One dissenting opinion came from Brian Gammage, vice-president of research at analysts Gartner. He said: ""I don't think it changes the world."" Although the Mac mini was very cheap for an Apple computer, it was still expensive compared to many PCs. Also, he said, it appealed in categories that few consumers care about when buying a home computer. ""The PC world is a pile-em-high, sell-em-cheap market,"" he said, ""and all of them are pretty interchangeable."" ""Since the days when Apple ruled the personal computing world its market share has been on a long, slow decline,"" he said. ""Every few years it does something to give its market share a kick then it starts to go back down again,"" said Mr Gammage. The release of the Mac mini fit perfectly with this trend, he said.",tech
+"Rivals of the £400 Apple.....The Mac mini is the cheapest Apple computer ever. But though it is cheap for a Mac how does it compare to PCs that cost about the same amount? Dot.life tries to find out if you can you get more for your money if you stick with the beige box.......An extremely small computer that is designed to bring the Macintosh to the masses...Apple offer a less powerful Mac Mini for £339 but the £399 models has a 1.4ghz Power PC chip, 80 gigabyte hard drive, combined CD burner/DVD player. It comes equipped with USB and Firewire ports for peripheral connections, Ethernet port for broadband, a port for standard video output and an audio/headphone jack.The machine comes with Mac OS X, the Apple operating system, the software suite iLife, which includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand...A monitor, keyboard or mouse. There is also no built-in support for wireless technology or any speakers. The lack of a DVD burner is an omission in the age of backing-up important software. Wireless and a dvd burner can be added at extra cost...Apple are targeting people who already have a main computer and want to upgrade - especially PC users who have used an Apple iPod...Compact and stylish, the Mac mini would not look out of place in any home. Apple computers are famously user friendly and offer much better network security, which means fewer viruses. The package of software that comes with the machine is the best money can buy...The Mac mini is just a box. If you don't already have a monitor etc, adding them to the package sees the value for money begin to dwindle. Macs don't offer the upgrade flexibility of a PC and the machine's specifications lack the horse power for tasks such as high-end video editing or games...""The Mac Mini puts the Macintosh within the reach of everyone,"" an Apple spokesman said. ""It will bring more customers to the platform, especially PC users and owners.""....An entry-level machine designed for basic home use...A 2.6ghz Intel Celeron chip, 40 gigabyte hard drive, 256mb, combined CD burner/DVD player. It comes equipped with a 17 inch monitor, keyboard and mouse. The machine has 6 USB ports and an Ethernet port for broadband connection. There's also a port for standard video output. The machine comes with Windows XP home edition. It provides basic home tools such as a media player and word processor...A DVD burner, or any wireless components built in. Wireless and a dvd burner can be added at extra cost...Homes and small offices, including those looking to add a low cost second computer...Cost is the clear advantage. The Dell provides enough power and software for basic gaming and internet surfing. It's easily upgradeable so a bigger hard drive, better sound and graphics cards can be added...The Dell is hardly stylish and the hard drive is on the small size for anyone wanting to store photos or a decent sized digital music collection...""This machine is for small businesses and for people who want a second computer for basic home use, perhaps in a kids bedroom,"" a spokesman for Dell said. ""I think we offer better value once you realise all the extras needed for the Mac Mini.""....A desktop computer that PC Pro magazine dubbed best performer in a group test of machines that cost only £399 (£469 including VAT)...A good basic PC that, according to PC Pro, has ""superb upgrade potential"". For your money you get a 1.8GHz AMD Sempron processor, 512MB of Ram, 120GB hard drive, DVD writer, 16-inch monitor, mouse, keyboard and Windows XP2..Much more than the basics. It cannot handle 3D graphics and has no Firewire slots...Those on a limited budget who want a machine they can add to and improve as their cash allows...It's cheap and has plenty of room to improve but that could end up making it expensive in the long run. It's a good basic workhorse...It's not pretty and has a monitor rather than a flat-panel display. Some of the upgrades offered by JAL to the basic model are pricey. You might find that you want to chop and change quite quickly...Nick Ross, deputy labs editor at PC Pro, said the important point about buying a cheap and cheerful PC is the upgrade path. Interest has switched from processor power to graphics and sound cards as that's what makes the difference in games. ""Even manufacturers are not going to be marketing machines as faster,"" he said, ""they'll emphasise the different features.""....A computer built from bits you buy and put together yourself...A surprisingly good PC sporting an AMD Athlon XP 2500 processor, 512 megabytes Ram, a graphics card with 128 Ram on board plus TV out, a 40 GB hard drive, CD-writer and DVD player, Windows XP Home...Anything else. You're building it so you have to buy all the software you want to install and do your own trouble-shooting and tech support. Building your own machine is easier than it used to be but you need to read specifications carefully to make sure all parts work together...Experienced and keen PC users. Building your own PC, or upgrading the one you have, is a great way to improve your understanding of how it all works...It's cheap, you can specify exactly what you want and you get the thrill of putting it together yourself. And a bigger thrill if everything works as it should...Once it's built you won't be able to do much with it until you start buying software for it. If it starts to go wrong it might take a lot of fixing. As Gavin Cox of the excellent buildyourown.org.uk website put it: ""It will be tough to obtain/build a PC to ever be as compact and charming as the Mac mini.""..""Performance-wise, it's not 'cutting edge' and is barely entry-level by today's market, but up against the Mac mini, I believe it will hold its own and even pull a few more tricks,"" says Gavin Cox. The good news is that the machine is eminently expandable. By contrast, says Mr Cox, the Mac mini is almost disposable.",tech
+"Speak easy plan for media players..Music and film fans will be able to control their digital media players just by speaking to them, under plans in development by two US firms...ScanSoft and Gracenote are developing technology to give people access to their film and music libraries simply by voice control. They want to give people hands-free access to digital music and films in the car, or at home or on the move. Huge media libraries on some players can make finding single songs hard. ""Voice command-and-control unlocks the potential of devices that can store large digital music collections,"" said Ross Blanchard, vice president of business development for Gracenote. ""These applications will radically change the car entertainment experience, allowing drivers to enjoy their entire music collections without ever taking their hands off the steering wheel,"" he added...Gracenote provides music library information for millions of different albums for jukeboxes such as Apple's iTunes. The new technology will be designed so that people can play any individual song or movie out of a collection, just by saying its name. Users will also be able to request music that fits a mood or an occasion, or a film just by saying the actor's name. ""Speech is a natural fit for today's consumer devices, particularly in mobile environments,"" said Alan Schwartz, vice president of SpeechWorks, a division of ScanSoft. ""Pairing our voice technologies with Gracenote's vast music database will bring the benefits of speech technologies to a host of consumer devices and enable people to access their media in ways they've never imagined."" The two firms did not say if they were developing the technology for languages other than English. Users will also be able to get more information on a favourite song they have been listening to by asking: ""What is this?"" Portable players are becoming popular in cars and a number of auto firms are working with Apple to device interfaces to control the firm's iPod music player. But with tens of thousands of songs able to be stored on one player, voice control would make finding that elusive track by Elvis Presley much easier. The firms gave no indication about whether the iPod, or any other media player, were in mind for the use of the voice control technology. The companies estimate that the technology will be available in the fourth quarter of 2005.",tech
+"US peer-to-peer pirates convicted..The first convictions for piracy over peer-to-peer networks have been handed down in the US...New Yorker William Trowbridge and Texan Michael Chicoine have pleaded guilty to charges that they infringed copyright by illegally sharing music, movies and software. The two men faced charges following raids in August on suspected pirates by the FBI. The pair face jail terms of up to five years and a $250,000 (£130,000) fine...In a statement the US Department of Justice said the two men operated the central hubs in a piracy community organised across the Direct Connect peer-to-peer network. The piracy group called itself the Underground Network and membership of it demanded that users share between one and 100 gigabytes of files. Direct Connect allows users to set themselves up as central servers that act as co-ordinating spots for sharers. Users would swap files, such as films and music, by exchanging data over the network. During its investigation FBI agents reportedly downloaded 84 movies, 40 software programs, 13 games and 178 ""sound recordings"" from the five hubs that made up the larger piracy group. The raids were organised under the umbrella of Operation Digital Gridlock which was aimed at fighting ""criminal copyright theft on peer-to-peer networks"". In total, six raids were carried out in August. Five were on the homes of suspected copyright thieves and one on a net service firm. The Department of Justice said that both men pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit felony copyright infringement. They also pleaded guilty to acting for commercial advantage. The two men are due to be sentenced on 29 April.",tech
+"Format wars could 'confuse users'..Technology firms Sony, Philips, Matsushita and Samsung are developing a common way to stop people pirating digital music and video...The firms want to make a system that ensures files play on the hardware they make but also thwarts illegal copying. The move could mean more confusion for consumers already faced by many different, and conflicting, content control systems, experts warned. They say there are no guarantees the system will even prevent piracy...Currently many online stores wrap up downloadable files in an own-brand control system that means they can only be played on a small number of media players. Systems that limit what people can do with the files they download are known as Digital Rights Management systems. By setting up the alliance to work on a common control system, the firms said they hope to end this current fragmentation of file formats. In a joint statement the firms said they wanted to let consumers enjoy ""appropriately licensed video and music on any device, independent of how they originally obtained that content"". The firms hope that it will also make it harder for consumers to make illegal copies of the music, movies and other digital content they have bought. Called the Marlin Joint Development Association, the alliance will define basic specifications that every device made by the electronics firms will conform to. Marlin will be built on technology from rights management firm Intertrust as well as an earlier DRM system developed by a group known as the Coral Consortium...The move is widely seen as a way for the four firms to decide their own destiny on content control systems instead of having to sign up for those being pushed by Apple and Microsoft. Confusingly for consumers, the technology that comes out of the alliance will sit alongside the content control systems of rival firms such as Microsoft and Apple. ""In many ways the different DRM systems are akin to the different physical formats, such as Betamax and VHS, that consumers have seen in the past,"" said Ian Fogg, personal technology and broadband analyst at Jupiter Research. ""The difference is that it is very fragmented,"" he said. ""It's not a two-horse race, it's a five, six, seven or even eight-horse race"" Mr Fogg said consumers had to be very careful when buying digital content to ensure that it would play on the devices they own. He said currently there were even incompatibilities within DRM families. Although initiatives such as Microsoft's ""Plays for Sure"" program could help remove some of the uncertainty, he said, life was likely to be confusing for consumers for some time to come...Shelley Taylor, analyst and author of a report about online music services, said the locks and limits on digital files were done to maximise the cash that firms can make from consumers. Apple's iTunes service was a perfect example of this, she said. ""Although iTunes has been hugely successful, Apple could not justify its existence if it did not help sell all those iPods,"" she said...She said rampant competition between online music services, of which there are now 230 according to recent figures, could drive more openness and freer file formats. ""It always works out that consumer needs win out in the long run,"" she said, ""and the services that win in the long run are the ones that listen to consumers earliest."" Ms Taylor said the limits legal download services place on files could help explain the continuing popularity of file-sharing systems that let people get hold of pirated pop. ""People want portability,"" she said, ""and with peer-to-peer they have 100% portability."" Cory Doctorow, European co-ordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation which campaigns for consumers on many cyber-rights issues, expressed doubts that the Marlin system would achieve its aims. ""Not one of these systems has ever prevented piracy or illegal copying,"" he said. He said many firms readily admit that their DRM systems are little protection against skilled attackers such as the organised crime gangs that are responsible for most piracy. Instead, said Mr Doctorow, DRM systems were intended to control the group that electronics firms have most hold over - consumers. ""The studios and labels perceive an opportunity to sell you your media again and again - the iPod version, the auto version, the American and UK version, the ringtone version, and so on.""",tech
+"Mobiles get set for visual radio..The growth in the mobile phone market in the past decade has been nothing less than astonishing, but the ability to communicate on the go is not the only reason we are hooked. Games, cameras and music players have all been added to our handsets in the last few years, but 2005 could see another big innovation that won't just see a change in our mobile phone habits - it might alter the way we listen to the radio. Finnish handset giant Nokia has been working on a technology called Visual Radio, which takes an existing FM signal from a radio station and enables that station to add enhancements such as information and pictures. It is not the first time that such an idea has been suggested - the early days of DAB Digital Radio had similar intentions that never really saw the light of day...One problem is that the name Visual Radio leads people to think of television but Reidar Wasenius, a senior project manager at Nokia, was adamant that Visual Radio should not be confused with the more traditional medium. He said: ""I'm very happy to say it's not television, what we're talking about is an enhancement of radio as we know it today. ""If you have a Visual Radio enabled handset, when you hear an artist you don't know, or there's a competition or vote that you'd like to participate in, you pull out your handset and with one click you turn on a visual channel parallel to the on-air broadcast you've just been listening to.""..That visual channel is run from a computer within the radio station, and sends out different kinds of information to the handset depending on what you are listening to. As well as details on the track or artist of a particular song, there is also the ability to interact immediately with the radio station itself, in a similar way to digital television's ""red button"" content...Possible interactive content includes competitions, votes and even the chance to rate the song that is playing. But the interactive aspect will make the service especially attractive to radio stations, who will be able to track the number of people taking part in such activities on a real-time basis. This in turn should lead to an additional source of revenue, as it is very likely that advertisers will be keen to exploit new opportunities to reach listeners...As the Visual Radio content is transmitted by existing GPRS technology you would need to have that service enabled by your network. And there will be a cost for the service as well, although it may depend on your usage. ""If you enjoy the visual channel occasionally and interact it'll be two or three pounds per month,"" said Mr Wasenius. ""But typically what we see happening is the operator offering a package deal for an 'all you can eat' arrangement per month."" The payment system could therefore be similar to the way that broadband internet works versus dial-up connections. One thing that is for sure - assuming that Nokia retains its market share in handsets, it is estimating that there will be 100 million Visual Radio-enabled mobile phones in circulation by the end of 2006. ""Basically, Visual Radio is not really revolutionary, but rather an evolution where we are providing tools with which people can participate in radio much more easily than ever before.""..The first Visual Radio service in the UK will begin in a few months time with Virgin Radio, who are positive about the impact it could have on their listeners. Station manager Steve Taylor commented: ""Listeners can interact with the radio station in a new way. ""Not only does this give listeners more information on the music we play but means they can instantly purchase things they like; mp3 music downloads and the latest gig tickets."" Initially Visual Radio functionality will be limited to two Nokia handsets due out soon - the 3230 and 7710 - but if successful, it is very likely that other manufacturers will want to join them...Listen again to the interview on the Radio Five Live website.",tech
+"Gamers could drive high-definition..TV, films, and games have been gearing up for some time now for the next revolution to transform the quality of what is on our screens...It is called high-definition - HD for short - and it is already hugely popular in Japan and the US. It is set, according to analysts, to do for images what CDs did for sound. Different equipment able to receive HD signals is needed though and is expensive. But Europe's gamers may be the early adopters to drive demand. Europeans will have to wait until at least 2006 until they see mainstream HDTV...To view it, it needs to be transmitted in HD format, and people need special receivers and displays that can handle the high-quality resolution. The next generation of consoles, however, are expected to start appearing at the end of 2005, start of 2006. And most new computer displays and plasma sets are already capable of handling such high-resolution pictures. ""In the next generation [of consoles] HD support is mandatory,"" Dr Mark Tuffy games systems director at digital content firm THX told the BBC News website. ""Every game is going to be playable in HD. ""So consumers who have gone out and spent all this money on HDTVs, and who have no content to watch, are going to be blown away by these really high-detail pictures. ""It's going to change really the way they look at gaming.""..At the end of last year, Chris Deering, Sony's European president, made a prediction that 20 million European households would have HDTV sets by 2008. A previous prediction from analysts Datamonitor put the figure at 4.6 million by 2008, an increase from an estimated 50,000 sets at the end of 2003. But those in Europe may see little point in buying what is quite an expensive bit of technology - about £2,000 - if there are few programmes or films to watch on them. Satellite broadcaster BSkyB is planning HDTV services in 2006 and the BBC intends to produce all of its content in HD by 2010...Until broadcast rights, format standards - and the practicalities of updating equipment - are agreed, TV content will be limited. All TV images are made up of pixels which go across the screen, and scan lines which go down the screen. Most standard UK TV pictures are made up of 625 lines and about 700 pixels. HD offers up to 1,080 active lines, with each line made up of 1,920 pixels. This means the picture is up to six times as sharp as standard TV. ""Probably, in the UK [gaming] is going to be the only thing you are going to really be able to show off, as in 'look what this TV can do', until HD is really adopted by broadcasters,"" explains Dr Tuffy. But gamers are also the ideal target audience for HD because they always crave better quality graphics, and more immersive gaming experiences. They are used to spending money on hardware to match a game's requirements. Demographics have changed too and the ""sweet spot"" for the games industry is the gamer in his or her late 20s. This means they are likely to have higher disposable incomes and can afford the price of big-screen, high-definition display technologies and HD projectors, earlier than others...Higher capacity storage discs, such as HD-DVD and blue-ray , are set to be standard in the next round of games consoles - allowing developers more room for detailed graphics...For console developers though, HD offers some production changes. It could make games production slightly more expensive, thinks Dr Tuffy. ""But we may see the cross-platform development of games becoming more common because they will more easily be able to take a PC game and apply it to a console,"" he says. ""You are literally going to get to the point, with a Lord of the Rings game for example, is going to be closer and closer to the actual film, especially the CGI stuff from the DVD. ""And the transition when they move from a cut scene to the game, just now they have almost got it seamless."" With HD, he says, the transition will be completely seamless and the same quality as the big-screen cinema release. This could herald an increasing convergence between the film and gaming industry. But it may not be until the generation after the next games consoles where the two industries really collide. At that point, says Dr Tuffy, games could become more or less interactive movies.",tech
+"How to make a greener computer..The hi-tech industry is starting to get more environmentally aware. Bill Thompson thinks it's about time...My first car ran on four star petrol and pumped vast quantities of lead into the atmosphere as I drove around Cambridge. Now you can't buy petrol with lead additives, and we're all better off as a result. Chip giant Intel recently began shipping computer circuit boards that are lead free too, reflecting a growing awareness on the part of the technology industry that products have to be designed and built in more environmentally friendly ways...Apart from reducing the use of toxic materials like arsenic, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals in the products themselves, the manufacturing process is also being cleaned up, with fewer complex and potentially damaging organic chemicals used as solvents. And work is going into making power supplies that are more energy efficient, since current transformers are astonishingly wasteful as they charge our laptops, mobiles and music players...One of the key aspects of the new approach is to design products that are easier to recycle. If you have got a phone or a computer with toxic chemicals or heavy metals in it then extracting them can be tricky and expensive. A well-designed electronic component is able to be recycled at low cost. This is going to be very important to hardware manufacturers in Europe since from August the new Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment directive will oblige them to accept returned products for recycling...They will end up paying if they build things that are expensive or impossible to take apart and will find their profits hit, something which is likely to motivate them where appeals to the wider public interest might fall on deaf ears. It is, as they say, about time. We have a long and depressing history of developing new technologies with complete disregard for their potential impact on the environment, and waiting until there is a crisis looming before we try to redesign them to cause less damage. The car engine is a case in point: lead additives helped stop petrol vapour exploding too early in the cylinder, a phenomenon called 'knocking', so they were simply used without any real thought for the fact that the lead would end up in the atmosphere. Redesigning engines and making petrol slightly different was a lot more work, so it took decades before it was done. We're seeing the same thing in the technology industry and, as a result, there are billions of devices, from old mobile phones to antique handhelds, that will have to be recycled in years to come. If Apple gets its way then a lot of people are going to be buying a new Mac Mini and throwing away their old PC, keeping the monitor and other peripherals...Even if Apple does not get its way, four or five-year-old computers are not good enough to run modern programs and it's not unreasonable to replace them. But what do we do with the old ones?..I've just looked around my office and I find two monitors, an old 386 PC, two old handhelds, three ancient laptops, four antique mobile phones, a collection of rechargeable batteries and even a Sun workstation that is no longer really much use. They are all old enough to be hazardous waste - the monitors alone will be full of arsenic and lead - but it's possible that some of the components could be useful. I could take them up the to the council recycling centre, but it's a 10-mile drive away across town, and like many other people my commitment to recycling is shallow at best. Here in Cambridge we have green bins for compostable waste, a box for glass, cans and paper that can be recycled, and a black bin for the rest. There are bottle banks and clothing banks scattered around town and in supermarket car parks. Would it be too much to ask for an electronics recycling box too? I'd probably remember to take my old mobile with me to the supermarket and drop it in a box - at least eventually...Bill Thompson is a regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Go Digital.",tech
+"Microsoft makes anti-piracy move..Microsoft says it is clamping down on people running pirated versions of its Windows operating system by restricting their access to security features...The Windows Genuine Advantage scheme means people will have to prove their software is genuine from mid-2005. It will still allow those with unauthorised copies to get some crucial security fixes via automatic updates, but their options would be ""limited"". Microsoft releases regular security updates to its software to protect PCs. Either PCs detect updates automatically or users manually download fixes through Microsoft's site. Those running pirated Windows programs would not have access to other downloads and ""add-ons"" that the software giant offers...People who try to manually download security patches will have to let Microsoft run an automated checking procedure on their computer or give an identification number...Microsoft's regular patches which it releases for newly-found security flaws are important because they stop worms, viruses and other threats penetrating PCs. Some security experts are concerned that restricting access to such patches could mean a rise in such attacks and threats, with more PCs left unprotected. But Graham Cluley, senior consultant at security firm Sophos, told the BBC News website that it was a positive decision. ""It sounds like their decision to allow critical security patches to remain available to both legitimate and illegitimate users of Windows is good news for everyone who uses the net,"" he said. Windows Genuine Advantage was first introduced as a pilot scheme in September 2004 for English-language versions of Windows...Microsoft's Windows operating system is heavily exploited by virus writers because it is so widespread and they are constantly seeking out new security loopholes to take advantage of. The company is trying to tackle security threats whilst cracking down on pirated software at the same time. Software piracy has cost the company billions, it says. The company announced earlier in January that it was releasing security tools to clean up PCs harbouring viruses and spyware, which 90% of PCs are infected with. The virus-fighting program, updated monthly, is a precursor to Microsoft's dedicated anti-virus software. Last year it introduced the Windows XP Counterfeit Project, a UK-based pilot scheme, which ran from November to December. The scheme meant that anyone with pre-installed copies of the operating system in PCs bought before November could replace counterfeit versions of Windows XP with legal ones for free. It is also increasing efforts to squash software piracy in China, Norway and the Czech Republic, where pirated software is a huge problem, by offering discounts on legitimate software to users of pirated copies Windows. ""China in particular is a problem, with piracy estimated at 92%,"" said Mr Cluley.",tech
+"What's next for next-gen consoles?..The next generation of video games consoles are in development but what will the new machines mean for games firms and consumers? We may not know when they will be released, what they will be called or even what they will be able to do but one thing is certain - they are coming. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are all expected to release new machines in the next 18 months. The details of PlayStation 3, Xbox 2 (codename Xenon) and Nintendo's so-called Revolution are still to be finalised but developers are having to work on titles for the new machines regardless...""We know maybe what the PS3 will do, but we can only guess,"" said Rory Armes, studio general manager for video game giant Electronic Arts in Europe. ""It's a horrendous effort in the first year,"" he admitted. Microsoft had delivered development kits to EA, said Mr Armes, but he said the company was still waiting on Sony and Nintendo to send kits. Although the details may not be nailed down, Mr Armes said EA was beginning to get a sense of the capabilities of the new machines. ""The rumours are that PlayStation 3 will have a little more under the hood [than Xbox 2],"" he said...""Microsoft is obviously a software company first and foremost, while Sony has more experience in hardware. I think Sony will be able to push more into a box at cost.""..What is certain is that the new machines will provide great leaps in processing and graphical power. It is also likely that they will contain convergence technologies to make the machines more of an entertainment hub. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Microsoft boss Bill Gates said Xbox 2 would be part of his vision of the digital lifestyle. While short on detail, he painted a picture of a machine that would complement a PC and offer ""great video gaming but video gaming for a broader set of people, more communications, more media, more connectivity"". Sony is thought to have a similar vision for PS3 while Nintendo remain focused on a machine purely for games...Until it is clear precisely what the new machines can do, developers are working on a first round of titles to harness the new horsepower. Gary Dunn, development director at Codemasters, said the company had a central technology group which was at the forefront of preparing for the next generation of consoles. ""We are working on new libraries of effects. A lot of the major techniques are already out there and in use in PC gaming, such as pixel shaders and normal mapping.""..Mr Dunn said he expected the introduction of real-world physics to be a major part of the new consoles. ""We want to increase that level of immersion and realism in gaming to people can lose themselves in a game."" In the first year at least, developers said gamers should not expect games which harness the full potential of the machines. Graphical spit and polish and better physics in line with the capabilities of current high-end graphics cards for PCs should be expected. Simon Gardner, president of Climax's Action Studio, said: ""It's definitely an exciting time. We want to give more freedom to the player. We want to give players an emotional connection to the characters they play. ""The environments will be much more believable and dramatic, growing and changing as you play. ""There will be a breadth of effects, more involving worlds to play in...""It's a bit like being an artist and being given a bigger canvas and a smaller brush. We're being given more tools. ""For the average consumer, we can get things of a more filmic quality."" Gerhard Florin, head of EA in Europe, said gamers should expect titles that blur the line between films and video games. Many will be sceptical - gamers were given similar predictions during the last transition of console hardware - but this time it would seem to be more likely. ""PS3 will provide graphics indistinguishable from movies,"" said Mr Florin. He said the distribution method for games would also change radically in the next round of consoles. ""A gamer could buy a starter disc for 10 euros. When he goes home he goes online and he could buy AI and levels as you go...""It's much smarter if you can get levels as you go."" Mr Armes warned that developers still had to learn how to tell stories effectively in the medium. ""In some ways we are trying to forget about the hardware, go in the opposite direction. We have been very bad at letting technology design our creativity. ""What we have to do as a company is start ignoring the technology and learning our craft in telling stories."" Mr Gardner agreed: ""We can thrown more polygons around and have better AI but if it doesn't make for a better game then that's not very useful."" Developers will certainly have the tools with the new machines, but how they employ them is still to be decided.",tech
+"Latest Opera browser gets vocal..Net browser Opera 8.0, due for official release at the end of next month, will be ""the most accessible browser on the market"", according to its authors...The latest version of the net browser can be controlled by voice command and will read pages aloud. The voice features, based on IBM technology, are currently only available in the Windows version. Opera can also magnify text by up to 10 times and users can create ""style sheets"", its developers say. This will enable them to view pages with colours and fonts that they prefer. But the browser does not yet work well with screen reader software often used by blind people, so its accessibility features are more likely to appeal to those with some residual vision. ""Our mission was always to provide the best internet experience for everyone,"" said Opera spokeswoman, Berit Hanson. ""So we would obviously not want to exclude disabled computer users.""..Another feature likely to appeal to people with low vision is the ability to make pages fit to the screen width, which eliminates the need for horizontal scrolling...The company points out that this will also appeal to anyone using Opera with a handheld device. The company says that features like voice activation are not solely aimed at visually impaired people. ""Our idea was to take a first step in making human-computer interaction more natural,"" said Ms Hanson. ""People are not always in a situation where they can access a keyboard, so this makes the web a more hands-free experience."" Unlike commercially available voice recognition software, Opera does not have to be ""trained"" to recognise an individual voice. Around 50 voice commands are available and users will have to wear a headset which incorporates a microphone. The voice recognition function is currently only available in English. Opera is free to download but a paid-for version comes without an ad banner in the top right hand corner and with extra support. Opera began life as a research project - a spin-off from Norwegian telecoms company Telenor. Its browser is used by an estimated 10 million people on a variety of operating systems and a number of different platforms.",tech
+"Mobile games come of age..The BBC News website takes a look at how games on mobile phones are maturing. A brief round-up follows but you can skip straight to the reviews by clicking on the links below. Part two will follow on Monday...Reviews of Call of Duty, Splinter Cell - Pandora Tomorrow, Lord of the Rings and Pocket Kingdom will follow on Monday If you think of Snake when some mentions ""mobile games"" then you could be in for a bit of a surprise. This is because mobile games have come a long way in a very short time. Even before Nokia's N-Gage game phone launched in late 2003, many mobile operators were realising that there was an audience looking for something to play on their handset...And given that many more people own handsets than own portable game playing gadgets such as the GameBoy it could be a very lucrative market. That audience includes commuters wanting something to fill their time on the way home, game fans looking for a bit of variety and hard core gamers who like to play every moment they can. Life for all these types of player has got immeasurably better in the last year as the numbers of titles you can download to your phone has snowballed. Now sites such as Wireless Gaming Review list more than 200 different titles for some UK networks and the ranges suit every possible taste. There are ports of PC and arcade classics such as Space Invaders, Lunar Lander and Bejewelled. There are also versions of titles, such as Colin McRae Rally, that you typically find on PCs and consoles...There are shoot-em-ups, adventure games, strategy titles and many novel games only found on handsets. Rarely now does an action movie launch without a mobile game tie-in. Increasingly such launches are all part of the promotional campaign for a film, understandable when you realise that a good game can rack up millions of downloads. The returns can be pretty good when you consider that some games cost £5. What has also helped games on mobiles thrive is the fact that it is easier than ever to get hold of them thanks to technology known as Wap push. By sending a text message to a game maker you can have the title downloaded to your handset. Far better than having to navigate through the menus of most mobile operator portals. The number of handsets that can play games has grown hugely too. Almost half of all phones now have Java onboard meaning that they can play the increasingly sophisticated games that are available - even the ones that use 3D graphics...The minimum technology specifications that phones should adhere to are getting more sophisticated which means that games are too. Now double key presses are possible making familiar tactics such as moving and strafing a real option. The processing power on handsets means that physics on mobile games is getting more convincing and the graphics are improving too. Some game makers are also starting to take advantage of the extra capabilities in a mobile. Many titles, particularly racing games, let you upload your best time to see how you compare to others. Usually you can get hold of their best time and race against a ""ghost"" or ""shadow"" to see if you can beat them. A few games also let you take on people in real time via the network or, if you are sitting close to them, via Bluetooth short-range radio technology. With so much going on it is hard to do justice to the sheer diversity of what is happening. But these two features should help point you in the direction of the game makers and give you an idea of where to look and how to get playing...TOO FAST TOO FURIOUS (DIGITAL BRIDGES)..As soon as I start playing this I remember why I never play driving games - because I'm rubbish at them. No matter if I drive the car via joystick or keypad I just cannot get the hang of braking for corners or timing a rush to pass other drivers. The game rewards replay because to advance you have to complete every section within a time limit. Winning gives you cash for upgrades. Graphically the rolling road is a convincing enough evocation of speed as the palm trees and cactus whip by and the city scrolls past in the background. The cars handle pretty well despite my uselessness but it was not clear if the different models of cars were appreciably different on the track. The only niggle was that the interface was a bit confusing especially when using a joystick rather than the keypad to play...FATAL FORCE (MACROSPACE)..A futuristic shooter that lets you either play various deathmatch modes against your phone or run through a series of scenarios that involves killing aliens invading Earth. Graphics are a bit cartoon-like but only helps to make clear what is going on and levels are well laid out and encourage you to leap about exploring. Both background music and sounds effects work well. The scenarios are well scripted and you regularly get hints from the Fatal Force commanders. Weapons include flamethrowers, rocket launchers, grenades and at a couple of points you even get chance to use a mech for a short while. With the right power-up you can go into a Matrix-style bullet time to cope with the onslaught of aliens. The game lets you play via Bluetooth if others are in range. Online the game has quite a following with clans, player rankings and even new downloadable maps.",tech
+"Web radio takes Spanish rap global..Spin the radio dial in the US and you are likely to find plenty of Spanish-language music. But what you will not find is much Spanish-language hip-hop...Hip-hop and rap are actually quite popular in the Spanish-speaking world, but local artists are having trouble marketing their work abroad. But now, a US company is bringing rap and hip-hop en espanol to computer users everywhere. Los Caballeros de Plan G are one of Mexico's hottest hip-hop acts. They have a devoted fan base in their native Monterrey. But most Mexican hip-hop fans, not to mention fans in most of the Spanish-speaking world, rarely get a chance to hear the group's tracks on the radio...""You can't really just go on the radio and listen to hip-hop in Spanish... it's just not accessible,"" says Manuel Millan, a native of San Diego, California. ""It's really hard for the Spanish hip-hop scene to get into mainstream radio. You usually have a very commercialised sound and the groups are not really known around the country or around the world."" Millan and two friends set out to change that - they wanted to make groups like Los Caballeros de Plan G accessible to fans globally...Mainstream radio stations were not going to play this kind of music, and starting their own broadcast station was economically impossible. So, Millan and his friends launched a website called latinohiphopradio.com. The name says it all: it is web-based radio, devoted to the hottest Spanish language rap and hip-hop tracks. The site, which is in both in English and Spanish, is meant to be easy to navigate. All the user has to do is download a media player. There are no DJs. It is just music streamed over the net for free. Suddenly, with the help of the website, Los Caballeros de Plan G are producing ""export quality"" rap...The web might be just the right medium for Spanish language hip-hop right now. The genre is in what Millan calls its ""infant stage"". But the production values are improving, and artists such as Argentina's Mustafa Yoda are pushing to make it better and better. Mustafa Yoda is currently one of the hottest tracks on latinohiphopradio.com. ""He's considered the Eminem of Argentina, and the Latin American hip-hop scene,"" Millan says. ""He really hasn't had that much exposure as far as anywhere in the world, but he's definitely the one to look out for as far as becoming the next big thing in the Spanish-speaking world."" Currently, the Chilean group Makisa is also in latinohiphopradio.com's top 10, as is Cuban artist Papo Record. ""Every country's got it's own cultural differences and they try to put those into their own songs,"" Millan says. Latinohiphopradio.com has been up and running for a couple of months now. The site has listeners from across the Spanish speaking world. Right now, Mexico leads the way, accounting for about 50% of listeners. But web surfers in Spain are logging in as well - about 25% of the web station's traffic comes from there. That is not surprising as many consider Spain to be the leader in Spanish-language rap and hip-hop. Millan says that Spain is actually just behind the United States and France in terms of overall rap and hip-hop production. That might be changing, though, as more and more Latin American artists are finding audiences...But one Spaniard is still firmly in latinohiphopradio.com's top 10. His name is Tote King and Manuel Millan says that he is the hip-hop leader in Spain. On his track Uno Contra Veinte Emcees, or One Against 20 Emcees, Tote King shows he is well aware of that fact. ""It's basically him bragging that he's one of the best emcees in Spain right now,"" Millan says. ""And it's pretty much true. He has the tightest productions, and his rap flow is impeccable, it's amazing."" Latinohiphopradio.com is hoping to expand in the coming year. Millan says they want to include more music and more news from the world of Spanish language hip-hop and rap...Clark Boyd is technology correspondent for The World, a BBC World Service and WGBH-Boston co-production.",tech
+"What high-definition will do to DVDs..First it was the humble home video, then it was the DVD, and now Hollywood is preparing for the next revolution in home entertainment - high-definition...High-definition gives incredible, 3D-like pictures and surround sound. The DVD disks and the gear to play them will not be out for another year or so, and there at are still a number of issues to be sorted out. But when high-definition films do come out on the new format DVDs, it will profoundly change home entertainment. For Rick Dean, director of business development for digital content company THX, a high-definition future is an exciting prospect. He has worked on the Star Wars DVD trilogy, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Indiana Jones. ""There was a time not so long ago when the film world and the video world were two completely separate worlds,"" he told the BBC News website...""The technology we are dealing with now means they are very much conjoined. ""The film that we see in theatres is coming from the same digital file that we take the home video master,"" he says. But currently, putting a master feature film onto DVD requires severe compression because current DVD technology cannot hold as much as high-definition films demand. ""As much as you compress the picture data rate wise, you also take qualities away from the picture that we fight so hard to keep in the master,"" he explains. ""I would love to be able to show people what projects that we worked on really look like in the high-def world and I find it very exciting.""..High-definition DVDs can hold up to six times more data than the DVDs we are used to. It will take time though to persuade people who spent money on DVD players to buy the different players and displays required to watch high-definition DVDs in 18 months' time. Mr Dean is confident though: ""I think if they see real HD [high-definition], not some heavily compressed version of it, there is such a remarkable difference. ""I have heard comments from people who say the images pop off the screen.""..High-definition will mean some changes for those working behind the scenes too. On the whole, producing films for high-definition DVDs will be easier in some ways because less compression is needed. Equally, it may mean Hollywood studios ask for more to be put onto the average DVD. ""When we master movies right now, our data rates are running at about 1.2 gigabits per second,"" says Mr Dean. ""Our DVDs that we put out today have to be squashed down to about five or six megabits per second. ""That's a huge amount of compression that has to be applied - about 98%. So if you have anything that allows more space, you don't have to compress so hard."" Studios could fit a lot more marketing material, games, and features, onto high-capacity DVDs. Currently, an entire DVD project can take up to three months, says Mr Dean. Although the step of down-converting will be bypassed, this will realistically only save a day's work, says Mr Dean. One of the most time consuming elements is building DVD navigation and menu systems. On the fairly complex Star Wars disks, making sure the menu buttons worked took 45 human hours alone. If studios want to cash in on the extra space, it could mean extra human hours, for which someone has to pay. ""If the decision on the studio side is that they are going to put a lot more on these disks, it could be more expensive because of all the extra navigation that is required."" And if studios do focus on delivering more ""added value content"", thinks Mr Dean, ultimately it could mean that they will want more money for it. Those costs could filter down to the price ticket on a high-definition DVD. But if the consumer is not willing to pay a premium price, studios will listen, thinks Mr Dean...High-definition throws up other challenge to film makers and DVD production alike. More clarity on screen means film makers have to make doubly sure that attention to detail is meticulous. ""When we did the first HD version of Star Wars Episode I, everybody was very sun-tanned, but that was make-up. ""In the HD version of Episode I, all these make-up lines showed up,"" explains Mr Dean. The restoration of the older Star Wars episodes revealed some interesting items too...""There are scans of a corridor [on the Death Star] and fairly plainly in one of those shots, there is a file cabinet stuck behind one of the doorways. ""You never used to be able to see it because things are just blurred enough during the pan that you just didn't see it."" What high-definition revolution ultimately means is that the line between home entertainment and cinema worlds will blur. With home theatre systems turning living rooms into cinemas, this line blurs even further. It could also mean that how we get films, and in what format, will widen. ""In the future we are going to look towards file delivery over IP [internet protocol - broadband], giving a DVD-like experience from the set-top box to the hard drive,"" says Mr Dean. But that is some time off for most, and for now, people still like to show off something physical in their bookshelves.",tech
+"Junk e-mails on relentless rise..Spam traffic is up by 40%, putting the total amount of e-mail that is junk up to an astonishing 90%...The figures, from e-mail management firm Email Systems, will alarm firms attempting to cope with the amount of spam in their in-boxes. While virus traffic has slowed down, denial of service attacks are on the increase according to the firm. Virus mail accounts for just over 15% of all e-mail traffic analysis by the firm has found...It is no longer just multi-nationals that are in danger of so-called denial of service attacks, in which websites are bombarded by requests for information and rendered inaccessible. Email Systems refers to a small UK-based engineering firm, which received a staggering 12 million e-mails in January. The type of spam currently being sent has subtlety altered in the last few months, according to Email Systems analysis. Half of spam received since Christmas has been health-related with gambling and porn also on the increase. Scam mails, offering ways to make a quick buck, have declined by 40%. ""January is clearly a month when consumers are less motivated to purchase financial products or put money into dubious financial opportunities,"" said Neil Hammerton, managing director of Email Systems. ""Spammers seem to have adapted their output to reflect this, focussing instead on medically motivated and pornographic offers, presumably intentionally intended to coincide with what is traditionally considered to be the bleakest month in the calendar,"" he said.",tech
+"Warning over tsunami aid website..Net users are being told to avoid a scam website that claims to collect cash on behalf of tsunami victims...The site looks plausible because it uses an old version of the official Disasters Emergency Committee webpage. However, DEC has no connection with the fake site and says it has contacted the police about it. The site is just the latest in a long list of scams that try to cash in on the goodwill generated by the tsunami disaster...The link to the website is contained in a spam e-mail that is currently circulating. The message's subject line reads ""Urgent Tsunami Earthquake Appeal"" and its text bears all the poor grammar and bad spelling that characterises many other phishing attempts. The web address of the fake site is decuk.org which could be close enough to the official www.dec.org.uk address to confuse some people keen to donate. Patricia Sanders, spokeswoman for the Disaster Emergency Committee said it was aware of the site and had contacted the Computer Crime Unit at Scotland Yard to help get it shut down. She said the spam e-mails directing people to the site started circulating two days ago shortly after the domain name of the site was registered. It is thought that the fake site is being run from Romania. Ms Sanders said DEC had contacted US net registrars who handle domain ownership and the net hosting firm that is keeping the site on the web...DEC was going to push for all cash donated via the site to be handed over to the official organisation. BT and DEC's hosting company were also making efforts to get the site shut down, she said...Ms Sanders said sending out spam e-mail to solicit donations was not DEC's style and that it would never canvass support in this way. She said that DEC hoped to get the fake site shut down as soon as possible. All attempts by the BBC News website to contact the people behind the site have failed. None of the e-mail addresses supplied on the site work and the real owner of the domain is obscured in publicly available net records. This is not the first attempt to cash in on the outpouring of goodwill that has accompanied appeals for tsunami aid. One e-mail sent out in early January came from someone who claimed that he had lost his parents in the disaster and was asking for help moving an inheritance from a bank account in the Netherlands. The con was very similar to the familiar Nigerian forward fee fraud e-mails that milk money out of people by promising them a cut of a much larger cash pile. Other scam e-mails included a link to a website that supposedly let people donate money but instead loaded spyware on their computers that grabbed confidential information. In a monthly report anti-virus firm Sophos said that two e-mail messages about the tsunami made it to the top 10 hoax list during January. Another tsunami-related e-mail is also circulating that carries the Zar worm which tries to spread via the familiar route of Microsoft's Outlook e-mail program. Anyone opening the attachment of the mail will have their contact list plundered by the worm keen to find new addresses to send itself to.",tech
+"More women turn to net security..Older people and women are increasingly taking charge of protecting home computers against malicious net attacks, according to a two-year study...The number of women buying programs to protect PCs from virus, spam and spyware attacks rose by 11.2% each year between 2002 and 2004. The study, for net security firm Preventon, shows that security messages are reaching a diversity of surfers. It is thought that 40% of those buying home net security programs are retired. For the last three years, that has gone up by an average of 13.2%. But more retired women (53%) were buying security software than retired men. The research reflects the changing stereotype and demographics of web users, as well as growing awareness of the greater risks that high-speed broadband net connections can pose to surfers...The study predicts that 40% of all home PC net security buyers will be women in 2005. They could even overtake men as the main buyers by 2007, if current rates persist, according to the research. ""I think older people have become more vigilant about protecting their PCs as we tend to be more cautious and want an insurance policy in case something does go wrong"", said one over-60 woman who took part in the research...""You started off with young male stereotype computer users for last 10 years,"" Paul Goosens, head of Preventon told the BBC News website. ""Now we are seeing real people - both sexes and very often it is women who have more access at home."" But net service providers still need to take more responsibility in making sure people are educated about net threats before they go online, particuarly if they are new to broadband, he said...Programs also need to be tailored so that they can be installed by dial-up users with a slower connection too, said Mr Goosens. Security software should be easy to use, with simple interfaces and instructions written in non-technical language, he added. The nature of the security threats are also becoming more than just about e-mail viruses. High-profile complaints about rogue diallers, and spyware or other programs that surreptitiously install themselves on computers, have also raised awareness about the need to have a combination of anti-virus, firewall and spyware-removal programs too. Without protection, these kinds of programs can be picked up just through surfing the web normally...More than 30,000 PCs a day globally are being recruited into networks that spread spam and viruses, a study from security from Symantec showed last year. Viruses written to make headlines by infecting millions are also getting rarer, according to net security experts. Programs are being unleashed to directly profit criminal gangs, many based in Eastern Europe, over those which are designed to show off technical skills or cause nuisance. The research shows that more people are taking these criminal net threats more seriously because, said Mr Goosens, they are reported in the press much more. ""You are seeing older users being educated by the media and are seeing them picking up on this threat. They are asking the right questions,"" he explained. ""It is more likely the younger users who naively assume that because they are using a reputable service provider, that they are safe to connect to the net."" An unprotected computer on a broadband connection can be breached and infected with viruses or spyware within minutes. By the end of the year it is thought that more than 30% of UK homes will have broadband net access. In July last year, the number of UK households accessing the net via broadband surpassed those using dial-up for the first time, according to the Office of National Statistics.",tech
+"Sony PSP console hits US in March..US gamers will be able to buy Sony's PlayStation Portable from 24 March, but there is no news of a Europe debut...The handheld console will go on sale for $250 (£132) and the first million sold will come with Spider-Man 2 on UMD, the disc format for the machine. Sony has billed the machine as the Walkman of the 21st Century and has sold more than 800,000 units in Japan. The console (12cm by 7.4cm) will play games, movies and music and also offers support for wireless gaming. Sony is entering a market which has been dominated by Nintendo for many years...It launched its DS handheld in Japan and the US last year and has sold 2.8 million units. Sony has said it wanted to launch the PSP in Europe at roughly the same time as the US, but gamers will now fear that the launch has been put back. Nintendo has said it will release the DS in Europe from 11 March. ""It has gaming at its core, but it's not a gaming device. It's an entertainment device,"" said Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America.",tech
+"Ask Jeeves joins web log market..Ask Jeeves has bought the Bloglines website to improve the way it handles content from web journals or blogs...The Bloglines site has become hugely popular as it gives users one place in which to read, search and share all the blogs they are interested in. Ask Jeeves said it was not planning to change Bloglines but would use the 300 million articles it has archived to round out its index of the web. How much Ask Jeeves paid for Bloglines was not revealed...Bloglines has become popular because it lets users build a list of the blogs they want to follow without having to visit each journal site individually. To do this it makes use of a technology known as Really Simple Syndication (RSS) that many blogs have adopted to let other sites know when new entries are made on their journals. The acquisition follows similar moves by other search sites. Google acquired Pyra Labs, makers of the Blogger software, in 2003. In 2004 MSN introduced its own blog system and Yahoo has tweaked its technology to do a better job of handling blog entries. Jim Lanzone, vice president of search properties at Ask Jeeves in the US, said it did not acquire Bloglines just to get a foothold in the blog publishing world. He said Ask Jeeves was much more interested in helping people find information they were looking for rather than helping them write it...""The universe of readers is vastly larger than the universe of writers,"" he said. Mr Lanzone said the acquisition would sit well with Ask's My Jeeves service which lets people customise their own web experience and build up a personal collection of useful links. ""Search engines are about discovering information for the first time and RSS is the ideal way to keep track of and monitor those sites,"" he said. It would also help drive information and entries from blogs to the portals that Ask Jeeves operates. There would be no instant sweeping changes to Bloglines, said Mr Lanzone. ""Our intent is to take our time to figure out the right business model not to try to monetise it right away,"" he said. Though Mr Lanzone added that Ask Jeeves would be helping organise the database of 300m blog entries Bloglines holds with its own net indexing technology. ""Being able to search the blogosphere as one corpus of information will be very useful in its own right,"" said Mr Lanzone. Rumours about the acquisition were broken by the Napsterization weblog which said it got the hint from Ask Jeeves insiders.",tech
+"Why Cell will get the hard sell..The world is casting its gaze on the Cell processor for the first time, but what is so important about it, and why is it so different?..The backers of the processor are big names in the computer industry. IBM is one of the largest and most respected chip-makers in the world, providing cutting edge technology to large businesses. Sony will be using the chip inside its PlayStation 3 console, and its dominance of the games market means that it now has a lot of power to dictate the future of computer and gaming platforms. The technology inside the Cell is being heralded as revolutionary, from a technical standpoint. Traditional computers - whether they are household PCs or PlayStation 2s - use a single processor to carry out the calculations that run the computer. The Cell technology, on the other hand, uses multiple Cell processors linked together to run lots of calculations simultaneously...This gives it processing power an order of magnitude above its competitors. Whilst its rivals are working on similar technology, it is Sony's which is the most advanced. The speed of computer memory has been slowly increasing over the last few years, but the memory technology that accompanies the Cell is a huge leap in performance...Using a technology called XDR, created by American firm Rambus, memory can run up to eight times faster than the current standard being promoted by Intel. Perhaps more important than any of the technology is the Cell's role in the imminent ""war on living rooms"". The big trend predicted for this year is the convergence of computers with home entertainment devices such as DVD players and hi-fis. Companies like Microsoft and Sony believe that there is a lot of money to be made by putting a computer underneath the TV of every household and then offering services such as music and video downloads, as well as giving an individual access to all the media they already own in one place...Microsoft has already made its first tactical move into this area with its Windows Media Center software, which has been adopted by many PC makers. Sony had a stab at something similar with the PSX - a variation on the PlayStation - last year in Japan, although this attempt was generally seen as a failure. Both companies believe that increasing the capabilities of games consoles, to make them as powerful as PCs, will make the technology accessible enough to persuade buyers to give them pride of place on the video rack...Sony and IBM want to make sure that the dominance of the PC market enjoyed by Microsoft and Intel is not allowed to extend to this market. By creating a radically new architecture, and using that architecture in a games console that is sure to be a huge seller, they hope that the Cell processor can become the dominant technology in the living room, shutting out their rivals. Once they have established themselves under the TV, there is no doubt that they hope to use this as a base camp to extend their might into our traditional PCs and instigate a regime change on the desktop. Cell is, in fact, specifically designed to be deployed throughout the house. The links between the multiple processors can also be extended to reach Cell processors in entirely different systems...Sony hopes to put Cells in televisions, kitchen appliances and anywhere that could use any sort of computer chip. Each Cell will be linked to the others, creating a vast home network of computing power. Resources of the Cells across the house can be pooled to provide more power, and the links can also be used to enable devices to talk to each other, so that you can programme your microwave from your TV, for example. This digital home of the future depends on the widespread adoption of the Cell processor and there are, as with all things, a number of reasons it could fail. Because the processor is so different, it requires programmers to learn a different way of writing software, and it may be that the changeover is simply too difficult for them to master. You can also guarantee that Microsoft and Intel are not going to sit around and let Cell take over home computing without a fight. Microsoft is going to be pushing its Xbox 2 as hard as possible to make sure that its technology, not Sony's, will be under your tree next Christmas. Intel will be furiously working on new designs that address the problems of its current chips to create a rival technology to Cell, so that it doesn't lose its desktop PC dominance. If Cell succeeds in becoming the living room technology of choice, however, it could provide the jump-start to the fully digital home of the future. The revolution might not be televised, but it could well be played with a videogame controller.",tech
+"PlayStation 3 processor unveiled..The Cell processor, which will drive Sony's PlayStation 3, will run 10-times faster than current PC chips, its designers have said...Sony, IBM and Toshiba, who have been working on the Cell processor for three years, unveiled the chip on Monday. It is being designed for use in graphics workstations, the new PlayStation console, and has been described as a supercomputer on a chip. The chip will run at speeds of greater than 4 GHz, the firms said. By comparison, rival chip maker Intel's fastest processor runs at 3.8 GHz. Details of the chip were released at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco. The new processor is set to ignite a fresh battle between Intel and the Cell consortium over which processor sits at the centre of digital products. The PlayStation 3 is expected in 2006, while Toshiba plans to incorporate it into high-end televisions next year. IBM has said it will sell a workstation with the chip starting later this year...Cell is comprised of several computing engines, or cores. A core based on IBM's Power architecture controls eight ""synergistic"" processing centres. In all, they can simultaneously carry out 10 instruction sequences, compared with two for current Intel chips...Later this year, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices plan to release their own ""multicore"" chips, which also increase the number of instructions that can be executed at once. The Cell's specifications suggest the PlayStation 3 will offer a significant boost in graphics capabilities but analysts cautioned that not all the features in a product announcement will find their way into systems. ""Any new technology like this has two components,"" said Steve Kleynhans, an analyst with Meta Group. He said: ""It has the vision of what it could be because you need the big vision to sell it. ""Then there's the reality of how it's really going to be used, which generally is several levels down the chain from there.""..While the PlayStation 3 is likely to be the first mass-market product to use Cell, the chip's designers have said the flexible architecture means that it would be useful for a wide range of applications, from servers to mobile phones. Initial devices are unlikely to be any smaller than a games console, however, because the first version of the Cell will run hot enough to need a cooling fan. And while marketing speak describes the chip as a ""supercomputer"" - it remains significantly slower than the slowest computer on the list of the world's top 500 supercomputers. IBM said Cell was ""OS neutral"" and would support multiple operating systems simultaneously but designers would not confirm if Microsoft's Windows was among those tested with the chip. If Cell is to challenge Intel's range of chips in the marketplace, it will need to find itself inside PCs, which predominantly run using Windows.",tech
+"Consumer concern over RFID tags..Consumers are very concerned about the use of radio frequency ID (RFID) tags in shops, a survey says...More than half of 2,000 people surveyed said they had privacy worries about the tags, which can be used to monitor stock on shelves or in warehouses. Some consumer groups have expressed concern that the tags could be used to monitor shoppers once they had left shops with their purchases. The survey showed that awareness of tags among consumers in Europe was low. The survey of consumers in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands was carried out by consultancy group Capgemini. The firm works on behalf of more than 30 firms who are seeking to promote the growth of RFID technology. The tags are a combination of computer chip and antenna which can be read by a scanner - each item contains a unique identification number...More than half (55%) of the respondents said they were either concerned or very concerned that RFID tags would allow businesses to track consumers via product purchases. Fifty nine percent of people said they were worried that RFID tags would allow data to be used more freely by third parties. Ard Jan Vetham, Capgemini's principal consultant on RFID, said the survey showed that retailers needed to inform and educate people about RFID before it would become accepted technology. ""Acceptance of new technologies always has a tipping point at which consumers believe that benefits outweigh concerns. ""With the right RFID approach and ongoing communication with consumers, the industry can reach this point."" He said that the survey also showed people would accept RFID if they felt that the technology could mean a reduction in car theft or faster recovery of stolen items. The tags are currently being used at one Tesco distribution centre in the UK - the tags allow the rapid inventory of bulk items. They are also in use as a passcard for the M6 Toll in the Midlands, in the UK. Mr Vetham said the majority of people surveyed (52%) believed that RFID tags could be read from a distance. He said that was a misconception based on a lack of awareness of the technology. At least once consumer group - Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (Caspian) - has claimed that RFID chips could be used to secretly identify people and the things they are carrying or wearing. All kinds of personal belongings, including clothes, could constantly broadcast messages about their whereabouts and their owners, it warned.",tech
+"Mobiles 'not media players yet'..Mobiles are not yet ready to be all-singing, all-dancing multimedia devices which will replace portable media players, say two reports...Despite moves to bring music download services to mobiles, people do not want to trade multimedia services with size and battery life, said Jupiter. A separate study by Gartner has also said real-time TV broadcasts to mobiles is ""unlikely"" in Europe until 2007. Technical issues and standards must be resolved first, said the report. Batteries already have to cope with other services that operators offer, like video playback, video messaging, megapixel cameras and games amongst others. Bringing music download services based on the success of computer-based download services will put more demands on battery life...Fifty percent of Europeans said the size of a mobile was the most important factor when it came to choosing their phone, but more power demands tend to mean larger handsets. ""Mobile phone music services must not be positioned to compete with the PC music experience as the handsets are not yet ready,"" said Thomas Husson, mobile analyst at Jupiter research. ""Mobile music services should be new and different, and enable operators to differentiate their brands and support third generation network launches."" Other problems facing mobile music include limited storage on phones, compared to portable players which can hold up to 40GB of music. The mobile industry is keen to get into music downloading, after the success of Apple's iTunes, Napster and other net music download services...With phones getting smarter and more powerful, there are also demands to be able to watch TV on the move. In the US, services like TiVo To Go let people transfer pre-recorded TV content onto their phones. But, the Gartner report on mobile TV broadcasting in Europe suggests direct broadcasting will have to wait. Currently, TV-like services, where clips are downloaded, are offered by several European operators, like Italy's TIM and 3. Mobile TV will have to overcome several barriers before it is widely taken up though, said the report...Various standards and ways of getting TV signals to mobiles are being worked on globally. In Europe, trials in Berlin and Helsinki are making use of terrestrial TV masts to broadcast compressed signals to handsets with extra receivers. A service from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation lets people watch TV programmes on their mobiles 24 hours a day. The service uses 3GP technology, one of the standards for mobile TV. But at the end of 2004, the European Telecommunications Institute (Etsi) formally adopted Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld (DVB-H) as the mobile TV broadcasting standard for Europe. Operators will be working on the standard as a way to bring real-time broadcasts to mobiles, as well as trying to overcome several other barriers. The cost and infrastructure needs to set up the services will need to be addressed. Handsets also need to be able to work with the DVB-H standard. TV services will have to live up to the expectations of the digital TV generation too, which expects good quality images at low prices, according to analysts. People are also likely to be put off watching TV on such small screens, said Gartner. Digital video recorders, like Europe's Sky+ box, and video-on-demand services mean people have much more control over what TV they watch. As a result, people may see broadcasting straight to mobiles as taking away that control. More powerful smartphones like the XDA II, Nokia 6600, SonyEricsson P900 and the Orange E200, offering web access, text and multimedia messaging, e-mail, calendar and gaming are becoming increasingly common. A report by analysts InStat/MDR has predicted that smartphone shipments will grow by 44% over the next five years. It says that smartphones will make up 117 million out of 833 million handsets shipped globally by 2009.",tech
+"Blind student 'hears in colour'..A blind student has developed software that turns colours into musical notes so that he can read weather maps...Victor Wong, a graduate student from Hong Kong studying at Cornell University in New York State, had to read coloured maps of the upper atmosphere as part of his research. To study ""space weather"" Mr Wong needed to explore minute fluctuations in order to create mathematical models. A number of solutions were tried, including having a colleague describe the maps and attempting to print them in Braille. Mr Wong eventually hit upon the idea of translating individual colours into music, and enlisted the help of a computer graphics specialist and another student to do the programming work...""The images have three dimensions and I had to find a way of reading them myself,"" Mr Wong told the BBC News website. ""For the sake of my own study - and for the sake of blind scientists generally - I felt it would be good to develop software that could help us to read colour images."" He tried a prototype version of the software to explore a photograph of a parrot. In order to have an exact reference to the screen, a pen and tablet device is used. The software then assigns one of 88 piano notes to individually coloured pixels - ranging from blue at the lower end of this scale to red at the upper end. Mr Wong says the application is still very much in its infancy and is only useful for reading images that have been created digitally. ""If I took a random picture and scanned it and then used my software to recognise it, it wouldn't work that well.""..Mr Wong has been blind from the age of seven and he thinks that having a ""colour memory"" makes the software more useful than it would be to a scientist who had never had any vision. ""As the notes increase in pitch I know the colour's getting redder and redder, and in my mind's eye a patch of red appears."" The colour to music software has not yet been made available commercially, and Mr Wong believes that several people would have to work together to make it viable. But he hopes that one day it can be developed to give blind people access to photographs and other images.",tech
+"Apple attacked over sources row..Civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has joined a legal fight between three US online journalists and Apple...Apple wants the reporters to reveal 20 sources used for stories which leaked information about forthcoming products, including the Mac Mini. The EFF, representing the reporters, has asked California's Superior court to stop Apple pursuing the sources. It argues that the journalists are protected by the American constitution. The EFF says the case threatens the basic freedoms of the press...Apple is particularly keen to find the source for information about an unreleased product code-named Asteroid and has asked the journalists' e-mail providers to hand over communications relevant to that. ""Rather than confronting the issue of reporter's privilege head-on, Apple is going to the journalist's ISPs for his e-mails,"" said EFF lawyer Kurt Opsahl. ""This undermines a fundamental First Amendment right that protects all reporters. ""If the court lets Apple get away with this, and exposes the confidences gained by these reporters, potential confidential sources will be deterred from providing information to the media and the public will lose a vital outlet for independent news, analysis and commentary,"" he said. The case began in December 2004 when Apple asked a local Californian court to get the journalists to reveal their sources for articles published on websites AppleInsider.com and PowerPage.org...Apple also sent requested information from the Nfox.com, the internet service provider of PowerPage's publisher Jason O-Grady. As well as looking at how far corporations can go in preventing information from being published, the case will also examine whether online journalists have the same privileges and protections as those writing for newspapers and magazines. The EFF has gained some powerful allies in its legal battle with Apple, including Professor Tom Goldstein, former dean of the Journalism School at the University of California and Dan Gillmor, a well-known Silicon Valley journalist. Apple was not immediately available for comment.",tech
+"Mobile audio enters new dimension..As mobile phones move closer to being a ubiquitous, all-in-one media player, audio is becoming ever more important. But how good can that sound be from such a small device?..The sound of a buzzing bee jumps from left to right before disappearing around the back of my head. The surround sound demo is unremarkable when heard on a multi-speaker home cinema system but startling when emerging from a small mobile phone. British firm Sonaptic is one of a number of companies to have developed 3D audio technology that emerges from stereo speakers. Firms AM3D and SRS both offer stereo-widening technology for mobile phones. But Sonaptic's managing director David Monteith says his firm is the only company to offer positional 3D audio on a mobile...""There are quite a few basic technologies out there, making the sound seem a bit bigger, headphones a bit nicer...""No-one has really tried before to make proper 3D positional audio - where an individual channel can be moved around."" Sonaptic has been working with Japanese mobile network NTT DoCoMo to set standards for 3D audio on mobile phones. In the last few months handsets from NEC, Fujitsu and Mitsubishi have been released on to the Japanese marker which have chips produced by Yamaha and Rohm with Sonaptic's technology. ""The technology has been around on PCs and games consoles for some time but what we are doing is making it more efficient so it can go on a small consumer device like a mobile phone,"" said Mr Monteith...The technology works through applying the science of psychoacoustics and grew out of medical research done by the company's research director Dr Alastair Sibbald. ""We are basically trying to fool your ears into thinking sound is coming from areas it actually isn't. ""Your brain uses certain bits of information which we are effectively synthesising on a mobile phone handset."" The structure of the ear works as a 3D encoder for sound - helping the brain understand from where sound is emanating. Sonaptic's audio processing algorithms mimic that 3D encoding, giving the impression that sound is coming from the left, right, and behind a listener when in fact it is coming from a single source. Mr Montieth says: ""If the sound is off to one side it will get to one ear before the other - if it is on the right it has to bend around your head to get to your left ear...""The shape of your ear causes differences in sound from one ear to the other. We are synthesising those differences."" Sonaptic hopes the technology will have a big impact in the growing market of mobile gaming and music downloading. ""Handhelds often have limitations - screens will be small by definition. ""If you want to get impact from media you are running - either a movie, a game or watching TV - if you want it to be more immersive then our technology can help."" A fishing game is the first title to use the technology, creating a 3D sound field while the gamer plays. Driving games and shoot 'em ups using the technology are in development. The technology can also be used for music - giving songs a much more expansive and immersive feel. Sonaptic offers its technology on a chip or in software and is about to release a new version which significantly improves the efficiency of the audio processing. ""It's important we only use 10 or 15% of the processor otherwise you won't be able to play a game on the handset,"" explained Mr Montieth. The company is now looking to the US and European markets, where it has been working with network Vodafone. ""We have focused first on Japan because it has a very advanced mobile phone market. ""We knew Japan would be the first place to have the handsets that could use our technology. ""There should be handsets out in the UK in the next six months.""",tech
+"DVD copy protection strengthened..DVDs will be harder to copy thanks to new anti-piracy measures devised by copy protection firm Macrovision...The pirated DVD market is enormous because current copy protection was hacked more than five years ago. Macrovision says its new RipGuard technology will thwart most, but not all, of the current DVD ripping (copying) programs used to pirate DVDs. ""RipGuard is designed to... reduce DVD ripping and the resulting supply of illegal peer to peer,"" said the firm. Macrovision said the new technology will work in ""nearly all"" current DVD players when applied to the discs, but it did not specify how many machines could have a problem with RipGuard. Some BBC News website users have expressed concerns that the new technology will mean that DVDs will not work on PCs running the operating system Linux. The new technology will be welcomed by Hollywood film studios which are increasingly relying on revenue from DVD sales...The film industry has stepped up efforts to fight DVD piracy in the last 12 months, taking legal action against websites which offer pirated copies of DVD movies for download...""Ultimately, we see RipGuard DVD... evolving beyond anti-piracy, and towards enablement of legitimate online transactions, interoperability in tomorrow's digital home, and the upcoming high-definition formats,"" said Steve Weinstein, executive vice president and general manager of Macrovision's Entertainment Technologies Group. Macrovision said RipGuard would also prevent against ""rent, rip and return"" - where people would rent a DVD, copy it and then return the original. RipGuard is expected to be rolled out on DVDs from the middle of 2005, the company said. The new system works specifically to block most ripping programs - if used, those programs will now most likely crash, the company said. Macrovision has said that Rip Guard can be updated if hackers find a way around the new anti-copying measures.",tech
+"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.",tech
+"Britons fed up with net service..A survey conducted by PC Pro Magazine has revealed that many Britons are unhappy with their internet service...They are fed up with slow speeds, high prices and the level of customer service they receive. 17% of readers have switched suppliers and a further 16% are considering changing in the near future. It is particularly bad news for BT, the UK's biggest internet supplier, with almost three times as many people trying to leave as joining...A third of the 2,000 broadband users interviewed were fed up with their current providers but this could be just the tip of the iceberg thinks Tim Danton, editor of PC Pro Magazine. ""We expect these figures to leap in 2005. Every month the prices drop, and more and more people are trying to switch,"" he said. The survey found that BT and Tiscali have been actively dissuading customers from leaving by offering them a lower price when they phone up to cancel their subscription. Some readers were offered a price drop just 25p more expensive than that offered by an alternative operator, making it hardly worth while swapping...Other found themselves tied into 12-month contracts. Broadband has become hugely competitive and providers are desperate to hold on to customers. 12% of those surveyed found themselves unable to swap at all. ""We discovered a huge variety of problems, but one of the biggest issues is the current supplier withholding the information that people need to give to their new supplier,"" said Tim Danton, editor of PC Pro. ""This breaks the code of practice, but because that code is voluntary there's nothing we or Ofcom can do to help,"" he said. There is a vast choice of internet service providers in the UK now and an often bewildering array of broadband packages. With prices set to drop even further in coming months Mr Danton advises everyone to shop around carefully. ""If you just stick with your current connection then there's every chance you're being ripped off,"" he warned.",tech
+"Intel unveils laser breakthrough..Intel has said it has found a way to put a silicon-based laser on a chip, raising hopes of much faster networks...Scientists at Intel have overcome a fundamental problem that before now has prevented silicon being used to generate and amplify laser light. The breakthrough should make it easier to interconnect data networks with the chips that process the information. The Intel researchers said products exploiting the breakthrough should appear by the end of the decade...""We've overcome a fundamental limit,"" said Dr Mario Paniccia, director of Intel's photonics technology lab. Writing in the journal Nature, Dr Paniccia - and colleagues Haisheng Rong, Richard Jones, Ansheng Liu, Oded Cohen, Dani Hak and Alexander Fang - show how they have made a continuous laser from the same material used to make computer processors. Currently, says Dr Paniccia, telecommunications equipment that amplifies the laser light that travels down fibre optic cables is very expensive because of the exotic materials, such as gallium arsenide, used to make it...Telecommunications firms and chip makers would prefer to use silicon for these light-moving elements because it is cheap and many of the problems of using it in high-volume manufacturing have been solved. ""We're trying to take our silicon competency in manufacturing and apply it to new areas,"" said Dr Paniccia. While work has been done to make some of the components that can move light around, before now silicon has not successfully been used to generate or amplify the laser light pulses used to send data over long distances. This is despite the fact that silicon is a much better amplifier of light pulses than the form of the material used in fibre optic cables. This improved amplification is due to the crystalline structure of the silicon used to make computer chips. Dr Paniccia said that the structure of silicon meant that when laser light passed through it, some colliding photons rip electrons off the atoms within the material. ""It creates a cloud of electrons sitting in the silicon and that absorbs all the light,"" he said. But the Intel researchers have found a way to suck away these errant electrons and turn silicon into a material that can both generate and amplify laser light. Even better, the laser light produced in this way can, with the help of easy-to-make filters, be tuned across a very wide range of frequencies. Semi-conductor lasers made before now have only produced light in a narrow frequency ranges. The result could be the close integration of the fibre optic cables that carry data as light with the computer chips that process it. Dr Paniccia said the work was the one of several steps needed if silicon was to be used to make components that could carry and process light in the form of data pulses. ""It's a technical validation that it can work,"" he said.",tech
+"EU software patent law faces axe..The European Parliament has thrown out a bill that would have allowed software to be patented...Politicians unanimously rejected the bill and now it must go through another round of consultation if it is to have a chance of becoming law. During consultation the software patents bill could be substantially re-drafted or even scrapped. The bill was backed by some hi-tech firms, saying they needed protections it offered to make research worthwhile...Hugo Lueders, European director for public policy at CompTIA, an umbrella organization for technology companies, said only when intellectual property was adequately protected would European inventors prosper. He said the benefits of the bill had been obscured by special interest groups which muddied debate over the rights and wrongs of software patents. Other proponents of the bill said it was a good compromise that avoided the excesses of the American system which allows the patenting of business practices as well as software. But opponents of the bill said that it could stifle innovation, be abused by firms keen to protect existing monopolies and could hamper the growth of the open source movement. The proposed law had a troubled passage through the European parliament. Its progress was delayed twice when Polish MEPs rejected plans to adopt it. Also earlier this month the influential European Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) said the law should be re-drafted after it failed to win the support of MEPs. To become law both the European Parliament and a qualified majority of EU states have to approve of the draft wording of the bill. The latest rejection means that now the bill on computer inventions must go back to the EU for re-consideration.",tech
+"IBM puts cash behind Linux push..IBM is spending $100m (£52m) over the next three years beefing up its commitment to Linux software...The cash injection will be used to help its customers use Linux on every type of device from handheld computers and phones right up to powerful servers. IBM said the money will fund a variety of technical, research and marketing initiatives to boost Linux use. IBM said it had taken the step in response to greater customer demand for the open source software...In 2004 IBM said it had seen double digit growth in the number of customers using Linux to help staff work together more closely. The money will be used to help this push towards greater collaboration and will add Linux-based elements to IBM's Workplace software. Workplace is a suite of programs and tools that allow workers to get at core business applications no matter what device they use to connect to corporate networks. One of the main focuses of the initiative will be to make it easier to use Linux-based desktop computers and mobile devices with Workplace. Even before IBM announced this latest spending boost it was one of the biggest advocates of the open source way of working. In 2001 it put $300m into a three-year Linux program and has produced Linux versions of many of its programs. Linux and the open source software movement are based on the premise that developers should be free to tinker with the core components of software programs. They reason that more open scrutiny of software produces better programs and fuels innovation.",tech
+"Apple iPod family expands market..Apple has expanded its iPod family with the release of its next generation of the digital music players...Its latest challenges to the growing digital music gadget market include an iPod mini model which can hold 6GB compared to a previous 4GB. The company, which hopes to keep its dominant place in the digital music market, also said the gold coloured version of the mini would be dropped. A 30GB version has also been added to the iPod Photo family. The latest models have a longer battery life and their prices have been cut by an average of £40. The original iPod took an early lead in the digital music player market thanks to its large storage capacity and simple design...During 2004 about 25 million portable players were sold, 10 million of which were Apple iPods. But analysts agree that the success is also down to its integration with the iTunes online store, which has given the company a 70% share of the legal download music market. Mike McGuire, a research director at analyst Gartner, told the BBC News website that Apple had done a good job in ""sealing off the market from competition"" so far. ""They have created a very seamless package which I think is the idea of the product - the design, function and the software are very impressive,"" he said. He added that the threat from others was always present, however. ""Creative, other Microsoft-partnered devices, Real, Sony and so on, are ratcheting up the marketing message and advertising,"" he said. Creative was very upbeat about how many of its Creative Zen players it had shipped by the end of last year, he said. Its second-generation models, like the Creative Zen Micro Photo, is due out in the summer. It will have 5GB of memory on board...Digital music players are now the gadget of choice among young Americans, according to recent research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. One in 10 US adults - 22 million people - now owns a digital music player of some sort. Sales of legally downloaded songs also rose more than tenfold in 2004, according to the record industry, with 200 million tracks bought online in the US and Europe in 12 months. The IFPI industry body said that the popularity of portable music players was behind the growth. Analysts say that the ease of use and growth of music services available on the net will continue to drive the trend towards portable music players...People are also starting to use them in novel ways. Some are combining automatic syncing functions many of them have with other net functions to automatically distribute DIY radio shows, called podcasts. But 2005 will also see more competition from mobile phone operators who are keen to offer streaming services on much more powerful and sophisticated handsets. According to Mr McGuire, research suggests that people like the idea of building up huge libraries of music, which they can do with high-capacity storage devices, like iPods and Creative Zens. Mobiles do not yet have this capacity though, and there are issues about the ease of portability of mobile music. Mr McGuire said Apple was ensuring it kept a foot in the mobile music door with its recent deal with Motorola to produce a version of iTunes for Motorola phones.",tech
+"US woman sues over ink cartridges..A US woman is suing Hewlett Packard (HP), saying its printer ink cartridges are secretly programmed to expire on a certain date...The unnamed woman from Georgia says that a chip inside the cartridge tells the printer that it needs re-filling even when it does not. The lawsuit seeks to represent anyone in the US who has purchased an HP inkjet printer since February 2001. HP, the world's biggest printer firm, declined to comment on the lawsuit. HP ink cartridges use a chip technology to sense when they are low on ink and advise the user to make a change...But the suit claims the chips also shut down the cartridges at a predetermined date regardless of whether they are empty. ""The smart chip is dually engineered to prematurely register ink depletion and to render a cartridge unusable through the use of a built-in expiration date that is not revealed to the consumer,"" the suit said. The lawsuit is asking for restitution, damages and other compensation. The cost of printer cartridges has been a contentious issue in Europe for the last 18 months. The price of inkjet printers has come down to as little as £34 but it could cost up to £1,700 in running costs over an 18-month period due to cartridge, a study by Computeractive Magazine revealed last year. The inkjet printer market has been the subject of an investigation by the UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which concluded in a 2002 report that retailers and manufacturers needed to make pricing more transparent for consumers.",tech
+"Security warning over 'FBI virus'..The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning that a computer virus is being spread via e-mails that purport to be from the FBI...The e-mails show that they have come from an fbi.gov address and tell recipients that they have accessed illegal websites. The messages warn that their internet use has been monitored by the FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center. An attachment in the e-mail contains the virus, the FBI said. The message asks recipients to click on the attachment and answer some questions about their internet use. But rather than being a questionnaire, the attachment contains a virus that infects the recipient's computer, according to the agency. It is not clear what the virus does once it has infected a computer. Users are warned never to open attachment from unsolicited e-mails or from people they do not know...""Recipients of this or similar solicitations should know that the FBI does not engage in the practice of sending unsolicited e-mails to the public in this manner,"" the FBI said in a statement. The bureau is investigating the phoney e-mails. The agency earlier this month shut down fbi.gov accounts, used to communicate with the public, because of a security breach. A spokeswoman said the two incidents appear to be unrelated.",tech
+"Mobile networks seek turbo boost..Third-generation mobile (3G) networks need to get faster if they are to deliver fast internet surfing on the move and exciting new services...That was one of the messages from the mobile industry at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes last week. Fast 3G networks are here but the focus has shifted to their evolution into a higher bandwidth service, says the Global Mobile Suppliers Association. At 3GSM, Siemens showed off a system that transmits faster mobile data. The German company said data could be transmitted at one gigabit a second - up to 20 times faster than current 3G networks. The system is not available commercially yet, but Motorola, the US mobile handset and infrastructure maker, held a clinic for mobile operators on HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access), a high-speed, high bandwidth technology available now. Early HSDPA systems typically offer around two megabits per second (Mbps) compared with less than 384 kilobits per second (Kbps) on standard 3G networks...""High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) - sometimes called Super 3G - will be vital for profitable services like mobile internet browsing and mobile video clips,"" according to a report published by UK-based research consultancy Analysys. A number of companies are developing the technology. Nokia and Canada-based wireless communication products company Sierra Wireless recently agreed to work together on High Speed Downlink Packet Access. The two companies aim to jointly market the HSDPA solution to global network operator customers...""While HSDPA theoretically enables data rates up to a maximum of 14Mbps, practical throughputs will be lower than this in wide-area networks,"" said Dr Alastair Brydon, author of the Analysys report: Pushing Beyond the Limits of 3G with HSDPA and Other Enhancements. ""The typical average user rate in a real implementation is likely to be in the region of one megabit per second which, even at this lower rate, will more than double the capacity... when compared to basic WCDMA [3G],"" he added. Motorola has conducted five trials of its technology and says speeds of 2.9Mbps have been recorded at the edge of an outdoor 3G cell using a single HSDPA device. But some mobile operators are opting for a technology called Evolution, Data Optimised (EV-DO)...US operator Sprint ordered a broadband data upgrade to its 3G network at the end of last year. We are ""expanding our network and deploying EV-DO technology to meet customer demand for faster wireless speeds,"" said Oliver Valente, Sprint's vice president for technology development, when the contract was announced. As part of $3bn in multi-year contracts announced late last year, Sprint will spend around $1bn on EV-DO technology from Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks and Motorola that provides average data speeds of 0.3-0.5 megabits a second, and peak download rates of 2.4Mbps. MMO2, the UK-based operator with services in the UK, Ireland and Germany, has opted for technology based on HSDPA. Using technology from Lucent, it will offer data speeds of 3.6Mbps from next summer on its Isle of Man 3G network, and will eventually support speeds of up to 14.4Mbps. US operator Cingular Wireless is also adopting HSDPA, using technology from Lucent alongside equipment from Siemens and Ericsson...Siemens' plans for a one gigabit network may be more than a user needs today, but Christoph Caselitz, president of the mobile networks division at the firm says that: ""By the time the next generation of mobile communication debuts in 2015, the need for transmission capacities for voice, data, image and multimedia is conservatively anticipated to rise by a factor of 10."" Siemens - in collaboration with the Fraunhofer German-Sino Lab for Mobile Communications and the Institute for Applied Radio System Technology - has souped up mobile communications by using three transmitting and four receiving antennae, instead of the usual one. This enables a data transmission, such as sending a big file or video, to be broken up into different flows of data that can be sent simultaneously over one radio frequency band. The speeds offered by 3G mobile seemed fast at the time mobile operators were paying huge sums for 3G licences. But today, instead of connecting to the internet by slow, dial-up phone connection, many people are used to broadband networks that offer speeds of 0.5 megabits a second - much faster than 3G. This means users are likely to find 3G disappointing unless the networks are souped up. If they aren't, those lucrative ""power users"", such as computer geeks and busy business people will avoid them for all but the most urgent tasks, reducing the potential revenues available to mobile operators. But one gigabit a second systems will not be available immediately. Siemens says that though the system works in the laboratory, it still has to assess the mobility of multiple-antennae devices and conduct field trials. A commercial system could be as far away as 2012, though Siemens did not rule out an earlier date.",tech
+"Mac Mini heralds mini revolution..The Mac Mini was launched amid much fanfare by Apple and great excitement by Apple watchers last month. But does the latest Macintosh justify the hype? Let us get a few things dealt with at the outset - yes, the Mac Mini is really, really small, and yes, it is another piece of inspired Apple design. There is more to be said on the computer's size and design but it is worth highlighting that the Mac Mini is a just a computer. Inside that small box there is a G4 processor, a CD/DVD player, a hard drive, some other technical bits and bobs and an operating system. A DVD burner, wireless and bluetooth technologies can be bought at extra cost. And if you do not have a monitor, keyboard or mouse then you will need to purchase those also...It is not the fastest computer for the money but for under £400 you are getting something more interesting than mere technical specifications - Apple software. The Mac Mini comes bundled with Mac OS X, the operating system, as well as iLife 05, a suite of software which includes iTunes, web browser Safari, iPhoto, Garage Band and iDVD. I doubt many PC lovers would seriously argue that Windows XP comes with a better suite of programs than Mac OS X...Of course, users of open source operating system Linux draw up their own menu of programs. For people who want to do interesting things with their music, photos and home movies then a Mac Mini is an ideal first computer or companion to a main computer. ""It's a good little machine with a reasonable amount of power and just perfect for the average computer user who wants to leave the tyranny of Window and viruses,"" said Mark Sparrow, technical and reviews editor at Mac Format magazine. He added: ""In essence, it's a laptop in a biscuit tin, minus the screen and the keyboard. ""The software bundle that comes with the mini makes your average budget PC look a bit sick."" The relatively low price of the machine has also encouraged the more technically-savvy to experiment with their Macs. One user has already created a ""dock"" to enable him to plug in and out his Mac Mini in his car...The small size of the machine makes it a practical solution for in-car entertainment - playing movies and music - as well as navigation. Another user has mounted his Mac Mini to the back of his large plasma screen and then controls the computer via a wireless keyboard and mouse. When it was first announced some pundits thought the Mini was designed as a sort of stealth media centre - ie the machine would be used to serve TV programmes, music, films and photos - partly due to its small, living room friendly design. But there are obvious reasons why this is not the case - at least not in the here and now The hard drive - at 80GB for the larger model - is too small to be realistically used as media centre...While commercial Personal Video Recorders are on the market with smaller than 80GB hard drives it is worth remembering that they only store TV content. A media centre computer has to store music, files and photos and as such 80GB just seems too small. Most PCs running Windows Media Center have at least 120GB hard disks. Coupled with the lack of a TV tuner card, a digital audio out and any kind of media centre software bundled with the machine then the Mac Mini should be judged on what it is, not what it is not. But that has not stopped more enterprising users from adapting the Mac Mini to media centre uses. So - is the Mac Mini just another computer or a revolution in computing? Graham Barlow, editor of Mac Format, understandably has a rather partisan viewpoint. ""It's just a Mac, but we should be very excited - it's revolutionary in its size (smaller than PCs), looks (looks better than PCs), and the fact that it's the first Mac designed to really go for the low-cost PC market."" The design of the Mac Mini is further evidence of a future when PCs are more than just bland, bulky boxes. There are a number of companies who already produce miniature PCs based on mini-ITX motherboards. But at the moment these PCs tend to be either for the home-build enthusiast or expensive pre-built options based around Microsoft's Media Center software. But for the value the Mac Mini offers, bringing some of the best software packages within reach of more consumers than ever before, Apple is to be congratulated. Let us say then that if the Mac Mini is not a fully fledged revolution - it is a mini revolution.",tech
+"Can Yahoo dominate next decade?..Yahoo has reached the grand old age of 10 and, in internet years, that is a long time...For many, Yahoo remains synonymous with the internet - a veteran that managed to ride the dot-com wave and the subsequent crash and maintain itself as one of the web's top brands. But for others there is another, newer net icon threatening to overshadow Yahoo in the post dot-com world - Google...The veteran and the upstart have plenty in common - Yahoo was the first internet firm to offer initial public shares and Google was arguably the most watched IPO (Initial Public Offering) of the post-dot-com era. Both began life as search engines although in 2000, when Yahoo chose Google to power its search facility while it concentrated on its web portal business, it was very much Yahoo that commanded press attention. In recent years, the column inches have stacked up in Google's favour as the search engine also diversifies with the launch of services such as Gmail, its shopping channel Froogle and Google News...For Jupiter analyst Olivier Beauvillain, Yahoo's initial decision to put its investment on search on hold was an error. ""Yahoo was busy building a portal and while it was good to diversify they made a big mistake in outsourcing search to Google,"" he said ""They thought Google would just be a technology provider but it has become a portal in its own right and a direct competitor,"" he added. He believes Yahoo failed to see how crucial search would become to internet users, something it has rediscovered in recent years. ""It is interesting that in these last few years, it has refocused on search following the success of Google,"" he said. But for Allen Weiner, a research director at analyst firm Gartner and someone who has followed Yahoo's progress since the early years, the future of search is not going to be purely about the technology powering it. ""Search technology is valuable but the next generation of search is going to be about premium content and the interface that users have to that content,"" he said. He believes the rivalry between Google and Yahoo is overblown and instead thinks the real battle is going to be between Yahoo and MSN. It is a battle that Yahoo is currently winning, he believes. ""Microsoft has amazing assets including software capability and a global name but it has yet to show me it can create a rival product to Yahoo,"" he said...He is convinced Yahoo remains the single most important brand on the world wide web...""I believe Yahoo is the seminal brand on the web. If you are looking for a text book definition of web portal then Yahoo is it,"" he said. It has achieved this dominance, Mr Weiner believes, by a canny combination of acquisitions such as that of Inktomi and Overture, and by avoiding direct involvement in either content creation or internet access. That is not to say that Yahoo hasn't had its dark days. When the dot-com bubble burst, it lost one-third of its revenue in a single year, bore a succession of losses and saw its market value fall from a peak of $120bn to $4.6bn at one point. Crucial to its survival was the decision to replace chief executive Tim Koogle with Terry Semel in May 2001, thinks Mr Weiner. His business savvy, coupled with the technical genius of founder Jerry Yang has proved a winning combination, he says...So as the internet giant emerges from its first decade as a survivor, how will it fare as it enters its teenage years? ""The game is theirs to lose and MSN is the only one that stands in the way of Yahoo's domination,"" predicted Mr Weiner. Nick Hazel, Yahoo's head of consumer services in the UK, thinks the fact that Yahoo has grown up with the first wave of the internet generation will stand it in good stead. Search will be a key focus as will making Yahoo Messenger available on mobiles, forging new broadband partnerships such as that with BT in the UK and continuing to provide a range of services beyond the desktop, he says. Mr Weiner thinks Yahoo's vision of becoming the ultimate gateway to the web will move increasing towards movies and television as more and more people get broadband access. ""It will spread its portal wings to expand into rich media,"" he predicts.",tech
+"Looks and music to drive mobiles..Mobile phones are still enjoying a boom time in sales, according to research from technology analysts Gartner...More than 674 million mobiles were sold last year globally, said the report, the highest total sold to date. The figure was 30% more than in 2003 and surpassed even the most optimistic predictions, Gartner said. Good design and the look of a mobile, as well as new services such as music downloads, could go some way to pushing up sales in 2005, said analysts. Although people were still looking for better replacement phones, there was evidence, according to Gartner, that some markets were seeing a slow-down in replacement sales...""All the markets grew apart from Japan which shows that replacement sales are continuing in western Europe,"" mobile analyst Carolina Milanesi told the BBC News website. ""Japan is where north America and western European markets can be in a couple of years' time. ""They already have TV, music, ringtones, cameras, and all that we can think of on mobiles, so people have stopped buying replacement phones.""..But there could be a slight slowdown in sales in European and US markets too, according to Gartner, as people wait to see what comes next in mobile technology. This means mobile companies have to think carefully about what they are offering in new models so that people see a compelling reason to upgrade, said Gartner. Third generation mobiles (3G) with the ability to handle large amounts of data transfer, like video, could drive people into upgrading their phones, but Ms Milanesi said it was difficult to say how quickly that would happen. ""At the end of the day, people have cameras and colour screens on mobiles and for the majority of people out there who don't really care about technology the speed of data to a phone is not critical."" Nor would the rush to produce two or three megapixel camera phones be a reason for mobile owners to upgrade on its own. The majority of camera phone models are not at the stage where they can compete with digital cameras which also have flashes and zooms...More likely to drive sales in 2005 would be the attention to design and aesthetics, as well as music services. The Motorola Razr V3 phone was typical of the attention to design that would be more commonplace in 2005, she added. This was not a ""women's thing"", she said, but a desire from men and women to have a gadget that is a form of self-expression too. It was not just about how the phone functioned, but about what it said about its owner. ""Western Europe has always been a market which is quite attentive to design,"" said Ms Milanesi...""People are after something that is nice-looking, and together with that, there is the entertainment side. ""This year music will have a part to play in this."" The market for full-track music downloads was worth just $20 million (£10.5 million) in 2004, but is set to be worth $1.8 billion (£94 million) by 2009, according to Juniper Research. Sony Ericsson just released its Walkman branded mobile phone, the W800, which combines a digital music player with up to 30 hours' battery life, and a two megapixel camera. In July last year, Motorola and Apple announced a version of iTunes online music downloading service would be released which would be compatible with Motorola mobile phones. Apple said the new iTunes music player would become Motorola's standard music application for its music phones. But the challenge will be balancing storage capacity with battery life if mobile music hopes to compete with digital music players like the iPod. Ms Milanesi said more models would likely be released in the coming year with hard drives. But they would be more likely to compete with the smaller capacity music players that have around four gigabyte storage capacity, which would not put too much strain on battery life.",tech
+"Hotspot users gain free net calls..People using wireless net hotspots will soon be able to make free phone calls as well as surf the net...Wireless provider Broadreach and net telephony firm Skype are rolling out a service at 350 hotspots around the UK this week. Users will need a Skype account - downloadable for free - and they will then be able to make net calls via wi-fi without paying for net access. Skype allows people to make free PC-based calls to other Skype users...Users of the system can also make calls to landlines and mobiles for a fee. The system is gaining in popularity and now has 28 million users around the world. Its paid service - dubbed Skype Out - has so far attracted 940,000 users. It plans to add more paid services with forthcoming launches of video conferencing, voice mail and Skype In, a service which would allow users to receive phone calls from landlines and mobiles. London-based software developer Connectotel has unveiled software that will expand the SMS functions of Skype, allowing users to send text messages to mobile phones from the service. Broadreach Networks has around two million users and hotspots in places such as Virgin Megastores, the Travelodge chain of hotels and all London's major rail terminals. The company is due to launch wi-fi on Virgin Trains later in the year. ""Skype's success at spreading the world about internet telephony is well-known and we are delighted to be offering free access to Skype users in our hotspots,"" commented Broadreach chief executive Magnus McEwen-King.",tech
+"Domain system opens door to scams..A system to make it easier to create website addresses using alphabets like Cyrillic could open a back door for scammers, a trade body has warned...The Internationalised Domain Names system has been a work in progress for years and has recently been approved by the Internet Engineering Task Force. But the UK Internet Forum (UKIF) is concerned that the system will let scammers create fake sites more easily. The problem lies in the computer codes used to represent language...Registering names that look like that of legitimate companies but lead users to fake sites designed to steal passwords and credit card details could become a whole lot easier for determined scammers, says Stephen Dyer, director of UKIF. Domain names are the ""real language"" addresses of websites, rather than their internet protocol address, which is a series of numbers. They are used so people can more easily navigate the web. So-called ASCII codes are used to represent European languages but for other languages a hybrid of a system called Unicode is used. So, for example, website PayPal could now be coded using a mixture of the Latin alphabet and the Russian alphabet. The resulting domain as displayed to the users would look identical to the real site as a Russian 'a' look just like an English 'a'. But the computer code would be different, and the site it would lead users to could be a fake. This is more than just a theory. A fake Paypal.com has already been registered with net domain giant Verisign by someone who has followed the debate around the Internationalised Domain Name (IDN) system, said Mr Dyer. As the idea was to prove a point rather than be malicious the fake domain has now been handed back to Paypal but it sets a worrying precedent, Mr Dyer said. ""Although the IDN problem is well known in technical circles, the commercial world is totally unaware how easily their websites can be faked,"" said Mr Dyer...""It is important to alert users that there is a new and invisible and almost undetectable way of diverting them to what looks like a perfectly genuine site,"" he added. There are solutions. For instance, browsers could spot domains that use mixed characters and display them in different colours as a warning to users. Mr Dyer acknowledged that it would be a huge undertaking to update all the world's browsers. Another solution, to introduce IDN-disabled browsers could be a case of ""throwing out the baby with the bath water,"" he said. CENTR, the Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries, agrees. ""A rush to introduce IDN-disabled browsers into the marketplace is an overly-zealous step that will harm public confidence in IDNs - a technology that is desperately needed in the non-English speaking world,"" the organisation said in a statement.",tech
+"Sony PSP tipped as a 'must-have'..Sony's Playstation Portable is the top UK gadget for 2005, according to a round-up of ultimate gizmos compiled by Stuff Magazine...It beats the iPod into second place in the Top Ten Essentials list which predicts what gadget-lovers are likely to covet this year. Owning all 10 gadgets will set the gadget lover back £7,455. That is £1,000 cheaper than last year's list due to falling manufacturing costs making gadgets more affordable...Portable gadgets dominate the list, including Sharp's 902 3G mobile phone, the Pentax Optio SV digital camera and Samsung's Yepp YH-999 video jukebox...""What this year's Essentials shows is that gadgets are now cheaper, sexier and more indispensable than ever. We've got to the point where we can't live our lives without certain technology,"" said Adam Vaughan, editor of Stuff Essentials. The proliferation of gadgets in our homes is inexorably altering the role of the high street in our lives thinks Mr Vaughan. ""Take digital cameras, who would now pay to develop an entire film of photos? Or legitimate downloads, who would travel miles to a record shop when they could download the song in minutes for 70p?"" he asks. Next year will see a new set of technologies capturing the imaginations of gadget lovers, Stuff predicts. The Xbox 2, high-definition TV and MP3 mobiles will be among the list of must-haves that will dominate 2006, it says. The spring launch of the PSP in the UK is eagerly awaited by gaming fans.",tech
+"'No re-draft' for EU patent law..A proposed European law on software patents will not be re-drafted by the European Commission (EC) despite requests by MEPs...The law is proving controversial and has been in limbo for a year. Some major tech firms say it is needed to protect inventions, while others fear it will hurt smaller tech firms. The EC says the Council of Ministers will adopt a draft version that was agreed upon last May but said it would review ""all aspects of the directive"". The directive is intended to offer patent protection to inventions that use software to achieve their effect, in other words, ""computer implemented invention""...In a letter, EC President José Manuel Barroso told the President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, that the Commission ""did not intend to refer a new proposal to the Parliament and the Council (of ministers)"" as it had supported the agreement reached by ministers in May 2004...If the European Council agrees on the draft directive it will then return for a second reading at the European Parliament. But that will not guarantee that the directive will become law - instead it will probably mean further delays and controversy over the directive. Most EU legislation now needs the approval of both parliament and the Council of Ministers before it becomes law. French Green MEP Alain Lipietz warned two weeks ago that if the Commission ignored the Parliament's request it would be an ""insult"" to the assembly. He said that the parliament would then reject the Council's version of the legislation as part of the final or conciliation stage of the decision procedure. In the US, the patenting of computer programs and internet business methods is permitted...This means that the US-based Amazon.com holds a patent for its ""one-click shopping"" service, for example. Critics are concerned that the directive could lead to a similar model happening in Europe. This, they fear, could hurt small software developers because they do not have the legal and financial might of larger companies if they had to fight patent legal action in court. Supporters say current laws are inefficient and it would serve to even up a playing field without bringing EU laws in line with the US.",tech
+"Ultra fast wi-fi nears completion..Ultra high speed wi-fi connections moved closer to reality on Thursday when Intel said it would list standards for the technology later this year...Intel is developing ultra-wideband technology (UWB) which would allow fast data transfer but with low power needs. UWB is tipped to be used for wireless transfer of video in the home or office and for use in wireless USB devices which need low power consumption. A rival UWB standard is being developed by Motorola and chip firm Freescale. At the mobile phone conference 3GSM in Cannes last month Samsung demonstrated a phone using UWB technology from Freescale...At a press conference on Thursday Intel announced that two UWB groups, WiMedia Alliance and Multi-band OFDM alliance had merged to support the technology. UWB makes it possible to stream huge amounts of data through the air over short distances. One of the more likely uses of UWB is to make it possible to send DVD quality video images wirelessly to TV screens or to let people beam music to media players around their home...The technology has the potential to transmit hundreds of megabits of data per second. ""Consumer electronics companies want UWB to replace cables and simplify set-up,"" Jeff Ravencraft, technology strategist at Intel and chairman of the Wireless USB Promoter Group, told technology site ZDNet. ""Thirty percent of consumer electronics returns are because the consumer couldn't set up the equipment."" The first products using UWB technology from Intel are due to hit the market later this year. Initially they will be products using wireless USB 2.0 connections. UWB could also be used to create so-called Personal Area Networks that let a person's gadgets quickly and easily swap data amongst themselves. The technology works over a range up to 10 metres and uses billions of short radio pulses every second to carry data. Intel says the benefit of UWB is that it does not interfere with other wi-fi technologies already in use such as wi-fi, wimax and mobile phone networks.",tech
+"Virgin Radio offers 3G broadcast..UK broadcaster Virgin Radio says it will become the first station in the world to offer radio via 3G mobiles...The radio station, in partnership with technology firm Sydus, will broadcast on selected 2G and high-speed 3G networks. Later this year listeners will be able to download software from the Virgin website which enables the service. James Cridland, head of new media at Virgin Radio, said: ""It places radio at the heart of the 3G revolution."" Virgin Radio will be the first station made available followed by two digital stations, Virgin Radio Classic Rock and Virgin Radio Groove...Mr Cridland said: ""This application will enable anyone, anywhere to listen to Virgin Radio simply with the phone in their pocket. ""This allows us to tap into a huge new audience and keep radio relevant for a new generation of listeners."" Saumil Nanavati, president of Sydus, said, ""This radio player is what the 3G network was built for, giving consumers high-quality and high-data products through a handset in their pocket."" Virgin says an hour's listening to the station via mobile would involve about 7.2MB of data, which could prove expensive for people using pay as you download GPRS or 3G services. Some networks, such as Orange, charge up to £1 for every one megabyte of data downloaded. Virgin says radio via 2G or 3G mobiles is therefore going to appeal to people with unlimited download deals. There are 30 compatible handsets available from major manufacturers including Nokia and Samsung while Virgin said more than 14.9 million consumers across the globe can use the service currently.",tech
+"More movies head to Sony's PSP..Movies Open Water and Saw are among those to be made available for Sony's PSP games console...Film studio Lions Gate entertainment has announced an initial list of 12 movies that will be on the UMD format used by the handheld. ""The typical buyer of the machine [is] the core demographic to whom our films generally appeal,"" said Steve Beeks, president of Lions Gate. Already available in Japan, the PSP is released in the US on 24 March. Spider-Man 2 on UMD will be given to the first million customers in the US...The Punisher and House of the Dead along with older titles such as Total Recall and Rambo: First Blood, will be in the UMD format, with disks costing between $20 (£10.40) to $30 (£15.60) for new titles and $10 (£5.20) to $20 for older films...""When we first saw the machine and started talking to Sony, we immediately decided it was going to be a winner, both from the gaming perspective and from the perspective of people watching movies on the go,"" Mr Beeks said. The disks, which are smaller than DVDs, only work in Sony's PSP and can hold up to 1.8GB of data. ""We actually believe people who buy the UMD would not have bought it on DVD,"" he said. ""There are people who will want UMD because of the portability. Maybe they're already taking the games with them out of the house, and they're bigger gamers than they are movie watchers."" Four movies have already been announced for PSP. They are: XXX, Hellboy, Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.",tech
+"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.",tech
+"Cebit opens to mobile music tune..Cebit, the world's largest hi-tech fair, has opened its doors in Hanover for a look at the latest technologies for homes and businesses...There are more than 6,000 exhibitors registered and about 500,000 visitors are expected to pass through the doors. Third generation mobiles, the digital home and broadband are key themes at the show. Camera phones will get better resolutions as vendors set out to prove that bigger is definitely better. Samsung is set to steal some initial limelight with the launch of a 7-megapixel phone on the opening day...The SCH-V770 has some of the features of high-end digital single lens reflex cameras such as manual focus and the ability to attach a telephoto or wide-angle lens. Camera phones are likely to prove an interesting battle ground at the show, said Ben Wood, principal analyst at research firm Gartner. ""It is firmly established that cameras are an integral part of phones and now the technology arms race is on in terms of megapixels. There will be a certain amount of 'look how big mine is',"" he said. There will also be increasing focus on music-enabled mobiles. ""At 3GSM in Cannes everyone went music mad and music is going to be a big theme for all the vendors at Cebit,"" said Mr Wood. Sony Ericsson will use the fair to show off the W800 - its recently unveiled Walkman branded phone - and there is speculation that Motorola may unveil its ROKR handset, widely tipped as the first to carry Apple's iTunes music software. Apple and Motorola announced they were getting together at the end of last year as a result of a long-standing friendship between Motorola's chief executive Ed Zander and Steve Jobs...Some analysts think Motorola may save the launch for CTIA, a wireless show in America the following week, which could be a telling sign about how operators are coming to view the German tech fair...""One of the interesting things is that CeBIT is clearly a show in decline,"" said Mr Wood. ""A lot of the big players, such as Nokia, are pulling back saying it is hard to justify a big presence at all of the shows. It could be the last big year for Cebit,"" he said. Other themes include TV-enabled mobiles which are bound to create a buzz in the halls as Vodafone unveils a prototype handset that can show live digital television. There has been a glut of recent headlines about mobile TV - French operators are teaming up, O2 is trialling a system in Oxford, UK, and Nokia begins trialling a system in Finland with the Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE TV and commercial TV channels. Cebit could become the battleground for the two competing methods for getting TV on to mobiles, and is also likely to provide a stage for a technology slated to compete with 3G. HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) has been described as ""3G on steroids"" and could offer consumers much faster download times. For instance, a song which currently takes one and a half minutes to download to a phone could be done in 10 seconds. Korean giants LG Electronics and Samsung will show off HSDPA handsets at the show and the technology is set to be rolled out in the US, Europe and Korea next year. Broadband will continue to be a key theme at the show with internet telephony proving this year's killer application...Germany's largest online service provider, T-Online, is tipped to reveal software for low-cost net telephony which would see it competing with its parent company Deutsche Telekom. Cebit is used by many to unveil cutting edge products and in the mobile sphere this is likely to mean a lot of bright, colourful handsets as fashion continues to compete with technology when it comes to the device everyone has in their pockets. Rainbow-coloured phones, influenced by handsets from Japan, are just one example of how Asian companies will stamp their mark on this year's show, at which they will have their biggest ever presence. Cebit organisers have created a digital home in Hall 25 of the 27 hangar-like buildings that will house the show. ""The digital home will be a hyped theme at the show. The house will be totally wired and full of things that can be used for home entertainment,"" said Cebit organiser Gabriele Dorries.",tech
+"Game makers get Xbox 2 sneak peek..Microsoft has given game makers a glimpse of the new Xbox 2 console...Some details of the Xbox's performance and what gaming will be like with the device were given at the annual Game Developers Conference in the US. Xbox frontman J. Allard said the console looked set to be capable of one trillion calculations per second. Also all titles for the new Xbox will have the same interface to make it easy to play online and buy extras for characters or other add-ons for games...Microsoft is saving the official unveiling of the Xbox 2, codenamed Xenon, for the E3 show in May and the device could be on shop shelves by November. However, during his keynote speech at GDC Mr Allard, who heads development of game-making tools for the console, gave a glimpse into how some of its core software will work. He said gaming was entering a ""high-definition"" era that demanded detailed and convincing graphics that could adequately compete with the HDTV people were starting to watch as well as the HD DVDs that will soon start to appear...Industry watchers took this to mean that the Xbox 2 will push for HDTV quality graphics as standard as well as multi-channel audio to give gamers an authentic experience. Mr Allard said Microsoft had to work hard to ensure that it was easy for game makers to produce titles for the Xbox 2 and for players to get playing. To this end Microsoft was building in to Xbox hardware systems to support headset chat, buddy list controls and custom soundtracks so developers were free to concentrate on the games. The Xbox would also support well-known industry specifications, such as DirectX, to make it simple for game studios to make titles for the console. For gamers this emphasis on ease of use would mean every Xbox title uses the same interface to set up online play and get at music stored on the hardware. This interface will hold details of a player's statistics and skill level on a ""gamer card"" as well as give access to a store where people can spend small amounts of cash to buy extras for their avatars or add-ons, such as new maps or vehicles, for games they possess. This ability to personalise games and in-game characters would be key in the future, said Mr Allard. Only with such consistency would the Xbox be able to support the 10-20 million subscribers that it was aiming for, said Mr Allard. During his speech Mr Allard took several swipes at the Playstation and said processors for consoles had to be made with developers, not just engineers, in mind. ""Our approach is Bruce Lee, not brute force,"" he said.",tech
+"Broadband set to revolutionise TV..BT is starting its push into television with plans to offer TV over broadband...As a telecoms company, BT is moving to a content distribution strategy, Andrew Burke, chief of BT's new Entertainment unit told the IPTV World Forum. ""We want to be an entertainment facilitator,"" he said on the opening day of the London conference. The BBC is also trialling a service to play programmes over the net and has not ruled out offering it to non-licence fee payers overseas. The corporation's Interactive Media Player (iMP) is its first foray into broadband TV - known as IPTV (Internet Protocol TV)...""We see several opportunities for delivering the type of content that normally broadcasters find it difficult to get to viewers,"" said BT's Andrew Burke...With more people on broadband, and connection speeds increasing, telcos around the world are looking for new ways to make money from it. Increased competition between net service providers, encouraged by Ofcom, has eroded BT's position in the market. It is looking for a good return on its investment in the technology which has made broadband over ADSL a reality. It also sees delivering TV over broadband as a way of getting high-definition (HD) content to people sooner than they will be able to get it through conventional, regular broadcasts. The BBC's iMP has just finished successful technical trials and is set for much larger consumer trials later in 2005. Before it officially launches, the BBC must show the government how it offers value for money. Delivering programmes over broadband offers clear public value, says the BBC, because it gives people more control, and more choice...IPTV is a similar idea to VoIP services, like Skype. Both use broadband net connections to carry information, like video and voice, in packets of data instead of conventional means. Since it uses internet technology, IPTV could mean more choice of programmes, more, more interactivity, tailored programming, and more localised content outside of conventional satellite, digital cable, and terrestrial broadcasts...It is all part of the larger changing TV technology landscape and, like personal digital video recorders (PVRs), gives people much more control over TV. Broadcasters see IPTV and PVRs as both as a threat and an opportunity. The BBC recognises that TV over broadband is a reality and aims to innovate with it, said Rahul Chakkara, controller of BBCi's 24/7 interactive TV services. The iMP is based on peer-to-peer technology, and lets people download programmes the BBC owns the rights to for up to seven days after broadcast. ""IPTV enables us to take back that programme to our audience at different times,"" said Mr Chakkara...""So we can tell our audience that that programme they paid for [via the licence fee], they can access it any time they want."" It helps, said Mr Burke, that people are more au fait with terms like ""digital"", ""interactive"", now that digital TV reaches more than 56% of UK homes. According to Benoit Joly from broadband telecoms firm Thales, 30% of Europe cannot get satellite TV or digital TV. They could get IPTV though. Analysts say that IPTV will account for 10% of the digital TV market in Europe alone by the end of the decade. What needs to happen now, agree analysts, is for connection speeds to be bumped up to handle the service; 20Mbps connections would be ideal. BT does not see itself as a broadcaster of IPTV services, rather as an ""enabler"", said Mr Burke. Its strategy is a ""hybrid"" approach, he explained, where over-the-air conventional broadcasts are supplemented with content over broadband...Initially appealing to niche markets, like sports fans, it will widen out. But IPTV could be used for home-monitoring, ""pet cams"", localised news services, and local authority TV, too says BT. It even suggests that it could target those households in the UK that do not own a computer, 40% of the country...Broadband to them would not be about data and the net - that could come later for them - but about cheap phone calls and more choice of TV programmes. Home Choice already offers 10,000 hours of shows and channels, delivered over broadband to homes in London. With a broadband net subscription, you can also get your TV and phone service. Through content deals and partnerships, it offers satellite as well as terrestrial channels, and bespoke channels based on what viewers pick and choose from its catalogues. It aims to expand nationally, but is seeing a lot of success with what it offers its 15,000 subscribers now, and aims to double uptake as well as reach by the summer. Although still at a very early stage, IPTV is another application for broadband that underlines its growing prominence as a backbone network - another utility like electricity.",tech
+"Chip maker backs net phone calls..Rich Templeton, the head of giant chip maker Texas Instruments, has given his backing to the growing sector of Voice over Internet Telephony (Voip)..Voip allows PC users, and in some cases those with just a broadband connection, to make telephone calls via the net. Mr Templeton said Voip would be the next major application to drive broadband connections into homes. Internet service provider Wanadoo has announced it is launching its own broadband telephony service in the UK...Subscribers to Wanadoo's broadband service will be able to use the service to make free evening and weekend calls to any UK landline, and free calls at any time to other Wanadoo users. The service will cost an extra £4 a month and will come with a free Livebox, the broadband hub which Wanadoo plans will be used in future to provide video-on-demand and home security services. The secondary phone line will mean customers can have an extra home phone number and will also provide wireless internet access around the home. Eventually the service will replace existing landline services as Wanadoo goes head to head with BT. ""Voice-over broadband is a key trend across Europe and is set to have a dramatic impact on the telecommunications industry, "" Eric Abensur, Wanadoo's chief executive told the BBC News website. Mr Templeton said he agreed. ""Voice-over-packet is going to be the second killer application after broadband internet access,"" he said. The world's largest maker of chips for mobile phones believes the technology will grow rapidly from the relatively small user base it has currently...Almost 83 million people have downloaded the software that powers the Skype Voip service, according to the net telephony firm's website. Skype lets people make free calls to other Skype users and also make low-cost calls to ordinary phone numbers. US firm Vonage also offers a Voip service, but one which lets people plug an ordinary phone into a broadband router to make calls. Bill Simmelink, general manager of TI's Voip business, said the technology would only take off when people were making net calls with the ease of making a normal call. ""It's not about the pipe, if you will, or the silicon per se, it's about the application,"" he said...""We want to communicate freely, effortlessly and economically wherever we are."" In a sign that Voip is seeping into the mainstream, giant ISP AOL announced on Tuesday that it had plans to launch a net-based phone service for some of its members within the month. Customers will continue to use their traditional phones, but they will plug them into adapters connected to their broadband source rather than the jack provided by the telephone company. Calls are received and placed just like on the old telephone network. ""We can help mass-market adoption of Voip,"" said AOL chief executive Jonathan Miller. ""We can utilise our national footprint. We can help the entire industry become well known.""",tech