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

politics

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

tech

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

holmes feted with further honour double olympic champion kelly holmes has been voted european athletics (eaa) woman athlete of 2004 in the governing body s annual poll. the briton made a dame in the new year honours list for taking 800m and 1 500m gold won vital votes from the public press and eaa member federations. she is only the second british woman to land the title after- sally gunnell won for her world 400m hurdles win in 1993. swedish triple jumper christian olsson was voted male athlete of the year. the accolade is the latest in a long list of awards that holmes has received since her success in athens. in addition to becoming a dame she was also named the bbc sports personality of the year in december. her gutsy victory in the 800m also earned her the international association of athletics federations award for the best women s performance in the world for 2004. and she scooped two awards at the british athletics writers association annual dinner in october.

sport

my memories of marley... to mark the 60th anniversary of the birth of reggae star bob marley rob partridge - marley s former head of press at island records - remembers the man behind the legend. partridge worked with marley from 1977 until the jamaican musician s death in 1981. : i joined island records in 1977 and the first week i was there i worked on his show at the rainbow theatre. it was one of the last dates he did in london. : the album exodus came out in 1977 and that provided five hits and confirmed his global superstar status. by 1979 he was the biggest touring attraction in the world. i remember going to see dates in milan and turin and they were enormous concerts. : bob was one of the most mesmeric people i ve ever had the privilege to work with. he must have had an iron will to succeed. bob was a very driven individual. you realised from the start there was a manifest destiny within him that he believed in. he didn t suffer fools gladly. at the risk of stating the obvious he was an extraordinary song writer and his stage act was perhaps the greatest i ve ever seen. i saw him many times. : i recall in 1978 he came to the uk for top of the pops and a daily mirror journalist did a half-hour interview. it was interrupted to do a rehearsal. he came back into the dressing room to resume the interview but saw a world cup match on tv. he sat down in front of the tv and after 10 minutes it was obvious he wasn t going to move. that was the end of it. the mirror had a very truncated interview. the last time i saw him was in london in 1980. i arranged for him to play four days of football indoors in fulham. bob was a good player. we are talking about jamaican-style football. he was an attacking midfield player. his team assembled wherever his gigs were. we played in brazil against some world cup-winning players. : it was always a struggle for him to connect with black america. reggae did not correspond with disco in the 70s. but bob in the 1990s became one of the great icons in america and the third world. in 1991 ten years after his death he sold more records than at any time during his life. we saw black america taking bob into their hearts for the first time. : bob in worldwide terms is the greatest music star there has ever been. if you went to africa he would be recognised everywhere in places john lennon or elvis wouldn t be. no disrespect to the other artists but a case can be made for him as the greatest the best and the most influential artist in popular music. : well 1981 was to be the year he toured africa with stevie wonder. he had only performed in zimbabwe and guinea before. of course the 1981 tour never happened but the whole of africa would have embraced him. we can t speculate but he was at the height of his powers and just 36 years old. i had no sense his career was going to go downhill. : bob was endlessly optimistic about the way africa would turn out. he realised that nothing was perfect but he had total belief in the power of mankind. i m sure if he were alive today he would believe africa would firstly become politically free and secondly be able to defeat the aids epidemic. : the final tune of his final album was redemption song - one of the most incredible classics of all time.

entertainment

wembley firm won t make a profit shares in multiplex group which is building the new wembley stadium fell as much as 19% after it said it would not make any money on the project. the australian firm said it would only break even on the 1.2bn australian dollars (£458m; $874m) rebuild after a rise in costs on the work. any profits would depend on the outcome of legal cases resulting from a change in steel contractor it added. it cut a$68m from profit targets for wembley and another uk project. investors were shaken by the news and the firm s shares fell to a four month low of a$4.50 before recovering to close 16% down at a$4.67. the decline came despite multiplex reporting an 11% rise in pre-tax profits to a$67.7m for 2004 and reaffirming its 2005 profit forecasts. increased costs at wembley and a separate development in london s docklands saw multiplex s construction division report profits of a$35.1m. the firm said the result was below expectations but stressed that the majority of its uk projects - which also include the white city redevelopment scheme in west london - were performing strongly. to recoup any profit from wembley where the firm changed its steel contractor due to a legal dispute multiplex will have to win legal claims against subcontractors. these claims could take up to two years to resolve. multiplex believes its claim are sound and ultimately will exceed the level needed to support the break even position it said. it is expected that profits will be possible in future periods as the claims are finalised. wembley stadium is to due to be completed in january and will officially open for the 2006 fa cup final. analysts expressed concern at the unexpected paring back in profit. such a big writeback on the wembley project in such a short period has impacted on management credibility simon wheatley from goldman sachs told reuters.

business

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

hitch holds on to us box office will smith s first romantic comedy hitch has topped the north american box office for a second weekend. smith plays a new york date doctor with love worries of his own in the movie which took $31.8m (£16.8m). it held off a strong challenge from the new keanu reeves sci-fi thriller constantine which opened at number two with $30.5m (£16.1m) constantine based on the hellblazer comics stars reeves as an exorcist who must send satan s minions back to hell. two family films came next in the chart with wayne wang s comedy because of winn-dixie about a young girl and an abandoned dog in third position with $10.85m (£5.73m). comedy adventure son of the mask came in at number four with $7.7m (£4.1m) just ahead of oscar favourite million dollar baby at five. smith s comedy will be the first us movie released this year to top the $100m (£52.7m) mark. it s success continues a strong trend of hollwood movie-going this year with figures for the popular president s day weekend 13% greater than last year. oscar contenders the aviator starring leonardo dicaprio as howard hughes and wine-tasting comedy sideways both held onto positions in the top 10.

entertainment

butler launches attack on blair former civil service chief lord butler has criticised the way tony blair s government operates accusing it of being obsessed with headlines. he also attacked the way the iraq war was sold to the public with important warnings on the strength of the intelligence left out. tory leader michael howard said lord butler had given the most damaging testimony he could remember. but downing street said mr blair should be judged by results not his style. lord butler said mr blair bypassed the cabinet and relied instead on small informal groups of advisers to help him make decisions. the prime minister s official spokesman said the cabinet was still used to achieve a consensus on important issues. but he added: you cannot in a modern government take every decision in cabinet. it s just not possible. lord butler said the government had too much freedom to bring in bad bills and to do whatever it likes and it relied too much on the advice of political appointees. the former cabinet secretary said in an interview with the spectator magazine: i would be critical of the present government in that there is too much emphasis on selling there is too much central control and there is too little of what i would describe as reasoned deliberation which brings in all the arguments. mr howard described lord butler s intervention as very important . this is from someone who was an insider at the very heart of the blair government. it is certainly the most damaging testimony i can ever remember from someone in such an eminent position. lord butler s report earlier this year into iraq intelligence said the government s september 2002 weapons dossier did not make clear intelligence about claims that saddam hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons was very thin . the reason for this is that it would have weakened ministers case for war lord butler said in his spectator interview which was conducted by the magazine s editor conservative mp boris johnson. he said: when civil servants give material to ministers they say these are the conclusions we ve drawn but we ve got to tell you the evidence we ve got is pretty thin. similarly if you are giving something to the united nations and the country you should warn them. asked why he thought the warnings were not there lord butler said: one has got to remember what the purpose of the dossier was. the purpose of the dossier was to persuade the british why the government thought iraq was a very serious threat. when asked whether he thought the country was well-governed on the whole he replied: well. i think we are a country where we suffer very badly from parliament not having sufficient control over the executive and that is a very grave flaw. we should be breaking away from the party whip. the executive is much too free to bring in a huge number of extremely bad bills a huge amount of regulation and to do whatever it likes - and whatever it likes is what will get the best headlines tomorrow. all that is part of what is bad government in this country. lord butler s assessment was backed by his predecessor as cabinet secretary lord armstrong. lord armstrong told bbc two s newsnight: i agree ... there doesn t appear to be the sort of informed collective political judgement brought to bear on decision-making that those affected by decisions are entitled to expect. liberal democrat deputy leader menzies campbell said he thought lord butler s comments were well justified and mr blair s style of leadership was corrosive of the whole system of government . but labour former minister jack cunningham accused lord butler of basing his comments on the first eight months of the incoming labour administration when he was cabinet secretary. mr cunningham told bbc radio 4 s today programme: taken together robin butler s comments are partial inaccurate and cannot be taken as anything other than politically biased against the labour government.

politics

google s toolbar sparks concern search engine firm google has released a trial tool which is concerning some net users because it directs people to pre-selected commercial websites. the autolink feature comes with google s latest toolbar and provides links in a webpage to amazon.com if it finds a book s isbn number on the site. it also links to google s map service if there is an address or to car firm carfax if there is a licence plate. google said the feature available only in the us adds useful links . but some users are concerned that google s dominant position in the search engine market place could mean it would be giving a competitive edge to firms like amazon. autolink works by creating a link to a website based on information contained in a webpage - even if there is no link specified and whether or not the publisher of the page has given permission. if a user clicks the autolink feature in the google toolbar then a webpage with a book s unique isbn number would link directly to amazon s website. it could mean online libraries that list isbn book numbers find they are directing users to amazon.com whether they like it or not. websites which have paid for advertising on their pages may also be directing people to rival services. dan gillmor founder of grassroots media which supports citizen-based media said the tool was a bad idea and an unfortunate move by a company that is looking to continue its hypergrowth . in a statement google said the feature was still only in beta ie trial stage and that the company welcomed feedback from users. it said: the user can choose never to click on the autolink button and web pages she views will never be modified. in addition the user can choose to disable the autolink feature entirely at any time. the new tool has been compared to the smart tags feature from microsoft by some users. it was widely criticised by net users and later dropped by microsoft after concerns over trademark use were raised. smart tags allowed microsoft to link any word on a web page to another site chosen by the company. google said none of the companies which received autolinks had paid for the service. some users said autolink would only be fair if websites had to sign up to allow the feature to work on their pages or if they received revenue for any click through to a commercial site. cory doctorow european outreach coordinator for digital civil liberties group electronic fronter foundation said that google should not be penalised for its market dominance. of course google should be allowed to direct people to whatever proxies it chooses. but as an end user i would want to know - can i choose to use this service how much is google being paid can i substitute my own companies for the ones chosen by google . mr doctorow said the only objection would be if users were forced into using autolink or tricked into using the service .

tech

collins appeals against drugs ban sprinter michelle collins has lodged an appeal against her eight-year doping ban with the north american court of arbitration for sport (cas). the 33-year-old received the ban last month as a result of her connection to the federal inquiry into the balco doping scandal. she is the first athlete to be banned without a positive drugs test or an admission of drugs use. cas has said that a ruling is normally given within four months of an appeal. collins was suspended by the us anti-doping agency based on patterns observed in her blood and urine tests as well as evidence in the balco investigation. as well as being hit with the ban collins was stripped of her 2003 world and us indoor 200m titles. the san francisco-based balco laboratory is at the centre of the scandal which has rocked the sport. the company has been accused of distributing illegal performance-enhancing drugs to elite athletes.

sport

brown names 16 march for budget chancellor gordon brown will deliver his budget to the house of commons on 16 march the treasury has announced. the budget likely to be the last before the general election will be at 1230 gmt on that wednesday just after prime minister s question time. the annual event is when the chancellor outlines the government s taxation and broader economic predictions. it is likely to set out much of the tax and spending battleground for the election widely expected on 5 may. next month s budget will be mr brown s eighth since labour came to power in 1997. if a may election is called there could be as little as 18 days between the budget and the announcement of a date for the election. a shortened finance bill would have to be rushed through parliament with all-party support to allow the government to continue collecting revenue. the full finance bill with the budget measures in it would then be returned to the commons after the election if labour secures another term in office. as mr brown announced the budget date in a short ministerial statement accountancy firm ernst & young urged him to put politics aside and focus on the long-term requirements of the economy. in the budgets that were given immediately before the last six elections taxes were cut by the incumbent chancellor and in many cases taxes were increased soon after the election result said aidan o carroll e&y s uk head of tax.

politics

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

connick jr to lead broadway show singer and actor harry connick jr is to star in a broadway revival of 1950s hit musical the pajama game. he will play the supervisor of a us pyjama factory who has a romance with a union activist during labour unrest. jeffrey richards the show s co-producer said connick was an actor of enormous charisma and skill a wonderful singer and a bona fide star . he has recently starred in hit us comedy will and grace as the husband of grace played by debra messing. the musical will open in november said mr richards who added that no other casting had been announced yet. the original book by george abbott and richard bissell will be revised by playwright peter ackerman who co-wrote the screenplay for the movie ice age. it has a score by richard adler and jerry ross and adler is writing two new songs for the score which includes numbers including hey there small talk and steam heat. connick appeared with his band on broadway in 1990 and he wrote the score for a musical based on emile zola s novel therese raquin called thou shalt not. it had a three-month run on broadway in 2001.

entertainment

us actor found with gun residue actor robert blake had gunshot residue on his hands and clothes the night his wife was shot dead a court has heard. but it may not have come from the shot that killed bonny lee bakley in 2001 mr blake s murder trial was told by criminalist steven dowell. mr dowell told a los angeles court the residue may have come from mr blake s revolver his gun collection his presence at the crime scene or police. the 71-year-old former star of us tv drama baretta has denied murder. mr blake said he found ms bakley 44 dead in a car after they left a restaurant. he said he briefly returned to the restaurant to collect a gun he had left behind and discovered her body when he returned. the gun he collected was not the murder weapon. it could also have been picked up if he touched or leant on the car when he found the body or from a police box in which his clothes were later stored. the box had come from an area where officers went after being on the firing range. but mr dowell also said the residue would have been present if mr blake fired a gun that night. witnesses have already told the trial mr blake stood out as being quite nervous and agitated at the restaurant before the murder. the actor who won an emmy for playing a maverick detective in the 1970s tv cop drama baretta could face life in prison if convicted.

entertainment

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

standard life concern at lse bid standard life is the latest shareholder in deutsche boerse to express concern at the german stock market operator s plans to buy the london stock exchange. it said deutsche boerse had to show why its planned £1.35bn ($2.5bn) offer for the lse was good for shareholder value. reports say standard life which owns a 1% stake in deutsche boerse may seek a shareholder vote on the issue. fellow shareholders us-based hedge fund atticus capital and uk-based tci fund management have also expressed doubts. deutsche boerse s supervisory board has approved the possible takeover of the lse despite the signs of opposition from investors. the onus is on deutsche boerse s management to demonstrate why the purchase of the lse creates more value for shareholders than other strategies such as a buyback said richard moffat investment director of uk equities at standard life investments. atticus capital holding 2% of deutsche boerse wants it to buy back its own shares rather than buy the lse. and tci which holds about 5% has made a request for an extraordinary shareholders meeting to be held to vote on replacing the company s entire supervisory board. it has also demanded that shareholders be consulted about the proposed acquisition and whether the operator of the frankfurt stock exchange should return $500m (£266m) to shareholders instead. in december deutsche boerse which also owns the derivatives market eurex and the clearing firm clearstream put an informal offer of 530 pence per lse share on the table. however the lse said the cash offer undervalued both its own business and the benefits of such a tie-up. since then an improved offer from deutsche boerse has been anticipated as its management has continued talks with lse chief executive clara furse. but the london exchange is also holding talks with deutsche boerse s rival euronext which operates the amsterdam brussels lisbon and paris exchanges as well as london-based international derivatives market liffe.

business

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

intel unveils laser breakthrough intel has unveiled research that could mean data is soon being moved around chips at the speed of light. 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

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

tory expert denies defeatism 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

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

dutch watch van gogh s last film the last film to be made by the slain dutch director theo van gogh called 06/05 has been premiered in the hague. members of van gogh s family and celebrities attended the screening of 06/05 based on the murder of the anti-immigration politician pim fortuyn. van gogh was shot and stabbed to death in amsterdam six weeks ago. a dutch-moroccan man suspected of radical islamist links has been charged. the killing and fortuyn s death in 2002 convulsed the netherlands. many dutch people have questioned their country s self-image as a peaceful tolerant nation in the wake of the murders which triggered heated debate about immigration. an animal rights activist was sentenced to 18 years in prison last year for killing fortuyn. earlier this year van gogh made a film accusing islam of promoting violence against women. it caused outrage among muslims and death threats were made against him. the film 06/05 will become available on the internet on wednesday and go on general release in dutch cinemas in january. van gogh s movie mixes real images of the day of fortuyn s murder with a fictional plot about dutch intelligence services conspiring to silence the politician. the story unfolds through the eyes of a freelance photographer who unwittingly takes pictures revealing the involvement of dutch authorities in fortuyn s murder. photographer jim de booy then goes on the run from secret service agents who burgle his home and threaten his family.

entertainment

no-one can define new hunt ban the new law banning hunting with dogs is so poorly drafted no-one can define the offence pro-hunt mps say. the accusation came after it emerged a devon man had been told he could use his four dogs to chase away unwanted animals from his farm. because he did not intend to kill deer or foxes it was not hunting. lib dem mp lembit opik said ministers had invented a new category of hunting - chasing away - and asked how police were supposed to interpret the rules. north devon landowner giles bradshaw was put in touch with the middle way group of which mr opik is a co-chairman after he had been in contact with the rural affairs ministry defra. he had asked whether his technique of using his four dogs to frighten off deer and foxes would be outlawed under the hunting act. mr bradshaw was initially told it was an offence - prompting him to complain. the middle way group also said mr bradshaw would be put in a position where he would have to buy a rifle to shoot animals that would have previously gone free. in a later conversation mr bradshaw was told that according to defra s lawyers chasing away unwanted animals was not in fact hunting as described in the hunting act 2004 therefore you would not be committing an offence . mr opik said: hunting with dogs and flushing are not defined in the hunting act. now defra have also invented a completely new category of hunting - chasing away which isn t even covered by the act. however all these activities involve the use of dogs to chase wild mammals. how is the village bobby who sees a group of people with dogs supposed to distinguish between illegal hunting exempt hunting drag hunting unintentional hunting a hunt exercising hounds or simply chasing away tory mp peter luff another co-chairman of middle way said that the legislation was so poorly drafted nobody appears able to properly define the offence . it is no wonder the government desperately wants to move on from this disastrous law. however i seriously doubt the countryside will be that accommodating. mike hobday of the league against cruel sports said: there is no confusion it is a matter of simple common sense. if mr bradshaw is setting his dogs to chase wild animals then he is hunting them and that will be a criminal offence. if all the dogs are doing is barking at the deer then nobody can define that as hunting.

politics

nintendo ds aims to touch gamers the mobile gaming industry is set to explode in 2005 with a number of high-profile devices offering a range of gaming and other features such as movie and music playback. market leader nintendo however is releasing a handheld console that it says will revolutionise the way games are played. the first striking thing about the ds is how retro it looks. far from looking like a mould-breaking handheld it looks more like nintendo dug out a mould from a 1980s handheld prototype. the lightweight clam shell device opens up to reveal two screens and when switched on it instantly reveals its pedigree. both screens are crisp and clear while the bottom of the two is touch sensitive. nintendo has given developers free rein to utilise the dual screens and ability to control the action by simply touching the screen. the japanese gaming giant hopes the ds will maintain the firm s pre-eminence in an increasingly-competitive mobile gaming market. nintendo first launched its gameboy console in 1989 and has dominated the market ever since. but its lead can no longer be taken for granted. sony will enter the market later this year with its playstation portable while start-up companies gizmondo and tapwave zodiac are also offering hybrid devices. we believe the ds will appeal to all ages both genders and gamers of any skill said david yarnton nintendo europe s general manager said at the recent press launch for the handheld. with its two screens wireless connectivity and backwards compatibility with the gameboy advance the ds certainly has a number of unique selling points. it went on sale in the us in mid-november priced $150 and nintendo says sales have exceeded expectations without giving detailed figures. japan and europe will have to wait until the first quarter of 2005 to get the device. with more than two million pre-orders for the device in japan nintendo is confident it will keep its number one spot. but will the device prove to be as revolutionary as claimed the game ships with a demo of metroid hunters - a 3d action title which can be played alone or with a group of friends using the machine s wireless capabilities. it certainly looks impressive on the small machine and plays smoothly even with a group of people. the game can be controlled by using the supplied stylus to aim. the top screen is used to navigate the action while the bottom screen offers a top-down map and the ability to switch weapons. it is certainly a unique control method and while it makes aiming more controlled it can be a little disorientating. super mario 64 ds is a faithful re-creation of the nintendo 64 classic with a host of new mini-games and new levels. the game looks stunning on the portable machine and the sound too is impressive for such a small machine. one thing is for certain. hardened gamers will have to learn to adapt to a new way of playing while it could prove to be an accessible way in to gaming for novices ultimately the success or failure of the device lies in the hands of developers. if they manage to create titles which use the nintendo ds s key features then a whole new market of gamers could open up. the fear is that the touch screen and voice recognition are treated as little more than gimmicks.

tech

feta cheese battle reaches court a row over whether only greece should be allowed to label its cheese feta has reached the european court of justice. the danish and german governments are challenging a european commission ruling which said greece should have sole rights to use the name. the commission s decision gave the same legal protection to feta as to italian parma ham and french champagne. but critics of the judgement say feta is a generic term with the cheese produced widely outside greece. the commission s controversial 2002 ruling gave protected designation of origin status to feta cheese made in greece effectively restricting the use of the feta name to producers there. from 2007 onwards greek firms will have the exclusive use of the feta label and producers elsewhere in europe must find another name to describe their products. the german and danish governments argue that feta does not relate to a specific geographical area and that their firms have been producing and exporting the cheese for years. in our opinion it is a generic designation and we do not have any other name or term for this type of cheese hans arne kristiansen a spokesman for the danish dairy board told the bbc. denmark is europe s second largest producer of feta after greece - producing about 30 000 tonnes a year - and exports its products to greece. it is concerned that the ruling could threaten the production of other cheeses in denmark such as brie. it would cost millions if we wanted to introduce a new designation mr kristiansen said. that is just one of the costs. the case will also have a major impact on britain s sole feta producer yorkshire company shepherds purse cheeses. judy bell the company s founder said it would cost a huge amount to rebrand its product. if we lose we will have to go through a massive re-merchandising process and reorganisation she said. we have never tried to pull the wool over anyone s eyes - it s very clear from the label that it s yorkshire feta. the original decision was a victory for greece where feta cheese is believed to have been produced for about 6 000 years. feta is a soft white cheese made from sheep or goat s milk and is an essential ingredient in greek cuisine. greece makes 115 000 tonnes mainly for domestic consumption. the court is expected to reach a verdict in the case in the autumn.

business

holmes urged to compete at worlds jolanda ceplak has urged britain s kelly holmes to continue competing at the major championships. double olympic gold medallist holmes has strongly hinted she will not run in this year s worlds and is undecided about next month s european indoors. but world indoor 800m record holder ceplak said: there is never an easy race when she is in the field. there is only excitement at what might happen. it is good for the sport. she always fetches the best out of everyone. ceplak has been a great rival of holmes during the briton s career and the pair fell out when holmes questioned the manner of the slovenian s runaway 800m victory at the 2002 european championships. but the controversy has since been forgotten with ceplak acting as pacemaker for holmes failed attempt on the british indoor 1500m record at the norwich union grand prix in birmingham in 2003. ceplak added: i like running against her - you know the race is always going to be fast. that is the sort of competition that i like. she is special to me. she was like my idol from the beginning of my career. meanwhile ceplak will be looking to follow up last saturday s win in boston with a fast time and victory in friday s night of athletics in erfurt germany. britain s jason gardener had been expected to defend his 60m title in erfurt but instead he will save himself for a competition in leipzig on sunday. gardener s decision means scotland s 400m man ian mackie will carry british hopes in what looks sure to be a tough preparation for next weekend s norwich union european trials in sheffield.

sport

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

politics

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

profits slide at india s dr reddy profits at indian drugmaker dr reddy s fell 93% as research costs rose and sales flagged. the firm said its profits were 40m rupees ($915 000; £486 000) for the three months to december on sales which fell 8% to 4.7bn rupees. dr reddy s has built its reputation on producing generic versions of big-name pharmaceutical products. but competition has intensified and the firm and the company is short on new product launches. the most recent was the annoucement in december 2000 that it had won exclusive marketing rights for a generic version of the famous anti-depressant prozac from its maker eli lilly. it also lost a key court case in march 2004 banning it from selling a version of pfizer s popular hypertension drug norvasc in the us. research and development of new drugs is continuing apace with r&d spending rising 37% to 705m rupees - a key cause of the decrease in profits alongside the fall in sales. patents on a number of well-known products are due to run out in the near future representing an opportunity for dr reddy whose shares are listed in new york and other indian generics manufacturers. sales in dr reddy s generics business fell 8.6% to 966m rupees. another staple of the the firm s business the sale of ingredients for drugs also performed poorly. sales were down more than 25% from the previous year to 1.4bn rupees in the face of strong competition both at home and in the us and europe. dr reddy s indian competitors are gathering strength although they too face heavy competitive pressures.

business

profits stall at china s lenovo profits at chinese computer firm lenovo have stood still amid slowing demand at home and stiffening competition. the firm is in the international spotlight after last year signing a deal to buy the pc division of personal computer pioneer ibm. lenovo s profit for the three months to december was hk$327m (us$42m; £22m) less than 1% up on the year before. chinese pc sales have risen by a fifth in each of the past two years but are now growing more slowly. the company is still by far the biggest player in china with more than a quarter of the market. but western firms such as dell and hewlett-packard are also mounting a more solid fight for market share in china and lenovo s sales were down 3.7% by revenue to hk$6.31bn. if the $1.75bn agreement lenovo signed with ibm on 8 december goes through it will mark the end of an era. ibm pioneered the desktop pc market in the early 1980s although strategic mis-steps helped lose it its early dominance. in any case margins in pc market are now wafer thin and profits have been hard to come by for most vendors except direct-sales giant dell. but investors have been less than impressed with lenovo s move designed to take it out of china and further onto the world stage. its shares are down 20% since the announcement two months ago largely because of the unprofitability of the unit it is buying. there have been rumours that the deal could be in trouble because us government agencies fear it could offer china opportunities for industrial espionage. the reports of the possibility of an investigation into the risk sent lenovo s shares up 6% in late january.

business

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

entertainment

japan turns to beer alternatives japanese brewers are increasingly making money from beer-flavoured drinks rather than beer itself beer and spirits are heavily taxed in japan driving breweries to search for alternatives. japan s long economic downturn helped drive the trend as drinkers looked for cheaper opportunities to drown their sorrows. now according to asahi breweries the market for so-called beer-like drinks is set to grow 84% this year. asahi is predicting profits to rise 50% in 2005 as it launches a drink based on soybean peptides rather than malt. the chosen name shinnama or new draft disguises its non-beer nature. but despite a record profit in 2004 of 30.6bn yen ($291m; £154m) up 31.8% on the previous year asahi is coming late to the market. key rival sapporo is already well-established with the beer-flavoured draft one . suntory meanwhile is doing well with super blue which combines happoshu - an existing low-cost beer alternative made with malt and seawater - and shochu a distilled alcohol derived from sweet potatoes or barley. happoshu has been a mainstay of brewery profits for years taking over from beer thanks to its low tax and therefore low cost. kirin the fourth big name is launching its own third-type drink in april.

business

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

sport

dibaba breaks 5 000m world record ethiopia s tirunesh dibaba set a new world record in winning the women s 5 000m at the boston indoor games. dibaba won in 14 minutes 32.93 seconds to erase the previous world indoor mark of 14:39.29 set by another ethiopian berhane adera in stuttgart last year. but compatriot kenenisa bekele s record hopes were dashed when he miscounted his laps in the men s 3 000m and staged his sprint finish a lap too soon. ireland s alistair cragg won in 7:39.89 as bekele battled to second in 7:41.42. i didn t want to sit back and get out-kicked said cragg. so i kept on the pace. the plan was to go with 500m to go no matter what but when bekele made the mistake that was it. the race was mine. sweden s carolina kluft the olympic heptathlon champion and slovenia s jolanda ceplak had winning performances too. kluft took the long jump at 6.63m while ceplak easily won the women s 800m in 2:01.52.

sport

us trade gap hits record in 2004 the gap between us exports and imports hit an all-time high of $671.7bn (£484bn) in 2004 latest figures show. the commerce department said the trade deficit for all of last year was 24.4% above the previous record - 2003 s imbalance of $496.5bn. the deficit with china up 30.5% at $162bn was the largest ever recorded with a single country. however on a monthly basis the us trade gap narrowed by 4.9% in december to £56.4bn. the us consumer s appetite for all things from oil to imported cars and even wine and cheese reached record levels last year and the figures are likely to spark fresh criticism of president bush s economic policies. democrats claim the administration has not done enough to clamp down on unfair foreign trade practices. for example they believe china s currency policy - which us manufacturers claim has undervalued the yuan by as much as 40% - has given china s rapidly expanding economy an unfair advantage against us competitors. meanwhile the bush administration argues that the us deficit reflects the fact the america is growing at faster rate than the rest of the world spurring on more demand for imported goods. some economists say this may allow an upward revision of us economic growth in the fourth quarter. but others point out that the deficit has reached such astronomical proportions that foreigners many choose not to hold as many dollar-denominated assets which may in turn harm growth. for all of 2004 us exports rose 12.3% to $1.15 trillion but imports rose even faster by 16.3% to a new record of $1.76 trillion. foreign oil exports surged by 35.7% to a record $180.7bn reflecting the rally in global oil prices and increasing domestic demand. imports were not affected by the dollar s weakness last year. we expect the deficit to continue to widen in 2005 even if the dollar gets back to its downward trend said economist marie-pierre ripert at ixis.

business

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

entertainment

eu ministers to mull jet fuel tax european union finance ministers are meeting on thursday in brussels where they are to discuss a controversial jet fuel tax. a levy on jet fuel has been suggested as a way to raise funds to finance aid for the world s poorest nations. airlines and aviation bodies have reacted strongly against the plans saying they would hurt companies at a time when earnings are under pressure. the eu said a tax would only be passed after full consultation with airlines. it was keen to point out earlier this week that any new tax on jet fuel should not hurt the competitiveness of the airlines . ministers will also be discussing reforms to regulations governing european public spending. global leaders have focused attention on poverty reduction and development at recent meetings of the g7 group and world economic forum. the world s richest countries have said they want to boost the amount of aid they give to 0.7% of their annual gross national income by 2015. many eu ministers are thought to support the plan to tax jet fuel - tabled by france and germany following the recent g7 meeting. at present the fuel used by airlines enjoys either a very low tax rate or is untaxed in eu member states.

business

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

dominici backs lacklustre france wing christophe dominici says france can claim another six nations grand slam despite two lacklustre wins so far against scotland and england. the champions only just saw off the scots in paris then needed england to self-destruct in last week s 18-17 win. the english played better than us but lost whereas we are still in the race for the grand slam said dominici. we know our display was not perfect but we can still win the grand slam along with ireland and wales. france ireland and wales all remain unbeaten after two rounds of this year s rbs six nations with the two celtic nations playing by far the more impressive rugby. france take on wales at the stade de france on 26 february and ireland in dublin on 12 march. but although france have yet to click dominici says that they can still win the hard way as long as scrum-half dimitri yachvili continues in his goalkicking form. if we have an efficient kicker on whom we can rely on a solid defence and a team who play for their lives we can achieve something dominici added. i said at the start of the competition that the winners would be clearer from the third matches and that s exactly what is going to happen. france coach bernard laporte will announce his starting line-up next tuesday for the match against wales. wing jimmy marlu is definitely out with the knee injury sustained at twickenham which is likely to sideline him for the rest of the tournament. inspirational flanker serge betsen is a doubt with a thigh injury but number eight imanol harinordoquy has shaken off his shoulder injury. in the backs centre yannick jauzion and winger aurelien rougerie are all back in contention after injury while brive back julien laharrague has received his first call-up as a replacement for pepito elhorga.

sport

horror film heads us box office a low-budget horror film produced by evil dead director sam raimi has topped the north american box office. boogeyman which focuses on a man who returns to his childhood home to confront his traumatic past took $19.5m (£14.9m) in three days. last week s chart-topper the robert de niro thriller hide and seek fell to number four. other new entries included the wedding date a comedy starring will and grace s debra messing at number two. the road-trip comedy are we there yet and multiple oscar nominee million dollar baby completed the top five. other oscar contenders including the aviator and sideways continued to perform strongly at the box office. the aviator has taken $75m (£40m) so far while sideways has taken $46.8m (£24.8m) in a more limited release. boogeyman which cost just $7m (£3.5m) to make performed well even though it was not screened to critics before release - normally a sign that a film will get bad reviews or perform poorly at the box office. i certainly believe it s a genre where people are going to be more moved by the marketing materials for the movie than by what the critics say said rory bruer head of distribution for sony pictures which released the film in the us. overall the weekend box office was strong despite the fact that it was american football s super bowl weekend - a time when cinema admissions generally fall. this year the top 12 films grossed around $91m (£48.3m) compared to 2004 s super bowl weekend when the total box office was $73.4m (£38.9m).

entertainment

vw considers opening indian plant volkswagen is considering building a car factory in india but said it had yet to make a final decision. the german giant said it was studying the possibility of opening an assembly plant in the country but that it remained only a potential idea. its comments came after the industry minister of india s andhra pradesh state said a team of vw officials were due to visit to discuss the plans. b. satyanarayana said he expected vw to co-sign a memorandum of agreement. several foreign carmakers including hyundai toyota suzuki and ford already have indian production facilities to meet demand for automobiles in asia s fourth-largest economy. vw s proposed plant would be set up in the port city of visakhapatnam on india s eastern coast. an andhra pradesh official added that vw had already approved a factory site measuring 250 acres.

business

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

tech

legendary music studio to close the new york music studio where john lennon spent his final hours is to close next month. the hit factory which opened 37 years ago has played host to some of the biggest stars in music including paul simon madonna and david bowie. however the rise in digital recording has affected business at the studio which is relocating to smaller premises in miami. lennon recorded his final album double fantasy at the studio in 1979. the studio was founded by jerry ragovoy in 1968. in 1975 it was sold to fellow producer edward germano who turned it into a 100 000 square foot studio with seven recording rooms and live mastering suites. his first client was stevie wonder who recorded part of his classic album songs in the key of life there. other well-known albums to be recorded or partially recorded at the studio include bruce springsteen s born in the usa the rolling stones emotional rescue and paul simon s graceland. michael jackson billy joel jay-z and beyonce are also among artists who have used the hit factory in the past as well as 50 cent who survived an attempt on his life as he left the premises in 2000. the studio made history in 1994 when it won a record 41 grammy nominations for songs recorded mastered or mixed there including the soundtrack to the whitney houston film the bodyguard.

entertainment

portable playstation ready to go sony s playstation portable (psp) will go on sale in japan on 12 december. the long-awaited handheld game playing gadget will cost about 19 800 yen (145 euros) when it hits the shelves. at launch 21 games will be available for the psp including need for speed ridge racer metal gear acid and vampire chronicle. sony has not yet announced when the psp will be available in europe and the us but analysts expect it to debut in those territories in early 2005. fifa 2005 is back at the top of the uk games charts a week after losing it to rival pro evolution soccer 4. konami s pro evo dropped only one place to two while the only new entry in the top 10 was another football title lma manager 2005 in at number seven. tony hawk s underground 2 held its own at three while star wars battlefront inched up to four places to four. there was good news for disney with the spin-off from the shark s tale film moving up the charts into number eight. fans of the gran turismo series in europe are going to have to wait until next year for the latest version. sony has said that the pal version of gt4 will not be ready for christmas. the product is localised into 13 different languages across the pal territories therefore the process takes considerably longer than it does in japan it said. gran turismo 4 for the playstation 2 is still expected to be released in japan and the usa this year. halo 2 has broken video game records with pre-orders of more than 1.5 million in the us alone. some 6 500 us stores plan to open just after midnight on tuesday 9 november for the game s release. halo 2 is projected to bring in more revenue than any day one box office blockbuster movie in the united states said xbox s peter moore. we ve even heard rumours of fan anticipation of the halo 2 flu on 9 november.

tech

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

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

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

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

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

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

mumbai bombs movie postponed the release of a film about the mumbai (bombay) blasts in 1993 has been postponed following protests by those on trial for the bombings. investigating the blasts which killed more than 250 people and wounded 1 000 the film black friday had been due to open across india on friday. but 36 people accused in connection with the blasts said it should not be screened until the trial is over. mumbai high court postponed the film s launch until 3 february. black friday is based upon the novel of the same name written by journalist s hussain zaidi which looks at the 15 explosions which rocked mumbai on 12 march 1993. director anurag kashyap said the film s release should not be delayed as the book has already been on sale for two years. if you have not gone against the book then how can you go against the movie mr kashyap s lawyer mihir desai said. this is the second time that those accused in connection with the blasts have sought legal intervention regarding the film. they previously asked that a line from the movie s poster which claimed the film portrayed the true story of the bombay bomb blasts be removed. their lawyer majeed memon said: we had argued that how can a film say it is telling the true story when the court itself is struggling to find the truth so we said they should remove the line from their promotional posters and they did give us an assurance that they would do so. the mumbai bombings case is one of india s longest-running trials. a special court was set up to hear the case and regular hearings have taken place there for the last nine years with more than six hundred witnesses questioned.

entertainment

nintendo handheld given euro date nintendo s new handheld console the ds will launch in europe on 11 march the company has announced. the portable games machine which features touch-screen control will retail for £99 in the uk (149 euros). nintendo said 15 games would be available in the uk at launch with prices ranging from £19 to £29. more than 2.8 million ds consoles have been sold since it first appeared in the us and japan at the end of 2004. rival sony has said it will launch its first handheld console the psp in the us and europe before the end of march. the psp is expected to compete for a large part of the same handheld market despite sony s assertion that the machines are aimed at different consumers. the 15 games available on the european launch date will include nintendo s super mario 64 ds as well as titles from third-party developers such as ubisoft s rayman ds. more than 120 games are in development for the new console nintendo has said. the ds is backwards compatible with the game boy advance allowing the earlier machine s back catalogue of 700 games to be played. additionally a short-range wireless link for multiplayer gaming is built in to the ds with a download play option which allows a group to play against each other even if just one person owns a copy. other features include a short-range messaging application called pictochat and a built-in microphone which is used in sega s launch title project rub. nintendo has also announced a media adapter which will allow the console to play music and video on the move. the launch price of £99 (149 euros) compares favourably with the us price of $149 according to john houlihan editor of the computerandvideogames.com magazine. it s a very very competitive price point. there are some innovative features and nintendo has created quite a buzz he says. however the line-up of games could have been stronger. everyone wanted to see the eight-player mario kart ds for example. mr houlihan believes that there is likely to be an audience for both the nintendo ds and sony s new psp with the former aimed largely at a younger audience and the latter expected to be marketed as a multimedia device. the psp is a sexy bit of kit but sony s attitude to the psp has been very understated in europe so far mr houlihan said. the worldwide handheld software market had an estimated worth of $2.6bn at the end of 2004 according to industry analysts screen digest. in the past games consoles and handhelds have generally launched much later in europe than in other parts of the world. however nintendo president satoru iwata said the company was pleased to have offered such a short period of time between the us and european launch . europe is an extremely important market for nintendo mr iwata added. nintendo raised its sales targets for the ds console last december after selling a million in the us and japan in just a few weeks.

tech

wilkinson to miss ireland match england will have to take on ireland in the six nations without captain and goal-kicker jonny wilkinson according to his newcastle boss rob andrew. wilkinson - who had targeted the 27 february match for his international comeback - has been missed by england not least for his goal-kicking. jonny s not fit yet falcons chief andrew told bbc radio five live. he won t be fit for dublin there s no doubt about that but he might be fit for scotland and italy. the 25-year-old has not played for england since the 2003 world cup final after a succession of injuries. england who have lost three six nations games in a row wasted a 17-6 half-time lead in their 18-17 defeat to france. goal-kickers charlie hodgson and olly barkley missed six penalty attempts and a drop-goal between them. they ve probably got two of the best english kickers in the premiership in hodgson and barkley added andrew a former england fly-half and goal-kicker. they re both pretty good kickers. charlie is a good kicker week-in week-out. but it s all about pressure and unfortunately england are just not handling the pressure at the moment. andrew also blamed england s poor run of recent results on a lack of leadership in the side following several high-profile retirements and injuries. they just didn t have that leadership that would have seen them through. martin johnson lawrence dallaglio and jonny are obviously huge losses and leadership is so important in those situations he said. i think it is really difficult for jason robinson to lead the side effectively from full-back. meanwhile former england full-back dusty hare put england s mistakes down to a lack of mental toughness. jonny wilkinson has proved himself a cool customer with around an 80% kicking success rate hare told bbc radio five live. but natural-born toughness comes into it as well as all the practice you do. you have to be able to shut out all the outside elements and concentrate on putting the ball between the posts. hodgson who has an excellent kicking record with club side sale sharks has introduced crowd noise into his practice routine of late. the top golfers don t hit the fairway every time and it is the same with goal-kicking hare added. you need that mental toughness as well to put the ball over but great goal-kickers like jonny wilkinson come along very rarely.

sport

film star fox behind theatre bid leading actor edward fox is one of the men behind plans to reopen a swansea theatre thought to be wales oldest. the star of film and tv hits day of the jackal and edward and mrs simpson has joined forces with swansea-born actor-director terry palmer. they will set up a charity to raise money to buy the palace theatre and hope to reopen it to audiences in summer 2006. it is estimated that £500 000 is needed to buy the grade ii listed building. the palace theatre which will be known as the pavilion repertory theatre was sold to an undisclosed bidder at auction 13 months ago for £340 000. before that it had been used as a nightclub for 10 years. oscar-winner sir anthony hopkins who was born in nearby port talbot made his professional debut there and charlie chaplin and lily langtry have also trodden its boards. fox told the south wales evening post that after visiting the theatre he was surprised by its beauty. a lot of money needs to be spent on it but all the bones are there - it just needs a beautiful skin he said. to call it a jewel is not an over-estimation. there are not many theatres left like this. the hope for the immediate future is that we can attract enough people to come forward to allow it to prosper he told the newspaper. fox first found fame in the 1960s. one of his most memorable roles was as an assassin in the day of the jackal in 1973 and he won a tv bafta as the prince of wales in 1980 for edward and mrs simpson. he was brought on board to save the theatre by mr palmer a long-standing friend of 40 years. two years ago i decided to return to swansea and do something for the city said mr palmer. he said he was excited by the idea of running the palace as a charity where young actors could develop and with an annual shakespeare festival in the summer. if in five years time the theatre can function in all areas without me i shall be well satisfied having helped to create a vital living theatre for the city he added. keith poulton a business adviser from swansea has already committed an undisclosed amount of money to the project. we need at least £75 000 to secure a deposit on the building and we ve only got two months to do that said mr poulton. a few benefactors have expressed their interest and mr fox is going to give it an awful lot of time he added. last year roads around the theatre were cordoned off when masonry from its roof fell onto a car but engineers said they were happy that it was safe.

entertainment

low-cost airlines hit eurotunnel channel tunnel operator eurotunnel has seen sales fall in the face of the upsurge in european low-cost airlines. the firm said sales were down 4% in 2004 to 789m euros ($1.03bn; £548m). the impact of the development of no-frills airlines is being felt ever more strongly said chief executive jean-louis raymond. income from its vehicle-carrying shuttle services fell 7% although 15% more passengers meant a 2% rise in railway revenue. the cross-channel truck market is improving eurotunnel said but warned that it was not benefiting since much of the traffic was in containers destined for ports. the passenger-only trains which use the tunnel are run by a separate company eurostar. eurotunnel is still struggling with debts of more than 6bn euros. the company is currently kept afloat by the 200-plus banks to whom it owes the money. a shareholder revolt threw out the old board in 2004. but the bbc s business editor jeff randall said the banks could yet step in and take over altogether. at the moment it can t even service the interest on its debt he said. this is a company in the departure lounge of life.

business

will the budget bring out smiling voters as tory spokesman oliver letwin said - any chancellor would use his pre-election budget to offer some vote winning sweeteners wouldn t he. and everyone does indeed expect gordon brown to do just that in his last budget before the expected polling day of 5 may. there will be plenty of talk about taking no risks with the economy or handing out irresponsible giveaways. but mr brown will stun westminster and break just about every historical precedent if he fails to do something designed to put a smile on voters faces and make them more inclined to back labour in the election. and there has already been speculation about possible tax reductions for the poorest and increasing the threshold on stamp duty in this week s budget. the aim of his package will be to keep any disillusioned core labour voters in the fold while ensuring the middle england voters who gave tony blair two election victories don t desert him at the third poll. and needless to say there will be plenty of analysis of what impact the budget will have on mr brown s own ambitions to replace mr blair as prime minister at some point after a third win. but there is a shadow hanging over this pre-election performance - in the shape of £11 billion or thereabouts. that is the size of the financial black hole the tories backed by some independent forecasters believe mr brown will have to fill with tax increases after the election. the opening shot in that battle was fired at the weekend with claims a treasury leak suggested mr brown was ready to slap capital gains tax on home sales to raise some of that cash. it was immediately denied but the tories remain suspicious claiming that as mr letwin said if the money does not come from there where will it come from. mr brown will undoubtedly claim the forecasts are simply wrong and that he will have absolutely no need to raise taxes after the election should labour win. previous gloomy forecasts proved wrong he will argue while suggesting that only by sticking with him can britain continue to have a sound economy low unemployment and high public spending. the opposition will reject that by claiming they can keep the economy sound increase spending and cut taxes at the same time. the liberal democrats will also promise to run a sound economy but based on increased taxes to fund spending and amongst other things abolishing the council tax in favour of a local income tax. and there will be prolonged argument over which of the parties can make the greatest savings in whitehall and beyond to fund their policies. but probably what that all boils down to is a simple question of which of the parties the voters most trust to keep the economy stable and avoid any unpleasant surprises in the coming years. and it is probably still the answer to that one question that will overwhelmingly decide the outcome of the general election.

politics

jowell confirms casino climbdown tessa jowell has announced plans to limit the number of new casinos in the uk to 24 in a move branded a humiliating retreat by the tories. it puts an end to plans for up to 40 super casinos originally outlined in the government s gambling bill. instead there will be a cap of eight new casinos in each size category - small medium and large. the culture secretary said the move showed she listened to critics who feared an explosion in gambling. but conservative shadow culture secretary john whittingdale said the way the government had handled the bill was a shambles . this announcement is a further humiliating retreat by the government. instead of the initial intention of the gambling bill to liberalise the rules governing gambling the bill now imposes a more restrictive regime than exists at present. shares in british casino operators london clubs international rank group and stanley leisure who had been hoping the bill would pave the way for a big expansion in smaller casinos fell by between 10 and 25% following the announcement. ms jowell s deputy richard caborn said the government had adopted a cautious approach to the issue and responded to the concerns raised. limiting the number of regional casinos to eight in the first phase is a cautious move that will allow us to test the impact of a new kind of casino on the levels of problem gambling he said. we also believe it s right to apply this same level of caution to small and large casinos. he added that local authorities would still be able to stop new casinos coming to their areas. church groups welcomed the limit on the number of casinos. salvation army spokesman jonathan lomax said: the proliferation of these casinos on high streets across the country was a real concern and the [three year] trial period which we think should last at least five years will enable research into the potentially severe social consequences of an increase in hard and addictive forms of gambling. but british british casino association chairman penny cobham said her members were outraged by the decision which followed a campaign in the daily mail newspaper. there was never going to be a massive explosion of casinos. talk of a casino on every high street was just a scaring tactic.

politics

csa could close says minister ministers would not rule out scrapping the child support agency if it failed to improve work and pensions secretary alan johnson has warned. but he said replacing the controversial csa would be the nuclear option . a report by the commons work and pensions committee called for the agency to be wound up unless it improved its service within weeks. chairman sir archy kirkwood said: if the agency cannot be rescued then it must be replaced. the committee reached its conclusions after it found that nearly 250 000 cases have yet to be processed. it warned that it could be five years before the csa was fit for purpose describing it as a failing organisation and in crisis with parents facing payment delays and inaccurate maintenance calculations. the report urged the csa to draw up contingency plans including the abandonment option to be presented to parliament by easter in case the cs2 computer system could not be made to work. and responding to calls for the agency to be scrapped mr johnson told bbc radio 4 s today programme: i certainly wouldn t rule out the nuclear option of moving to a completely new system. but i think the select committee would agree with me we would only do that when we were absolutely convinced that this system just isn t going to work. the mps 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 building up. the mps found the £456m system from american it giant eds was nowhere near being fully functional and the number of dissatisfied disenchanted and angry customers continues to escalate . faced with the committee s criticism the government has suspended its plan to cut the agency s staff by 25%. the csa has been surrounded in controversy since its introduction in 1993 to assess and enforce child support payments by absent parents. it is currently chasing outstanding payments of more than £720m while a further £947m has been designated as unrecoverable . michelle a mother of twins said she had not received a penny of the £57 a week she should be receiving from her ex-partner and had faced an on-going battle with the csa. her forms have twice been lost in the post she said. i don t receive correspondence i don t receive phone calls i have to chase them all the time she said. theresa may tory shadow work and pensions secretary said: we have got to find a way that s going to ensure those payments get through to the people who are due them. the agency s former chief executive doug smith quit last autumn claiming he was seriously disappointed with its performance. the committee said the national audit office should investigate why the eds system had gone so badly wrong. it blamed the agency s senior management for a multitude of problems within the agency including for an apparent lack of training of frontline staff.

politics

halo 2 sells five million copies microsoft is celebrating bumper sales of its xbox sci-fi shooter halo 2. the game has sold more than five million copies worldwide since it went on sale in mid-november the company said. halo 2 has proved popular online with gamers notching up a record 28 million hours playing the game on xbox live. according to microsoft nine out of 10 xbox live members have played the game for an average of 91 minutes per session. the sequel to the best-selling need for speed: underground has inched ahead of the competition to take the top slot in the official uk games charts. the racing game moved up one spot to first place nudging gta: san andreas down to second place. halo 2 dropped one place to five while half-life 2 fell to number nine. last week s new releases goldeneye: rogue agent and killzone both failed to make it into the top 10 debuting at number 11 and 12 respectively. record numbers of warcraft fans are settling in the games online world. on the opening day of the world of warcraft massive multi-player online game more than 200 000 players signed up to play. on the evening of the first day more than 100 000 players were in the world forcing blizzard to add another 34 servers to cope with the influx. the online game turns the stand alone warcraft games into a persistent world that players can inhabit not just visit europe s gamers could be waiting until january to hear when they can get their mitts on nintendo s handheld device nintendo ds says gamesindustry.biz. david yarnton nintendo uk general manager told a press conference to look out for details in the new year. its us launch was on sunday and it goes on sale in japan on 2 december. nintendo has a 95% share of the handheld gaming market and said it expected to sell around five million of the ds by march 2005.

tech

the force is strong in battlefront the warm reception that has greeted star wars: battlefront is a reflection not of any ingenious innovation in its gameplay but of its back-to-basics approach and immense nostalgia quotient. geared towards online gamers it is based around little more than a series of all-out gunfights set in an array of locations all featured in or hinted at during the two blockbusting film trilogies. previous star wars titles like the acclaimed knights of the old republic and jedi knight have regularly impressed with their imaginative forays into the far corners of the franchise s extensive universe and their use of weird and wonderful new characters. battlefront on the other hand wholeheartedly revisits the most recognisable elements of the hit movies themselves. the sights sounds and protagonists on show here will all be instantly familiar to fans who may well feel that the opportunity to relive star wars most memorable screen skirmishes makes this the game they have always waited for. the mayhem can be viewed from either a third or first-person perspective and you can either fight for the forces of freedom or join darth vader on the dark side depending on the episode and type of campaign as well as the player s personal propensity for good or evil. there is ample chance to be a wookie shoot ewoks and rush into battle alongside a fired-up luke skywalker. in each section the task is simply to wipe out enemy troops seize strategic waypoints and move on to the next planet. it really is no more complicated than that. locations include the frozen wastes of hoth the ice planet from the empire strikes back complete with massive mechanical at-ats on the march. there are also the dusty sinister deserts of tatooine and geonosis as well as the forest moon of endor where return of the jedi s much-maligned ewoks lived. the feel of those places is well and truly captured with both backdrops and characters looking good and very authentic. it is worth noting though that on the playstation 2 the game s graphics are a curiously long way behind those of the xbox version. the pivotal element behind battlefront s success is that it successfully gives you the feel of being of being plunged into the midst of large-scale war. the number of combatants noise and abundance of laser fire see to that and the sense of chaos really comes over. speaking of noise battlefront is a real testament to the strength of the star wars galaxy s audio motifs. the multitude of distinctive weapon and vehicle noises are immensely familiar as are the stirring john williams symphonies that never let up. there is also a particularly snazzy remix of one of his themes in the menu section. it has to be said if the game did not have the boon of being star wars it would not stand up for long. the gameplay is reliable bog-standard stuff short on originality. there are also odd annoyances like the game s insistence on re-spawning you miles away from the action an irritating price to pay for not getting blown up the second you appear. and some of the weapons and vehicles are not as responsive and fluid to operate as they might be. that said it is still great fun to pilot a scout walker or speeder bike however non user-friendly they prove. whilst it is firmly designed with multiplayer action in mind battlefront is actually perfectly good fun as an offline game. the above-average ai of the enemy sees to that although given the frenetic environments they operate in their strategic behaviour does not need to be all that sophisticated. battlefront s novelty value will doubtless wear off relatively fast leaving behind a slightly empty one-trick-pony of a game. but for a while it is an absolute blast and one of the most immediately satisfying video game offerings yet from george lucas stable.

tech

johnson edges out rival sotherton jade johnson edged out rival kelly sotherton with her last effort to claim the aaas long jump title at the norwich union european indoor trials. olympic heptathlon bronze medallist sotherton led the event with her first leap of 6.43m - a personal best. but johnson who has not competed indoors for five years leapt to a life-time best of 6.50m in her last jump after four fouls. both johnson and sotherton passed the european championships qualifying mark. although sotherton s main aim in madrid next month will be the pentathlon where she will take on olympic heptathlon champion carolina kluft. ireland s delivered a shock in the men s 200m as he stormed to his first major title in 21.01 seconds. british favourite chris lambert had to settle for second place while defending champion ireland s paul brizzel took third. there was some consolation for lambert as he set a personal best of 20.94 in the first round - good enough to qualify for europe. two-time aaas champion allyn condon and ian mackie had no such luck as they were disqualified in the heats. there was plenty of hot action in the men s 60m hurdles where scotland s was vying for top spot with olympian andy turner. scott 22 smashed his personal best on the way to the final where he broke it again to win the aaas title in 7.58 seconds. turner finished second in 7.82 after previously setting a personal best on the 7.83 in the semi-finals while damien greaves did not finish the final. the trio of athletes have reached the european qualifying mark this season though one of them is set to miss out on a call-up to the british squad. comfortably defended her 3 000m title clocking eight minutes 49.87 seconds to easily surpass the european qualifying mark. the european cross country bronze medallist is ranked number one in europe this season and will go to madrid with high hopes. helen clitheroe was agonisingly close to the 9:05.00 qualifying mark as she claimed the runners-up spot in a personal best of 9:05.73. in the men s 800m heats qualified fastest in the 800m heats to lay down a challenge to in-form . the welsh runner attacked the last 200m to come through ahead of james thie in one minute 49.87 seconds. mcilroy who is third in the european rankings eased across the finish in 1:50.87 to set up a showdown in sunday s final in sheffield. both watkins and mcilroy have already achieved the european qualifying mark. scotland s susan deacon stole s thunder in the final of the women s 200m. fraser became the fastest british woman over the distance this season when she qualified for the final in 23.68 seconds - though that time is outside the european standard. but deacon claimed her first aaas title over the distance edging fraser into second in 23.67. in the women s shot put veteran claimed her fourth aaas title with a throw of 15.27m. but that mark was not good enough for the 39-year-old to book her place at next month s european indoor championships in madrid. sotherton finished fifth after producing two throws of 13.77m. in the absence of injured british number one carl myerscough claimed the men s shot put title with a throw of 17.64m which was below the qualifying mark. sale s robert mitchell climbed to a season s best of 2.20m - just 3cm short of the european standard - to claim the british indoor high jump title. could only clear 2.16m to finish in fourth but the 27-year-old s disappointment will be tempered as he had already achieved the qualifying mark at a meeting in slovenia on tuesday. there was bad luck for british number one in the pole vault as he failed to clear the bar after deciding to come in at 5.45m. the aaas indoor title went instead to ashley swain who climbed to a season s best of 5.25m and ireland s taniesha scanlon set a new national record of 13.28m in the women s triple jump.

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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

halloween writer debra hill dies screenwriter and producer debra hill best known for her work on the 70s horror classic halloween has died in los angeles aged 54. hill who had been suffering from cancer co-wrote the 1978 film which starred jamie lee curtis as a babysitter terrorised by a psychopath. directed by john carpenter it made over $60m (£31.3m) worldwide - a record for independent film at that time. hill also worked with carpenter on escape from new york and the fog. born in new jersey hill began her career as a production assistant and worked her way through the ranks becoming an assistant director and second-unit director before she began collaborating with carpenter. she was regarded by many as a pioneering woman in film taking on jobs in the 70s that were more commonly taken by men. back when i started in 1974 there were very few women in the industry she said in 2003. i was assumed to be the make-up and hair person or the script person. i was never assumed to be the writer or producer. i took a look around and realised there weren t that many women so i had to carve a niche for myself. carpenter said that working with hill was one of the greatest experiences of my life . the ground that she trailblazed in the beginning can now be followed by anyone. she was incredibly capable and talented he said. carpenter and hill collaborated on a number of halloween sequels including halloween ii halloween: resurrection and halloween: the curse of michael myers. later in her career hill formed a production company with her friend lynda obst making a string of hit films including oscar nominee the fisher king and teen comedy adventures in babysitting. other films included the stephen king adaptation the dead zone in 1983 and 1985 s clue a comedy based on the board game cluedo. in the 90s she pursued work in tv although she was reunited with carpenter in 1996 for escape from la the sequel to escape from new york. at the time of her death she was working on a film about the last two men pulled from the rubble of the twin towers following the 11 september terror attacks in 2001. she was also co-producing the remake of the fog which is due for release early next year.

entertainment

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

butler strikes gold in spain britain s kathy butler continued her impressive year with victory in sunday s 25th cross internacional de venta de banos in spain. the scot who led gb to world cross country bronze earlier this year moved away from the field with ines monteiro halfway into the 6.6km race. she then shrugged off her portuguese rival to win in 20 minutes 38 seconds. meanwhile briton karl keska battled bravely to finish seventh in the men s 10.6km race in a time of 31:41. kenenisa bekele of ethiopia - the reigning world long and short course champion - was never troubled by any of the opposition winning leisurely in 30.26. butler said of her success: i felt great throughout the race and hope this is a good beginning for a marvellous 2005 season for me. elsewhere abebe dinkessa of ethiopia won the brussels iaaf cross-country race on sunday completing the 10 500m course in 33.22. gelete burka then crowned a great day for ethiopia by claiming victory in the women s race.

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uk pledges £1bn to vaccine effort uk chancellor gordon brown has offered £960m ($1.8bn) over 15 years to an international scheme aiming to boost vaccination and immunisation schemes. in a speech he called for action to reach the 2000 millennium declaration goals of halving global poverty and tackling child mortality rates. mr brown has just returned from a tour of african nations. the £1bn commitment is part of a five-point plan on debt relief trade aid education and health. the chancellor was speaking at an event jointly organised by the uk s department for international development and the un development programme on wednesday. mr brown welcomed news that the bill gates foundation and norway are joining up to put an extra £0.53bn ($1bn ) into the global alliance for vaccines and immunisation (gavi). britain france gavi and the gates foundation have drawn up proposals to apply the principles of the international finance facility (iff) to the area of immunisation. that could see donors making long-term legally binding financial commitments which can then be used as collateral for raising extra funds from international capital markets. as well as pledging £960m over 15 years to the immunisation iff britain urged other donors to contribute. if gavi could increase its funding for immunisation by an extra £4bn ($7.4bn) over 10 years then an extra five million lives could have been saved by 2015 and five million thereafter mr brown argued. campaign groups including friends of the earth the world development movement and war on want said uk government policy on free trade was a major barrier to fighting poverty. war on want s john hilary said: compassionate rhetoric cannot disguise the reality of the government s neo-liberal policies. as long as mr blair and mr brown continue to push free trade and privatisation on developing countries more and more people will be pushed deeper into poverty not lifted out of it.

politics

air passengers win new eu rights air passengers who are unable to board their flights because of overbooking cancellations or flight delays can now demand greater compensation. new eu rules set compensation at between 250 euros (£173) and 600 euros depending on the length of the flight. the new rules will apply to all scheduled and charter flights including budget airlines. airlines have attacked the legislation saying they could be forced to push prices higher to cover the extra cost. the european commission is facing two legal challenges - one from the european low-fare airlines association (elaa) and the other from the international air transport association (iata) which has attacked the package as a bad piece of legislation . previously passengers could claim between 150 euros and 300 euros if they had been stopped from boarding. however only scheduled flight operators were obliged to offer compensation in cases of overbooking and they did not have to offer compensation for flight cancellations. the eu decided to increase passenger compensation in a bid to deter airlines from deliberately overbooking flights. overbooking can often lead to bumping - when a passenger is moved to a later flight. when this happens against a passenger s will airlines will now have to offer compensation. in addition if a flight is cancelled or delayed for more than two hours through the fault of the airline all passengers must be paid compensation. however airlines do not have to offer compensation if flights are cancelled or delayed due to extraordinary circumstances . airlines fear that extraordinary circumstances may not include bad weather security alerts or strikes - events which are outside of their control. all eu-based airlines and operators of flights which take off from the eu will have to adhere to the new compensation regime which came into force on thursday. low-cost airlines have criticised the new compensation levels arguing that the pay-out could be worth more than the ticket. it s a preposterous piece of legislation we among all airlines are fighting this ryanair deputy chief executive michael cawley told radio 4 s today programme. the european regions airline association (eraa) claims that neither airlines nor consumers were consulted over the changes. andy clarke eraa director of air transport said that the ec advice misleads customers as it leads them to believe that airlines could be liable for payouts if flights are delayed because of bad weather. ec spokeswoman marja quillinan-meiland conceded there were grey areas but said these are not as big as the airlines are making out . in cases of dispute national enforcement bodies would decide whether the passenger had a case she said. new technology means it is easier for airlines to take off and land in bad weather she added. the eraa s mr clarke also warned that while airlines would comply with the new rules the extra costs would be passed onto passengers. we reckon it s going to cost european air passengers - not the airlines the airlines have no money it has to be paid by passengers - 1.5bn euros that s over £1bn a year loaded onto european passengers mr clarke said. that s basically a transfer of money from passengers whose journeys are not disrupted to passengers whose journeys are disrupted. on wednesday jacques barrot vice president of the european commission and also commissioner for transport said that the changes were necessary. the boom in air travel needs to be accompanied by proper protection of passengers right. this is a concrete example of how the union benefits people s daily lives he added. the ec has launched an information campaign in airports and travel agencies to inform airline passengers of their new rights.

business

digital uk driven by net and tv the uk s adoption of digital tv and broadband has helped make it the fourth most digitally-savvy nation in europe according a report by jupiter research. but the uk still lags in terms of broadband speeds compared to others. the most digitally sophisticated europeans in terms of use of digital goods such as mobiles tv net and cameras are the scandinavians. about 14 million households in the uk 60% have digital tv according to the communications regulator ofcom. the least digital of the european nations was greece in 17th position according to the digital life index. scandinavian countries sweden denmark and norway came out top in the report but there were some differences in technology trends. the european digital life index demonstrates that digital lifestyles are common today but across europe there is no single digital lifestyle said nate elliott jupiter analyst. consumers adopt different digital products and services in different countries. although there are differences between different european nations the gap between them is closing the report concluded. the trend for gadgets and technologies such as digital video recorders (dvr) broadband and video-on-demand will continue across europe he added. more than six million uk households now have broadband net. by the middle of 2005 it is estimated that 50% of all uk net users will be on broadband. cable company ntl is trialling faster adsl (asymmetric digital subscriber line) broadband technology using adsl2+ which can give speeds of 18mbps compared to current speeds which are usually around 1mbps or 2mbps. bt is set to trial the technology later in the year. super-fast broadband will be necessary to the delivery of services such as high-definition tv (hdtv) and video-on-demand already very popular in france and other european countries. a separate survey by gmipoll last week found that globally people s appetite for technology and gadgets continues unabated. the poll of 20 000 people in 20 countries found that 59% wanted more technology. the computer was the must-have gadget for most people (75%). the tv took second place (67%) while the mobile was ranked in third position with 54%. digital cameras were the most popular choice of gadget for 2005 said the survey with nearly 40% choosing this over wireless home printing and dvr technologies. however only 25% of britons said a digital camera would be their top gadget purchase of the year. almost a quarter 22% said they would be buying some sort of wireless device. forty-four percent said they would be buying something other . this might include digital music players or gaming devices. the nintendo ds sony s psp and gizmondo all hit the shops in 2005 and the first of the next generation of games consoles xbox 2 is set to launch later this year. jupiter research s index is calculated using 40 different variables across net users digital tv adoption wireless and mobile online activity and digital devices.

tech

oscar nominees lack pulling power this year s clutch of oscar nominees have been the least popular for 20 years according to box office figures. in the us the five nominated for best film have been seen by 50% fewer people than movies in previous years. while the awards are not based on box office popularity there is concern for the ratings of the televised ceremony. we don t have a titanic or a lord of the rings out there. i think it s fair to say it does concern us a bit said academy executive director bruce davis. about 51 million people in the us have seen this year s nominees compared with between 100 million and 118 million in recent years. the last time combined attendance was so low was in 1984 when amadeus beat the killing fields a passage to india places in the heart and a soldier s story to best picture when 41 million saw the five films. last year s ceremony attracted the highest audience in four years as viewers tuned in to see lord of the ring: return of the king sweep the board. and the show reaped its biggest audience in 1997 when titanic took home 11 oscars. the film had taken $500m (£264m) worldwide before the ceremony and eventually took $1.8bn (£952m). eyeballs starring at the movie screen translates to eyeballs staring at the tv screen said paul dergarabedian of box office tracker exhibitor relations. people like to have a vested interest in what they re watching. when titanic does $1.8bn in worldwide box office you ve got a lot of people with a vested interest. past years have also seen blockbusters such as saving private ryan forrest gump and ghost compete for oscars. the biggest box office hitter among this year s nominees is the aviator which has taken $90m (£48m) in the us although takings in the uk have reached only £7m so far. low-budget move sideways and finding neverland have so far grossed about $45m (£24m) each. the year s biggest blockbusters do actually feature in the oscar nominees but in the animation category. shrek 2 and the incredibles took $436m (£231m) while the incredibles took $259m (£137m). mel gibson s the passion of the christ which took $370m (£196m) in the us was largely ignored by academy voters. but many in the film industry do not equate award and box office success. i have never equated the academy awards with how much money a movie takes in said nikki rocco head of distribution at universal which released nominee ray. that s the people s choice awards. this is not about the public. this is about the industry bestowing awards on what they think are the best films of the year.

entertainment

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).

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thousands join strike in wales thousands of civil servants were on strike across wales on friday in protest at planned job cuts. a range of services in wales were affected as civil servants in wales joined the uk-wide strike. the strike called by the public and commercial services union was the biggest by civil servants in a decade. the action follows chancellor gordon brown s announcement in july that 104 000 jobs would be cut with around 6 000 of those expected in wales. the worst-affected area in wales will be the department of work and pensions where 2 000 jobs are threatened. across wales pickets were held by striking civil servants with protests in towns and cities including cardiff bangor aberystwyth and wrexham. gordon brown issued a defiant statement about the strike saying the action would not affect the government s determination to make savings in order to increase investment in healthcare education transport and the fight against crime. our decisions mean more police more teachers more doctors and more nurses he said. we will provide help with information relocation and retraining to help staff move into frontline work within the public sector but we will not be diverted from these necessary changes so that we can make this essential investment. the uk-wide action hit jobcentres benefit agencies pensions offices and driving test centres. the strike also affected the welsh assembly building in cardiff bay where only pass-holders were allowed in. pickets were in place across wales with protests around the country. pcs union spokesman jeff evans said: in wales the civil service is major employer there are more civil servants employed in wales proportionately than in any other part of the country. our protest is about defending jobs and also local services across the country. parts of objective one areas and welsh-speaking areas will be particularly affected by these cuts. the chancellor has said that the cuts will allow funding for more teachers and police. piers freelove is senior benefit officer on the picket line at companies house in cardiff. he said: the majority of people have decided not to come in because of the threat to their jobs. i joined the civil service to provide services as well as get a decent pension as we thought and pay and it s those services that are being threatened as well as our jobs. people like pensioners need a face-to-face service not an impersonal service on the phone which is what they want to impose. pcsu deputy general secretary hugh lanning who was on the same picket line said: we re asking for them to negotiate not just to make announcements. there s a sensible way to do things and at the moment they re not even talking about how to go about it sensibly. the ballot was for one day s action. no further action is anticipated without a further ballot of staff. the welsh assembly government said: this is a strike about national civil service issues. it is not about specific issues local to wales or the assembly.

politics

howard rebuts asylum criticisms tory leader michael howard has gone on the offensive in response to people questioning how a son of immigrants can propose asylum quotas. mr howard whose parents fled the nazi threat to come to the uk says the claim would mean no-one from an immigrant family could become premier. his comments come in a bbc documentary called no more mr nasty . tv presenter anne robinson said as home secretary he gave the impression he would like to kick your cat . ms robinson a friend of the tory leader also revealed that as a cambridge student mr howard was much loved by women and he was a courteous and kind and rather dashing lover - although she denied having personal experience. i wasn t at cambridge - and it s not personal experience - but i know people who were. documentary maker michael cockerell was given behind-the-scenes access to mr howard for his film portrait. the tory leader was asked about to respond to people who said that if there had there been a quota on immigration and asylum in the 1930s his parents might not have been allowed into the country. he replies: what is the inference of that that if you reach the view that you need to control immigration in the interests of the country you re not allowed to put a view forward if you happen to be descended from immigrants that seems to me an absolutely extraordinary proposition it would certainly mean no one from immigrant parents could be prime minister. ms robinson who presents the weakest link tells cockerell that she despaired at his hardline image when he was home secretary in john major s government. i used to have to sit on my hands because he d get on television and give a passable impression of someone who d like to kick your cat or would put your baby in prison if he cried. i mean it was very very draconian. the film shows mr howard laughing at rory bremner s impression of him as dracula which he calls good fun apart from the serious falsehood of a comment suggesting he wants fewer black people in the uk. the film shows the private side of the tory leader watching television at home or playing table tennis with his wife ex-model sandra. asked if she enjoys a game of ping pong she confesses: yeah it would be more enjoyable if i could win occasionally too but otherwise it s quite fun. former downing street communications chief alastair campbell now working on labour s election campaign says a touchy-feely image does not fit mr howard. he says tony blair was not worried by his opponents early performance in their commons clashes because mr howard lacked a big strategy including on issues like iraq. the tory leader brands such criticisms as absolutely rubbish arguing that he has been consistent on his support for the war but critical of mr blair s failure to tell the truth on intelligence. former tory chancellor ken clarke says mr howard has a bigger problem changing perceptions of the tory party than his personal image. mr clarke says the party is improving and it is conceivable it could win the next election. but he adds: it has got to change itself a bit and broaden its appeal. - michael howard: no more mr nasty is being shown on bbc2 on saturday 12 february at 2005 gmt.

politics

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

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

politics

sony psp handheld console hits us the latest handheld gaming gadget sony s playstation portable goes on sale in the us on thursday. the entertainment device which also stores images music and video is intended to compete with nintendo s ds released earlier this month in the uk. gamers have been queuing outside shops across the us to get their hands on the gadget which costs $250 (about £132). the first million sold will come with the spider-man 2 film on umd sony s own disc format for the device. the psp can be linked up with others for multiplayer gaming via a wireless connection. sony has touted the machine as the walkman of the 21st century and has sold more than 800 000 units in japan since its launch there last year. but it faces stiff competition from the nintendo ds which sold more than the gamecube in its first few days on release in europe. it too allows for multiplayer gaming over the air. nintendo dominates the handheld market with more than a 90% share of the market in the us alone. the gizmondo combined media player phone and gaming gadget also went on sale in the uk last week. it hopes to take a share of the handheld gaming market too. the story of the psp is it s not a gaming device as much as it is a portable entertainment device said michael pachter analyst at wedbush morgan securities. he told the reuters news agency that he expected sony to sell about 10 million psps in enough time to rival apple s ipod. there is no date for the psp s release in europe yet. sony has promised to have a million units ready for its us launch but there are fears demand may not be met. it also said it expected to ship three million psps worldwide by the end of its fiscal year ending 31 march. the machine s european launch was put back a few months last week in order to make sure enough of the devices were ready for its us launch as well as satisfying the japanese market. the psp has almost as much processing power in it as the playstation 2 console. hundreds of gamers gathered at us shops some waiting for more than 36 hours to be the first to get their hands on the gadget. a spokesman for one us shop said it expected the device to sell out on its first day. the 24 games for the mini console include ape academy formula one wipeout pure and fired up. movie studios including lions gate entertainment and disney have also announced forthcoming film titles that will be made available on the umd format.

tech

henin-hardenne beaten on comeback justine henin-hardenne lost to elena dementieva in a comeback exhibition match in belgium on sunday for her second defeat in two days. and the belgian who has slipped to eight in the world after struggling with a virus faces a tough australian open title defence next month. i will be heading to australia with a lot of question marks over me i know that she said. but i think there ll be less pressure than last time even if i am champion. henin-hardenne was speaking after a 6-2 5-7 6-2 loss to world number six dementieva in charleroi belgium on sunday. the previous day the olympic champion went down 6-2 7-5 to france s nathalie dechy. i have to be positive i still have a few weeks she said. my body has to get accustomed again to the stress the rhythm. henin-hardenne slid down the world rankings in the second half of 2004 after contracting the illness in april. after an initial lay-off she was forced off the circuit for a second time after being knocked out of the french open in the second round. a comeback at the us open after a three-month absence ended when she crashed out at the fourth-round stage. but despite her problems she still won five of the nine official tournaments she entered in 2004 and won olympic gold in athens an achievement which saw her named belgian sportswoman of the year on friday. physically it s obvious that i hit rock bottom said the 22-year-old who will make her comeback in the sydney international from 10-16 january. since april with the exception of the olympics i have not done much. all the successes i had prior to that were mainly due to the work i put in on building up my fitness. now it s time to get back to putting in 200% effort and i think i am capable of doing that.

sport

rank set to sell off film unit leisure group rank could unveil plans to demerge its film services unit and sell its media business reports claim. rank formerly famous for the carry on series will expose the shake-up at the announcement of its results on friday the sunday telegraph reported. advisors goldman sachs are understood to have valued its demerged deluxe film unit at £300m the report added. speculation of a possible shake-up has mounted since rank announced a study into a possible demerger in september. since mike smith s appointment as chief executive in 1999 the group has focused on fewer businesses and embarked on a major cost-cutting programme which has seen it dispose of a number of businesses including the odeon cinema chain and the pinewood studios. the move left the group with three core divisions: gaming hard rock and deluxe films which provides technical services to hollywood studios. rank now aims to concentrate on its gaming bars and hotels business including extending its hard rock brand to its casinos - trials of which have been a success. it also owns deluxe media which makes and distributes dvds and videos. however that business is seen as less successful. last year it made profits of £21.5m on a turnover of £392.1m and experts suggest its success in moving to dvds from vhs video could make it an attractive target for a private equity buyer. a spokesman for the firm refused to comment on the reports but said any results from the demerger study were likely to be set out when it unveiled its results on friday. analysts predict the firm is likely to report a slight drop in annual pre-tax profits to £170m from £194m last year. formed in the 1940s the firm was a leading uk film producer and cinema owner for many years. it has now diversified into a range of other leisure activities - mainly in the uk - including hotels roadside service areas and holiday centres. it now owns 34 grosvenor casinos the mecca bingo chain and more than 100 hard rock cafes in 38 countries.

business

johnson accuses british sprinters former olympic champion michael johnson has accused britain s top sprinters of lacking pride and ambition. at the moment the biggest factor on the mind of british sprinters is to be number one in britain the world 200m and 400m record holder told five live. athletics at the moment is all about international competitions and they need to show a little more pride. however linford christie countered: it s easy to criticise when you haven t gone through the system here. johnson was involved in a verbal spat with britain s darren campbell earlier this year. the american had cast doubt on campbell s claims he had torn a hamstring in the wake of his failure to reach the olympic 100m and 200m finals. and the american remains highly critical of aspects of british sprinting. the only time you see british sprinters getting upset or riled is when there is a debate as to which one is better than the other he claimed. athletes here have to compete more outside the uk. their focus has to be on being the best in the world and not just on being the top british sprinter. speaking at an elite coaches conference in birmingham johnson also argued that although there has been more investment in the sport in britain it had not necessarily reaped the rewards. you can t fix everything with money he admitted. you contrast the situation here to that of some us athletes who have no funding. those who aren t funded might be hungrier and more motivated because their road to success is a lot more difficult and challenging. so when they get to the top they are more appreciative.

sport

borders 19-20 ulster ulster clung on for a morale-boosting celtic league win over bottom club borders at netherdale on friday night. a late try by borders substitute jonny weston had set up a dramatic finish but the scottish side could not complete the fightback. ulster had led 20-6 with tries from paul steinmetz and bryn cunningham. but the irish province failed to add to the tally in the second half and ended up relieved to get the win to lift them to eighth place in the table. borders had edged ahead with a sixth-minute penalty by charlie hore - only to hand the visitors the initiative via a gift try. calum macrae surrendered possession before centre steinmetz sent a chip into the danger zone. substitute joe pattison - who had come on for the injured gareth morton - wrongly thought the ball was trickling out of play and eased up on the chase. the speedy steinmetz had other ideas and he raced up to get the vital touch in the nick of time giving adam larkin an easy conversion. ally warnock clawed back three points for borders but they were soon hit by another double-blow. first mark blair was yellow carded for killing the ball on the ground and then full-back cunningham bagged the second touchdown in the wake of fine work by skipper andy ward. larkin again added the extras. even worse was to come for borders when larkin kicked two more penalties just before the break the second of which also led to kelly brown being sin-binned. the hosts gave themselves a glimmer of hope immediately after the restart however when warnock struck a penalty at the other end. and he repeated the feat to set up the tense finale. ulster coach mark mccall said he was delighted to get the victory. borders are a tougher proposition this year in spite of the fact that they have not had a victory in some time said mccall. in the first 20 minutes we were edgy but in the second 20 minutes we played some of our best rugby this season and scored two good tries. morton moffat macrae hore berthinussen warnock moore thomson ford douglas blair stewart gray brown mcentee. kay parr mcgee rennick weston millar pattison. cunningham maxwell bell steinmetz howe larkin campbell s. best shields moore frost mccullough ward feather n. best. brady mccormick longwell browne doak s. young bowe. phil fear (wru)

sport

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

business

ukraine steel sell-off illegal the controversial sell-off of a ukrainian steel mill to a relative of the former president was illegal a court has ruled. the mill krivorizhstal was sold in june 2004 for $800m (£424m) - well below other offers. president viktor yushchenko elected in december is planning to revisit many of ukraine s recent privatisations. krivorizhstal is one of dozens of firms which he says were sold cheaply to friends of the previous administration. on wednesday prime minister yulia tymoshenko said as many as 3 000 firms could be included on the list of firms whose sale was being reviewed. mr yushchenko had previously said the list would be limited to 30-40 enterprises. more than 90 000 businesses in all from massive corporations to tiny shopfronts have been sold off since 1992 as the command economy built up when ukraine was part of the soviet union was dismantled. analysts have suggested that the government needs to avoid the impression of an open-ended list so as to preserve investor confidence. thursday s ruling by a district court in perchesk overturned a previous decision in a lower court permitting the sale. the consortium which won the auction for the mill was created by viktor pinchuk son-in-law of former-president leonid kuchma and rinat akhmetov the country s richest man. the next step is for the supreme court to annul the sale altogether opening the way for krivorizhstal to be resold. mr yushchenko has suggested a fair valuation could be as much as $3bn. one of the foreign bidders who lost out steel giant lnm told bbc news that it would be interested in any renewed sale.

business

wada will appeal against ruling the world anti-doping agency (wada) will appeal against the acquittal of kostas kenteris and katerina thanou on doping charges if the iaaf does not. the pair were cleared of charges relating to missing dope tests by the greek athletics federation last week. wada chairman dick pound said: i am convinced the iaaf will appeal against the decision and we will support them. but if they accept the federation s ruling we will go before the court of arbitration for sport he added. kenteris s lawyer gregory ioannidis reacted angrily to pound s comments. comments like these only help to embarrass the sporting governing bodies create a hostage situation for the iaaf and strengthen our case further he told bbc sport. kenteris 31 and thanou 30 had been charged with avoiding drugs tests in tel aviv chicago and athens and failing to notify anti-doping officials of their whereabouts before the olympics. they withdrew from the athens games after missing a drugs test at the olympic village on 12 august. but an independent tribunal ruled that the duo had not been informed that they needed to attend a drugs test in athens. however their former coach christos tzekos was banned for four years by the tribunal. kenteris and thanou still have to face trial on charges brought separately by greek prosecutors of missing the drugs tests and faking a motorcycle accident to avoid testing at the athens games.

sport

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

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

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

politics

tories opposing 24-hour drinking the tories say plans to extend pub opening times should be put on hold until binge drinking is under control despite backing a law change last year. spokesman david davis said ministers had failed to make his party aware of concern among senior police that plans would cause more anti-social behaviour. notts police chief steve green said innocent people would suffer. but culture secretary tessa jowell said a delay would be disastrous and she accused the tories of opportunism. the government would go ahead with the changes which would give police more power to tackle excessive drinking she added. earlier chief constable green questioned how his officers would be able to practically apply powers allowing them to shut down problem premises. if you look at the market square in nottingham if a fight takes place which licensed premises do you go and lay the responsibilty at the door of he asked on bbc radio 4 s world at one programme. he warned that if drinking establishments were allowed to open until three or four in the morning the police would have to take officers off day shifts in order to do their job effectively at night. earlier this year the royal college of physicians said it opposed the plan to extend drinking hours when there was already an epidemic of binge drinking. minister richard caborn said the government was tackling the causes and the symptoms of the problem by allowing more powers to close down problem premises. it is hoped that allowing pubs and clubs to stay open longer will stagger closing times and end the current situation where drinkers spill on to the streets all at once. earlier tony blair defended the plans against criticism from one of his own backbenchers. my view of this is very clear: we should have the same flexibility that other countries have and then we should come down really hard on those who abuse that freedom and don t show the responsibility he told mps. the law-abiding majority who want the ability after going to the cinema or theatre say to have a drink at the time they want should not be inconvenienced we shouldn t have to have restrictions that no other city in europe has just in order to do something for that tiny minority who abuse alcohol who go out and fight and cause disturbances. to take away that ability for all the population - even the vast majority who are law abiding - is not in my view sensible. this week a judge claimed easy access to drink was breeding urban savages and turning town centres into no go areas. judge charles harris qc made his remarks as he sentenced three men for assaults carried out while drunk and high on drugs after a night out.

politics

sky takes over oscar night mantle sky has signed a major new deal to broadcast this year s academy awards taking over from three years of live oscar coverage on the bbc. sky said it was honoured to have won exclusive broadcasting rights and promised to cover the event in a way no other broadcaster could . the bbc denied it had lost a bidding war saying it had decided to pass the mantle to another broadcaster . the ceremony hosted by newcomer chris rock takes place on 27 february 2005. sky s coverage will launch with the nominations on 25 january and will include themed programming across sky channels including sky news sky travel and the biography channel. there will also be a month-long season of oscar-winning films on sky movies in the run up to the event and live uninterrupted coverage on the night. we are honoured to have won the live and exclusive broadcasting rights for the academy awards said sky networks sophie turner laing. sky is the natural place to see the biggest and most prestigious film event of the year and will cover the event in a way that no other broadcaster could. sky first scooped oscar rights from the bbc in 1999 but the bbc won them back in 2001 when sky was forced to pull out of a bidding war due to financial constraints. bbc viewers will of course be able to watch quality coverage of the 2005 academy awards on the bbc s bulletins and news programmes a spokesman said. among the films tipped to do well at this year s academy awards are martin scorsese s the aviator jean-pierre jeunet s a very long engagement and the ray charles biopic ray.

entertainment

japanese mogul arrested for fraud one of japan s best-known businessmen was arrested on thursday on charges of falsifying shareholder information and selling shares based on the false data. yoshiaki tsutsumi was once ranked as the world s richest man and ran a business spanning hotels railways construction and a baseball team. his is the latest in a series of arrests of top executives in japan over business scandals. he was taken away in a van outside one of his prince hotels in tokyo. there was a time when mr tsutsumi seemed untouchable. inheriting a large property business from his father in the 1960s he became one of japan s most powerful industrialists with close connections to many of the country s leading politicians. he used his wealth and influence to bring the winter olympic games to nagano in 1998. but last year he was forced to resign from all the posts he held in his business empire after being accused of falsifying the share-ownership structure of seibu railways one of his companies. under japanese stock market rules no listed company can be more than 80% owned by its 10 largest shareholders. now mr tsutsumi faces criminal charges and the possibility of a prison sentence because he made it look as if the 10 biggest shareholders owned less than this amount. seibu railways has been delisted from the stock exchange its share value has plunged and it is the target of a takeover bid. mr tsutsumi s fall from grace follows the arrests of several other top executives in japan as the authorities try to curb the murky business practices which were once widespread in japanese companies. his determination to stay at the top at all costs may have had its roots in his childhood. the illegitimate third son of a rich father who made his money buying up property as japan rebuilt after world war ii he has described the demands his father made. i felt enormous pressure when i dined with him and it was nothing but pain tsutsumi told a weekly magazine in 1987. he scolded me for pouring too much soy sauce or told me fruit was not for children. he didn t let me use the silk futon saying it s a luxury. there have been corporate governance issues at some other japanese companies too. last year twelve managers from mitsubishi motors were charged with covering up safety defects in their vehicles and three executives from japan s troubled ufj bank were charged with concealing the extent of the bank s bad loans.

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

brewers profits lose their fizz heineken and carlsberg two of the world s largest brewers have reported falling profits after beer sales in western europe fell flat. dutch firm heineken saw its annual profits drop 33% and warned that earnings in 2005 may also slide. danish brewer carlsberg suffered a 3% fall in profits due to waning demand and increased marketing costs. both are looking to russia and china to provide future growth as western european markets are largely mature. heineken s net income fell to 537m euros ($701m; £371m) during 2004 from 798m euro a year ago. it blamed weak demand in western europe and currency losses. it had warned in september that the weakening us dollar which has cut the value of foreign sales would knock 125m euros off its operating profits. despite the dip in profits heineken s sales have been improving and total revenue for the year was 10bn euros up 8.1% from 9.26bn euros in 2003. heineken said it now plans to invest 100m euros in aggressive and high-impact marketing in europe and the us in 2005. heineken which also owns the amstel and murphy s stout brands said it would also seek to cut costs. this may involve closing down breweries. heineken increased its dividend payment by 25% to 40 euro cents but warned that the continued impact of a weaker dollar and an increased marketing spend may lead to a drop in 2005 net profit. carlsberg the world s fifth-largest brewer saw annual pre-tax profits fall to 3.4bn danish kroner (456m euros). its beer sales have been affected by the sluggish european economy and by the banning of smoking in pubs in several european countries. nevertheless total sales increased 4% to 36bn kroner thanks to strong sales of carlsberg lager in russia and poland. carlsberg is more optimistic than heineken about 2005 projecting a 15% rise in net profits for the year. however it also plans to cut 200 jobs in sweden where sales have been hit by demand for cheap imported brands. we remain cautious about the medium-to-long term outlook for revenue growth across western europe for a host of economic social and structural reasons investment bank merrill lynch said of carlsberg.

business

claxton hunting first major medal british hurdler sarah claxton is confident she can win her first major medal at next month s european indoor championships in madrid. the 25-year-old has already smashed the british record over 60m hurdles twice this season setting a new mark of 7.96 seconds to win the aaas title. i am quite confident said claxton. but i take each race as it comes. as long as i keep up my training but not do too much i think there is a chance of a medal. claxton has won the national 60m hurdles title for the past three years but has struggled to translate her domestic success to the international stage. now the scotland-born athlete owns the equal fifth-fastest time in the world this year. and at last week s birmingham grand prix claxton left european medal favourite russian irina shevchenko trailing in sixth spot. for the first time claxton has only been preparing for a campaign over the hurdles - which could explain her leap in form. in previous seasons the 25-year-old also contested the long jump but since moving from colchester to london she has re-focused her attentions. claxton will see if her new training regime pays dividends at the european indoors which take place on 5-6 march.

sport

uk heading wrong way - howard tony blair has had the chance to tackle the problems facing britain and has failed michael howard has said. britain is heading in the wrong direction the conservative leader said in his new year message. mr blair s government was a bossy interfering government that takes decisions that should be made by individuals he added. but labour s campaign spokesman fraser kemp responded: britain is working don t let the tories wreck it again . mr howard also paid tribute to the nation s character for its generous response to the asian quake disaster. the catastrophe was overshadowing the hopes for the future at this usually positive time of the year mr howard said. we watched the scenes of destruction with a sense of disbelief. the scale the speed the ferocity of what happened on boxing day is difficult to grasp. yet britain s response has shone a light on our nation s character. the last week has shown that the warm caring heart of britain beats as strong as ever. he went on to reflect on the values that most britons hold dear . looking ahead to the coming general election he pledged to turn these beliefs into reality and set out the choices he says are facing britain. how much tax do people want to pay who will give taxpayers value for money the clean hospitals and good disciplined schools they want who can be trusted to get a grip on the disorder on our streets and the chaos in our immigration system mr blair has failed to tackle these problems he claimed saying he has the wrong solution to them. the result is big government and higher taxes eroding incentives undermining enterprise and denying people choice. worst of all it is a government that has wasted people s money and failed to tackle the problems families face today. the tories he said can cut crime and improve public services without asking people to pay more taxes. we can have progress without losing what makes britain great - its tolerance the respect for the rule of law the ability of everyone to fulfil their potential. we simply need to change direction. the election will give britain the chance to change. this is the record mr blair will have to defend in the coming months he said urging voters to hold him to account. but labour spokesman mr kemp said: it would be more appropriate for this message to come out on 1 april not 1 january. let us never forget that when michael howard was in government britain suffered mass unemployment 15% interest rates record home repossessions and the introduction of the poll tax. with labour britain is working. rather than alluding to false promises michael howard should be starting 2005 with an apology to the british people for the misery that the government of which he was a member inflicted upon the country.

politics

wenger rules out new keeper arsenal boss arsene wenger says he has no plans to sign a new goalkeeper during the january transfer window. wenger has brought in manuel almunia for the last three games for the out-of-form jens lehmann - but the spaniard himself has been prone to mistakes. there have been suggestions that wenger will swoop for a high-quality shot-stopper in the new year. but he told the evening standard: i don t feel it will be necessary to bring in a new goalkeeper in january. the gunners manager refused to comment on the difficult start that 27-year-old almunia has made to his career at highbury. and he would not be drawn on whether lehmann would return for the top-of-the table clash with chelsea on sunday. almunia was at fault for rosenborg s goal in arsenal s 5-1 champions league win on tuesday and had some hairy moments in last week s win over birmingham. but wenger said earlier this week that his indifferent form was down to pressure caused by being under scrutiny from the media. the debate has gone on too long. everyone has an opinion and i do not have to add to it wenger added. arsenal have been linked with middlesbrough keeper mark schwarzer fulham s edwin van der sar and parma s sebastien frey. and wenger has no immediate plans to recall former england under-21 international stuart taylor from his loan spell at leicester.

sport

india s reliance family feud heats up the ongoing public spat between the two heirs of india s biggest conglomerate reliance group has spilled over to the board meeting of a leading company within the group. anil ambani vice-chairman of india petrochemicals limited (ipcl) stayed away from a gathering of senior managers on thursday. the move follows a decision earlier this month by anil - the younger brother of reliance group president mukesh ambani - to resign from his post. his resignation was not accepted by his brother who is also the boss of ipcl. the ipcl board met in mumbai to discuss the company s results for the october-to-december quarter. it is understood that the board also considered anil s resignation and asked him to reconsider his decision. however anil s demand that anand jain - another ipcl board member accused by anil of creating a rift in the ambani family - be thrown out was not met. anil has accused anand jain a confidant of his brother mukesh of playing a negative role in the ambani family and being responsible for the trouble between the brothers. on wednesday the board of reliance energy another reliance group company reaffirmed its faith in anil who is the company s chief. reliance group acquired the government s 26% stake in ipcl - india s second-largest petrochemicals company - in 2002 as part of the privatisation drive. meanwhile the group s flagship company reliance industries has its board meeting on friday to consider its financial results. mukesh is the company s chairman and anil its deputy and it is expected that both brothers will come face to face in the meeting. the ambani family controls 48% of the group which is worth $17bn (£9.1bn; 745bn indian rupees). it was founded by their father dhiru bhai ambani who died two years ago.

business

khodorkovsky ally denies charges a close associate of former yukos boss mikhail khodorkovsky has told a court that fraud charges levelled against him are false . platon lebedev has been on trial alongside mr khodorkovsky since june in a case centring around the privatisation of a fertiliser firm. the pair claim they are being punished by the authorities for the political ambitions of mr khodorkovsky. mr lebedev said there were absurd contradictions in the case. opening his defence he said he could not see the legal basis of the charges he faced which also include allegations of tax evasion. to my embarrassment i could not understand the file of complaints against me he told a moscow court. mr lebedev headed the menatep group the parent company of yukos. mr lebedev and mr khodorkovsky who each face a possible 10 year jail sentence if convicted will be questioned by a judge over the next few days. mr khodorkovsky began his testimony last week telling the court that he objected to the way that the running of a normal business has been presented as a work of criminal fiction . the charges are seen by supporters as politically motivated and part of a drive by russian president vladimir putin to rein in the country s super-rich business leaders the so-called oligarchs. yukos has been presented with a $27.5bn (£13bn) tax demand by the russian authorities and its key yugansk division was auctioned off to part settle the bill. the company s effort to gain bankruptcy protection in the us - in a bid to win damages for the sale - were dismissed by a court in texas.

business

china continues rapid 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

have hackers recruited your pc more than one million computers on the net have been hijacked to attack websites and pump out spam and viruses. the huge number was revealed by security researchers who have spent months tracking more than 100 networks of remotely-controlled machines. the largest network of so-called zombie networks spied on by the team was made up of 50 000 hijacked home computers. data was gathered using machines that looked innocent but which logged everything hackers did to them. the detailed look at zombie or bot nets of hijacked computers was done by the honeynet project - a group of security researchers that gather information using networks of computers that act as honey pots to attract hackers and gather information about how they work. while bot nets have been known about for some time estimates of how widespread they are from security firms have varied widely. to gather its information the german arm of the honeynet project created software tools to log what happened to the machines they put on the web. getting the machines hijacked was worryingly easy. the longest time a honeynet machine survived without being found by an automatic attack tool was only a few minutes. the shortest compromise time was only a few seconds. the research found that once compromised machines tend to report in to chat channels on irc servers and wait instructions from the malicious hacker behind the tools used to recruit the machine. many well-known vulnerabilities in the windows operating system were exploited by bot net controllers to find and take over target machines. especially coveted were home pcs sitting on broadband connections that are never turned off. the months of surveillance revealed that the different bot nets - which involve a few hundred to tens of thousands of machines - are used for a variety of purposes. many are used as relays for spam to route unwanted adverts to pc users or as launch platforms for viruses. but the research team found that many are put to very different uses. during the monitoring period the team saw bot nets used to launch 226 distributed denial-of-service attacks on 99 separate targets. these attacks bombard websites with data in an attempt to overwhelm the target. using a bot net of machines spread around different networks and nations makes such attacks hard to defend against. one ddos attack was used by one firm to knock its competitors offline. other bot nets were used to abuse the google adsense program that rewards websites for displaying adverts from the search engine. some networks were used to abuse or manipulate online polls and games. criminals also seem to be starting to use bot nets for mass identity theft to host websites that look like those of banks so confidential information can be gathered and to peep into online traffic to steal sensitive data. leveraging the power of several thousand bots it is viable to take down almost any website or network instantly said the researchers. even in unskilled hands it should be obvious that bot nets are a loaded and powerful weapon.

tech

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

sport

vibe awards back despite violence the us vibe awards will be held again next year despite a stabbing which happened during the ceremony. vibe magazine president kenard gibbs said the attack earlier this month in santa monica was sickening . he said not holding the awards would be counter to the work the magazine has done to promote hip hop music. rapper young buck has been charged after allegedly stabbing a man who hit dr dre as he was about to receive a lifetime achievement award. the rapper whose real name is david darnell brown is due in court on 20 december after being arrested on one charge of attempted murder and a second charge of assault with a deadly weapon. the performer is one of the members of 50 cent s g-unit group which is signed to dr dre s record label. the man who was stabbed jimmy james johnson suffered a collapsed lung and is in a stable condition at a los angeles hospital. mr johnson allegedly approached dr dre who was seated at a table in front of the stage and appeared to ask for an autograph before punching him. during the ensuing scuffle - which involved many of the 1 000-strong crowd - mr johnson was stabbed as he was being dragged away by security staff

entertainment