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viewers to be able to shape tv imagine editing titanic down to watch just your favourite bits or cutting out the slushier moments of star wars to leave you with a bare bones action-fest. manipulating your favourite films to make a more personalised movie is just the beginning of an ambitious new 7.5m euro (£5.1m) project funded by the european union. new media for a new millennium (nm2) will have as its endgame the development of a completely new media genre which will allow audiences to create their own media worlds based on their specific interests or tastes. viewers will be able to participate in storylines manipulate plots and even the sets and props of tv shows. bt is one of 13 partners involved in the project. it will be contributing software that was originally designed to spot anomalies in cctv pictures. the software uses content recognition algorithms. the three-year project will work on seven productions as it develops a set of software tools that will allow viewers to edit content to their needs. one of the productions will be a experimental television show where the plot will be driven by text messages from the tv audience. participants will text selected words which will impact how the characters in the drama interact. it is being developed in finland and will be shown to finnish tv audiences. another team will work on the bbc s big budget drama of mervyn peake s gothic fantasy gormenghast. it will be re-engineered to allow people to choose a variety of edited versions. the bbc is allowing us access to the material so that we can prove the technology and the principles explained dr doug williams of bt who will be nm2 s technical project manager. the tv at the moment is a relatively dumb box which receives signals. this project is about teaching the machine to look at content like lego blocks that can be reassembled to make perfect sense he said. at the moment we have interactive gaming and a limited form of interactive tv which usually means allowing audiences to vote on shows. we are hoping to occupy the space in-between he added. nm2 s co-ordinator peter stollenmayer explained that the new genre would radically alter the role of the audience. viewers will be able to interact directly with the medium and influence what they see and hear according to their personal tastes and wishes he said. media users will no longer be passive viewers but become active engagers. it will also be important that the tools are sophisticated enough to obey the complex rules of cinematography and editing said john wyver from tv producer illuminations television limited which is also involved in the project. it s not just a matter of stringing together the romantic or action portions of a production said mr wyver. the tool has to know which bits fit together both visually by observing the time-honoured rules that go in editing and in terms of the story. only then will the personalised version both make sense and be aesthetically pleasing he added. mr wyver is planning a production entitled the golden age about renaissance art. it will allow viewers to create a so-called media world based on their own specific areas of interest such as poetry music and architecture. other productions that the nm2 team will make range from news documentaries to a romantic comedy drama.

tech

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

business

lennon brands rangers favourites celtic s neil lennon admits rangers could be considered slight favourites for the old firm cis cup clash but insists his side can still win. lennon concedes rangers are in good form at the moment but they have failed to beat celtic in their last seven meetings. rangers are on the up and have been on a good run in recent weeks he said. but it s a game we believe we re capable of winning if we play our best he told the evening times. all the boys are looking forward to it because they are brilliant games to be involved in. without playing at the top of our game we have still been winning matches. at the minute we are at the top of the league and still in with a chance of staying in europe so i don t think it is the crisis people have been trying to make out. of course it is a concern when you are losing goals because we have been notorious for being a team that is hard to beat and keeping clean sheets but hopefully we are over that wee run. considering we lost henrik larsson at the end of last season we have still been scoring a lot of goals which is pleasing.

sport

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

entertainment

britons growing digitally obese gadget lovers are so hungry for digital data many are carrying the equivalent of 10 trucks full of paper in weight . music images e-mails and texts are being hoarded on mobiles cameras laptops and pdas (personal digital assistants) a toshiba study found. it found that more than 60% kept 1 000 to 2 000 music files on their devices making the uk digitally fat . virtual weight measurements are based on research by california institute of technology professor roy williams. he calculated physical comparisons for digital data in the mid-1990s. he worked out that one gigabyte (1 000 000 000 bytes) was the equivalent of a pick-up truck filled with paper. the amount of data people are squirreling away on their gadgets is clearly a sign that people are finding more things to do with their shiny things. if digital hoarding habits continue on this scale people could be carrying around a digitally obese 20 gigabytes by next year. britain has become a nation of information hoarders with a ferocious appetite for data said martin larsson general manager of toshiba s european storage device division. as storage capabilities increase and the features and functionalities of mobile devices expand to support movie files and entire libraries of multi-media content we will all become virtually obese he told the bbc news website. the survey reflects the increasing trend for portable devices with built-in hard drives like music and media players from apple creative labs archos iriver and others. this trend is set to grow according to analysts. they suggest the number of hard drives in consumer electronics gadgets could grow from 17 million last year to 55 million in 2006. consumers are driving the move towards smaller devices that have greater functionality and industry is trying to keep up said mr larsson. people are looking for more than just phone calls and text messages on the move they want things like web browsing e-mailing music photos and more. many are finding memory keys and memory sticks are simply not big enough to hold everything. floppies and memory keys have their place but they don t have anything like the capacity or flexibility of a hard drive so are unable to meet the demand for more and more storage capacity in consumer devices said mr larsson. the cost of making hard drives has dropped and is continuing to do so because of improved technologies so they are proving to be more cost-effective than other forms of memory he added. the amount of data that can be stored has grown by 400% in the last three years while the cost for every gigabyte has fallen by 80%. it is also getting easier to transfer files from one device to another which has traditionally been a slow and problematic area. transfer of data between different memory types has improved significantly in recent times and will be further helped by the standards for hard drives which are currently being developed by the major manufacturers said mr larsson. according to technology analysts idc a fifth of all hard drives produced will be used in consumer electronics by 2007.

tech

singer sizzla jailed for swearing reggae star sizzla whose uk tour was cancelled after protests at his anti-gay lyrics has been jailed in jamaica for swearing on stage. the singer must serve 15 days in prison after he consistently swore during a concert in st thomas jamaica in january despite warnings by police. he was charged under a law which prohibits indecent dress or expression. sizzla s five-date uk tour was cancelled last november after protests by gay rights campaigners. sizzla whose real name is miguel collins has released 25 albums since 1995 and is credited with taking dancehall music back to its reggae origins. many jamaican entertainers have appeared before the courts for use of profanity in recent years but they usually receive a verbal warning a suspended sentence or community service. sizzla s uk tour was cancelled after scotland yard s racial and violent crime taskforce announced it was examining lyrics by eight reggae artists. it would not confirm that sizzla was among them. one of his most controversial songs pump up contains the jamaican patois lyrics fire fi di man dem weh go ride man behind translated by gay rights group outrage! as burn the men who have sex with men .

entertainment

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

tech

famed music director viotti dies conductor marcello viotti director of venice s famous la fenice theatre has died in germany at 50. viotti director of la fenice since 2002 conducted at renowned opera houses worldwide including milan s la scala and the vienna state opera. his time at la fenice coincided with its reopening in 2003 after it was destroyed by fire in 1996. he fell into a coma after suffering a stroke during rehearsals for jules massenet s manon last week. he conducted some of the best orchestras in the world including the berlin philharmonic and the english chamber orchestra. viotti was born in switzerland and studied the piano cello and singing at the lausanne conservatory. his career breakthrough came in 1982 when he won first prize at the gino marinuzzi conducting competition in italy. viotti established himself as chief conductor of the turin opera and went on to become chief conductor of munich s radio orchestra. at la fenice viotti was widely acclaimed for his production of the french composer massenet s thais and some of his other productions included giuseppe verdi s la traviata and richard strauss s ariadne auf naxos. the last opera he directed at la fenice was massenet s le roi de lahore. viotti s debut at the new york s metropolitan opera came in 2000 with giacomo puccini s madame butterfly followed by la boheme la traviata and fromental halevy s la juive. giampaolo vianello superintendent of the fenice theatre foundation said: i am filled with extreme sadness because other than a great artist he is missed as a friend - a main character in the latest joyous times during the rebirth of our theatre. viotti s last public performance was on 5 february when he conducted vincenzo bellini s norma at the vienna state opera.

entertainment

band aid 20 single storms to no 1 the new version of the band aid song do they know it s christmas has gone straight in at number one in the uk singles chart. the charity record is also tipped to be this year s christmas number one. it features vocals from the likes of chris martin dido robbie williams and the sugababes. the original version - which was the christmas number one in 1984 - sold 750 000 copies in its first week and 3.5 million in total. it was released in the us and reached number 13 in the singles chart. however band aid 20 is not going to be released in the us despite being sold in many countries around the world. us record shops are stocking an import version of do they know it s christmas which is said to be selling very well in los angeles and new york. british stars who appear on the current recording such as dido and coldplay s chris martin are well known to music fans across the atlantic along with u2 frontman bono. record company universal is responsible for the global distribution of the single which will be available across europe asia south america and canada. but music fans in the us are still able to access the song and download it on band aid 20 s official website. in 1985 a group of high-profile american stars known as usa for africa came together to record their own fund-raising single we are the world. the song was written by lionel richie and michael jackson with quincy jones as producer. it topped the us charts for three weeks and went on win grammy awards for best record and song. dionne warwick diana ross and tina turner were among the line-up of performers. proceeds from the sales of the band aid 20 single will go towards aid relief in africa in countries such as ethiopia and sudan. the money raised will also be used to help combat hiv and aids across the continent. the band aid trust which was set up 20 years ago when the original single was released handed out $144m (£75m) to famine relief projects across africa between january 1985 and november 2004.

entertainment

hong kong in 2011 world cup bid hong kong is hoping to join japan as co-host of the 2011 rugby world cup. japan has applied to host the tournament on its own with the aim of taking it outside rugby s traditional strongholds for the first time. but hong kong rugby football union (hkrfu) chairman john molloy has called for the territory to host one of the pools and a quarter-final. the japanese rugby football union (jrfu) says it has yet to receive a formal presentation from the hkrfu. at this stage we are only considering hosting the event by ourselves said jrfu secretary koji tokumasu. we cannot examine any proposal unless we get it in a definitive form. japan faces stiff competition in the form of south africa and new zealand to host the event in seven years time. until now the world cup has been held in countries from the six nations or tri-nations said tokumasu. we think and the irb thinks that it is time for rugby to go global. japan is ready to host the tournament and we are looking forward to welcoming the world of rugby to japan. tokumasu added that the 2002 football world cup co-hosted by japan and south korea had been a huge success. as well as having the infrastructure in place japan also has the commercial clout to host one of sport s top competitions he said. last year japan launched its first professional rugby league and it has the fourth largest number of registered players (125 508) in the world after england south africa and france.

sport

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

sport

premier league planning cole date the premier league is attempting to find a mutually convenient date to investigate allegations chelsea made an illegal approach for ashley cole. both chelsea and arsenal will be asked to give evidence to a premier league commission but no deadline has been put on when that meeting will convene. it s hard to put a date on it a premier league spokesman confirmed to bbc sport. it s not a formal situation where they ve got so much time to respond. arsenal and england defender cole reportedly met blues boss jose mourinho and chief executive peter kenyon in a london hotel 11 days ago. chelsea have yet to officially confirm or deny the meeting which would be in breach of premier league rule k3. now the gunners have asked for an inquiry to look into claims that their player has been tapped up . both clubs have pledged to co-operate with the inquiry which will be conducted on a single day as opposed to being run as an ongoing evaluation. cole is in negotiations with the gunners over extending his current deal which ends in 2007. and his arsenal team-mate robert pires has urged the england left-back to stay at highbury. pires told the evening standard: he has been at arsenal for ever. he is a very attacking left-back and i think he is enjoying his football because at arsenal he plays in an offensive team. i am not sure he will get the same pleasure at chelsea even though they are doing so well at the moment. i have built a fantastic playing relationship with ashley. we play together so well - we could do it with our eyes shut. but you have to respect the decision of the player. everybody has that right.

sport

jp morgan admits us slavery links thousands of slaves were accepted as collateral for loans by two banks that later became part of jp morgan chase. the admission is part of an apology sent to jp morgan staff after the bank researched its links to slavery in order to meet legislation in chicago. citizens bank and canal bank are the two lenders that were identified. they are now closed but were linked to bank one which jp morgan bought last year. about 13 000 slaves were used as loan collateral between 1831 and 1865. because of defaults by plantation owners citizens and canal ended up owning about 1 250 slaves. we all know slavery existed in our country but it is quite different to see how our history and the institution of slavery were intertwined jp morgan chief executive william harrison and chief operating officer james dimon said in the letter. slavery was tragically ingrained in american society but that is no excuse. we apologise to the african-american community particularly those who are descendants of slaves and to the rest of the american public for the role that citizens bank and canal bank played. the slavery era was a tragic time in us history and in our company s history. jp morgan said that it was setting up a $5m scholarship programme for students living in louisiana the state where the events took place. the bank said that it is a very different company than the citizens and canal banks of the 1800s .

business

brando rejected godfather role late film star marlon brando is said to have repeatedly turned down his oscar-winning role in the godfather. the actor s friend budd schulberg told vanity fair magazine that brando s assistant suggested he read the novel. the actor repeatedly refused throwing the book at her and saying: for the last time i won t glorify the mafia . but brando who died last july at the age of 80 eventually took the role of don corleone winning him an oscar in 1973 which he notoriously refused. the actor sent a young woman dressed in native american costume to refuse the award on his behalf and to draw attention to the plight of native americans. schulberg told the magazine that brando s assistant realised the film star had warmed to the idea of the godfather role when he sported a drawn-on pencil moustache and asked: how do i look his assistant alice marchak said that he looked like george raft an actor famed for playing gangsters on the silver screen. every time she went to see brando from then on she added he was wearing a different gangster-style moustache. brando was asked to screen test for the role in the godfather as studio executives were said to be reluctant for the actor to play the part following problems on the set of brando s previous film mutiny on the bounty . in fact brando s academy award triumph revived his career. the actor was nominated for an oscar the following year for his role in bernardo bertolucci s last tango in paris. before his death brando granted gaming company electronic arts the rights to use his voice and image in a video game based on the godfather film and book and recorded voice-overs which closely resembled his role as don corleone. brando s co-stars from the godfather james caan and robert duvall will also reprise their roles for the video game it was confirmed on wednesday.

entertainment

safety alert as gm recalls cars the world s biggest carmaker general motors (gm) is recalling nearly 200 000 vehicles in the us on safety grounds according to federal regulators. the national highway traffic safety administration (nhtsa) said the largest recall involves 155 465 pickups vans and sports utility vehicles (suvs). this is because of possible malfunctions with the braking systems. the affected vehicles in the product recall are from the 2004 and 2005 model years gm said. those vehicles with potential faults are the chevrolet avalanche express kodiak silverade and suburban; the gmc savana sierra and yukon. the nhtsa said a pressure accumulator in the braking system could crack during normal driving and fragments could injure people if the hood was open. this could allow hydraulic fluid to leak which could make it harder to brake or steer and could cause a crash it warned. gm is also recalling 19 924 cadillac xlr coupes srx suvs and pontiac grand prix sedans from the 2004 model year. this is because the accelerator pedal may not work properly in extremely cold temperatures requiring more braking. in addition the car giant is calling back 17 815 buick raniers chevrolet trailblazers gmc envoys and isuzu ascenders from the 2005 model years because the windshield is not properly fitted and could fall out in a crash. however gm stressed that it did not know of any injuries related to the problems. news of the recall follows an announcement last month that gm expects earnings this year be lower than in 2004. the world s biggest car maker is grappling with losses in its european business weak us sales and now a product recall. in january gm said higher healthcare costs in north america and lower profits at its financial services subsidiary would hurt its performance in 2005.

business

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

tech

wales make two changes for france wales coach mike ruddock has made two changes from the team that beat italy 38-8 for saturday s trip to france. kevin morgan takes over from his injured newport-gwent dragons colleague hal luscombe on the right wing. and in the pack neath-swansea ospreys forward ryan jones is preferred at blindside flanker to jonathan thomas. thomas a try-scorer in rome drops down to the bench instead of ian gough while cardiff back rhys williams steps up in place of morgan. luscombe is sidelined by a hamstring problem sustained during the six nations game against italy last weekend. however the experienced and in-form morgan was already pushing hard for a start at stade de france. due to his impressive performances from the bench kevin was very much in the selection mix anyway and the unfortunate injury to hal gives him the chance to start said ruddock. now that ryan jones has recovered from injury we have increased the options in the back row. jonathan thomas is unlucky to lose his spot after performing well against italy and scoring a try but such is the competition for places that every position is debated in detail. for this particular game we felt we might not always be afforded the open spaces out wide we were able to exploit against italy so an extra big ball-carrier in the back-row is thought to be necessary on this occasion. obviously it s a 22-man game these days and there is every chance that jonathan will be making an impact from the bench. wales have beaten france on two of their last three visits to paris and another victory this time around would keep them firmly on course for a first five or six nations title triumph since 1994. graham henry (former wales coach) said a couple of years ago that we should be bold when going to france and he was proved right said ruddock. that is a great way to approach the game and something we will further endorse with the players this week. g thomas (toulouse capt); k morgan (newport-gwent) t shanklin (cardiff) g henson (neath-swansea) s williams (neath-swansea); s jones (clermont auvergne) d peel (llanelli); g jenkins (cardiff) m davies (gloucester) a jones; (neath-swansea) b cockbain (neath-swansea) r sidoli (cardiff); r jones (neath-swansea) m williams (cardiff) m owen (newport-gwent). replacements: r mcbryde (llanelli) j yapp (cardiff) j thomas (neath-swansea) r sowden-taylor (cardiff) g cooper (newport-gwent) c sweeney newport-gwent) r williams (cardiff).

sport

green fear for transport ballot the green party is concerned thousands of residents may not be able to vote in edinburgh s transport referendum. edinburgh city council is to ballot constituents on proposals to introduce congestion charging in the capital. but green msp mark ballard fears people not on the council s edited electoral register may miss out. local authorities can only send ballot papers to those on the edited list over non-statutory matters such as the transport referendum. therefore residents who have exercised their right to have their details left off the list could miss the chance to vote. however there is still time for those who are not on the list to contact the council and make sure they are sent ballot forms ahead of february s voting deadline. mr ballard said: this vote will set the future of transport in edinburgh for decades to come. it is therefore vital that as many residents as possible in edinburgh city and the surrounding areas are registered to vote in the ballot. many people are not aware that they may miss out on their chance to have a say. everyone involved in this debate - both for and against - wants the ballot to be as fair and representative as possible and that means encouraging people to take part. the ballot will ask residents to vote for or against the council s proposed congestion charge scheme and a host of transport improvements to be funded by it. the outcome of the referendum will be known next month after the ballot forms are sent out and returned to the council. towards the end of february the council will meet to decide whether to proceed with an application to scottish ministers for approval for its planned congestion charging scheme and the other parts of its transport package.

politics

celtic unhappy over bulgaria date martin o neill hopes to block stilian petrov s call-up by bulgaria during celtic s busy festive programme. the celtic manager does not view the friendly against valenciana - a region of spain - on 28 december as important. i can t say i was overly pleased at the fixture being played just after christmas said o neill. we will have to speak with the bulgarian fa. it s their prerogative for them to arrange a fixture and our prerogative how we handle it. bulgaria s game comes between celtic s boxing day meeting with hearts and their 2 january fixture against livingston. o neill believes the extra game will not help a midfielder whose season has already been affected by injury. they have organised a game at a rather awkward time he added. when we were out playing barcelona i spoke with the bulgarian manager hristo stoichkov and he mentioned this game to me. we pay his wages we are the ones that if an awkward fixture is going to be played at some stage or another it should be to our benefit rather than anyone else. i have said this before but bulgaria are the one nation who seem to organise a lot of friendly games.

sport

tories urge change at the top tory delegates are gathering for what is expected to be their last conference before the general election declaring britain needs a change at the top . the party goes into its spring forum trying to highlight what it sees as a clear choice between it and labour. tory co-chairman liam fox has opened proceedings with a speech criticising tony blair s record in government. labour s rule has been characterised by lost trust and failure to deliver he told the brighton conference. he also attacked the government s failure to control immigration and asylum and criticised its record on the nhs telling delegates labour cannot be trusted on education or crime. a tory government would sort out the shambles of immigration put patients before statistics and bring discipline to schools he said. dr fox also underlined tory promises to cut tax by £4bn. bbc political correspondent shaun ley says opinion polls suggest the tories still lag some way behind labour on the issues of health education and the economy. conservative leader michael howard who had been due to welcome delegates to the conference on friday will address them in a lunchtime speech. his welcome address had to be postponed after he stayed in london to lead the party s opposition to the prevention of terrorism bill in its lengthy progress through parliament. the bill was finally passed on friday evening after more than 30 hours of debate. mr howard is likely to defend his party s handling of the bill which was only passed after the conservatives accepted prime minister tony blair s promise that mps would be able to review it within a year.

politics

us economy shows solid gdp growth the us economy has grown more than expected expanding at an annual rate of 3.8% in the last quarter of 2004. the gross domestic product figure was ahead of the 3.1% the government estimated a month ago. the rise reflects stronger spending by businesses on capital equipment and a smaller-than-expected trade deficit. gdp is a measure of a country s economic health reflecting the value of the goods and services it produces. the new gdp figure announced by the commerce department on friday also topped the 3.5% growth rate that economists had forecast ahead of friday s announcement. growth was at an annual rate of 4% in the third quarter of 2004 and for the year it came in at 4.4% the best figure in five years. however the positive economic climate may lead to a rise in interest rates with many expecting us rates to rise on 22 march. in the january-to-march quarter the economy is expected to grow at an annual rate of about 4% economists forecast. in the final quarter of 2004 businesses increased spending on capital equipment and software by 18% up from 17.5% in the third quarter. consumer spending grew 4.2% in the final quarter down from the third quarter s 5.1%.

business

microsoft releases bumper patches microsoft has warned pc users to update their systems with the latest security fixes for flaws in windows programs. in its monthly security bulletin it flagged up eight critical security holes which could leave pcs open to attack if left unpatched. the number of holes considered critical is more than usual. they affect windows programs including internet explorer (ie) media player and instant messaging. four other important fixes were also released. these were considered to be less critical however. if not updated either automatically or manually pc users running the programs could be vulnerable to viruses or other malicious attacks designed to exploit the holes. many of the flaws could be used by virus writers to take over computers remotely install programs change and delete or see data. one of the critical patches microsoft has made available is an important one that fixes some ie flaws. stephen toulouse a microsoft security manager said the flaws were known about and although the firm had not seen any attacks exploiting the flaw he did not rule them out. often when a critical flaw is announced spates of viruses follow because home users and businesses leave the flaw unpatched. a further patch fixes a hole in media player windows messenger and msn messenger which an attacker could use to take control of unprotected machines through .png files. microsoft announces any vulnerabilities in its software every month. the most important ones are those which are classed as critical . its latest releases came the week that the company announced it was to buy security software maker sybari software as part of microsoft s plans to make its own security programs.

tech

stuart joins norwich from addicks norwich have signed charlton midfielder graham stuart until the end of the season for an undisclosed fee. it was a very easy decision to make the 34-year-old told norwich s website. the attraction for me was to continue to play in the premiership. canaries boss nigel worthington added: i m delighted that graham will be joining us until the end of the season. he s gives us a wealth of experience. hopefully he can be part of keeping us in the premier league. stuart has extensive top-flight experience with everton chelsea and charlton and can play across the midfield positions. he joins norwich with the norfolk club second-from-bottom in the premiership but stuart is confident that the carrow road outfit have a bright future. i ve been very impressed with the facilities here. it s obviously a very well run football club with excellent facilities and i ve always enjoyed playing at carrow road he added. it s a nice compact ground with a good atmosphere and hopefully i can help give the fans something else to cheer. stuart a former england under-21 international made 110 appearances for chelsea scoring 18 goals before joining everton. he won the fa cup with the toffees in 1995 and remains a hero at goodison park after his 81st-minute winner against wimbledon saved everton from relegation in 1994. stuart spent just over four years at goodison park making 125 senior appearances and scoring 25 goals before signing for sheffield united - where he scored 12 goals in 68 appearances. after signing for charlton he made 164 appearances scoring 23 times but recently he has been battling a back problem and had not played for the londoners for three months before heading to norwich.

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why few targets are better than many the economic targets set out at the lisbon summit of european union leaders in 2000 were meant to help europe leapfrog its way past the united states to become the world s leading economy by 2010. but the lisbon targets are about much more than just economic prestige. for many economists and analysts they are about ensuring europe doesn t become a global economic laggard. they are also about ensuring europe can continue to compete as an equal with the growing economic giants of asia india and china as well as with the economic might of the united states. that s why there was a tone of urgency in the report out on wednesday by the former dutch prime minister wim kok. mr kok was commissioned by the european commission in march this year to assess how far the eu has come towards meeting the lisbon targets five years on from their inception. his conclusion was simple: too many of the targets will be seriously missed. lisbon risks becoming a synonym for missed objectives and failed promises his report said. the status quo is not an option. at risk in the medium to long run is nothing less than the sustainability of the society europe has built it said. the report comes at a time when europe s competitive position is waning. the eu s economic growth rate is projected to be 2% this year and 2.4% next. while there has been growth in overall employment rates in europe productivity lags behind that of the us. but meeting the lisbon targets requires a political commitment that no eu member state has volunteered so far. that has in part been due to the state of the global economy in the past few years. as mr kok s report noted: the ink had scarcely dried on the [lisbon] agreement before the worldwide stock market bubble imploded. the us suffered two years of economic slowdown and recession and the european economy followed suit. the circumstances weren t conducive to creating the 20 million new jobs promised by eu leaders in lisbon in 2000. neither were they conducive to getting governments to spend more on research and development money needed if the eu was to meet its target of becoming a so-called knowledge-based economy . the [lisbon] vision is a compelling one but in order to do it society has to change said paul hofheinz of the lisbon council a brussels-based citizen action group. what you find is that a lot of people have been fighting change. you find trade unions fighting change. but also the employers associations. even though they tell you they re in favour of change many are actually pushing for less competition more subsidy and less free market activity. but part of the problem was also linked to the original targets set out in lisbon five years ago. targets have a habit of coming back to haunt you and in the lisbon case they covered too much according to the wim report. economic growth and job creation were linked to issues ranging from environmental protection to social inclusion and even safety at sea. the agenda was just too broad and as a result nothing was prioritised. lisbon is about everything and thus about nothing the kok report said. everybody is responsible and thus no one. that s why the kok report recommends that the lisbon targets be narrowed down to 14 key indicators with an emphasis on creating jobs and economic growth. it also recommends that the european commission draw up a league table which ranks countries according to the steps they re taking towards meeting the targets effectively naming shaming and faming . rhetoric and delivery don t necessarily go hand in hand mr kok said in a press conference alongside the publication of his report. we don t have the luxury anymore just to exchange politeness with one another. on one point mr kok was very clear: the european union should not try to emulate the us economy. the european economic and social model needs to change but not so much so that social and environmental issues take a backseat to economic growth. in that sense the lisbon agenda is sailing into unchartered waters. the kok report tries to do away with a belief that jobs need to be sacrificed at the altar of economic growth. it s very ambitious said john palmer political director at the european policy centre a brussels-based think-tank. this is something that no advanced economy in the world has tried to do. it s going to require quite new and innovative policies. but some analysts believe that the kok report doesn t come up with the sort of innovative policies and thinking needed to make the lisbon targets a reality. for example it recommends putting in place policies which encourage women and older people to remain in the workforce. but it doesn t say how companies should be convinced to do this. it will be up to the incoming president of the european commission jose manuel barroso to adopt mr kok s recommendations and press them on eu governments. mr barroso has said that the eu s competitiveness will be his top priority. he expects his five-year term in office to be judged on europe s success in meeting the lisbon agenda.

business

boothroyd calls for lords speaker betty boothroyd has said the house of lords needs its own speaker and that peers should lead the way on reforming the upper chamber. baroness boothroyd who was the first woman to be commons speaker said she believed tony blair initiated reforms without a clear outcome in mind. now we have to take care of it ourselves and make the best of it she told the bbc s breakfast with frost. in 1999 labour removed all but 92 of the lords 750 hereditary peers. that was billed as the first stage of reform of the institution. the lord chancellor hinted further reforms could be unveiled in the next labour manifesto. i think we need to look very carefully at the relationship between the lords and the commons lord falconer told bbc1 s breakfast with frost. how it interacts with the commons is a very very important issue. we need to address the issue in the manifesto but you will have to wait for when the manifesto comes. the lord chancellor currently has the role of house of lords speaker. he is also head of the judiciary and a member of the cabinet as constitutional affairs secretary. lady boothroyd said she believed it was unacceptable for the lord chancellor to have the role of speaker. i would really like to see a speaker of the house of lords she said. i don t go for the idea of somebody - a lord chancellor - who is head of the judiciary a senior cabinet minister and speaker of the lords. i want somebody there who is going to look after that house and do a job there.

politics