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mps quiz aides over royal income senior officials at the two bodies generating private income for the queen and prince of wales are to be questioned by mps. aides from the duchy of lancaster and duchy of cornwall will appear before the commons public accounts committee. it has been reported they could be questioned about prince charles spending on camilla parker bowles. but bbc correspondent peter hunt said they are not responsible for how money is spent and may be unable to answer. duchy officials who will appear before the committee on monday are only responsible for generating money. the duchy of lancaster provides the queen s private income while the duchy of cornwall provides prince charles annual income. the duchy of cornwall is a 140 000-acre estate across 25 counties and also includes residential properties shops offices stocks and shares. it was set up in 1337 by king edward iii to provide income for successive heirs to the throne. it covers the cost of the prince s public and private life - neither charles nor william and harry receive taxpayers money from the civil list. however the prince of wales did receive over £4m from government departments and grants-in-aid in 2003-4. the duchy last year generated almost £12m. the prince has voluntarily paid income tax - currently 40% - since 1993.

politics

ukip mep attacked german empire a uk independence party mep suggested germany saw the eu as an empire and was cheaper than using tanks a new documentary has revealed. mike nattrass ukip s deputy leader made the comments to an audience at a meeting during last september s hartlepool by-election campaign. but challenged on the remark he denied accusing germany of using the eu as cover for a 4th german reich . he says he was not german-bashing but saying peace was the eu s founding aim. the meeting was shown in a bbc 3 film on ex-ukip mep robert kilroy-silk. the former chat show host quit the party earlier this month calling it a joke. the documentary showed mr nattrass apparently talking about the eu telling the meeting: the germans are the big losers here but they don t care because to them the project is worthwhile. it s like an empire for them spreading in all directions away from germany into hungary into what they call the sudetenland - czechoslovakia places like that. so it s cheaper for them to do it this way than roll the tanks in. on tuesday he told the bbc news website he did not think the comments were offensive and worked happily with meps of different nationalities in the european parliament. he argued that peace was the only reason for having the outdated eu as there was no economic justification. pointing to germany s trade interests as a country in the centre of europe mr nattrass said: the fact is that the eu benefits germany but it does not benefit britain. i m not at all german-bashing. it s the truth. a ukip spokesman said: mike has some passionate beliefs and sometimes uses excessively colourful language with which to express them. the documentary showed some of the tensions between mr kilroy-silk and his fellow meps after ukip took third place in last year s european elections. he denied wanting to be leader until october 2004 when he told bbc one s breakfast with frost programme he aspired to the job. asked by the documentary makers why he had lied about his leadership ambitions mr kilroy-silk said: there was one thing i said that i shouldn t have said at the time. i was trying to be helpful to the party and it was the wrong thing to do i should have told the truth. the film also included footage of a row between mr kilroy-silk mep nigel farage and party leader roger knapman about rumours that he was about to resign the ukip whip in the european parliament. mr kilroy-silk told them he had not left the ukip group - a move he announced shortly after the meeting. he told mr farage: don t tell lies nigel now you ve told too many. most of the trouble had been caused by you. ukip officials claim it was in fact mr kilroy-silk not mr farage who briefed newspapers he was leaving the group of meps. later in unguarded off-air comments in a television studio mr kilroy-silk was heard saying he was irritated by defending some of these right-wing fascist nutters . mr kilroy-silk separately said he had argued against ukip working with such groups which believed homosexuality was a sin. a ukip spokesman said there were more than 40 meps in the same group in the european parliament. they were from a broad spectrum - some right-wing some left-wing - but with a shared belief in the unfeasibility of the eu as it is now . he did not defend other groups religious beliefs but argued it was their right to hold such views - just as mr kilroy-silk had a right to criticise arab states. london ukip mep gerard batten said: robert has made a variety of comments about ukip and its meps. there are of course two sides to every story. what robert does not say is that he was offered several positions which would have given him effective control of the party but not the title of leader. mr kilroy-silk is to launch his own parry veritas in westminster on wednesday.

politics

air china in $1bn london listing china s national airline is to make its overseas stock market debut with a dual listing in london and hong kong the london stock exchange (lse) has said. air china plans to raise $1bn (£514m) from the flotation. share trading will begin on 15 december the lse said. for china s aviation authorities the listing is part of the modernisation of its airline sector to cope with soaring demand for air travel. no further details of the share price or number of shares were given. the lse has been working hard to woo chinese companies to choose london rather than new york for their listings. it opened an asia-pacific office in hong kong last month. we are delighted that air china has chosen london for its listing outside china said lse chief executive clara furse. the london stock exchange offers ambitious chinese companies access to the world s most international equity market combined with high regulatory and corporate governance standards she said. a spokesman for the lse said: we ve been engaged with them (air china) for about 18 months two years now. as part of its pitch to bring listings to london the lse is thought to be highlighting the extra costs and red-tape imposed by new us laws passed since the enron scandal whilst stressing london s strong regulatory environment. germany s chancellor gerhard schroeder began a three-day visit to beijing on monday by signing a deal worth 1bn euros ($1.3bn; £690m) for airbus to sell 23 new planes to air china the deutsche welle radio station reported. china s booming economy has created huge demand for air travel among middle-class chinese turning the country into a sales battleground between rival plane makers airbus and boeing. air china s long-awaited flotation is part of a strategy to modernise a dozen state-owned carriers which have been reorganised into three groups under air china china southern and china eastern. merrill lynch are sole bookrunners for air china s flotation which will take the form of a share placing with institutional investors in london though retail investors may be able to buy air china shares in hong kong. air china s primary listing will be in hong kong with a secondary listing in london. the shares will be denominated in hong kong dollars. however investors may be wary of chinese stocks. the collapse last week of china aviation oil the singapore-listed arm of a chinese jet fuel trader has cast the spotlight on corporate governance shortcomings at chinese firms.

business

dollar gains on greenspan speech the dollar has hit its highest level against the euro in almost three months after the federal reserve head said the us trade deficit is set to stabilise. and alan greenspan highlighted the us government s willingness to curb spending and rising household savings as factors which may help to reduce it. in late trading in new york the dollar reached $1.2871 against the euro from $1.2974 on thursday. market concerns about the deficit has hit the greenback in recent months. on friday federal reserve chairman mr greenspan s speech in london ahead of the meeting of g7 finance ministers sent the dollar higher after it had earlier tumbled on the back of worse-than-expected us jobs data. i think the chairman s taking a much more sanguine view on the current account deficit than he s taken for some time said robert sinche head of currency strategy at bank of america in new york. he s taking a longer-term view laying out a set of conditions under which the current account deficit can improve this year and next. worries about the deficit concerns about china do however remain. china s currency remains pegged to the dollar and the us currency s sharp falls in recent months have therefore made chinese export prices highly competitive. but calls for a shift in beijing s policy have fallen on deaf ears despite recent comments in a major chinese newspaper that the time is ripe for a loosening of the peg. the g7 meeting is thought unlikely to produce any meaningful movement in chinese policy. in the meantime the us federal reserve s decision on 2 february to boost interest rates by a quarter of a point - the sixth such move in as many months - has opened up a differential with european rates. the half-point window some believe could be enough to keep us assets looking more attractive and could help prop up the dollar. the recent falls have partly been the result of big budget deficits as well as the us s yawning current account gap both of which need to be funded by the buying of us bonds and assets by foreign firms and governments. the white house will announce its budget on monday and many commentators believe the deficit will remain at close to half a trillion dollars.

business

hague given up his pm ambition former conservative leader william hague says he will not stand for the leadership again having given up his ambition to be prime minister. mr hague 43 told the daily telegraph he would now find a life dominated by politics too boring and unfulfilling. mr hague who stepped down after his party s 2001 election defeat does not rule out a return to the front bench. he also told the paper he hopes to remain mp for richmond north yorks and start a family with wife ffion. mr hague who recently had published the biography of william pitt the younger also said he wanted to continue writing books and speech-writing. he told the newspaper: i don t know whether i will ever go back on to the front but don t rush me. asked if he would stand for the leadership again mr hague replied: no. definitely not. his determination to stay away from a central role will disappoint some senior conservative members who say the party needs him. tim collins the shadow education secretary said last week it would be a huge boost to the party if mr hague returned to the front bench. mr hague became an mp at 27 and leader of the opposition at 36. he said: i feel fortunate that by the age of 40 i had crammed in an entire political career. i had been in the cabinet and been leader of the party so now i can branch out into other things...it is a very liberating feeling. mr hague added that he may have misjudged his own ambition to be prime minister. maybe i wasn t as driven by politics as i thought i was he said.

politics

burren awarded egyptian contracts british energy firm burren energy has been awarded two potentially lucrative oil exploration contracts in egypt. the company successfully bid for the two contracts granted by government owned oil firms covering onshore and offshore areas in the gulf of suez. burren energy already has a presence in egypt having been awarded an exploration contract last year. the firm which floated in 2003 recently announced a deal to buy 26% of indian firm hindustan oil exploration. the £13.8m deal gives burren energy access to the indian oil and gas industry. this latest contract expands burren energy s global exploration and production portfolio - it also holds contracts in turkmenistan and the republic of congo. these assets significantly increase our exploration portfolio in egypt and we continue to investigate further opportunities in this region said chief executive finian o sullivan.

business

roundabout continues nostalgia trip the new big-screen version of the magic roundabout released in the uk on friday is the latest attempt to turn children s television into box-office gold. recent years have seen a less-than-successful adaptation of the 1960s puppet show thunderbirds and a moderately successful version of e nesbit s five children and it previously filmed by the bbc in 1991. he-man and transformers which were cartoon favourites in the 1980s will soon receive their own costly makeovers. with screen versions of the a-team the dukes of hazzard and even blake s seven on the cards nostalgia is clearly big business. but some critics complain that these expensive takes on iconic series of yesteryear do not match up to our fond memories of the originals. the new version of the magic roundabout which will be released as sprung! in the us replaces the stop-motion models of the 1960s tv show with polished computer-generated animation. in a similar fashion the 2004 thunderbirds used human actors and special effects in place of the original s puppets and models. the films are squarely pitched at younger audiences. pop stars robbie williams and kylie minogue provide voices in the magic roundabout while the now-defunct boy band busted performed the thunderbirds theme song. but while some reviewers have been won over there has nonetheless been a significant backlash. this cg-animated adventure airbrushes the sly charm and trippy otherworldliness which made the 60s stop-motion roundabout a cult hit writes stella papamichael on the bbc movies site. and the recent puppet comedy team america: world police was in part provoked by its directors outrage that gerry anderson s thunderbirds was remade without its signature mannequins. dan jolin reviews editor of empire magazine says classic children s tv shows have a built-in audience that make them ideal for reinvention. i can understand why people are taking these intellectual properties and repackaging them for the kids of today. but i think it s backfiring. what s next - the clangers on some distant planet with some giant cgi soup dragons chasing after them despite thunderbirds disappointing global box-office performance - the film cost $42m (£22m) but only recouped $21m (£11m) - the nostalgia craze shows no signs of abating. it can therefore be only a matter of time before some other tv favourites receive the hollywood treatment. after the success of garfield: the movie britain s shabby tabby surely deserves his own film vehicle. with only 13 episodes made of the 1974 series there is plenty of room to explore the lives of the pink cat professor yaffle and the mice of the marvellous mechanical mouse organ. furry recyclers have already had one big-screen outing - 1977 s wombling free. but with environmental issues still occupying our thoughts it is high time they made a comeback. advances in special effects technology could do wonders for the bbc s supernatural comedy . and the success of pirates of the caribbean must surely herald a comeback for tv s most popular cartoon buccaneer . it might also remind viewers the lewd character names often associated with the show never actually existed. the magic roundabout is out in the uk on 11 february. how about bringing catweazle to the big screen he could give gandalf a run for his money! thundercats!! i loved it. should be fun to see on the big screen if some effort is put in! it will bring my youth back! get your hands off the clangers! is nothing sacred make a movie version of the banana splits! what about keanu reeves and richard gere in a remake of the wooden tops or perhaps robbie williams could get his much mooted acting career off the ground by taking on the role of andy pandy. you forgot to mention the grearest of them all danger mouse! but then again it couldn t be better than the original series could it it s always nice to see these old toons re-released but after the abysmal thunderbirds movie (and the song!) i think i ve been completely put off. just leave these classics alone as good memories. i think remakes are a good idea. as the world moves on people tend to look more and more into the past to things that make them feel safe. i believe this is the whole reason retro has become so popular. as long as a remake does justice to the original then all it can do is create a wider audience and possibly entice a new generation of persons to enjoy and revive and old series. personally i d like to see cartoons such as transformers thundercats and m.a.s.k. get full hollywood remakes. leave them alone why ruin something that we all have very fond memories of in the first place the thunderbirds film was apalling not a patch on the puppet series i grew up with and the magic roundabout will never be the same without the voice of eric thompson. love to see transformers with real actors and cgi. and make it at least a 15 rating. part of the reason for the success of such classics as the magic roundabout was that the characters were not the sweet and cuddly creatures that you would expect. they were moody sarcastic and rather human. just looking at the pictures of the animations for the new film show that these characteristics have not been preserved. dougal never smiled like that! films of this sort have an unfortunate habit of disneyfying everthing and they just lose the real magic that made the show special in the first place. i have fond memories of bod (not least of which because i look like him) and would like to see someone attempt to make it into a film. it s got all the right material for an american blockbuster - no plot and no story. bod would likely be played by tom cruise and would undoubtedly have a girlfriend or two. it s all very well and good remaking these classic tv shows and films with all the latest technology for a new audience but for me a lot of the original charm is lost when they do this and seems more like a money making exercise to cash in on the original success of the programme than reinventing or improving it. it maybe that to an audience who have never seen the originals they can watch them without prejudice but to people who have grown up with all these shows such as thunderbirds and magic roundabout which are part of our childhood they are never going to live up to expectation. it does pose the question though that with all the long line of remakes being made are film-makers running out of original ideas all i can say is bring back danger mouse probably the greatest kids show ever. i recently re-watched some episodes and realised that there was a level of humour shown in danger mouse that was completely lost on me when i was a child. there was a new captain pugwash cartoon made a couple of years back. again like so many of these nostalgia programmes the animation - this time computer created flat-cell like animation - failed to match the original s cut out paper technique for inventiveness and was woefully inadequate. we live in a sampling world - the music industry has been pludering past decades for inspiration clipping sounds from 20 years ago is much cheaper and easier that doing something new. seems that the film and tv is doing the same now - it s just cheaper to take ideas from the past and rework them rather than being daring and trying something new. it got to be mr.benn. the story line about a man who changes in a fancy dress shop steps into a door way and appears in another time and place would be amazing! if they got a decent producer and writer the story line could be great. and who to play the lead role well if it was a comedy then it would have to be someone like steve martin. if its going to be an adventure then johnny depp playing a role similar to the pirates of the caribbean character. muffin the mule perhaps after all grannies and grandpas go to the cinema as well you know! why can t the british film industry try making gerry anderson s ufo or captain scarlet or saphire and steel or the tomorrow people. in today s media it seems the past is the future. tv shows such as battlestar galactica have new remakes dj s are sampling or re-working 70 s and 80 s music. even computer games from 10-15 years ago are getting modern re-workings. personally i think it shows that no one has any originality any more! why not just leave our misty-eyed nostalgia alone. mary mungo and midge. but of course for most of the episodes the lift would be out of order and they would have to use the stairs. plus would mary be more of a vicky pollard character as she lives in a high rise council block yeah but no but i wasn t even there! i d like to see mr. benn with brad pitt in the title role. sean connery could play the mysterious costume shop owner. it demonstrates a profound lack of imagination in today s film-makers that they continually try to remake and remodel the past in an effort to cash in on nostalgia. there are plany of modern children s book that would make excellent films or tv programmes why not use them instead of rehashing the past mr. benn with rowan atkinson as the lead. would have loved to see dungeons & dragons made but unfortunately the film that it was made into didn t come up to scratch. the only one that isn t to be remade as yet is thundercats which i d like to see. i m an expat living in norway and i recently went through a period of buying the dvds of many of my favourite children s programs for my 2 daughters. my dearest wish however is to see a feature length version of noggin the nog appear on the big screen!! very scandinavian... rainbow! i believe that childrens classics should be left well alone and i will not be surprised if the magic roundabout does not do well at the box office especially since it will be going up against the spongebob squarepants movie popular among children because it s original witty and modern. the magic roundabout will never appeal to the children of today as it did all those many years ago. how about classics like chorlton and the wheelies rentaghost terrahawks bod.....oh the list could go on and on!!! if a transformers movie is indeed on the cards then i ll be the first one on amazon buying a copy eagerly waiting at the front door with a frothy mouth and a nervous twitch. repackage my childhood and sell it to me at an extortionate price! i don t care! till then i ll have to make do with the citreon c4 advert. i d luv to see willow the wisp on the big screen but sadly without the late kenneth williams doing the voices it wouldnt be the same. and who remembers trap door voiced by the late willie rushden superb children s programme. could morph hold his own in a big screen movie or even jamie and the magic torch....hmmmmm i could go on and on. danger mouse at 34 i m showing my age. :-) noggin the nog was one of the best children s programs. the problem with bringing it to the big screen is that no-one could approach oliver postgate s wonderful voices. so in general leave well alone. the originals are good because they are of their time and the methods used are an integral part of the story. just imagine what could be achieved by using cgi in a remake of fingerbobs... the already disturbing hand antics of the bearded hippy yoffi could take on a whole new level with a more life-like fingermouse bob the builder postman pat and fireman sam together in an epic adventure of fire post and bricks. in the ultimate struggle to save the women they love from the evil clowns krusty and gobo. will they triumph or will they fail miserably find out this fall. one puppet show that i personally would love to see made into a live action movie is joe 90. it would be worth the price of admission alone to see the large screen version of joe s car. of course gerry anderson s supermarionation is a rich seam of material worthy of big-screen big-budget action. it was only that thunderbirds the movie was targetted as a children t movie that really let it down. after all the children that remember those shows with such affection are now the parents of children themselves. it s only because the people who were children when these programmes were first shown have grown up and are plundering their childhoods isn t it i d hate to see bagpuss with perfect animation - i love that done in a shed clunkiness and you couldn t recreate the magic. perhaps if the remakes were done in a look around you mock-authentic style i might be interested ... chorton and the wheelies or jamie and his magic torch; that would be mega! this re-gurgitation of old films and tv shows makes me angry - it is corporate laziness resting on the safety of other people s ideas because it guarantees to bring in the $$$. the same can be said of modern day pop bands who release other peoples material will young etc. the sad fact is nostalgia sells big bucks in the short-term. the fact that they will be forgotten in 6 months time is irrelevant (e.g. starsky & hutch) hence the market is saturated with this mindless drivel but it can only be stopped if people stop buying it! i pray they never do a remake of chorlton and the wheelies. i m only 27 and don t remember the series from when it was on tv but have the set on dvd and it s a classic. the fact it s so great comes from the fact that there were very few special effects involved and compared to today s stuff it looks amateurish. thats the appeal though it s so innocent (like chorlton himself) and it would be a real shame if they did remake it.

entertainment

dallaglio eyeing lions tour place former england captain lawrence dallaglio still harbours hopes of a place on the british and irish lions tour to new zealand. lions coach sir clive woodward has made it clear he will pick his squad to tour next summer based on form shown in the six nations championship. but dallaglio who called time on england earlier this year said: i assure you i wouldn t let anyone down. i know what it takes and what i have to offer he told the daily telegraph. dallaglio toured south africa with the lions in 1997 but was forced home early with a knee injury from the trip to australia three years ago. the 32-year-old also felt concentrating on club rugby could have prolonged his international shelf-life. he said: i ll be in good shape and fresh without another 10 tests on the clock. from what i witnessed at close quarters on sunday in our heineken cup match against leicester i certainly didn t feel out of place alongside those players many of whom will be on the trip. if i m fit and playing well then i m most certainly available. if clive feels he has no need to look outside the international crop then fine. if he does then he won t need to look too far will he

sport

ministers lose slopping out case the scottish executive has lost an appeal against an inmate s compensation for being forced to slop out in prison. armed robber robert napier 25 won £2 450 after he claimed he suffered an outbreak of the skin complaint eczema when slopping out at barlinnie prison. napier said that the practice where prisoners use buckets in their cells as toilets breached his human rights. on thursday the court of session threw out a move by the executive to apply a more rigorous standard of proof. the executive faces more than 1 000 similar claims for damages from prisoners and former inmates. more than 310 actions have already been raised in the court of session and sheriff courts in scotland. an executive spokesman said: we will study this judgement in detail. much has changed to address the issues raised in the napier case for example slopping out has ended at barlinnie and work in other prisons is being accelerated. today s judgement does not affect the outcome of other cases. napier a remand prisoner at the time raised a legal challenge in 2001 under the european convention on human rights in which he sought £5 000. he was awarded compensation last april after winning his case. executive ministers raised an appeal arguing that the standard of proof to be applied in cases alleging a breach of the european convention on human rights through degrading and inhumane treatment should be beyond reasonable doubt . this is the standard normally applied in criminal trials in scotland. however civil litigation is settled on the test of a balance of probabilities . judge lord cullen sitting with lord osborne and lord hamilton ruled that alleged human rights breaches involving degrading treatment should be dealt with on the normal civil standard. napier s lawyer tony kelly believes the action will soon be followed by others. mr kelly said: there are hundreds of people still undergoing slopping out overcrowding and poor regime and those people will certainly be heartened by today s judgement. scottish national party justice minister kenny macaskill said that the slopping out case had been a fiasco from start to finish . he said: ministers were fully aware of the state of scotland s jails. funds were available but they chose to ignore the problem and after this ruling i suspect we will be faced with even more claims and no doubt more payouts. a short term executive saving has resulted in a long term public cost.

politics

eu rules won t stop uk spending the shape of the uk s economy in graphics but he denied that he was ruling out british membership of the euro despite saying there would be no assessment of the five economic tests this year. mr brown said that it was vital the uk continued to invest in infrastructure science and education in the future. otherwise it would be overtaken by the likes of china he told mps. the chancellor said that the eu s planned changes in the growth and stability pact - designed to ensure that countries in the euro zone do not borrow too much - would force britain to run a budget surplus of 1% over the economic cycle. under mr brown s rules the uk current budget must be in balance over the economic cycle but public investment is not counted as part of that deficit. he told the house of commons treasury select committee that the eu rules make it difficult for a low debt country to run the investment programmes that are necessary to improve its infrastructure . but he argued that the eu was moving in the direction of the uk principles and would eventually recognise the need to consider budget deficits over a longer period than one year to include investment and to take more account of the total size of government debt as well as the balance each year. under mr brown s sustainable investment rule government debt should be under 40% - in contrast to the 60% allowed under the growth and stability pact. mr brown vigorously denied conservative claims that he had in effect fiddled the figures to ensure that he met his own fiscal rules. in march the office of national statistics (ons) reclassified £3.4bn of spending on road repairs as public investment - shortly before the chancellor announced in the budget that he would meet his own fiscal budget rule by only £6bn. conservative michael fallon asked mr brown whether the treasury had leaned on ons to make this change and said that the ons had received a written paper from the treasury on this matter. but the chancellor said mr fallon was impugning the integrity of the office of national statistics and said the decision had been made completely independently. mr brown also denied that he was increasing taxes to fund his spending gap. he told the treasury select committee that a growing economy meant more people in work and more profits for companies which would boost treasury coffers. earlier ex-conservative chancellor ken clarke welcomed a relaxation of the rules governing the euro zone. speaking on radio 4 s today programme mr clarke said political give and take would replace more rigid rules. but fellow tory david heathcoat-amory said the folly of the system was in trying to run europe s varied economies on one set of rules. the essential point here is that the stability and growth pact has turned out to be a fake he said. the warning is about the european constitution which we are going to have a vote on in a year or two and that centralises and entrenches these rules in a constitution. it gives more powers to brussels to co-ordinate things like employment and economic policy. but speaking to the treasury select committee gordon brown said that the new stability pact rules were not part of a binding treaty and could be changed again the future - potentially opening the way for future euro membership. the conditions for euro entry are unchanged by this new decision about the stability and growth pact mr. brown said.

politics

aviation firms eye booming india india s defence minister has opened the country s aero india 2005 air show with an invitation for global aerospace firms to outsource jobs to the nation. pranab mukherjee said such companies could take advantage of india s highly skilled workers and low wages. more than 240 civil and military aerospace firms from 31 countries are attending the show. analysts said india could spend up to $35bn (£18.8bn) in the aviation market over the next 20 years. giants such boeing and airbus - on the civil aviation front - as well as lockheed martin and france s snecma - on the military side - are some of the firms attending the show. there is tremendous scope for outsourcing from india in areas where the companies are competitive said mr mukerjee. we are keen to welcome international collaborations that are in conformity with our national goals. lockheed said it had signed an agreement with state-owned hindustan aeronautics (hal) to share information on the p-3 orion maritime surveillance aircraft. in fact the indian armed force is considering the buying of used p-3 orion as well as f-16 fighter jets from lockheed. the us military industry has show a strong interest to open a link with india now that relations between the two countries have improved a lot. in fact it is the first time the us air force will attend the air show since sanctions imposed in 1998 after india s nuclear tests were lifted. but the indian air force is also considering proposals from other foreign firms such as france s dassault aviation sweden s saab and russia s mikoyan-gurevich. meanwhile france s snecma has also said it plans a joint venture with hal to make engine parts with an initial investment of $6.5m. on the civilian front boeing announced a deal with india s hcl technologies to develop a platform for the flight test system of its 787 dreamliner aircraft. the us company also said it had agreed with a new indian budget airline the sale of 10 737-800 planes for $630m. the airline spicejet will also have the option to acquire 10 more aircraft. airbus has also recently signed fresh deals with two indian airlines - air deccan and kingfisher. in addition the european company has plans to open a training centre in india. meanwhile flag carrier air india is considering to buy 50 new aircraft from either boeing or airbus. no other market is going to see the growth that will be seen here in the coming years said dinesh keskar senior vice president boeing.

business

assembly ballot papers missing hundreds of ballot papers for the regional assembly referendum in the north east have disappeared . royal mail says it is investigating the situation which has meant about 300 homes in county durham are not receiving voting packs. officials at darlington council are now in a race against time to try and rectify the situation. the all-postal votes of about two million electors are due to be handed in by 4 november. a spokesman for darlington council said: we have sent out the ballot papers the problem is with royal mail. somewhere along the line something has gone wrong and these ballot papers have not been delivered. the royal mail is investigating to see if they can find out what the problem is. a spokeswoman for royal mail said: we are investigating a problem with the delivery route in the mowden area of darlington. this is affecting several hundred properties which have failed to receive ballot papers. we are working closely with the council and will do all we can to help rectify the problem. no-one will not receive their ballot paper as special hand deliveries will take place where necessary. we are unaware of any other problems of this kind to do with the regional assembly vote. the darlington council spokesman added: initially we had complaints from a couple of residents in mowden to say they thought they should have had their ballot papers by now. we then made further investigations and it became clear this was a bigger issue. a spokeswoman for the electoral commission told bbc news online that letters were being sent out to those homes affected. she said the commission was satisfied that measures had been put in place to ensure all voters received ballot papers in time. so far a total of 569 072 ballot envelopes have been scanned by bar code at counting offices across the north east.

politics

funding cut hits wales students the wales students rugby side has become a casualty of the welsh rugby union s reorganisation at youth level. an amalgamated under-18 side formed from separate schools and national youth teams plays its first match on thursday against italy at the gnoll. but that move has seen the wru decide to end its funding of representative sides such as wales students. as a result traditional international fixtures against england and france in the new year have been cancelled. the welsh students rugby football union feels that it is unable to properly prepare for or stage the matches. the secretary of the welsh students rugby football union reverend eldon phillips said: it is a shame that fixtures cannot be maintained this year. the competition provided by the strong english and french teams has enabled the welsh students to test themselves in high quality matches. the increasing number of young rugby players entering higher education look for the biggest challenge that is representative rugby but this year that opportunity will be denied them. players who have played for wales students before going on to win full senior representative honours include robert jones rob howley jon humphreys darren morris martyn williams and ceri sweeney.

sport

tsunami slows sri lanka s growth sri lanka s president has launched a reconstruction drive worth $3.5bn (£1.8bn) by appealing for peace and national unity. president kumaratunga said it was now important to find a peaceful solution to years of internal conflict. meanwhile the international monetary fund (imf) said damage from the tsunami would cut one percentage point from sri lanka s economic growth this year. it estimated the wave left physical damage equal to 6.5% of the economy. separately the international labour organisation (ilo) said that at least one million people have lost their livelihoods in sri lanka and indonesia alone. it called for action to create jobs. president kumaratunga attended a ceremony in the southern town of hambantota. she was joined by government and opposition politicians together with buddhist hindu muslim and christian clergy. prime minister mahinda rajapakse laid the foundation stone on a new housing project intended to provide 6 000 homes for survivors of the tsunami. mrs kumaratunga called for the tragedy to be the start of a new beginning to rebuild our nation . we are a country blessed with so many natural resources and we have not made use of them fully. instead we have been squabbling fighting she added. norway s peace negotiator erik solheim is due to arrive on wednesday to try to revive peace talks in the decades-long conflict between government forces and the tamil tigers who want a separate state in the north east of the country. reconstruction efforts in eastern sri lanka have been hampered by tensions between the two sides. the imf said that the sri lankan authorities initial estimates have put the physical damage at $1.3 to $1.5bn but added that the implications for the economy were much wider than this. the broader macroeconomic impact will clearly be substantial but the details are difficult to assess at this early stage the imf said. growth inflation the balance of payments and foreign exchange reserves are all expected to show the effects of lost businesses and reconstruction costs. the fishing industry has been devastated agricultural production may be affected and tourism will suffer especially in the short term the report said. the ilo estimated that 400 000 sri lankans have lost their jobs mostly in these three industries. earnings from tourism this year are expected to be 15% lower than last year. economic growth this year is expected to be 4% which is about 1% less than previously forecast. inflation could climb to 14% compared to a previous estimate of 12%. although major exports have not suffered the imf expects the reconstruction effort will require higher imports which could damage the balance of payments. foreign exchange reserves may become strained as sri lanka will be hard pressed to keep international reserves at the pre-tsunami level which totalled more than two months worth of imports. last week the imf approved sri lanka s request for a freeze on loan repayments.

business

faultless federer has no equal roger federer - nice bloke fantastic tennis player - the ultimate sportsman. when lleyton hewitt shook his hand after getting another thrashing a third in as many months the australian said; you re the best. how right he is. the stats speak for themselves: 11 titles from 11 finals during 2004 - three of them grand slams - and 13 final victories in a row going back to vienna 2003. that s an open-era record. hewitt at times in houston showed form which easily matched his grand slam-winning efforts of 2001 and 2002. but he was outplayed. twice. hewitt along with andy roddick and marat safin is sure to be prominent during 2005. but realistically all three will be fighting for the world number two ranking. according to all those players and even federer himself the swiss star is in a different league. right now i feel that a little bit he told bbc sport. i ve dominated all the top ten players. they say nice things about me because i have beaten them all. i am dominating the game right now and i hope it continues! the number one player in the world is also the main man for promoting the sport off court. he has just been voted by the international tennis writers as the best ambassador for tennis on the atp tour. he has time for everyone. every match from first round to final is followed by a series of press interviews in three languages; english french and swiss-german. after a major win there are extra requests obligations and interviews all seen through to the end with courtesy and most importantly good humour. you guys are funny i have a good time with you guys he said genuinely happy to talk into yet another tape recorder. i see you pretty much every day on the tour so to give away an hour for interviews is really no problem for me. if i can promote tennis and the sport then that is good for me. people say thanks back and that is nice. what a refreshing attitude from someone who could easily dominate the sports pages for a decade. it sums up his modest personality. shortly after collecting a waterford crystal trophy a mercedes convertible and a tasty cheque for $1.5m federer addressed the houston crowd and concluded by saying thanks for having me . now he just needs to find a way of winning the french open the one grand slam to so far elude him.

sport

row brewing over peer-to-peer ads music download networks are proving popular not just with an audience of youngsters keen to take advantage of free music but with advertisers equally keen to reach out to a captive audience. the debate over the legitimacy of file-sharing networks rages on as the music industry continues its threats to close the services down for good. meanwhile the millions of downloaders are proving both an advertiser s dream come true and a branding nightmare. paul myers chief executive of wippit - a peer to peer service which provides paid-for music downloads - believes it is time advertisers stopped providing oxygen for companies that support illegal downloading. you may be surprised to know that current advertisers on the most popular peer to peer service edonkey who now steadfastly support copyright theft with real cash money include nat west vodafone o2 first direct ntl and renault he said in an open letter to the british phonographic industry last month. he urged people to follow his lead and dump brands associated with companies such as edonkey. the bpi is equally quick to condemn established brands becoming bedfellows with peer to peer networks. networks like edonkey kazaa and grokster facilitate illegal filesharing. the bpi strongly believes that any reputable company should look carefully at the support they are giving these networks through their advertising revenue it said in a statement. illegal file-sharers steal millions of pounds worth of music through these services. we are sure that the companies advertising on them would not put up with theft on such a scale from their own businesses it said. but the issue is often more complicated for advertisers said mark mulligan a music analyst with jupiter research. this has been a problem for a long time ever since the days of napster he told the bbc news website. the reality is that the millions of downloaders represent a very attractive audience. advertisers probably pay a lot less for putting ads here than on more respected sites and they are reaching the perfect target audience he said. if you put the legality issues aside not to advertise here would mean missing out on a valuable audience he added. meanwhile companies contacted by the bbc news website insist that they were not directly aware of where their ads have been appearing. onetel adverts were spotted on edonkey this week and its response was typical. we have investigated this matter and believe that one of our affiliate partners has placed this advert without our knowledge. it is not our policy to advertise through peer-to-peer networks read a statement from the discount phone firm. it has requested the advert be removed immediately said a spokeswoman. similarly telecommunications firm ntl blames its media buying agency which places adverts with third party networks featuring thousands of sites. since the matter was brought to its attention last month the agency has strict instructions to make sure ads do not appear on such sites a spokesman told the bbc news website. however mr mulligan was not entirely convinced by these explanations. while smaller brands might not necessarily be aware of where the money they allocate to online advertising actually ends this is no excuse for well-known brands he said. i would be surprised if these brands didn t have the know-how to prevent this happening he said. at the moment edonkey is enjoying the benefits of having some very well-known faces advert on its network. many big brands have leveraged the opportunity including perhaps two of the biggest brands in the world - senator john kerry and president george w. bush said chief executive sam yagan. there are some distinct advantages of advertising on such a network he thinks. peer-to-peer clients offer big brands a unique opportunity to engage with their customers where they re most comfortable: at their desks interacting with their favourite digital media he said.

tech

dal maso in to replace bergamasco david dal maso has been handed the task of replacing the injured mauro bergamasco at flanker in italy s team to face scotland on saturday. alessandro troncon continues at scrum-half despite the return to fitness of paul griffen. the experienced cristian stoica is recalled at centre at the expense of walter pozzebon. we are going to scotland for the first away win and nothing else said manager marco bollesan. i really believe this is the team who will have all our faith for saturday s game. we lost a player like mauro bergamasco who has been important for us but (coach) john (kirwan) has put together the best team at present if not ever. r de marigny (parma); mirco bergamasco (stade francais) c stoica (montpellier) a masi (viadana) l nitoglia (calvisano); l orquera (padova) a troncon (treviso); a lo cicero (l aquilla) f ongaro (treviso) m castrogiovanni (calvisano) s dellape (agen) m bortolami (narbonne capt) a persico (agen) d dal maso (treviso) s parisse (treviso). g intoppa (calvisano) s perugini (calvisano) ca del fava (parma) s orlando (treviso) p griffen (calvisano) r pedrazzi (viadana) k robertson (viadana).

sport

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

sport

cherie accused of attacking bush cherie blair has been accused of criticising george w bush s policies in a private address she gave during a united states lecture tour. the prime minister s wife is said to have praised the supreme court for overruling the white house on the legal rights of guantanamo bay detainees. the tories said she broke a convention that british political figures do not act in a partisan way when abroad. but downing street said she was speaking in her capacity as a lawyer. it said she was not expressing political opinions. mrs blair s remarks are said to have been made in a speech to law students in massachusetts. she said the decision by the us supreme court to give legal protection to two britons held at guantanamo bay was a significant victory for human rights and the international rule of law. she also described the us legal code as an outdated grandfather clock and welcomed a decision to throw out a law backed by mr bush relating to sodomy in texas. bbc news correspondent gary o donoghue said mrs blair was likely to face further calls for restraint since the us election is imminent. there have been some objections from people reasonably close to the bush administration about her making these comments in their backyard just two days before a presidential election he said. conservatives here too have made their feelings clear. cherie booth has always regarded herself as having an independent career. she has continued to practise as a major human rights lawyer in the courts. it s not unusual for her to make these sorts of criticisms clear but it can be embarrassing.

politics

blair dismisses quit claim report tony blair has dismissed reports he told gordon brown he would quit before the next general election. you don t do deals over jobs like this the prime minister told bbc one s breakfast with frost programme. according to a new book brown s britain mr blair went back on a pledge to make way for mr brown after cabinet allies intervened in june 2004. mr blair said the claims were reheated from six months ago and that he was concentrating on running the country. mr blair said: i ve dealt with this six months ago. i said then you don t do deals over jobs like this - you don t. what both of us are actually concentrating on are the issues that concern the country. the book by sunday telegraph journalist robert peston and serialised in the newspaper said the pair had mutual animosity and contempt for each other. it claims tony blair felt by november 2003 he had lost voters trust because of the iraq war and that he was no longer an asset to the labour party. and that at a dinner hosted by deputy prime minister john prescott he told mr brown of his intention to stand down. according to mr peston the prime minister said: help me to get through the year and i will then stand down. but he then changed his mind in june 2004 following intervention from allies in the cabinet and the suspicion that the chancellor was deliberately manoeuvring against him according to the book. mr peston told bbc news: my understanding is that they are not nearly as close or as friendly as they once were. what the book says is there is now a pretty profound mutual mistrust mutual animosity. i think in public you see this double-act pretending everything is alright but in private i don t think the relationship is good because brown understandably feels deeply betrayed - particularly over this issue of the leadership. but in a wide-ranging bbc interview covering issues such as the asian tsunami disaster the middle east peace process and northern ireland mr blair said: when you get to the top in politics you get this huge swell around you. all sorts of people make all sorts of claims and counter-claims. he admitted to a sense of frustration about the allegations which he said had been made countless times . there has been fresh speculation of a rift recently following their separate responses to the asian tsunami. these rumours were fuelled by mr blair s decision to hold his monthly media conference at the same time as a long-planned speech by mr brown on uk plans to tackle global poverty with a new marshall plan for africa. there was speculation the pair were trying to outdo each other s response to the disaster. but the prime minister said he had discussed these claims with the chancellor and dismissed them as a load of nonsense . former welfare minister frank field mp said the prime minister should sack mr brown but did not believe mr blair was strong enough to do so. tory leader michael howard accused the prime minister and mr brown of squabbling like schoolboys . he told sky news sunday with adam boulton: this is the politics of the playground and britain really does deserve better. the liberal democrat parliamentary chairman matthew taylor said the personal ambition of mr blair and mr brown was getting in the way of good government . either they need to grow up and put their squabbles to one side or they cannot expect the electorate to support a divided government at the next election. during the interview mr blair also said the former home secretary david blunkett would play a big role at the general election.

politics

council tax rise reasonable welsh councils should set their taxes at reasonable levels after being given an average funding increase of 6% says the assembly government. finance minister sue essex said it was a good deal for local government. the £3.2bn settlement includes the full £7.4m from the uk treasury announced by chancellor gordon brown. but opposition parties said rebanding of council taxes would mean steep rises. in addition £13.4m will come from the business support grant - a scheme which enables local authorities to keep part of business rates. she said where spending rises were kept to around 5% she was confident that councils will be able to set council taxes at reasonable levels. the welsh local government association (wlga) had said on the eve of the announcement said that significant cuts to services may still be unavoidable. after the announcement wlga finance spokesman bob wellington of torfaen said it was vital that rises were minimsed. a limited amount of money has come available but this is not the answer to our problems said mr wellington. it is vital that we start now to plan for future years and accept that resources will continue to reduce while pressures on services increase. on monday a delegation of north wales councils visited ms essex to lobby for increased funds. ms essex said: i have listened to the views of local government and council tax payers and recognise the funding pressures and the concerns they have about council tax rises. i have met a large number of local authorities in recent weeks and i am aware of the pressures on them to provide local services and keep down the level of council tax particularly for those people to are moving up a band due to the revaluation of domestic properties. she said council taxes could be kept at reasonable levels even for those people who have moved up a band . the settlement includes a rise in the grant to help councils with the most deprived communities and a 16.4% rise in capital expenditure support. ms essex said: this is a good deal for local government which will allow the well-managed councils of wales to develop their services and charge reasonable levels of council tax. it is now a matter for council leaders to manage their budgets at a local level. plaid cymru s local government spokesman dai lloyd called the announcement hugely disappointing . he said: wales and its local authorities have been short changed yet again. this is not whinging as the labour assembly government so often claims - it is anger. this will mean either a massive hike in council tax massive cuts in services provided by councils or both. mike german leader of the liberal democrats in the assembly claimed that one in three homes were still likely to face council tax rises due to rebanding. mr german said: i know from my discussions with welsh liberal democrat council leaders that they are doing their utmost to keep council tax to a minimum. but the random redistribution effect of rebanding...will create a great deal of difficulty. conservative local government spokesman glyn davies said that for the minister to claim that the majority of council tax payers in wales should see very little change is taking spin to the very verge of deception . he added: around a third of welsh households have been re-valued upwards by at least one band and inevitably face increases into double figures.

politics

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

tech

kennedy criticises unfair taxes gordon brown has failed to tackle the fundamental unfairness in the tax system in his ninth budget charles kennedy has said. how was it right that the poorest 20% of society were still paying more as a proportion of their income than the richest 20% the lib dem leader asked. the new £200 council tax rebate for pensioners did nothing to fix the unfair tax he added. the government could not go on patching up the system he added. speaking in the commons after mr brown had delivered what is widely thought to be the last budget before the general election mr kennedy acknowledged that the uk was one of the most successful economies in the world. but he criticised both the chancellor and the tories for failing to address the ticking bomb of council tax revaluation. he said the recent experience of wales indicated seven million households in england would pay significantly more after revaluation. the chancellor s announcement that he was to offer a £200 council tax rebate paid by pensioner households was merely a sticking plaster to a much bigger problem. the lib dem plan for a local income tax would benefit the typical household by more than £450 a year with half of all pensioners paying no local tax and about three million being better off. on pensions mr kennedy said it was a scandal that the system discriminated against women who had missed making national insurance payments when they were having children. he said a residency criteria would end at a stroke this fundamental iniquity . mr kennedy added his party s priorities of free long-term care for the elderly abolishing top-up fees and replacing the council tax would be funded by charging 50% income tax to those earning more than £100 000 per annum. he contrasted his approach with mr brown s pledge in 2001 not to increase income tax. the chancellor went on to put up national insurance contributions after the election. for most individuals most families most households it adds up to exactly the same thing said mr kennedy. and they wonder why people get cynical about their politicians when they give one impression before an election and do exactly the opposite after that election.

politics

fightstar take to the stage charlie simpson took his new band fightstar to the stage on friday night just hours after officially announcing his departure from pop band busted. he was greeted by a sell-out crowd at the university of warwick. confirmation of busted s long-rumoured split had come earlier in the day when simpson held a press conference in london with bandmates matt willis and james bourne. all three band members stressed that the break up was amicable although bourne admitted he was devastated to hear of simpson s departure. this has been a really difficult decision 19-year-old simpson revealed i hope the fans will understand. while simpson declared he would look back with pride on busted s enormous success his focus turned immediately to fightstar with friday s press conference coinciding with the start of the band s 13-date tour of the uk. fuelled by this news all 1 400 tickets to see charlie s first post-busted live appearance - at the university of warwick s student union - sold out rapidly. mike eccleshall the venue s promotions coordinator said: tickets had been selling strongly over the past few days but sales went mad after the news broke. we had completely sold out by 4pm. with queues outside the venue long and expectations high the pressure was on fightstar to impress. although many dedicated fans travelled to the gig from around the country they faced a tough crowd made up chiefly of students the average age of the audience far exceeding that of any busted concert. gone were the screaming girls to which simpson had become accustomed. support act brigade fronted by simpson s brother played a short set first and were met with general approval. when fightstar eventually took to the stage around 11pm however a riotous cheer easily drowned out any hecklers lurking in the crowd. unfortunately the band were initially hindered by technical teething problems as simpson s guitar amplifier failed to work. as sound technicians rushed to fix it other band members did their best to improvise. when they eventually got under way fightstar s blend of emotionally charged rock was warmly received. far heavier and less commercial than busted s chart-topping pop-punk the band will undoubtedly appeal to a more mature fan-base. warwick student helen clutterbuck admitted: i came to check out fightstar because of all the controversy. i ve never heard them before but i m pretty impressed. less impressed were fellow students ryan crabbe and gordon rennie who observed with fightstar charlie has clearly progressed from busted s sound but they re still not very inspiring. fightstar played for around 45 minutes showcasing material from their forthcoming ep called they liked you better when you were dead due for release in february.

entertainment

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

business

jobs growth still slow in the us the us created fewer jobs than expected in january but a fall in jobseekers pushed the unemployment rate to its lowest level in three years. according to labor department figures us firms added only 146 000 jobs in january. the gain in non-farm payrolls was below market expectations of 190 000 new jobs. nevertheless it was enough to push down the unemployment rate to 5.2% its lowest level since september 2001. the job gains mean that president bush can celebrate - albeit by a very fine margin - a net growth in jobs in the us economy in his first term in office. he presided over a net fall in jobs up to last november s presidential election - the first president to do so since herbert hoover. as a result job creation became a key issue in last year s election. however when adding december and january s figures the administration s first term jobs record ended in positive territory. the labor department also said it had revised down the jobs gains in december 2004 from 157 000 to 133 000. analysts said the growth in new jobs was not as strong as could be expected given the favourable economic conditions. it suggests that employment is continuing to expand at a moderate pace said rick egelton deputy chief economist at bmo financial group. we are not getting the boost to employment that we would have got given the low value of the dollar and the still relatively low interest rate environment. the economy is producing a moderate but not a satisfying amount of job growth said ken mayland president of clearview economics. that means there are a limited number of new opportunities for workers.

business

yangtze electric s profits double yangtze electric power the operator of china s three gorges dam has said its profits more than doubled in 2004. the firm has benefited from increased demand for electricity at a time when power shortages have hit cities and provinces across the country. as a hydroelectric-power generator it has not been hurt by higher coal costs. net income jumped to 3bn yuan in 2004 ($365m; £190m) compared with 1.4bn yuan in 2003. sales surged to 6.2bn yuan from 3bn yuan a year earlier. the figures topped analysts expectations even though the rate of growth has slowed from 2003. analysts forecast that it is likely to decline further this year to a rate of expansion of closer to 20%. yangtze electric has been expanding its output to meet demand driven by china s booming economy. the government has delayed the building of a number of power plants in an effort to rein in growth amid concerns that the economy may overheat. that has led to an energy crunch with demand outstripping supply. earlier this month work was halted on an underground power station and a supply unit on the three gorges dam as well as a power station on its sister xiluodu dam because of environmental worries. a total of 30 large-scale projects have been halted across the country for similar reasons. the three gorges dam project has led to more than half a million people being relocated and drawn criticism from environmental groups and overseas human rights activists. its sister project the xiluodu dam is being built on the jinshajiang - or river of golden sand as the upper reaches of the yangtze are known.

business

itunes now selling band aid song ipod owners can now download the band aid single from itunes after apple reached agreement with the charity. apple had been unwilling to raise the cost of the single in line with other download services said band aid. but the single is now on sale for 79p - the usual cost of a song from itunes - with apple donating a further 70p to the charity for each song downloaded. a copy of the original 1984 song is also available for download at 79p - with all proceeds going to the charity. more than 72 000 copies of the new band aid single were sold on its first day of release on monday according to sales figures. the track has become the fastest-selling single of the year so far shifting more copies than the rest of the top 30 combined hmv claimed. dido robbie williams and chris martin are among those featured on the new version of do they know it s christmas which is raising money to fight hunger in africa. if the track sold 500 000 copies more than £1m would be raised for charity. the cd is being sold for £3.99 with hmv virgin and woolworths all donating their profits.

entertainment

uk homes hit £3.3 trillion total the value of the uk s housing stock reached the £3.3 trillion mark in 2004 - triple the value 10 years earlier a report indicates. research from halifax the country s biggest mortgage lender suggests the value of private housing stock is continuing to rise steadily. all regions saw at least a doubling in their assets during the past decade. but northern ireland led the way with a 262% rise while scotland saw the smallest increase of just 112%. the core retail price index rose by just 28% in the same period underlining how effective an investment in housing has been for most people during the past decade. more than a third of the uk s private housing assets - representing more than a trillion pounds in value - are concentrated in london and the south east the halifax s figures indicate. tim crawford group economist at halifax said: the value of the private housing stock continues to grow and the family home remains by a large margin the most valuable asset of the majority of households in the uk. halifax s own monthly figures on house sales - issued on thursday - suggest the average price of a british property now stands at £163 748 after a 0.8% rise in january. housing experts are split on prospects for the market with some saying price growth will slow but not fall while others predict a sharp drop in values.

business

cairn energy in indian gas find shares in cairn energy rose 3.8% to 1 088 pence on tuesday after the uk firm announced a fresh gas discovery in northern india. the firm which last year made a number of other new finds in the rajasthan area said the latest discovery could lead to large gas volumes. however chief executive bill gammell cautioned that additional evalution was first needed at the site. cairn has also been granted approval to extend its rajasthan exploration area. this approval has come from the indian government. a spokesman said the company s decision to carry out further investigations at the new find showed that it believed there was significant gas. but he added: it s still too early to say what the extent of it is. cairn s string of finds in rajasthan last year saw it elevated to the ftse 100 index of the uk s leading listed companies. the company had bought the rights to explore in the area from oil giant shell. mr gammell is a former scottish international rugby player.

business

voters flock to blog awards site voting is under way for the annual bloggies which recognise the best web blogs - online spaces where people publish their thoughts - of the year. nominations were announced on sunday but traffic to the official site was so heavy that the website was temporarily closed because of too many visitors. weblogs have been nominated in 30 categories from the top regional blog to the best-kept-secret blog. blogs had a huge year with a top us dictionary naming blog word of 2004. technorati a blog search engine tracks about six million blogs and says that more than 12 000 are added daily. a blog is created every 5.8 seconds according to us research think-tank pew internet and american life but less than 40% of the total are updated at least once every two months. nikolai nolan who has run the bloggies for the past five years told the bbc news website he was not too surprised by the amount of voters who crowded the site. the awards always get a lot of traffic; this was just my first year on a server with a bandwidth limit so i had to guess how much i d need he said. there were many new finalists this year he added and a few that had won bloggies before. several entries reflected specific news events. there are four nominations for the south-east asia earthquake and tsunami blog which is a pretty timely one for 2005 said mr nolan. the big bloggies battle will be for the ultimate prize of blog of the year. the nominated blogs are wide-ranging covering what is in the news to quirky sites of interest. fighting it out for the coveted award are gawker this fish needs a bicycle wonkette boing boing and gothamist. in a sign that blogs are playing an increasingly key part in spreading news and current affairs the south-east asia earthquake and tsunami blog is also nominated in the best overall category. greenfairydotcom londonist hicksdesign plasticbag and london underground tube blog are the nominees in the best british or irish weblog. included in the other categories is best meme . this is for the top replicating idea that spread about weblogs . nominations include flickr a web photo album which lets people upload tag share and publish their images to blogs. podcasting has also made an appearance in the category. it is an increasingly popular idea that makes use of rss (really simple syndication) and audio technology to let people easily make their own radio shows and distribute them automatically onto portable devices. many are done by those who already have text-based blogs so they are almost like audio blogs. three new categories have been added to the list this year including best food best entertainment and best writing of a weblog. one of the categories that was scrapped though was best music blog. the winners of the fifth annual bloggies are chosen by the public. public voting closes on 3 february and the winners will be announced sometime between 13 and 15 march.

tech

celebrities get to stay in jungle all four contestants still remain in i m a celebrity ... get me out of here as no evictions were made on the television show on saturday. contestants paul burrell joe pasquale janet street-porter and fran cosgrave were told by hosts ant and dec. natalie appleton s decision to quit the show last monday had given them all a stay of execution the group were told. model sophie anderton was the last person to be voted off the itv1 show set in the australian jungle. the four remaining stars will do a joint bushtucker trial on sunday. former all saints singer natalie appleton 31 walked out of the show after learning she would face a fifth so-called bushtucker trial. the celebrities are chosen by the viewers to pass trials in order to win food for the rest of the camp. appleton had endured a torrid time during the programme including a well-publicised row with sophie anderton. and on 26 november singer brian harvey quit as a contestant after he had a blazing row with janet street-porter.

entertainment

henman hopes ended in dubai third seed tim henman slumped to a straight sets defeat in his rain-interrupted dubai open quarter-final against ivan ljubicic. the croatian eighth seed booked his place in the last four with a 7-5 6-4 victory over the british number one. henman had looked on course to level the match after going 2-0 up in the second set but his progress was halted as the rain intervened again. ljubicic hit back after the break to seal a fourth straight win over henman. earlier in the day spanish fifth seed tommy robredo secured his semi-final place when he beat nicolas kiefer of germany 6-4 6-4. afterwards henman was left cursing the weather and the umpire after seven breaks for rain during the match. it was incredibly frustrating henman said. it s raining and the umpire doesn t take control. he kept telling us to play till the end of the game. but if it s raining you come off - the score s irrelevant. it couldn t be more frustrating as i was very happy with my form until now. you don t expect this in the desert.

sport

slovakia reach hopman cup final slovakia will play argentina in the final of the hopman cup after beating group b rivals the netherlands 3-0. daniela hantuchova defeated michaella krajicek 6-4 6-2 to give the slovaks the perfect start before dutchman peter wessels retired against dominik hrbaty. wessels was unable to compete in the mixed doubles but slovakia had already booked their place in the final for the second year running. argentina claimed top spot in group a with three wins from three matches. in the other group b match the united states defeated australia 2-1. meghann shaughnessy lost the opening match against alicia molik but james blake levelled the tie with a 6-3 6-4 win over paul baccanello who came in as a replacement for the injured mark philippoussis. blake and shaughnessy then beat molik and baccanello in a tense mixed doubles contest to take the win. hantuchova who did not win a hopman cup singles match in 2004 has been in good form during this year s event and has won two of her three matches. i feel like it s really deserved this time as i ve helped dominik to get through she said. i think if i keep going the way i have been in the past few matches then i will be okay. i was really pleased with my last two singles even the first one which was a really high standard. you can t ask for a better preparation than to play a few matches here for the australian open.

sport

ibm puts cash behind linux push ibm is spending $100m (£52m) over the next three years beefing up its commitment to linux software. the cash injection will be used to help its customers use linux on every type of device from handheld computers and phones right up to powerful servers. ibm said the money will fund a variety of technical research and marketing initiatives to boost linux use. ibm said it had taken the step in response to greater customer demand for the open source software. in 2004 ibm said it had seen double digit growth in the number of customers using linux to help staff work together more closely. the money will be used to help this push towards greater collaboration and will add linux-based elements to ibm s workplace software. workplace is a suite of programs and tools that allow workers to get at core business applications no matter what device they use to connect to corporate networks. one of the main focuses of the initiative will be to make it easier to use linux-based desktop computers and mobile devices with workplace. even before ibm announced this latest spending boost it was one of the biggest advocates of the open source way of working. in 2001 it put $300m into a three-year linux program and has produced linux versions of many of its programs. linux and the open source software movement are based on the premise that developers should be free to tinker with the core components of software programs. they reason that more open scrutiny of software produces better programs and fuels innovation.

tech

chip maker backs net phone calls rich templeton the head of giant chip maker texas instruments has given his backing to the growing sector of voice over internet telephony (voip) voip allows pc users and in some cases those with just a broadband connection to make telephone calls via the net. mr templeton said voip would be the next major application to drive broadband connections into homes. internet service provider wanadoo has announced it is launching its own broadband telephony service in the uk. subscribers to wanadoo s broadband service will be able to use the service to make free evening and weekend calls to any uk landline and free calls at any time to other wanadoo users. the service will cost an extra £4 a month and will come with a free livebox the broadband hub which wanadoo plans will be used in future to provide video-on-demand and home security services. the secondary phone line will mean customers can have an extra home phone number and will also provide wireless internet access around the home. eventually the service will replace existing landline services as wanadoo goes head to head with bt. voice-over broadband is a key trend across europe and is set to have a dramatic impact on the telecommunications industry eric abensur wanadoo s chief executive told the bbc news website. mr templeton said he agreed. voice-over-packet is going to be the second killer application after broadband internet access he said. the world s largest maker of chips for mobile phones believes the technology will grow rapidly from the relatively small user base it has currently. almost 83 million people have downloaded the software that powers the skype voip service according to the net telephony firm s website. skype lets people make free calls to other skype users and also make low-cost calls to ordinary phone numbers. us firm vonage also offers a voip service but one which lets people plug an ordinary phone into a broadband router to make calls. bill simmelink general manager of ti s voip business said the technology would only take off when people were making net calls with the ease of making a normal call. it s not about the pipe if you will or the silicon per se it s about the application he said. we want to communicate freely effortlessly and economically wherever we are. in a sign that voip is seeping into the mainstream giant isp aol announced on tuesday that it had plans to launch a net-based phone service for some of its members within the month. customers will continue to use their traditional phones but they will plug them into adapters connected to their broadband source rather than the jack provided by the telephone company. calls are received and placed just like on the old telephone network. we can help mass-market adoption of voip said aol chief executive jonathan miller. we can utilise our national footprint. we can help the entire industry become well known.

tech

us firm pulls out of iraq a us company has pulled out of a major contract to rebuild iraq s transport system after attacks on reconstruction efforts pentagon officials have said. contrack international of arlington virginia heads a coalition of firms working on a series of schemes. its withdrawal from the $325m (£170m) contract in november is thought to be the largest cancellation to date. contrack said the original scope of work that was envisioned could not be executed in a cost-effective manner . but the firm denied reports it was withdrawing completely from iraq. members of the joint venture including contrack are committed to the ongoing reconstruction efforts are actively working in iraq and continue to look for new construction opportunities in the country it said in a statement. the pentagon s project and contract office (pco) in baghdad said it had taken over contrack s management of the subcontractors working on the transportation projects. us firms and their workers have been targets of attacks and security concerns are said to be a major reason for the slow pace of reconstruction in iraq. of the $18.4bn in reconstruction funds approved by congress less than $2bn has been spent. lt col eric schnaible of the pco told the associated press news agency contrack s withdrawal from the transportation contract was a mutually agreed-to separation and did not indicate a movement by us companies to leave iraq. some parts of the country are a whole lot more permissive than others he added. where we can get the work done good things are happening.

business

troubled marsh under sec scrutiny the us stock market regulator is investigating troubled insurance broker marsh & mclennan s shareholder transactions the firm has said. the securities and exchange commission has asked for information about transactions involving holders of 5% or more of the firm s shares. marsh has said it is co-operating fully with the sec investigation. marsh is also the focus of an inquiry the new york attorney-general into whether insurers rigged the market. since that inquiry was launched in october marsh has replaced its chief executive and held a boardroom shake-out to meet criticism by lessening the number of company executives on the board. prosecutors allege that marsh - the world s biggest insurance broker - and other us insurance firms may have fixed bids for corporate cover. this is the issue at the heart of the inquiry by new york s top law officer eliot spitzer and a separate prosecution of five insurers by the state of california. the sec s investigation into so-called related party transactions includes dealings in the trident funds managed by mmc capital the company s private equity firm. marsh s new chief executive michael cherkasky is trying to negotiate a settlement with mr spitzer. mr spitzer has built up a reputation as a fierce critic and campaigner against corporate america s misdeeds. the uncertainty unleashed by the scandal has prompted three credit rating agencies - standard & poor s moody s and fitch - to downgrade marsh in recent weeks. according to the financial times insurance analysts are now questioning whether marsh will be able to maintain its strong record of earning growth as they draw up forecasts for the first quarter of next year. doubts also exist over how much the company may have to pay regulators and lawyers to put the scandal behind.

business

grammys honour soul star charles the memory of soul legend ray charles dominated the music world s leading music ceremony on sunday as he was given eight posthumous grammy awards. charles who died in 2004 got honours including record and album of the year while alicia keys and actor jamie foxx performed a musical tribute to him. r&b star keys won four awards herself at the grammy ceremony in los angeles. u2 usher norah jones and kanye west got three each. west led the race going into the ceremony with 10 nominations. charles last album genius loves company a collection of duets that has sold more than two million copies was named album of the year and best pop vocal album. his song here we go again with norah jones won record of the year and best pop vocal collaboration while heaven help us all with gladys knight picked up best gospel performance. jones said: i m glad he s getting recognised because of who he is and how much i love him. actor jamie foxx - who is nominated for an oscar for playing charles in the hit movie ray - dedicated a rendition of georgia on my mind to old friends . keys looking to replicate her grammys success of 2002 when she won five picked up best r&b song for you don t know my name and best r&b album for the diary of alicia keys. she also shared the award for best r&b vocal performance by a duo or group with usher for my boo. usher s other victories were for best contemporary r&b album for confessions and best rap/sung collaboration for yeah! featuring lil jon and ludacris. kanye west dominated the rap categories winning best rap song for jesus walks and best rap album for the college dropout. but in one of the night s biggest shocks he lost out in the battle to be named best new artist to pop rock act maroon 5. vertigo by rock giants u2 won three trophies - best rock song best short video and best rock vocal performance by a duo or group. one of the other main awards song of the year went to us singer-songwriter john mayer for daughters. mayer also won best male pop vocal performance. britney spears picked up her first ever grammy for her song toxic which was named best dance recording. rod stewart also won the first grammy of his career getting the best traditional pop album award for stardust... the great american songbook: volume iii. in 2003 stewart said he was astounded he had never won a grammy - but they tend not to give it to the british unless you re sting . there were few other high-profile british victors this year. annie lennox metal group motorhead and dance act basement jaxx all took home trophies. but elvis costello who had four nominations and joss stone and franz ferdinand who were both up for three awards got nothing. beach boys veteran brian wilson was another first-time winner - for best rock instrumental performance. it represents triumph and achievement in music that i feel that i deserved and i m really glad i won he said. a live recording of composer john adams 11 september tribute on the transmigration of souls performed by the new york philharmonic won three classical prizes. and former us president bill clinton picked up the second grammy of his career winning the spoken word award for the audio version of his autobiography my life.

entertainment

howard pitches for uk ethnic vote michael howard is to make a pitch for britain s ethnic vote urging people who feel taken for granted by tony blair to vote conservative. he will say conservatives share the same values as the uk s minorities. and that he wants to build a better britain where everyone whatever the colour of their skin or religion can make the most of their talents . but the tory leader will argue against positive discrimination saying it is outdated and unjust . it sets family against family and it leads ethnic communities to doubt their own abilities he will argue. mr howard - himself the son of immigrants - will acknowledge that racial discrimination still exists in the uk. people from ethnic communities for example still earn less than their white counterparts he will say before arguing the answer to helping everyone to get on was free enterprise free trade free speech . the tory leader will also call for religious tolerance arguing that hindus and sikhs as well as muslims got caught in the downdraft of islamaphobia which was one of the terrible side effects of 9/11 . mr howard will make his speech during a visit to support tory parliamentary hopefuls robert light and sayeeda warsi - the first british muslim woman selected to run for mp as a conservative candidate. he will attack labour s record in government over issues such as tax and he will set out tory plans for an immigration quota to be set by mps. mr howard will also attack the lib dems for wanting to abolish faith schools introduce compulsory sex education from the age of seven and give contraceptives out in schools from the age of 11 . so i say to all those people from ethnic minorities who feel mr blair and the liberal democrats take their votes for granted - come join us he will say. lib dem president simon hughes branded mr howard arrogant and wrong for claiming the tories were the natural party for britain s ethnic minorities. given the tories considerably reduced support in urban areas where many black and asian britons live during their time in power the evidence simply does not support his claims that the conservatives are the party for these communities he said.

politics

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

net regulation still possible the blurring of boundaries between tv and the internet raises questions of regulation watchdog ofcom has said. content on tv and the internet is set to move closer this year as tv-quality video online becomes a norm. at a debate in westminster the net industry considered the options. lord currie chairman of super-regulator ofcom told the panel that protecting audiences would always have to be a primary concern for the watchdog. despite having no remit for the regulation of net content disquiet has increased among internet service providers as speeches made by ofcom in recent months hinted that regulation might be an option. at the debate organised by the internet service providers association (ispa) lord currie did not rule out the possibility of regulation. the challenge will arise when boundaries between tv and the internet truly blur and then there is a balance to be struck between protecting consumers and allowing them to assess the risks themselves he said. adopting the rules that currently exist to regulate tv content or self-regulation which is currently the practice of the net industry will be up for discussion. some studies suggest that as many as eight million households in the uk could have adopted broadband by the end of 2005 and the technology opens the door to tv content delivered over the net. more and more internet service providers and media companies are streaming video content on the web. bt has already set up an entertainment division to create and distribute content that could come from sources such as bskyb itv and the bbc. head of the division andrew burke spoke about the possibility of creating content for all platforms. how risque can i be in this new age with celebrity chefs serving up more expletives than hot dinners surely i can push it to the limit he said. in fact he said if content has been requested by consumers and they have gone to lengths to download it then maybe it should be entirely regulation free. internet service providers have long claimed no responsibility for the content they carry on their servers since the law commission dubbed them mere conduits back in 2002. this defence does not apply if they have actual knowledge of illegal content and have failed to remove it. the level of responsibility they have has been tested in several high-profile legal cases. richard ayers portal director at tiscali said there was little point trying to regulate the internet because it would be impossible. huge changes are afoot in 2005 he predicted as companies such as the bbc offer tv content over the net. the bbc s planned interactive media player which will give surfers the chance to download programmes such as eastenders and top gear will make net tv mainstream and raise a whole new set of questions he said. one of these will be about the vast sums of money involved in maintaining the network to supply such a huge quantity of data and could herald a new digital licence fee said mr ayers. as inappropriate net content most obviously pornography viewed by children continues to dominate the headlines internet regulation remains a political issue said mp richard allan liberal democrat spokesman on it. mr allan thinks that the answer could lie somewhere between the cries of impossible to regulate and just apply offline laws online . in fact instead of seeing regulation brought online the future could bring an end to regulation as we know it for all tv content. after lord currie departed the panel agreed that this could be a reality and that for the internet people power is likely to reign. if content is on-demand consumers have pulled it up rather than had pushed to them then it is the consumers choice to watch it. there is no watershed on the net said mr burke.

tech

parties warned over grey vote political parties cannot afford to take older uk voters for granted in the coming election says age concern. a survey for the charity suggests 69% of over-55s say they always vote in a general election compared with just 17% of 18 to 24 year olds. charity boss gordon lishman said if a decisive blow was struck at the election it would be by older voters who could be relied on to turn out. a total of 3 028 adults aged 18 or over were interviewed for the study. mr lishman urged the next government to boost state pension. he also called for measures to combat ageism and build effective public services to support us all in an ageing society . older people want to see manifesto commitments that will make a difference to their lives mr lishman said. political parties must wake up to the fact that unless they address the demands and concerns of older people they will not keep or attract their vote. in the survey carried out by icm research 14% of people aged between 18 and 34 said they never voted in general elections. among the over-65s 70% said they would be certain to vote in an immediate election compared with 39% of people under 55. age concern says the over-55s are united around key areas of policy they want the government to focus on. for 57% pensions and the nhs were key issues while the economy was important for a third and tax was a crucial area for 25%.

politics

correction agency plans dropped plans to create a single correctional agency for scotland have been scrapped. the scottish executive will not now merge the scottish prison service with local authority social work criminal justice departments. the national correctional agency would have provided a one-stop justice system but has been abandoned in the wake of stiff opposition. instead scottish councils and the prison service will be compelled to work more closely to cut reoffending. the plan was to ensure offenders were monitored by the same body during and after prison preventing many from being lost in the system and helping more of them to stop reoffending. scotland s reoffending rate is high with more than 60% of prisoners reconvicted within two years of release from jail. this is leading to an ever-expanding prison population and the executive wants to tackle the problem. ministers thought merging the prison service with the council-controlled criminal justice social work departments which provide community sentences might have provided an answer. however following a consultation on the idea justice minister cathy jamieson has decided to drop the plans. instead ms jamieson will change the law to help produce a closer working relationship between both elements of the justice system. she will announce the move in her criminal justice plan on monday aiming to break down the barriers between what happens in prison and what happens in the community . the new measures will place a new statutory duty on the sps to work with local authorities and others in area partnerships. a national advisory board on offender management will also be created to advise ms jamieson on the sps s role and performance in reducing reoffending. the minister said: better joint working will help prisons play a much stronger role in ending reoffending behaviour and in particular help address the revolving door of reoffending that sees offenders entering prison for short periods during which little is done to address the behaviour that brought them there. communities who are paying the price for this reoffending - both in terms of crime and in terms of prison costs - expect better. it costs the taxpayer £35 000 a year to provide each prison place and that cost is increasing. taxpayers who suffer the consequences of crime also end up paying for keeping those people in prison. therefore as we continue to invest in the service it is only right that we seek to ensure that that service becomes more accountable to the public it serves to ministers and to parliament.

politics

bank holds interest rate at 4.75% the bank of england has left interest rates on hold again at 4.75% in a widely-predicted move. rates went up five times from november 2003 - as the bank sought to cool the housing market and consumer debt - but have remained unchanged since august. recent data has indicated a slowdown in manufacturing and consumer spending as well as in mortgage approvals. and retail sales disappointed over christmas with analysts putting the drop down to less consumer confidence. rising interest rates and the accompanying slowdown in the housing market have knocked consumers optimism causing a sharp fall in demand for expensive goods according to a report earlier this week from the british retail consortium. the brc said britain s retailers had endured their worst christmas in a decade. today s no change decision is correct said david frost director general of the british chambers of commerce (bcc). but if there are clear signs that the economy slows the mpc should be ready to take quick corrective action and cut rates. dismal reports from the retail trade about christmas sales are worrying if they indicate a more general weakening in consumer spending. mr frost added: the housing market outlook remains highly uncertain. it is widely accepted that if house prices start falling more sharply the risks facing the economy will worsen considerably. cbi chief economist ian mccafferty said the economy had slowed in recent months in response to rate rises but that it was difficult to gauge from the christmas period the likely pace of activity through the summer. the bank is having to juggle the emergence of inflationary pressures driven by a tight labour market and buoyant commodity prices against the risk of an over-abrupt slowdown in consumer activity he said. interest rates are likely to remain on hold for some time. on thursday there was more gloomy news on the manufacturing front as the office for national (ons) statistics revealed british manufacturing output unexpectedly fell in november - for the fifth month in the past six. the ons said manufacturing output dropped 0.1% in november matching a similar unrevised fall in october and confounding economists expectations of a 0.3% rise. manufacturers organisation the eef said it expected the hold in interest rates to continue in the near future. it also said there was evidence that manufacturers confidence may be waning as the outlook for the world economy becomes more uncertain. so far the evidence suggests that last year s rate increases have helped to rebalance the economy without damaging the recovery in manufacturing said eef chief economist steve radley. however should the business outlook start to deteriorate the bank should stand ready to cut rates. some economists have predicted rates will drop later in the year although others feel the bank may still think there is a need for a rise to 5% before that happens. the bank remains concerned about the long-term risks posed by personal debt - which is rising at 15% a year - if economic conditions worsen.

business

new ukip defection to veritas the uk independence party has lost one of its two london assembly members to robert kilroy-silk s new political party expected to launch on wednesday. damian hockney said ex-chatshow host mr kilroy-silk would deliver better as the leader of a eurosceptic party. he said mr kilroy-silk had made him deputy party leader of veritas latin for truth. sources close to mr hockney said around eight other members of london ukip were also planning to jump ship. details of the coming week s events were hammered out at a meeting at mr kilroy-silk s buckinghamshire home on sunday the bbc news website was told. the news came after ukip suspended a candidate for allegedly suggesting the criminally insane should be killed. john houston 54 was due to stand in the east kilbride seat in lanarkshire at the next election. a spokesman for ukip called on mr hockney to quit the london assembly. ukip asserts that mr hockney has a moral obligation if not a legal one to stand down. mr hockney meanwhile told the bbc: i believe that robert kilroy-silk can deliver better as a leader of a eurosceptic party than the current leadership of the uk independence party. on the suspension of mr houston ukip said those who selected him knew nothing of his views. mr houston is alleged to have said that the organs of the criminally insane should be made available to law-abiding members of the community and proposed the legalisation of drugs and the sex trade. the document reportedly said: we re looking for the resurrection of the british empire. the problems for the human race - environmental and others - can only be dealt with on a global scale and that calls for a radical alliance of the english-speaking nations which they are uniquely able to do. ukip spokesman mark croucher said the main issue would be that mr houston s reported views had been presented as ukip policy which they were not.

politics

angels favourite funeral song angels by robbie williams is the song britons would most like played at their funeral a survey has suggested. while the melancholy hit topped the uk poll europeans favoured queen s more upbeat anthem the show must go on as their first choice. frank sinatra s my way was second in the uk vote with monty python s always look on the bright side of life in third place. more than 45 000 people were surveyed by digital tv station music choice. the european chart which included denmark france and germany put led zeppelin s stairway to heaven in second and ac/dc s highway to hell in third. queen s who wants to live forever was highly favoured by both uk and european voters. both lists featured only one traditional or classic song each with britons requesting the royal scots dragoon guards amazing grace and their continental counterparts opting for mozart s requiem. wanting to share your most treasured musical gem with those you re leaving behind is the perfect way to sign off and leave a lasting impression music choice music and marketing manager simon george said.

entertainment

split-caps pay £194m compensation investors who lost money following the split-capital investment trust scandal are to receive £194m compensation the uk s financial watchdog has announced. eighteen investment firms involved in the sale of the investments agreed the compensation package with the financial services authority (fsa). splits were marketed as a low-risk way to benefit from rising share prices. but when the stock market collapsed in 2000 the products left thousands of investors out of pocket. an estimated 50 000 people took out split-capital funds some investing their life savings in the schemes. the paying of compensation will be overseen by an independent company the fsa said. further details of how investors will be able to claim their share of the compensation package will be announced in the new year. this should save investors from having to take their case to the financial ombudsman service something no doubt that will be very welcome rob mcivor fsa spokesman told bbc news. agreeing to pay compensation did not mean that the eighteen firms involved were admitting any guilt the fsa added. any investor accepting the compensation will have to waive the right to take their case to the financial ombudsman service. the fsa has been investigating whether investors were misled about the risks posed by split-capital investment trusts. the fsa s 60 strong investigation team looked into whether fund managers colluded in a so-called magic circle in the hope of propping up one another s share prices. firms involved were presented with 780 files of evidence detailing 27 000 taped conversations and over 70 interviews. in may the fsa was widely reported as having asked firms to pay up to £350m in compensation. mr mcivor told the bbc that the final settlement figure was smaller because two unnamed firms had pulled out of the compensation negotiations. investors in these two firms may now have to take any compensation claim to the financial ombudsman service or the courts.

business

microsoft releases 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

escaped prisoner report ordered first minister jack mcconnell has ordered a report on the decision to allow a paranoid schizophrenic knife attacker to go on a visit unguarded. michael ferguson 36 escaped after being allowed out of the high-security carstairs unit. the snp s nicola sturgeon has demanded to know who was responsible for signing off the leave. the scottish executive said ministers would be notified but it would not be common practice to sign approval. an executive spokesman said the health department and the state hospital itself would work together on preparing the report. ministerial responsibility for carstairs rests with rhona brankin the deputy health minister. ms brankin said: the first minister has called for a review of what has happened we need to talk to the state hospital and we need to reflect on this. ms sturgeon has written to mr mcconnell asking for clarification on the move to allow the prisoner out. she said questions must be answered about his escape if the public is to be reassured about safety. police are still searching for ferguson who failed to return after a trip to east kilbride on monday. the scottish national party s parliamentary leader argued that under the law authorisation of ferguson s leave of absence would have come directly from ministers. she said: the scottish executive seemed to indicate yesterday that the escape of mr ferguson was a matter for carstairs. however my understanding is that under the mental health legislation the decision to grant this patient - and any restricted patient - leave of absence would have required direct and specific authorisation by scottish ministers. she added: i have written to the first minister today asking for confirmation of that fact. i have also asked him to confirm which minister would routinely take decisions of this nature and what information they are based on. this is not an attempt to apportion blame but to ensure a better understanding of the decision making process in such important and sensitive cases. police said ferguson posed a danger to the public. bbc scotland political correspondent glenn campbell said the first minister had ordered an urgent report into the situation. he said: we understand from the executive that in this case no individual minister signed off the approval for michael ferguson to be released unescorted from carstairs. the executive concedes that it is up to scottish ministers they have a legal responsibility for approving this sort of leave but they say routinely it is specialised officials that make that decision and simply inform ministers that they have taken it. but at that stage presumably ministers can ask hard questions and can ask for reassurances that the patient is not a serious danger to the public or that any risk has been minimised. scottish conservative leader david mcletchie said earlier it was almost beyond belief that this has been allowed to happen . the executive spokeswoman said the recommendation for leave was agreed by a psychiatric advisor in conjunction with officials on behalf of ministers . she said: ministers were told of that notified of it but it would not be common practice for them to sign it off. they do have statutory responsibility but the common practice has been that people who work with the patient and have the best knowledge about risk would make that decision. ferguson who slashed a man in a doctors surgery in coatbridge in 1994 had been out to see his fiancée annabella holmes 47 whom he met when she was a patient at the high security complex in south lanarkshire. he is described as being 5ft 9ins tall slim with blond hair blue eyes and a fair complexion. ferguson was wearing a black jacket grey jeans black jumper and black shoes when he was last seen. he has multiple fading tattoos on his left hand and a very faded tear tattoo under his left eye. ms holmes is not missing but there have been no sightings of ferguson since monday. strathclyde police asked anyone who spots ferguson to contact sergeant keith mcdonald on .

politics

legendary dutch boss michels dies legendary dutch coach rinus michels the man credited with developing total football has died aged 77. referred to in the netherlands as the general michels led the dutch at the 1974 world cup - when they reached the final only to lose 2-1 to germany. however he guided his side to the 1988 european championship title with a 2-0 win over the soviet union in the final. michels played for ajax and coached the side to four national titles between 1965-71 and a european cup in 1971. his 1970s dutch team was built around johan cruyff and johan neeskens and introduced the concept of total football to the world. the strategy was to foster team coherence and individual imagination - with all players possessing the skills to play in any part of the pitch. cruyff was the on-field organiser of a team whose players rotated in and out of defence at will and was encouraged to play creative attacking football. michels had recently undergone heart surgery and dutch football federation (knvb) spokesman frank huizinga said: he was one of the best coaches we had in history. the no-nonsense coach also enjoyed spells at barcelona who he took to a spanish title in 1974 fc cologne and bayer leverkusen. michels named coach of the century by world football s governing body fifa in 1999 also won five caps for the netherlands as a bruising centre forward. dutch sports minister clemence ross-van dorp said: he was the man who together with cruyff made dutch football big.

sport

blair backs pre-election budget tony blair has backed chancellor gordon brown s pre-budget report amid opposition claims he was too bullish about the state of the uk economy. in a speech in edinburgh the prime minister said thursday s report reinforced stability and opportunity. and that would be central to labour s next election campaign planning for which was already well advanced. mr brown earlier denied his economic forecasts were too optimistic - but refused to rule out future tax rises. he told bbc radio 4 s today programme: no politician should make the mistake that john major and his colleagues made in 1992 of saying no matter what the circumstances are they can make all sorts of guarantees on every individual thing. that is not what politicians should do it would not be responsible to do. mr brown insisted his spending plans were affordable and he could afford to be optimistic because britain was now a stable low-inflation economy and house prices were now stabilising. mr blair praised his chancellor for his role in creating economic stability which he said was the cornerstone of labour s programme. in a speech at edinburgh s napier university he said labour would publish over the next few months a rich agenda for future policy in any possible third term . in every area of work there is a detailed plan for the future much clearer than those in 1997 or 2001. all of it fits together around common themes of opportunity security and stability for all mr blair said. in his pre-budget report mr brown surprised some city experts by forecasting uk growth at between 3% and 3.5% for next year. many believe the figure is more likely to be under 3% - and fear tax rises or spending cuts saying tax receipts have been overestimated. carl emmerson from the institute for fiscal studies told bbc news: he thinks everything will come out in the wash and it will in fact be ok. we re not so sure. david page of investec securities said: his forecast that he will meet the golden rule with a margin of £8bn is way too optimistic. it s going to take a significant turnaround in the economy to meet these targets. conservative shadow chancellor oliver letwin said: i can t find a single economic forecaster from the imf to the institute of fiscal studies who believes anything other than the chancellor has got a black hole in his finances. in order to deal with that he will have to raise taxes after the next general election. mr letwin accused the chancellor of using fancy statistics to hide public service failures. vincent cable for the liberal democrats called on mr brown to open up the government s books to the national audit office to see if he had met his golden rule . it is very clear that there are some serious loose ends in government public spending mr cable told mps.

politics

sainsbury s labour election gift science minister lord sainsbury has made a £2m donation to the labour party for its general election fund. it is the latest hefty donation to the party by the billionaire - he has contributed more than £10m since 1999. david sainsbury said he was pleased to give cash to a party that had the vision to deliver economic prosperity and better public services for britain. general secretary matt carter said it was a fantastic gift that would help labour fight and win the election . through the generosity of david sainsbury and other labour supporters labour will be campaigning hard to take britain forward and to stop the tories taking us back mr carter said. lord sainsbury added: i am pleased to be able to make this contribution to the general election funds of the labour party because i believe that they are the only party that has the vision to deliver both economic prosperity and better public services for britain. the 64-year-old latest donation follows a £2.5m gift to the party in 2003. lord sainsbury was created a life peer in 1997 a year before he was appointed as minister for science.

politics

hearts of oak 3-2 cotonsport hearts of oak set up an all ghanaian confederation cup final with a 3-2 win over cameroon s cotonsport garoua in accra on sunday. the win for hearts means they will play asante kotoko in the two-leg final after the kumasi team qualified from group a on saturday. in the other group b game cameroon s beat of south africa 3-2 in douala neither side could have qualified for the final. hearts of oak started the game needing a win to qualify for the final while cotonsport only needed to avoid defeat to go through. louis agyemang scored the first two goals for hearts either side of half time before ben don bortey scored the third. hearts looked set for a comfortable win but cotonsport staged a late fight back scoring twice late on. first of all boukar makaji scored in the 89th minute and then 3 minutes into injury time at the end of the game andre nzame iii was on target. but it was too little too late for the cameroonians and hearts held on to win the game and a place in the final. the first leg of the final will be played in accra on the weekend of 27-28 november and the second leg two weeks later on the 11 december in kumasi. in the other group b game cameroon s sable batie took the lead in the 35th minute through kemadjou before santos equalised on the hour mark thanks to thokozani xaba . bernard ngom put sable ahead just five minutes later and then ernest nfor settled the game on 68 minutes. ruben cloete scored the south african sides consolation with just three minutes left on the clock.

sport

us bank boss hails genius smith us federal reserve chairman alan greenspan has given a speech at a scottish church in honour of the pioneering economist adam smith. he delivered the 14th adam smith lecture in kirkcaldy fife. the adam smith lecture celebrates the author of 1776 s wealth of nations which became a bible of capitalism. dr greenspan was invited by chancellor gordon brown whose minister father john used to preach at the st bryce kirk church. mr brown introduced dr greenspan to the 400 invited guests as the the world s greatest economist . dr greenspan 79 who has been in the uk to attend the g7 meeting in london said the world could never repay the debt of gratitude it owed to smith whose genius he compared to that of mozart. he said the philosopher was a towering contributor to the modern world . kirkcaldy the birthplace in 1723 of adam smith and by extension of modern economics is also of course where your chancellor was reared. i am led to ponder to what extent the chancellor s renowned economic and financial skills are the result of exposure to the subliminal intellect-enhancing emanation in this area. he continued: smith reached far beyond the insights of his predecessors to frame a global view of how market economics just then emerging worked. in so doing he supported changes in societal organisation that were to measurably enhance standards of living. dr greenspan said smith s revolutionary philosophy on human self-interest laissez-faire economics and competition had been a force for good in the world. the incredible insights of a handful of intellectuals of the enlightenment - especially with smith toiling in the environs of kirkcaldy - created the modern vision of people free to choose and to act according to their individual self-interest he said. following his lecture dr greenspan - who received an honorary knighthood from the queen at balmoral in 2002 - was awarded an honorary fellowship of the royal society of edinburgh. he later opened an exhibition dedicated to smith in the atrium of fife college of further and higher education. joyce johnston principal of the college said: it is very fitting that the world s premier economist delivered this lecture in tribute to the world s first economist. dr greenspan - who became chairman of the federal reserve for an unprecedented fifth term in june 2004 - will step down in january next year. he has served under presidents george w bush bill clinton george bush and ronald reagan. he was also chairman of the council of economic advisors to gerald ford.

business

uk bank seals south korean deal uk-based bank standard chartered said it would spend $3.3bn (£1.8bn) to buy one of south korea s main retail banks. standard chartered said acquiring korea first bank (kfb) fulfilled a strategic objective of building a bigger presence in asia s third largest economy. its shares fell nearly 3% in london as the bank raised funds for the deal by selling new stocks worth £1bn ($1.8bn) equal to 10% of its share capital. standard chartered expects about 16% of future group revenue to come from kfb. the south korean bank will also make up 22% of the group s total assets. the move a year after citigroup beat standard chartered to buy koram bank would be the south korean financial sector s biggest foreign takeover. this time around standard chartered is thought to have beaten hsbc to the deal. kfb is south korea s seventh largest bank with 3 million retail customers 6% of the country s banking market and an extensive branch network. the country s banking market is three times the size of hong kong s with annual revenues of $44bn. standard chartered has its headquarters in london but does two thirds of its business in asia and much of the rest in africa. we re comfortable with the price paid...the key here has been speed and decisiveness in making sure that we won said standard chartered chief executive mervyn davies at a london press conference. standard chartered said kfb was a well-managed conservatively run bank with a highly skilled workforce and represented a significant acquisition in a growth market . in london standard chartered s sale of 118 million new shares to institutional investors pushed its share price down and contributing to the ftse 100 s 0.3% decline. standard chartered s shares were 28 pence lower at 925p by midday. some analysts also queried whether standard chartered had overpaid for kfb. the deal which requires regulatory approval is expected to be completed by april 2005 and to be earnings accretive in 2006 standard chartered said. rival banking giant hsbc which is based in london and hong kong was also in the running. standard chartered is believed to have gained the initiative by putting together a bid during the christmas break. they were able to move so quickly it caught hsbc by surprise the financial times newspaper quoted an insider in the talks as saying. hsbc will now have to wait for the next south korean bank in line to be sold off - thought likely to be korea exchange bank also currently in the hands of a us group. standard chartered said it was buying 100% of kfb an agreement that would bring an end to the bank s complex dual ownership. the south korean government owns 51.4% of kfb while the remaining shareholding and operational control are in the hands of us private equity group newbridge capital. newbridge bought its stake during the government s nationalisation of several banks in the wake of the 1997 asia-wide currency crisis which crippled south korea s financial institutions. south korea s economy is expected to grow by 4.5% this year. although often thought of an export-driven economy south korea s service sector has overtaken manufacturing in the last decade or so. services now make up roughly 40% of the economy and consumer spending and retail banking have become increasingly important. in the aftermath of the asian financial crisis the government encouraged the growth of consumer credit. bad loan problems followed; lg card the country s biggest credit card provider has been struggling to avoid bankruptcy for months for instance. but analysts believe south korea s financial services industry is still in its infancy offering plenty of scope for new products. standard chartered sees the opportunity to create value by the introduction of more sophisticated banking products . since 1999 kfb has been restructured from a wholesale bank into a retail bank focused on mortgage lending which makes up 45% of its loans.

business

economy stronger than forecast the uk economy probably grew at a faster rate in the third quarter than the 0.4% reported according to bank of england deputy governor rachel lomax. private sector business surveys suggest a stronger economy than official estimates ms lomax said. other surveys collectively show a rapid slowdown in uk house price growth she pointed out. this means that despite a strong economic growth base rates will probably stay on hold at 4.75%. official data comes from the office for national statistics (ons). though reliable ons data takes longer to publish so now the boe is calling for faster delivery of data so it can make more effective policy decisions. recent work by the bank has shown that private sector surveys add value even when preliminary ons estimates are available ms lomax said in a speech to the north wales business club. the ons is due to publish its second estimate of third quarter growth on friday. the mpc judges that overall growth was a little higher in the third quarter than the official data currently indicate ms lomax said. the bank said successful monetary policy depends on having good information. rachel lomax cited the late 1980s as an example of a time when weak economic figures were published but substantially revised upwards years later. the statistical fog surrounding the true state of the economy has proved a particularly potent breeding ground for policy errors in the past she said. improving the quality of national statistics is the single the best way of making sure the monetary policy committee (mpc) makes the right decisions she said. the bank of england is working in tandem with the ons to improve the quality and speed of delivery of data. her remarks follow criticism from the house of lords economic affairs committee which said the mpc had held interest rates too high given that inflation was way below the 2% target. a slowdown in the housing market and this year s surge in oil prices has made economic forecasting all the more tricky leading to a more uncertain outlook. this year rising oil prices and a significant slowdown in the housing market have awoken bad memories of the 1970s and 1980s ms lomax said. the mpc will be doing well if it can achieve the same stability over the next decade as we have enjoyed over the past 10 years. decisions on interest rates are made after the mpc gathers together the range of indicators available every month. the clearest signals come when all indicators are pointing the same direction ms lomax intimated. in economic assessment there is safety in numbers.

business

umaga ready for lions all blacks captain tama umaga has warned the british and irish lions will be his most fearsome opponents yet ahead of their summer tour. but umaga in england for saturday s irb rugby aid match also backed new zealand to win the three-test series against the lions. he told bbc sport: it s potentially the most fearsome line-up i ve ever come up against. they re awesome. but i d back us all the way to beat them when they come over. lions boss sir clive woodward is set to announce his squad for the june-july tour next month. when woodward was appointed last year it was widely believed he would rely heavily on his former england players. but umaga said: he d be hard pushed to do that now considering the shape of the six nations. don t get me wrong england have got a lot of talented guys and i m sure there are some of them who ll make the lions test xv. but you can t disguise wales and ireland in particular. some of the tries they ve scored have been great. i ll admit it ll be fairly awesome lining up against the likes of brian o driscoll. umaga will meet o driscoll in saturday s rugby aid match at twickenham with the irish captain leading the northern hemisphere side. o driscoll is among a host of players in the northern hemisphere squad coached by woodward that are tipped for lions call-ups. it ll be good for us to get an early idea of some of these guys although a lot can change between now and june umaga said. the 31-year-old admitted interest in the lions tour was immense calling it the biggest thing to hit new zealand since lord of the rings . he added: as players it s enough for us to be driven by the rarity of playing the lions. in fact it s not just us all blacks - it s the talk of the country. umaga admitted the fear of injury weighed on his mind ahead of saturday s charity game which features a host of big names including george gregan andrew mehrtens and chris latham. but he admitted the value of the cause - proceeds of the match will go to aiding victims of the tsunami - easily won him over. the second [southern hemisphere coach] rod macqueen made the approach i didn t hesitate. it was great when new zealand rugby then gave me the all clear. thankfully i didn t know anyone that was involved in the tragedy of the tsunami but you couldn t miss all the horrific reports on the news. there are so many people that were affected are still affected and will be affected for a long time. it s just good to know we can do something minor to help out. - the match will be televised on bbc one at 1400 gmt on saturday.

sport

mps assess scots fishing industry a group of mps are on a two-day fact-finding mission to scotland to gather evidence for a report into the uk s fishing industry. members of westminster s environment food and rural affairs committee will be touring fish markets and talking to fish processors. they will also talk to fisheries minister ross finnie and scientists. mps are deciding whether to recommend a new system of community quotas to conserve fish stocks. the aim is that fishing ports like peterhead or fraserburgh would be allocated a quota and local people would decide how to fish it. the scheme is a variation on the local management committees already being established by the european union. details are contained in a royal commission report for the uk government along with the more controversial idea of closing some mixed fishing grounds completely. six members of the committee will be in scotland to seek views from fishermen and processors in aberdeen and peterhead. they will also speak to mr finnie representatives of the royal society and the sea fish industry authority. committee chairman austin mitchell said some way has to be found of harvesting mixed fisheries without wasting stocks.

politics

corbett attacks dumbed-down tv ronnie corbett has joined fellow comedy stars victoria wood and david jason in attacking the declining standards of british television programmes. speaking to the radio times the two ronnies star said there is too much bad language and reality tv. you get fed up watching shows with not much care and love he complained. corbett soon to reunite with ronnie barker for a new two ronnies series also criticised quiz shows like the bbc s they think it s all over. it s just laughing at each other and thinking aren t we clever said the 74-year-old comedian. corbett is the latest comedy star to bemoan the dumbing down of modern tv programmes. in an interview published in the radio times in january victoria wood slated comedian sacha baron cohen for his character ali g s horrible brand of victim humour. with so many good writers and good performers it s a shame people can t just write a script and have other people learn it she said. and last week only fools and horses star david jason criticised british tv for being too safe and too cheap . we ve got to be careful not to dumb down for the audience he said. they shouldn t be sitting at home on the sofa vegetating. corbett said he and barker were always mindful of their family audience while making the two ronnies. our material was good-natured he said. we knew what would upset the average man in the street. there s a lot of swearing on tv today. they even have documentaries with the f-word. corbett goes on to criticise reality programmes where they put people in a house for a fortnight and film them doing everything . the two ronnies ran from 1971 to 1987 and attracted 17 million viewers at its peak. its bespectacled stars will return later this year in the two ronnies sketchbook which will combine classic sketches with newly recorded material. corbett claims he and barker differ from today s celebrities in that they did not allow their success to go to their heads. we were never temperamental fractious or walked out slamming doors he said. we were fussy though he added. we wanted everything done properly.

entertainment

kenyan school turns to handhelds at the mbita point primary school in western kenya students click away at a handheld computer with a stylus. they are doing exercises in their school textbooks which have been digitised. it is a pilot project run by eduvision which is looking at ways to use low cost computer systems to get up-to-date information to students who are currently stuck with ancient textbooks. matthew herren from eduvision told the bbc programme go digital how the non-governmental organisation uses a combination of satellite radio and handheld computers called e-slates. the e-slates connect via a wireless connection to a base station in the school. this in turn is connected to a satellite radio receiver. the data is transmitted alongside audio signals. the base station processes the information from the satellite transmission and turns it into a form that can be read by the handheld e-slates. it downloads from the satellite and every day processes the stream sorts through content for the material destined for the users connected to it. it also stores this on its hard disc. the system is cheaper than installing and maintaining an internet connection and conventional computer network. but mr herren says there are both pros and cons to the project. it s very simple to set up just a satellite antenna on the roof of the school but it s also a one-way connection so getting feedback or specific requests from end users is difficult. the project is still at the pilot stage and eduvision staff are on the ground to attend to teething problems with the linux-based system. the content is divided into visual information textual information and questions. users can scroll through these sections independently of each other. eduvision is planning to include audio and video files as the system develops and add more content. mr herren says this would vastly increase the opportunities available to the students. he is currently in negotiations to take advantage of a project being organised by search site google to digitise some of the world s largest university libraries. all books in the public domain something like 15 million could be put on the base stations as we manufacture them. then every rural school in africa would have access to the same libraries as the students in oxford and harvard currently the project is operating in an area where there is mains electricity. but mr herren says eduvision already has plans to extend it to more remote regions. we plan to put a solar panel at the school with the base station have the e-slates charge during the day when the children are in school then they can take them home at night and continue working. maciej sundra who designed the user interface for the e-slates says the project s ultimate goal is levelling access to knowledge around the world. why in this age when most people do most research using the internet are students still using textbooks the fact that we are doing this in a rural developing country is very exciting - as they need it most.

tech

hariri killing hits beirut shares shares in solidere the lebanese company founded by assassinated former prime minister rafik hariri fell 15% in renewed trading in beirut. the real estate firm which dominates lebanon s stock exchange ended the day down at $8.08. traders said there was some panic selling during friday s session the first since a three-day market closure to mourn the death of mr hariri. beirut s benchmark blom stock index closed down 7.9% at 642.80. solidere in which mr hariri was a major shareholder was the major drag on the index. the company owns much of the property in central beirut which it restored and redeveloped following the end of lebanon s bitter 15-year civil war. solidere should be above $10 but because of this disaster it is falling said one trader. if solidere drops much lower i would consider it a buying opportunity. this is a very big company held by many lebanese. critics had accused mr hariri of using lebanon s post-war reconstruction drive for his personal financial gain. but his assassination on monday sent shudders through lebanon s business community which saw the billionaire tycoon as the country s best hope for economic revival. solidere posted profits of $12.5m in the first half of 2004 and its shares had been gaining in recent months.

business

report attacks defence spending the ministry of defence has been criticised over the soaring spending costs and growing delays of its top equipment projects. a national audit office report on the 20 biggest projects says costs have risen by £1.7bn in the past year. it says there is little evidence the mod s performance had improved despite the introduction of a smart acquisition policy six years ago. a senior defence official told the bbc lessons were being learned. the nao s annual report showed the total cost of the 20 projects covered was expected to reach £50bn - 14% higher than originally planned. the total delays amounted to 62 months with average individual delays rising by three months. sir john bourn head of the nao said the problems showed the principles of the scheme known as smart acquisition had not been consistently applied. many problems can be traced to the fact that the mod has not spent enough time and resources in the assessment phase the report says. the nao found that projects launched since the start of the scheme were showing the same worrying tendencies as the older legacy projects such as the eurofighter. a senior defence official speaking to the bbc s defence correspondent paul adams said that although the figures were still not good enough the report reflected unrealistic expectations early on in the project cycle. this year s overspend was significantly less than last year s £3.1bn total and the defence procurement agency - which is responsible for buying defence equipment - was improving. lord bach minister for defence procurement said he was obviously still disappointed with the cost and time increases shown but insisted that the defence procurement agency had undertaken a huge amount of work to expose any underlying problems on projects . the latest findings follow a string of critical reports issued within the last 12 months and according to our correspondent contain few new surprises. turning around the defence procurement agency was a little like trying to turn around a super tanker - it takes a very long time indeed he said. our correspondent said it was the same projects including the joint strike fighter the nimrod and a400m aircraft and the type 45 destroyer which were resonsible for the bulk of the cost over-runs and delay. but he added some projects such as the c-17 heavy lift aircraft and successor identification friend or foe (siff) were showing good performances.

politics

chepkemei hit by big ban kenya s athletics body has suspended two-time london marathon runner-up susan chepkemei from all competition until the end of the year. athletics kenya (ak) issued the ban after chepkemei failed to turn up for a cross country training camp in embu. we have banned her from all local and international competitions said ak chief isaiah kiplagat. we shall communicate this decision to the iaaf and all meet directors all over the world. the 29-year-old finished second to paula radcliffe in the 2002 and 2003 london races and was also edged out in an epic new york marathon contest last year. but the ban will prevent the two-time world half-marathon silver medallist from challenging radcliffe at this year s london event in april. global sports communications chepkemei s management company said she had wanted to run in the world cross country championships in march. but ak maintained it was making an example of chepkemei as a warning to other kenyan athletes. we are taking this action in order to salvage our pride said kiplagat. we have been accused of having no teeth to bite with and that agents are ruling over us. ka has also threatened three-time women s short-course champion edith masai with a similar ban if reports that she feigned injury to avoid running at the cross country world championships are true. masai missed the national trials in early february but was included in the provisional team on the proviso that she ran in a regional competition. she failed to run in the event citing a leg injury.

sport

chepkemei joins edinburgh line-up susan chepkemei has decided she is fit enough to run in next month s great edinburgh international cross country. the kenyan was initially unsure if she would have recovered from her gruelling tussle with paula radcliffe in the new york marathon in time to compete. but she has declared herself up to the task and joins a field headed by world cross country champion benita johnson. race director matthew turnbull said: susan will add even more strength in depth to the world-class line up. chepkemei who won the six kilometre event three years ago when it was staged in newcastle endured an epic battle with radcliffe in the big apple until the briton outsprinted her in the final 400m. tirunesh dibaba of ethiopia will defend the title she won last year in tyneside - before the race was moved north of the border. recently-crowned european cross country champion briton hayley yelling also competes in edinburgh on 15 january as does in-form scot kathy butler.

sport

player burn-out worries robinson england coach andy robinson says english rugby has to act now to prevent injury destroying players careers. he will be without a host of big names for the six nations as the intensity of professional rugby union hits players. injuries are part of the sport but we have to have a look at the amount of injuries that occur in the english season robinson told bbc sport. i think players are probably going to have three or four years taken off their careers. robinson will be missing an entire midfield for the six nations with the likes of jonny wilkinson mike tindall and will greenwood injured. rugby union has become far more physically demanding since the game went professional nearly 10 years ago. as a result three of the major stakeholders in english rugby have launched an injury audit to find out how players are coping. the audit is jointly funded by the professional rugby players association the rugby football union and premier rugby. as far as robinson is concerned its findings must not be ignored. i think there s an injury audit coming out in march that s got some great information in there that i think everybody in the english game has got to look at he said. if we don t the situation is going to get worse and not better so i think rugby as a whole has got to look at this.

sport

student fee factor played down a rise has been recorded in the number of students from south of the border applying to universities in scotland. however lifelong learning minister jim wallace said that this would not result in scottish students missing out. applications from england and wales rose by 17% between january 2005 and the previous year up 23 600 to 27 700. fears had been expressed that a flood of fee refugees would try to avoid top-up fees of up to £3 000 a year being introduced in england. in june last year mr wallace announced proposals to increase tuition fees for english students studying in scotland by £2 000 in an attempt to prevent a cross-border flood although no figure has yet been agreed. legislation to introduce the top-up fees in england is not due to take effect until autumn 2006 and students who start before then will not have to pay additional fees at all. the figures were made public on thursday by admissions service ucas. universities scotland which represents university principals claimed that an increase in applications did not amount to scottish students being squeezed out. director david caldwell said some students could be applying in an attempt to avoid the possible increase in annual fees at english universities but this was not a major factor. he told bbc radio scotland s good morning scotland programme: the reason people are opting for scottish universities is that they are perceived as being of very high quality they offer very attractive courses and scotland is seen as a very attractive place to study. they know that when they take up their studies in 2006 they will be hit by top-up fees if they are going to a university in england and that may be part of the reason why the numbers coming to scotland are so inflated. however it does not mean that we will see thousands of additional students from england studying here. mr wallace agreed and said the figures had to be looked at in context. he explained that when applications were translated into acceptances the number was not huge - an additional figure of about 200. also the picture was further blurred by the fact that applications from wales where there are no plans for top-up fees have also risen by 19%. mr wallace said: accepting students from all parts of the world does show the high regard in which scottish higher education is held not just in britain. we want to make sure that when students are making their choice they do so on the nature of the course and not because they are under some sort of financial pressure to go to scotland. we do not want to have a situation where it becomes impossible for scottish students to get places at scottish universities because we are seen as the cheap option. very often the quality of the university experience is enhanced by the fact there are students coming from a wide range of backgrounds so it would be wrong to go the other way and start excluding students.

politics

mixed christmas for us retailers us retailers posted mixed results for december - with luxury retailers faring well while many others were forced to slash prices to lift sales. upscale department store nordstrom said same store sales were 9.3% higher than during the same period last year. trendy youth labels also sold well with sales jumping 28% at young women s clothing retailer bebe stores and 32.2% at american eagle outfitters. but wal-mart only saw its sales rise after it cut prices. the company saw a 3% rise in december sales less than the 4.3% rise seen a year earlier. customers at the world s biggest retailer are generally seen to be the most vulnerable to america s economic woes. commentators claim many have cut back on spending amid uncertainty over job security while low and middle-income americans have reined in spending in the face of higher gasoline prices. analysts said wal-mart faced a stand-off with shoppers stepping up its discounts as the festive season wore on as consumers waited longer to get the best bargains. however experts added that if prices had not been cut across the sector christmas sales - which account for nearly 23% of annual retail sales - would have been far worse. so far we are faring better than expected but the results are still split ken perkins an analyst at research firm retailmetrics llc told associated press. stores that have been struggling over the last couple of months appear to be continuing that trend. and for stores that have been doing well over the last several months december was a good month. overall december sales are forecast to rise by 4.5% to $220bn - less than the 5.1% increase seen a year earlier. one discount retailer to fare well in december was costco wholesale which continued a recent run of upbeat results with a better-than-expected 8% jump in same store sales. however the losers were many and varied. home furnishings store pier 1 imports saw its same store sales sink by a larger-than-forecast 8.8% as it battled fierce competition. leading electronics chain best buy meanwhile missed its sales target of a 3-5% rise in sales turning in a 2.5% increase over the christmas period. accessory vendor claire s stores also suffered as an expected last minute shopping rush never materialised leaving its same store sales 5% higher compared to a 6% rise last year. jeweller zale also felt little christmas cheer with december sales down 0.7% on the same month last year. this was not a good period for retailers or shoppers. we saw a dearth of exciting new items kurt barnard president of industry forecaster retail consulting group said. however one beneficiary of the desertion of the high street is expected to be online stores. according to a survey by goldman sachs & co harris interactive and neilsen/net ratings sales surged 25% over the holiday season to $23.2bn.

business

mogul wilson backing uk rap band tony wilson the music mogul who established the influential factory records in the 1980s is to launch a new label - convinced he has discovered his third major band . factory were the label of both joy division - who became new order after singer ian curtis committed suicide - and the happy mondays. now wilson believes rap act raw t - signed to his f4 label the fourth incarnation of factory - will complete the hat-trick . suddenly when raw t came into my life i realised they are my third major band he told bbc world service s the music biz programme. the group are set to release their first single on 21 february and follow it up with an album realise and witness in march. wilson has twice tried to resurrect factory - which lasted for 14 years before folding - but conceded these efforts had been despondent and dismal experiences . but it has not put him off. of all the things i do in my life the most exciting thing i ve ever done and the thing i have most loved is being part of a record company he added. the idea of working with brilliant young musicians and being close to the centre of popular culture is just the biggest thrill in my life. wilson explained how his son persuaded him to go and see raw t but he had initially been reluctant saying he detested young british people rapping. it s always inauthentic it s always crass it never really works for me he said. i went to see this group raw t - which stands for realise and witness talent - and like everyone else in the room that night we were utterly blown away. wilson believes raw t could be to f4 as joy division were to factory records . the story of factory records - which also owned the legendary hacienda club in manchester - was told in the michael winterbottom film 24 hour party people in which wilson was played by steve coogan. wilson stressed that the independent music scene remained as important as it had been during the 1980s when labels such as factory and rough trade proliferated. he pointed out that franz ferdinand and the white stripes - perhaps the two most important bands since the millennium - were signed to indies. i think that is a reflection of how useful and how powerful the indie philosophy is and how bands prefer it he added. they can make more money that way - it s a more generous relationship and also it s a more understanding relationship. i think independents are in a wonderful position at this moment in time.

entertainment

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

howard backs stem cell research michael howard has backed stem cell research saying it is important people are not frightened of the future. the controversial issue was a feature of the recent us presidential election where george bush opposed extending it. but the tory leader argued there was a moral case for embracing science which could help victims of alzheimer s parkinson s and motor neurone disease. i believe we have a duty to offer hope to the millions of people who suffer devastating illnesses he said. the use of embryonic stem cells in the uk is already allowed. stem cells are master cells that have the ability to develop into any of the body s tissue types. scientists hope that by growing such cells in the laboratory they can programme them to form specific tissue such as kidney heart or even brain tissue. mr howard acknowledged there were genuine concerns about stem cell research. but he argued: we mustn t be frightened of change or nostalgic about the past - we must be optimistic about the future. politicians must create the right framework so that the great potential of science can be harnessed for the benefit of mankind. with the life expectancy of the average briton now around the mid-70s society has a responsibility to enhance the quality of people s lives as they grow older. i know many people are concerned about stem-cell research. they are fearful of meddling with what they see as the stuff of souls. i respect those concerns. but i also believe we have a duty to offer hope to the millions of people who suffer devastating illnesses like parkinson s multiple sclerosis motor neurone disease alzheimer s and - as we saw in the papers today - now possibly heart problems. mr howard acknowledged there were no easy answers over such an issue but it was necessary to have the courage to do what we know to be morally right . he added: of course stem cells are still a recent discovery. more research needs to be done. but we must look at their potential in a responsible and grown-up way. the hopes of millions of people rest on what could be achieved. former superman actor the late christopher reeve was an advocate for the research after he was paralysed in a horse riding accident. mr howard made his remarks during a speech in westminster to the conservative national women s committee on ambitions and values.

politics

mobile networks seek turbo boost third-generation mobile (3g) networks need to get faster if they are to deliver fast internet surfing on the move and exciting new services. that was one of the messages from the mobile industry at the 3gsm world congress in cannes last week. fast 3g networks are here but the focus has shifted to their evolution into a higher bandwidth service says the global mobile suppliers association. at 3gsm siemens showed off a system that transmits faster mobile data. the german company said data could be transmitted at one gigabit a second - up to 20 times faster than current 3g networks. the system is not available commercially yet but motorola the us mobile handset and infrastructure maker held a clinic for mobile operators on hsdpa (high speed downlink packet access) a high-speed high bandwidth technology available now. early hsdpa systems typically offer around two megabits per second (mbps) compared with less than 384 kilobits per second (kbps) on standard 3g networks. high-speed downlink packet access (hsdpa) - sometimes called super 3g - will be vital for profitable services like mobile internet browsing and mobile video clips according to a report published by uk-based research consultancy analysys. a number of companies are developing the technology. nokia and canada-based wireless communication products company sierra wireless recently agreed to work together on high speed downlink packet access. the two companies aim to jointly market the hsdpa solution to global network operator customers. while hsdpa theoretically enables data rates up to a maximum of 14mbps practical throughputs will be lower than this in wide-area networks said dr alastair brydon author of the analysys report: pushing beyond the limits of 3g with hsdpa and other enhancements. the typical average user rate in a real implementation is likely to be in the region of one megabit per second which even at this lower rate will more than double the capacity... when compared to basic wcdma [3g] he added. motorola has conducted five trials of its technology and says speeds of 2.9mbps have been recorded at the edge of an outdoor 3g cell using a single hsdpa device. but some mobile operators are opting for a technology called evolution data optimised (ev-do). us operator sprint ordered a broadband data upgrade to its 3g network at the end of last year. we are expanding our network and deploying ev-do technology to meet customer demand for faster wireless speeds said oliver valente sprint s vice president for technology development when the contract was announced. as part of $3bn in multi-year contracts announced late last year sprint will spend around $1bn on ev-do technology from lucent technologies nortel networks and motorola that provides average data speeds of 0.3-0.5 megabits a second and peak download rates of 2.4mbps. mmo2 the uk-based operator with services in the uk ireland and germany has opted for technology based on hsdpa. using technology from lucent it will offer data speeds of 3.6mbps from next summer on its isle of man 3g network and will eventually support speeds of up to 14.4mbps. us operator cingular wireless is also adopting hsdpa using technology from lucent alongside equipment from siemens and ericsson. siemens plans for a one gigabit network may be more than a user needs today but christoph caselitz president of the mobile networks division at the firm says that: by the time the next generation of mobile communication debuts in 2015 the need for transmission capacities for voice data image and multimedia is conservatively anticipated to rise by a factor of 10. siemens - in collaboration with the fraunhofer german-sino lab for mobile communications and the institute for applied radio system technology - has souped up mobile communications by using three transmitting and four receiving antennae instead of the usual one. this enables a data transmission such as sending a big file or video to be broken up into different flows of data that can be sent simultaneously over one radio frequency band. the speeds offered by 3g mobile seemed fast at the time mobile operators were paying huge sums for 3g licences. but today instead of connecting to the internet by slow dial-up phone connection many people are used to broadband networks that offer speeds of 0.5 megabits a second - much faster than 3g. this means users are likely to find 3g disappointing unless the networks are souped up. if they aren t those lucrative power users such as computer geeks and busy business people will avoid them for all but the most urgent tasks reducing the potential revenues available to mobile operators. but one gigabit a second systems will not be available immediately. siemens says that though the system works in the laboratory it still has to assess the mobility of multiple-antennae devices and conduct field trials. a commercial system could be as far away as 2012 though siemens did not rule out an earlier date.

tech

latin america sees strong growth latin america s economy grew by 5.5% in 2004 its best performance since 1980 while exports registered their best performance in two decades. the united nations economic commission for latin america and the caribbean said the region grew by 5.5% this year. the inter-american development bank (iadb) said regional exports reached $445.1bn (£227bn;331bn euros) in 2004. doubts about the strength of the us recovery and overheating of the chinese economy do however pose risks for 2005. both organisations also warned that high oil prices raise the risk of either inflation or recession. nevertheless the economic commission for latin america and the caribbean (eclac) still forecasts growth of 4% for 2005. strong recovery in some countries such as venezuela and uruguay boosted the overall performance of the region. eclac also said that the six largest latin american economies (argentina brazil chile colombia mexico and venezuela) grew by more than 3% for only the second time in 20 years. chinese and us economic strength helped boost exports as did strong demand for agricultural and mining products. in fact latin american exports to china grew 34% to $14bn. higher oil prices also helped boost exports as mexico and venezuela are important oil exporters. regional blocs as well as free trade agreements with the us contributed to the region s strong performance the iadb said.

business

duran duran show set for us tv chart stars duran duran are to appear in a vh1 special in the us including interviews and concert footage. the show airs on tuesday and will feature a studio performance behind the scenes footage and fan interviews. they seemed like a perfect fit with our audience said rick krim vh1 s vice president of music and talent. the band recently released a new album astronaut the first from the original line-up since 1983. they will also tour japan and the us next year. when we started playing together we didn t try and make a really sort of mature album. we just really wanted to make a great duran duran album said keyboard player nick rhodes. it s pretty much in line with a lot of stuff out there. duran duran are currently promoting the album s second single what happens tomorrow. simon le bon said earlier this year that the group were not trying to update their sound too much. we wouldn t want to lose them [older fans] by trying too hard by trying to connect with a new audience the singer said. le bon also said the five members were getting on very well. we re like any people who get very close. sometimes you argue with each other. but the fact is we inspire each other musically. nobody else does it for me he said. it s just very special.

entertainment

blinx sequel purrs nicely the original blinx was intended to convert many platform game lovers to microsoft s then new xbox console. its sharp graphics and novel gameplay with the main character able to pause slow rewind and fast-forward time were meant to lure many fans to the new machine. but poor design meant the game became a very frustrating affair with players often stranded half-way through a level without the required tools to finish. thankfully the sequel has fixed many of the original faults. this time around you do not play as blinx but instead you are given the chance to create two unique cat characters and two pig characters. the character generator is very detailed and a few minutes of tweaking and adjusting will create a unique personality to unleash on the game. as the game progresses you swap between the two rival factions pig and feline assuming the role of your created characters. the thrust of the game sees the two factions competing to recover pieces of a missing time crystal. as in the original your feline persona can control time but this time the pigs get to control space. there are a number of puzzles which require control over time to solve while the pigs can create things such as warps space bubbles and void traps in order to progress. the control over space and time is achieved through a number of vcr-style icons and is quite intuitive. annoyingly the puzzles are a little too obviously flagged up and most gamers will find it more of a chore than a challenge to solve them. the game has also tried to emulate franchises such as jak and daxter and ratchet and clank on ps2 and so there are a number of combat elements. these are a little predictable and tend to drag the general polish of the game down to a more dulled affair. but the game s excellent graphics easily the best-looking platform game around sound and dollops of humour make it an attractive game for younger platform fans. blinx 2 is out on xbox now.

tech

virgin radio offers 3g broadcast uk broadcaster virgin radio says it will become the first station in the world to offer radio via 3g mobiles. the radio station in partnership with technology firm sydus will broadcast on selected 2g and high-speed 3g networks. later this year listeners will be able to download software from the virgin website which enables the service. james cridland head of new media at virgin radio said: it places radio at the heart of the 3g revolution. virgin radio will be the first station made available followed by two digital stations virgin radio classic rock and virgin radio groove. mr cridland said: this application will enable anyone anywhere to listen to virgin radio simply with the phone in their pocket. this allows us to tap into a huge new audience and keep radio relevant for a new generation of listeners. saumil nanavati president of sydus said this radio player is what the 3g network was built for giving consumers high-quality and high-data products through a handset in their pocket. virgin says an hour s listening to the station via mobile would involve about 7.2mb of data which could prove expensive for people using pay as you download gprs or 3g services. some networks such as orange charge up to £1 for every one megabyte of data downloaded. virgin says radio via 2g or 3g mobiles is therefore going to appeal to people with unlimited download deals. there are 30 compatible handsets available from major manufacturers including nokia and samsung while virgin said more than 14.9 million consumers across the globe can use the service currently.

tech

nat insurance to rise say tories national insurance will be raised if labour wins the next election tory leader michael howard has claimed. tony blair has said he does not want higher tax rates for top earners but on wednesday said other tax promises would be left to labour s manifesto. prime minister s questions also saw mr blair predict that new plans would probably cut net immigration. he attacked tory plans to process asylum claims abroad - but mr howard said labour had proposed the idea too. the commons questions session again saw the leaders of the two biggest parties shape up for the forthcoming election campaign. the tories have promised £4bn in tax cuts but have yet to say where they will fall. mr howard pointed to the institute for fiscal studies predictions that labour will need to increase taxes to cover an £11bn gap in its spending plans. he accused ministers of wasting money on unsuccessful attempts to curb bad behaviour and truancy in schools and on slow asylum processing. it was no good mr blair claiming tax pledges were being left to the manifesto as he had given one to mps on tuesday about the top rate of income tax argued mr howard. pointing to national insurance he added: everyone knows tax will go up under labour: isn t it now clear which tax it would be mr blair instead hailed labour s achievement in using a strong economy to invest in public services. when we have money not only going into extra teachers and nurses but equipment in schools and hospitals that money is not wasted he said. on the tax questions he added: we will make commitments on tax at the time of the manifesto. home secretary charles clarke this week published plans for a new points system for economic migrants with only high-skilled workers allowed into the uk from outside the european union. mr blair said abuses would be weeded out and chain migration where families automatically get the right to settle with immigrant workers would end. that would probably create a fall in the migrant numbers he said. the prime minister ridiculed the tory plans for asylum quotas and for processing all asylum claims overseas. he challenged the tories on which country would house their processing centres - what he called a fantasy island . mr howard read from a letter about the government s own plans at the european council of ministers for processing asylum seekers outside the eu. but mr blair said: all the other countries could not agree on the way forward nor could the un.

politics

moya clinches cup for spain spain won the davis cup for the second time in their history when carlos moya beat the usa s andy roddick in the fourth rubber in seville. moya won 6-2 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-5) to give the hosts an unassailable 3-1 lead with only one singles rubber remaining. roddick battled hard and had chances in the second set but moya s clay-court expertise proved the difference. mardy fish beat tommy robredo 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 in the final dead rubber to cut spain s winning margin to 3-2. spain s only other davis cup title came in 2000 when they beat australia in barcelona. this time they chose to play the final in seville and the city s olympic stadium was revamped to allow for a record crowd for a competitve tennis event of 27 000 spectators. and the home fans gave vociferous support to their players with 18-year-old nadal and moya winning both friday s singles rubbers. american twins mike and bob bryan gave the visitors hope with victory over juan carlos ferrero and tommy robredo in saturday s doubles. but it remained an uphill task for a us team far happier on hard courts than clay and 1998 french open champion moya had too much for world number two roddick. this has been incredible - the moment i ve been waiting for for years said moya who missed out in 2000 through injury. i ve prepared myself for this day. i knew that playing on clay i would have my chances to win. the davis cup is my dream. i can t ask for more. there is nothing bigger than what i ve lived today. moya stormed into a 4-0 lead on his way to taking the first set against roddick and recovered immediately from dropping serve in the second. the match came down to two tie-breaks and moya dominated both clinching victory on his third match point. wild celebrations followed with an emotional moya congratulated by his team-mates including nadal who at 18 years and 187 days becomes the youngest ever victor in davis cup history. i think we put up a better fight here than in paris two years ago said roddick who was on the us team which lost to france in the 2002 semi-finals at roland garros. they were just better than us this weekend. i have nothing to be ashamed of i gave it my all. i am not going to walk out of here with my head down that s for sure. there s no miracle answer. we have to improve.

sport

kilroy-silk quits shameful ukip ex-chat show host robert kilroy-silk has quit the uk independence party and accused it of betraying its supporters. the mep said he was ashamed to have joined the party which he labelled as a joke . he plans to stand in the next general election but refused to confirm he is setting up a new political party called veritas - latin for truth. ukip leader roger knapman said he would break open the champagne adding: it was nice knowing him now goodbye . however he did say the ex-chat show host had been quite useful initially . he has remarkable ability to influence people but sadly after the (european) election it became clear that he was more interested in the robert kilroy-silk party than the uk independence party so it was nice knowing him now goodbye mr knapman told bbc radio 4 s today programme. mr knapman rejected the idea mr kilroy-silk posed a threat to ukip and queried why he had failed to confirm rumours he was starting a new political party. mr kilroy-silk explained his reasons to his east midlands constituents at a meeting in hinckley leicestershire. his decision came as ukip officials began a process which could have triggered mr kilroy-silk s expulsion. it marks the end of his membership of ukip after just nine months. it began with a flood of publicity which helped ukip into third place in last june s european elections but became dominated by rancour as he tried to take over the party leadership. mr kilroy-silk accused his fellow ukip meps of being content with growing fat sitting on their backsides in brussels. he told bbc news 24: i tried to change the party i nagged all the way through the summer to do things to get moving because i thought it was criminal what they were doing it was a betrayal. mr kilroy-silk also told sky news there was masses of support for him to form a new party - something he has yet to confirm will happen. ukip won 12 seats and 16.1% of the vote at the european elections on the back of its call for the uk to leave the european union in his speech mr kilroy-silk says the result offered ukip an amazing opportunity but the party s leadership had done nothing and gone awol . there were no policies no energy no vision and no spokespeople he said. the party is going nowhere and i m embarrassed with its allies in europe and i m ashamed to be a member of the party said mr kilroy-silk. he said his conviction in britain s right to govern itself had not changed. he would continue that campaign outside ukip when he contested the general election in an east midlands constituency. reports of his new party plans have prompted a formal complaint to ukip s disciplinary committee for bringing the party into disrepute . on thursday the party challenged mr kilroy-silk to stand down as an mep so voters can get a genuine ukip candidate.

politics

lib dems target the student vote students can decide the fate of mps in some seats at the next election liberal democrat leader charles kennedy has claimed. the party says the votes of students can win it 27 new seats at the poll. the figures assume all students will vote in their university town. in fact some may vote where the parents live. the lib dems say scrapping university fees wins them student support. but the tories would also end fees and labour says both would cap people s ambitions. the lib dems have named the 14 seats where there are enough students to take the lib dems from second place to beat labour and the 13 where they could go from second to beat the tories. launching his campaign to win students votes at the london school of economics mr kennedy urged students to make their mark . he underlined lib dem plans to scrap university fees and reintroduce maintenance grants of up to £2 000. he said: top-up fees put students off university especially those from a poorer background. and is it really right that so many young people are starting out in life with mortgage-style debts hanging round their necks mr kennedy also said students want action on the environment and see the iraq war which his party opposed as a defining issue. labour has pushed through plans to let universities charge fees of up to £3 000 a year with the poorest students eligible for non-repayable support of up to £3 000. ahead of mr kennedy s launch a labour spokesperson said: like the tories the liberal democrats would restrict access to higher education and put a cap on aspiration closing the door to students with good grades and restricting their life ambitions. they are committed to abandoning labour s targets of getting 50% of 18 to 30-year-olds going into higher education and under lib dem plans students would even have to study near home. the conservatives say they would abolish university tuition fees and instead offer large student loans at commercial rates of interest. they say the lib dem policy would leave universities wholly dependent for their income on the goodwill of the chancellor. shadow education secretary tim collins is on thursday setting out a new scheme of vocational grants for 14 to 16-year-olds to tackle what he says are crippling skills shortages . the lib dem analysis of the difference students could make to its election chances is based on all students being registered to vote near their university not in their home towns. although the expected 5 may election would be during term time students can vote by post. the electoral commission and national union of students are worried students in halls of residence can find it hard to register to vote. some hall wardens are reluctant to register students because of data protection fears - but students can get themselves registered. if the election is on 5 may voters need to register by 11 march. - the seats where the lib dems say student votes can swing the election for them are: bristol west cardiff central leeds north west cambridge manchester gorton sheffield central oxford east newcastle-upon-tyne central liverpool riverside holborn and st pancras oldham east and saddleworth manchester withington islington south and finsbury birmingham yardley surrey south west taunton orpington haltemprice and howden eastbourne isle of wight dorset west bournemouth east wells canterbury cities of london and westminster bournemouth west westmorland and lonsdale.

politics

blunkett hints at election call ex-home secretary david blunkett has given fresh clues that the general election will be announced on monday. he told bbc radio five live: i m out in my constituency getting ready for what we presume will be an announcement very shortly at the weekend. he clarified that he meant he would be in his sheffield seat this weekend not that he expected an election call then. tony blair is tipped to ask the queen on monday to dissolve parliament ready for a 5 may poll.

politics

triple triumph for little britain top tv cult hit little britain has triumphed over the office at the 15th annual british comedy awards. the bbc show beat the office christmas special in the best tv comedy category and took the people s choice award. matt lucas and david walliams also jointly won best tv comedy actor over the office creator ricky gervais who won a special award for writing. it was also a good night for ant and dec who clinched two awards including best comedy entertainment personality. the geordie duo also secured best comedy entertainment programme for saturday night takeaway beating i m a celebrity... get me out of here! which they also host and the bbc s have i got news for you. the ceremony was presented by jonathan ross from itv s london studios headquarters on the capital s south bank. little britain began life as a radio series on radio 4 with walliams and lucas playing a range of misfit characters from an alternative britain. it was later commissioned for bbc three where it proved a huge success with the second series also shown on bbc one. after receiving his award for best tv comedy actor with walliams lucas said: it s a great honour to be nominated alongside ricky gervais and martin clunes. the show also won the people s choice award which is the only gong on the night voted for by viewers. speaking after receiving the award for best comedy walliams said: it was a real shock but i don t think we deserved to beat the office which is a great show and more than just a comedy. it s a beautiful piece of work. gervais and the office co-writer stephen merchant received a special award for writing presented by noel gallagher and tom stoppard. gervais said: the show has won an awful lot of awards in the last couple of years too much. it s got embarrassing to be honest. other winners at the awards included caroline quentin who took home best tv comedy actress for life begins and von trapped. catherine tate from the catherine tate show was also nominated for the same award but she did walk away with best comedy newcomer over james mcavoy from shameless (channel 4) and julian barratt and noel fielding from the mighty boosh (bbc three). nighty night was named britain s best new tv comedy over itv1 shows doc martin and life begins. but doc martin won best tv comedy drama over jonathan creek (bbc one) and shameless. winner in the best international comedy category was the simpsons beating sex and the city and curb your enthusiasm. the prize was accepted by matt groening creator of the simpsons who also received an outstanding contribution award from scientist stephen hawking who has been featured in the series. school of rock was voted best comedy film beating shaun of the dead and shrek 2. matt lucas & david walliams (little britain bbc three) caroline quentin (life begins/ von trapped itv1) ant & dec (ant & dec s saturday night takeaway/ i m a celebrity get me out of here! itv1) catherine tate (the catherine tate show bbc two) nighty night (baby cow productions bbc three) little britain (bbc three) doc martin (buffalo productions itv1) ant & dec s saturday night takeaway (granada itv1) the simpsons (twentieth century fox bbc two/sky one/channel 4) school of rock

entertainment

hotspot users gain free net calls people using wireless net hotspots will soon be able to make free phone calls as well as surf the net. wireless provider broadreach and net telephony firm skype are rolling out a service at 350 hotspots around the uk this week. users will need a skype account - downloadable for free - and they will then be able to make net calls via wi-fi without paying for net access. skype allows people to make free pc-based calls to other skype users. users of the system can also make calls to landlines and mobiles for a fee. the system is gaining in popularity and now has 28 million users around the world. its paid service - dubbed skype out - has so far attracted 940 000 users. it plans to add more paid services with forthcoming launches of video conferencing voice mail and skype in a service which would allow users to receive phone calls from landlines and mobiles. london-based software developer connectotel has unveiled software that will expand the sms functions of skype allowing users to send text messages to mobile phones from the service. broadreach networks has around two million users and hotspots in places such as virgin megastores the travelodge chain of hotels and all london s major rail terminals. the company is due to launch wi-fi on virgin trains later in the year. skype s success at spreading the world about internet telephony is well-known and we are delighted to be offering free access to skype users in our hotspots commented broadreach chief executive magnus mcewen-king.

tech

global digital divide narrowing the digital divide between rich and poor nations is narrowing fast according to a world bank report. the world bank questioned a united nation s campaign to increase usage and access to technology in poorer nations. people in the developing world are getting more access at an incredible rate - far faster than... in the past said the report. but a spokesman for the un s world summit on the information society said the digital divide remained very real. the digital divide is rapidly closing the world bank report said. half the world s population now has access to a fixed-line telephone the report said and 77% to a mobile network. the report s figures surpass a wsis campaign goal that calls for 50% access to telephones by 2015. the un hopes that widening access to technology such as mobile phones and the net will help eradicate poverty. developing countries are catching up with the rich world in terms of access [to mobile networks] the report said. africa is part of a worldwide trend of rapid rollout... this applies to countries rich and poor reformed or not african asian european and latin american. a spokesman for the world summit for the information society (wsis) which is meeting this week in geneva told the bbc news website: the digital divide is very much real and needs to be addressed. some financing has to be found to help narrow the divide. on tuesday a meeting of the wsis in geneva agreed to the creation of a digital solitary fund. the fund is voluntary and will help finance local community-based projects said the wsis spokesman. under the proposals agreed voluntary contribution of 1% on contracts obtained by private technology service providers could be made to the digital solidarity fund. the exact financing mechanism of the fund is to be ironed out in the coming days said the wsis. sixty percent of resources collected by the fund will be made available for projects in least developed countries 30% for projects in developing countries and 10% for projects in developed countries.

tech

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

tech

labour seeks to quell feud talk labour s leadership put on a show of unity at a campaign poster launch after mps criticised tony blair and gordon brown over reports of their rift. mr brown was joined at the launch by john prescott and alan milburn the man controversially put in charge of election planning by mr blair. a private meeting on monday saw normally loyal mps warn that feuding could jeopardise their election hopes. it follows a new book charting disputes between prime minister and chancellor. the event was the first time mr milburn has shared a platform with the chancellor since taking mr brown s traditional poll planning role. but the pair chatted amicably and mr brown insisted he was happy with his current campaign task. asked about how he would deal with claims that he did not trust the prime minister mr brown replied: you can see that our record on the economy is about the british people trusting us to run the economy. he refused to comment on the new book saying nobody should be distracted from the business of government. mr brown later told reporters: of course i trust the prime minister. downing street cited that comment when reporters suggested mr brown had pointedly failed to deny claims he had once told mr blair: there is nothing you could ever say to me now that i could ever believe . labour s new posters say britain is enjoying the lowest inflation since the 1960s lowest unemployment for 29 years and the lowest mortgage rates for 40 years. they urge voters not to let the tories take things backwards. mr milburn promised a poll campaign which is upbeat confident and above all else optimistic about the future of our country . conservative co-chairman liam fox derided the photo call saying: the show of unity was the worst acting i have seen since prisoner cell block h. labour had broken promises by raising taxes 66 times and brought the slowest economic growth in the english-speaking world he said. the prime minister and chancellor faced backbench discontent at monday s meeting of the parliamentary labour party over claims made in journalist robert peston s new book. mr blair told mps and peers: i know from everyone here in cabinet and government nothing is going to get in the way of a unified labour party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need. labour s paul flynn said the pair had had a scorching from mps. on tuesday deputy prime minister mr prescott told bbc news: they told us very clearly it was the troops telling the leaders: get in line. the new book claims mr prescott hosted a dinner in november 2003 where the prime minister told mr brown he would stand down before the next election because he had lost trust over the iraq war. mr blair then changed his mind in june 2004 after cabinet allies intervened and amid suspicion the chancellor was manoeuvring against him writes mr peston. mr prescott said there was a dinner but the discussions were confidential. of course as a waiter for 10 years i have a professional ability here he joked.

politics

dublin hi-tech labs to shut down dublin s hi-tech research laboratory media labs europe is to shut down. the research centre which was started by the irish government and the massachusetts institute of technology was a hotbed for technology concepts. since its opening in 2000 the centre has developed ideas such as implants for teeth and also aimed to be a digital hub for start-ups in the area. the centre was supposed to be self-funded but has failed to attract the private cash injection it needs. in a statement media labs europe said the decision to close was taken because neither the irish government nor the prestigious us-based massachusetts institute of technology (mit) was willing to fund it. prime minister bertie ahern had wanted to the centre to become a big draw for smaller hi-tech companies in an attempt to regenerate the area. about three dozen small firms were attracted to the area but it is thought the effects of the dot.com recession damaged the labs long-term survival. the labs needed about 10 million euros (us$13 million) a year from corporate sponsors to survive. in the end it was too deep and too long a recession said simon jones the labs managing director. ian pearson bt s futurologist told the bbc news website that the closure was a real shame . bt was just one of the companies that had worked with the labs looking at rfid tag developments and video conferencing. there were a lot of very talented creative people there and they came up with some great ideas that were helping to ensure greater benefits of technology for society. i have no doubt that the individuals will be quickly snapped up by other research labs but the synergies from them working as a team will be lost. noel dempsey the government s communications minister said mr ahern had been very committed to the project. he is i know very disappointed it has come to this. at the time it seemed to be the right thing to do he said. unfortunately the model is not a sustainable one in the current climate. during its five years innovative and some unusual ideas for technologies were developed. in recent months 14 patent applications had been filed by the labs. many concepts fed into science engineering and psychology as well as technology but it is thought too few of the ideas were commercially viable in the near-term. several research teams explored how which humans could react with technologies in ways which were entirely different. the human connectedness group for example developed the iband a bracelet which stored and exchanged information about you and your relationships. this information could be beamed to another wearer when two people shook hands. other projects looked at using other human senses like touch to interact with devoices which could be embedded in the environment or on the body itself. one project examined how brainwaves could directly control a computer game. the labs set up in an old guinness brewery housed around 100 people made up of staff researchers students collaborators and part-time undergraduate students. it is thought more than 50 people will lose their jobs when the labs close on 1 february. according to its latest accounts media lab europe said it spent 8.16 million euros (about us$10.6 million) in 2003 and raised just 2.56 million euros (us$3.3 million).

tech

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

business

wi-fi web reaches farmers in peru a network of community computer centres linked by wireless technology is providing a helping hand for poor farmers in peru. the pilot scheme in the huaral valley 80 kilometres north of the capital lima aims to offer the 6 000-strong community up-to-date information on agricultural market prices and trends. the agricultural information project for farmers of the chancay-huaral valley also provides vital links between local organisations in charge of water irrigation enabling them to coordinate their actions. more than 13 000 rural inhabitants as well as 18 000 students in the region will also benefit from the telecoms infrastructure. the 14 telecentres uses only free open source software and affordable computer equipment. the network has been three years in the making and was officially inaugurated in september. the non-government organisation cepes (peruvian centre for social studies) led the $200 000 project also backed by local institutions the education and agriculture ministries and european development organisations. the plan includes training on computers and internet skills for both operators and users of the system said carlos saldarriaga technical coordinator at cepes. farmers are also taking extra lessons on how to apply the new information to make the most of their plots of land. the board of irrigation users which runs the computer centres aims to make the network self-sustainable within three years through the cash generated by using the telecentres as internet cafes. one of the key elements of the project is the agricultural information system with its flagship huaral.org website. there farmers can find the prices for local produce as well as information on topics ranging from plague prevention to the latest farming techniques. the system also helps the inhabitants of the chancay-huaral valley to organise their vital irrigation systems. water is the main element that unites them all. it is a precious element in peru s coastal areas because it is so scarce and therefore it is necessary to have proper irrigation systems to make the most of it mr saldarriaga told the bbc news website. the information network also allows farmers to look beyond their own region and share experiences with other colleagues from the rest of peru and even around the world. cepes says the involvement of the farmers has been key in the project s success. throughout the last three years the people have provided a vital thrust to the project; they feel it belongs to them said mr saldarriaga. the community training sessions attended by an equal number of men and women have been the perfect showcase for their enthusiasm. we have had an excellent response mainly from young people. but we have also had a great feedback when we trained 40 or 50-year old women who were seeing a computer for the first time in their lives. so far the huaral programme promoters say the experience has been very positive and are already planning on spreading the model among other farmers organisations in peru. this is a pilot project and we have been very keen on its cloning potential in other places underlined mr saldarriaga. the cepes researcher recalls what happened in cuyo a 50-family community with no electricity during the construction of the local telecentre site. there it was necessary to build a mini-hydraulic dam in order to generate 2kw worth of power for the computers the communications equipment and the cabin lights. it was already dark when the technicians realised they didn t have any light bulbs to test the generator so they turned up to the local store to buy light bulbs recalls carlos saldarriaga. the logical answer was we don t sell any so they had to wait until the next morning to do the testing. now with the wireless network cuyo as well as the other communities is no longer isolated.

tech

jowell rejects las vegas jibe the secretary of state for culture media and sport tessa jowell has hit out at critics of the gambling bill. she told the guardian newspaper there would be no las vegas-style super-casinos as rumoured in the press. meanwhile labour backbencher stephen pound labelled casino-related regeneration schemes a pile of pants . the mp for ealing north claimed the legislation would encourage a mafia-like culture of vice and corruption in an interview on bbc radio 4. you look at some of the people who are involved...they aren t in there to regenerate blackpool. they are in it to fill their boots mr pound told the today programme. i just really think that we have made a terrible mistake here. and over all of it hangs the shadow of the men in the chalk-stripe suits with names that rhyme with spaghetti he said. ms jowell complained of the scale of misrepresentation in the media over the bill in her interview with the newspaper her first since the bill was launched. the culture secretary said a four year consultation period had produced a consensus on the need to protect children and the vulnerable in a swiftly changing sector. ms jowell insisted: we have a good track record for extracting planning gain in this country for instance in social housing. and continued: we can be proud to have one of the lowest rates of problem gambling in the world. i intend to keep it that way. ms jowell will set out her position when the bill is debated in the commons on monday. in prime minister s questions last week tony blair assured parliament that 90% of the bill was about tightening up the regulation of the gambling industry.

politics

vera drake leads uk oscar hopes mike leigh s film vera drake will lead british hopes at this year s academy awards after getting three nominations. imelda staunton was nominated for best actress for her role in the abortion drama while leigh received nods for best director and original screenplay. kate winslet was also nominated in the best actress category for her role in eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. and clive owen and sophie okonedo both got nominated for supporting roles in closer and hotel rwanda respectively. owen has already been made bookmakers favourite for best supporting actor for the role in closer that has already clinched him a golden globe award. and it is the first nomination for actress okonedo chosen for her performance in hotel rwanda about the 1994 rwandan genocide. it is also a debut nomination for staunton 49 who told bbc news 24 she had not thought the film would appeal to academy voters. it was an extraordinary time making the film and i can t believe what has happened this morning she said. i hope it just shows mike up to be the extraordinary filmmaker he is. we are also dealing with a very difficult subject matter and it is amazing to have it accepted in this way. leigh who had previously received three oscar nominations for secrets and lies and topsy turvy told bbc news 24 the latest success was amazing . he said: we hoped that imelda staunton would get a nomination but i never expected to get director and screenplay. it s just absolutely wonderful. i think people are aware that it s about life - and i hope it is the warmth and compassion that really talks to people. winslet said she was ecstatic about the fourth nomination of her career. being nominated means so much to me. to be nominated for a film that was released a while ago i feel so honoured and overwhelmed she said. john woodward chief executive of the uk film council said it was extremely heartening to see british filmmaking talent recognised on the global stage. britain has a hugely talented industry and these nominations show why national lottery investment in film pays major dividends for our culture and economy. among a total of 24 british nominees composer andrew lloyd webber and lyricist charles hart are up for best original song for learn to be lonely from the phantom of the opera movie. cinematographer john mathieson who was nominated for gladiator in 2001 is also up for the phantom of the opera. and finding neverland has garnered two more nominations for brits. gemma jackson who has also worked on bridget jones s diary and iris is up for art direction while costume designer alexandra byrne whose previous films have included captain corelli s mandolin and elizabeth is in the running. the uk has two contenders in the best live action short film category. wasp was made by ex-children s tv presenter andrea arnold while little terrorist is the work of ashvin kumar. this year s awards will be handed out in hollywood on 27 february.

entertainment

slowdown hits us factory growth us industrial production increased for the 21st month in a row in february but at a slower pace than in january official figures show. the institute for supply management (ism) index fell to 55.3 in february from an adjusted 56.4 in january. although the index was lower than in january the fact that it held above 50 shows continued growth in the sector. february was another good month in the manufacturing sector said ism survey chairman norbert ore. while the overall rate of growth is slowing the overall picture is improving as price increases and shortages are becoming less of a problem. exports and imports remain strong he said. analysts had expected february s figure to be stronger than january s and come in at 57. of the 20 manufacturing sectors surveyed by ism 13 reported growth. they included the textiles apparel tobacco chemicals and transportation sectors. the ism s index of national manufacturing activity is compiled from the responses of purchasing executives at more than 400 industrial companies.

business

talks aim to avert pension strike talks aimed at averting a series of national strikes over pensions reforms will take place this weekend. five public sector unions will hold private talks with deputy prime minister john prescott at labour s spring conference in gateshead. they want the government to withdraw regulations - due to be introduced in weeks - which would raise the pension age for council workers from 60 to 65. up to 1.4m workers could take part in a strike already earmarked for 23 march. however all sides are anxious to avoid a major confrontation in the run up to the general election said bbc labour affairs correspondent stephen cape. in four days britain s biggest union unison will start balloting 800 000 local government workers on strikes. other public sector unions have pledged to follow. it is just weeks before new regulations are introduced to raise the pension age of local government workers. the five unions meeting mr prescott want the government to withdraw these regulations. this would allow months of tough negotiations to follow said our correspondent. but a spokesman for mr prescott warned that the changes to the local government pension scheme would have to go ahead in april. privately ministers believe this will be the less painful option our correspondent added. the public and commercial services union (pcs) will co-ordinate any industrial action with up to six other public sector unions. pcs leader mark serwotka warned last week that there could be further walkouts unless there was a government rethink. for a government that lectures everyone on choice - choice on public service choice on this and choice on that - isn t it ironic that they re saying to public sector workers there is no choice he said. if you want the pension you were promised when you started you must work for an extra five years - that is working until people drop. in the 20th century it s completely unacceptable. unison s 800 000 workers the transport and general workers union s 70 000 and amicus 20 000 are among those being balloted about a 23 march walkout. mr prescott held a private meeting with senior union figures last week. it is understood no deal was offered in that meeting but there was room for further negotiations.

politics

greek sprinters suspended by iaaf greek sprinters kostas kenteris and katerina thanou have been suspended after failing to take drugs tests before the athens olympics. athletics ruling body the iaaf said explanations from the pair and their former coach as to why they missed the tests were unacceptable . it added that kenteris and thanou had been provisionally suspended pending the resolution of their cases . they face two-year bans if found guilty by the greek athletics federation. the suspension also covers the athletes controversial coach christos tzekos. kenteris the 2000 olympic 200m champion and thanou the women s 100m silver medallist from the same games in sydney also face a criminal hearing in greece over the missed tests. they failed to appear to give samples in chicago and tel aviv shortly before the athens games and again in athens on 12 august the eve of the opening ceremony. greek prosecutors have also charged them with faking a midnight motorcycle crash which led to them spending four days in hospital. some medical staff have been charged with writing false medical reports. wednesday s statement said the greek federation (segas) would convene a disciplinary hearing for the trio to determine whether there had been doping violations. there will be a final right of appeal from the decision of the greek federation to the court of arbitration for sport the iaaf said. tzekos insisted he and the runners had nothing to hide. the iaaf s decision means nothing he said. we ll be presenting all our arguments to segas - we re innocent.

sport

day-lewis set for berlin honour actor daniel day-lewis is to be presented with an award for his career in film at the berlin film festival. the 47-year-old whose credits include his oscar-winning performance in my left foot will be presented with the berlinale camera award on 15 february. the honour awarded since 1986 honours figures in cinema that the festival feels particularly indebted to . man to man a historical epic starring kristin scott thomas opens the german festival on 10 february. a candid documentary about the life and career of singer george michael a different story will also be screened at the 10-day event. day-lewis has competed four times at the berlin film festival with films in the name of the father (1994) the crucible (1997) the boxer (1998) and martin scorsese s gangs of new york (2003). the festival praises him for his sensational start with roles in my beautiful launderette and costume classic a room with a view and a great number of celebrated roles in subsequent productions. japan s oldest film studio will also be honoured along with day-lewis. shochiku film studios which was founded 110 years ago will become the first cinematic institution to receive the berlinale camera award. famous japanese directors including akira hurosawa have had films produced at the studio.

entertainment

beattie return calms attack fears everton striker james beattie has been declared fit for training on tuesday despite suffering an alleged assault last saturday. beattie 27 is not believed to be as seriously hurt as some reports have suggested after being the victim of an unprovoked assault in birmingham. he was on a night out with his girlfriend and two friends following everton s 3-1 win over aston villa. he was shaken but not badly injured said everton spokesman ian ross. he added: he did speak to the police but will not be pressing charges. he has spoken to manager david moyes about what happened. beattie was suspended for the win at aston villa after his red card against chelsea and he will be available again for the merseyside derby at liverpool on 20 march.

sport

vera drake s bafta triumph hope at the bafta film awards on saturday night there is the prospect that a home-grown movie could walk off with a clutch of trophies. vera drake mike leigh s tale about a 1950s backstreet abortionist is nominated in 11 categories. these include best film best director and best actress shortlist for imelda staunton who plays the eponymous character. the film has spent months being lauded with prizes from the venice film festival to five awards from the london critics circle on wednesday night. the baftas has a tradition of honouring british cinema and this year vera drake is the obvious candidate to be heaped with praise. empire magazine s reviews editor dan jolin said the film had a very good chance of doing well on saturday predicting that it would collect five or six awards. i don t think it s going to do a lord of the rings-style sweep but imelda staunton is a shoo-in for best actress he said. a best director prize for mike leigh and best british film are also likely and it could steal some awards from heavily-nominated competitors the aviator and finding neverland. mr jolin tipped another contender - most likely the aviator - to walk away with the bafta for best film and added that finding neverland had been lavished with nominations but not trophies. strong oscar contenders million dollar baby and sideways did not figure in the bafta nominations giving vera drake greater potential to walk away with the big prizes. there is a sense that this film is ours and we should slap our own guys on the back. out of all the films in the running for the baftas vera drake is the true blue british one. if mike leigh is going to win awards for anything it should be vera drake at this year s baftas said mr jolin adding that the film was probably his most technically accomplished and lavish work yet. mr jolin also tipped phil davis for a best supporting actor prize for his role in vera drake but felt that heather craney could be outdone by kate winslet or natalie portman in the supporting actress category. if there is anywhere where this film is going to win it will be at the baftas he said. the guardian s film critic peter bradshaw felt that there might well be a sweep of awards for vera drake on saturday night. i hope that bafta voters will respond to the extremely high standard of acting from the whole cast of the film. if bafta can t do so what hope is there he said. mr bradshaw felt that mike leigh s masterpiece was entitled to the best film award - leaving dead man s shoes harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban my summer of love and shaun of the dead to slug it out for the best british film trophy. i will be cheering if vera drake wins a whole host of awards he added.

entertainment

green reports shun supply chain nearly 20% more uk top 250 firms produced non-financial reports on social and environment issues than last year. but of the 145 companies reporting 76% didn t examine their supply chains says the annual directions survey. green groups say putting pressure on supply chains is a major way companies can reduce their environmental impact. the survey is published by corporate social responsibility firm context and branding firm salterbaxter. blake lee-harwood campaigns director at greenpeace in the uk said: it s fairly meaningless to talk about your company s direction in terms of sustainability without having detailed knowledge of your supply chain. it s also important to get some kind of independent assessment of your reporting. less than a quarter of companies (24%) get their corporate social responsibility (csr) reports independently verified to provide assurances they are accurate and complete says the survey. to date there are no set standards for non-financial reporting although the global reporting initiative an independent pro-sustainability institution is planning to establish some. the reports surveyed by directions are published voluntarily. they are usually called corporate social responsibility (csr) reports sustainability reports or social and environmental reports. peter knight director of context says 24 uk top 250 companies reported for the first time this year and in general the quality of reports has improved. the corporate lexicon of homilies generalities and soft assurances - fluff - is on its way out. there are less pictures of smiling children and butterflies. the uk government will soon require all quoted companies to report their social and environmental risks in a chapter in their annual reports called the operating and financial review. the regulation is not expected until 2005 and the first reports under this scheme will not be published before 2006. the us seems to lag europe in producing corporate social responsibility reports. the majority of european top 50 companies (44) publish them and only 27 of the us top 50.

business

games maker fights for survival one of britain s largest independent game makers argonaut games has been put up for sale. the london-based company behind the harry potter games has sacked about 100 employees due to a severe cash crisis. the administrators told bbc news online that selling argonaut was the only way to save it as it had run out of cash. argonaut warned that it was low on cash 10 days ago when its shares were suspended from trading on the london stock exchange. argonaut has been making games for some 18 years and is one the largest independent games developers in the uk. along with its headquarters in north london it operates studios in cambridge and sheffield. argonaut was behind the harry potter games which provided a healthy flow of cash into the company. but like all software developers argonaut needed a constant flow of deals with publishers. signs that it was in trouble emerged in august when it warned it was heading for losses of £6m in the financial year due to delays in signing new contracts for games. those new deals were further delayed leading argonaut to warn in mid-october that it was running out of cash and suspend trading of its shares on the london stock exchange. as part of cost-cutting measures some 100 employees were fired. when the news about the £6m loss came out we knew there were going to be redundancies said jason parkinson one of the game developers sacked by argonaut. a lot of people suspected that argonaut had been in trouble for some time he told bbc news online. mr parkinson said staff were told the job losses were necessary to save argonaut from going under. at the start of the year the company employed 268 people. after the latest round of cuts there are 80 staff at argonaut headquarters in edgware in north london with 17 at its morpheme offices in kentish town london and 22 at the just add monsters base in cambridge. argonaut called in administrators david rubin & partners on friday to find a way to rescue the company from collapse. it spent the weekend going over the company s finances and concluded that the only way to save the business was to put it up for sale. the administrator told bbc news online that the costs of restructuing would be too high partly because of the overheads from the company s four premises across the uk. it said it was hopeful that it could save some 110 jobs by selling the business saying it had had expressions of interest from several quarters and were looking for a quick sale. the administrator said it would ensure that staff made redundant would receive any wages redundancy or holiday pay due to them hopefully by christmas.

tech

moya emotional at davis cup win carlos moya described spain s davis cup victory as the highlight of his career after he beat andy roddick to end the usa s challenge in seville. moya made up for missing spain s 2000 victory through injury by beating roddick 6-2 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-5) to give the hosts an unassailable 3-1 lead. i have woken up so many nights dreaming of this day said moya. all my energy has been focused on today. what i have lived today i do not think i will live again. spain s only other davis cup title came two years ago in valencia when they beat australia. and moya nicknamed charly admitted: the davis cup is my dream and i was a bit nervous at the outset. some people have said that i am obsessed but i think that it is better this way. it helps me reach my goals if i am obsessed. it s really incredible - to get the winning point is really something. spanish captain jordi arrese said: charly played a great game. it was his opportunity and he hasn t let us down. he had lost three times to roddick and this was his day to beat him. he had been waiting years to be in this position. spain s victory was also remarkable for the performance of rafael nadal who beat roddick in the opening singles. aged 18 years and 185 days the mallorcan became the youngest player to win the davis cup. what a great way to finish the year said nadal afterwards. us coach patrick mcenroe wants roddick and the rest of his team to play more tennis on clay and hone their skills on the surface. i think it will help these guys even on slow hard courts to learn how to mix things up a little bit and to play a little bit smarter and tactically better. obviously it s unrealistic to say that we re going to just start playing constantly on clay with the schedule. but certainly i think we can put the work in at the appropriate time and play a couple more events and play against these guys who are the best on this stuff said mcenroe. roddick was left frustrated after losing both his singles on the slow clay of seville s olympic stadium. it s just tough because i felt like i was in it the whole time against one of the top three clay-courters in the world said the american. i had my chances and just didn t convert them. the bottom line is they were just better than us this weekend. they came out took care of business and they beat us. it s as simple as that.

sport