tobacco giants hail court ruling us tobacco companies have welcomed an appeal court s decision to reject the government s $280bn (£155bn) claim for alleged deceit about smoking dangers.  tobacco stocks rose sharply on wall street after the 2-1 decision. the court in washington found the case - filed by the clinton administration in 1999 - could not be brought under federal anti-racketeering laws. anti-smoking groups urge the government to fight on  but the justice department has not said if it will appeal. among the accused were altria group  rj reynolds tobacco  lorillard tobacco  liggett group and brown and williamson. they were delighted by the decision  which sent reynolds shares up 4.5% and altria shares up 5.11%.  charles a blixt  executive vice-president of rj reynolds tobacco  said the ruling  dramatically transforms  the government s lawsuit. altria group said  in a statement  the government now  must not only prove that the companies have engaged in fraudulent behaviour in the past  but that they are likely to do so in the future.   the government had claimed tobacco firms    - manipulated nicotine levels to increase addiction   - targeted teenagers with multi-billion dollar advertising campaigns   - lied about the dangers of smoking and ignored research to the contrary.     prosecutors wanted the cigarette firms to  disgorge  $280bn in profits accumulated over the past 50 years and impose tougher rules on marketing their products. they brought the case under racketeering laws  which were passed to deny mafia gangs the profits of their crimes. but the tobacco companies denied that they illegally conspired to promote smoking and defraud the public. they also said they had already met many of the government s demands in a landmark $206bn settlement reached with 46 states in 1998. the three-judge panel in the district of columbia s court of appeals ruled on friday that the us government could not sue the firms under the anti-racketeering laws. judge david sentelle  in his ruling  said such laws were aimed at putting an end to illegal conduct going forward.  we hold that the language of (the law) and the comprehensive remedial scheme of (the law) preclude disgorgement as a possible remedy in this case   he wrote. the justice department refused to say if it would appeal.  all we re saying today is that we have received the ruling and are reviewing it   a spokeswoman said on friday. but william corr of the campaign for tobacco-free kids urged the government to continue pressing its case.  today s ruling should not be an excuse for this administration to seek a weak settlement that lets the tobacco industry off the hook   he said.


tulu to appear at caledonian run two-time olympic 10 000 metres champion derartu tulu has confirmed she will take part in the bupa great caledonian run in edinburgh on 8 may.  the 32-year-old ethiopian is the first star name to enter the event. tulu has won the boston  london and tokyo marathons  as well as the world 10 000m title in 2001.  we are delighted to have secured the services of one the most decorated competitors the sport has ever seen   said race director matthew turnbull.  her record speaks for herself and there are few other women distance runners who would dare compare their pedigree with tulu s   he added.  she might be 33 next month  but that didn t stop her winning the olympic 10 000m bronze medal last summer. she s an ultra-consistent championships racer.


sydney return for henin-hardenne olympic champion justine henin-hardenne will return to action in january s sydney international tournament.  the belgian has not competed since losing her top world ranking at the us open in september  where she was beaten in the fourth round by nadia petrova. she took time out to shake off a virus but will defend her titles in sydney and at the australian open. women s world number one lindsay davenport and french open champion anastasia myskina will also compete.  in the men s event  world number three lleyton hewitt returns to defend his title  along with runner-up carlos moya. moya  spain s davis cup final hero in their recent win over the us  had to retire with an ankle injury in the first set of the final.  tournament director craig watson said:  i had a message relayed to me from him after spain s davis cup victory  saying he was looking forward to trying to make up for his disappointment in the (2004) final. the tournament will take place from 9-15 january.


capriati to miss melbourne jennifer capriati has become the third leading lady to withdraw from the australian open because of injury.  the organisers of the first grand slam of 2005  which begins on 17 january  said the american has a problem with her right shoulder. it comes as a blow to the women s draw as last year s champion  justin henin-hardenne  and runner-up  kim clijsters  will also be absent. capriati is a two-time champion in melbourne with wins in 2001 and 2002. she is believed to have picked up the injury at the advanta championships at philadelphia in november and had to pull out of an exhibition match with wimbledon champion maria sharapova on 17 december. capriati also decided against competing in the australian open warm-up event  the sydney international.


asian banks halt dollar s slide the dollar regained some lost ground against most major currencies on wednesday after south korea and japan denied they were planning a sell-off.  the dollar suffered its biggest one-day fall in four months on tuesday on fears that asian central banks were about to lower their reserves of dollars. japan is the biggest holder of dollar reserves in the world  with south korea the fourth largest. the dollar was buying 104.76 yen at 0950 gmt  0.5% stronger on the day. it also edged higher against both the euro and the pound  with one euro worth $1.3218  and one pound buying $1.9094. concerns over rising oil prices and the outlook for the dollar pushed down us stock markets on tuesday; the dow jones industrial average closed down 1.6%  while the nasdaq lost 1.3%.  the dollar s latest slide began after a south korean parliamentary report suggested the country  which has about $200bn in foreign reserves  had plans to boost holdings of currencies such as the australian and canadian dollar. on wednesday  however  south korea moved to steady the financial markets. it issued a statement that  the bank of korea will not change the portfolio of currencies in its reserves due to short term market factors . japan  too  steadied nerves. a senior japanese finance ministry official told reuters  we have no plans to change the composition of currency holdings in the foreign reserves  and we are not thinking about expanding our euro holdings . japan has $850bn in foreign exchange reserves. at the start of the year  the us currency  which had lost 7% against the euro in the final three months of 2004 and had fallen to record lows  staged something of a recovery. analysts  however  pointed to the dollar s inability recently to extend that rally despite positive economic and corporate data  and highlighted the fact that many of the us s economic problems had not disappeared. the focus has been on the country s massive trade and budget deficits  and analysts have predicted more dollar weakness to come.


giggs handed wales leading role ryan giggs will captain wales as he wins his 50th cap in wednesday s friendly against hungary in cardiff.  john toshack  in his first game as coach after succeeding mark hughes  admits he is surprised that giggs has only just reached the landmark.  with the games he s played for united  proportionately it doesn t seem that many for wales   toshack said.  but he s one of the greatest of all welsh internationals and on his 50th cap it s appropriate he s captain.  giggs admits he had briefly considered retirement from the international game  but is now targetting playing for wales in the 2008 european championships. the manchester united wing revealed how club manager sir alex ferguson talked him into extending his wales career.  i briefly discussed my international future with sir alex  but he urged me to carry on   giggs said.  he feels  like myself  that i have no weight problems and keep myself fit  so in three or four years  time i will be able to play in the european finals if we get there.  the manager has always wanted me to play for my club and country and he was keen for me to continue because i am fit enough.   giggs admits he was wavering and considering joining the likes of former wales skipper gary speed and united team-mate paul scholes in committing the remaining years of his career to club football. but giggs is now focussed on making the toshack era even more successful than the time hughes spent at the helm. the manchester united winger won his first cap as a 17-year-old in 1991  an away loss to germany  and now faces his landmark appearance at the age of 31. with giggs leading wales out against hungary  there is every chance that he will become the permanent successor to speed. however  toshack refused to reveal whether he sees giggs as a long-term option.  for this particular game i think it is appropriate that ryan giggs will be captain  it s his 50th cap and he s known for some time about that   toshack said. on wednesday night toshack takes charge of his first match since replacing hughes  and giggs said:  it s my 50th cap and i am looking forward to it  and i hope to play a lot more times from here on in.  it s important to be here  all the players feel the same. it s a new start and all the top players certainly see it as important.  i see myself leading by example  it is something i have taken on for wales as well as united these past few seasons.  the way john is looking at things  he is aiming to build his side around the experienced lads right up to the next tournament  the euro 2006 event.  i have told john i will be around for the next european tournament  by then i will be 35 so hopefully i will still be okay.  a lot can happen  but i m hoping to be around.  giggs  own personal future at old trafford is still up in the air as he has yet to reach agreement on a new contract  with manchester united offering one extra year and giggs seeking two.  i have put the contract thing to the back of my mind at the moment   said giggs.  it is an important period for the club and i am just concentrated on that.  i ve heard the suggestions  hopefully there is a two-year deal about to be offered because that is what i am looking for  to get it sorted out.  i m enjoying my football  the way united have been playing and my own form  you have to enjoy it.  we have massive games coming up: manchester city this week  then the everton cup tie  followed by ac milan in the champions league  and my first wales game under john toshack  so it s an important time.


henman overcomes rival rusedski tim henman saved a match point before fighting back to defeat british rival greg rusedski 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 at the dubai tennis championships on tuesday.  world number 46 rusedski broke in the ninth game to take a tight opening set. rusedski had match point at 6-5 in the second set tie-break after henman double-faulted  but missed his chance and henman rallied to clinch the set. the british number one then showed his superior strength to take the decider and earn his sixth win over rusedski. serve was held by both players with few alarms until the seventh game of the final set  when rusedski s wild volley gave henman a vital break. a furious rusedski slammed his racket onto the ground in disgust and was warned by the umpire.  henman  seeded three  then held his serve comfortably thanks to four serve-and-volley winners to take a clear 5-3 lead. rusedski won his service game but henman took the first of his three match points with a service winner to secure his place in the second round at dubai for the first time in three years. it was the first match between the pair for three years - henman last lost to rusedski six years ago - and lasted two hours and 40 minutes. the pair are now likely to only face each other on court as rivals - rather than as team-mates - after henman decided to retire from davis cup tennis leaving rusedski to lead the team out against israel on 4-6 march. henman  who now faces russian igor andreev in the last 16  admitted afterwards it was difficult coming up against his compatriot on a fast surface.  you just take it point by point when you re fighting to stay in the match   he said.  i had to keep playing aggressively and competing to get a chance.  i now have to recover in time for the next match because the body doesn t recover as quick as it used to  especially after two hours and 40 minutes.


camera phones are  must-haves  four times more mobiles with cameras in them will be sold in europe by the end of 2004 than last year  says a report from analysts gartner.  globally  the number sold will reach 159 million  an increase of 104%. the report predicts that nearly 70% of all mobile phones sold will have a built-in camera by 2008. improving imaging technology in mobiles is making them an increasingly  must-have  buy. in europe  cameras on mobiles can take 1.3 megapixel images. but in japan and asia pacific  where camera phone technology is much more advanced  mobiles have already been released which can take 3.2 megapixel images. japan still dominates mobile phone technology  and the uptake there is huge. by 2008  according to gartner  95% of all mobiles sold there will have cameras on them.  camera phones had some teething problems when they were first launched as people struggled with poor quality images and uses for them  as well as the complexity and expense of sending them via mms (multimedia messaging services). this has changed in the last 18 months. handset makers have concentrated on trying to make phones easier to use. realising that people like to use their camera phones in different ways  they have introduced more design features  like rotating screens and viewfinders  removable memory cards and easier controls to send picture messages.  mobile companies have introduced more ways for people to share photos with other people. these have included giving people easier ways to publish them on websites  or mobile blogs - moblogs. but the report suggests that until image quality increases more  people will not be interested in printing out pictures at kiosks. image sensor technology inside cameras phones is improving. the gartner report suggests that by mid-2005  it is likely that the image resolution of most camera phones will be more than two megapixels. consumer digital cameras images range from two to four megapixels in quality  and up to six megapixels on a high-end camera. but a lot of work is being done to make camera phones more like digital cameras. some handsets already feature limited zoom capability  and manufacturers are looking into technological improvements that will let people take more photos in poorly-lit conditions  like nightclubs. other developments include wide-angle modes  basic editing features  and better sensors and processors for recording film clips.  images from camera phones have even made it into the art world. an exhibition next month in aid of the charity mencap  will feature snaps taken from the camera phones of top artists.  the exhibition  fonetography  will feature images taken by photographers david bailey  rankin and nan goldin  and artists sir peter blake  tracey emin and jack vettriano. but some uses for them have worried many organisations. intel  samsung  the uk s foreign office and lawrence livermore national laboratories in the us  have decided to ban camera phones from their buildings for fear of sensitive information being snapped and leaked. many schools  fitness centres and local councils have also banned them over fears about privacy and misuse. italy s information commissioner has also voiced concern and has issued guidelines on where and how the phones can be used. but camera phone fears have not dampened the manufacturers  profits. according to recent figures  sony ericsson s profits tripled in the third-quarter because of new camera phones. over 60% of mobiles sold during the three months through to september featured integrated cameras  it said.


broadband fuels online change fast web access is encouraging more people to express themselves online  research suggests.  a quarter of broadband users in britain regularly upload content and have personal sites  according to a report by uk think-tank demos. it said that having an always-on  fast connection is changing the way people use the internet. more than five million households in the uk have broadband and that number is growing fast.  the demos report looked at the impact of broadband on people s net habits. it found that more than half of those with broadband logged on to the web before breakfast. one in five even admitted to getting up in the middle of the night to browse the web.  more significantly  argues the report  broadband is encouraging people to take a more active role online. it found that one in five post something on the net everyday  ranging from comments or opinions on sites to uploading photographs.  broadband is putting the  me  in media as it shifts power from institutions and into the hands of the individual   said john craig  co-author of the demos report.  from self-diagnosis to online education  broadband creates social innovation that moves the debate beyond simple questions of access and speed.  the demos report  entitled broadband britain: the end of asymmetry   was commissioned by net provider aol.  broadband is moving the perception of the internet as a piece of technology to an integral part of home life in the uk   said karen thomson  chief executive of aol uk   with many people spending time on their computers as automatically as they might switch on the television or radio.  according to analysts nielsen//netratings  more than 50% of the 22.8 million uk net users regularly accessing the web from home each month are logging on at high speed they spend twice as long online than people on dial-up connections  viewing an average of 1 444 pages per month. the popularity of fast net access is growing  partly fuelled by fierce competition over prices and services.


china  to overtake us net use  the chinese net-using population looks set to exceed that of the us in less than three years  says a report.  china s net users number 100m but this represents less than 8% of the country s 1.3 billion people. market analysts panlogic predicts that net users in china will exceed the 137 million us users of the net by 2008. the report says that the country s culture will mean that chinese people will use the net for very different ends than in many other nations.  already net use in china has a very different character than in many western nations  said william makower  chief executive of panlogic. in many western nations desktop computers that can access the net are hard to escape at work. by contrast in china workplace machines are relatively rare. this  combined with the relatively high cost of pcs in china and the time it takes to get phone lines installed  helps to explains the huge number of net cafes in china. only 36% of chinese homes have telephones according to reports.  net usage tends to happen in the evening   said mr makower   they get access only when they go home and go off to the internet café.   its fundamentally different usage to what we have here   he said.  net use in china was still very much an urban phenomenon with most users living on the country s eastern seaboard or in its three biggest cities. the net is key to helping chinese people keep in touch with friends  said mr makower. many people use it in preference to the phone or arrange to meet up with friends at net cafes. what people can do on the net is also limited by aspects of chinese life. for instance  said mr makower  credit cards are rare in china partly because of fears people have about getting in to debt.  the most popular way to pay is cash-on-delivery   he said   and that s quite a brake to the development of e-commerce.  the arrival of foreign banks in china  due in 2006  could mean greater use of credit cards but for the moment they are rare  said mr makower. but if chinese people are not spending cash online they are interested in the news they can get via the net and the view it gives them on western ways of living.  a large part of the attraction of the internet is that it goes below the radar   he said.  generally it s more difficult for the government to be able to control it.   its real value is as an open window onto what s happening elsewhere in the world   he said. government restrictions on how much advertising can appear on television means that the net is a source of many commercial messages chinese people would not see anywhere else. familiarity with the net also has a certain social cachet.  it s a sign of them having made it that they can use the internet and navigate around it   said mr makower.


clijsters set for february return tennis star kim clijsters will make her return from a career-threatening injury at the antwerp wta event in february.   kim had considered returning to action in paris on 7 february   a statement on her website said.  she s decided against this so that she does not risk the final phase of her recovery. if all goes well  kim will make her return on february 15.  the 21-year-old has not played since last october after aggravating a wrist injury at the belgian open. back then  a doctor treating the belgian feared that her career may be over  with the player having already endured an operation earlier in the season to cure her wrist problem.  i hope she comes back  but i m pessimistic   said bruno willems. clijsters was also due to marry fellow tennis star lleyton hewitt in february but the pair split  for private reasons  back in october.


houllier praises benitez regime former liverpool manager gerard houllier has praised the work of his anfield successor rafael benitez.  houllier was angry at reports that he has been critical of benitez since the spaniard took over at liverpool. but houllier told bbc sport:  in private and in public  i have stressed i believe rafa is doing a good job. he is the right man at the right place.  rafa is a good coach and a good man. i ve spoken to him since he has been at liverpool and never criticised him.  houllier also revealed he is now ready to return to the game after leaving liverpool in may following six years at anfield.  the former france boss has been linked with a host of jobs and pulled out of the race to succeed mark hughes as wales national coach. he has been working for uefa  covering the premiership for french television and also coaching in brazil with national coach carlos alberto perreira. houllier said:  if a good club comes up at the right time then yes  i am ready to come back.  it has been interesting to watch games from a different perspective and i have learned things.  i have been involved in football since leaving liverpool and my batteries are recharged.   houllier has been impressed with the quality in the premiership after watching as a pundit - particularly with jose mourinho s work at leaders chelsea. he said:  chelsea are doing very well. they have some very good creative players in damien duff and arjen robben and didier drogba showed he can change the face of a game when he came on against newcastle.  they have got a good team spirit and are strong mentally. they have shown they can cope with all the pressure put on them because of the expectations and cope well with jose s principles.  jose had results before he came to chelsea and i think he will have an impact in the premiership because he manages his team very cleverly.  and houllier  away from his brief at liverpool  has been hugely impressed with the premiership. he said:  it is a very exciting league. it is entertaining  goals are scored and teams are always trying to win.  it has been very interesting to watch the game from a different perspective.  games switch from end-to-end and there is more pace to the premiership than other leagues. it is a very good product.


spam e-mails tempt net shoppers computer users across the world continue to ignore security warnings about spam e-mails and are being lured into buying goods  a report suggests.  more than a quarter have bought software through spam e-mails and 24% have bought clothes or jewellery. as well as profiting from selling goods or services and driving advertising traffic  organised crime rings can use spam to glean personal information. the business software alliance (bsa) warned that people should  stay alert .  many online consumers don t consider the true motives of spammers   said mike newton  a spokesperson for the bsa which commissioned the survey.   by selling software that appears to be legitimate in genuine looking packaging or through sophisticated websites  spammers are hiding spyware without consumers  knowledge.  once the software is installed on pcs and networks  information that is given over the internet can be obtained and abused.   the results also showed that the proportion of people reading - or admitting to reading - and taking advantage of adult entertainment spam e-mails is low  at one in 10. the research  which covered 6 000 people in six countries and their attitudes towards junk e-mails  revealed that brazilians were the most likely to read spam. a third of them read unsolicited junk e-mail and 66% buy goods or services after receiving spam.  the french were the second most likely to buy something (48%)  with 44% of britons taking advantage of products and services. this was despite 38% of people in all countries being worried about their net security because of the amount of spam they get. more than a third of respondents said they were concerned that spam e-mails contained viruses or programs that attempted to collect personal information.  both industry and the media have helped to raise awareness of the issues that surround illegitimate e-mail  helping to reduce the potential financial damage and nuisance from phishing attacks and spoof websites   said william plante  director of corporate security and fraud protection at security firm symantec.  at the same time  consumers need to continue exercising caution and protect themselves from harm with a mixture of spam filters  spyware detection software and sound judgement.


gebrselassie in london triple bid double olympic 10 000m champion haile gebrselassie will race in the london marathon for the next three years.  the ethiopian legend won sunday s almeria half-marathon in spain on his return from an operation on his achilles tendon. he was third in london in 2002 in his first serious attempt at the marathon.  it is a coup for us to secure haile s presence for the next three years and it guarantees a quality race   said race director david bedford. gebrselassie will face olympic champion stefano baldini  world champion jaouad gharib  and arch-rival paul tergat  the current world record holder.  if i didn t think i could win i would not be here   said gebrselassie  who has set world records on 18 occasions in his illustrious career and is keen to add the marathon record to his collection.  there are a lot of fantastic runners in the race but i shall be doing my utmost to upset them.


slovakia seal hopman cup success slovakia clinched the hopman cup for the second time by beating argentina 3-0 in saturday s final in perth.  daniela hantuchova put the third seeds ahead  recovering from a terrible start to beat gisela dulko 1-6 6-4 6-4. dominik hrbaty  who had not lost a set in his three singles matches in the group stages  then upset world number seven guillermo coria 6-4 6-1. hantuchova and hrbaty then won the mixed doubles after coria was forced to withdraw because of a sore back. slovakia s win made up for last year s final defeat to the united states.  i would like to congratulate daniela   hrbaty said.  i was so nervous watching her today  i almost had a heart attack.  i also feel a little sorry for guillermo because i get very excited whenever i play for my country. i show lots of emotions and played such good tennis.   world number 31 hantuchova  ranked two places above dulko  looked nervous as she dropped the first four games of the match. dulko  who had lost all three of her singles matches in the group stages  grew in confidence and took the opening set in just 27 minutes. but hantuchova hit back to take the next two and the match.  i was so nervous because i really wanted to win for the team and for dominik as he played so well all week   she said.  i didn t think i was playing my best but i just tried to hang in there and fight hard for every point for my country.  slovakia won the cup on their first appearance in 1998 when karol kucera and karina habsudova beat france.


joke e-mail virus tricks users a virus that disguises itself as a joke is spreading rapidly across the net.  anti-virus firms are issuing high-level warnings about the new version of the bagle e-mail program that seems to be catching a lot of people out. the windows virus grabs e-mail addresses from microsoft outlook and uses its own mail sending software to spread itself to new victims. when it infects a machine  the bagle variant turns off security measures that usually protect pcs.  the new variant is called bagle.at  bagle.bb and bagle.au and the attachment bearing the virus code is labelled as either  joke  or  price .  the body of the virus usually contains nothing but a smiley or emoticon. the virus can strike computers running windows 95  98  me  nt  2000 and xp. users will be infected if they open the attachment that travels with the e-mail. as well as plundering microsoft outlook for e-mail addresses to send itself to  bagle.at also tries to turn off the firewall and security centre services on windows xp machines. bbc news online has received five warnings about the virus from security companies. finnish company f-secure gave the virus its second highest threat level.  we ve had several reports all over the world   said mikko hypponen  director of anti-virus research for f-secure. security firm network box said that it stopped more than 30 000 copies an hour of the virus as the outbreak reached a peak. black spider said it had stopped more than 1 million copies of bagle.at since the outbreak began at 0630 bst (0530 gmt). anti-virus firms urged users to be wary of unexpected e-mail messages bearing attachments and to update their software to ensure they are protected against the latest threats.


irish company hit by iraqi report shares in irish oil company petrel resources have lost more than 50% of their value on a report that the firm has failed to win a contract in iraq.  reuters news agency reported that iraq s oil ministry has awarded the first post-war oilfield contracts to a canadian and a turkish company. by 1700 gmt  petrel s shares fell from 97p ($1.87) to 44p ($0.85). petrel said that it has not received any information from iraqi authorities to confirm or deny the report.  iraq is seeking to award contracts for three projects  valued at $500m (£258.5m). turkey s everasia is reported by reuters to have won a contract to develop the khurmala dome field in the north of the country. a canadian company  named iog  is reported to have won the contract to run the himrin field. ironhorse oil and gas has denied to reuters that it is the company in question. these two projects aim to develop khurmala field to produce 100 000 barrels per day and raise the output of himrin. the winners of the contract are to build new flow lines and build gas separation stations. the contract to develop the suba-luhais field has not yet been awarded as iraq s oil ministry is studying the offers. if iraq s cabinet approves the oil ministry s choice of companies  then this will be the first deal that iraq has signed with a foreign oil company. iraq is still trying to boost its production capacity to match levels last seen in the eighties  before the war with iran. oil officials hope to double iraq s output by the end of the decade.


russia wto talks  make progress  talks on russia s proposed membership of the world trade organisation (wto) have been  making good progress  say those behind the negotiations.  but the chairman of the working party  ambassador stefan johannesson of iceland  warned that there was  still a lot of work has to be done . his comments came as president george w bush said the us backed russian entry. but he said for russia to make progress the government must  renew a commitment to democracy and the rule of law . his comments come three days before he is due to meet president vladimir putin.  russia has been waiting for a decade to join the wto and hopes to finally become a member by early 2006. a decision could be reached in december  when the wto s 148 current members gather for a summit in hong kong. that would allow an earliest date for membership of january 2006  if the hong kong summit gave its approval. while pinpointing several areas in which there are difficulties in the bilateral and multilateral work with russia  the us said the meeting was  much more efficient than we ve seen for some time . and australia said it was  one of the best (meetings) we can recall in terms of substance . mr johannesson also said progress  on the bilateral market access side is accelerating . sticking points to membership have included limits on foreign ownership in the telecommunications and life insurance businesses  as well as issues surrounding counterfeiting  piracy  and data protection. some wto members also dislike russia s energy price subsidies  which competitors say give russian businesses an unfair advantage.


rings of steel combat net attacks gambling is hugely popular  especially with tech-savvy criminals.  many extortionists are targeting net-based betting firms and threatening to cripple their websites with deluges of data unless a ransom is paid. but now deep defences are being put in place by some of the uk s biggest net firms to stop these attacks. increasing numbers of attacks and the huge amounts of data being used to try to bump a site off the web are prompting firms to adopt the measures.  net firms are realising that it s not just about anti-virus and firewalls   said paul king  chief security architect at cisco.  there are more things that can be done in the network to protect data centres.  mr king said the only way to properly combat these so-called distributed denial-of-service attacks was with intelligent net-based systems. many of the gambling sites suffering ddos attacks are in offshore data and hosting centres  so any large scale data flood could knock out access to many more sites than just the one the criminals were targeting  said mr king. this overspill effect was only likely to grow as attacks grow in size and scale.  malcolm seagrave  security expert at energis  said the most common types of attacks hit sites with 10 megabytes of data over short periods of time. bigger attacks sending down 200 megabytes of traffic or more were rarely seen  he said.  it does feel like they are turning the dial because you see this traffic gradually growing   he said.  so far there have been no attacks involving gigabytes of data  said mr seagrave. however  he added that it was only a matter of time before such large attacks were mounted. maria capella  spokeswoman for net provider pipex  said that when ddos attacks were at their height  customers were getting hit every four to five days. the defences being put in place constantly monitor the streams of data flowing across networks and pluck out the traffic destined for target sites.  it s about understanding what s genuine traffic and keeping attack traffic from going to the site   she said.  we study the profile of their traffic and as soon as we see an anomaly in the profile that s when we start to get the backbone engineering boys to see if we are going to sustain an attack   said ms capella. this traffic can be hard to spot because ddos attacks typically use thousands of computers in many different countries  each participating machine only sends a small part of the entire data flood.  typically these computers have been infected by a virus or worm which reports its success and the net address of compromised machines back to the malicious hacker or hi-tech criminal that set off the virus. hijacked computers are known as zombies or  bots and collections of them are called  bot nets. many spammers rent out  bot nets to help them anonymously send junk mail.  most of the zombies are based outside the country that hosts the target site so getting the attacking pcs shut off can be difficult. often pipex and other net suppliers do get advance notice that an attack is about to happen.  the serious players tend to precede an attack with some kind of ransom e-mail   said ms capella.  we ask  as part of the service we provide  that customers notify us of anything they have in advance that would give us forewarning.  once an attack is spotted dedicated net hardware takes over to remove the attack traffic and ensure that sites stay up. energis took a similar approach  said mr seagrave.  we have technology out there that allows us to detect attacks in minutes rather than let network engineers spend hours pulling the information together   said mr seagrave. also net firms were starting to work more closely together on the problem of ddos attacks and pool information about where they are coming from. information gathered on attacks and where they originated has led to some arrests. he said energis also did its own intelligence work to get in insight into which sites criminal gangs plan to target.  we have people in places where they shouldn t be  monitoring tech sites   he said. sometimes though  he said  spotting the next victim was easy.  you can see them going alphabetically through the list with the gambling sites  trying one after another   said mr seagrave.


keegan hails comeback king fowler manchester city boss kevin keegan has praised striker robbie fowler for his landmark return to form.  the 29-year-old  out of favour at city earlier this season  took his premiership goal tally past 150 with a brace in monday s 3-2 win at norwich.  he is still a quality player and knows where the net is - we have just got to supply him with ammunition and  in the end  we did   keegan said.  he has worked hard to get back to where he is now.  the former liverpool striker  who moved to city in 2003 after a poor stint at leeds  has battled back into first-team contention after struggling with fitness at the start of the season.  fowler overtook les ferdinand on tuesday evening to become the third highest scorer of all time in the premiership  with 151 goals  and he only trails alan shearer (250) and andy cole (173). and keegan believes there is still more to come from the former england forward.  he can get better if we can supply him better   added keegan.  people want to write him off but if he has kept the articles of those people who have written him off he could throw them back at them and they would be left with a bit of egg on their face.  fowler s double strike helped city come back from two goals down to clinch a dramatic win at carrow road and keegan sympathised with norwich boss nigel worthington afterwards.  i feel a bit for nigel worthington   he said.  his team have got great character  they have a lot of drive and enthusiasm.  i know it is a killer blow for norwich but i really think they have brought something to the premiership.  the stadium and the atmosphere is great  it is just a tough league to stay in - as they are finding out and as we know.


tech helps disabled speed demons an organisation has been launched to encourage disabled people to get involved in all aspects of motorsport  which is now increasingly possible thanks to technological innovations.  the motorsport endeavour club left the starting grid yesterday at the autosport international 2005 show at birmingham s nec  with several technologies to adapt vehicles on display.  motorcycle racer  roy tansley  from derby developed his electronic sequential gear changer following an accident which resulted in part of his left leg being amputated.  i needed to find a way of changing gear and generally you do that with your left leg   mr tansley told the bbc news website.  in simple terms  i needed to invent a left foot - initially it was quite a heath robinson device.  mr tansley had to argue his case to be allowed to continue competing with motorcycle racing s governing body  the autocycle union.  at that time they wouldn t let any amputee race at all  but eventually they told me i could have a licence as long as i raced sidecars.  mr tansley s invention  the pro-shift  is designed to work with hewland gearboxes which are widely used in motorcycle racing. in addition to helping disabled riders to compete  mr tansley reckons that the pro-shift saves at least 20 seconds per lap when he competes in the isle of man tt. as a result  there has been considerable interest in the product from other riders keen to improve their performance.  i m not prejudiced  i ll sell to able-bodied people if i have to!  he joked.  another exhibit on the motorsport endeavour stand is a subaru impreza rally car  adapted to accommodate a variety of disabilities. the vehicle belongs to pararallying  the world s only rally school for disabled drivers which is based in lincolnshire.   we use the latest technology supplied by an italian company   said rally driver dave hawkins who runs the company.  the cars have electronic throttles  electronic brakes  electronic clutches - we ve yet to turn anybody away.  mr hawkins - a paraplegic himself - says his customers have included right or left arm amputees  quadriplegics  people who have had strokes and a woman who had had all four limbs amputated. pararallying uses a vauxhall astra gsi with an automatic gearbox and manual subaru imprezas. the car on display is fitted with a  duck clutch  - a switch on the gear stick used instead of the clutch pedal. it also has a second ring behind the steering wheel to operate the throttle and a hand operated brake bar.  when joy rainey started competing in motorsport in 1974 she was continuing the family tradition - her father  murray  is a former australian formula 3 champion.  and it was rainey senior who modified a sports racer to accommodate his daughter s small stature so that she could take part in hill climbs. she uses an ordinary road car by putting extensions on the pedals  a cushion behind her back and raising the seat.  but in a competition car you have to have everything right or you ll lose the balance of the car   she said.  i bring everything back to me - steering wheel  steering column  gear lever and pedals.  when she recently took part in the london to sydney marathon she shared the driving with her partner  trevor  who now does the engineering work. he designed a system for their morris minor so that the adaptations could be totally removed in under a minute. the motorsport endeavour club is hoping that putting such technologies on display will result in more disabled people becoming involved in all areas of the sport and at every level.


mci shareholder sues to stop bid a shareholder in us phone firm mci has taken legal action to halt a $6.75bn (£3.6bn) buyout by telecoms giant verizon  hoping to get a better deal.  the lawsuit was filed on friday after qwest communications  which had an earlier offer for mci rejected  said it would submit an improved bid. mci s directors have backed verizon  despite it tabling less money. they are accused of breaching their fiduciary duties by depriving mci shareholders  of maximum value .  according the legal papers filed in a delaware court  verizon is set to pay an   unconscionable  unfair and grossly inadequate  sum for mci  which was formerly known as worldcom. qwest said on wednesday that mci had rejected a deal worth $8bn. a number of large mci shareholders expressed unhappiness at the decision  saying that verizon s offer  made up of cash  shares and dividends  undervalued the company. friday s lawsuit argues that the verizon offer makes no provision for future growth prospects and that consolidation in the us phone industry will put a premium on mci s network  assets and clients. mci s directors have argued that verizon is bigger than qwest  has fewer debts and has built a successful mobile division. chief executive michael capellas spent last week meeting with shareholders in an effort to win their backing.  in 2002  investors in the then-named worldcom lost millions when the company filed for bankruptcy following an accounting scandal. however  the firm - now renamed mci - has put its operations in order and emerged from bankruptcy protection last april. it is a long-distance and corporate phone firm  and would provide the buyer with access to a global telecommunications network and a large number of business-based subscribers. mci shares jumped on friday  hitting their highest level since april 2004 amid speculation that it would be the focus of a bidding war. a takeover of mci would be the fifth billion-dollar telecoms deal since october as companies look to cut costs and boost client bases. earlier this month  sbc communications agreed to buy its former parent and phone pioneer at&t for about $16bn.


hyundai to build new india plant south korea s hyundai motor has announced that it plans to build a second plant in india to meet the country s growing demand for cars.  the company didn t give details of its investment but it said the new plant would produce 150 000 cars a year. this will boost the annual production capacity of the company - india s second-largest car manufacturer - to 400 000 units. hyundai expects its sales in india to grow 16% to 250 000 in 2005. by 2010  it expects to nearly double sales to 400 000 cars. the new plant will be built close to the existing one in chennai  in the southern province of tamil nadu.  south korea s top car maker estimates that the indian market will grow 15% this year  to 920 000 vehicles  reaching 1.6 million vehicles by 2010. demand in india has been driven by the poor state of public transport and the very low level of car ownership  analysts said. figures show that currently only eight people per thousand are car owners.  we desperately need to expand our production in order to meet growing demand in the indian auto market  which is growing over 12 percent every year  and to top our competitors   chairman chung mong-koo said in the statement. he said the company plans to use india as a base for exports to europe  latin america and the middle east. the company - which controls half of the south korean s market - aims to become a global top five auto maker by 2010.


ireland v usa (sat) saturday 20 november  lansdowne road  dublin  1300 gmt  the irish coach knows a repeat of the record 83-3 victory over the states in 2000 is not on the agenda and expects a real test at lansdowne road.  their coach tom billups will have them very organised   said o sullivan.  they ran five tries past the french in the summer  so we will not take them for granted. we have guys coming into the team who are chomping at the bit.  the irish line-up shows nine changes from the team which started against south africa with winger tommy bowe and flanker denis leamy making their international debuts. the other changes see recalls for backs david humphreys  kevin maggs and guy easterby with eric miller  marcus horan  donnacha o callaghan and frank sheehan all returning to the pack.  o sullivan said the players coming in had the opportunity to stake claims for inclusion against argentina on 27 november. easterby gets a rare start at scrum-half while humphreys  now effectively ronan o gara s deputy at fly-half  wins his 65th cap.  we have got to get the focus right on the day   said ulster man humphreys.  the us may be classed as weaker opposition  but we will treat them with the respect they deserve.  the states lost 39-31 against france in their last international and are ranked 16th in world rugby. the americans have made three changes  plus one positional switch from the game in july against the french. lock alec parker  blind-side flanker brian surgener and right wing al lakomskis return and captain kort schubert of the cardiff blues shifts to number eight. schubert is the only eagles player remaining from the sides  meeting four years ago.  g murphy; s horgan  b o driscoll (capt)  k maggs  t bowe; d humphreys  g easterby; m horan. f sheahan  j hayes  d o callaghan  p o connell  s easterby  d leamy  e miller.  s byrne  s best  l cullen  a foley  p stringer  r o gara  g dempsey.  viljoen; lakomskis  emerick  sika  fee  hercus  timoteo; macdonald  wyatt  waasdorp  parker  klerck  surgener  petruzzella  schubert (capt).  hobson  osentowski  gouws  mo unga  williams  sherman  tuipulotu.


freeze on anti-spam campaign a campaign by lycos europe to target spam-related websites appears to have been put on hold.  earlier this week the company released a screensaver that bombarded the sites with data to try to bump up the running costs of the websites. but the site hosting the screensaver now displays a pink graphic and the words  stay tuned . no one at lycos was available for comment on latest developments in its controversial anti-spam campaign.  lycos europe s  make love not spam  campaign was intended as a way for users to fight back against the mountain of junk mail flooding inboxes. people were encouraged to download the screensaver which  when their pc was idle  would then send lots of data to sites that peddle the goods and services mentioned in spam messages. lycos said the idea was to get the spam sites running at 95% capacity and generate big bandwidth bills for the spammers behind the sites. but the plan has proved controversial.  monitoring firm netcraft analysed response times for some of the sites targeted by the screensaver and found that a number were completely knocked offline.  the downing of the sites could dent lycos claims that what it is doing does not amount to a distributed denial of service attack. in such attacks thousands of computers bombard sites with data in an attempt to overwhelm them. laws in many countries do not explicitly outlaw such attacks but many nations are re-drafting computer use laws to make them specific offences. lycos europe now appears to have put the plan on hold. the site hosting the screensaver currently shows a holding page  with the words   stay tuned . the numerical internet address of the site has also changed. this is likely to be in response to spammers who have reportedly redirected traffic from their sites back to the lycos screensaver site. the campaign has come under fire from some corners of the web. many discussion groups have said that it set a dangerous precedent and could incite vigilantism.  attacking a spammer s website is like poking a grizzly bear sleeping in your back garden with a pointy stick   said graham cluley  senior technology consultant for sophos.  not only is this screensaver similar in its approach to a potentially illegal distributed denial of service attack  but it also is in danger of turning innocent computer users into vigilantes  who may not be prepared for whatever retaliation the spammers care to dream up.


europe blames us over weak dollar european leaders have openly blamed the us for the sharp rise in the value of the euro.  us officials were talking up the dollar  they said  but failing to take action to back up their words. meeting in brussels  finance ministers of the 12 eurozone countries voiced their concern that the rise of the european currency was harming exports. the dollar is within touching distance of an all-time low reached earlier in november. at 0619 gmt on tuesday  the dollar was up slightly at just above $1.29 to the euro  and buying 105.6 yen in tokyo. it rallied briefly on monday amid signs that oil prices are easing.  but analysts said the respite was likely to be only temporary. the european ministers  comments  said junya tanase of jpmorgan chase bank in tokyo  were  generally too weak to produce a market reaction .  still  by the standards of diplomacy the european ministers were forthright. nicolas sarkozy of france said he and his colleagues were unanimous in their worry that the decline of the dollar would hit europe s economies by eating into their exports.  we are concerned about these developments  which are destabilising  and which are linked to the accumulation of deficits by our american friends   he said. the comments come a day after us treasury secretary john snow said a strong dollar was  in america s interest .  but that was not enough for mr sarkozy.   if the americans were to change their policy  it s up to them to say so   he said. and the european union s monetary affairs commissioner  made it clear that action was necessary.  i fully welcome the words of mr snow   said joaquin almunia   but we will need to see decisions adopted in that direction.  if the imbalances in the us economy are not adjusted in the future  the decision in the market will be as in the past weeks.  economists point out that whatever europe says  in the short term a weaker dollar is a boon to president george w bush s administration. not only does it boost us exports  but it also makes the budget deficit easier to fund. on the other hand  slower european exports would mean slower eu growth - potentially reducing the demand for us goods.


deutsche boerse set to  woo  lse bosses of deutsche boerse and the london stock exchange are to meet amid talk that a takeover bid for the lse will be raised to £1.5bn ($2.9bn).  last month  the german exchange tabled a 530 pence-per-share offer for lse  valuing it at £1.3bn. paris-based euronext  owner of liffe in london  has also said it is interested in bidding for lse. euronext is due to hold talks with lse this week and it is reported to be ready to raise £1.4bn to fund a bid. euronext chief jean-francois theodore is scheduled to meet his lse counterpart clara furse on friday. deutsche boerse chief werner seifert is meeting ms furse on thursday  in the third meeting between the two exchanges since the bid approach in december.  the lse rejected deutsche boerse s proposed £1.3bn offer in december  saying it undervalued the business.  but it agreed to leave the door open for talks to find out whether a  significantly-improved proposal  would be in the interests of lse s shareholders and customers. in the meantime  euronext  which combines the paris  amsterdam and lisbon stock exchanges  also began talks with the lse. in a statement on thursday  euronext said any offer was likely to be solely in cash  but added that:  there can be no assurances at this stage that any offer will be made.  a deal with either bidder would create the biggest stock market operator in europe and the second biggest in the world after the new york stock exchange.  according to the ft  in its latest meeting deutsche boerse will adopt a charm offensive to woo the london exchange. the newspaper said the german suitor will offer to manage a combined cash and equities market out of london and let ms furse take the helm. other reports this week said the deutsche boerse might even consider selling its luxembourg-based clearstream unit - the clearing house that processes securities transactions. its ownership of clearstream was seen as the main stumbling block to a london-frankfurt merger. lse shareholders feared a deutsche boerse takeover would force them to use clearstream  making it difficult for them to negotiate for lower transaction fees.


uk firm faces venezuelan land row venezuelan authorities have said they will seize land owned by a british company as part of president chavez s agrarian reform programme.  officials in cojedes state said on friday that farmland owned by a subsidiary of the vestey group would be taken and used to settle poor farmers. the government is cracking down on so-called latifundios  or large rural estates  which it says are lying idle. the vestey group said it had not been informed of any planned seizure.  the firm  whose agroflora subsidiary operates 13 farms in venezuela  insisted that it had complied fully with venezuelan law. prosecutors in the south of the country have targeted hato el charcote  a beef cattle ranch owned by agroflora. according to reuters  they plan to seize 12 900 acres (5 200 hectares) from the 32 000 acre (13 000 hectare) farm.  officials claim that agroflora does not possess valid documents proving its ownership of the land in question. they also allege that areas of the ranch are not being used for any form of active production.  the legal boundaries did not match up with the actual boundaries and there is surplus   state prosecutor alexis ortiz told reuters.  as a consequence the government has taken action.   controversial reforms passed in 2001 give the government the right to take control of private property if it is declared idle or ownership cannot be traced back to the 19th century.  critics say the powers - which president chavez argues are needed to help the country s poorest citizens and develop the venezuelan economy - trample all over private property rights. the vestey group said it had owned the land since 1920 and would co-operate fully with the authorities. but a spokesman added:  agroflora is absolutely confident that what it has submitted will demonstrate the legality of its title to the land.  the company pointed out that the farm  which employs 300 workers  provides meat solely for the venezuelan market.  last month  the government said it had identified more than 500 idle farms and had yet to consider the status of a further 40 000. the authorities said landowners whose titles were in order and whose farms were productive had  nothing to fear . under president chavez  the venezuelan government has steadily expanded the state s involvement in the country s economy. it recently said all mining contracts involving foreign firms would be examined to ensure they provided sufficient economic benefits to the state.


disney backs sony dvd technology a next generation dvd technology backed by sony has received a major boost.  film giant disney says it will produce its future dvds using sony s blu-ray disc technology  but has not ruled out a rival format developed by toshiba. the two competing dvd formats  blu-ray developed by sony and others  and toshiba s hd-dvd  have been courting top film studios for several months. the next generation of dvds promise very high quality pictures and sound  as well as a lot of data. both technologies use a blue laser to write information. it has a shorter wavelength so more data can be stored. disney is the latest studio to announce which technology it is backing in a format battle which mirrors the 1980s betamax versus vhs war. sony lost out to jvc in that fight.  the current battle for hollywood s hearts and minds is a crucial one because high-definition films will bring in billions of revenue and the studios would prefer to use one standard. last month  paramount  universal and warner brothers said they were opting for the toshiba and nec-backed format  hd-dvd high-definition discs.  those studios currently produce about 45% of dvd content. sony pictures entertainment and mgm studios have already staked their allegiance with the blu-ray disc association  whose members also include technology companies dell  samsung and matsushita. twentieth century fox is still to announce which technology it will be supporting. if fox decided to go with blu-ray too  it would mean the format would have a 47% share of dvd content. disney said its films would be available on the blu-ray format when dvd players for the standard went on sale on north america and japan  expected in 2006. universal is to start producing films on the hd-dvd format in 2005  and paramount will start releasing titles using the standard in 2006. toshiba expects sales of hd-dvds to reach 300bn yen ($2.9bn  £1.5bn) by 2010.


us peer-to-peer pirates convicted the first convictions for piracy over peer-to-peer networks have been handed down in the us.  new yorker william trowbridge and texan michael chicoine have pleaded guilty to charges that they infringed copyright by illegally sharing music  movies and software. the two men faced charges following raids in august on suspected pirates by the fbi. the pair face jail terms of up to five years and a $250 000 (£130 000) fine.  in a statement the us department of justice said the two men operated the central hubs in a piracy community organised across the direct connect peer-to-peer network. the piracy group called itself the underground network and membership of it demanded that users share between one and 100 gigabytes of files. direct connect allows users to set themselves up as central servers that act as co-ordinating spots for sharers. users would swap files  such as films and music  by exchanging data over the network. during its investigation fbi agents reportedly downloaded 84 movies  40 software programs  13 games and 178  sound recordings  from the five hubs that made up the larger piracy group. the raids were organised under the umbrella of operation digital gridlock which was aimed at fighting  criminal copyright theft on peer-to-peer networks . in total  six raids were carried out in august. five were on the homes of suspected copyright thieves and one on a net service firm. the department of justice said that both men pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit felony copyright infringement. they also pleaded guilty to acting for commercial advantage. the two men are due to be sentenced on 29 april.


dollar slides ahead of new year the us dollar has hit a new record low against the euro and analysts predict that more declines are likely in 2005.  disappointing economic reports dented the currency  which had been rallying after european policy makers said they were worried about the euro s strength. earlier on thursday  the japanese yen touched its lowest versus the euro on concerns about economic growth in asia. currency markets have been volatile over the past week because of technical and automated trading and light demand. this has amplified reactions  analysts said  adding that they expect markets to become less jumpy in january.   people want to go into the weekend and the new year positioned for a weaker buck   said tim mazanec  director of foreign exchange at investors bank and trust. the dollar slid to a record $1.3666 versus the euro on thursday  before bouncing back to $1.3636. against the yen the dollar was trading down at $103.05.  the yen  meanwhile  dropped to 141.60 per euro in afternoon trading. it later strengthened to 140.55. investors are concerned about the size of the us trade and budget deficits and are betting that george w bush s administration will allow the dollar to weaken despite saying they favour a strong currency. also playing on investors  minds are mixed reports about the state of the us economy. on thursday  disappointing business figures from chicago brought a sudden end to a rally in the value of the dollar. the national association of purchasing management-chicago said its index dropped to 61.2  more than analysts had expected. german chancellor gerhard schroeder and italian prime minister silvio berlusconi voiced concerns about the strength of the euro. mr berlusconi said the euro s strength was  absolutely worrying  for italian exports. mr schroeder said in a newspaper article that stability in foreign exchange markets required a correction of global economic imbalances.


a question of trust and technology a major government department is without e-mail for a week  and technology analyst bill thompson wants to know what happened.  a couple of weeks ago i wrote about how my girlfriend had suffered when her cable modem blew up and she was offline for several days. it seems that thousands of civil servants at the uk s department of work and pensions went through the same thing last week. it has emerged that the internal network crashed in a particularly horrible way  depriving staff of e-mail and access to the application software they use to calculate people s benefit and pension entitlement or note changes in personal circumstances. senior consultants from eds  the computer firm which manage the system  and microsoft  which supplied the software  were running around trying to figure out what had to be done to fix it all  while staff resorted to phone  fax and probably carrier pigeon to get work done. fortunately the back-office systems which actually pay people their money were still working  so only new claims and updates were affected done properly. this is bad enough for those affected  but it does mean that the impact is not devastating for millions of pensioners. i am sure regular readers will be expecting one of my usual diatribes against poor software  badly specified systems and inadequate disaster recovery plans.  although the full story has not yet been told  it seems that the problem started when a plan to upgrade some of the computers from windows 2000 to windows xp went wrong  and xp code was inadvertently copied to thousands of machines across the network.  this is certainly unfortunate  but i have a lot of sympathy for the network managers and technology staff involved. today s computer networks are large  complex and occasionally fragile. the interconnectedness that we all value also gives us a degree of instability and unpredictability that we cannot design out of the systems. it is the network equivalent of godel s theorem - any system sufficiently complex to be useful is also able to collapse catastrophically. so i will reserve judgment on the technology aspects until we all know what actually happened and whether it was a consequence of software failure or just bad luck. what is really disturbing  and cannot be excused  is the fact that it took four days for news of this systems failure to leak out into the technical press.  it is  without a doubt  a major story and was the second or third lead item on bbc radio 4 s today programme throughout friday morning.  so why did not the prime minister s official spokesman mention it at any lobby briefings before friday  why was not the pensions minister in parliament to make an emergency statement on tuesday  when it was clear that there was a serious problem  if there had been an outbreak of legionnaire s disease in the air conditioning system we would have been told  but it seems that major technology problems do not merit the same treatment. while eds and microsoft will no doubt be looking for technical lessons to learn from their week of pain  we can learn some political lessons too. and the most important is that in this digital world  technology failures are matters of public interest  not something that can be ignored in the hope that nobody will notice  care or understand. that means we need a full report on what went wrong and what was done to fix it. it would be unacceptable for any of the parties involved to hide behind commercial confidentiality or even parliamentary privilege. a major system has evidently collapsed and we need to know what went wrong and what is being done differently. anything less is a betrayal of public trust.  bill thompson is a regular commentator on the bbc world service programme go digital.


iraq to invite phone licence bids iraq is to invite bids for two telephone licences  saying it wants to significantly boost nationwide coverage over the next decade.  bids have been invited from local  arab and foreign companies  iraq s ministry of communications said. the winner will work in partnership with the iraqi telecommunications and post company (itpc). the firms will install and operate a fixed phone network  providing voice  fax and internet services.  the ministry said that it wanted to increase iraq s  very low telephone service penetration rate from about 4.5% today to about 25% within 10 years.  it also hopes to develop a  highly visible and changeable telecommunication sector . details of the bidding and tender process will be published on the ministry s website on 9 february. it also is planning a road-show for investors in amman  jordan. the ministry said it would base its selection on criteria including the speed of implementation  tariff rates  coverage  and the firm s experience and financial strength.


digital guru floats sub-$100 pc nicholas negroponte  chairman and founder of mit s media labs  says he is developing a laptop pc that will go on sale for less than $100 (£53).  he told the bbc world service programme go digital he hoped it would become an education tool in developing countries. he said one laptop per child could be   very important to the development of not just that child but now the whole family  village and neighbourhood . he said the child could use the laptop like a text book. he described the device as a stripped down laptop  which would run a linux-based operating system   we have to get the display down to below $20  to do this we need to rear project the image rather than using an ordinary flat panel.   the second trick is to get rid of the fat   if you can skinny it down you can gain speed and the ability to use smaller processors and slower memory.  the device will probably be exported as a kit of parts to be assembled locally to keep costs down. mr negroponte said this was a not for profit venture  though he recognised that the manufacturers of the components would be making money. in 1995 mr negroponte published the bestselling being digital  now widely seen as predicting the digital age. the concept is based on experiments in the us state of maine  where children were given laptop computers to take home and do their work on.  while the idea was popular amongst the children  it initially received some resistance from the teachers and there were problems with laptops getting broken. however  mr negroponte has adapted the idea to his own work in cambodia where he set up two schools together with his wife and gave the children laptops.  we put in 25 laptops three years ago   only one has been broken  the kids cherish these things  it s also a tv a telephone and a games machine  not just a textbook.  mr negroponte wants the laptops to become more common than mobile phones but conceded this was ambitious.  nokia make 200 million cell phones a year  so for us to claim we re going to make 200 million laptops is a big number  but we re not talking about doing it in three or five years  we re talking about months.  he plans to be distributing them by the end of 2006 and is already in discussion with the chinese education ministry who are expected to make a large order.  in china they spend $17 per child per year on textbooks. that s for five or six years  so if we can distribute and sell laptops in quantities of one million or more to ministries of education that s cheaper and the marketing overheads go away.


souness backs smith for scotland graeme souness believes walter smith would be the perfect choice to succeed berti vogts as scotland manager.  souness s former assistant at rangers is hot favourite to take over from vogts  who resigned on monday.  walter is most definitely the ideal candidate for that job. he d be perfect for it   souness told bbc sport. the scottish football association has appointed tommy burns as provisional caretaker-boss for the friendly against sweden on 17 november.  he fits the bill because of his knowledge and understanding of the scotland team and football. he is experienced and has been successful.  souness added:  walter is a real football person  as i know from working with him at ibrox.  on top of all that he is a proper human being who would command the instant respect of the players and everyone involved in scottish football.  souness joined sir alex ferguson in backing smith s claims. the scottish football association is about to embark on the search for vogts successor after appointing tommy burns in a caretaker capacity. ferguson said:  he (smith) would be the outstanding candidate as far as i m concerned.  you need somebody who knows what they re doing and walter would bring a wealth of experience to the job.  the man utd boss continued:  i don t know what credentials are needed to do the job but it s a job that needs a lot of experience.  he was my assistant with scotland and here at manchester united and he has also managed glasgow rangers.  he would need to change the whole shape of scottish football and radical changes are needed.  smith was assistant to ferguson at the world cup in mexico in 1986. the former everton and rangers boss has been out of the game since a spell as manchester united assistant last term. bbc sport understands that smith would be willing to discuss taking over if he was approached by the scottish fa.  if he is tempted to take over  it seems almost certain smith s long-time right-hand man archie knox would also play a part in the national team set-up. smith already has the backing of many pundits and fans  including former scotland manager craig brown. brown said:  walter is an outstanding candidate without doubt.  he would be admirable choice. i spoke to him on sunday and i got the impression he would take it. he was asking me about it and i was positive.  other candidates for the job include former scotland midfielders gordon strachan and gary mcallister and vogts  assistant tommy burns.


house prices show slight increase prices of homes in the uk rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% in february  says the nationwide building society.  the figure means the annual rate of increase in the uk is down to 10.2%  the lowest rate since june 2001. the annual rate has halved since august last year  as interest rises have cooled the housing market. at the same time  the number of mortgage approvals fell in january to a near 10-year low  official bank of england figures have shown.  nationwide said that in january house prices went up by 0.4% on the month and by 12.6% on a year earlier.  we are not seeing the market collapsing in the way some had feared   said nationwide economist alex bannister. there have been a number of warnings that the uk housing market may be heading for a downturn after four years of strong growth to 2004. in november  barclays  which owns former building society the woolwich  forecast an 8% fall in property prices in 2005  followed by further declines in 2006 and 2007. and last summer  economists at pricewaterhousecoopers (pwc) warned house prices were overvalued and could fall by between 10% and 15% by 2009.  the price of an average uk property now stands at £152 879. homeowners now expect house prices to rise by 1% over the next six months  mr bannister said. he said if the growth continued at this level then the bank of england may increase interest rates from their current 4.75%.   i think the key is what the bank expects to happen to the housing market. we always thought we would see a small rise  they thought they would see a small decline.  house prices have risen 0.9% this year  nationwide said  and if this pace of increase persists  prices would rise by just under 6% in the year to december. this is slightly above the 0-5% range nationwide predicts.  further evidence of a slowdown in the housing market emerged from bank of england lending figures released on tuesday. new mortgage loans in january fell to 79 000 from 82 000 in december  the bank said. the past few months have seen approvals fall to levels last seen in 1995. the bank revealed that 48 000 fewer mortgages were approved in january than for the same month in 2004. overall  mortgage lending rose by £7.2bn in january  marginally up on the £7.1bn rise in december.


liverpool revel in night of glory liverpool manager rafael benitez said their qualification for the next stage of the champions league was  one of the proudest nights of my career.   the reds beat olympiakos 3-1 with a late steven gerrard strike and benitez said:  it was a really great night.  the players ran hard all the time and you see how much it means to the fans.  we knew before the game that it was very important for the club to gain these extra finances. for liverpool  this result is very  very important.  benitez hailed gerrard for his match-winning strike four minutes from time and also the anfield crowd for sticking by their side after they had fallen a goal behind at the interval. the reds scored three second-half goals in a sensational comeback capped by gerrard s 20-yard drive. he added:  steven can play all over the pitch and he influences every part of the game.   i have said to him many times that he has the freedom because he has talent and is very important to us.  i felt that the difference between the sides was really our supporters  i cannot thank them enough.  i want to say thank-you to the supporters  they were magnificent to help us achieve this result.  gerrard admitted he thought they were going out of the champions league after trailing 1-0 at half-time. he said:  i d be lying if i thought we were going through when we were losing at half-time.   we had a mountain to climb  but we have climbed it and credit to everyone.  that was one of the best goals i have scored  i caught it sweet  i haven t caught one like that for ages. it was a massive night for me and the team.  liverpool s win means all four of england s champions league representatives have reached the knockout stages for the first time.


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.


making your office work for you our mission to brighten up your working lives continues - and this time  we re taking a long hard look at your offices.  over the next few months  our panel of experts will be listening to your gripes about where you work  and suggesting ways to make your workspace more efficient  more congenial or simply prettier. this week  we re hearing from marianne petersen  who is planning to convert a barn in sweden into a base for her freelance writing work. click on the link under her photograph to read her story  and then scroll down to see what the panel have to say. and if you want to take part in the series  go to the bottom of the story to find out how to get in touch.  working from home presents a multitude of challenges. understanding your work personality allows you to work in terms of your own style. do you feel confident about your work output without conferring with others  are you able to retain discipline and self motivate to get the job done  do you build on the ideas of others - or are you a more introspective problem solver . in order for a virtual office to succeed  keeping the boundary between work and home life is essential. it may be useful to be quite rigid about who is allowed to visit  and to keep strict office hours. referring to the space as work will give those around you a clear message that this is professional space. it is imperative to consider how to bring the outside world into yours  keeping up to date with developments and maintaining a network. isolated work environments mean this has to be carefully thought out  and a strategy has to be developed that suits both your personality and your industry. joining professional groups or forming a loose association of like-minded people may assist. it is useful to structure these meetings in advance as often they get relegated to less important status when times are busy - with the danger that when the workload eases  they have to be resurrected.    prior to any interior work being undertaken it is essential to ensure that the roof and walls are made water-and-weather-tight  and the structure is checked for stability. it appears that the roof trusses may need repairs and additional bracing.  ideally  the roof should be replaced with an outer material in keeping with the character and location of the barn. this would also allow for a well-insulated inner skin to be provided which should be light coloured. it is likely that the most efficient way of heating the building is with electricity. in order to provide this the owner will need to have an electrical engineer calculate the potential heating  power and lighting load to make sure the mains supply and distribution capacity are adequate. ideally  it would be good to have a mains water supply and some means of drainage for toilet and washing facilities. the walls should be dry lined with a single skin of plasterboard laid over rockwool slab which will allow good wall insulation and the power and lighting circuits to be concealed  and the walls should be painted in a light colour. the owner mentions she might lay a new floor over the existing planks; this will improve the insulation and offer a level surface. i would suggest laying new oak veneer planks which can work in with the character of the barn. as for lighting  consider a combination of floor mounted uplights  wall lights (wall washers) and selected downlights. use a combination of mains voltage fluorescent fittings and dimmable units which can vary the light levels and the feel of the interior.    please click on the link to the right here to see my ideas for marianne s barn.  the layout of this office reflects the need to have a working area and a more relaxed meeting space. large desk space and extensive storage would combine with tub chairs to maximise the space available. the finishes chosen for the furniture will need to reflect the unusual setting  while the lighting and temperature control mechanisms used will further influence the workplace.    regarding accessing the internet via the connection in the main house  your plan of going wireless is sensible. a wireless router/access point in the house with a wireless lan card in the pc in the renovated area may be sufficient. however  important points to consider are the distance between the two buildings and the nature of the materials through which the signals have to pass  which could result in a weak signal strength. you may require an additional wireless access point in the renovated area. your local it supplier will be able to advise on this. if you haven t already invested in robust firewall and anti-virus software  it is essential to do so  to protect your investment. to really take advantage of wireless technology  you might consider a laptop computer and a docking station with external mouse and monitor. or you could use one of the new tablet computers  which allow you to write directly on the screen and convert into text with built-in hand recognition software. and finally  you will save money and space by considering a multi-function product for print  scan  copy and fax.


hitachi unveils  fastest robot  japanese electronics firm hitachi has unveiled its first humanoid robot  called emiew  to challenge honda s asimo and sony s qrio robots.  hitachi said the 1.3m (4.2ft) emiew was the world s quickest-moving robot yet. two wheel-based emiews  pal and chum  introduced themselves to reporters at a press conference in japan. the robots will be guests at the world expo later this month. sony and honda have both built sophisticated robots to show off developments in electronics. explaining why hitachi s emiew used wheels instead of feet  toshihiko horiuchi  from hitachi s mechanical engineering research laboratory  said:  we aimed to create a robot that could live and co-exist with people.   we want to make the robots useful for people ... if the robots moved slower than people  users would be frustrated.  emiew - excellent mobility and interactive existence as workmate - can move at 3.7m/h. its  wheel feet  resemble the bottom half of a segway scooter. with sensors on the head  waist  and near the wheels  pal and chum demonstrated how they could react to commands.  i want to be able to walk about in places like shinjuku and shibuya [shopping districts] in the future without bumping into people and cars   pal told reporters. hitachi said pal and chum  which have a vocabulary of about 100 words  could be  trained  for practical office and factory use in as little as five to six years.  robotics researchers have long been challenged by developing robots that walk in the gait of a human. at the recent aaas (american association for the advancement of science) annual meeting in washington dc  researchers showed off bipedal designs. the three designs  each built by a different research group  use the same principle to achieve a human-like gait.  sony and honda have both used humanoid robots  which are not commercially available  as a way of showing off computing power and engineering expertise. honda s asimo was  born  five years ago. since then  honda and sony s qrio have tried to trump each other with what the robots can do at various technology events. asimo  has visited the uk  germany  the czech republic  france and ireland as part of a world tour. sony s qrio has been singing  jogging and dancing in formation around the world too and was  until last year  the fastest robot on two legs. but its record was beaten by asimo. it is capable of 3km/h  which its makers claim is almost four times as fast as qrio. last year  car maker toyota also stepped into the ring and unveiled its trumpet-playing humanoid robot. by 2007  it is predicted that there will be almost 2.5 million  entertainment and leisure  robots in homes  compared to about 137 000 currently  according to the united nations (un). by the end of that year  4.1 million robots will be doing jobs in homes  said the report by the un economic commission for europe and the international federation of robotics. hitachi is one of the companies with home cleaning robot machines on the market.


security warning over  fbi virus  the us federal bureau of investigation is warning that a computer virus is being spread via e-mails that purport to be from the fbi.  the e-mails show that they have come from an fbi.gov address and tell recipients that they have accessed illegal websites. the messages warn that their internet use has been monitored by the fbi s internet fraud complaint center. an attachment in the e-mail contains the virus  the fbi said. the message asks recipients to click on the attachment and answer some questions about their internet use. but rather than being a questionnaire  the attachment contains a virus that infects the recipient s computer  according to the agency. it is not clear what the virus does once it has infected a computer. users are warned never to open attachment from unsolicited e-mails or from people they do not know.   recipients of this or similar solicitations should know that the fbi does not engage in the practice of sending unsolicited e-mails to the public in this manner   the fbi said in a statement. the bureau is investigating the phoney e-mails. the agency earlier this month shut down fbi.gov accounts  used to communicate with the public  because of a security breach. a spokeswoman said the two incidents appear to be unrelated.


could yukos be a blessing in disguise  other things being equal  the notion of entrepreneurs languishing in jail while their companies are sold off for a song ought to be bad for business.  but in the looking-glass world of modern russia  the opposite might just be true  a new report* has argued. the study  from the centre for economic policy research  does not praise the rough handling of oil company yukos. but it argues that more rigorous tax policing has benefited all russian firms  even targets of the tax police.  an increase in tax enforcement can increase the amount [of dividends and other income] outside shareholders will receive  even accounting for increased levels of taxation   the authors say.  the paper s reasoning is complex  and is based on a sophisticated model of the relationship between tax regimes and corporate governance - in particular  the propensity of management to steal from the company. the calculations demonstrated what many russian analysts already knew: that increasing the tax rate increases the amount that managers steal  since undeclared income becomes relatively more valuable. in the west  meanwhile  higher tax rates translate far more smoothly into higher government revenues. on the other hand  increasing the rigour with which taxes are collected encourages companies to become more transparent  forcing them to be able to demonstrate their financial position far more accurately. the net result  the authors say  is that the extra amount companies pay in tax is more than compensated for by greater efficiency and financial soundness.  after vladimir putin became president in 2000  he did not raise taxes  but put a lot of effort - too much  critics argue - into enforcement.  since then  the russian stock market has more than trebled in value  a rise the authors attribute at least in part to the newly tough approach. the report highlights the case of sibneft  a russian oil company that came close to merging with yukos last year. after mr putin came to power  the company s overall effective tax rate rose from 2.6% to 10.4%  and sibneft was the target of a series of aggressive raids by fiscal police. but shareholders benefited hugely: sibneft started to pay dividends - $53m in 2000 and almost $1bn in 2001 - and closed down the network of opaque subsidiaries it had previously used for siphoning off unofficial funds. according to the authors  although a variety of changes were sweeping through russian industry at the time  the increase in tax enforcement is the only likely explanation for the change of fortunes at sibneft and many of its peers.  does this analysis make sense  in part  certainly. for all its faults  corporate russia has become far more orderly and law-abiding since 2000. companies have rushed to list their shares on international stock exchanges - something unthinkable in the wilder days of the 1990s - and most large firms now produce their accounts to international standards. foreign direct investment  long negligible  is starting to flow in serious amounts - $7bn in 2003 - and stock market returns have been among the healthiest in europe. but the authors  model does not quite cover all the complexities. for a start  the model assumes that the various parties have clearly-defined motivation: companies want to maximise profit  governments want to maximise tax revenue. in fact  the alarmingly close connections between big business and government in russia - connections often greased by bribery - blur the apparently antagonistic relationship. companies can  for example  persuade officials to overlook non-payment of taxes.  and the authors  definition of tax enforcement seems unrealistically western. genuine  disinterested tax collection might well work wonders in russia; the problem with recent examples has been the erratic and unpredictable way laws are enforced. the case against yukos  for example  has moved in fits and starts  with little clarity from the government about its intentions  and little faith from investors that the letter of the law would be followed. as far as most commentators are concerned  the state is pursuing yukos out of a political vendetta  rather than simply to enforce fiscal rectitude. since yukos  founder  mikhail khodorkovsky  was arrested a year ago  the russian market has dropped by 10% - an indication that few investors feel optimistic about the salutary effect on corporate performance.


optimism remains over uk housing the uk property market remains robust despite the recent slowdown  according to mortgage lender bradford & bingley and housebuilder george wimpey.  b&b said the buy-to-let market - in which the bank is a major player - would continue to grow much faster than the wider mortgage market. the comments came as it reported a 6% rise in profits to £280.2m ($532m). wimpey reported a 19% rise in profits to £450.7m and said recent new home reservations were better than expected.  recent housing market surveys have indicated that the uk property market has cooled in recent months after several years of rapid growth. last week  figures from the council of mortgage lenders (cml) indicated that the popularity of buy-to-let mortgages - a key phenomenon of the housing boom - could be waning.  but b&b - which has a 22% share of the uk buy-to-let mortgage market - said that while rates of growth were moderating  the sector  continues to grow at a rate considerably above that of the whole mortgage market . overall  b&b said that  housing market fundamentals remain strong .  interest rates and unemployment are both likely to remain at historically low levels  real household incomes should continue to grow and housing demand is likely to outstrip supply into the medium-term.  despite the upbeat tone  shares in b&b were down more than 4% at 325.5p in morning trade as analysts worried over future earnings growth.  wimpey s profit figures came in at the top of expectations  with the numbers helped by buoyant sales in the us offsetting a slight slowdown in the uk. wimpey said the uk housing market had proved  challenging  last year.  by late summer  the market in general had slowed sharply across the country and showed no real improvement during the autumn   it added. however  the first seven weeks of this year had produced promising signs  wimpey said.  visitor levels and interest in this period have been encouraging and reservations have been at the stronger end of our expectations.  shares in wimpey were up 6% at 458.5p in morning trade.


woodward eyes brennan for lions toulouse s former irish international trevor brennan could be one of clive woodward s many surprises when the 44-man lions tour squad is announced.  brennan  who last played for ireland against samoa in 2001  is held in high esteem by the former england coach.  if you speak to the players there s a huge amount of respect for the guy   woodward told the sunday independent.  players tend to know better than most coaches. it s not just the irish  but welsh and english players as well.  the 31-year-old former dublin milkman moved from leinster to toulouse in 2003 and immediately picked up a heineken cup winner s medal in an all-french final against perpignan at lansdowne road.  brennan is highly-rated at stade toulousain  where he is used anywhere in the back five. woodward is ensuring his preparations for the trip to new zealand in june are as thorough as possible.  i ve spoken to quite a few players  and they probably don t know what they re actually saying when we re having these conversations   he told the newspaper.  but you talk about certain players and they ll say if they think they re up to scratch or that they don t want them in their team.  i haven t heard a bad word said against trevor  which  considering he has a pretty tough guy reputation  is  to me  impressive.