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holmes wins 2004 top tv moment sprinter kelly holmes olympic victory has been named the top television moment of 2004 in a bbc poll. holmes 800m gold medal victory beat favourite moments from drama comedy and factual programmes as voted by television viewers. natasha kaplinsky s strictly come dancing win was top entertainment moment and a little britain breast feeding sketch won the comedy prize. the 2004 tv moments will be shown on bbc one at 2000 gmt on wednesday. double gold medal winner holmes topped the best sports moment category beating maria sharapova s wimbledon triumph and matthew pinsent s rowing victory at the olympics. she then went on to take the overall prize of golden tv moment. the sight of former royal correspondent jennie bond with dozens of rats crawling over her in itv s i m a celebrity get me out of here was named best factual entertainment moment. michael buerk s return to ethiopia 20 years after originally reporting its famine topped the factual category for bbc programme this world. long-running soap eastenders won the best popular drama moment title when character dot confided in den watts that she was unwell. | 3 | entertainment |
wine comedy wins critics award quirky comedy sideways was named the best film of the year by the los angeles film critics association. the us movie also picked up four other accolades including best director for alexander payne and supporting actor for thomas haden church. british actress imelda staunton has again been recognised for her role in vera drake winning best actress while liam neeson won best actor for kinsey. the awards will be handed out on 13 january at a ceremony in las vegas. sideways tells the story of two men who take a road trip through california s wine regions and also stars paul giamatti. virginia madsen was also named best supporting actress for her performance in the film. house of flying daggers directed by yimou zhang was named best foreign language film while the animation award went to the incredibles. unusually the runners-up in categories were also named with clint eastwood s million dollar baby just missing out on the best film award. the best director runner-up was martin scorsese for the aviator. a career achievement award will be handed to veteran actor and comic jerry lewis at the ceremony next year. | 3 | entertainment |
charvis set to lose fitness bid flanker colin charvis is unlikely to play any part in wales final two games of the six nations. charvis has missed all three of wales victories with an ankle injury and his recovery has been slower than expected. he will not figure in the scotland game and is now thought unlikely to be ready for the final game said wales physio mark davies. sonny parker is continuing to struggle with a neck injury but hal luscombe should be fit for the murrayfield trip. centre parker has only a slim chance of being involved against the scots on 13 march so luscombe s return to fitness after missing the france match with hamstring trouble is a timely boost. said wales assistant coach scott johnson: we re positive about hal and hope he ll be raring to go. he comes back into the mix again adds to the depth and gives us other options. replacement hooker robin mcbryde remains a doubt after picking up knee ligament damage in paris last saturday. we re getting that reviewed and we should know more by the end of the week how robin s looking added johnson. we re hopeful but it s too early to say at this stage. steve jones from the dragons is likely to be drafted in if mcbryde fails to recover. | 2 | sport |
spears seeks aborted tour payment singer britney spears is suing eight insurance companies that have refused to reimburse her for cancelling her 2004 world tour. the pop star cancelled her onyx hotel tour last june after suffering a knee injury during a video shoot. she is now seeking to be reimbursed for the tour s £5m ($9.3m) costs in a claim filed at new york state supreme court. seven london-based companies and an eighth paris firm have been given up to 30 days to respond to the complaint. the 22-year-old star initially missed a number of shows on the 82-date tour after injuring her knee during a show in illinois last march. but she was rushed to hospital and needed surgery after a later incident while filming a video for her song outrageous leading her to cancel the rest of the tour including dates in china. she obviously took a wrong step and blew out her knee a jive spokeswoman said at the time. it was an old dance injury. the legal submission described spears as one of the most recognised performers in her industry . the onyx hotel tour was cited as a highly crafted production which included the well-known music and dancing of spears supported by elaborate costumes complex choreography as well as cutting-edge video production lighting and other effects . in september spears married kevin federline who had been a dancer on the aborted tour. | 3 | entertainment |
us retail sales surge in december us retail sales ended the year on a high note with solid gains in december boosted by strong car sales. seasonally adjusted sales rose 1.2% in the month compared to 0.1% a month earlier boosted by a surge in shopping just before and after christmas. sales climbed 8% for the year the best performance since an 8.5% rise in 1999 the commerce department added. the gains were led by a 4.3% jump in auto sales as dealers used enhanced offers to get cars out of showrooms. dealers were forced to cut prices in december to maintain sales growth in a tough quarter when the usual end-of-year holiday sales boom was slow to get started. the increase in sales during december pushed total spending for the month to $349.4bn (£265.9bn). sales for the year also broke through the $4 trillion mark for the first time - with annual sales coming in at $4.06 trillion however if automotives are excluded from december s data retail sales rose just 0.3% on the month. home furnishings and furniture stores also performed well rising 2.2%. but as well as hitting the shops more us consumers were going online or using mail order for their purchases - with non-store retailers seeing sales rise by 1.9%. however analysts said that the strong figures were unlikely to put the federal reserve bank off its current policy of measured interest rate rises. consumers for now remain willing to spend freely sustaining the us expansion. given that attitude the fed remains likely to continue boosting the fed funds rate at upcoming meetings ubs economist maury harris told reuters. retail sales are seen as a major part of consumer spending - which in turn makes up two-thirds of economic output in the us. consumer spending has been picking up in recent years after slumping during 2001 and 2002 as the country battled to recover from its first recession of the decade and the world trade centre attacks. during that time sales grew a lacklustre 2.9% in 2001 and 2.5% a year later. looking ahead analysts now expect improvement in jobs growth to feed through to the high street with consumer spending remaining strong. the belief comes despite the latest labor department report showing a surprise rise in unemployment. the number of americans filing initial jobless claims jumped to 367 000 the highest rate since september. however long-term claims slipped to their lowest level since 2001. | 1 | business |
liberian economy starts to grow the liberian economy started to grow in 2004 but sustained and deep reform efforts are needed to ensure long term growth the international monetary fund (imf) has said. an imf mission made the comments in a report published following 10 days of talks with the transition government. the imf said that according to data provided by the liberians the country s gdp rose by 2% in 2004 after a 31% decline in 2003. liberia is recovering from a 14-year civil war that came to an end in 2003. the power-sharing national transition government of liberia will remain in place until elections on 11 october the first presidential and parliamentary ballots since the conflict ended. the imf said liberia s economy started to grow last year thanks to a continued strong recovery in rubber production domestic manufacturing and local services including post-conflict reconstruction . the imf however remains cautious about what it sees as a lack of transparency in government actions. in particular it pointed to mystery surrounding the sale of iron ore stockpiles and the alleged disappearance of some import and export permits. these matters are now being investigated by the liberian authorities and the imf has called for their findings to be made public. the imf also said it was crucial that the central bank of liberia be strengthened the national budget be effectively managed and a sound economic basis built to allow the country s large external debt to be addressed. the imf team stands ready to assist the (liberian) authorities in strengthening the areas mentioned said the report. the team agreed with the (liberian) authorities that the period until elections and the inauguration of a new government will pose exceptional challenges to fiscal management and expresses its willingness to provide...continued support. | 1 | business |
ex-boeing director gets jail term an ex-chief financial officer at boeing has received a four-month jail sentence and a fine of $250 000 (£131 961) for illegally hiring a top air force aide. michael sears admitted his guilt in breaking conflict of interest laws by recruiting darleen druyun while she still handled military contracts. ms druyun is currently serving a nine month sentence for favouring boeing when awarding lucrative contracts. boeing lost a $23bn government contract after a pentagon inquiry into the case. the contract to provide refuelling tankers for the us air force was cancelled last year. the pentagon revealed earlier this week that it would examine eight other contracts worth $3bn which it believes may have been tainted by ms druyun s role in the procurement process. boeing sacked mr sears and ms druyun in november 2003 after allegations that they had violated company recruitment policy. ms druyun had talks with mr sears in october 2002 about working for boeing while she was still a top procurement official within the pentagon. she subsequently joined the company in january 2003. ms druyun admitted that she had steered multi-billion dollar contracts to boeing and other favoured companies. in documents filed in a virginia court ahead of mr sears sentencing prosecutors blamed boeing s senior management for failing to ask key questions about the legal and ethical issues surrounding ms druyun s appointment. mr sears told prosecutors that no other boeing officials were aware that ms druyun was still responsible for major procurement decisions at the time she was discussing a job with boeing. however analysts believe boeing may yet face civil charges arising from the scandal. the pentagon has investigated 400 contracts dating back to 1993 since the allegations against ms druyun came to light. boeing s corporate ethics have come under scrutiny on several occasions in recent years. boeing was sued by lockheed martin after its rival accused it of industrial espionage during a 1998 contract competition. boeing apologised publicly for the affair - although it claimed it did not gain any unfair advantage - and pledged to improve its procedures. the pentagon subsequently revoked $1bn worth of contracts assigned to boeing and prohibited the seattle-based company from future rocket work. | 1 | business |
ronaldo considering new contract manchester united winger cristiano ronaldo said he is close to agreeing to a new contract at old trafford. the portugal star who joined in august 2003 on a five-year-deal is a regular in the united first-team. the united board have already made an offer to renew the contract but i m trying not to think about it he told the news of the world. my agent has spoken with the club and it will be resolved soon. i think we ll reach a good agreement for both sides. ronaldo refused to commit his long-term future to the club. nobody knows what will come tomorrow. i like being here but who knows he added. there aren t many bigger and better clubs than this one. it s my ambition to be at a big club. i m happy but nobody knows the future. | 2 | sport |
venezuela reviews foreign deals venezuela is to review all foreign investment in its mining industries in an effort to strengthen its indigenous industrial output. president hugo chavez has ordered all existing contracts with foreign firms to be examined to see if they provide maximum benefits to the country. the review will cover production of gold aluminium and iron ore although it excludes the country s oil sector. chavez has sought to extend the state s role in all sectors of the economy. the left-wing president is conducting a controversial review of land ownership in the country while also seeking to create a state-run telecoms firm to compete with foreign-owned businesses. he has argued that major economic reforms are vital to improve the lives of venezuela s poorest citizens. announcing the review of raw material production minister victor alvarez said the government would seek to transfer technology training capability and content from projects with foreign partners. we are defending our national sovereignty over the use of our national resources which must serve the endogenous development of the nation mr alvarez said. for this reason we are reviewing all memorandums of understanding all letters of intent all agreements that have been signed all contracts to check which of these comply with these directives. everything absolutely everything has to be reviewed. venezuela has previously assured foreign companies with operations in the mineral rich country that it respects existing contracts. however the government insisted that it needed to develop its own industrial infrastructure in order to create new jobs and lessen its reliance on foreign partners. if we don t do this we are just going to carry on being slaves suppliers of raw materials all our lives and we will never develop our own productive capacity mr alvarez added. companies from the united states canada france and switzerland all have substantial investments in venezuela s mining sector. | 1 | business |
pavey focuses on indoor success jo pavey will miss january s view from great edinburgh international cross country to focus on preparing for the european indoor championships in march. the 31-year-old was third behind hayley yelling and justyna bak in last week s european cross country championships but she prefers to race on the track. it was great winning bronze but i m wary of injuries and must concentrate on the indoor season she said. because of previous injuries i don t even run up hills in training. pavey who came fifth in the 5 000m at the athens olympics helped the british cross country team win the team silver medal in heringsdorf last week. she is likely to start her 3 000m season with a race in either boston or stuttgart at the end of january. | 2 | sport |
rusedski angry over supplements greg rusedski has criticised the governing body of men s tennis for not releasing contamination-free supplements in time for the new season. rusedski said: i tried to order some but didn t receive any and i haven t got any yet. you would think they would have been available in december as it can take two months for the body to respond. this event comes in the hottest period of the year so you would hope the stuff would be available for it. the british number two escaped a possible ban last year when he persuaded a tribunal that a positive doping test was the result of contaminated atp supplements. in response the atp struck a deal with pharmaceutical company glaxosmithkline to provide contamination-free drinks and nutritional bars for the men s tour. david higdon vice president of the atp admitted: i agree with greg. i would have loved to have had these things available as soon as possible but it s a lot of work to make sure they have gone through rigorous testing. the reality is though that the first two weeks of the tour are spread far and wide and part of the distribution agreement we had with gsk has an education component. we weren t going to just drop these products out there without having a talk with the players about understanding how to use them. the first chance we will get to do that is at the players meeting on the saturday before the australian open. and rusedski who takes on roger federer at the qatar open later on wednesday conceded that the imminent changes will be beneficial. the good thing is that there is now a 100% guarantee so hopefully all this will never happen again said rusedski. hopefully after the australian open we won t have to discuss this any more. | 2 | sport |
france set for new da vinci novel french booksellers are braced for a rush of interest after another book from the author of the da vinci code is translated into french. angels and demons by us author dan brown will go on sale on wednesday. the da vinci code is set in paris - including the louvre - and has sold around one million copies in france. the main character robert langdon also appears in angels and demons. the da vinci code is being made into a film starring tom hanks. angels and demons was written before the da vinci code which has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 40 languages since it was released in 2003. angels and demons is set mainly in rome as symbologist robert langdon follows a 400-year-old trail to try to uncover a plot by an ancient brotherhood the illuminati to blow up the vatican. the novel deals with moral issues such as the debate between science and religion and also seeks to uncover some of the mysteries surrounding the pope. on his website brown wrote: i think the reason angels and demons is raising eyebrows right now is that it opens some vatican closets most people don t even know exist. but i think most people understand that an organisation as old and powerful as the vatican could not possibly have risen to power without acquiring a few skeletons in their closets. such is the success of the da vinci code in france special tours have been organised to trace langdon s footsteps including the the louvre museum and the saint sulpice church. the louvre has also given permission for parts of the film version to be shot in the museum. the film to be directed by a beautiful mind s ron howard is due to start filming at the paris museum in may and stars hanks alongside french actress audrey tautou. | 3 | entertainment |
concerns at school diploma plan final appeals are being made for the government not to ditch the reform plan for england s secondary schools put forward by the tomlinson report. the government s response to the plan for a four-tier diploma to replace all existing 14-19 qualifications is expected next week. some are worried it could be scuppered if as tony blair and ruth kelly have suggested gcses and a-levels stay. sir mike tomlinson himself was briefed only this week. he is said to be feeling more comfortable about what the government is likely to say than if he had read only what was in newspapers in the earlier part of the week. but the government was said to be still rewriting its response on friday. it will be a tragedy if the government comes through with a half-hearted response said the chairman of the commons education select committee labour mp barry sheerman. his main concern was the reports that there would be a diploma - but only to replace existing vocational qualifications. we must tackle head-on the structural mess that is our secondary education system he wrote in the times educational supplement. it is not the case that the academic stream in secondary is fine while the vocational route is desperately weak. the qualifications and curriculum authority (qca) has also told the government not to compromise . the qca said the potential step-change in participation and attainment lay in the integrity of the whole diploma. any partial implementation of the proposals would in our view compromise that integrity said its chairman sir anthony greener. it is a sign of the qca s concern that its advice went to ministers last december but was publicised only recently. but people understand that a white paper response is government policy and has to command wider ministerial support than if it were coming only from the department for education and skills. they may be content if it does not close too many doors in writing - whatever spin is put on it. the chief inspector of schools david bell also said recently that gcses and a-levels should go. one of the reasons why i m so strongly in favour of these terms disappearing over time is that it s good for the symbols of change to be seen right across the system he said. if we don t say this is a sea-change in education we will miss a great opportunity. universities and head teachers in both the independent and state sectors have also backed the tomlinson proposals which include having higher grades at advanced level to differentiate between the brightest students. a note of concern has been expressed repeatedly by the employers organisation the cbi which complains of a lack of skills. in an attempt to address this the tomlinson plan is for tests in functional maths and literacy - decidedly not gcses. it has been suggested the government will take steps of some sort to meet firms concerns on this score. another dissenter is sir mike tomlinson s predecessor as chief schools inspector professor chris woodhead who has said there is no need for such a massive upheaval . the conservative party has put forward plans to revert to a system of having only the brightest percentage of students each year getting the top a-level grade no matter how well the others have done. | 4 | politics |
owen delighted with real display michael owen revelled in his return to the to the real madrid starting line-up and inspired a 3-1 win over real betis on wednesday by scoring the first goal. he said: i am happy i could play a game from the start again. i felt good all though the game and it is obvious that i am happy to have scored another goal. people have talked a lot about my performances and i think i have had some months that were not so good and others that were very good. owen starting his third successive la liga match converted a low cross from santiago solari. robert carlos made it 2-0 at the break smashing home an indirect free-kick. midfielder edu reduced the deficit after half-time but ivan helguera headed past keeper antonio doblas to seal victory for his team. victory took real to within six points of leaders barcelona and owen is confident real can close the gap. he added: we had several chances against betis and i think we can get back in touch with barcelona. it is only six points between barcelona and us and that is nothing. if we can beat them at the bernabeu (on 10 april) then it will be just three. owen has scored nine league goals one behind real s top scorer ronaldo. real had lost their previous two league games. | 2 | sport |
scots smoking ban details set out smoke-free areas will save lives and improve scotland s health first minister jack mcconnell has insisted. he told the scottish parliament on wednesday that a comprehensive ban on smoking in public places would be introduced by the spring of 2006. mr mcconnell said the country s health rates were lamentable not least because of smoking. he said fines of up to £2 500 would be levied on employers and licences would be removed for non-compliance. earlier the scottish executive considered a range of options but agreed unanimously to introduce an all-out ban on smoking in public places. in a statement to parliament mr mcconnell said that the licensed trade would be asked to join an expert committee prior to the ban coming into force. the health arguments far outweighed lingering public disquiet about a complete ban and claims by the licensed trade that jobs would be lost he told msps. he said there would be an international marketing campaign whereby tourists can enjoy smoke free environment and the sick man of europe image becomes a thing of the past . there are still national habits which hold us back - the time has come for this parliament to accelerate improvements in health he declared. health rates are lamentable because of a lack of exercise drugs abuse excessive drinking and over-eating. they all make us one of the most unhealthy countries in europe and too many smoke. it is clear that scotland must not be held back by poor public health - the single biggest contribution devolved government can make is to reduce the toll of preventable death caused by smoking. the legislation will be introduced as part of the health service (miscellaneous provisions) bill which will be considered by parliament before christmas. main points of the plan: - a comprehensive ban on smoking in all enclosed public places in scotland - the legislation will be enforced by environmental health and local licensing officers - licensees or employers who fail to enforce the law will face fines up to a maximum of £2 500 - licensees who persistently refuse to comply with the law will face the ultimate sanction of losing their liquor licence - a system of issuing fixed penalty notices for those individuals who break the law will be examined - individuals who persistently break the law will face a maximum fine of £1 000. mr mcconnell claimed there was evidence that smoking bans had helped smokers to either give up quicker or smoke less. he said there had been falling cigarette sales of 13% in new york and 16% in ireland. mr mcconnell added that there had been a near nine per cent rise in tax revenues from new york bars and restaurants and in ireland only a one point three per cent volume sales fall where they were declining before the ban. the afternoon announcement following a cabinet meeting on wednesday morning won broad support from opposition parties. the scottish national party s holyrood leader nicola sturgeon welcomed the move but added that the public should be consulted as the clock ticked towards the ban date. she said: the time has come for a ban on smoking in public places. there is evidence a ban can cut deaths from passive smoking and makes it easier for the 70% of smokers who desperately want to give up the habit. but we must also recognise that some people have concerns and reservations - there are people who are yet to be persuaded. the scottish conservative party leader david mcletchie questioned what would be exempted from the ban. he was keen to know if inmates in scottish prisons would continue to be allowed to smoke. mr mcletchie asked: would it not be ironic and perhaps entirely typical of the first minister s brave new scotland that the criminals can be smokers but the smokers will become criminals the scottish green party s health spokeswoman eleanor scott said she was pleased scotland would be following the success stories of new york and ireland . she believed the majority of people in scotland wanted to go out without having to breathe in harmful tobacco smoke. | 4 | politics |
labour plans maternity pay rise maternity pay for new mothers is to rise by £1 400 as part of new proposals announced by the trade and industry secretary patricia hewitt. it would mean paid leave would be increased to nine months by 2007 ms hewitt told gmtv s sunday programme. other plans include letting maternity pay be given to fathers and extending rights to parents of older children. the tories dismissed the maternity pay plan as desperate while the liberal democrats said it was misdirected. ms hewitt said: we have already doubled the length of maternity pay it was 13 weeks when we were elected we have already taken it up to 26 weeks. we are going to extend the pay to nine months by 2007 and the aim is to get it right up to the full 12 months by the end of the next parliament. she said new mothers were already entitled to 12 months leave but that many women could not take it as only six of those months were paid. we have made a firm commitment. we will definitely extend the maternity pay from the six months where it now is to nine months that s the extra £1 400. she said ministers would consult on other proposals that could see fathers being allowed to take some of their partner s maternity pay or leave period or extending the rights of flexible working to carers or parents of older children. the shadow secretary of state for the family theresa may said: these plans were announced by gordon brown in his pre-budget review in december and tony blair is now recycling it in his desperate bid to win back women voters. she said the conservatives would announce their proposals closer to the general election. liberal democrat spokeswoman for women sandra gidley said: while mothers would welcome any extra maternity pay the liberal democrats feel this money is being misdirected. she said her party would boost maternity pay in the first six months to allow more women to stay at home in that time. ms hewitt also stressed the plans would be paid for by taxpayers not employers. but david frost director general of the british chambers of commerce warned that many small firms could be crippled by the move. while the majority of any salary costs may be covered by the government s statutory pay recruitment costs advertising costs retraining costs and the strain on the company will not be he said. further details of the government s plans will be outlined on monday. new mothers are currently entitled to 90% of average earnings for the first six weeks after giving birth followed by £102.80 a week until the baby is six months old. | 4 | politics |
ailing eurodisney vows turnaround eurodisney the european home of mickey mouse and friends has said it will sell 253m euros (£175m; $328m) of new shares as it looks to avoid insolvency. the sale is the last part of a plan to restructure 2.4bn euros-worth of debts. despite struggling since it was opened in 1992 eurodisney has recently made progress in turning its business around and ticket sales have picked up. however analysts still question whether it attracts enough visitors to stay open even with the restructuring. eurodisney remains europe s largest single tourist attraction attracting some 12.4 million visitors annually. a new attraction - walt disney studios - has recently opened its site near paris. the company s currently traded stock tumbled in paris on the latest news shedding 15% to 22 euro cents. eurodisney will sell the new shares priced at 9 euros cents each. the us disney corporation and saudi arabian prince al-walid bin talal the firm s two main shareholders will buy the new stock. the restructuring deal is the second in the firm s troubled financial history; its finances were first reorganised in 1994. | 1 | business |
holmes secures comeback victory britain s kelly holmes marked her first appearance on home soil since winning double olympic gold with 1500m victory at the norwich union international. holmes hit the front just before the bell in front of a sell-out crowd in glasgow and cruised to victory in a time of four minutes 14.74 seconds. it was nice to get that out of the way. i was nervous about whether i would actually be able to get round. i felt good. i just had to relax and use my racing knowledge said holmes. it was all about winning in front of my home crowd. the time is irrelevant. i got round in one piece and didn t disgrace myself. now it s about going forward. the reception i ve had since the olympics has been amazing and that s why i wanted to keep running this year because i get a buzz from the crowd. holmes ran a tactically perfect race to finish clear of france s hind dehiba and russia s svetlana cherkasova. the olympic 800m and 1500m champion s time was inside the qualifying mark for the european indoor championships in madrid in march. but the 34-year-old would not reveal whether she intended to run or not having previously indicated she would leave a decision until after the birmingham grand prix on 18 february. | 2 | sport |
brown ally rejects budget spree chancellor gordon brown s closest ally has denied suggestions there will be a budget giveaway on 16 march. ed balls ex-chief economic adviser to the treasury said there would be no spending spree before polling day. but mr balls a prospective labour mp said he was confident the chancellor would meet his fiscal rules. he was speaking as sir digby jones cbi director general warned mr brown not to be tempted to use any extra cash on pre-election bribes. mr balls who stepped down from his treasury post to stand as a labour candidate in the election had suggested that mr brown would meet his golden economic rule - with a margin to spare . he said he hoped more would be done to build on current tax credit rules. he also stressed rise in interest rates ahead of an expected may election would not affect the labour party s chances of winning. expectations of a rate rise have gathered pace after figures showed house prices are still rising. consumer borrowing rose at a near-record pace in january. if the mpc (the bank of england s monetary policy committee) were to judge that a rate rise was justified before the election because of the strength of the economy - and i m not predicting that they will - i do not believe that this will be a big election issue in britain for labour he told a parliamentary lunch. this is a big change in our political culture. during an interview with bbc radio 4 s today programme mr balls said he was sure mr brown s budget would not put at risk the stability of the economy. i don t think we ll see a pre-election spending spree - we certainly did not see that before 2001 he said. his assurances came after sir digby jones said stability was all important and any extra cash should be spent on improving workers skills. his message to the chancellor was: please don t give it away in any form of electioneering. sir digby added: i don t think he will. i have to say he has been a prudent chancellor right the way through. stability is the key word - british business needs boring stability more than anything. we would say to him don t increase your public spending don t give it away. but if you are going to anywhere just add something to the competitiveness of britain put it into skilling our people . that would be a good way to spend any excess. mr balls refused to say whether mr brown would remain as chancellor after the election amid speculation he will be offered the job of foreign secretary. i think that gordon brown wants to be part of the successful labour government which delivers in the third term for the priorities of the people and sees off a conservative party that will take britain backwards mr balls told today. prime minister tony blair has yet to name the date of the election but most pundits are betting on 5 may. | 4 | politics |
duff ruled out of barcelona clash chelsea s damien duff has been ruled out of wednesday s champions league clash with barcelona at the nou camp. duff sustained a knee injury in the fa cup defeat at newcastle and manager jose mourinho said: he cannot run. his injury is very painful so he is out. but mourinho has revealed defender willian gallas and striker didier drogba will be in the starting line-up. the blues boss took the unusual step of naming his side a day before the match with jole cole named in midfield. mourinho said: we have one more session but i think drogba will play and gallas will play. drogba trained on monday with no problems and will do the same on tuesday. gallas feels he can play and wants to play. we are protecting him still but he will be okay to play. drogba chelsea s £24m striker has missed the last three weeks through injury. cech ferreira carvalho terry gallas tiago makelele lampard cole drogba gudjohnsen. | 2 | sport |
ex-pm lord callaghan dies aged 92 former labour prime minister lord callaghan has died on the eve of his 93rd birthday. he passed away at home in east sussex just 11 days after his wife audrey died aged 91. lord callaghan who leaves a son and two daughters was the longest living former british pm in history. he entered downing street in 1976 after the resignation of harold wilson. prime minister tony blair called him a giant of the labour movement. he held each of the major offices of chancellor home secretary foreign secretary and prime minister during his career and became lord callaghan of cardiff in 1987. chancellor gordon brown said the former pm would be mourned throughout the world . it was a commitment to public service that brought jim callaghan into parliament in 1945 and while jim rose to the top he never forgot his roots. former cabinet colleague lord hattersley said his first reaction on hearing the news was immense sadness . it was not a major surprise - i knew what a blow the death of his wife audrey was a few days ago he said. he was a decent kindly man who helped me and my generation of politicians immensely. the labour party and the country will be poorer without him. conservative peer lord heseltine said that despite their political differences he and lord callaghan became friends. you don t get to the premiership unless you have a streak of determination he said. but i saw the other side of jim callaghan he became a personal friend in a way and my family and i were very fond of him. tory leader michael howard said he would be remembered with affection and respect . liberal democrat leader charles kennedy said: when i was first elected in 1983 as the youngest mp he was the father of the house and as such took a very keen interest in my early days in parliament. he was always full of warmth and wisdom. born in 1912 and educated at portsmouth northern secondary school lord callaghan became a clerk at the inland revenue. he enlisted in the royal navy in 1942 and rose to the rank of lieutenant. elected for a cardiff constituency at the 1945 general election he represented cardiff seats for more than 40 years. after serving as a junior minister in the attlee government he became chancellor of the exchequer when labour returned to power in 1964. with sterling under pressure he resisted devaluation for three years before being forced into it in 1967. his political career was not without controversy. when he refused to support prime minister harold wilson and dame barbara castle over the latter s trade union manifesto in place of strife in 1968 he said: i am not going to resign. they will have to throw me out . when home secretary he ordered british troops to march into the streets of belfast to protect catholic civilians amid rising violence - a decision that has dominated british politics into the 21st century. as foreign secretary in the early 1970s lord callaghan kept an open mind about the uk s entry into the common market seeing the advantages of the uk s entry. he once travelled to idi amin s uganda in 1975 to plead for the life of a british lecturer dennis hills who was under a death sentence for treason. his political life was often tempered by battles against the hard left of the party. in the autumn of 1978 before the winter of discontent when trade unions carried out strikes that brought the country to a standstill lord callaghan refused to hold an early election which may have delivered a labour victory. as garbage lay uncollected in the streets and hospital staff council workers and even gravediggers stayed off work lord callaghan failed to predict the mood of the country. when britain went to the polls in 1979 tory leader margaret thatcher was swept into power in a landslide victory and lord callaghan resigned as labour leader. | 4 | politics |
us to raise tv indecency fines us politicians are proposing a tough new law aimed at cracking down on indecency and bad language on us tv. fines of up to $500 000 (£266 582) could be imposed each time broadcasters transmit nudity or profanities. the proposal unveiled in the house of representatives also seeks to revoke a broadcaster s licence after three violations have been committed. the exposure of janet jackson s breast at last year s superbowl landed cbs with a $550 000 (£293 264) fine. entertainers could also be liable for fines under the proposed legisation from both us politcians and officials from the federal communications commission (fcc). a republican senator from kansas sam brownbeck is set to call for a maximum $3 million (£1.6 million) fine for repeated violations. the current maximum fine stands at $32 500 (£17 320) - 20 of the stations in the cbs network were each penalised these lesser amounts for the jackson incident. republican politician fred upton who chairs the committee responsible for broadcasting said current fines are more of a cost of doing business rather than a deterrent . last year s janet jackson wardrobe malfunction encouraged the fcc to impose tougher rules but the us congress adjourned last year without agreeing on a new level of fines. new figures have to be decided before new legislation can be put before president bush. certain broadcasters like fox claim the material they carry does not violate indecency laws and is protected under the right to free speech. | 3 | entertainment |
top judge clashes with ministers the uk s top judge has revealed he has clashed with ministers about how the heads of public inquiries are chosen. lord woolf said he was determined his current veto on whether a judge should chair an inquiry should continue as a guard for judicial independence. but he told mps the lord chancellor lord falconer was insisting he should have the final say in such cases. lord hutton s inquiry into the death of dr david kelly sparked debate about who should run inquiries. the government says the lord chancellor would be unlikely to go against lord woolf s wishes. lord woolf who is lord chief justice of england and wales was giving evidence to the commons public administration select committee s inquiry into public inquiries. he said he had not been involved in the choice of lord hutton who as a law lord did not come under his jurisdiction. but he argued he should have a veto on whether judges generally should chair a particular inquiry and if so which judge it should be. in written evidence to the committee lord woolf said: i have so far failed to reach an agreement with the lord chancellor on this issue ... i intend to maintain my position and will press for this safeguard to be in any future legislation. judges should think carefully before heading an inquiry into a highly political issue such as the intelligence on iraq s weapons of mass destruction he said. he argued: the subject matter of the inquiry may be so political that it would be damaging to the judiciary for a judge to be involved. in addition the question of whether there should be an inquiry at all may be highly controversial and if a judge is appointed the judiciary as a result of the appointment may be seen as siding inappropriately with the government. he told the mps: anything that tends to undermine the confidence of the public in the judiciary worries me. lord woolf said the current rules were not written down but it was inconceivable in practice that the lord chancellor would overrule his concerns. but that situation could change with new legal reforms. the issue had been overlooked when a new agreement was drawn up about those responsibilities and the dispute had emerged in later discussions. what i am asking for is a situation where if the lord chancellor cannot obtain my agreement [on appointing a judge] it doesn t happen he said. lord woolf said he did not think there would be difficulties but he wanted to establish the principle. a department for constitutional affairs spokeswoman said lord woolf and lord falconer agreed about what happened in practice. their disagreement is about whether the legislation should include a requirement for consultation or concurrence - a very narrow dispute in lord woolf s words she said. as lord woolf also acknowledged it is highly unlikely that the lord chancellor would appoint a judge against the wishes of the lord chief justice. judges are free to decide for themselves whether to accept positions as inquiry chairs. parliament will examine the issue next year when it debates a new bill about public inquiries. | 4 | politics |
remote control rifle range debuts soon you could go hunting via the net. a texas company is considering letting web users use a remote-controlled rifle to shoot down deer antelope and wild pigs. for a small fee users will take control of a camera and rifle that they can use to spot and shoot the game animals as they roam around a 133-hectare texas ranch. the live-shot website behind the scheme already lets people practise shooting at targets via the internet. john underwood the man behind the live-shot website said the idea for the remote-control hunting came to him a year ago when he was watching deer via a webcam on another net site. we were looking at a beautiful white-tail buck and my friend said if you just had a gun for that . a little light bulb went off in my head mr underwood told the reuters news agency. a year s work and $10 000 has resulted in a remote-controlled rig on which sits a camera and .22 calibre rifle. mr underwood is planning to put one of these rigs in a concealed location in a small reserve on his texas ranch and let people shoot at a variety of game animals. also needed is a fast net connection so remote hunters can quickly track and aim at passing game animals with the camera and rifle rig. each remote hunting session will cost $150 with additional fees for meat processing and taxidermy work. species that can be shot will include barbary corsican and mouflon sheep blackbuck antelope and wild pigs. already the live-shot site lets people shoot 10 rounds at paper and silhouette targets for $5.95 for each 20-minute shooting session. for further fees users can get the target they shot and a dvd recording of their session. handlers oversee each shooting session and can stop the gun being fired if it is being aimed off-range or at something it should not be. mr underwood said that internet hunting could be popular with disabled hunters unable to get out in the woods or distant hunters who cannot afford a trip to texas. in a statement the rspca said it had grave concerns about people being allowed to go online and remotely control a rifle. we assume it would be extremely difficult to accurately control a gun in this way and therefore it would be difficult to ensure a clean kill something the rspca accepts is the intention of those shooting for sport it said. animals hit but not killed would without doubt be caused to suffer unnecessarily said the statement. mike berger wildlife director of the texas parks and wildlife department said current hunting statutes did not cover net or remote hunting. he said state laws on hunting only covered regulated animals such as native deer and bird species. as such there was nothing to stop mr underwood letting people hunt unregulated imported animals and wild pigs. mr underwood also lets people come in person to the ranch to hunt and shoot game animals. | 0 | tech |
coach ranieri sacked by valencia claudio ranieri has been sacked as valencia coach just eight months after taking charge at the primera liga club for the second time in his career. the decision was taken at a board meeting following the side s surprise elimination from the uefa cup. we understand and he understands that the results in the last few weeks have not been the most appropriate said club president juan bautista. former assistant antonio lopez will take over as the new coach. italian ranieri took over the valencia job in june 2004 having been replaced at chelsea by jose mourinho. things began well but the spanish champions extended their winless streak to six after losing to racing santander last weekend. that defeat was then followed by a uefa cup exit at the hands of steaua bucharest. ranieri first took charge of valencia in 1997 guiding them to the king s cup and helping them to qualify for the champions league. the 54-year-old then moved to atletico madrid in 1999 before joining chelsea the following year. | 2 | sport |
bortolami predicts dour contest italy skipper marco bortolami believes saturday s six nations contest against scotland will be a scrappy encounter. with both sides looking for their first win of the championship the third-round game at murrayfield has been billed as a wooden-spoon decider. and bortolami feels the edinburgh contest could end up being a bruising battle of the packs. it will not be a pretty game because both teams are desperate to gain their first win said the lock forward. italy have only recorded three wins since they joined the six nations in 2000 but two of those have come against scotland. this year italy opened up with a stubborn display against ireland but ended up losing 28-17. however they were thoroughly outplayed by an impressive welsh side in rome last time out. now the italians travel to edinburgh hoping to claim their first away win in the six nations. scotland played extremely well against france in paris but not so well when ireland came to edinburgh said bortolami. we are still very disappointed with our last game against wales in rome and we are thoroughly determined to right the wrongs. as a nation our quest is to be respected as a team worthy of a place in this tournament and we can only do this by winning games. | 2 | sport |
henman decides to quit davis cup tim henman has retired from great britain s davis cup team. the 30-year-old who made his davis cup debut in 1994 is now set to fully focus on the atp tour and on winning his first grand slam event. i ve made no secret of the fact that representing great britain has always been a top priority for me throughout my career henman told his website. captain jeremy bates has touted alex bogdanovic and andrew murray as possible replacements for the veteran. henman added that he was available to help britain in its bid for davis cup success with the next tie against israel in march . although i won t be playing i would still like to make myself available to both jeremy and the lta in the future so that i can draw upon my experience in the hope of trying to help the british players develop their full potential he added. i ve really enjoyed playing in front of the thousands of british fans both home and abroad and would like to thank every one of them for their unwavering support over the years. henman leaves davis cup tennis with an impressive record having won 36 of his 50 matches. great britain captain jeremy bates paid tribute to henman s efforts over the years. tim has quite simply had a phenomenal davis cup career and it has been an absolute privilege to have captained the team with him in it said bates. tim s magnificent record speaks for itself. while it s a great loss i completely understand and respect his decision to retire from davis cup and focus on the grand slams and tour. looking to the future this decision obviously marks a watershed in british davis cup tennis but it is also a huge opportunity for the next generation to make their mark. we have a host of talented players coming through and despite losing someone of tim s calibre i remain very optimistic about the future. henman made his davis cup debut in 1994 against romania in manchester. he and partner bates won their doubles rubber on the middle saturday of the tie. britain eventually lost the contest 3-2. henman and britain had little luck in davis cup matches until 1999 when they qualified for the world group. britain drew the usa and lost the tie when greg rusedski fell to jim courier in the deciding rubber. they made the final stages again in 2002 but this time lost out to the might of sweden. | 2 | sport |
kerr frustrated at victory margin republic of ireland manager brian kerr admitted he was frustrated his side did not score more than one goal in their friendly win over croatia. robbie keane took his republic record to 24 with a first-half goal which proved enough for victory. we had more good chances. it is just a shame we did not take them against such a technically gifted team said kerr. but given the conditions and the standard of the croatian team we should be very happy with the win. the republic side kept a clean sheet for the eighth time in 11 matches and are unbeaten in 14 home games since kerr succeeded mick mccarthy. kerr applauded the decisive move which earned the victory. it was a brilliant goal fantastic skill by damien duff. robbie might have scuffed it a little but it was a good goal. matchwinner keane was another full of praise for duff s role in the goal. it was great play from damien said the tottenham striker. i always try to be sniffing around because you know nine times out of 10 duffer is going to get it in the box. playing three up was something different. brian kerr wanted to try it out and it was good to see young stephen elliott getting a run-out. the conditions were difficult but he did well and is definitely one for the future. it is nice to see young players coming through. man-of-the-match duff explained what went wrong when he fluffed a chance to make it 2-0 midway through the second half. he opted to bring steve finnan s cross down and shoot against the bar when a close-range header looked the best option. i would have headed that every time but i completely lost it in the lights said the chelsea star. i was desperate to get on the scoresheet myself but the result is the important thing. we have had a good year and are going nicely in the qualifiers. hopefully that can continue in 2005. | 2 | sport |
u2 stars enter rock hall of fame singer bruce springsteen has inducted irish rock band u2 into the rock and roll hall of fame in new york. the lavish ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of rock n roll also saw the induction of the pretenders percy sledge the o jays and buddy guy. this was a band that wanted to lay claim to this world and the next one too said springsteen. bono the edge adam clayton and larry mullen jr who formed u2 at school in 1977 begin a world tour on 28 march. introducing the band springsteen mocked bono as the man who single-handedly pioneered the irish mullet poking fun at one of the best and most endearingly messianic complexes in rock n roll . but he also spoke of the group s enduring stature adding that it was the only band of the last 20 years where he knew all four members names. u2 s contemporaries the pretenders led by chrissie hynde - took to the stage to perform my city was gone with inductee neil young. we are a tribute band said hynde 53. we re paying tribute to james honeyman-scott and pete farndon without whom we would not have been here she said referring to the premature deaths of two of the band s guitarists from drug overdoses. britain s rod stewart introduced percy sledge citing his best-known hit when a man loves a woman as one of the best performances i ve ever heard . justin timberlake introduced soul group the o jays a gospel-style quartet from ohio who performed a medley of their best-known songs including back stabbers love train and for the love of money. anyone who s ever written produced or performed something soulful stands in the shadows of these giants said timberlake. joining the ceremony at new york s waldorf astoria were legendary r&b star bo diddley who performed with eric clapton and robbie robertson. clapton alongside bb king also introduced fellow guitarist buddy guy and recalled seeing him play as a teenager in england. he was for me what elvis was probably like for other people he said. my course was set and he was my pilot said clapton who joined guy and king in a performance of let me love you baby. also performing at the ceremony was veteran musician jerry lee lewis who continued his reputation as a rowdy piano-pounder despite his 69 years kicking over his stool and sitting on the piano during a rendition of whole lotta shakin goin on. | 3 | entertainment |
qantas considers offshore option australian airline qantas could transfer as many as 7 000 jobs out of its home country as it seeks to save costs according to newspaper reports. chief executive geoff dixon was quoted by the australian newspaper as saying the carrier could no longer afford to remain all-australian . unions criticised the possible move - which may affect cabin and maintenance staff - saying qantas was profitable. more than 90% of the airline s staff are based in australia. qantas confirmed it was looking at whether it might recruit and source products overseas - potentially through joint ventures - but said it would continue to create jobs in australia. despite making a record australian dollars 648m ($492m) profit last year qantas has argued that it needs to make considerable savings if it is to remain competitive. we re going to have to get the lowest cost structure we can and that willmean sourcing things more and more from overseas the newspaper quoted qantas chief executive geoff dixon as saying. early this year qantas increased the number of flight attendants based in london from 370 to 870. if qantas were to follow the lead of other airlines moving staff offshore 7 000 jobs could shift overseas the newspaper reported. in a statement qantas said it was looking to build its operations overseas. however it stressed this would not result in large scale redundancies in its home market where most of its 35 000 staff are employed. we are totally committed to continuing to grow jobs in australia mr dixon said. we are however operating in a global market and there is no room for complacency simply because we are currently profitable and successful. unions reacted angrily to the reported disclosure arguing that qantas was profitable and did not need to take such action. we could understand if qantas was a struggling airline about to go under michael mijatov international division secretary of the flight attendants association told agence france presse. qantas announced a record profit last year and is on course this year for an even greater profit so it is totally unnecessary. in an effort to meet the challenge posed by low cost carriers qantas sought a tie-up with air new zealand last year however the deal was thrown out by the new zealand high court on competition grounds. | 1 | business |
ukraine strikes turkmen gas deal ukraine has agreed to pay 30% more for natural gas supplied by turkmenistan. the deal was sealed three days after turkmenistan cut off gas supplies in a price dispute that threatened the ukrainian economy. supplies from turkmenistan account for 45% of all natural gas imported by ukraine which has large coal deposits but no gas fields. turkmenistan is also trying to strike a similar deal with russia which is not so dependent on its gas. turkmen president saparmurat niyazov who signed the contract said the turkmen side agreed to lower the price demanded by $2 per 1 000 cubic metres bringing it down to $58. but the new price is still $14 higher than the price fixed in the contract for 2004. the head of the ukrainian state-owned naftohaz company yury boyko said he was fully happy with the deal. on friday turkmenistan acted on a threat and shut off gas supplies to ukraine in attempt to bring the price dispute to a head. mr niyazov said that his government would insist on the same price for supplies to russia. analysts say thay may not happen as russia the world s leading gas producer needs the cheap turkmen gas only to relieve is state-owned gazprom from costly investment in the exploration of oil fields in siberia. turkmenistan is the second-largest gas producer in the world. | 1 | business |
o connell rejects lions rumours ireland and munster lock paul o connell has dismissed media reports linking him to the captaincy of the lions tour to new zealand this summer. o connell is rumoured to be among the front-runners for the job but says he is totally focused on sunday s six nations crunch clash with england. i honestly don t think about these reports he told bbc sport. the lions thing is all speculation and newspaper talk nothing more. i just ignore it and get on with my job. he added: the only thing that annoys me after reading some reports is what the opposition locks think. i can just imagine them saying i m going to show this guy what s what about second row play . that s the one thing that makes me cringe. o connell who made a try-scoring international debut against wales two years ago is enjoying his meteoric rise into rugby s shop window - but refuses to be drawn on the lions. i have spoken to sir clive woodward a few times but not for very long certainly nothing about summer holidays he joked. he also said he remains wary of wounded england s abilities coming into sunday s game after two straight defeats dismissing predictions of a certain irish victory. it s very dangerous to think that. this england team has so much experience and skill. you do not become a bad team overnight. they have two world class game-breakers in josh lewsey and jason robinson while charlie hodgson is just ready to click into place. he insisted ireland will not make the mistake of being over-confident. that s not going to happen in our squad. no ireland team lining up to play england will ever fall into that trap he said. every time we play england we know what a big task it is. look at what they did to us two years ago. i remember that game all too well and it was not a good feeling. i came on as a replacement and we were losing 13-6 and ended up getting hammered 42-6 so i know what can happen when england come to dublin. they could so easily have been coming to dublin with two wins and staring a grand slam in the face as well. | 2 | sport |
media seek jackson juror notes reporters covering singer michael jackson s trial in california have asked to see questionnaires completed by potential jurors. lawyers for news organisations said it was really vital for the responses of 250 potential jurors to be made public to serve as a check on the process . santa barbara county superior court is due to consider the request on monday. mr jackson denies child molestation. it is estimated his trial will cost santa barbara county up to $4m (£2.13m). meanwhile michael jackson s mother has said she is 100% certain her son did not commit the child abuse charges he faces. the court is currently selecting 12 jurors and eight stand-by jurors for the trial a process delayed until at least thursday after a member of the star s legal team was hit by family illness. defence lawyers argued against the bid by associated press and other news organisations to have potential jurors responses made public. the release of the completed jury questionnaires does not serve any purpose other than to add to the sensationalist coverage of this case a motion by mr jackson s lawyers stated. the estimated total costs of the trial expected to last five months range from $2.5m (£1.33m) to $4m (£2.13m) of local taxpayers money. those estimates do not include costs to the city of santa maria the superior court or for the investigation and prosecution of the case. the cost of security and other needs around the courthouse has been estimated at $40 000 (£21 000) per day said jason stilwell a special projects manager at the county administrator s office. mr jackson 46 denies plying a boy with alcohol and molesting him. his mother katherine jackson told us tv network fox news on sunday that her pop star son told her he was innocent. i believe that for one reason - i know his character she said. he loves children. you don t molest anything that you love. describing mr jackson as a good person the mother-of-nine said she feared he would not be given a fair trial. i can t sleep thinking about what these wicked people might try to do to him she said. | 3 | entertainment |
thomas out of six nations wales captain gareth thomas has been ruled out of the rest of the six nations with a broken thumb. the full-back will have surgery on monday after fracturing his thumb in the 24-18 win over france on saturday. but welsh legend phil bennett insisted wales can cope without thomas as they chase a first grand slam in 27 years. bennett told bbc sport: such is the spirit in the camp they ll put kevin morgan at 15 rhys williams at wing and just carry on. thomas will miss the match against scotland on 13 march and what promises to be a huge encounter against the irish six days later. bennett added: it s a setback. he s a great captain he leads from the front and the boys love him. thomas was replaced at half-time by williams as his side turned around a 15-6 deficit in paris. with gareth missing i would think michael owen will be our captain said wales coach mike ruddock. he did a great job in the second half in france. he has been vice-captain all along throughout the championship. wales travel to edinburgh to take on scotland in a fortnight and then host ireland in cardiff in the final round of matches in what could be the grand slam and championship decider. bennett an inspirational fly-half for llanelli and wales in the 1970s insisted the national team were entering a new golden period. it was a great game and a magnificent result for wales bennett told bbc radio five live s sportsweek programme. the way this young team are blending the glory days are on their way back. we couldn t get possession early on and france dominated and scored two tries. had they been ruthless wales could have gone into the interval 30 points down. but they didn t take their chances. wales defended fairly well but you cannot give that sort of quality ball to good sides. the all blacks would have been ruthless and buried us in the first half. but the character we showed in the second half was quite outstanding. | 2 | sport |
vickery upbeat about arm injury england prop phil vickery is staying positive despite a broken arm ruling him out of the rbs six nations. the 28-year-old fractured the radius in his right forearm during gloucester s 17-16 win over bath on saturday. he will undergo an operation on monday and is expected to be out for at least six weeks. he said: this isn t an injury that will stop me from working hard on the fitness elements and being around the lads. he added: i ve got the operation this afternoon and i could be back doing fitness work after a week. as frustrating as it is i ve got to be positive. after the game vickery spoke with bath prop david barnes who also broke his arm recently. i had a chat with david barnes and it looks like a similar injury to him he said. he said he had the operation and he was back running after a week. there s no doubt that i m going to get involved and be around this place as soon as i can after the operation. gloucester director of rugby nigel melville said: phil has broken his radius which is the large bone in his forearm. i don t really know how it happened but phil will definitely be out of action for at least six weeks. i feel very sorry for him as he has been in great shape. he really needed 80 minutes of rugby this weekend and then this happened. mentally it must be very hard for him. | 2 | sport |
more movies head to sony s psp movies open water and saw are among those to be made available for sony s psp games console. film studio lions gate entertainment has announced an initial list of 12 movies that will be on the umd format used by the handheld. the typical buyer of the machine [is] the core demographic to whom our films generally appeal said steve beeks president of lions gate. already available in japan the psp is released in the us on 24 march. spider-man 2 on umd will be given to the first million customers in the us. the punisher and house of the dead along with older titles such as total recall and rambo: first blood will be in the umd format with disks costing between $20 (£10.40) to $30 (£15.60) for new titles and $10 (£5.20) to $20 for older films. when we first saw the machine and started talking to sony we immediately decided it was going to be a winner both from the gaming perspective and from the perspective of people watching movies on the go mr beeks said. the disks which are smaller than dvds only work in sony s psp and can hold up to 1.8gb of data. we actually believe people who buy the umd would not have bought it on dvd he said. there are people who will want umd because of the portability. maybe they re already taking the games with them out of the house and they re bigger gamers than they are movie watchers. four movies have already been announced for psp. they are: xxx hellboy resident evil: apocalypse and once upon a time in mexico. | 0 | tech |
rich grab half colombia poor fund half of the money put aside by the colombian government to help the country s poor is benefiting people who do not need it a study has found. a total of 24.2 trillion pesos ($10.2bn; £5.5bn) is earmarked for subsidies for the poor the government department for planning said. but it also found 12.1 trillion pesos was going to the richest part of the population rather than to those in need. sound distribution of the cash could cut poverty levels to 36% from 53% the government believes. resources are more than enough to reduce poverty and there is no need for more tax reforms but a better distribution deputy planning director jose leibovich said. colombia has a population of about 44 million and half lives below poverty line. however some large properties are paying less in tax as they are situated inside poor areas which benefit from cheaper utilities such as electricity and water government research found. government expenditure in areas such as pensions public services education property and health should be revised mr leibovich said. he added that the government is now examining the report but warned there would be no easy solution to the problem. with a good distribution of such subsidies and economic growth of just 2% by 2019 poverty could fall as low as 15.3% he said. | 1 | business |
whitehall cuts ahead of target thousands of civil service jobs have already been cut or moved out of london as part of a major cost-cutting drive. chancellor gordon brown said 12 500 jobs had gone while 7 800 were being moved out of the south east. he plans to axe 104 000 jobs to free up money for education health defence housing and overseas aid. unions oppose the plans but mr brown said £2bn savings had already been made and more jobs had been cut than had been expected at this stage. a further 200 jobs at the department of the environment food and rural affairs have been earmarked to be cut. at the department for work and pensions 30 000 jobs are to go 560 will be lost by the end of the month at the department of trade and industry and 400 are to go at the inland revenue and customs. in his budget statement the chancellor said the first 12 500 civil service jobs had been cut on target. about 4 300 civil servants will leave london and the south east by the end of march 2005 and there are plans to relocate another 3 500. of those 300 department of health posts will go to yorkshire while hundreds at the department of culture will move to birmingham and newcastle. mr brown also announced plans to merge 35 agencies into nine - described by one civil service union as a bonfire of the quangos . mark serwotka the leader of the public and commercial services union said: in last year s budget we had the day of the long knifes as the chancellor kicked off the crude game of who could cut the most civil service jobs between the government and the tories. there was a time when the only worry thousands of hard working civil and public servants had on budget day was whether petrol or taxes would go up nowadays the worry is whether they will have a job by the end of it. he said mr brown had made welcome announcements on closing tax loopholes and extending the new deal while cutting the very people who deliver them. the treasury also announced plans to reduce the number of public sector workers on sick leave with a new system of checks and tougher measures against those suspected of abusing the system. | 4 | politics |
disaster claims less than $10bn insurers have sought to calm fears that they face huge losses after an earthquake and giant waves killed at least 38 000 people in southern asia. munich re and swiss re the world s two biggest reinsurers have said exposure will be less than for other disasters. rebuilding costs are likely to be cheaper than in developed countries and many of those affected will not have insurance analysts said. swiss re has said total claims are likely to be less than $10bn (£5.17bn). swiss re believes that the cost would be substantial but that it is unlikely to be in double-digit billions the financial times reported. munich re the world s largest reinsurance company said that its exposure is less than 100m euros (£70m; $136m). at least 10 countries have been affected with sri lanka indonesia india and thailand among the worst hit. the region s resorts and western tourists are expected to be among the main claimants. lloyds of london told the financial times it expected its exposure to be limited to holiday resorts personal accident travel insurance and marine risks . a spokeswoman for hanover re europe s fifth-largest reinsurance firm estimated tsunami-related damage claims would be in the low double-digit millions of euros. the company has paid out about 300 million euros (£281m; $400m) to cover damage caused recently by four major hurricanes in the us. but insurers have not had long to assess the economic impact of the damage and reports of more casualties and destruction are still coming through. so many things are unclear it is just too early to tell said serge troeber deputy head of swiss re s natural disasters department. you need very complicated processes to estimate damages. unlike the hurricanes you can t just run a model. he anticipated that his own company s total claims would be less then those from the hurricanes which the company put at $640m. allianz a leading german insurer said it did not know yet what its exposure would be. however it said the tidal waves were unlikely to have a significant impact on its business. zurich financial said they could not yet assess the cost of the disaster. the impact on us insurance companies is not expected to be heavy analysts said. most us insurers have relatively little exposure to asia and those that do pass on a lot of the risk to reinsurance companies or special catastrophe funds. insured damage could be a fraction of the billions of dollars worth of destruction in sri lanka india thailand indonesia the maldive islands and malaysia said prudential equity group insurance analyst jay gelb. us insurers are likely to have only minimal to no exposure. it s more likely the bermuda-based reinsurance [companies] might have some exposure said paul newsome an insurance analyst at ag edwards & co. many of the affected countries such as indonesia sri lanka or the maldives do not usually buy insurance for these kinds of disasters said a us-based insurance expert. early estimates from the world bank put the amount of aid needed for the worst affected countries including sri lanka india indonesia and thailand at about $5bn (£2.6bn) similar to the cash offered to central america after hurricane mitch. mitch killed about 10 000 people and caused damage of about $10bn in 1998. but the cost of the tsunamis on the individuals involved is incalculable. we cannot fathom the cost of these poor societies and the nameless fishermen and fishing villages ... that have just been wiped out. hundreds of thousands of livelihoods have gone said jan egeland head of the un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs. tourists cutting short their holidays in affected areas may suffer a financial impact too. the association of british insurers warned that travel insurance does not normally cover cutting short a holiday. it said loss of possessions will usually be covered but the association stressed the importance of checking the wording of travel policies. | 1 | business |
stallone evicted from big brother jackie stallone mother of actor sylvester has become the first star to be evicted from celebrity big brother. she and john mccririck faced the public vote on friday - 67% of people voted to keep the racing pundit in the house. stallone 71 appeared not to have enjoyed her time in the house saying: i m a total wreck i need a vacation this was a nightmare . but she was pleased to have patched things up with actress brigitte nielsen her former daughter-in-law. that alone was worth $1m she said. stallone joined the channel 4 show on monday as a surprise for nielsen. she was hot favourite to be evicted first with odds of 1/4 to leave. but mccririck has made some enemies with his outspoken views about women. ladbrokes spokesman warren lush said: we may have underestimated the power of the anti-mccririck brigade but it s so hard to call with him there are people out there who either love him or hate him there is no middle ground. the bookmakers have made former happy mondays dancer bez favourite to win the show at 7/4 while blazin squad singer kenzie is second at 2/1. bez has wooed the viewers and looks the one to beat he s kept his nose clean and doesn t take anything too seriously mr lush said. earlier on friday 15 protesters from the fathers 4 justice campaign group were arrested after entering the big brother compound at 0300 gmt and throwing fireworks. feminist icon germaine greer quit the show earlier in the week over what she called bullying tactics used by the programme s producers. the show is currently attracting an average audience of about 4.2 million viewers a night. | 3 | entertainment |
kenya lift chepkemei s suspension kenya s athletics body has reversed a ban on marathon runner susan chepkemei after she made an official apology. athletics kenya (ak) had suspended the two-time london marathon runner-up for failing to turn up to a cross-country team training camp in embu. we have withdrawn the ban. chepkemei has given a reason for her absence said ak chief isaiah kiplagat. she explained she had a contract with the organisers of the race in puerto rice and we have accepted her apology. the kenyan coaching team will now decide whether chepkemei can be included in the team for this month s world cross country championships. the 29-year-old would be a strong contender at the event in france and is hopeful she will be granted a place in the 32-strong squad. i am satisfied that the whole saga has been brought to an end chepkemei said. i am ready and prepared to represent my country. i will be disappointed if i am not given a chance to compete at the world cross country championships. ak had insisted it was making an example of chepkemei by banning her from competition until the end of 2005. but the organisation came under intense international and domestic pressure to reverse its decision. the 29-year-old took part in the 2002 and 2003 london marathons and was edged out by radcliffe in an epic new york marathon contest last year. the two-time world half-marathon silver medallist will be back to challenge radcliffe at this year s london event in april. ak also dropped its harsh stance on three-time world cross country 4km champion edith masai. masai missed kenya s world cross country trials because of an ankle problem but ak insisted it would take disciplinary action unless she could prove she was really injured. subject to our doctor s confirmation we have decided to clear masai added kiplagat. | 2 | sport |
ukip candidate suspended eurosceptic party ukip have suspended a candidate for allegedly suggesting the criminally insane should be killed. john houston 54 was due to stand in the east kilbride seat in lanarkshire at the next election. but he was suspended after his reported views including the return of the british empire were sent to two scottish newspapers. ukip spokesman mark croucher said those who selected mr houston knew nothing of his views. the episode comes at a difficult time for ukip soon after the high-profile departure of mep robert kilroy-silk. mr houston is alleged to have said that the organs of the criminally insane should be made available to law-abiding members of the community and proposed the legalisation of drugs and the sex trade. the document reportedly said: we re looking for the resurrection of the british empire. the problems for the human race - environmental and others - can only be dealt with on a global scale and that calls for a radical alliance of the english-speaking nations which they are uniquely able to do. mr croucher said the main issue would be that mr houston s reported views had been presented as ukip policy which they were not. he said they might have been submissions to a committee working on the party s manifesto but would not have been matched to mr houston when he was standing to become a candidate. he told bbc news: he appears to have said these things. we have suspended him as a member and as a candidate. by all accounts none of this was mentioned at his selection meeting. it is simply a distraction from the task in hand the eu constitution not individual idiocies. mr houston was quoted in the herald newspaper saying: i feel ukip have over-reacted and overshot the runway. peter nielson who is ukip scotland chairman said he had suspended mr houston on friday night. he will remain suspended while the matter is being investigated and then we will decide if and what further action will be taken. he said that any evidence would be looked into and mr houston may be interviewed by the party. he added: i can t comment too much at the moment i have one version from him but i haven t seen the papers yet. | 4 | politics |
cabinet anger at brown cash raid ministers are unhappy about plans to use whitehall cash to keep council tax bills down local government minister nick raynsford has acknowledged. gordon brown reallocated £512m from central to local government budgets in his pre-budget report on thursday. mr raynsford said he had held some pretty frank discussions with fellow ministers over the plans. but he said local governments had to deliver good services without big council tax rises. the central government cash is part of a £1bn package to help local authorities in england keep next year s council tax rises below 5% in what is likely to be a general election year. mr raynsford said nearly all central government departments had an interest in well run local authorities. and he confirmed rows over the issue with ministerial colleagues. obviously we had some pretty frank discussions about this he told bbc radio 4 s the world at one. but he said there was a recognition that a good settlement for local government was important to health education and other government departments . ministers had to be sure local government could deliver without unreasonable council tax increases he added. mr raynsford dismissed a suggestion the move was designed to keep council taxes down ahead of an expected general election. this is a response to the concerns that have been voiced by local government about the pressures they face. mr raynsford also plans to make savings of £100m by making changes to local government pensions schemes. these would raise the age from which retiring workers could claim their pensions and limit how much they received if they retired early. he insisted the changes were very modest and designed to tackle the problem of workers retiring very early . but general secretary of the public services union unison dave prentis criticised the plans. if you want world class public services you don t get that by hitting people as they approach retirement. | 4 | politics |
animation charms japan box office oscar-winning director hayao miyazaki s latest film has set a new japanese box office record with 1.5bn yen ($14.3m) in two days according to reports. howl s moving castle is the follow-up to miyazaki s spirited away which won best animation at last year s oscars. it is based on the children s book by english writer diana wynne jones. it has registered the highest opening weekend takings of any japanese film in the country according to trade publication screen daily. the film is about an 18-year-old girl who is trapped in an old woman s body after being put under a spell by a witch. its two-day takings represented 1.1 million cinema admissions screen daily said. the film s distributor toho expects 40 million people to see it in total - almost one third of the country s population - it added. the film won the golden osella for outstanding technical contribution at this year s venice film festival. | 3 | entertainment |
o driscoll saves irish blushes two moments of magic from brian o driscoll guided ireland to a workmanlike victory against italy. a pair of classic outside breaks from the ireland captain set up tries for geordan murphy and peter stringer. italy led 9-8 early in the second half but stringer s try gave ireland a lead they never lost. the hosts cut the gap to 18-12 with 10 minutes left and nearly scored through ludovico nitoglia but denis hickie s try ensured an irish victory. italy came flying out of the blocks and took the lead through a luciano orquera penalty after seven minutes. it could have been better for the hosts but the fly-half missed two kickable penalties and ireland drew level with a ronan o gara penalty midway through the first half. the italians were driving at the heart of the irish defence and for the first quarter the irish pack struggled to secure any ball for their talented backs. when they finally did just before the half-hour mark o driscoll promptly created a sparkling try for murphy. the ireland captain ran a dummy scissors and made a magical outside break before drawing the full-back and putting the diving murphy in at the corner. o gara missed the twice-taken conversion and the visitors found themselves trailing once again. roland de marigny took over the kicking duties for italy from the hapless orquera and he landed a penalty either side of the break to edge italy into a 9-8 lead. the only ireland player offering a real threat was o driscoll and it was his break that set up the second try for the visitors. shane horgan threw an overhead pass as he was about to be forced into touch and stringer scooted over with o gara landing the tricky conversion. a penalty apiece saw ireland leading 18-12 as the game entered the final quarter but they were lucky to survive when italy launched a series of attacks. winger nitoglia dropped the ball as he reached for the line and italy nearly rumbled over from a driving maul. an o gara penalty put ireland more than a converted try ahead and they made the game safe when hickie latched onto an inside pass from murphy and crossed for a converted try. o driscoll limped off late on joining centre partner gordon d arcy on the sidelines and the final word went to italy. prop martin castrogiovanni powered over for a try which was fitting reward for an italian pack which had kept the irish under pressure throughout. de marigny; mi bergamasco canale masi nitoglia; orquera troncon; lo cicero ongaro castrogiovanni; dellape bortolami; persico ma bergamasco parisse. perugini intoppa del fava dal maso griffen pozzebon robertson. murphy horgan o driscoll d arcy hickie o gara stringer corrigan byrne hayes o kelly o connell s easterby leamy foley. sheahan horan o callaghan miller g easterby humphreys dempsey. p o brien (new zealand) | 2 | sport |
us interest rates increased to 2% us interest rates are to rise for the fourth time in five months in a widely anticipated move. the federal reserve has raised its key federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point to 2% in light of mounting evidence that the us economy is regaining steam. us companies created twice as many jobs as expected in october while exports hit record levels in september. analysts said a clear-cut victory for president bush in last week s election paved the way for a rise. another rise could be in store for december some economists warned. the fed s open market committee - which sets interest rate policy in the us - voted unanimously in favour of a quarter point rise. the fed has been gradually easing rates up since the summer with quarter percentage point rises in june august and september. the central bank has been acting to restrain inflationary pressures while being careful not to obstruct economic growth. the fed did not rule out raising rates once again in december but noted that any future increases would take place at a measured pace. in a statement the fed said that long-term inflation pressures remained well contained while the us economy appeared to be growing at a moderate pace despite the rise in energy prices . financial analysts broadly welcomed the fed s move and shares traded largely flat. the dow jones industrial average closed down 0.89 points or 0.01% at 10 385.48. recent evidence has pointed to an upturn in the us economy. us firms created 337 000 jobs last month twice the amount expected while exports reached record levels in september. the economy grew 3.7% in the third quarter slower than forecast but an improvement on the 3.3% growth seen in the second quarter. analysts claimed the fed s assessment of future economic growth was a positive one but stressed that the jury was still out on the prospect of a further rise in december. let s wait until we see how growth and employment bear up under the fourth quarter s energy price drag before concluding that the fed has more work to do in 2005 said avery shenfeld senior economist at cibc world markets. i think the federal reserve does not want to rock the boat and is using a gradual approach in raising the interest rate said sung won sohn chief us economist for wells fargo bank. the economy is doing a bit better right now but there are still some concerns about geopolitics employment and the price of oil he added. the further rise in us rates is unlikely to have a direct bearing on uk monetary policy. the bank of england (boe) has kept interest rates on hold at 4.75% for the past three months leading some commentators to argue that rates may have peaked. in a report published on wednesday the bank said that with rates at their current level inflation would rise to its 2% target within two years. however boe governor mervyn king warned only last month that the era of consistently low inflation and low unemployment may be coming to an end. | 1 | business |
french consumer spending rising french consumers increased their spending by 1.5% in january a figure which bodes well for the country s economic growth figures revealed. the national statistic institute (insee) added that consumer spending in january rose 3.8% on a year-on-year basis. rising sales of household equipment were behind the increase. the insee also said that french consumer prices fell 0.6% in january but were up 1.6% on an annual basis. despite the general increase in spending in january french households bought fewer cars in january. according to the insee car sales fell 2.8% in january following a fall of 0.6% in december. but on a year-on-year basis the sector still saw a sales increase of 6.5%. consumer spending fuelled france s economic growth in the last quarter of 2004 and analysts expect that it will continue to support the economy. it s a growth that will remain fragile and vulnerable to risks like a strong rise in long-term interest rates tension in the oil price emmanuel ferry from exane bnp paribas told reuters news agency. meanwhile in italy consumer confidence rose to its highest level since october 2004. economic research group isae has said that italian consumer confidence rose to 104.4 from 103.3 despite a slight deterioration in short-term sentiment. | 1 | business |
indian oil firm eyes yukos assets india s biggest oil exploration firm oil & natural gas corp (ongc) says it is in talks to buy the former assets of troubled russian crude producer yukos. we are in touch with the concerned russian entities about the yukos assets and other opportunities in russia said ongc chairman subir raha. local press had reported that ongc was looking to buy 15% of yukos former key oil production unit for $2bn (£1bn). yukos is being broken up by russian authorities to pay a massive tax bill. it was forced to sell its key production unit yuganskneftegas (yugansk) last month after being hit with a bill of $27bn in unpaid taxes and fines. state-owned rosneft now owns yugansk and russia has said it will turn the oil producer into a stand-alone firm. indian oil minister mani shankar aiyar discussed ongc s plans during a trip to moscow last year and the topic came up again during russian president vladimir putin s recent visit to new delhi. it would make great sense for us to build on that said mr aiyar. india s oil production has stagnated over recent years and it is having to look abroad to secure future supplies. india imports about 70% of its total oil consumption. at the same time india s economy is booming and the country s thirst for oil is so strong that it has helped pushed up the price of crude worldwide. india produces about 793 000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) little changed since the start of the 1990s according to oil industry analysts douglas-westwood. consumption meanwhile has jumped to 2.4 million bpd compared with 474 000 bpd in 1973. for countries to develop they have to have access to energy said john westwood managing director of oil industry analysts douglas-westwood. india is a dramatically growing economy that must have access to oil . by buying into yugansk ongc would be able to reduce its dependence on gulf states for oil imports mr westwood explained especially as the chances of finding and exploiting resources within india are slim. we forecast that indian production will go into significant decline mr westwood said. by 2020 production may only be at half of today s levels. ongc which is majority-owned by the indian state already has bought petroleum assets in countries including vietnam sudan and russia. the company is a partner with rosneft in the sakhalin-1 oil field off russia s siberian coast. ongc is however not the only firm interested in yugansk. chinese crude company china national petroleum has also been mentioned as a possible investor while on thursday italy refused to rule out an interest. ongc s interest is the latest twist in a saga that has seen one of the world s biggest oil producers brought to its knees. the dispute is partly driven by president putin s clampdown on the political ambitions of ex-yukos boss mikhail khodorkovsky who is currently in jail on charges of fraud and tax evasion. yukos has been battling the russian authorities for more than a year and has filed for bankruptcy protection in the us. analysts have questioned how long it can continue to survive without yugansk. on thursday a us court said it will hear arguments for yukos bankruptcy claim to be thrown out on 16 february. should that happen yukos will have little chance of clawing back its assets analysts said. | 1 | business |
ferguson rues failure to cut gap boss sir alex ferguson was left ruing manchester united s failure to close the gap on chelsea everton and arsenal after his side s 1-1 draw with fulham. premiership leaders chelsea and the gunners endured a 2-2 stalemate on sunday giving united the chance to make up some ground in the league. but ferguson said: i think what makes it so bad is that both our rivals dropped points at the weekend. it was a great opportunity - and we haven t delivered. united went ahead through alan smith in the 33rd minute before bouba diop s superb 25-yard strike cancelled out the visitors lead in the 87th minute. ferguson described the result as an absolute giveaway after united had earlier missed a host of opportunities to finish off the encounter. he said: it was a good performance - some of the football was fantastic - but we just didn t finish them off. in fairness it s a fantastic strike from the fulham player. the result leaves ferguson s side fourth in the league on 31 points - four points behind arsenal and a further five back from chelsea. | 2 | sport |
radcliffe proves doubters wrong this won t go down as one of the greatest marathons of paula s career. but as a test of character it was the toughest race she s ever taken part in. a win in the new york marathon doesn t make up for the disappointment of athens in any shape or form but it will offer hope and reassurance for next year. if paula s last experience of the year had been athens it would have been very difficult to look forward with any optimism. she can now draw a line under this year and make plans about her future. even if she d lost this race there would have been a lot of positives to take out of it. she knows she can dig deep if she needs to. it was a strong field with a number of the girls going into the race with expectations of winning. and although two hours 23 minutes wasn t one of paula s best times it wasn t far off the record on a difficult course. i was speaking to paula in the lead-up to this race and she said that in many ways she was facing a no-win situation. she thought that if she won people would say why couldn t she do that in athens and if she lost people would say her career was over. and a lot of people were wondering what would happen if paula was forced to drop out of this race as she did in the marathon and 10 000m in athens. but that was never on the cards. she might have been beaten but she would have kept running. the reasons she was forced to pull out in athens - the niggling injuries her lack of energy and the oppressive conditions - weren t at play here. the only question was what position she could finish in. most important of all despite all the hype in the media ahead of this race there were never doubts in paula s mind. if she wasn t confident she wouldn t have run. after all if you re the best in the world at an event you ll always have expectations of winning. now paula will take part in the run london 10km race in london at the end of the year have a well-earned rest over christmas and go into next year with a lot of optimism. | 2 | sport |
original exorcist to be screened the original version of horror prequel exorcist: the beginning dropped by producers over claims it was not scary enough is to have its world premiere. the film directed by paul schrader will be screened on 18 march at the international festival of fantastic film in brussels. the psychological drama stars stellan skarsgard and foreruns the 1973 film. schrader was replaced by director renny harlin who made a new version of the film which debuted in 2004. the prequel project was originally announced in 2001 with actor liam neeson in the lead role and john frankenheimer as director. however frankenheimer pulled out in 2002 a month before he died. skarsgard then replaced neeson in the role of father merrin made famous by max von sydow in the 1973 film. principal footage was shot in morocco and rome at a reported cost of $32m. however in august 2003 it emerged that producers morgan creek were shelving schrader s version of the film having complained it was not scary enough. as well as replacing schrader with harlin - the director behind die hard 2 and cliffhanger - the producers also changed most of the cast but swedish star skarsgard stayed in the merrin role. harlin s film released in the uk in october 2004 received lukewarm reviews but went on to make over $76m (£40.7m) worldwide. the festival screening will be the first time that schrader s film has been seen in public. reports that it will be released either in cinemas or on dvd have yet to be confirmed. other films at the festival in the belgium capital which runs from 11-26 march include the us horror hit boogeyman and the forthcoming sequel ring 2 as well as a selection of films adapted from the works of jules verne. | 3 | entertainment |
how political squabbles snowball it s become commonplace to argue that blair and brown are like squabbling school kids and that they (and their supporters) need to grow up and stop bickering. but this analysis in fact gets it wrong. it s not just children who fight - adults do too. and there are solid reasons why even a trivial argument between mature protagonists can be hard to stop once its got going. the key feature of an endless feud is that everyone can agree they d be better off if it ended - but everyone wants to have the last word. each participant genuinely wants the row to stop but thinks it worth prolonging the argument just a tiny bit to ensure their view is heard. their successive attempts to end the argument with their last word ensure the argument goes on and on and on. (in the case of mr blair and mr brown successive books are published ensuring the issues never die.) now this isn t because the participants are stupid - it s actually each individual behaving entirely rationally given the incentives facing them. indeed there s even a piece of economic theory that explains all this. nothing as obscure as post-neo-classical endogenous growth theory which the chancellor himself once quoted - but a ubiquitous piece of game theory which all respectable policy wonks are familiar with. it s often referred to as the prisoner s dilemma based on a parable much told in economics degree courses... about a sheriff and two prisoners. the story goes that two prisoners are jointly charged with a heinous crime and are locked up in separate cells. but the sheriff desperately needs a confession from at least one of them to provide enough evidence to convict them of the crime. without a confession the prisoners will get a minimal sentence on some trumped up charge. clearly the prisoners best strategy is to keep their mouths shut and take the short sentence but the clever sheriff has an idea to induce them to talk. he tells each prisoner separately that if they confess - and they are the only one to confess - they ll be let off their crime. and he tells them that if they don t confess - and they are the only one not to confess - they ll get life. now if you are prisoner confronted with this choice your best bet is to confess. if your partner doesn t confess you ll get off completely. and if your partner does confess you d better confess to ensure you don t get life. the result is of course both prisoners confess so the sheriff does not have to let either one off. both prisoners individual logic was to behave that way even though both would have been better if they had somehow agreed to shut up. don t worry if you don t entirely follow it - you can to look it up on google where there are 283 000 entries on it. the prisoners dilemma and all its ramifications have truly captured economists in the last couple of decades. it is a parable used to describe any situation where there is an obvious sensible choice to be taken collectively but where the only rational choice individually is to behave selfishly. a cold war arms race for example - a classic case where both russia and america would be better off with just a few arms rather than a lot of arms. but as long as each wants just a few more arms than the other an arms race ensues with the results that the individually logical decision to buy more arms results in arms levels that are too high. what economics tells us is that once you re in a prisoners dilemma - unless you are repeating the experience many times over - it s hard to escape the perverse logic of it. it s no good just exhorting people to stop buying arms or to stop arguing when all their incentives encourage them to carry on. somehow the incentives have to change. in the case of the labour party if you believe the rift between blair and brown camps is as bad as the reports suggest solomon s wisdom needs to be deployed to solve the problem. every parent knows there are ingenious solutions to arguments solutions which affect the incentives of the participants. an example is the famous rule that one divides the other chooses as a way of allocating a piece of cake to be sliced up between greedy children. in the case of an apparently endless argument if you want it to come to an end you have to ensure the person who has the last word is one who loses rather than the one who wins the row. the cost of prolonging the row by even one more briefing or one more book for that matter has to exceed the benefit of having the last word and getting your point in. if the rest of the party can enforce that they ll have the protagonists retreating pretty quickly. | 4 | politics |
chancellor rallies labour voters gordon brown has issued a rallying cry telling supporters the stakes are too high to stay at home or protest vote in the forthcoming general election. the chancellor said the vote - expected to fall on 5 may - will give a clear and fundamental choice between labour investment and conservative cuts. speaking at labour s spring conference in gateshead mr brown claimed the nhs was not safe in conservative hands. he said tory plans to cut £35bn tax would cut deep into public service . to a packed audience at gateshead s sage centre the chancellor said the cuts proposed by shadow chancellor oliver letwin were the equivalent of sacking every teacher gp and nurse in the country he told activists. laying into the conservative s record in government he said: i give you this promise - with labour britain will never return to the mistakes of erm and 10% inflation 15% interest rates £3bn in lost reserves 250 000 repossessed one million in negative equity and three million unemployed. never again tory boom and bust. this will be the central dividing line at the election between a conservative party taking britain back and planning deep cuts of £35bn in our services and a labour government taking britain forward which on a platform of stability will reform and renew our hospitals schools and public services and i am proud to say spend by 2008 £60bn more. turning to the economy the chancellor pledged to continue economic stability and growth in a third term in power. he said after seven years labour had transformed from a party not trusted with the economy to the only party trusted with the economy . it was now a party not just of employees but of employers and managers he said. in the speech - which prompted a standing ovation from an audience clearly warm to mr brown - he also promised to end teenage unemployment within the next five years. he also highlighted plans for 100% debt relief for the world s poorest countries a national minimum wage for 16 and 17-year-olds and the creation of a network of children s centres and flexibility in maternity leave. the prime minister is to take part later on saturday in an interactive question and answer session fielding queries sent in by e-mail text message and telephone as part of labour s attempt to engage the public in their campaign. | 4 | politics |
borussia dortmund near bust german football club and former european champion borussia dortmund has warned it will go bankrupt if rescue talks with creditors fail. the company s shares tumbled after it said it has entered a life-threatening profitability and financial situation . borussia dortmund has posted record losses and missed rent payments on its westfallen stadium. chief executive gerd niebaum stepped down last week and creditors are now pushing for greater control. shares in borussia dortmund germany s only stock-market listed football club dropped by almost 23% to 2.05 euros during early afternoon trading. fund manager florian hamm - borussia dortmund s largest investor - said he would only invest more money in the company if he got a greater say in how it is run. i demand better transparency he is quoted as saying by germany s manger magazin. the club has also faced calls to appoint executives from outside the club. borussia dortmund posted a record loss of 68m euros ($89m; £47m) in the 12 months through june. it made a loss of 27.2m euros in the first half of the current fiscal year and said that total debts will increase to 134.7m euros by the middle of 2006 unless a restructuring plan is pushed through. this is the bill for their mismanagement over the past years said hvb analyst peter-thilo halser. the club appointed an auditor who has recommended a number of steps including deferring the rent due on the stadium and suspending debt repayments until at least the 2006-2007 fiscal year. stephen schechter a uk investment banker who has held talks with borussia dortmund over a possible bond sale said the club needs a capital injection of 35m euros. they need strong people on the board who do not have a history with the club he said. | 1 | business |
us casino tricks face ban in uk controversial new uk casinos will be banned from using american tricks of the trade to ensure they are socially responsible it has been suggested. culture secretary tessa jowell said proposed super-casinos will be different from their us counterparts. in america pheromones have reportedly been released from machines to encourage aggressive gambling and clocks are often removed from walls. eight super-casinos are proposed from 2010 if the gambling bill becomes law. ms jowell said the legislation would ban psychological trickery. she told the times: british casinos will be quite different to those overseas. they will have to act in a socially responsible way and will be tightly regulated. they will be run according to british rules and we ll simply not allow any tricks which people are subjected to unawares and which increase the risk of problem gambling. one tactic used in the us is simulating daylight during night-time to lull players into remaining at the tables and slot machines. casinos also frequently offer free food drink and hotel accommodation to keep punters betting. a spokesman for the british casino association which represents the uk industry said the government was trying to allay fears over a uk las vegas . he said the way the licences were being awarded meant uk firms were at a massive disadvantage and foreign companies would be certain to win the contracts. the uk industry is one of the world s most respected he said. we have the lowest level of problem gambling in the world. we certainly don t use pheremones. the uk gambling industry is being totally frozen in time and the foreign companies will take over. | 4 | politics |
friends fear with lost mobiles people are becoming so dependent on their mobile phones that one in three are concerned that losing their phone would mean they lose their friends. more than 50% of mobile owners reported they had had their phone stolen or lost in the last three years. more than half (54%) of those asked in a poll for mobile firm intervoice said that they do not have another address book. a fifth rely entirely on mobiles. about 80% of uk adults own at least one mobile according to official figures. it is estimated that 53% of over 65s own a mobile according to intervoice but the figures are higher for those aged between 15 and 34. most 15 to 24-year-olds (94%) and 25 to 34-year-olds (92%) own at least one. nineteen percent of mobile owners were more concerned about how long it would take to find their contacts information again if the phone was lost stolen or replaced. the survey showed that extent to which people have become reliant on their phones as address book. many mobile owners do not bother to make back-ups of their contact details and with people changing their phones once a year on average it becomes a problem. they also are becoming less likely to remember numbers by heart relying on the mobile phone book instead. we re a nation of lazy so-and-sos david noone from intervoice said. we put the numbers in our phones so we can call a friend at the touch of just one or two buttons and we certainly can t be bothered to write them down in an old fashioned address book. the mobile phone plays such a key role in modern relationships; take the phone away and the way we manage these relationships falls apart. one in three women the survey said thought if they lost their phones it would mean they would lose touch with people altogether. most (62%) said they had no idea what their partner s number was. mr noone said it should be up to mobile operators to provide back-up services on the network itself instead of relying on mobile owners to find ways themselves. generally information from sim cards can be backed up on physical memory cards or can be copied onto computers via cables if the phone is a smartphone model with the right software. sim back-up devices can be bought from phone shops for just a few pounds. but some operators offer customers free web-based back-up services too. orange told the bbc news website that those with orange smartphones could use the my phone syncing service which means back-ups of address books and other data are created online. for non-smartphone users a memory mate card could be used to back up data on the phone. o2 also offers a free web-based syncing service which works over gprs and gsm. neither vodafone or t-mobile currently offer a free network service for back-ups but encourage people to use sim back-up devices. it is thought that about 10 000 phones are lost or stolen every month and 50% of total street crime involves a mobile. mobile phone sales are expected to continue growing over the next year. globally more than 167 million mobile phones were sold in the third quarter of 2004 26% more than the previous year according to analysts. it is predicted that there will be two billion handsets in use worldwide by the end of 2005. | 0 | tech |
what high-definition will do to dvds first it was the humble home video then it was the dvd and now hollywood is preparing for the next revolution in home entertainment - high-definition. high-definition gives incredible 3d-like pictures and surround sound. the dvd disks and the gear to play them will not be out for another year or so and there at are still a number of issues to be sorted out. but when high-definition films do come out on the new format dvds it will profoundly change home entertainment. for rick dean director of business development for digital content company thx a high-definition future is an exciting prospect. he has worked on the star wars dvd trilogy finding nemo the incredibles and indiana jones. there was a time not so long ago when the film world and the video world were two completely separate worlds he told the bbc news website. the technology we are dealing with now means they are very much conjoined. the film that we see in theatres is coming from the same digital file that we take the home video master he says. but currently putting a master feature film onto dvd requires severe compression because current dvd technology cannot hold as much as high-definition films demand. as much as you compress the picture data rate wise you also take qualities away from the picture that we fight so hard to keep in the master he explains. i would love to be able to show people what projects that we worked on really look like in the high-def world and i find it very exciting. high-definition dvds can hold up to six times more data than the dvds we are used to. it will take time though to persuade people who spent money on dvd players to buy the different players and displays required to watch high-definition dvds in 18 months time. mr dean is confident though: i think if they see real hd [high-definition] not some heavily compressed version of it there is such a remarkable difference. i have heard comments from people who say the images pop off the screen. high-definition will mean some changes for those working behind the scenes too. on the whole producing films for high-definition dvds will be easier in some ways because less compression is needed. equally it may mean hollywood studios ask for more to be put onto the average dvd. when we master movies right now our data rates are running at about 1.2 gigabits per second says mr dean. our dvds that we put out today have to be squashed down to about five or six megabits per second. that s a huge amount of compression that has to be applied - about 98%. so if you have anything that allows more space you don t have to compress so hard. studios could fit a lot more marketing material games and features onto high-capacity dvds. currently an entire dvd project can take up to three months says mr dean. although the step of down-converting will be bypassed this will realistically only save a day s work says mr dean. one of the most time consuming elements is building dvd navigation and menu systems. on the fairly complex star wars disks making sure the menu buttons worked took 45 human hours alone. if studios want to cash in on the extra space it could mean extra human hours for which someone has to pay. if the decision on the studio side is that they are going to put a lot more on these disks it could be more expensive because of all the extra navigation that is required. and if studios do focus on delivering more added value content thinks mr dean ultimately it could mean that they will want more money for it. those costs could filter down to the price ticket on a high-definition dvd. but if the consumer is not willing to pay a premium price studios will listen thinks mr dean. high-definition throws up other challenge to film makers and dvd production alike. more clarity on screen means film makers have to make doubly sure that attention to detail is meticulous. when we did the first hd version of star wars episode i everybody was very sun-tanned but that was make-up. in the hd version of episode i all these make-up lines showed up explains mr dean. the restoration of the older star wars episodes revealed some interesting items too. there are scans of a corridor [on the death star] and fairly plainly in one of those shots there is a file cabinet stuck behind one of the doorways. you never used to be able to see it because things are just blurred enough during the pan that you just didn t see it. what high-definition revolution ultimately means is that the line between home entertainment and cinema worlds will blur. with home theatre systems turning living rooms into cinemas this line blurs even further. it could also mean that how we get films and in what format will widen. in the future we are going to look towards file delivery over ip [internet protocol - broadband] giving a dvd-like experience from the set-top box to the hard drive says mr dean. but that is some time off for most and for now people still like to show off something physical in their bookshelves. | 0 | tech |
collins banned in landmark case sprinter michelle collins has received an eight-year ban for doping offences after a hearing at the north american court of arbitration for sport (cas). america s former world indoor 200m champion is the first athlete to be suspended without a positive drugs test or an admission of drugs use. collins ban is a result of her connection to the federal inquiry into the balco doping scandal. the 33-year-old was found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs. the us anti-doping agency (usada) decided to press charges against collins in the summer. the sprinter has consistently protested her innocence but the cas has upheld usada s findings. the usada has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that collins took epo the testosterone/epitestosterone cream and thg said a cas statement. collins used these substances to enhance her performance and elude the drug testing that was available at the time. so far a total of 13 athletes have been sanctioned for violations involving drugs associated with the balco doping scandal. world record holder tim montgomery is also facing a lifetime ban after being charged by the usada. his hearing before the csa has been rescheduled for june next year. drug enforcement chiefs in the us have vowed to crack down on cheats. usada chief executive officer terry madden said the action taken against collins was further proof of that. the cas panel s decision confirms that those who violate the rules will be sanctioned as part of usada s ongoing efforts to protect the rights of the overwhelming majority of us athletes that compete drug-free said madden. the usada has built its cases on verbal evidence given to the federal investigation into balco rather than test results. the san francisco-based balco laboratory faces steroid distribution and money laundering charges. the trial is expected to open next march. | 2 | sport |
santini resigns as spurs manager tottenham manager jacques santini has resigned for personal reasons . the former france manager moved to white hart lane this summer but now wants to return to france. santini said: my time at tottenham has been memorable and it is with deep regret that i take my leave. i wish the club and the supporters all the best. private issues in my personal life have arisen which caused my decision. i very much hope that the wonderful fans will respect my decision. he added: i should like to thank (sporting director) frank arnesen and (chairman) daniel levy for their understanding. assistant coach martin jol has been put in temporary charge and will take care of team affairs for saturday s premiership match against charlton. arnesen said the club were sad to see santini go: we are obviously disappointed that jacques is leaving us. we fully respect his decision. i can assure you that the club will act swiftly to minimise the impact of jacques departure. our priority is to ensure that this season s performance remains unaffected by this move. i shall make a further statement on monday clarifying our position. we wish jacques well. | 2 | sport |
chelsea sack mutu chelsea have sacked adrian mutu after he failed a drugs test. the 25-year-old tested positive for a banned substance - which he later denied was cocaine - in october. chelsea have decided to write off a possible transfer fee for mutu a £15.8m signing from parma last season who may face a two-year suspension. a statement from chelsea explaining the decision read: we want to make clear that chelsea has a zero tolerance policy towards drugs. mutu scored six goals in his first five games after arriving at stamford bridge but his form went into decline and he was frozen out by coach jose mourinho. chelsea s statement added: this applies to both performance-enhancing drugs or so-called recreational drugs. they have no place at our club or in sport. in coming to a decision on this case chelsea believed the club s social responsibility to its fans players employees and other stakeholders in football regarding drugs was more important than the major financial considerations to the company. any player who takes drugs breaches his contract with the club as well as football association rules. the club totally supports the fa in strong action on all drugs cases. fifa s disciplinary code stipulates that a first doping offence should be followed by a six-month ban. and the sport s world governing body has re-iterated their stance over mutu s failed drugs test maintaining it is a matter for the domestic sporting authorities. fifa is not in a position to make any comment on the matter until the english fa have informed us of their disciplinary decision and the relevant information associated with it said a fifa spokesman. chelsea s move won backing from drug-testing expert michelle verroken. verroken a former director of drug-free sport for uk sport insists the blues were right to sack mutu and have enhanced their reputation by doing so. chelsea are saying quite clearly to the rest of their players and their fans that this is a situation they are not prepared to tolerate. it was a very difficult decision for them and an expensive decision for them but the terms of his contract were breached and it was the only decision they could make. it is a very clear stance by chelsea and it has given a strong boost to the reputation of the club. it emerged that mutu had failed a drugs test on october 18 and although it was initially reported that the banned substance in question was cocaine. the romanian international later suggested it was a substance designed to enhance sexual performance. the football association has yet to act on mutu s failed drugs test and refuses to discuss his case. | 2 | sport |
hunt ban support is in decline support for a ban on hunting has fallen in the past six years a poll suggests. less than half the uk wants a ban compared to almost two-thirds in 1999 the mori survey of 2 000 adults for bbc one s countryfile programme suggests. the number opposed to a ban remains constant but those neither supporting nor opposing has increased by 11%. most city-dwellers support the ban but rural people were evenly split between supporters opponents and undecided. polling company mori carried out both surveys. in july 1999 they asked 801 adults if they supported the ban for the mail on sunday. for countryfile they asked 2 234 adults across the country the same question. the mail on sunday survey found that 63% supported a hunting ban compared with 24% against. in the countryfile survey 47% said they supported the legislation with 26% against. but the programme makers suggest the british public are becoming increasingly neutral to the issue because around one quarter said they neither support nor oppose a ban. | 4 | politics |
swap offer for pirated windows xp computer giant microsoft has launched a pilot scheme to replace counterfeit versions of windows xp with legal ones. the first-time initiative is restricted to the uk and to users with pre-installed copies of the operating system in pcs bought before november. until december microsoft said software can be sent to it for analysis if there are doubts about its legitimacy. the company aims to detect illegal traders and turn users of fake versions of windows into legitimate ones. the windows xp counterfeit project will mean that software that is found to be counterfeit will be replaced for free subject to certain conditions until the end of the year. it is the first time microsoft has launched a counterfeit product replacement scheme in the world the company told the bbc news website. in june the software giant said that the major security update to windows xp service pack 2 would not work with the most widely pirated versions of its operating system. the upgrade closed security loopholes in xp and added features that made it easier to keep machines safe from viruses and other types of malicious computer code. the us company invited anyone who had suspicions about their version of windows xp to submit it for testing as soon as possible. the procedure consists of a series of computer checks collating documents and filling out a witness statement. this is a great opportunity for users to confirm the authenticity of windows xp software whilst helping gather vital information about illegal traders said alex hilton licence compliance manager at microsoft. the scheme has also been welcomed by the technology and commerce industry. it is important that users ensure that they are legally licensed to avoid the risks of purchasing and using counterfeit products said david frost director general of the british chambers of commerce. the plan would enable microsoft to gather intelligence about illegal traders in a prompt way which would allow it to take action against software pirates. microsoft said it would evaluate the results of the uk programme before setting up similar schemes in other countries. | 0 | tech |
dollar hits new low versus euro the us dollar has continued its record-breaking slide and has tumbled to a new low against the euro. investors are betting that the european central bank (ecb) will not do anything to weaken the euro while the us is thought to favour a declining dollar. the us is struggling with a ballooning trade deficit and analysts said one of the easiest ways to fund it was by allowing a depreciation of the dollar. they have predicted that the dollar is likely to fall even further. the us currency was trading at $1.364 per euro at 1800 gmt on monday. this compares with $1.354 to the euro in late trading in new york on friday which was then a record low. the dollar has weakened sharply since september when it traded about $1.20 against the euro. it has lost 7% this year while against the japanese yen it is down 3.2%. traders said that thin trading levels had amplified monday s move. it s not going to take much to push [the dollar] one way or the other said grant wilson of mellon bank. liquidity - a measure of the number of parties willing to trade in the market - was about half that of a normal working day traders said. | 1 | business |
uk debut for kevin spacey movie hollywood stars kevin spacey and kate bosworth attended the british premiere of new film beyond the sea in london s leicester square on thursday. spacey 45 wrote directed and starred in the film inspired by the life of 1950s croooner bobby darin. this is my tribute to someone i think was a remarkable talent said spacey who as darin sings all 18 songs on the film soundtrack. bosworth 21 plays darin s wife - real life hollywood actress sandra dee. i knew absolutely nothing about bobby darin before this film but now i m a huge fan said bosworth who attended the premiere with british boyfriend orlando bloom. there is darkness and tragedy in the story and it was a dream for me to land this part. actress sandra dee continues to live in los angeles as a virtual recluse but has given her approval to the biopic. she called me last week and said she loved it said spacey who was joined at the premiere by members of the boy band westlife. spacey a double oscar-winner has long been fascinated by the story of singer bobby darin. the voice behind mack the knife dream lover and beyond the sea fought childhood illness to become one the biggest stars of the 1950s but died aged 37 from the heart condition that had troubled him all his life. bobby darin was one of the greatest entertainers the world has ever known and yet because he died young he s been kind of forgotten said spacey at the premiere. making this film was the most fun i ve ever had in my entire life. the movie also stars british actors bob hoskins and brenda blethyn as darin s mother. | 3 | entertainment |
benitez joy as reds take control liverpool boss rafael benitez was satisfied after his team s 3-1 win over bayer leverkusen despite conceding a goal in the last minute. before the game if you had said the score will be 3-1 i would have happily accepted that said benitez. but you must realise that you have to concentrate right to the very last seconds of a game at this level. i have confidence that we can complete the task in germany. i am always confident and we must be positive. benitez defended goalkeeper jerzy dudek whose failure to hold on to dimitar berbatov s weak drive allowed franca to score with the last kick of the game - and give the german team a lifeline for the second leg. for me it was not jerzy dudek s fault added benitez. he had played a very good game - and had we scored our other chances nobody would be talking about about their goal. it would not have mattered. if we had scored our other chances it would not have been worth remembering that last goal. in my opinion jerzy played well made two very fine saves - and i am happy with him. if we lose 2-0 we are out but i think we can score in germany - certainly one and that will make all the difference. and the liverpool boss is looking forward to having skipper steven gerrard who was suspended for the anfield leg back for the return in germany. steven gerrard is a key player for us said benitez. when he is on the pitch he makes everyone else play better - and the opposition pay special attention to him - which gives space for others. steven is one of the best players in the world but i need a team that is not about just one player. there must be 11 players on the pitch all doing well. | 2 | sport |
glazer makes new man utd approach malcolm glazer has made a fresh approach to buy manchester united which could lead to a bid valuing the premiership club at £800m. the us tycoon who has been wooing the club for the last 12 months has approached the united board with detailed proposals it has confirmed. mr glazer who owns the tampa bay buccaneers team hopes this will lead to a formal bid being accepted. his new offer is expected to contain substantially less debt. mr glazer has already had one takeover attempt turned down by the red devils and responded by using his 28.1% shareholding to vote off three board members last november. man united had turned down the bid because it was based on a high level of borrowing. but newspapers have speculated recently that the tycoon had gained the support of leading banks to come up with a stronger and less debt-laden bid. last week however mr glazer issued a statement to the stock exchange distancing himself from a new bid. meanwhile united s chief executive david gill said in december that talks would not resume unless glazer came up with definitive proposals . now the board has confirmed that the us bidder is back with a statement issued on sunday reading: the board can confirm it has now received a detailed proposal subject to various preconditions which may form the basis of an offer. a further announcement will be made in due course. to succeed malcolm glazer will still need the approval of major shareholders john magnier and jp mcmanus who own 28.9% of the club. but the irish duo have cut off talks with glazer over the proposed sale of their stake and have so far made no comment on his latest approach. united fans have reacted with anger at the announcement. they have vehemently opposed any proposed takeover by glazer since he first showed interest in the club in september 2003 and after sunday s announcement they vowed to fight on. we will fight tooth and nail to stop him whatever his offer says. we do not want him or anybody else taking over united said mark longden of the independent manchester united supporters association. the campaign against this proposed takeover will continue as it has done since glazer first showed interest in the club. | 1 | business |
smith aims to bring back respect scotland manager walter smith says he wants to restore the national team s respectability in world football. smith has joined his first squad for a three-day get-together near manchester in preference to playing a friendly. while qualification for the 2006 world cup appears to be beyond scotland smith is anxious that the remainder of the campaign should be positive. i think we have got to try to get a bit of respectability back in whatever way we can he said. we will have to approach each game differently. obviously we will have to approach the italian game away from home in a different manner to moldova at home. we have to meet the challenge of each match. smith meeting a number of his squad for the first time brought them together on monday to outline his ideas for improving the nation s fortunes. he said: i pointed out how i see the international team going forward and that was the main topic. this is a relaxed gathering and i don t think there is a lot of doom and gloom about the squad that a lot of people think exists. a 25-man squad will spend the next three days based at the mottram hall hotel in cheshire and will train at manchester united s nearby carrington complex. smith will be absent for the final sessions however as he is due to fly out to sardinia on wednesday to watch italy s friendly with russia. | 2 | sport |
middlesbrough 2-2 charlton a late header by teenager danny graham earned middlesbrough a battling draw with charlton at the riverside. matt holland had put the visitors ahead in the 14th minute after his shot took a deflection off franck queudrue. but middlesbrough peppered the charlton goal after the break and chris riggott stroked home the equaliser. shaun bartlett s strike put charlton back in front but that lead lasted just six minutes before graham rushed onto queudrue s pass to head home. the match burst to life from the whistle and charlton defender hermann hreidarsson had sight of an open goal after just six minutes. hreidarsson received danny murphy s free-kick from the right but he crashed his free header wide of the far post. the iceland international looked such a danger the boro bench could be heard issuing frantic instructions to mark him. charlton s early pressure paid off when bartlett received a long ball from talal el karkouri in the box and laid it off to holland who buried his right-footed strike. szilard nemeth recalled in place of joseph-desire job was twice denied his chance to get middlesbrough back on level terms by dean kiely. the striker played a great one-two with jimmy floyd hasselbaink only to see kiely get down well to smother his shot before directing a header straight into the keeper s arms. boro had plenty of time on the ball but the addicks comfortably mopped up the pressure - with kiely tipping a hasselbaink header over the bar - to take their lead into half-time. it was all one-way traffic after the break at the riverside as middlesbrough poured forward and kiely even saved hreidarsson s blushes when he palmed the ball away to prevent a charlton own goal. but the addicks keeper could do nothing about riggott s equaliser in the 74th minute. the boro defender looked suspiciously offside as he got on the end of gareth southgate s misdirected effort but despite the charlton protests his goal stood. the addicks did not let their heads drop and bartlett left the boro defence standing picking up hreidarsson s cross to easily sink his right-footed strike. but substitute graham was on hand to grab a share of the points for the home side. the 19-year-old striker nodding home the equaliser - and his first premiership goal - with five minutes left on the clock. i felt we did enough to win the game even though the first half was lacklustre. we dominated after the break the players showed a fantastic response and we should have gone on to win. but for (charlton goalkeeper) dean kiely who made three tremendous saves we could have scored five or six. to take the lead and then to get penned back it feels a little bit like a defeat admitted kiely. we were winning but middlesbrough kept knocking on the door. but we stood up and credit to us we didn t capitulate. we ll kick on now. our short-term ambition is to progress from the seventh place finish from last year. nash reiziger (graham 82) riggott southgate queudrue parlour (job 86) doriva nemeth (parnaby 87) zenden downing hasselbaink. subs not used: cooper knight. riggott 74 graham 86. kiely hreidarsson perry el karkouri young konchesky murphy (euell 78) holland kishishev thomas (johansson 72) bartlett. subs not used: fish jeffers andersen. konchesky hreidarsson perry. holland 14 bartlett 80. 29 603 m riley (w yorkshire). | 2 | sport |
kilroy launches veritas party ex-bbc chat show host and east midlands mep robert kilroy-silk said he wanted to change the face of british politics as he launched his new party. mr kilroy-silk who recently quit the uk independence party said our country was being stolen from us by mass immigration. he told a london news conference that veritas - latin for truth - would avoid the old parties lies and spin . ukip leader roger knapman says he is glad to see the back of mr kilroy-silk. mr kilroy-silk promised a firm but fair policy on immigration and said they hoped to contest most seats at the forthcoming general election. he said veritas would also announce detailed policies on crime tax pensions health and defence over the next few weeks. labour campaign spokesman fraser kemp said veritas was joining an already crowded field on the right of british politics . on thursday mr kilroy-silk is due to announce which constituency he will run in at the next general election - that will come amid speculation he has his sights set on defence secretary geoff hoon s ashfield seat. he was joined in the new venture by one of ukip s two london assembly members damien hockney who is now veritas deputy leader. ukip s chairman petrina holdsworth has said the group will just be a parody of the party the men have left. mr kilroy-silk quit ukip last week after months of tension as he vied unsuccessfully for the leadership of that party. he said he was ashamed to be a member of a ukip whose leadership had gone awol after the great opportunity offered by its third place at last june s european elections. while ukip has turned its back on the british people i shall not he said. i will be standing at the next general election. i shall be leading a vigorous campaign for the causes i believe in. and unlike the old parties we shall be honest open and straight. mr hockney also left ukip saying mr kilroy-silk would deliver better as the leader of a eurosceptic party. a spokesman for ukip called on mr hockney to quit the london assembly. the party asserts that mr hockney has a moral obligation if not a legal one to stand down. its leader roger knapman has said he is glad to see the back of mr kilroy-silk. he has remarkable ability to influence people but sadly after the [european] election it became clear that he was more interested in the robert kilroy-silk party than the uk independence party so it was nice knowing him now goodbye he said. ukip officials also argue mr kilroy-silk has not been straightforward in attacking the party he once wanted to lead. veritas it s the bnp in an expensive suit! it s all well and good robert kilroy-silk claiming that veritas is a party that doesn t believe in lies and spin but the truth of the matter is its completely useless due to proportional representation there is no chance that veritas will have any chance in claiming power and change the two-horse race trend. in my opinion this is just a publicity stunt which has just been used as a smoke-screen for his anti-islamism slurs which got him sacked from the television. i think that his views regarding immigration are shared by many. it really is time that the uk government ceased to be a paper tiger on this issue. in addition as an ashfield constituent i would be more than interested in kilroy -silk opposing geoff hoon!! good to see the parties of the right splintering in the way the parties of the left have always done. let s hope kilroy-silk ukip and the euro-sceptic wing of the tory party all fade further into obscurity so we can have some truth in the debate about europe. we benefit enormously from our membership of the eu we need to be at the heart of europe leading it and driving it to where we as a country want to go not running away from it. all mouth and trousers. a clown. trouble is any votes he collects may just end up helping new labour into a third term. whatever kilroy-silk and ukip do none of their anti-european policies have any relevance outside middle england. this new party might gain support from right-wing england but will have little impact in wales or scotland. hopefully this all this fighting within euro-sceptic parties will allow them to slip out of the way and get people voting for real political parties which address more than one issue. england needs europe to survive and as soon as people realise this the better we can t rely on the usa forever! at last an impetus for increasing the likely 40% turn out for the election. the electorate is disillusioned with british politics. kilroy has one agenda - the uk - and i ll be voting for him. both ukip and rk-s are representatives of small-mindedness and a lack of vision for the whole of humankind. the interests of humanity and the world lie so much beyond the scope of these people s bickering that who in the overall scheme of things really cares about their petty tiff many people believe you kilroy. you may even believe yourself but switching horses midstream and then bad mouthing the steed that got you halfway seriously diminishes your credibility. the very idea of political parties born out of such negative feelings as euroscepticism or british supremacy is nauseating. one can only hope the public recognise these extremists for what they are and shun them at the polls. i ve always thought that kilroy-silk was a self-publicising egotist and this news does absolutely nothing to alter my opinion. brilliant about time this country had a plausible party! having seen the recent bbc 3 documentary and witnessed the thoroughly disgraceful chauvinistic behaviour of a number of senior ukip figures i can well understand why kilroy-silk feels embarrassed to be associated with such people. hopefully the ukip members who are interested in the political debate will support his action. fantastic news. pro-europeans now have far less to worry about from the right. the conservatives are as confused as they have been since the mid-1990s and the extreme anti-europeans are fracturing themselves into splinter groups that split any votes they might get in local european and general elections. robert kilroy-silk s ego and vanity are his own (and his supporters ) worst enemy. as a euro-enthusiast i could not be more delighted by kilroy-silk s behaviour. he took a party that was just building up a head of steam and having exposed it to ridicule by attempting a coup-d etat he is now setting about the serious business of dividing it in two. the closer to straight-down-the-middle the better as far as i am concerned but in any eventuality the two sceptic parties will exhaust their energies fighting each other. if every politician with ambitions to lead their party resorted to forming their own for that purpose we d have ballot papers a mile long! you ve got to hand it to kilroy-silk for his sheer arrogance and supreme self-belief. whilst not being a great fan of kilroy i do agree with his comments about the ukip leadership and like him i am also leaving ukip. i believe countless opportunities have been lost to discredit the eu and to show our people what belonging to the eu really means. the eu s comments last week about michael howard s plans to reform immigration show how little we govern our own country when they can turn round and say immigration is a matter for the eu and not individual member states. the sooner we leave this corrupt super-state the better does anyone else think that it is ironic that euro-sceptic kilroy-silk has used a latin name for his new party rather than a good old british name is this indicative of the man - contradictory vain and pompous i think mr kilroy-silk has got a very good point. british politics has become too pc and as a result has no straight talking honest strong politicians. they are all interested in their own careers and not the people who put them in power. as a result i feel our democracy is being abused and i want it stopped. if mr kilroy-silk lives up to half his promises he will get my vote. honestly who really cares man with tan leaves party with no plan to set up party with no idea. as one of kilroy-silk s east midlands constituents i hope those who voted for him are proud to have been taken in by such charming vacuity. i feel insulted by having him represent me in the european parliament. ukip tried hard to accommodate robert kilroy silk but he made it clear that only control of it would satisfy him. someone so keen on complete control was bound to fall foul of ukip s democratic nature. kilroy is an able communicator and a capable politician in exactly the way those who lead ukip are not. he tried to make it work but they didn t seem to want to grow up. he was left in the position of having to defend their gaffes to the media. this new party seems a logical next step for kilroy. good luck to the man i say. oh please! this is an amusing irrelevance. there is absolutely no chance of either of these parties communicating a sensible and constructive eurosceptic argument. they will play a key part in winning the country round to the idea of a reformed more democratic more dynamic europe union. future generations will thank him for his ridiculousness. the refreshing thing about robert is that he is open honest and straight. what other politician can claim this. i have a suspicion that he talks for a larger part of the electorate that his critics would like. i shall be voting for him. the electorate of the east midlands voted not for kilroy-silk but for the ukip. kilroy-silk was made an mep because of his position on the ukip s party list. he has no mandate to represent the area and should resign from the european parliament. i wouldn t write off kilroy-silk. while he s a clown and a one man band at the moment he s a populist and that s always dangerous.the man clearly has an enormous ego and looking at our current political masters that seems to be one of the factors in success. good luck to kilroy though i think he is doing more harm than good for both his new party and ukip because their vote base is not strong enough for both parties to be successful and at the moment ukip have the upper hand while veritas are starting from square one and fighting a somewhat uphill battle. the man i once found cringe worthy on day time tv could well turn out to be my country s knight in shining armour. he expresses views which are now more than common amongst society today - but people are almost too scared to express them. kilroy silk has secured my vote and many more like me. what s more i look forward to the day when he claims victory wrecks the eu and rescues my great nation... without a hair out of place and his tan as perfect as ever! great stuff. the longer the uk dithers over europe the richer we in ireland become as the only english-speaking country fully committed to europe. oh and send us over those hard-working immigrants - our economy needs them. this is just what the europhiles pray for. as the main eurosceptic party ukip should try to resolve its differences with kilroy to show a united front and give the uk public a serious political voice against europe. having multiple parties with the same view point just splits the vote further. thank goodness that kilroy-silk has gone - now ukip at least has a chance in the election! it is very sad to see the cause of britain regaining its proper relationship with europe damaged by this split within ukip. robert kilroy-silk could have a lot to offer. instead we have a split party and a damaged cause. under the present electoral system people must work together and small parties have no hope of representation. last summer ukip achieved a major advance partly and only partly due to kilroy-silk. it is a great shame this has been dissipated in in-fighting. ukip has a wide platform of policies not just withdrawal from the eu. this kilroy-silk conveniently ignores in the comments surrounding the launch of his own party. neither the english democrats nor the new party were interested in letting him join them and take over their leadership speaks volumes. veritas is the beginning of the end for kilroy-silk. if he believes in truth and democracy then he and the two assembly members should resign and force a by-elections to stand on their own platform rather than this backdoor approach to politics of being elected for one party then defecting to another. so ukip was good enough for him to lead not good enough for him to follow! interesting that a party committed to plain speaking should have a latin name! every opinion poll points to an overwhelming anti-europe feeling in this country. kilroy-silk could be on the verge of something huge if he can broaden his appeal beyond this one issue. he is an extremely able communicator with years of political experience. we wants quality schools top hospitals clean and efficient public transport punishments that fit the crime limited asylum a purge on bureaucracy and less taxes. it needs courage and honesty two qualities sadly lacking in our politicians. kilroy-silk may just have those very qualities. recruit the right colleagues robert and your time may have come! well if you cannot get enough limelight being an ordinary mp then go out and start up your own party. it s all flash and no real policy here let s hope this is the start of both ukip and kilroy-silk slipping into obscurity. veritas the name will doom it. but perhaps i am wrong for surely all modern schoolchildren will understand it since they do still learn latin in the classroom do they not the whole essence of what rks represents is euroscepticism so explain to me how the too-twee label of veritas symbolises that | 4 | politics |
klinsmann issues lehmann warning germany coach jurgen klinsmann has warned goalkeeper jens lehmann he may have to quit arsenal to keep his world cup dreams alive. lehmann is understudy to oliver kahn in the german squad but has lost his place to manuel alumnia at highbury. klinsmann said: it will be difficult for any of our players if he is not a first-choice at his club. if jens is not arsenal s number one keeper that is a problem for me. he must be playing regularly. lehmann is desperate to keep his place in the germany squad when the country hosts the world cup in 2006. klinsmann added: if he is not playing regularly he cannot be germany s number one keeper or even number two keeper. the situation for jens is that he is currently the number two keeper at arsenal. this could be critical if it remains the same during next season. | 2 | sport |
usher leads billboard nominations r&b singer usher is leading the race for the billboard awards with nominations in 13 categories including best male. alicia keys has 12 nominations for the awards which will be held on 8 december at the mgm grand in las vegas. other multiple nominees include maroon5 outkast kanye west r kelly gretchen wilson hoobastank and jay-z. soul singer stevie wonder will receive billboard s century award the magazine s highest honour for creative achievement at the ceremony. the awards will be hosted by american idol presenter ryan seacrest and will feature performances by usher gwen stefani nelly and green day. usher and keys will be battling it out for prizes including artist of the year hot 100 songwriter of the year and billboard 200 album of the year for their respective albums confessions and the diary of alicia keys. maroon5 and outkast are also up for artist of the year while outkast s speakerboxxx/the love below is a finalist for billboard 200 album of the year alongside josh groban s closer. the awards honour the year s leading artists and songs as determined by their performance on billboard s weekly charts. | 3 | entertainment |
crisis ahead in social sciences a national body designed to tackle skills shortages in key subjects should be set up a committee of mps has said. there was an absolute crisis in the recruitment of statisticians and other social science experts the commons science and technology committee added. major problems are expected over the next 10 years as the social science workforce continues to age it said. the committee was reporting on the work strategy and spending plans of the economic social research council. the council aims to promote and support strategic research for social science postgraduates and provide social scientists to meet the needs of the country. it also liaises with the government and industry over their social science needs. in its report on the council s work the committee said: we are deeply concerned by the skills shortages afflicting in particular the qualitative branches of social sciences. this mirrored previous concerns the committee had expressed on shortages in the fields of maths and chemistry it said. it is hard to see how significant progress towards rectifying these shortages can be made through the deployment of economic and social research council s limited resources. if the government is serious about addressing skills shortages in key subjects it needs to find a more effective mechanism to achieve this. a national strategic capabilities fund to address shortages in key areas should be set up in response the committee added. | 4 | politics |
south bank awards honour hit soap coronation street has become the first soap to triumph at the south bank show awards which traditionally reward highbrow and groundbreaking culture. the soap beat fellow itv1 show filthy love and channel 4 s shameless to win the best tv drama prize on thursday. little britain was named best comedy while franz ferdinand beat morrissey and the libertines to the music award. shane meadows dead man s shoes picked up the best film award beating shaun of the dead and my summer of love. the two award ceremonies reflect the achievements the industry believes have been made in the last year. in 2004 coronation street pulled away from its bbc one rival eastenders in the ratings and dominated other tv awards. last year the south bank award for best tv drama went to steven poliakoff s period piece the lost prince while bloody sunday about the 1972 killings in northern ireland won in 2003. in other south bank categories little britain s second series beat nighty night and the green wing to the comedy trophy while alan bennett s the history boys won in the theatre category. author david mitchell made up for losing out in the booker prize to alan hollinghurst by beating him to the literary award with his book cloud atlas. shameless state of play and clocking off creator paul abbott got a lifetime achievement award while former grange hill actress amma asante won the breakthrough award for writing and directing her first film a way of life. | 3 | entertainment |
fa decides not to punish mourinho the football association will take no action against chelsea boss jose mourinho following his sending-off in sunday s carling cup final. mourinho who was sent from the touchline for appearing to taunt liverpool fans has been reminded of his responsibilities to the game . but the fa confirmed: there will be no further action taken in this matter. mourinho claimed his silence gesture was aimed at the media although they were on the other side of the ground. the former porto coach was forced to watch the climax of his side s 3-2 victory over liverpool on television after being ushered away from the touchline by fourth official phil crossley. his gesture came after chelsea s equaliser on 79 minutes courtesy of a steven gerrard own goal. mourinho still faces an fa investigation into his allegation that manchester united s players cheated during january s carling cup semi-final at stamford bridge. and uefa could also launch disciplinary action following mourinho s failure to attend a compulsory post-match press conference after chelsea s champions league defeat at barcelona last week. in addition some time this month chelsea must also answer a charge of failing to control their players during the premiership win at blackburn in february. and a charge of failing to control their supporters following a carling cup meeting with west ham earlier this season is still to be heard. the premier league is also continuing investigations into allegations chelsea officials tapped up arsenal defender ashley cole in january. | 2 | sport |
irish markets reach all-time high irish shares have risen to a record high with investors persuaded to buy into the market by low inflation and strong growth forecasts. the iseq index of leading shares closed up 23 points to 6661.89 on thursday fuelled by strong growth in banking and financial stocks. a fall in the rate of inflation to 2.3% in january gave a fresh boost to shares which have advanced 4% this month. the economy is set for strong growth in 2005 while interest rates remain low. several of ireland s biggest companies saw their market value hit recent highs on thursday. allied irish banks ireland s biggest company by capitalisation touched a five year peak while bank of ireland shares rose to their highest level since august 2002. telecoms firm eircom which recently revealed that it would re-enter the irish mobile phone market hit a yearly high. analysts said that economic conditions were benign and irish shares were still trading at a discount to other european markets. ireland ticks all the boxes as far as international investors are concerned roy asher chief investment officer of hibernian investment managers told reuters. buoyant economic conditions are set to continue in ireland over the next few years and irish equities continue to offer quality growth at a reasonable valuation. bernard mcalinden head of equity research at ncb stockbrokers said equities represented good value compared to other investments. it is still looking good he told reuters. we have seen good economic data on ireland which benefits the financial stocks. ireland s economic miracle is enjoying a second wind with 5% growth forecast for 2005 and 2006. the economy cooled markedly between 2001 and 2003 after enjoying spectacular growth of more than 10% in 2000. however it has bounced back strongly with growth of just under 5% expected in 2004. | 1 | business |
hunt demo at labour meeting pro-hunt supporters are set to protest at labour s spring conference. the countryside alliance says it expects up to 4 000 supporters to demonstrate against the hunting ban. they have agreed to keep to a demonstration site on the other side of the river tyne from the conference venue in gateshead. a bid to overturn the law banning hunting with dogs in england and wales has begun in the court of appeal. the ban comes into force on 18 february. the court of appeal is expected to rule early next week on whether the alliance s challenge has succeeded. richard dodd regional director of the countryside alliance said he expected between 2 000 and 4 000 supporters in tyneside to make their protest with hunt horns and placards. campaigners have been asked not to bring any animals or alcohol. mr dodd said he did not believe there would be any repeat of the trouble which marred the pro-hunt demonstration outside parliament in september. we are holding a static demonstration just to remind labour that we are not going away he said. northumbria police said the pedestrian millennium bridge by the demonstration site will be shut if necessary. but assistant chief constable david warcup has liaised with several protest groups and said all negotiations had gone well. fathers 4 justice pensioners rights activists and stop the war campaigners were also expected to demonstrate during the three-day conference which starts on friday. pro-hunt campaigners claims the 1949 parliament act - which extends the right of the house of commons to overrule the house of lords - was itself invalid because it was never passed by peers. the high court last month ruled the act was valid and the proposed hunting ban was lawful. pro-hunt supporters formally launched their second legal challenge to the ban in london s high court on thursday. the countryside alliance has lodged papers seeking a judicial review on human rights grounds. animal welfare groups have welcomed the ban many of whom have campaigned for a ban for decades saying hunting is cruel and unnecessary. | 4 | politics |
sony psp console hits us in march us gamers will be able to buy sony s playstation portable from 24 march but there is no news of a europe debut. the handheld console will go on sale for $250 (£132) and the first million sold will come with spider-man 2 on umd the disc format for the machine. sony has billed the machine as the walkman of the 21st century and has sold more than 800 000 units in japan. the console (12cm by 7.4cm) will play games movies and music and also offers support for wireless gaming. sony is entering a market which has been dominated by nintendo for many years. it launched its ds handheld in japan and the us last year and has sold 2.8 million units. sony has said it wanted to launch the psp in europe at roughly the same time as the us but gamers will now fear that the launch has been put back. nintendo has said it will release the ds in europe from 11 march. it has gaming at its core but it s not a gaming device. it s an entertainment device said kaz hirai president of sony computer entertainment america. | 0 | tech |
cole refuses to blame van persie ashley cole has refused to blame robin van persie for leaving arsenal with no fully-fit strikers for the fa cup fifth round replay at sheffield united. van persie is suspended alongside dennis bergkamp and jose antonio reyes after being sent off at southampton when arsenal had a numerical advantage. thierry henry is ruled out with an achilles tendon injury but cole said: no-one is putting the blame on robin. it s just something that happens on the spur of the moment. cole added: i ve done it before and i hope they didn t blame me for anything. of course he ll learn. i ve been sent off a couple of times now and it s just one of those things when you go a bit crazy for one or two seconds. freddie ljungberg is likely to be used in an emergency striking role and will be partnered by either arturo lupoli quincy owusu-abeyie or jeremie aliadiere. gunners boss arsene wenger said: freddie is an option but we need a second striker. i have to decide whether it will be aliadiere quincy or lupoli who will start with him up front. those three will be involved. arsenal are also without winger robert pires who sustained an ankle injury at st mary s. wenger added: it doesn t look like anything is fractured but it is a good ankle sprain. it does not look like pires will be ready for two to three weeks. | 2 | sport |
economy strong in election year uk businesses are set to prosper during the next few months - but this could trigger more interest rate rises according to a report. optimism is at its highest since 1997 and business will reap the benefits of a continuing rise in public spending say researchers at bdo stoy hayward. the bank of england is expected to keep rates on hold this week - but they could go up later in the year. rates are likely to rise after the anticipated general election in may. the bdo optimism index - a leading indicator of gdp growth two quarters ahead edged up in january to 102.5 from 102.2 in october. the rise is due in part to an increase in public spending and increased merger and acquisition activity. the only thing blighting business optimism this year will be uncertainties associated with the general election bdo said. its bdo s output index - which predicts gdp movements a quarter in advance - remained at 100.8 for january implying gdp growth at 2.9% in the second quarter of 2005. however the output index is being held back by recent interest rate rises sterling s strength against the dollar and high oil prices the group noted. its inflation index which has risen continuously over the last 8 months climbed to 110.0 in january from 108.0 in october last year. the uk is looking strong going into the general election but businesses need to prepare themselves for a jolt ahead as the bank of england reacts to growth and inflationary pressures said peter hemington partner at bdo stoy hayward. growth will probably slow by the end of 2005 and it is likely that we will see higher interest rates or a sharp drop in demand for products and services. | 1 | business |
godzilla gets hollywood fame star movie monster godzilla has received a star on hollywood s walk of fame honouring both his 50th birthday and the launch of his 28th film. an actor dressed as the giant creature breathed smoke over photographers on monday as godzilla received the 2 271st star on hollywood boulevard. godzilla should thank you for this historical and monumental star said final wars producer shogo tomiyama. but unfortunately he cannot speak english he added. hollywood s honorary mayor johnny grant said: i do hereby proclaim this godzilla day in hollywood. he s loose he s wild and i m getting the hell out of here he added. the premiere of godzilla: final wars at grauman s chinese theatre followed the ceremony on hollywood boulevard. the monster was joined by co-stars including japanese pop star and actor masahiro matsuoka. director ryuhei kitamura said it may not be godzilla s final outing as it has been billed. that s what the producers say. but the producer s a liar he said. [godzilla s] been working for the last 50 years. so i think godzilla just deserves a vacation. and producer shogo tomiyama added: so long as godzilla can fascinate people i believe he will be resurrected by new generations of filmmakers in the future. godzilla first appeared in 1954 as a prehistoric lizard woken by atomic bomb tests. | 3 | entertainment |
ocean s twelve raids box office ocean s twelve the crime caper sequel starring george clooney brad pitt and julia roberts has gone straight to number one in the us box office chart. it took $40.8m (£21m) in weekend ticket sales according to studio estimates. the sequel follows the master criminals as they try to pull off three major heists across europe. it knocked last week s number one national treasure into third place. wesley snipes blade: trinity was in second taking $16.1m (£8.4m). rounding out the top five was animated fable the polar express starring tom hanks and festive comedy christmas with the kranks. ocean s twelve box office triumph marks the fourth-biggest opening for a december release in the us after the three films in the lord of the rings trilogy. the sequel narrowly beat its 2001 predecessor ocean s eleven which took $38.1m (£19.8m) on its opening weekend and $184m (£95.8m) in total. a remake of the 1960s film starring frank sinatra and the rat pack ocean s eleven was directed by oscar-winning director steven soderbergh. soderbergh returns to direct the hit sequel which reunites clooney pitt and roberts with matt damon andy garcia and elliott gould. catherine zeta-jones joins the all-star cast. it s just a fun good holiday movie said dan fellman president of distribution at warner bros. however us critics were less complimentary about the $110m (£57.2m) project with the los angeles times labelling it a dispiriting vanity project . a milder review in the new york times dubbed the sequel unabashedly trivial . | 3 | entertainment |
talks aim to avert pension strike talks aimed at averting a series of national strikes over pensions reforms will take place this weekend. five public sector unions will hold private talks with deputy prime minister john prescott at labour s spring conference in gateshead. they want the government to withdraw regulations - due to be introduced in weeks - which would raise the pension age for council workers from 60 to 65. up to 1.4m workers could take part in a strike already earmarked for 23 march. however all sides are anxious to avoid a major confrontation in the run up to the general election said bbc labour affairs correspondent stephen cape. in four days britain s biggest union unison will start balloting 800 000 local government workers on strikes. other public sector unions have pledged to follow. it is just weeks before new regulations are introduced to raise the pension age of local government workers. the five unions meeting mr prescott want the government to withdraw these regulations. this would allow months of tough negotiations to follow said our correspondent. but a spokesman for mr prescott warned that the changes to the local government pension scheme would have to go ahead in april. privately ministers believe this will be the less painful option our correspondent added. the public and commercial services union (pcs) will co-ordinate any industrial action with up to six other public sector unions. pcs leader mark serwotka warned last week that there could be further walkouts unless there was a government rethink. for a government that lectures everyone on choice - choice on public service choice on this and choice on that - isn t it ironic that they re saying to public sector workers there is no choice he said. if you want the pension you were promised when you started you must work for an extra five years - that is working until people drop. in the 20th century it s completely unacceptable. unison s 800 000 workers the transport and general workers union s 70 000 and amicus 20 000 are among those being balloted about a 23 march walkout. mr prescott held a private meeting with senior union figures last week. it is understood no deal was offered in that meeting but there was room for further negotiations. | 4 | politics |
yukos heading back to us courts russian oil and gas company yukos is due in a us court on thursday as it continues to fight for its survival. the firm is in the process of being broken up by russian authorities in order to pay a $27bn (£14bn) tax bill. yukos filed for bankruptcy in the us hoping to use international business law to halt the forced sale of its key oil production unit yuganskneftegas. the unit was however sold for $9.4bn to state oil firm rosneft but only after the state auction had been disrupted. yukos lawyers now say the auction violated us bankruptcy law. the company and its main shareholders have vowed to go after any company that buys its assets using all and every legal means. the company wants damages of $20bn claiming yuganskneftegas was sold at less than market value. judge letitia clark will hear different motions including one from deutsche bank to throw out the chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. the german lender is one of six banks that were barred from providing financing to gazprom the russian state-owned company that was expected to win the auction for yuganskneftegas. deutsche bank which is also an advisor to gazprom has called on the us court to overturn its decision to provide yukos with bankruptcy protection. lifting the injunction would remove the uncertainty that surrounds the court case and clarify deutsche bank s business position analysts said. analysts are not optimistic about yukos chances in court. russian president vladimir putin and the country s legal authorities have repeatedly said that the us has no jurisdiction over yukos and its legal wranglings. on top of that the firm only has limited assets in the us. yukos has won small victories however and is bullish about its chances in court. do we have an ability to influence what happens we think we do said mike lake a yukos spokesman. the litigation risks are real said credit suisse first boston analyst vadim mitroshin the dispute with the russian authorities is partly driven by president putin s clampdown on the political ambitions of ex-yukos boss mikhail khodorkovsky. mr khodorkovsky is in jail on charges of fraud and tax evasion. | 1 | business |
slater to star in broadway play actor christian slater is stepping into the role of tom in the broadway revival of the glass menagerie. slater 35 is replacing actor dallas roberts in the tennessee williams drama which opens next month. no reason was given for roberts departure. the role will be played by understudy joey collins until slater joins the show. slater won rave reviews for his recent performance in one flew over the cuckoo s nest in london s west end. he has also starred in a number of films including heathers robin hood: prince of thieves and more recently churchill: the hollywood years. preview performances of the glass menagerie will begin at new york s ethel barrymore theatre on thursday. philip rinaldi a spokesman for the show said the play s 15 march opening date remains unchanged. the revival directed by david leveaux will also star jessica lange as the domineering mother amanda wingfield. | 3 | entertainment |
mps murder sentence concern murder sentences should not be reduced automatically simply because of a guilty plea says a new mps report. the influential commons home affairs committee was responding to sentencing guidelines issued this summer. the mps also call for tougher sentences for crimes committed under the influence of drink or drugs. they say the influence of drugs and alcohol should be introduced as an aggravating factor when judges and magistrates sentence offenders. committee chairman john denham said drugs of alcohol were sometimes used as an excuse. the committee believes that these arguments should be rejected by sentencers and that being under their influence should instead be an aggravating factor. at present judges when sentencing murderers to the mandatory life sentence can reduce the tariff - the minimum term they must serve - if the defendant pleads guilty. but although they are spared the ordeal of a trial many murder victims relatives are unhappy. in july this year amanda champion s killer james ford pleaded guilty to her murder and was jailed for at least 15 years - it would have been longer had he denied the charge. amanda s uncle lewis champion told the bbc news website ford did not deserve any credit for his plea saying: nothing at all is worth taking five years off a murder sentence. mps criticised home secretary david blunkett last year for introducing last-minute rules allowing reduced sentences for murderers who pleaded guilty. the measures passed into law virtually unnoticed after mr blunkett introduced them at a late stage of the criminal justice bill. as a result says the committee the government may need to re-legislate to remove ambiguity over how murderers should be sentenced. it is also calling on the senior judge in england and wales lord woolf to abandon draft guidelines he proposed in september to reduce sentences of murderers who plead guilty. the committee said the plans had not reflected the public disquiet expressed over the possibility of significantly reduced prison terms for murderers. lord woolf s sentencing guidelines council (sgc) caused further controversy by suggesting a one third discount off sentences for early guilty pleas in all types of crime. as a result murderers who face a 15-year tariff could get five years knocked off if they give themselves up to the police. mr denham believes the sgc should reconsider its proposals to reflect parliament s wish that murder should be treated as a separate and especially grave category of offence. he said: we want to see sentencers advised that in the case of murder reduction in sentence for a guilty plea should not normally be granted in addition to reductions for other mitigating circumstances. but a spokesman for the home office defended the proposals. he said: by making express provision for murder tariffs in the criminal justice act parliament sent a clear signal that it expects murder to be treated differently to other offences. we stand by the provisions in the act that cover guilty plea discounts which have potential benefits for victims and witnesses of avoiding the trauma of a trial. shadow home secretary david davis echoed criticisms of the way mr blunkett introduced the murder tariff rules. there is genuine concern about potential reductions in murder sentences - such action sends out the wrong signals to violent criminals and completely undermines the government s claim to be tough on crime he said. but liberal democrat spokesman mark oaten warned the mps committee that binding judges too much might look like political interference. the danger of having a prescriptive approach is that whilst every murder is awful it is also different he told bbc news. | 4 | politics |
iranian mps threaten mobile deal turkey s biggest private mobile firm could bail out of a $3bn ($1.6bn) deal to build a network in iran after mps there slashed its stake in the project. conservatives in parliament say turkcell s stake in irancell the new network should be cut from 70% to 49%. they have already given themselves a veto over all foreign investment deals following allegations about turkish firms involvement in israel. turkcell now says it may give up on the deal altogether. iran currently has only one heavily congested mobile network with long waiting lists for new subscribers. turkcell signed a contract for the new network in september. the new operator planned to offer subscriptions for about $180 well below the existing firm s $500 price tag. but a parliamentary commission has now ruled that turkcell s 70% controlling stake is too high. they say that turkcell is a security risk because of alleged business ties with israel. parliament as a whole - dominated by religious conservatives - will vote on the ruling on tuesday. turkcell said the ruling would make more difficult... turkcell s financial consolidation of irancell because its stake would be reduced to less than 50%. if management control and financial consolidation of irancell cannot be achieved... the realisation of the project will become risky it warned in a statement. the firm has refused to comment on whether it has business dealings in israel although like almost all gsm operators worldwide it has an interconnection deal with israeli networks so that its customers can use their phones there. the two countries strengthened ties in both defence and economic issues in 2004. israeli industry minister ehud olmert was reported in june to have attended a meeting between ruhi dogusoy turkcell s chief operating officer and executives from israeli telecoms firms. telecoms is one of two areas specifically targeted by the new veto law on foreign investments passed earlier in september. the other is airports a source of controversy after the army closed tehran s new imam khomeini international airport on its opening day in may 2004. again the allegation was that the part-turkish tav consortium which built and ran it had links with israel. | 1 | business |
astrazeneca hit by drug failure shares in anglo-swedish drug have closed down 8% in uk trade after the failure of its iressa drug in a major clinical trial. the lung cancer drug did not significantly prolong survival in patients with the disease. this setback for the group follows the rejection by the us in october of its anti-coagulant pill exanta. meanwhile another of its major money spinners - cholesterol drug crestor - is facing mounting safety concerns. this would be two of the three blockbuster drugs that were meant to power the company forward failing... and we ve got risks on crestor said nick turner analyst at brokers jefferies. astrazeneca had hoped to pitch its iressa drug against rival medicine tarceva. but iressa proved no better than a placebo in extending lives in the trial involving 1 692 patients. tarceva - made by osi pharmaceuticals genentech and roche - has already proved to be successful in helping prolong the life of lung cancer patients. aztrazeneca has now appointed a new executive director to the board. john patterson will be in charge of drug development. the company said mr patterson would make substantial changes to the clinical organisation and its processes . i am determined to improve our development and regulatory performance restore confidence in the company and value to shareholders said chief executive tom mckillop. | 1 | business |
whitehall shredding increasing - tories civil servants have drastically stepped up the shredding of official documents figures compiled by the tories suggest. some government departments had doubled the number of documents being shredded ahead of the freedom of information act s implementation on 1 january. departments for defence environment and trade which had all increased file destruction said they were following rules governing public records. but the tories want the information commissioner to investigate. the freedom of information act will for the first time give members of the public access to government records previously kept secret for 30 years. but bbc political correspondent james hardy said the prospect of outsiders poking their noses into the inner workings of whitehall appeared to be causing jitters among the mandarins. liberal democrat alan beith - who chairs the select committee which monitors the department of constitutional affairs - said if the claims were true whitehall was acting entirely against the spirit of the new act . both the information commissioner and the select committee will have to keep this issue under very close scrutiny. fellow lib dem norman baker said the episode painted an unflattering picture of the inner workings of government . it is clear that the government s initial enthusiasm for open government has turned to self-serving cynicism. dr julian lewis the conservative spokesman for the cabinet office said he had discovered a huge acceleration in shredding from a series of parliamentary answers. the department of work and pensions destroyed nearly 37 000 files last year - up 22 000 on four years ago when the act was passed. the number of files destroyed by the ministry of defence and the departments of environment food and rural affairs and trade and industry has also risen dramatically. dr lewis has called for an investigation by the information commissioner richard thomas. earlier this week mr thomas said he was looking into cabinet office orders telling staff to delete e-mails more than three months old. he said he totally condemned the deletion of e-mails to prevent their disclosure under freedom of information laws coming into force on 1 january. government guidance said e-mails should only be deleted if they served no current purpose mr thomas said. a cabinet office spokeswoman said the move was not about the new laws or the destruction of important records . the freedom of information act will cover england wales and northern ireland from next year. similar measures are being brought in at the same time in scotland. it provides the public with a right of access to information held by about 100 000 public bodies subject to various exemptions. | 4 | politics |
cup holders man utd visit everton holders manchester united and premiership leaders chelsea both face difficult away ties against premiership opposition in the fa cup fifth round. united were drawn against everton while chelsea face a trip to newcastle. brentford and hartlepool - the only sides left from outside the top two divisions - will replay for the right to travel to southampton. burnley s reward for a place in the last 16 was a home tie against lancashire rivals blackburn. the tie between manchester united and everton could see the return of teenage striker wayne rooney to his former club for the first time since his acrimonious £27m move. nottingham forest boss gary megson could face a trip back to old club west brom if they come through their fourth-round replay against tottenham. arsenal were handed a potential home tie against fellow londoners west ham providing the hammers come through their replay against sheffield united. charlton will play leicester and bolton await the winners of the derby-fulham replay. : bolton v derby or fulham west bromwich albion or tottenham v nottingham forest everton v manchester united charlton athletic v leicester city burnley v blackburn southampton v brentford or hartlepool newcastle v chelsea arsenal v west ham or sheffield united ties to be played on 19/20 february. | 2 | sport |
jones medals must go if guilty world anti-doping agency (wada) chief dick pound says marion jones should be stripped of all her medals if found guilty of taking banned substances. victor conte of balco laboratories claims the american sprinter regularly used drugs to enhance her performance. if she is found guilty she should be stripped of all her medals and banned for two years said pound. asked if there was a timescale as to what medals could be taken pound said: that is not an issue at all. however under international olympic committee (ioc) rules athletes can only be stripped of their medals if caught within three years of the event. jones who won five medals at the 2000 olympics denies using drugs and says she will take legal action over conte s allegations. balco laboratories is the firm at the centre of a wide-reaching investigation into doping in the us. pound continued: if she has indeed taken drugs it is going to be a big disappointment for a lot of people. | 2 | sport |
tories pledge free sports lessons children would be offered two hours free sports training a week by a future tory government the party has said. the club2school policy would provide up to £250m yearly for local sports clubs in the uk to deliver after-school sport. the extra coaching would be funded by the national lottery and would come on top of the two hours of sport a week children are supposed to get in school. shadow home secretary david davis said five million children were being denied adequate sporting opportunities. the plans would help tackle the fastest growing rate of obesity in the developed world he said. shadow sports minister lord moynihan said the policy would empower local clubs and create a lasting legacy. we aim to shift the emphasis on after-school sport provision away from our overstretched teachers and schools directly in to the 151 000 sports clubs in the uk. the tories say labour s plans to give all children two hours of sports lessons a week in schools have failed. government figures show that in england in 2002 only a third of schools at key stages 1 3 and 4 and two-fifths of schools at key stage 2 met that target. the tories also claim that of the £750m the prime minister pledged in 2000 to invest on school sports facilities only £41m had been spent. but the big lottery fund has said that complex capital projects are involved - and it was confident the money would all be allocated by next year as intended. | 4 | politics |
looks and music to drive mobiles mobile phones are still enjoying a boom time in sales according to research from technology analysts gartner. more than 674 million mobiles were sold last year globally said the report the highest total sold to date. the figure was 30% more than in 2003 and surpassed even the most optimistic predictions gartner said. good design and the look of a mobile as well as new services such as music downloads could go some way to pushing up sales in 2005 said analysts. although people were still looking for better replacement phones there was evidence according to gartner that some markets were seeing a slow-down in replacement sales. all the markets grew apart from japan which shows that replacement sales are continuing in western europe mobile analyst carolina milanesi told the bbc news website. japan is where north america and western european markets can be in a couple of years time. they already have tv music ringtones cameras and all that we can think of on mobiles so people have stopped buying replacement phones. but there could be a slight slowdown in sales in european and us markets too according to gartner as people wait to see what comes next in mobile technology. this means mobile companies have to think carefully about what they are offering in new models so that people see a compelling reason to upgrade said gartner. third generation mobiles (3g) with the ability to handle large amounts of data transfer like video could drive people into upgrading their phones but ms milanesi said it was difficult to say how quickly that would happen. at the end of the day people have cameras and colour screens on mobiles and for the majority of people out there who don t really care about technology the speed of data to a phone is not critical. nor would the rush to produce two or three megapixel camera phones be a reason for mobile owners to upgrade on its own. the majority of camera phone models are not at the stage where they can compete with digital cameras which also have flashes and zooms. more likely to drive sales in 2005 would be the attention to design and aesthetics as well as music services. the motorola razr v3 phone was typical of the attention to design that would be more commonplace in 2005 she added. this was not a women s thing she said but a desire from men and women to have a gadget that is a form of self-expression too. it was not just about how the phone functioned but about what it said about its owner. western europe has always been a market which is quite attentive to design said ms milanesi. people are after something that is nice-looking and together with that there is the entertainment side. this year music will have a part to play in this. the market for full-track music downloads was worth just $20 million (£10.5 million) in 2004 but is set to be worth $1.8 billion (£94 million) by 2009 according to juniper research. sony ericsson just released its walkman branded mobile phone the w800 which combines a digital music player with up to 30 hours battery life and a two megapixel camera. in july last year motorola and apple announced a version of itunes online music downloading service would be released which would be compatible with motorola mobile phones. apple said the new itunes music player would become motorola s standard music application for its music phones. but the challenge will be balancing storage capacity with battery life if mobile music hopes to compete with digital music players like the ipod. ms milanesi said more models would likely be released in the coming year with hard drives. but they would be more likely to compete with the smaller capacity music players that have around four gigabyte storage capacity which would not put too much strain on battery life. | 0 | tech |
lewis-francis eyeing world gold mark lewis-francis says his olympic success has made him determined to bag world championship 100m gold in 2005. the 22-year-old pipped maurice greene on the last leg of the 4x100m relay in athens to take top honours for team gb. but individually the birchfield harrier has yet to build on his world junior championship win four years ago. the gold medal in athens has made me realise that i can get to the top level and i want to get there again. it can happen i don t see why not he said. lewis-francis has still to decided what events will feature in his build-up to the worlds - with one exception. he has confirmed his participation in the norwich union grand prix in birmingham on 18 february where he will take on another member of britain s victorious men s relay team - jason gardener - over 60m. he added: it s a bit too early to make any predictions for helsinki but i have my eyes open and i know i can be the best in the world. | 2 | sport |
golden economic period to end ten years of golden economic performance may come to an end in 2005 with growth slowing markedly city consultancy deloitte has warned. the uk economy could suffer a backlash from the slowdown in the housing market triggering a fall in consumer spending and a rise in unemployment. deloitte is forecasting economic growth of 2% this year below chancellor gordon brown s forecast of 3% to 3.5%. it also believes that interest rates will fall to 4% by the end of the year. in its quarterly economic review deloitte said the uk economy had enjoyed a golden period during the past decade with unemployment falling to a near 30 year low and inflation at its lowest since the 1960s. but it warned that this growth had been achieved at the expense of creating major imbalances in the economy. deloitte s chief economic advisor roger bootle said: the biggest hit of all is set to come from the housing market which has already embarked on a major slowdown. whereas the main driver of the economy in recent years has been robust household spending growth this is likely to suffer as the housing market slowdown gathers pace. economic growth is likely to be constrained during the next few years by increased pressure on household budgets and rising taxes deloitte believes. gordon brown will need to raise about $10bn a year in order to sustain the public finances in the short term the firm claims. this will result in a marked slowdown in growth in 2005 and 2006 compared to last year when the economy expanded by 3.25%. however deloitte stressed that the slowdown was unlikely to have any major impact on retail prices while it expected the bank of england to respond quickly to signs of the economy faltering. it expects a series of aggressive interest rate cuts over the next two years with the cost of borrowing falling from its current 4.75% mark to 3.5% by the end of 2006. although 2005 may not be the year when things go completely wrong it will probably mark the start of a more difficult period for the uk economy mr bootle. | 1 | business |
best person for top legal job the best person for the job should be appointed lord chancellor and not necessarily a lawyer or mp the courts minister has told mps. under reforms the post of lord chancellor is to be stripped of its judicial functions. the lord chancellor...no more needs to be a lawyer than the secretary of health needs to be a doctor said courts minister christopher leslie. the constitutional reform bill was entering its second reading on monday. mr leslie said: the prime minister should be able to appoint the best person for the job whether they sit in the house of lords or the house of commons. under the reforms the law lords will also be replaced as the uk s highest legal authority by a supreme court and judges will be appointed by an independent panel rather than ministers. in december the lords rejected a plea by current lord chancellor lord falconer that the holder of the job should not necessarily be a lawyer or a peer. the peers voted by 229 to 206 to say in law that lord chancellors must also be peers. the debate was carried over from the last parliamentary session but with an impending general election time is crucial for the government to get the bill passed. mr leslie said it was irrelevant whether the post was called secretary of state for constitutional affairs or lord chancellor. he said: what matters most is...whether it is reformed so that the post holder no longer has those conflicting duties. it is no longer appropriate for a government minister to have such unfettered discretion in the appointment of judges. shadow attorney general dominic grieve criticised the government on its plans to change what he said was an exceptional institution providing a champion of the independence of the judiciary . the government had initially proposed to take this institution and smash it to pieces mr grieve said. convention should be nurtured and celebrated but the government distrusted and disliked it instead. he warned that unless ministers backed down over the lord chancellor remaining a member of the house of lords the government would have great difficulty in getting the bill through parliament. former cabinet minister douglas hogg whose father and grandfather served as lord chancellor said the bill was largely unnecessary bureaucratic and expensive . but the tory mp for sleaford and north hykeham admitted the lord chancellor s role and office cannot be frozen in aspic . | 4 | politics |
henry tipped for fifa award fifa president sepp blatter hopes arsenal s thierry henry will be named world player of the year on monday. henry is on the fifa shortlist with barcelona s ronaldinho and newly-crowned european footballer of the year ac milan s andriy shevchenko. blatter said: henry for me is the personality on the field. he is the man who can run and organise the game. the winner of the accolade will be named at a glittering ceremony at zurich s opera house. the three shortlisted candidates for the women s award are mia hamm of the united states germany s birgit prinz and brazilian youngster marta. hamm who recently retired - is looking to regain the women s award which she lost last year to striker prinz. fifa has changed the panel of voters for this year s awards. male and female captains of every national team will be able to vote as well as their coaches and fipro - the global organisation for professional players. | 2 | sport |
the ticking budget facing the us the budget proposals laid out by the administration of us president george w bush are highly controversial. the washington-based economic policy institute which tends to be critical of the president looks at possible fault lines. us politicians and citizens of all political persuasions are in for a dose of shock therapy. without major changes in current policies and political prejudices the federal budget simply cannot hold together. news coverage of the bush budget will be dominated by debates about spending cuts but the fact is these will be large cuts in small programs. from the standpoint of the big fiscal trends the cuts are gratuitous and the big budget train wreck is yet to come. under direct threat will be the federal government s ability to make good on its debts to the social security trust fund. as soon as 2018 the fund will begin to require some cash returns on its bond holdings in order to finance all promised benefits. the trigger for the coming shock will be rising federal debt which will grow in 10 years by conservative estimates to more than half the nation s total annual output. this upward trend will force increased borrowing by the federal government putting upward pressure on interest rates faced by consumers and business. even now a growing share of us borrowing is from abroad. the us government cannot finance its operations without heavy borrowing from the central banks of japan and china among other nations. this does not bode well for us influence in the world. the decline of the dollar is a warning sign that current economic trends cannot continue. the dollar is already sinking. before too long credit markets are likely to react and interest rates will creep upwards. that will be the shock. interest-sensitive industries will feel pain immediately - sectors such as housing automobiles other consumer durables agriculture and small business. some will recall the news footage of angry farmers driving their heavy equipment around the us capitol in the late 1970s. there will be no need for constitutional amendments to balance the budget. the public outcry will force congress to act. whether it will act wisely is another matter. how did this happen by definition the deficit means too little revenue and too much spending - but this neutral description doesn t adequately capture the current situation. federal revenues are at 1950s levels while spending remains where it has been in recent decades - much higher. in addition the united states has two significant military missions. the bush administration s chosen remedy is the least feasible one. reducing domestic spending or eliminating waste fraud and abuse is toothless because this slice of the budget is too small to solve the problem. indeed if congress were rash enough to balance the budget in this way there would hardly be any such spending left. law enforcement space exploration environmental clean-up economic development the small business administration housing veterans benefits aid to state and local governments would all but disappear. it s fantasy to think these routine government functions could be slashed. the biggest spending growth areas are defence (including homeland security) and health care for the elderly and the poor. to some extent increases in these areas are inevitable. the us population is aging and the nation does face genuine threats in the world. but serious savings can only be found where the big money is. savings in health care spending that do not come at the expense of health can only be achieved with wholesale reform of the entire system public and private. brute force budget cuts or spending caps would ill-serve the nation s elderly and indigent. on the revenue side the lion s share of revenue lost to tax cuts enacted since 2000 will have to be replaced. some rearranging could hold many people harmless and focus most of the pain on those with relatively high incomes. finally blind allegiance to a balanced budget will have to be abandoned. there is no good reason to fixate on it anyway. moderate deficits and slowly rising federal debt can be sustained indefinitely. borrowing for investments in education and infrastructure that pay off in future years makes sense. the sooner we face that reality the sooner workable reforms can be pursued. first on the list should be tax reform to raise revenue simplify the tax code and restore some fairness eroded by the bush tax cuts. second should be a dispassionate re-evaluation of the huge increase in defence spending over the past three years much of it unrelated to afghanistan iraq or terrorism. third must be the start of a serious debate on large-scale health care reform. one thing is certain - destroying the budget in order to save it is not going to equip the us economy and government for the challenges of this new century. | 1 | business |
llewellyn plans wales retirement wales record cap holder gareth llewellyn will retire from test rugby at the end of the six nations. the veteran lock who is 36 at the end of february told bbc wales scrum v that it is time for him to bring down the curtain on his 92-cap wales career. llewellyn is on a one-season deal with french club side narbonne but said he may consider retiring from all rugby. i don t know what i ll do next year whether to carry on playing or make a change in my career llewellyn said. narbonne are really keen for me to stay on for next year so i ve got to decide whether to stay on there or maybe go somewhere else but ultimitely coaching is where i d like to end up. i ve done all the coaching awards and everything you can do in that respect so it s just hopefully getting a chance somewhere. fellow locks robert sidoli and brent cockbain who both scored tries in saturday s six nations win in italy are wales coach mike ruddock s preferred starters in the second row. with the resurgence of the dragons ian gough and the adaptibility of lock-cum-flanker jon thomas on the bench llewellyn has not yet made a match-day squad this six nations campaign. but the former neath and ospreys player is still targetting one last outing in the red shirt. if i do get on the field then brilliant although the boys are doing really well and i m very pleased for them llewellyn added. we ve had some really tough years in wales and the players have been through a hell of a lot. sometimes the easiest thing would have been to throw the towel in and walk away but a few of us dug in there and it s really nice to see some of the boys getting the rewards now. i was going to retire at the end of the last six nations i d even told some of the boys in the squad about it. but mike (ruddock) asked me to carry on for another season which i ve done still part of the squad still trying to help them out as much as i can. llewellyn made his wales debut in 1989 against new zealand as a 20-year-old having caught the selectors eyes in the all blacks tour match against neath. the 6ft 6in player has not looked back since going on to break neil jenkins wales cap record on 12 june 2004 in the 50-44 loss in argentina. there s been lots of highs - winning the six nations in 94 beating england in 93 i ve been on some great tours and seen some fantastic countries llewellyn said. but i think the best thing of all for me was the time i spent with the players i ve met some great guys in rugby and made some great friends. it ll be a bit strange on international days having to find somewhere to watch wales play but at least i might have time to get my golf handicap down! llewellyn captained neath for seven seasons while being an integral part of the neath-swansea ospreys regional side s first season. but with the ospreys building for the future llewellyn was eventually forced to look to france for employment - digging in his heels during contract negotiations to insist he must be allowed to play for wales. | 2 | sport |
royal couple watch nation s mood prince charles and camilla parker bowles are awaiting the nation s reaction after announcing they are to be married on 8 april. mrs parker bowles will take the title hrh duchess of cornwall after a civil ceremony to be held at windsor castle. a daily telegraph poll of 1 313 people suggests two-thirds of britons support the couple s decision to marry. but only 40% think mrs parker bowles should become princess consort as planned after charles becomes king. some 47% believe she should have no title while 7% think she should become queen. the poll also found that the majority of britons would prefer the monarchy to miss a generation with the queen handing the throne to her grandson prince william 22 on her death or abdication. on thursday night prince charles 56 and mrs parker bowles 57 hosted a dinner at windsor castle their first public appearance since announcing their engagement. mrs parker bowles said the prince went down on one knee to propose and added: i m just coming down to earth. she displayed her diamond engagement ring - a royal family heirloom - to reporters. charles said he and his wife-to-be were absolutely delighted . their marriage will end years of speculation on a relationship which dates back to 1970. the queen and duke of edinburgh said the news had made them very happy . princes william and harry said they are very happy and wish the couple all the luck in the future . the wedding will be a civil ceremony followed by a service of prayer and dedication in st george s chapel at which the archbishop of canterbury dr rowan williams will preside. the marriage is likely to be a sensitive issue because mrs parker bowles is divorced and her former husband is still alive. if he became king charles would be the supreme governor of the church of england and some anglicans remain opposed to the remarriage of divorcees. his divorce from diana and the disappointment the country felt over how diana had been treated... opened up a sense of disillusionment with [prince charles] said ros coward who wrote the authorised biography of diana princess of wales. the archbishop of canterbury said: i am pleased that prince charles and mrs camilla parker bowles have decided to take this important step. tony blair said he was delighted for the couple and offered his congratulations as did conservative leader michael howard and liberal democrat leader charles kennedy. australia s prime minister john howard also offered his congratulations adding that their decision to marry was a sensible and a good thing . mrs parker bowles has joined the prince at numerous engagements in recent years - mostly at evening events for the prince s trust. clarence house staff were at pains to point out that she attended these events in a private capacity. | 4 | politics |
mps demand budget leak answers ministers have been asked to explain how budget details were printed in a london newspaper half an hour before gordon brown made his speech. the tories said a large chunk of the budget appeared to have been leaked in what they describe as a serious breach of treasury confidentiality . the lib dems called for commons leader peter hain to make a statement and said chancellors had resigned over leaks. they were told it would be brought to speaker michael martin s attention. in the commons tory frontbencher andrew tyrie mp demanded an immediate ministerial statement about how measures had been clearly or at least apparently leaked to the evening standard . raising a point of order he said it was the latest in a long line of discourtesies to this house as well as a breach of confidentiality. he said: i can only hope it is unintentional. if it were planned it would be a very grave matter indeed. a previous labour chancellor resigned after he leaked the budget. hugh dalton resigned after leaking details of his 1947 budget to journalist john carvel who published them in a london newspaper just minutes before they were announced to the house of commons. liberal democrat david laws said it was a very serious matter and said mr hain should make a statement on thursday. deputy speaker sylvia heal agreed it was of concern but said nothing could be done immediately but the issue would be brought to mr martin s attention. | 4 | politics |