The body that oversees how the net works, grows and evolves says it has coped well with its growth in the last 10 years, but it is just the start. "In a sense, we have hardly started in reaching the whole population," the new chair of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Brian Carpenter, says. The IETF ensures the smooth running and organisation of the net's architecture. With broadband take up growing, services like voice and TV will open up interesting challenges for the net. "I think VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol, allowing phone calls to be made over the Net) is very important it challenges all the old cost models of telecoms," says Dr Carpenter. "Second, it challenges more deeply the business model that you have to be a service provider with a lot of infrastructure. With VoIP, you need very little infrastructure." A distinguished IBM engineer, Dr Carpenter spent 20 years at Cern, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. As the new chair of the IETF, his next big challenge is overseeing IPv6, the next generation standard for information transfer and routing across the web. At Cern, Dr Carpenter helped pioneer advanced net applications during the development of the world wide web, so he is well placed to take on such a task. The net's growth and evolution depend on standards and protocols, and ensuring the architecture works and talks to other standards is a crucial job of the IETF. The top priority is to ensure that the standards that make the net work, are open and free for anyone to use and work with. The net is built on a protocol called TCP/IP, which means transmission control protocol, and internet protocol. When computers communicate with the net, a unique IP address is used to send and receive information. The IETF is a large international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers working on the evolution of the net's architecture and the way this information is sent and received. They make sure it all knits together leaving no gaps. "We've seen some interesting effects over last few years," explains Dr Carpenter. "The net was growing at a fantastic rate at the end of the 90s. Then there was a bit of a glitch in 2000. "We are now seeing a very clear phase of consolidation and renewed growth." That renewed growth is also being buoyed by emerging economies, like China, which are showing fast uptake of broadband net and other technologies. The number of broadband subscribers via DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) doubled in a year to 13 million, according to figures released at the end of 2004. "The challenges we face are about continuing to produce standards to allow for that growth rate," explained Dr Carpenter. "Given it the net was designed for the whole community, it has done well to reach millions. If you want to reach the whole population, you have to make sure it can scale up." IPv6, the standard that will replace the existing IPv4, will allow for billions more addresses on the net, and it is gradually being worked into network infrastructure across the world. "The actual number of addresses with IPv4 is limited to four billion IP addresses. "That clearly is not enough when you have 10 billion people to serve, so there is technical solution, the new version of IP IPv6. "It has much larger address space possibilities with no practical limits," said Dr Carpenter. Standards are vital to something as complex as the net, and making sure standards are open and can work with across networks is a big task. The difference this next generation standard, IPv6, will make to the average net user is almost invisible. "Our first goal is that it IPv6 should make no difference people should not notice a difference. "It is like when the London telephone numbers got longer. A lot of the process will be invisible. "People are usually given an IP address without knowing it." Technically deployment has started and the standards for are just about settled, said Dr Carpenter. The one problem with the net that may never disappear completely is security. To Dr Carpenter, the solution comes out of technological and human behaviour. People have to be educated about "sensible behaviour" he says, such as ignoring e mails that claim you have won something. "I don't think it is going to get worse. People will remain concerned about security and they probably should do just as you would be concerned walking along a dark street. "We have to do work to make sure there are better security internet standards. It is a never ending battle in a sense." But, he adds: "Even if security has improved, you still worry a bit. Unfortunately, it is just part of life. We have a duty to do what we can."


The net search giant Google has launched a search service that lets people look for TV programmes. The service, Google Video beta, searches closed caption information that comes with programmes. It only searches US channel content currently. Results list programmes with still images and text from the point where the search phrase was spoken. It should expand over time to include content from more channels, said a Google spokesperson. The first version of the service is part of Google's expanding efforts to be a ubiquitous search engine for people to find what they want on the web and beyond. "We think TV is a big part of people's lives," said Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's vice president of product management. "Ultimately, we would like to have all TV programming indexed." Google Video has been indexing US based programmes from PBS, the NBA, Fox News, and C SPAN since December. But there were few clues from Google about when more global broadcasters would be included. "Over time, we plan to increase the number of television channels and video content available via Google Video but don't have more product details to share with you today," a Google spokesperson told the BBC News website. The results thrown up by the search will also include programme and episode information like channel, date and time. It also lets people find the next time and channel where a programme will aired locally using a US zip code search function. Rival search engine Yahoo has been developing a similar type of video search for webcasts and TV clips which it promotes from its homepage. It offers direct links to websites with movies or other clips relevant to the search query, but does not pinpoint when the search query occurred. A spokeswoman told the Financial Times on Monday that Yahoo was adding captioning for Bloomberg, BBC and BSkyB broadcasts. A smaller service, blinkx.tv, was launched last month. It searches for and links to TV news, film trailers, and other video and audio clips.


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.


Yelena Isinbayeva may have produced another world pole vault record, but her achievement could not hide the fact it was not the best meet we have ever seen in Birmingham. And hey, there are not many meets that go by without the Russian breaking a world record. Apparently, Isinbayeva has cleared five metres in training and I would just love her to put us out of our misery and have a go at it rather than extending the indoor record by one centimetre at a time. Athletics to me is all about pushing the barriers and being the best you can, and I would like to see her have a go at 5m in competition. Mind you, every time she breaks the record she gets 30,000 so she can afford to be deliberate about it. World records aside, I thought it was a very encouraging evening's work for Kelly Holmes. She looked good and was very positive. Agnes Samaria, who came second, is in very good shape and is in the world's top three 800m runners this season. Yes, Samaria let Kelly get away, but there was no coming back over the last 200m as Kelly dominated the race, so beating Samaria is a bit of a benchmark for Kelly. My gut feeling is that Kelly would like to run in the European Indoor Championships, but she just hasn't convinced herself she is fit enough to do so. On the other hand, I think Jason Gardener is struggling to come near what is going to be required to win the men's 60m in Madrid. He started well in the final but still could not stay with the front runners. Jason has a lot of experience indoors but for some reason he is struggling to maintain his pace through to the finish. It would have been nice to see what Mark Lewis Francis could have done in the final, if only he hadn't got himself disqualified. He was blatantly playing the false start game to his advantage, but it tripped him up and made him look a bit silly. My view is you're meant to go when the gun goes and not before. And if you try to unsettle your rivals by employing the false start tactic you have to remember not to false start yourself again. Having said that, Mark is looking in much better shape. But I haven't seen anything from Mark or Jason yet which suggests France's Ronald Pognon who has run 6.45 seconds will be under threat at the Europeans. From a British point of view, Sarah Claxton's victory in the 60m hurdles was the best thing to come out of the meet. Something else that probably went unnoticed was Melanie Purkiss winning the women's national 400m race in a new personal best of 52.98 seconds. AAAs champion Kim Wall came second in another lifetime best so we have a very strong 4x400m squad going to the European Championships. Scotland's Lee McConnell is probably going to run too, so we have a real prospect of a medal. From an international perspective, I thought Meseret Defar was disappointing in the 3,000m, but I don't think the pace making was great. Canadian Heather Hennigar set a fast early pace but could not maintain it and if Jo Pavey had been in last year's shape she would have given Defar a real run for her money. She had a go but just could not hang in there. We were also expecting a bit more from Bernard Lagat in the men's 1500m. But he has only just come over from the USA, so he may not be that sharp and I still think he is in great shape. As for Kenenisa Bekele, he was well beaten by Markos Geneti. But we only had half expectations for Bekele as he has been struggling this season. It was very hot in the National Indoor Arena and I felt uncomfortable in the commentary box. I think those conditions affected the distance runners and in fact Defar complained to her coach after the race that she could not get her breath properly.


President Bush is to send his toughest budget proposals to date to the US Congress, seeking large cuts in domestic spending to lower the deficit. About 150 federal programs could be cut or axed altogether as part of a 2.5 trillion ( 1.3 trillion) package aimed at curbing the giant US budget deficit. Defence spending will rise, however, while the proposals exclude the cost of continuing military operations in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney said the budget was the "tightest" so far. At the heart of the administration's fifth budget, presented to Congress on Monday, is an austere package of domestic measures. These would see discretionary spending rise below the projected level of inflation. Such belt tightening is designed to tackle the massive budget deficit increases of President Bush's first term. Mr Cheney admitted that the budget was the toughest of the Bush Presidency but argued it was "fair and responsible". "It is not something we have done with a meat axe, nor are we suddenly turning our back on the most needy people in our society," he said. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, increased expenditure on national security after 9/11 and the 2001 recession wiped out the budget surplus inherited by President Bush in 2001 and turned it into a record deficit. The shortfall is projected to rise to 427bn in 2005. Education, environmental protection and transport initiatives are set to be scaled back as a first step towards reducing the deficit to 230bn by 2009. Most controversially, the government is seeking to cut the Medicaid budget, which provides health care to the nation's poorest, by 45bn and to reduce farm subsidies by 587m. Spending on defence and homeland security is set to increase, although not by as much as originally planned. President Bush's proposals would see the Pentagon's budget rise by 19bn to 419.3bn while homeland security would get an extra 2bn. The budget does not include the cost of running military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, for which the administration in expected to seek an extra 80bn from Congress later this year. Also not featuring in the proposals is the cost of funding the administration's radical proposed overhaul of social security provision. Some expects believe this could require borrowing of up to 4.5bn trillion over a twenty year period. Despite the Republicans holding a majority in both houses of Congress, the proposals will be fiercely contested over the next few months. John McCain, a Republican Senator, said he was pleased the administration was prepared to tackle the deficit. "With the deficits that we are now running, I am glad the president is coming over with a very austere budget," he said. However, Democratic Senator Kent Conrad said the proposals exposed the country to huge financial commitments beyond 2009. "The cost of everything he President Bush advocates explodes," he said.


More and more Americans are joining the internet's fast lane, according to official figures. The number of people and business connected to broadband jumped by 38% in a year, said the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In a report, it said there were more than 32 million broadband connections by the end of June 2004. But the US is still behind compared to other nations, ranked 13th in the world by a UN telecoms body. During his 2004 re election campaign, President George W Bush pledge to ensure that affordable high speed net access would be available to all Americans by 2007. According to the report by the FCC, broadband is becoming increasingly popular, with people using it for research and shopping, as well as downloading music and watching video. The total number of people and businesses on broadband rose by to 32.5 million in the year ending June 2004, compared to 23.5 million in June 2003. Whereas in the UK, most people hook up to broadband via Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology which lets ordinary copper phone lines support high data speeds. But in the US, cable leads the way, accounting for 18.6 million lines. Broadband over the phone line makes up 11.4 million connections, according to the FCC figures.


Japanese electronics firm Hitachi has unveiled its first humanoid robot, called Emiew, to challenge Honda's Asimo and Sony's Qrio robots. Hitachi said the 1.3m (4.2ft) Emiew was the world's quickest moving robot yet. Two wheel based Emiews, Pal and Chum, introduced themselves to reporters at a press conference in Japan. The robots will be guests at the World Expo later this month. Sony and Honda have both built sophisticated robots to show off developments in electronics. Explaining why Hitachi's Emiew used wheels instead of feet, Toshihiko Horiuchi, from Hitachi's Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory, said: "We aimed to create a robot that could live and co exist with people." "We want to make the robots useful for people ... If the robots moved slower than people, users would be frustrated." Emiew Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate can move at 3.7m/h. Its "wheel feet" resemble the bottom half of a Segway scooter. With sensors on the head, waist, and near the wheels, Pal and Chum demonstrated how they could react to commands. "I want to be able to walk about in places like Shinjuku and Shibuya shopping districts in the future without bumping into people and cars," Pal told reporters. Hitachi said Pal and Chum, which have a vocabulary of about 100 words, could be "trained" for practical office and factory use in as little as five to six years. Robotics researchers have long been challenged by developing robots that walk in the gait of a human. At the recent AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) annual meeting in Washington DC, researchers showed off bipedal designs. The three designs, each built by a different research group, use the same principle to achieve a human like gait. Sony and Honda have both used humanoid robots, which are not commercially available, as a way of showing off computing power and engineering expertise. Honda's Asimo was "born" five years ago. Since then, Honda and Sony's Qrio have tried to trump each other with what the robots can do at various technology events. Asimo, has visited the UK, Germany, the Czech Republic, France and Ireland as part of a world tour. Sony's Qrio has been singing, jogging and dancing in formation around the world too and was, until last year, the fastest robot on two legs. But its record was beaten by Asimo. It is capable of 3km/h, which its makers claim is almost four times as fast as Qrio. Last year, car maker Toyota also stepped into the ring and unveiled its trumpet playing humanoid robot. By 2007, it is predicted that there will be almost 2.5 million "entertainment and leisure" robots in homes, compared to about 137,000 currently, according to the United Nations (UN). By the end of that year, 4.1 million robots will be doing jobs in homes, said the report by the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the International Federation of Robotics. Hitachi is one of the companies with home cleaning robot machines on the market.


Gordon Brown has failed to tackle the "fundamental unfairness" in the tax system in his ninth Budget, Charles Kennedy has said. How was it right that the poorest 20% of society were still paying more as a proportion of their income than the richest 20%, the Lib Dem leader asked. The new 200 council tax rebate for pensioners did nothing to fix the "unfair tax", he added. The government could not go on "patching up" the system, he added. Speaking in the Commons after Mr Brown had delivered what is widely thought to be the last Budget before the general election, Mr Kennedy acknowledged that the UK was one of the most successful economies in the world. But he criticised both the chancellor and the Tories for failing to address the "ticking bomb" of council tax revaluation. He said the recent experience of Wales indicated seven million households in England would pay significantly more after revaluation. The chancellor's announcement that he was to offer a 200 council tax rebate paid by pensioner households was merely a "sticking plaster" to a much bigger problem. The Lib Dem plan for a local income tax would benefit the typical household by more than 450 a year, with half of all pensioners paying no local tax and about three million being better off. On pensions, Mr Kennedy said it was a "scandal" that the system discriminated against women who had missed making National Insurance payments when they were having children. He said a residency criteria would end "at a stroke this fundamental iniquity". Mr Kennedy added his party's priorities of free long term care for the elderly, abolishing top up fees and replacing the council tax would be funded by charging 50% income tax to those earning more than 100,000 per annum. He contrasted his approach with Mr Brown's pledge in 2001 not to increase income tax. The chancellor went on to put up National Insurance contributions after the election. "For most individuals, most families, most households, it adds up to exactly the same thing," said Mr Kennedy. "And they wonder why people get cynical about their politicians when they give one impression before an election and do exactly the opposite after that election."


Almost a quarter of a million US consumers complained of being targeted for identity theft in 2004, official figures suggest. The Federal Trade Commission said two in five of the 635,173 reports it had from consumers concerned ID fraud. ID theft occurs when criminals use someone else's personal information to steal credit or commit other crimes. Internet auctions were the second biggest source of fraud complaints, comprising 16% of the total. The total cost of fraud reported by consumers was 546m ( 290m). The report marks the fifth year in a row in which identity fraud has topped the table. The biggest slice of the 246,570 ID fraud cases reported almost 30% concerned abuses of people's credit. Misusing someone's identity to claim new credit cards or loans comprised 16.5% of the total, with almost 12% coming from false claims on existing credit. Another 18% came from attempts to rip off people's bank accounts, while 13% of cases concerned attempts to defraud employers by abusing someone else's identity. Outside the field of ID theft, 53% of the near 400,000 complaints were internet related. Among the 100,000 internet auction complaints, the failure of sellers to deliver or the supply of sub standard goods were the most common woes reported. Catalogue and home shopping frauds were next in line, accounting for 8% of total complaints, while concerns about internet services and computers including spyware found on people's PCs and undisclosed charges for websites amounted to 6% of complaints.


Tony Blair faces his first prime minister's questions of 2005 after a week of renewed speculation about his relationship with Gordon Brown. Meanwhile, the chancellor is leaving Britain on a high profile tour of Africa to highlight poverty issues. But before doing so, he insisted he still trusted Mr Blair, despite claims to the contrary in a new book. Labour MPs have warned against disunity and Tory leader Michael Howard may well take up the theme in the Commons. The Tories have already accused the prime minister and his chancellor of behaving like "schoolboys squabbling in a playground". Michael Howard is likely to want to capitalise further on the spat when he goes head to head with the prime minister in the Commons. At a campaign poster launch on Tuesday, Mr Brown was joined by Alan Milburn, who Mr Blair controversially put in charge of election planning in place of the chancellor. Later this week the prime minister is due to set out the themes of his party's next election manifesto, which for the past two polls have been drawn up by the chancellor. Mr Brown, meanwhile, is visiting Tanzania, Mozambique and Kenya to highlight the plight of many Africans hit by Aids, war and famine issues which Mr Blair has also spoken out on. The prime minister and chancellor faced backbench discontent at Monday's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party over claims made in journalist Robert Peston's new book. Mr Blair told MPs and peers: "I know from everyone here, in Cabinet and government, nothing is going to get in the way of a unified Labour Party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need." Labour's Paul Flynn said the pair had had a "scorching" from MPs. On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Mr Prescott told BBC News: "They told us very clearly, it was the troops telling the leaders: get in line." The new book claims Mr Prescott hosted a dinner in November 2003 where the prime minister told Mr Brown he would stand down before the next election because he had lost trust over the Iraq war. Mr Blair then changed his mind in June 2004, after Cabinet allies intervened and amid suspicion the chancellor was manoeuvring against him, writes Mr Peston. In Mr Peston's book Mr Brown is alleged to have told the prime minister: "There is nothing you could ever say to me now that I could ever believe."


Tony Blair has met Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to talk about Turkey entering the EU. The Downing Street talks covered a range of other topics ahead of an EU summit in Brussels later in the week. Mr Blair is an enthusiastic proponent of talks to bring Turkey within the recently expanded EU. Italy and Germany also favour an early start to talks, but there is scepticism in France and elsewhere. Some are worried that Turkey's large and rapidly growing population and low average income might make integration into the EU difficult. Some are concerned that a change of government could lead to Turkey reneging on key human rights reforms it has recently enacted. And many in France would prefer Turkey to admit that World War I era killing of Armenians constituted genocide. There are also issues in France and the Netherlands over the possible problems of integrating the first major Muslim nation into the EU. But Mr Blair and the Labour government have been the staunchest backers of Turkish accession, provided it sticks with human rights and economic reform. Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "The prime minister has regular meetings with both of them and particularly in advance of European Councils. "The key issue at this week's council will be that of Turkey, but they will also discuss a range of other matters."


Wales have a clutch of injury worries before Wednesday's international friendly against Hungary in Cardiff. West Ham's Gavin Williams (ankle) looks certain to be out, so uncapped Wrexham defender Stephen Roberts is drafted in. Defenders Danny Gabbidon and Gareth Roberts, plus Ryan Giggs have hamstring concerns, while there are also doubts over Robbie Savage (groin). However, Manchester United winger Giggs is expected to recover in time to earn his 50th cap at the Millennium Stadium. There were also doubts over Gabbidon's fellow Cardiff defender Rhys Weston, but the full back appears to have shrugged off the knock he picked up in the Bluebirds' 1 0 loss to West Ham on Sunday. The news leaves Wales boss John Toshack short in defence for his first game in charge, with Aston Villa's Mark Delaney injured and James Collins with the Under 21s. That could clear the way for new faces Danny Collins and Dave Partridge to make their Wales debuts. Coyne (Burnley), Jones (Wolves), Roberts (Wrexham), Collins (Sunderland), Edwards (Wolves), Gabbidon (Cardiff), Page (Cardiff), Partridge (Motherwell), Ricketts (Swansea), Roberts (Tranmere), Weston (Cardiff), Davies (Tottenham), Fletcher (West Ham), Giggs (Man Utd), Koumas (West Brom), Robinson (Sunderland), Savage (Blackburn), Williams (West Ham), Bellamy (Newcastle), Earnshaw (West Brom), Hartson (Celtic).


Mark Philippoussis withdrew from the Sydney International tennis tournament as expected on Sunday after suffering a groin injury during the Hopman Cup. His participation in the Australian Open, which begins on 17 January in Melbourne, also remains in doubt. Defending women's champion Justine Henin Hardenne is also out of the Sydney event because of a knee injury. In the only main draw men's or women's singles match on Sunday, Nathalie Dechy beat American Lisa Raymond 7 5 6 3. Number one men's seed Lleyton Hewitt begins his quest for a fourth Sydney title on Tuesday when he plays Karol Beck. Lindsay Davenport, top seed in the women's draw, has been handed a first round bye and plays France's Dechy in the second round on Tuesday.


A special adaptor that helps people with hand tremors control a computer mouse more easily has been developed. The device uses similar "steady cam" technology found in camcorders to filter out shaking hand movements. People with hand tremors find it hard to use conventional mice for simple computer tasks because of the erratic movements of the cursor on the screen. About three million Britons have some sort of hand tremor condition, said the UK National Tremor Foundation. "Using a computer mouse is well known for being extremely hard for people with tremors so we're delighted to hear that a technology has been developed to address this problem," said Karen Walsh, from the UK National Tremor Foundation. Most commonly associated with tremors is Parkinson's disease, but they can also be caused by other conditions like Essential Tremor (ET). Tremors more often affect older people, but can hit all ages. ET, for example, is genetic and can afflict people throughout their lives. The Assistive Mouse Adapter (AMA) is the brainchild of IBM researcher Jim Levine who developed the prototype after seeing his uncle, who has Parkinson's disease, struggle with mouse control. "I knew that there must be way to improve the situation for him and the millions of other tremor sufferers around the world, including the elderly. "The number of elderly computer users will increase as the population ages, and at the same time, the need for computer access grows," he said. Computer users plug the device into a PC, and it can be adjusted depending on how severe the tremor is. It is also able to recognise multiple clicking on a mouse button caused by shaky digits. IBM said it would partner up with a small UK based electronics firm, Montrose Secam, to produce the devices which will cost about 70. James Cosgrave, one of the company's directors, said it would make a big difference to those with tremors. "I'm a pilot and my tremor condition has not limited my ability to fly a plane," he said. "But using a PC has proven almost impossible simply because everything revolves around using the mouse to accurately manipulate the tiny cursor on the screen." He said a prototype of the gadget had transformed his life. The device could help open up computing to millions more people who have found shaking to be a barrier. Last year, the Office for National Statistics reported that for the first time, more than half of all households in Britain had a home computer. With prices getting cheaper to get online too, computer ownership is increasing. But although 62% of British people have tried the internet, only 15% of Britons aged 65 or over have been online. More than six million UK households now have a broadband net. By the middle of 2005, it is estimated that 50% of all UK net users will be on broadband. There are still millions using the net through dial up connections too.


Japanese brewers are increasingly making money from beer flavoured drinks rather than beer itself Beer and spirits are heavily taxed in Japan, driving breweries to search for alternatives. Japan's long economic downturn helped drive the trend, as drinkers looked for cheaper opportunities to drown their sorrows. Now, according to Asahi Breweries, the market for so called "beer like" drinks is set to grow 84% this year. Asahi is predicting profits to rise 50% in 2005 as it launches a drink based on soybean peptides rather than malt. The chosen name, "Shinnama" or "new draft", disguises its non beer nature. But despite a record profit in 2004 of 30.6bn yen ( 291m; 154m), up 31.8% on the previous year, Asahi is coming late to the market. Key rival Sapporo is already well established with the beer flavoured "Draft One". Suntory, meanwhile, is doing well with "Super Blue", which combines happoshu an existing low cost beer alternative made with malt and seawater and shochu, a distilled alcohol derived from sweet potatoes or barley. Happoshu has been a mainstay of brewery profits for years, taking over from beer thanks to its low tax and therefore low cost. Kirin, the fourth big name, is launching its own "third type" drink in April.


The Green Party is concerned thousands of residents may not be able to vote in Edinburgh's transport referendum. Edinburgh City Council is to ballot constituents on proposals to introduce congestion charging in the capital. But Green MSP Mark Ballard fears people not on the council's edited electoral register may miss out. Local authorities can only send ballot papers to those on the edited list over non statutory matters, such as the transport referendum. Therefore, residents who have exercised their right to have their details left off the list could miss the chance to vote. However, there is still time for those who are not on the list to contact the council and make sure they are sent ballot forms ahead of February's voting deadline. Mr Ballard said: "This vote will set the future of transport in Edinburgh for decades to come. "It is therefore vital that as many residents as possible in Edinburgh City and the surrounding areas, are registered to vote in the ballot. "Many people are not aware that they may miss out on their chance to have a say. "Everyone involved in this debate both for and against wants the ballot to be as fair and representative as possible, and that means encouraging people to take part." The ballot will ask residents to vote for or against the council's proposed congestion charge scheme and a host of transport improvements to be funded by it. The outcome of the referendum will be known next month after the ballot forms are sent out and returned to the council. Towards the end of February, the council will meet to decide whether to proceed with an application to Scottish ministers for approval for its planned congestion charging scheme and the other parts of its transport package.


Two UK gamers are about to embark on a world tour as part of the most lucrative ever global games tournament. Aaron Foster and David Treacy have won the right to take part in a tournament offering 1m in total prize money. The cash will be handed out over 10 separate competitions in a continent hopping contest organised by the Cyberathlete Professional League. As part of their prize the pair will have their travel costs paid to ensure they can get to the different bouts. The CPL World Tour kicks off in mid February and the first leg will be in Istanbul. All ten bouts of the tournament will be played throughout 2005, each one in a different country. At each stop 50,000 in prize money will be up for grabs. The tournament champion for each leg of the CPL World Tour will walk away with a 15,000 prize. The winner of the grand final will get a prize purse of 150,000 from a total pot of 500,000. Winners of each stage of the tour automatically get a place at the next stop. The world tour stops are open to any keen gamer that registers. Online registration for the first stop opens this weekend. Some pro players are winning a spot at the tour destinations through qualifying events organised by CPL partners. Winners at these qualifiers get seeded higher in the elimination parts of each tournament. Mr Foster and Mr Treacy get the chance to attend the World Tour as members of the UK's Four Kings gaming clan. Towards the end of 2004 Four Kings staged a series of online Painkiller competitions to reveal the UK's top players of the PC game. The best eight players met face to face in a special elimination event in late December where Mr Foster and Mr Tracey proved their prowess at Painkiller. As part of their prize the pair also get a contract with Four Kings Intel which is one of the UK's few pro gaming teams. "There are a lot of people who take gaming very seriously and support their local or national team with the same passion as any other sport," said Simon Bysshe who filmed the event for Four Kings and Intel. More than 80,000 people have downloaded the movie of the tournament highlights. "Professional gaming is here to stay and will only grow in popularity," he said.


Circuit City Stores, the second largest electronics retailer in the US, has received a 3.25bn ( 1.7bn) takeover offer. The bid has come from Boston based private investment firm Highfields Capital Management, which already owns 6.7% of Circuit City's shares. Shares in the retailer were up 19.6% at 17.04 in Tuesday morning trading in New York following the announcement. Highfield said that it intends to take the Virginia based firm private. "Such a transformation would eliminate the public company transparency into the company's operating strategy that is uniquely damaging in a highly competitive industry where Circuit City is going head to head with a tough and entrenched rival," Highfield said. One analyst suggested that a bidding battle may now begin for the company. Bill Armstrong, a retail analyst at CL King Associates, said he expected to see other private investment firms come forward for Circuit City. The retailer is debt free with a good cash flow, despite the fact that it is said to be struggling to keep up with market leader Best Buy and cut price competition from the likes of Wal Mart, said Mr Armstrong.


England centre Olly Barkley has been passed fit for Sunday's Six Nations clash with Ireland at Lansdowne Road. Barkley withdrew from Bath's team for Friday's clash with Gloucester after suffering a calf injury in training. Gloucester centre Henry Paul has also been cleared to play after overcoming an ankle injury. England coach Andy Robinson, who names his team on Wednesday, has called up Bath prop Duncan Bell following Phil Vickery's broken arm. With Vickery sidelined for at least six weeks and Julian White out with a neck injury, Bell could make his England debut. Bell, 30, had set his sights on an international career with Wales. But last December, the International Rugby Board confirmed that he could only be eligible for England as he had travelled on tour with them in 1998. "I thought I'd burned all my bridges with England when I expressed an interest in wanting to play for Wales, so it's fantastic to get this opportunity," he said. Bell, who featured in the England A side which beat France 30 20 10 days ago, added: "I recognise that I got into the England A squad because of injuries. "And it's the same again in getting into the senior squad. But now that I have this opportunity I intend to take it fully if selected and play my heart out for my country." England coach Andy Robinson could take a gamble and call inexperienced Sale Sharks prop Andrew Sheridan into his front row. But Sheridan favours the loosehead side of the scrum and a more likely scenario is for uncapped Bell who was among the try scorers when England A beat France A 30 20 nine days ago to be drafted in.


Chelsea winger Arjen Robben has broken two metatarsal bones in his foot and will be out for at least six weeks. Robben had an MRI scan on the injury, sustained during the Premiership win at Blackburn, on Monday. "Six weeks is the average time to heal this injury and then I need a few more weeks to be completely fit again," he told Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. "I had a feeling it was serious but because of the swelling it was impossible to make a final diagnosis." The 21 year old missed the first three months of the season with a similar injury after a challenge with Roma's Olivier Dacourt. And he added: "It felt different then last summer when I had the same injury on my other foot. "Then I could walk already after three days but I stayed sidelined for a long period. I hope that it will now take me six to eight weeks." Chelsea physio Mike Banks was hopeful that Robben could return at some point in March. "The fractures are tiny and he could be playing next month," Banks told the club's website. "One is a chip on the side of his foot, the other is a small break on the third metatarsal. "But this is not the traditional metatarsal that has become so famous since the last World Cup and which has kept Scott Parker out for two months." David Beckham suffered a broken metatarsal in the build up to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. Robben, who has been a key part of the Blues' push for four trophies, claims he knew instantly something was wrong when he was felled by Blackburn midfielder Aaron Mokoena. "I felt my leg go," he said. "I felt it straight away after Mokoena hit me with a wild kick on my left foot."


Yahoo has reached the grand old age of 10 and, in internet years, that is a long time. For many, Yahoo remains synonymous with the internet a veteran that managed to ride the dot com wave and the subsequent crash and maintain itself as one of the web's top brands. But for others there is another, newer net icon threatening to overshadow Yahoo in the post dot com world Google. The veteran and the upstart have plenty in common Yahoo was the first internet firm to offer initial public shares and Google was arguably the most watched IPO (Initial Public Offering) of the post dot com era. Both began life as search engines although in 2000, when Yahoo chose Google to power its search facility while it concentrated on its web portal business, it was very much Yahoo that commanded press attention. In recent years, the column inches have stacked up in Google's favour as the search engine also diversifies with the launch of services such as Gmail, its shopping channel Froogle and Google News. For Jupiter analyst Olivier Beauvillain, Yahoo's initial decision to put its investment on search on hold was an error. "Yahoo was busy building a portal and while it was good to diversify they made a big mistake in outsourcing search to Google," he said "They thought Google would just be a technology provider but it has become a portal in its own right and a direct competitor," he added. He believes Yahoo failed to see how crucial search would become to internet users, something it has rediscovered in recent years. "It is interesting that in these last few years, it has refocused on search following the success of Google," he said. But for Allen Weiner, a research director at analyst firm Gartner and someone who has followed Yahoo's progress since the early years, the future of search is not going to be purely about the technology powering it. "Search technology is valuable but the next generation of search is going to be about premium content and the interface that users have to that content," he said. He believes the rivalry between Google and Yahoo is overblown and instead thinks the real battle is going to be between Yahoo and MSN. It is a battle that Yahoo is currently winning, he believes. "Microsoft has amazing assets including software capability and a global name but it has yet to show me it can create a rival product to Yahoo," he said. He is convinced Yahoo remains the single most important brand on the world wide web. "I believe Yahoo is the seminal brand on the web. If you are looking for a text book definition of web portal then Yahoo is it," he said. It has achieved this dominance, Mr Weiner believes, by a canny combination of acquisitions such as that of Inktomi and Overture, and by avoiding direct involvement in either content creation or internet access. That is not to say that Yahoo hasn't had its dark days. When the dot com bubble burst, it lost one third of its revenue in a single year, bore a succession of losses and saw its market value fall from a peak of 120bn to 4.6bn at one point. Crucial to its survival was the decision to replace chief executive Tim Koogle with Terry Semel in May 2001, thinks Mr Weiner. His business savvy, coupled with the technical genius of founder Jerry Yang has proved a winning combination, he says. So as the internet giant emerges from its first decade as a survivor, how will it fare as it enters its teenage years? "The game is theirs to lose and MSN is the only one that stands in the way of Yahoo's domination," predicted Mr Weiner. Nick Hazel, Yahoo's head of consumer services in the UK, thinks the fact that Yahoo has grown up with the first wave of the internet generation will stand it in good stead. Search will be a key focus as will making Yahoo Messenger available on mobiles, forging new broadband partnerships such as that with BT in the UK and continuing to provide a range of services beyond the desktop, he says. Mr Weiner thinks Yahoo's vision of becoming the ultimate gateway to the web will move increasing towards movies and television as more and more people get broadband access. "It will spread its portal wings to expand into rich media," he predicts.


Top seed Guillermo Coria went out of the Heineken Open in Auckland on Thursday with a surprise loss to Olivier Rochus of Belgium. Coria lost the semi final 6 4 6 4 to Rochus, who goes on to face Czech Jan Hernych, a 6 4 7 5 winner over Jose Acasuso of Argentina. Fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez eased past American Robby Ginepri 6 3 6 4. The Chilean will meet sixth seed Juan Ignacio Chela next after the Argentine beat Potito Starace 6 1 7 6 (7 5). Rochus made the semi finals at the Australian hardcourt championships in Adelaide last week and is naturally delighted with his form. "It's been two unbelievable weeks for me," he said. "Today I knew I had nothing to lose. If I beat him great, if I lost, I would be losing to a top 10 player." Coria conceded that Rochus "played just too good," and added: "When you give your best out there you can't be too sad."


China overtook the US to become Japan's biggest trading partner in 2004, according to numbers released by Japan's Finance Ministry on Wednesday. China accounted for 20.1% of Japan's trade in 2004, compared with 18.6% for the US. In 2003, the US was ahead with 20.5% and China came second with 19.2%. The change highlights China's growing importance as an economic powerhouse. In 2004, Japan's imports from and exports to China (and Hong Kong) added up to 22,201bn yen ( 214.6bn; 114.5bn). This is the highest figure for Japanese trade with China since records began in 1947. It compares with 20,479.5bn yen in trade with the US. Trade with the US during 2004 was hurt by one off factors, including a 13 month ban on US beef imports following the discovery of a cow infected with mad cow disease (BSE) in the US. However, economists predict China will become an even more important Japanese trading partner in the coming years. On Tuesday, figures showed China's economy grew by 9.5% in 2004 and experts say the overall growth picture remains strong. Analysts see two spurs to future growth as being China's membership of the World Trade Organisation and lower trade tariffs. During 2004, Japan's trade surplus grew 17.9% to 12.011 trillion yen, with more than half the surplus, 6.962 trillion yen, accounted for by its trade with the US. In December, the surplus grew 1.8% on a year ago to 1.14 trillion yen thanks to stronger than expected exports.


Ultra high speed wi fi connections moved closer to reality on Thursday when Intel said it would list standards for the technology later this year. Intel is developing ultra wideband technology (UWB) which would allow fast data transfer but with low power needs. UWB is tipped to be used for wireless transfer of video in the home or office and for use in wireless USB devices which need low power consumption. A rival UWB standard is being developed by Motorola and chip firm Freescale. At the mobile phone conference 3GSM in Cannes last month Samsung demonstrated a phone using UWB technology from Freescale. At a press conference on Thursday Intel announced that two UWB groups, WiMedia Alliance and Multi band OFDM alliance had merged to support the technology. UWB makes it possible to stream huge amounts of data through the air over short distances. One of the more likely uses of UWB is to make it possible to send DVD quality video images wirelessly to TV screens or to let people beam music to media players around their home. The technology has the potential to transmit hundreds of megabits of data per second. "Consumer electronics companies want UWB to replace cables and simplify set up," Jeff Ravencraft, technology strategist at Intel and chairman of the Wireless USB Promoter Group, told technology site ZDNet. "Thirty percent of consumer electronics returns are because the consumer couldn't set up the equipment." The first products using UWB technology from Intel are due to hit the market later this year. Initially they will be products using wireless USB 2.0 connections. UWB could also be used to create so called Personal Area Networks that let a person's gadgets quickly and easily swap data amongst themselves. The technology works over a range up to 10 metres and uses billions of short radio pulses every second to carry data. Intel says the benefit of UWB is that it does not interfere with other wi fi technologies already in use such as wi fi, wimax and mobile phone networks.


If you don't know art but know what you like, new search technology could prove a useful gateway to painting. ArtGarden, developed by BT's research unit, is being tested by the Tate as a new way of browsing its online collection of paintings. Rather than search by the name of an artist or painting, users are shown a selection of pictures. Clicking on their favourite will change the gallery in front of them to a selection of similar works. The technology uses a system dubbed smart serendipity, which is a combination of artificial intelligence and random selection. It 'chooses' a selection of pictures, by scoring paintings based on a selection of keywords associated with them. So, for instance a Whistler painting of a bridge may have the obvious keywords such as bridge and Whistler associated to it but will also widen the search net with terms such as aesthetic movement, 19th century and water. A variety of paintings will then be shown to the user, based partly on the keywords and partly on luck. "It is much more akin to wandering through the gallery," said Jemima Rellie, head of the Tate's digital programme. For Richard Tateson, who worked on the ArtGarden project, the need for a new way to search grew out of personal frustration. "I went to an online clothes store to find something to buy my wife for Christmas but I didn't have a clue what I wanted," he said. The text based search was restricted to looking either by type of garment or designer, neither of which he found helpful. He ended up doing his present shopping on the high street instead. He thinks the dominance of text based searching is not necessarily appealing to the majority of online shoppers. Similarly, with art, browsing is often more important than finding a particular object. "You don't arrive at Tate Britain and tell people what you want to see. One of the skills of showing off the collection is to introduce people to things they wouldn't have asked for," he said. The Tate is committed to making its art more accessible and technology such as ArtGarden can help with that, said Ms Rellie. She hopes the technology can be incorporated on to the website in the near future. BT research is looking at extending the technology to other searching, such as for music and films.


Celtic brushed aside Clyde to secure their place in the Scottish Cup semi final, but only after a nervy and testing first half. The home side's Craig Bryson had a goal chopped off before Stan Varga headed Celtic into the lead. Alan Thompson scored from the penalty spot at the start of the second half after Shaun Maloney had been fouled. Stilian Petrov slid in a third, Varga tapped in his second and Craig Bellamy completed the rout with a fine drive. Bryn Halliwell was the busier keeper early on, saving from Bellamy, Chris Sutton and Juninho. Clyde had the ball in the net after half an hour through a tremendous strike from Bryson, but the referee had already blown for a foul by Petrov. From the resulting free kick, Darren Sheridan curled the ball round the Celtic wall only for the post to deny him. Back at the other end, Halliwell did well to come off his line and block Bellamy's effort to lift the ball over him. The keeper misjudged a corner that Stephane Henchoz headed wide, but a similar scenario five minutes before the break led to the opening goal. The ball was delivered from the left and Halliwell was left floundering as Varga glanced the ball into the net. Maloney replaced the injured Sutton at half time and he marked his first competitive appearance after a year out injured by helping his side take a two goal lead just after the break. The young striker fired a free kick straight into the Clyde wall but as he collected the rebound, he was tripped by Bryson and Thompson converted the penalty. Sheridan and Bellamy were involved in something of a flare up that led to both being booked after the intervention of the assistant referee. Juninho brought out another good save from Halliwell and then Petrov saw a tremendous effort come off the top of the bar. But Petrov and Juninho combined brilliantly to allow the Bulgarian to make it 3 0 on the hour mark a quick one two giving him the time and space to steer the ball past Halliwell from 12 yards. Varga got his second goal of the game as Celtic drove home their advantage Thompson whipped in a corner from the right and the unmarked defender simply tapped the ball over the line from a couple of yards out. Celtic were utterly dominant by this stage and Bellamy opened his scoring account for the club after a fine move involving Aiden McGeady, Jackie McNamara and Maloney culminated in the Welshman hammering the ball into the net. Halliwell kept the deficit at five by pushing a McGeady shot wide as the game petered out. Halliwell, Mensing, Bollan, Balmer, Potter, Sheridan (Burns 61), Arbuckle (Gilhaney 61), Gibson, Bryson (Jones 78), Malone, Harty. Morrison, Wilson. Mensing, Sheridan. Douglas, Henchoz, McNamara, Balde, Varga, Juninho Paulista, Thompson, Lennon (Lambert 70), Sutton (Maloney 45), Petrov (McGeady 70), Bellamy. Marshall, Laursen. Thompson, Bellamy. : Varga 40, Thompson 48 pen, Petrov 60, Varga 68, Bellamy 72. 8,200 C Thomson


Faster, better or funkier hardware alone is not going to help phone firms sell more handsets, research suggests. Instead, phone firms keen to get more out of their customers should not just be pushing the technology for its own sake. Consumers are far more interested in how handsets fit in with their lifestyle than they are in screen size, onboard memory or the chip inside, shows an in depth study by handset maker Ericsson. "Historically in the industry there has been too much focus on using technology," said Dr Michael Bjorn, senior advisor on mobile media at Ericsson's consumer and enterprise lab. "We have to stop saying that these technologies will change their lives," he said. "We should try to speak to consumers in their own language and help them see how it fits in with what they are doing," he told the BBC News website. For the study, Ericsson interviewed 14,000 mobile phone owners on the ways they use their phone. "People's habits remain the same," said Dr Bjorn. "They just move the activity into the mobile phone as it's a much more convenient way to do it." One good example of this was diary writing among younger people, he said. While diaries have always been popular, a mobile phone especially one equipped with a camera helps them keep it in a different form. Youngsters' use of text messages also reflects their desire to chat and keep in contact with friends and again just lets them do it in a slightly changed way. Dr Bjorn said that although consumers do what they always did but use a phone to do it, the sheer variety of what the new handset technologies make possible does gradually drive new habits and lifestyles. Ericsson's research has shown that consumers divide into different "tribes" that use phones in different ways. Dr Bjorn said groups dubbed "pioneers" and "materialists" were most interested in trying new things and were behind the start of many trends in phone use. "For instance," he said, "older people are using SMS much more than they did five years ago." This was because younger users, often the children of ageing mobile owners, encouraged older people to try it so they could keep in touch. Another factor governing the speed of change in mobile phone use was the simple speed with which new devices are bought by pioneers and materialists. Only when about 25% of people have handsets with new innovations on them, such as cameras, can consumers stop worrying that if they send a picture message the person at the other end will be able to see it. Once this significant number of users is passed, use of new innovations tends to take off. Dr Bjorn said that early reports of camera phone usage in Japan seemed to imply that the innovation was going to be a flop. However, he said, now 45% of the Japanese people Ericsson questioned use their camera phone at least once a month. In 2003 the figure was 29%. Similarly, across Europe the numbers of people taking snaps with cameras is starting to rise. In 2003 only 4% of the people in the UK took a phonecam snap at least once a month. Now the figure is 14%. Similar rises have been seen in many other European nations. Dr Bjorn said that people also used their camera phones in very different ways to film and even digital cameras. "Usage patterns for digital cameras are almost exactly replacing usage patterns for analogue cameras," he said. Digital cameras tend to be used on significant events such as weddings, holidays and birthdays. By contrast, he said, camera phones were being used much more to capture a moment and were being woven into everyday life.


EU member states are failing to report fraud and irregularities in EU funds on a consistent basis, the UK's public spending watchdog has said. The National Audit Office said although the latest figures showed reported fraud was falling, the EU still had no common definition of fraud. It also expressed concern that, for the 10th year, the European Court of Auditors had qualified the EU accounts. The NAO urged the government to push for improvements in reporting fraud. It said member states needed to be more accountable on how money was spent. The report said: "Member states still do not report fraud and other irregularities to the European Anti Fraud Office on a consistent basis. "As the court has now qualified its opinion on the Community accounts for a decade, it is essential for all the authorities involved to contribute to the strengthening of the audit of EU revenue and expenditure and improving accountability for the financial management and use of EU resources." It said there were 922 cases of reported fraud or irregularities in EU funds in the UK in 2003, worth 38.5m (52m euros), up from 831 cases worth 35.7m in 2002. At the same time, reported fraud throughout the EU dropped from 10,276 cases worth 808m to 8,177 cases worth 644m. Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said Britain had to set an example when it assumed the EU presidency. "Any fraud in other member states is potentially fraud against the UK taxpayer, given that we are the second largest net contributor to the Community," he said. "Departments responsible for administering EU funds need to make sure that they're doing everything possible to weed out improper spending. "The government must take the opportunity afforded by the UK presidency of the EU to press the Commission and other member states to take an equally robust stance against fraud and irregularity, and raise overall standards of financial management." A spokesman for the European Anti Fraud Office said the organisation agreed with the NAO's assessment of fraud reporting. "The quality of reporting does differ from member state to member state, and there is room for improvement," spokesman Jorg Wojahn said. He added that there is generally good co operation with member states and the anti fraud office on specific cases of fraud, with the statistics studied by NAO providing a "good overview for planning strategic ways of detecting fraud".


The US dollar hovered close to record lows against the euro on Friday as concern grows about the size of the US budget deficit. Analysts predict that the dollar will remain weak in 2005 as investors worry about the state of the US economy. The Bush administration's apparent unwillingness to intervene to support the dollar has caused further concern. However, trading has been volatile over the past week because of technical and automated trading and light demand. This has amplified reactions to news, analysts said, adding that they expect markets to become less jumpy in January. The dollar was trading at 1.3652 versus the euro on Friday morning after hitting a fresh record low of 1.3667 on Thursday. One dollar bought 102.55 yen. Disappointing business figures from Chicago triggered the US currency's weakness on Thursday. The National Association of Purchasing Management Chicago said its manufacturing index dropped to 61.2, a bigger fall than expected. "There are no dollar buyers now, especially after the Chicago data yesterday," said ABN Amro's Paul Mackel. At the same time, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi voiced concerns about the strength of the euro. Mr Berlusconi said the euro's strength was "absolutely worrying" for Italian exports. Mr Schroeder said in a newspaper article that stability in foreign exchange markets required a correction of global economic imbalances. Investors will now look towards February's meeting of finance ministers from the G7 industrialised nations in London for clues as to whether central banks will combine forces to stem the dollar's decline.


US phone company SBC Communications said it expects to cut around 12,800 jobs following its 16bn ( 8.5bn) takeover of former parent AT T. SBC said 5,125 positions would go as a result of network efficiencies. Another 1,700 will go from its sales department, 3,400 from business operations and 2,600 across legal, advertising and public relations. SBC currently employs 163,000 people while AT T employs 47,000. The takeover was announced on Monday. The deal will be financed with 15bn of shares as well as a 1bn special dividend paid to AT T shareholders. It effectively marks the end of AT T, which was founded in 1875 by telephone pioneer Alexander Graham Bell and is one of the US's best known companies. SBC and AT T said estimated cost savings of at least 2bn from 2008 were a main driver for the merger. AT T is a long distance telecoms firm, while SBC is mainly focused on the local market in the western US. Both also have data network businesses. The takeover is subject to approval by AT T's shareholders and regulators. The companies said they expected to complete the agreement during the first half of 2006.


The home secretary has defended his decision not to release foreign terror suspects despite a legal ruling their detention breached human rights laws. House of Lords law lords ruled against the detention measures last week. They said it was wrong to have one set of laws for foreign suspects and another for British suspects. New Home Secretary Charles Clarke said he would carefully consider the ruling and would return to Parliament early in the new year with proposals. He insisted that he would not be rushed into judgement but would examine the law lords' findings in detail. "My duty is to look at first of all the security of this country and in so doing to consider very carefully the precise legal measures that there are." Mr Clarke's comments came in response to an emergency question from Liberal Democrat constitutional affairs spokesman David Heath. Mr Heath said the judgement contained "unprecedented condemnation and could not have been more unequivocal". He said he accepted the difficult balance between the nation's security and human rights but questioned why the home office had made "no contingency plans for the present circumstances". "These detainees should be prosecuted and tried. Simply renewing the present deeply unsatisfactory legislation is not an option." Shadow home secretary David Davis said it was not possible to overstate the importance of the judgment and urged the government to move as fast as "competently possible" to sort the problem out in the interests of natural justice. "If you do, we will give you every support." The law lords' ruling came on Charles Clarke's first day as home secretary last Thursday following David Blunkett's resignation. In a statement on the same day, Mr Clarke said: "I will be asking Parliament to renew this legislation in the New Year. "In the meantime, we will be studying the judgment carefully to see whether it is possible to modify our legislation to address the concerns raised by the House of Lords." But the government was widely criticised for insisting the detentions would continue following the ruling last week. Lord Bingham a senior law lord said the rules were incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights as they allowed detentions "in a way that discriminates on the ground of nationality or immigration status" by justifying detention without trial for foreign suspects, but not Britons. Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, in his ruling, said: "Indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial is anathema in any country which observes the rule of law." The detainees took their case to the House of Lords after the Court of Appeal backed the Home Office's powers to hold them without limit or charge. The government opted out of part of the European Convention on Human Rights concerning the right to a fair trial in order to bring in anti terrorism legislation in response to the 11 September attacks in the US.


German business confidence fell in February knocking hopes of a speedy recovery in Europe's largest economy. Munich based research institute Ifo said that its confidence index fell to 95.5 in February from 97.5 in January, its first decline in three months. The study found that the outlook in both the manufacturing and retail sectors had worsened. Observers had been hoping that a more confident business sector would signal that economic activity was picking up. "We're surprised that the Ifo index has taken such a knock," said DZ bank economist Bernd Weidensteiner. "The main reason is probably that the domestic economy is still weak, particularly in the retail trade." Economy and Labour Minister Wolfgang Clement called the dip in February's Ifo confidence figure "a very mild decline". He said that despite the retreat, the index remained at a relatively high level and that he expected "a modest economic upswing" to continue. Germany's economy grew 1.6% last year after shrinking in 2003. However, the economy contracted by 0.2% during the last three months of 2004, mainly due to the reluctance of consumers to spend. Latest indications are that growth is still proving elusive and Ifo president Hans Werner Sinn said any improvement in German domestic demand was sluggish. Exports had kept things going during the first half of 2004, but demand for exports was then hit as the value of the euro hit record levels making German products less competitive overseas. On top of that, the unemployment rate has been stuck at close to 10% and manufacturing firms, including DaimlerChrysler, Siemens and Volkswagen, have been negotiating with unions over cost cutting measures. Analysts said that the Ifo figures and Germany's continuing problems may delay an interest rate rise by the European Central Bank. Eurozone interest rates are at 2%, but comments from senior officials have recently focused on the threat of inflation, prompting fears that interest rates may rise.


AC Milan defender Jaap Stam says Manchester United "know they made a mistake" by selling him in 2001. The sides meet at Old Trafford in the Champions League game on Wednesday and the 32 year old's Dutchman's presence is sure to add spice to the fixture. "United made a mistake in selling me," Stam told Uefa's Champions magazine. "I was settled at Manchester United, but they wanted to sell me. If a club want to sell you, there is nothing you can do. You can be sold like cattle." Sir Alex Ferguson surprised the football world and Stam by selling the Dutchman to Lazio for 16.5m in August 2001. The decision came shortly after Stam claimed in his autobiography that Ferguson had tapped him up when he was at PSV Eindhoven. But Ferguson insisted he sold the defender because the transfer fee was too good to refuse for a player past his prime. The affair still rankles with the Dutchman. "I was settled at Manchester United, I had even just ordered a new kitchen, but they wanted to sell me," he said. "In what other industry can a good employee be ushered out the door against their wishes? "Of course, you can refuse to go, but then the club have the power to put you on the bench. I don't agree that players control the game. "There have been opportunities to confront them in the newspapers, but I have turned them down. What's the point?" Wednesday's game at Old Trafford will provide an intriguing confrontation between United's young attackers Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo and Milan's veteran defence of Stam, Paolo Maldini, Cafu and Alessandro Costacurta. Stam says Rooney's teenage stardom is in stark contract to his own start in the game. "We can't all be Wayne Rooneys at his age I was training to be an electrician and thought my chance of becoming a professional footballer had gone," he said. "Starting late can be a good thing. Some kids who start early get bored. "I had my youth having fun, drinking beers, blowing up milk cannisters. It sounds strange but it's a tradition where I grew up in Kampen and I had done all the things I wanted to do."


The government is being naive by refusing to allow phone tap evidence in court, a senior EU politician says. Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief, says phone tap evidence works in the courts of other European countries. Human rights groups, top police officers and many MPs say allowing the evidence would remove the need to detain terror suspects without charge. But Home Secretary Charles Clarke says the evidence would not make much difference to these cases. Mr Solana told ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby programme: " Phone tap evidence in court works, it is normal that it is done, it would be naive not to do it. "It would be naive not to use this technological thing that we have at our disposal." Mr Solana's comments come the day after Sir Ian Blair, the newly appointed Metropolitan Police commissioner, said he was in favour of phone tap evidence. Under the Anti Terrorism Crimes and Security Act 2001, foreign terror suspects can be detained in British jails without trial or charge. Several suspects have been detained under these powers because evidence against them was deemed too sensitive to be heard in court. Some of this evidence is believed to be telephone intercepts. Human Rights group Liberty has argued that if intercept evidence could be heard, these detainees could be brought to trial. But critics of phone tap trials say the evidence is often weak and can expose the methods of the security services. The home secretary says intercepts would not make much difference because cases against terror suspects frequently rely on other kinds of surveillance. But Mr Clarke has been forced to change the regime of detention without trial after Law Lords ruled it illegal. He has opted for a system of "control orders" whereby suspects, both British and foreign, can be held under house arrest or surveillance. These orders will again involve a UK opt out of parts of the European Convention on Human Rights. While accepting that people "have to be prepared" for a possible terrorist attack, Mr Solana said he had "qualms" about the home secretary's new plans. "We have to fight terrorism with all our means, but not so far as to change our way of life," he said.


Visa processing staff are sometimes expected to rule on an application every 11 minutes, MPs have said. Pressure was placed on staff to be efficient, rather than to do a thorough examination of an application, the Public Accounts Committee found. Every officer had an annual target of 8,000 applications equivalent to 40 a day or one every 11 minutes. MPs want research into whether UK visa holders leave at the end of their stays, or vanish into the black market. Committee chairman Edward Leigh said: "There is a worrying tension between quick processing and proper control over the visas issued. "Entry clearance staff are expected to deal with a visa application in about 11 minutes which is surely too little time to look closely at the supporting documents. " The committee's report also discussed the Romanian and Bulgarian visas scandal which led to the resignation of immigration minister Beverley Hughes last year. Committee members said the Home Office had been wrong to dismiss concerns from visa staff abroad who feared the system was being abused. Investigations carried out in the wake of Ms Hughes' resignation found more than 7,000 people had entered the UK under the business visa scheme for Romanian and Bulgarian "entrepreneurs". Mr Leigh said the Home Office should now consider removing those who had not set up a valid business. A Home Office spokesman said the system had been toughened and tightened since the investigation. He added "that the traditional system of a dual decision making process for all pre entry applications will be replaced by a single pre entry check at post, which will be simpler and more robust against abuse than the current system".


Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry insists the club will never sell Steven Gerrard amid reports Chelsea will renew their bid to lure him from Anfield. Gerrard reiterated his desire to win trophies with the Reds after his superb Champions League winner on Wednesday. And Parry has moved to scotch claims that Chelsea could launch a 35m bid. "There is no chance of Stevie going in January," said Parry. "That just won't happen. Our intention is that we will never let him go." Gerrard scored a spectacular late goal to give Liverpool a 3 1 win over Olympiakos and book their place in the knockout stages. "Of course he is ambitious but so are we," Parry added. "We firmly believe that if we can satisfy his ambition he will remain a Liverpool player. "We have an open and straightforward relationship. We both know where we stand and that played a big part in his decision to stay last summer. If he was not so committed to Liverpool he would have gone by now." Gerrard had said before Wednesday's game he would consider leaving if the club was knocked out of Europe, with Real Madrid also believed to be monitoring his situation. "The main point I have made is I want to be in a Liverpool side which challenges for the Champions League and the title all the time," he said afterwards. "I want to be winning things with Liverpool, not somewhere else. "I am a fan as well and I think what I have said the supporters will agree with. "We have to build on wins like that, not just settle for a great win and then not progress any further. "My goal was one of the most important I have ever scored and I hope it turns out to be one of the most important for the club for a long time. "I know I put a lot of pressure on myself because of what I said, and I felt I needed a big performance, but I am not going to go around telling lies about how I feel." Reds manager Rafael Benitez believes Gerrard can win everything he wants to without moving clubs. "Steven can win all he wants with us and we need him. He has seen that we have a good team and we can do more things in the future," said Benitez. "But if we want to win more games, important games, we need Steven in the team. "We need his strength, the strong mentality he has and his quality. I think he likes and wants the responsibility of leading this team."


Two days of talks on the future of Gibraltar begin at Jack Straw's country residence later on Wednesday. Officials at the two day summit at the foreign secretary's official Kent house, Chevening, will plan a new forum on the Rock's future. In October, Mr Straw and his Spanish counterpart Miguel Moratinos agreed to establish a body that would give Gibraltarians a voice in their future. Most Gibraltarians said in a referendum they wanted to remain British. Gibraltar's Chief Minister Peter Caruana will represent the British citizens living on the Rock, while Britain's Europe Director Dominick Chilcott will represent the UK. Madrid is being represented by Spain's director general for Europe, Jose Maria Pons. The initiative follows Spain's socialist government's decision to put its long standing sovereignty ambitions on hold. Gibraltarians rejected plans for the Rock's sovereignty to be shared between Britain and Spain in a referendum organised by Gibraltar government.


Britain's 3bn EU rebate is not up for renegotiation at next week's European Council summit, Jack Straw said. The foreign secretary told MPs the rebate, secured by Margaret Thatcher in 1984, was "entirely justified". New European commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has suggested the cash could be shared out among net contributors to the EU budget. Mr Straw acknowledged some countries in the newly enlarged 25 nation EU still had to "see the light" on the rebate. But the foreign secretary told the Commons foreign affairs committee: "Our position is very clear: it is entirely justified and it is not for negotiation." He added that he did not think there would be a political price to pay for the UK's stance Britain contributed more and received less than other EU states. The two day European Council summit in Brussels begins on 16 December and is widely expected to mark the beginning of a lengthy negotiating period over the EU's budget for 2007 13. The wrangling could stretch into 2005, even 2006. The UK, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden want the EU budget to be capped at 1% of member states' combined national incomes the Commission wants it to be 1.26%. Mr Straw said the EU commission's proposal would mean a 35% hike in the budget. "I don't know of any national government thinking of increasing its budget by that amount," he added. The foreign secretary said he hoped the talks next week could produce a date in 2005 for the beginning of negotiations with Turkey about possible EU membership although that there would be no prospect of a date for joining for some time.


Ukraine is preparing what could be a wholesale review of the privatisation of thousands of businesses by the previous administration. The new President, Viktor Yushchenko, has said a "limited" list of companies is being drawn up. But on Wednesday Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said the government was planning to renationalise 3,000 firms. The government says many privatised firms were sold to allies of the last administration at rock bottom prices. More than 90,000 businesses in all, from massive corporations to tiny shopfronts, have been sold off since 1992, as the command economy built up when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union was dismantled. Ms Tymoshenko said prosecutors had drawn up a list of more than 3,000 businesses which were to be reviewed. "We will return to the state that which was illegally put into private hands." A day earlier, Mr Yushchenko keen to reassure potential investors had said only 30 to 40 top firms would be targeted. The list "will be limited and final, and will not be extended after its completion", he said. An open ended list could further damage outside investors' fragile faith in Ukraine, said Stuart Hensel of the Economist Intelligence Unit. But the government seemed keen not to make the review look like the kind of wholesale renationalisation which many fear in Russia, Mr Hensel said. As a result, it was planning to resell rather than keep firms in state hands. "They're aware of the need not to scare investors, and to be careful of internal divides within Ukraine," he said. "They don't want to be seen to be transferring assets from one set of oligarchs to a new set." Foreign investment in Ukraine, at about 40 a head in 2004, is one of the lowest among ex Soviet states. Mr Yushchenko became president after two elections in December, the first of which was annulled amid allegations of voting irregularities and massive street protests. His opponent, Viktor Yanukovich, still has huge support in the country's eastern industrial heartland. Mr Yushchenko's administration has accused its predecessor, led by ex President Leonid Kuchma, of corruption. The privatisation review's number one target is a steel mill sold to a consortium which included Viktor Pinchuk, Mr Kuchma's son in law, for 800m ( 424m) despite higher bids from several foreign groups. The mill, Krivorizhstal, is one of the world's most profitable. "We say Krivorizhstal was stolen, and at any cost we will return it to the state," Mr Yushchenko told an investors' conference in Kiev. One of the jilted bidders, Netherlands based group LNM, said it welcomed the possibility that the mill might be back on the market. "If the original privatisation is annulled and a new tender issued, then we would look at it with great interest," a spokesman told BBC News. A resale of Krivorizhstal could potentially triple the price, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's Mr Hensel. But he warned that the government could decide to take the easy route of revaluing the company and charging the existing owners the revised price rather than undertaking a fresh sale. "That way, Mr Yushchenko can go to the public and say he has forced the oligarchs to play by the rules," he told BBC News.


G7 finance ministers have backed plans to write off up to 100% of the debts of some of the world's poorest countries. UK chancellor Gordon Brown said the London meeting of the world's seven richest nations would be remembered as "the 100% debt relief summit". Some 37 countries could benefit after a case by case review by bodies including the World Bank and the IMF, he said. But the US says it cannot support Mr Brown's International Finance Facility to boost aid to developing countries. BBC correspondents said the meeting had produced some movement towards the UK's ambitions, but much work was needed. Mr Brown said it was a major breakthrough for the international organisations to offer up to 100% multilateral debt relief "the vast bulk" of money owed by the poorest countries. "We could be at the beginning of the final stage of the process where the debts that were owed by the poorest countries, built up over 20 or 30 years, debts that are simply unpayable in the real world, are finally taken care of," he said. He added: "It is the richest countries hearing the voices of the poor." But he said they would insist on government reforms and the need for transparency, tackling corruption and openness from both the poorest and richest nations. BBC correspondent Patrick Bartlett said while it was an agreement in principle, the organisations involved now have to look at how it would work in practice. Oxfam senior policy adviser Max Lawson welcomed the statement and said G7 ministers had "passed the first hurdle of 2005". But he added: "They need to move quickly to turn their proposals into real change for the world's poorest. "Two million children will die needlessly between now and the next meeting in April. If rich countries are going to keep their promises to tackle obscene poverty they need deliver and deliver quickly." Talks are continuing on how to finance increased overseas development assistance. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to look at a proposal to use its gold supplies to help the debt relief effort when it meets in April. Mr Brown said G7 ministers had agreed to defer debt interest payments and repayments for some countries affected by the tsunami until the end of 2005. But UK plans for an International Finance Facility (IFF) to help deal with debt in the developing world have not been agreed. Mr Brown wanted to provide 10bn ( 5.38bn) a year over a decade, using G7 backing so the money could be borrowed up front on financial markets. It is a key element of his proposals for a modern version of the Marshall Plan, which brought US aid to rebuild Europe after World War II, for the developing world. Mr Brown said it was "winning support every day" and said a programme had been agreed to draw up more details in time for the G8 summit in July. But US Treasury Under Secretary John Taylor said the US could not support the IFF because of its "legislative process". "The US is completely committed to poverty reduction and providing financing to do that," he said. "But this particular mechanism does not work for the United States. It works for other countries, and that is fine." Earlier, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the US had increased support for Africa in the past four years from 1.1bn per year to 4.6bn per year. But South Africa Finance Minister Trevor Manuel told the BBC's Talking Point programme what was needed was one approach, with all wealthy nations on board. He said much of the money pledged by the US had not yet been dispensed. The UK has made poverty in the poorest nations a key theme for its 2005 presidency of the Group of Eight (G8), which comprises the G7 and Russia. The G8 countries will meet at Gleneagles in Scotland. At a dinner on Friday night, former South African president Nelson Mandela backed Mr Brown's plan when he urged the finance chiefs to write off African debt and provide an extra 50bn ( 26.69bn) a year in aid for the next decade. Talks also centred on the impact of the rising economies of China and India, the US budget and trade deficits, how the US, Europe and Japan can act to boost global economic growth, and HIV/Aids. G7 ministers called for more flexibility in international exchange rates and said "excess volatility" would impede economic growth. Representatives from China, India, Russia, South Africa and Brazil were invited to attend some of the sessions. A G8 summit is set to take place in July.


The US created fewer jobs than expected in December, but analysts said that the dip in hiring was not enough to derail the world's biggest economy. According to Labor Department figures, 157,000 new jobs were added last month. That took 2004's total to 2.2 million, the best showing in five years. Job creation was one of last year's main concerns for the US economy. While worries still remain, the conditions are set for steady growth in 2005, analysts said. The unemployment rate stayed at 5.4% in December, and about 200,000 jobs will need to be created each month if that figure is to drop. "It was a respectable report," said Michael Moran, analyst at Daiwa Securities. "Payroll growth in December was a little lighter than the consensus forecast, but we had upward revisions to the prior two months and an increase in manufacturing employment." "Manufacturing is a cyclical area of the economy and if it's showing job growth, it's a good indication that the economy is on a solid growth track." That means that the Federal Reserve is likely to continue its policy of raising interest rates. The Fed lifted borrowing costs five times last year to 2.25%, citing evidence the US economic recovery was becoming more robust. Job creation was one of last year's main concerns for the US economy, and proved to be a main topic of debate in the US presidential election. While demand for workers is far from booming, the conditions are set for steady growth. "Overall, compared to the previous year it looks great, it just keeps going stronger and stronger and I expect that to be the case" in 2005, said Kurt Karl, economist at Swiss Re in New York. Meanwhile, economists cautioned against reading too much into data from the Federal Reserve showing an unexpected 8.7bn drop in consumer debt in November. A fall in consumer spending, which makes up about two thirds of all US economic activity, could help limit the extent of any future interest rate rises. But economists said there could be a number of reasons for a fall in the borrowing, which include credit cards and personal loans, while noting that such figures can vary on a month to month basis.


Literally putting a face on technology could be one of the keys to improving our interaction with hi tech gadgets. Imagine a surveillance system that also presents a virtual embodiment of a person on a screen who can react to your behaviour, and perhaps even alert you to new e mails. Basic versions of these so called avatars already exist. Together with speech and voice recognition systems, they could replace the keyboard and mouse in the near future. Some of these ideas have been showcased at the London's Science Museum, as part of its Future Face exhibition. One such avatar is Jeremiah. It is a virtual man, which you can download for free and install in your computer. His creator, Richard Bowden, lecturer at the Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing at the University of Surrey, refers to Jeremiah as "him", rather than it. "Jeremiah is a virtual face that attempts to emulate humans in the way it responds to activity. He is very childlike, he likes visual stimulus," he told the BBC News website. "When he sees children running and laughing and waving at him, he smiles at them. If you ignore him, he gets angry. If you leave, he gets sad. And you can also even surprise him." Jeremiah is not actually intelligent. It works on vision, reacting in a preset way to the information provided by a surveillance tracker system. It is not able to talk or to hear you, at least not yet. The Surrey team is already working on Jeremiah's next version, that will replace the human face with an underwater and more interactive creature: Finn the fish. "I am interested in the interaction, providing the ability of a system to watch what's going on and make decisions based on that," explained Dr Bowden. The research comes at a time when people are having to cope with an increasing number of hi tech gadgets. Experts say a much more natural way to interact with these devices, such as a virtual human, could make it much easier to make the most of all those new gizmos. "If you get up at three o'clock in the morning, and you go downstairs, there are probably two things you are going to do: either going to the bathroom, or maybe you are going to make a cup of tea," said Dr Bowden. "Now if the system can watch your behaviour over time, it can learn this, so it would predict what you are going to do, turn on the lights for you, or, before you even get to the kettle, it could have switched it on." You might even be able to tell your home surveillance system that you will be going away on holiday, and ask if it could make sure that the house is secure once you have left. This might sound like a scary vision of an Orwellian future. But it might all depend on the face that is watching you. "When we put the surveillance cameras in our centre, a lot of people were very unhappy about the fact that there was a system watching them," said Dr Bowden. "But when Jeremiah's camera went in, nobody minded, because although it's still watching them, they could see what it was watching."


The soaring cost of oil has hit global economic growth, although world's major economies should weather the storm of price rises, according to the OECD. In its latest bi annual report, the OECD cut its growth predictions for the world's main industrialised regions. US growth would reach 4.4% in 2004, but fall to 3.3% next year from a previous estimate of 3.7%, the OECD said. However, the Paris based economics think tank said it believed the global economy could still regain momentum. Forecasts for Japanese growth were also scaled back to 4.0% from 4.4% this year and 2.1% from 2.8% in 2005. But the outlook was worst for the 12 member eurozone bloc, with already sluggish growth forecasts slipping to 1.8% from 2.0% this year and 1.9% from 2.4% in 2005, the OECD said. Overall, the report forecast total growth of 3.6% in 2004 for the 30 member countries of the OECD, slipping to 2.9% next year before recovering to 3.1% in 2006. "There are nonetheless good reasons to believe that despite recent oil price turbulence the world economy will regain momentum in a not too distant future," said Jean Philippe Cotis, the OECD's chief economist. The price of crude is about 50% higher than it was at the start of 2004, but down on the record high of 55.67 set in late October. A dip in oil prices and improving jobs prospects would improve consumer confidence and spending, the OECD said. "The oil shock is not enormous by historical standards we have seen worse in the seventies. If the oil price does not rise any further, then we think the shock can be absorbed within the next few quarters," Vincent Koen, a senior economist with the OECD, told the BBC's World Business Report. "The recovery that was underway, and has been interrupted a bit by the oil shock this year, would then regain momentum in the course of 2005." China's booming economy and a "spectacular comeback" in Japan albeit one that has faltered in recent months would help world economic recovery, the OECD said. "Supported by strong balance sheets and high profits, the recovery of business investment should continue in North America and start in earnest in Europe," it added. However, the report warned: "It remains to be seen whether continental Europe will play a strong supportive role through a marked upswing of final domestic demand." The OECD highlighted current depressed household expenditure in Germany and the eurozone's over reliance on export led growth.


Nigerian banks United Bank of Africa and Standard Trust Bank have agreed plans to merge and create the biggest bank in West Africa. The deal is also in line with a 2004 directive from the Nigerian central bank that called for more consolidation in the nation's crowded banking sector. The merger was announced in a statement on Standard Trust's website on Tuesday, but no financial details were revealed. United Bank is the third biggest in Nigeria in terms of number of branches. Standard Trust is smaller but more profitable. "The boards of United Bank and Standard Trust, at separate meetings yesterday, approved arrangements to merge both institutions," Standard Trust said. Standard Trust is 100% Nigerian owned, but United Bank has some foreign investors, including New York based Global Depository Receipts (32.8%), and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro and Monte del Paschi di Siena, both from Italy, who each have a 2.4% stake.


The growth in the mobile phone market in the past decade has been nothing less than astonishing, but the ability to communicate on the go is not the only reason we are hooked. Games, cameras and music players have all been added to our handsets in the last few years, but 2005 could see another big innovation that won't just see a change in our mobile phone habits it might alter the way we listen to the radio. Finnish handset giant Nokia has been working on a technology called Visual Radio, which takes an existing FM signal from a radio station and enables that station to add enhancements such as information and pictures. It is not the first time that such an idea has been suggested the early days of DAB Digital Radio had similar intentions that never really saw the light of day. One problem is that the name Visual Radio leads people to think of television but Reidar Wasenius, a senior project manager at Nokia, was adamant that Visual Radio should not be confused with the more traditional medium. He said: "I'm very happy to say it's not television, what we're talking about is an enhancement of radio as we know it today. "If you have a Visual Radio enabled handset, when you hear an artist you don't know, or there's a competition or vote that you'd like to participate in, you pull out your handset and with one click you turn on a visual channel parallel to the on air broadcast you've just been listening to." That visual channel is run from a computer within the radio station, and sends out different kinds of information to the handset depending on what you are listening to. As well as details on the track or artist of a particular song, there is also the ability to interact immediately with the radio station itself, in a similar way to digital television's "red button" content. Possible interactive content includes competitions, votes and even the chance to rate the song that is playing. But the interactive aspect will make the service especially attractive to radio stations, who will be able to track the number of people taking part in such activities on a real time basis. This in turn should lead to an additional source of revenue, as it is very likely that advertisers will be keen to exploit new opportunities to reach listeners. As the Visual Radio content is transmitted by existing GPRS technology you would need to have that service enabled by your network. And there will be a cost for the service as well, although it may depend on your usage. "If you enjoy the visual channel occasionally and interact it'll be two or three pounds per month," said Mr Wasenius. "But typically what we see happening is the operator offering a package deal for an 'all you can eat' arrangement per month." The payment system could therefore be similar to the way that broadband internet works versus dial up connections. One thing that is for sure assuming that Nokia retains its market share in handsets, it is estimating that there will be 100 million Visual Radio enabled mobile phones in circulation by the end of 2006. "Basically, Visual Radio is not really revolutionary, but rather an evolution where we are providing tools with which people can participate in radio much more easily than ever before." The first Visual Radio service in the UK will begin in a few months time with Virgin Radio, who are positive about the impact it could have on their listeners. Station manager Steve Taylor commented: "Listeners can interact with the radio station in a new way. "Not only does this give listeners more information on the music we play but means they can instantly purchase things they like; mp3 music downloads and the latest gig tickets." Initially Visual Radio functionality will be limited to two Nokia handsets due out soon the 3230 and 7710 but if successful, it is very likely that other manufacturers will want to join them. Listen again to the interview on the Radio Five Live website.