The Brazilian government has played down claims that it could step in to save the country's biggest airline. Brazil's airport authority chief Carlos Wilson had claimed the government was on the brink of stepping in to save Varig, Brazil's flagship airline. However, the country's vice president Jose Alencar has said the government still is looking for a solution. Varig is struggling under a huge debt burden of an estimated debt of 6.5 billion reais ( 2.3bn or 1.2bn). Asked whether a rescue was on the cards following a meeting of the country's Congress to discuss the airline's crisis, Mr Alencar replied: "No, I don't think so. We will see." Earlier, Mr Wilson had said that president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has decided to step in and a decree of some kind of intervention could be signed this week. "In practice, it will be an intervention, although this is not the technical name used", he said. An intervention means that the government would take administrative control of the company and its finances. For that to happen Varig's main shareholder, the non profit Ruben Berta Foundation which represents the airline's employees, would have to be removed, Mr Wilson said. However, no jobs would be lost and the airline would keep on flying, he added. Varig, which operates in 18 countries apart from Brazil, has been driven to the brink of collapse because of the country's economic downturn. The depreciation of Brazil's currency has had a direct impact on the airline's dollar debt as well as some of its costs. Business has improved recently with demand for air travel increasing and a recovery in the Brazilian economy. The airline could also win a sizeable windfall from a compensation claim against the government. On Tuesday the courts awarded Varig 2bn reais ( 725m), after ruling in favour of its compensation claim against the government for freezing tariffs from 1985 to 1992. But the government can appeal the decision.


Newcastle striker Craig Bellamy is discussing a possible short term loan move to Celtic, BBC Sport understands. The Welsh striker has rejected a move to Birmingham after falling out with Magpies manager Graeme Souness. The Toon boss vowed Bellamy would not play again after a bitter row over his exclusion for the game against Arsenal. Celtic are in no position to match Birmingham's 6m offer but a stay until the end of the season could suit Bellamy while he considers his future. According to Bellamy's agent, the player dismissed a permanent move to Birmingham. And it is unlikely that Newcastle would allow the player to go on loan to another Premiership club. Bellamy was fined two weeks' wages after a live TV interview in which he accused Souness of lying, following a very public dispute about what position Bellamy should play in the side. Souness said: "He can't play for me ever again. He has been a disruptive influence from the minute I walked into this football club. "He can't go on television and accuse me of telling lies." Chairman Freddy Shepherd described Bellamy's behaviour as "totally unacceptable and totally unprofessional".


Voters will have a clear choice between the politics of fear and the politics of hope in the next general election, said Charles Kennedy. In his New Year message the Liberal Democrat leader said Labour and the Conservatives were united in relying on fear and "populist scares". He said his party was the one of hope and was ready for a 2005 poll. On the Asian tsunami he said it had been "very heartening" to learn of the generosity being shown by Britons. Mr Kennedy said his thoughts were with all those caught up in the disaster, which had dominated the Christmas and New Year period. At home he said many people were turning to the Liberal Democrats as they became disheartened with the politics of the other two main parties. The general election would be a three party struggle, as the Conservative party "fades away" as a national force and the Liberal Democrats challenge Labour in its heartlands, he said. "A clear division is emerging in British politics the politics of fear versus the politics of hope. "Labour is counting on the politics of fear, ratcheting up talk of threats, crime and insecurity. While the Conservatives are re working their populist scares about asylum and the European 'menace'," he said. He said the government was using this climate of fear to try to strip away civil liberties. It was already using detention without trial at Belmarsh Prison, ignoring a recent Law Lords judgement that this contravenes basic human rights, he said. He also criticised attempts to bring in trial without jury, plans to lower the burden of proof in some criminal trials, curbing of rights to protest, increased stop and search powers and ID card plans. He said while everyone had the right to be secure they also had the right to be protected against unfair discrimination. "But at the same time, an overmighty state is a dangerous one," he said. His party "instinctively" understood the "new liberal Britain" which is no longer a nation with one family structure, and one colour, he said. "We are less deferential; more inclined to think for ourselves; more open about sexuality and equality. "Our national institutions are changing too. We are no longer a nation of one church; we are a nation of many faiths. In our attitudes and the way we live our lives, this is in many ways a liberal Britain."


Venus Williams suffered a first round defeat for the first time in four years at the Dubai Championships. Sylvia Farina Elia, who had lost all nine of her previous meetings with the American fifth seed, won 7 5 7 6 (8 6). Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez and India's Sania Mirza, the oldest and youngest players in the draw, also reached the second round. Martinez, 32, beat Shinobu Asagoe 6 4 6 4 and 18 year old Mirza beat Jelena Kostanic 6 7 (7 2) 6 4 6 1. Mirza, the first Indian woman to win a WTA Tour title this month on home ground at Hyderabad, will now face US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. But she is remaining confident. "She (Kuznetsova) is a great player," she said. "But everyone is beatable and I am looking forward to a great match." Williams though blamed her defeat by Farina Elia on injuries. "Blisters were a factor, but mostly my stomach wasn't that great," she said. "I did it in the last tournament in the semi finals, and I was serving at 40% in the final. "The first time I served again was Sunday and there wasn't a lot I could do out there. When your serve isn't good it throws the rest of your game off too." She will wait to see how she recovers before deciding whether to take part in the Nasdaq 100 Open in Miami, starting on 21 March.


Issues that Muslims should be considering before voting in the next general election are to be debated by UK community representatives. The event is being held by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), which believes Muslim voters could influence the result in up to 50 constituencies. Last year MAB, which opposed the war in Iraq, urged Muslims not to vote for Labour in the European elections. But a spokesman stressed the meeting was "not necessarily anti Labour". "This meeting is not anti party in particular, it's anti policy, it's on the issues we are going to ask Muslims to vote on," MAB spokesman Dr Azzam Tamimi said of Tuesday's event. "There are issues of concern to Muslims, and Muslims generally agree on them but have not in the past been aware of how a vote can serve these issues." Dr Tamimi said the main issues Muslims should consider were what he referred to as the war on Iraq, the Palestinian situation, the erosion of civil liberties for Muslims in the UK and economic, social and education problems. Approximately 1.1m of the UK's 1.6m Muslims are of voting age. Previous election research has shown the overwhelming majority have traditionally voted Labour, but more recent studies have suggested Labour support has been falling away significantly among some Muslim voters. Anger over the war in Iraq has appeared to be the main reason, with many saying it was "unjustified". Representatives from a number of Muslim organisations will attend Tuesday's event. Among them will be the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). The chairman of the MCB's public affairs committee, Sher Khan, said the war in Iraq would be a "significant factor" affecting Muslims' voting intentions. "I think it's going to be quite significant because of the number of seats in which they could have an impact," Mr Khan said. However, Professor John Curtice, of the University of Strathclyde, is sceptical about how much difference tactical voting by Muslims could make. "For the most part the Labour constituencies where there's a large Muslim community are relatively safe, but there are one or two that are not quite so safe," Professor Curtice said. The constituencies where Labour was most at risk from a Muslim tactical vote were Bethnal Green, in east London, and Rochdale in Lancashire, he added. In Bethnal Green, former Labour MP George Galloway, who founded the anti war party Respect, is standing against sitting MP Oona King, who had a 10,000 vote majority in 2001. In Rochdale, the Liberal Democrats the mainstream party a 2004 ICM survey showed was benefiting most from Muslim disaffection with Labour secured second place in the 2001 election, securing just under 6,000 votes fewer than Labour's Lorna Fitzsimons. But Professor Curtice said the Muslim anti war vote could be split between the Liberal Democrats and Respect, meaning neither would benefit much at the ballot box. "Ironically the Tories might be the beneficiaries if Labour does lose seats, which is generally the case," he said. But Dr Tamimi said MAB's intention was not to "empower" the Tories. "We know the next government will be Labour, but we are aiming to send a message that it will make a difference if the Muslims use their vote properly. "If the next Labour government has a reduced majority that's a great achievement because having a very big majority has been very harmful for politics in this country," Dr Tamimi said.


The Cell processor, which will drive Sony's PlayStation 3, will run 10 times faster than current PC chips, its designers have said. Sony, IBM and Toshiba, who have been working on the Cell processor for three years, unveiled the chip on Monday. It is being designed for use in graphics workstations, the new PlayStation console, and has been described as a supercomputer on a chip. The chip will run at speeds of greater than 4 GHz, the firms said. By comparison, rival chip maker Intel's fastest processor runs at 3.8 GHz. Details of the chip were released at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco. The new processor is set to ignite a fresh battle between Intel and the Cell consortium over which processor sits at the centre of digital products. The PlayStation 3 is expected in 2006, while Toshiba plans to incorporate it into high end televisions next year. IBM has said it will sell a workstation with the chip starting later this year. Cell is comprised of several computing engines, or cores. A core based on IBM's Power architecture controls eight "synergistic" processing centres. In all, they can simultaneously carry out 10 instruction sequences, compared with two for current Intel chips. Later this year, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices plan to release their own "multicore" chips, which also increase the number of instructions that can be executed at once. The Cell's specifications suggest the PlayStation 3 will offer a significant boost in graphics capabilities but analysts cautioned that not all the features in a product announcement will find their way into systems. "Any new technology like this has two components," said Steve Kleynhans, an analyst with Meta Group. He said: "It has the vision of what it could be because you need the big vision to sell it. "Then there's the reality of how it's really going to be used, which generally is several levels down the chain from there." While the PlayStation 3 is likely to be the first mass market product to use Cell, the chip's designers have said the flexible architecture means that it would be useful for a wide range of applications, from servers to mobile phones. Initial devices are unlikely to be any smaller than a games console, however, because the first version of the Cell will run hot enough to need a cooling fan. And while marketing speak describes the chip as a "supercomputer" it remains significantly slower than the slowest computer on the list of the world's top 500 supercomputers. IBM said Cell was "OS neutral" and would support multiple operating systems simultaneously but designers would not confirm if Microsoft's Windows was among those tested with the chip. If Cell is to challenge Intel's range of chips in the marketplace, it will need to find itself inside PCs, which predominantly run using Windows.


Iran's president, Mohammad Khatami, has unveiled a budget designed to expand public spending by 30% but loosen the Islamic republic's dependence on oil. The budget for the fiscal year starting on 21 March calls for the sell off of 20% of the state's corporate holdings. Mr Khatami's second term as president ends on 1 August, making this his last budget. But opposition from members of parliament who have attacked previous privatisations could block his plans. Elections in May 2004 ousted many of Mr Khatami's supporters in parliament in favour of more hard line religious conservatives. Late last year, they backed a law which would give parliament a veto over foreign investment. The ruling was a response to the involvement in telecoms and airport projects by Turkish companies, which hardliners accused of doing business with Israel. It came not long after the Expediency Council Iran's ultimate decision maker blessed Mr Khatami's policy of selling stakes in sectors protected by the constitution such as energy, transport, telecoms and banking. Continued obstruction of foreign investment could get in the way not only of privatisation plans, but also of Mr Khatami's hope of modestly reducing the government's reliance on oil revenues. In an address to the Majlis, Mr Khatami predicted economic growth of 7.1% in 2005 6, up from 6.7% in the current year. He said he wanted to increase the 2005 6 budget to 1,546 trillion rials ( 175.6bn; 93.6bn) from the previous year's 1,070 trillion. Within that figure, taxation would rise to 14.3bn, a rise of over 40% from what is expected from the current year. In contrast, oil revenues were expected to fall to 14.1bn from 16bn in the year to March 2005. "Current government expenditure should come from tax revenues," Mr Khatami said. "Oil revenues should be used for productive investment." Mr Khatami has already been blocked by parliament from reducing the subsidies on many products including bread and petrol, reducing his room to manoeuvre.


A group of artists in Poland has taken the cacophony of blips, boops and beeps created as players bash buttons on Nintendo's handheld GameBoy console to a new level. The Gameboyzz Orchestra Project has taken the game sounds to put together music tunes they have dubbed "blip pop." Think of it as Donkey Kong meets Norman Cook, or maybe Tetris takes on Kraftwerk. Any way you slice it, the sound is distinct. All the sounds are made by six Nintendo GameBoys, with a mixture of older models and newer Advance SP handhelds. The Gameboyzz Orchestra Project tweaks the software a bit, and then connects the units through a mixing board. Jarek Kujda, one of the project's founding members has been into electronic music and video games, for a while now. "I was playing some experimental music and three, four years ago when I first used a GameBoy in my band as a drum machine," said Kujda. He realised that the console could be used as a rudimentary synthesizer. He wondered, if one GameBoy can make music, what would happen if he put six of them together? Kujda found five other people who were interested and the Gameboyzz Orchestra Project was born. "Gameboyzz Orchestra Project is more of an improvisational project," said Kudja. "We prepare some patterns before a concert, and then improvise during the concert." The group plays maybe four or five shows a year. Malgorzata Kujda, Jarek's younger sister and a fellow band member, describes a Gameboyzz Orchestra Project concert as a lot of noise. "For example, I make music with more hard beats and noises," she said. "But each of us makes another music, a different sound. And then in the concert we just improvise, and that I think is more fun for us." The Gameboyzz Orchestra Project admits they get mixed reactions from audiences. Some love the group's music, and others are not quite sure what to make of it. In the world of electronic music, these purveyors of blip pop are not unique. But Jarek Kujda says they try to be unique. "We have lots of people making music on old school stuff, electronic old school stuff like Commodore, Atari, Spectrum," he said. "We want to play only experimental music, not cover songs. We're something like an electronic jam session." The Gameboyzz Orchestra Project's tracks are available online and the group hopes to make a CD next year. And they have sponsorship, courtesy of the Polish distributor of Nintendo products. The members of the Gameboyzz Orchestra Project do not expect serious competition anytime soon. A GameBoy Advance costs about US 200 in Poland these days, which is still way beyond the reach of most Polish gamers, or musicians. Clark Boyd is technology correspondent for The World, a BBC World Service and WGBH Boston co production


The gap between US exports and imports hit an all time high of 671.7bn ( 484bn) in 2004, latest figures show. The Commerce Department said the trade deficit for all of last year was 24.4% above the previous record 2003's imbalance of 496.5bn. The deficit with China, up 30.5% at 162bn, was the largest ever recorded with a single country. However, on a monthly basis the US trade gap narrowed by 4.9% in December to 56.4bn. The US consumer's appetite for all things from oil to imported cars, and even wine and cheese, reached record levels last year and the figures are likely to spark fresh criticism of President Bush's economic policies. Democrats claim the administration has not done enough to clamp down on unfair foreign trade practices. For example, they believe China's currency policy which US manufacturers claim has undervalued the yuan by as much as 40% has given China's rapidly expanding economy an unfair advantage against US competitors. Meanwhile, the Bush administration argues that the US deficit reflects the fact the America is growing at faster rate than the rest of the world, spurring on more demand for imported goods. Some economists say this may allow an upward revision of US economic growth in the fourth quarter. But others point out that the deficit has reached such astronomical proportions that foreigners many choose not to hold as many dollar denominated assets, which may in turn harm growth. For all of 2004, US exports rose 12.3% to 1.15 trillion, but imports rose even faster by 16.3% to a new record of 1.76 trillion. Foreign oil exports surged by 35.7% to a record 180.7bn, reflecting the rally in global oil prices and increasing domestic demand. Imports were not affected by the dollar's weakness last year. "We expect the deficit to continue to widen in 2005 even if the dollar gets back to its downward trend," said economist Marie Pierre Ripert at IXIS.


Voters' "pent up passion" could confound predictions of a low turnout in the coming general election, Charles Kennedy has said. The Liberal Democrat leader predicted concerns over Iraq and other international and domestic issue would express themselves during the campaign. His comments come as an inquiry looks at how best to boost voter turnouts. Ex foreign secretary Robin Cook said people were not apathetic but fed up of "pager politics" and not being heard. He, like Mr Kennedy, pointed to the hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrated against plans for the Iraq war. Mr Cook, who is giving evidence to the Power inquiry into voter turnout rates, told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme it was not fair to blame the public who were "more interested in politics than ever before". "They are turned off by the way we do politics in Britain. There's a message there for politicians." He urged politicians to avoid negative campaigning and to "speak more from the heart". "We should be not so afraid to say what we stand for." He also criticised the cult of personality politics: "There's far too much interest in celebrities. "Politics are in danger of becoming another branch of the celebrity industry." The government has tried a number of things in an attempt to boost voter turnout, which fell to 59% in the last general election in 2001. This has included bringing in directly elected mayors to head local authorities and trialling postal voting.


Andre Agassi's involvement in the Australian Open was put in doubt after he pulled out of the Kooyong Classic with a hip injury. Agassi was serving at 5 6 down in the first set to fellow American Andy Roddick when he decided to bring a premature end to the match. "My hip was cramping and I just could not continue," said the 34 year old. Agassi, who has won the Australian Open four times, will have an MRI scan to discover the extent of the damage. He said the problem was not the same as the hip injury which forced him to miss Wimbledon last year. "The good news is that it didn't just tear, it was tightening up and that can be your body protecting itself, which is hopefully more of the issue," he added. "That wasn't comfortable out there at all, what I was feeling. "I have to wait and see what I'm dealing with it's a pretty scary feeling out there when something doesn't feel right and is getting worse. "It's very disappointing and I'll have to do my best to deal with it. Time will shortly tell if it (the Australian Open) is a possibility or not. "I was not counting on this being the end of the day for me. "Maybe in a few days I'll have a much better sense of what my hopes will be."


Nearly two million people across Asia could be thrown into poverty because of the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said. In its first overview of the disaster, the ADB said the impact on economic growth would be slight because major cities and factories escaped damage. But the blow to many low income people could be "enormous". The Paris Club of rich creditor nations on Wednesday offered to freeze debts owed by tsunami hit countries. The move was aimed at helping South Asian governments find budgets to rebuild devastated coastal areas, though so far only Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Seychelles have indicated that they will take it up. Other countries believe their economies are strong enough to cope or wish to avoid being viewed as credit risks. "Poverty is potentially the most important impact of this natural disaster," said ADB chief economist Ifzal Ali. Donor nations have promised to give 717m ( 379m) in disaster relief over the next six months, according to the United Nations. Mr Ali added his voice to those warning that aid pledges must be promptly delivered, saying the number of people at risk of poverty hinged on "concerns over sanitation and health conditions, and other basic needs" being "properly and quickly addressed". There are 1.9 billion people in Asia living on less than 2 a day. The ADB fears that 1 million Indonesians could join them, while in India just over half a million people 645,000 are at risk of falling into poverty. A quarter of a million Sri Lankans and 23,500 people in the Maldives are also facing poverty. In the Maldives, where 43% of the population already lives on less than 2 a day, this could rise to half. Sri Lanka and the Maldives are the two countries the ADB fears are most at risk of suffering lasting economic damage from the tsunami. Sri Lanka's government has estimated reconstruction costs at nearly 3bn. A government task force held meetings to discuss an emergency rebuilding plan with the ADB, World Bank and Japanese aid agencies on Wednesday, and promised to publish the plan within 10 days. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and India have enjoyed strong economic growth in recent years, which should cushion them against reconstruction costs. Although Indonesia's northern province of Aceh suffered the worst death toll, the region's oil and natural gas production facilities "have survived intact", the report said. However, it remains too soon to asses the damage to poor people's livelihoods in Aceh because it would depend on how much farm land had been flooded by seawater. "This is a profoundly tragic event for the region and for the millions who are suffering. But the economies of the affected countries except Sri Lanka and the Maldives should emerge with minimal damage," the ADB report said. Some businesses may even gain from the reconstruction efforts, thereby creating jobs. At a meeting in Thailand, ABD president Thadao Chino said he was confident of the country's "own capabilities to restore normalcy to the affected areas and meet the rehabilitation requirements". Thailand has said it does not wish to opt for a debt repayment freeze, while India has also rejected international aid, saying it can cope on its own resources. Debt repayment holidays carry the risk of credit ratings downgrades, making it more expensive to borrow money in future. Indonesia, however, is pressing for greater help with its debts than the current freeze would bring. It is one of the world's most indebted countries.


Senior officials at the two bodies generating private income for the Queen and Prince of Wales are to be questioned by MPs. Aides from the Duchy of Lancaster and Duchy of Cornwall will appear before the Commons Public Accounts Committee. It has been reported they could be questioned about Prince Charles' spending on Camilla Parker Bowles. But BBC correspondent Peter Hunt said they are not responsible for how money is spent and may be unable to answer. Duchy officials, who will appear before the committee on Monday, are only responsible for generating money. The Duchy of Lancaster provides the Queen's private income, while the Duchy of Cornwall provides Prince Charles' annual income. The Duchy of Cornwall is a 140,000 acre estate across 25 counties, and also includes residential properties, shops, offices, stocks and shares. It was set up in 1337 by King Edward III to provide income for successive heirs to the throne. It covers the cost of the prince's public and private life neither Charles, nor William and Harry, receive taxpayers' money from the Civil List. However, the Prince of Wales did receive over 4m from government departments and grants in aid in 2003 4. The duchy last year generated almost 12m. The prince has voluntarily paid income tax currently 40% since 1993.


Video game giant Electronic Arts (EA) says it wants to become the biggest entertainment firm in the world. The US firm says it wants to compete with companies such as Disney and will only achieve this by making games appeal to mainstream audiences. EA publishes blockbuster titles such as Fifa and John Madden, as well as video game versions of movies such as Harry Potter and the James Bond films. Its revenues were 3bn ( 1.65bn) in 2004, which EA hoped to double by 2009. EA is the biggest games publisher in the world and in 2004 had 27 titles which sold in excess of one million copies each. Nine of the 20 biggest selling games in the UK last year were published by EA. Gerhard Florin, EA's managing director for European publishing, said: "Doubling our industry in five years is not rocket science." He said it would take many years before EA could challenge Disney which in 2004 reported revenues of 30bn ( 16bn) but it remained a goal for the company. "We will be able to bring more people into gaming because games will be more emotional." Mr Florin predicted that the next round of games console would give developers enough power to create real emotion. "It's the subtleties, the eyes, the mouth 5,000 polygons doesn't really sell the emotion. "With PS3 and Xbox 2, we can go on the main character with 30,000 to 50,000 polygons," he said. "With that increased firepower, the Finding Nemo video game looks just like the movie, but it will be interactive." Mr Florin said that more than 50% of all EA's games were sold to adults and played by adults, but the perception remained that the video game industry was for children. "Our goal is to bring games to the masses which bring out emotions." EA said the video game industry was now bigger than the music industry. "Nobody queues for music anymore." "You can't ignore an industry when people queue to buy a game at midnight because they are so desperate to play it," he said, referring to demand for titles for such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Halo 2. Jan Bolz, EA's vice president of sales and marketing in Europe, said the firm was working to give video games a more central role in popular culture. He said the company was in advanced stages of discussions over a reality TV show in which viewers could control the actions of the characters as in its popular game The Sims. "One idea could be that you're controlling a family, telling them when to go to the kitchen and when to go to the bedroom, and with this mechanism you have gamers all over the world 'playing the show'," said Mr Bolz. He also said EA was planning an international awards show "similar to the Oscars and the Grammys" which would combine video games, music and movies. Mr Bolz said video games firm had to work more closely with celebrities. "People will want to play video games if their heroes like Robbie Williams or Christina Aguilera are in them." Mr Florin said the challenge was to keep people playing in their 30s, 40s and 50s. "There's an indication that a 30 year old comes home from work and still wants to play games. "If that's true, that's a big challenge for TV broadcasters because watching TV is the biggest pastime at present."


Former civil service chief Lord Butler has criticised the way Tony Blair's government operates, accusing it of being obsessed with headlines. He also attacked the way the Iraq war was "sold" to the public, with important warnings on the strength of the intelligence left out. Tory leader Michael Howard said Lord Butler had given the "most damaging testimony" he could remember. But Downing Street said Mr Blair should be judged by results not his style. Lord Butler said Mr Blair bypassed the Cabinet and relied instead on small, informal groups of advisers to help him make decisions. The prime minister's official spokesman said the Cabinet was still used to achieve a consensus on important issues. But he added: "You cannot, in a modern government, take every decision in Cabinet. It's just not possible." Lord Butler said the government had too much freedom to "bring in bad Bills" and "to do whatever it likes" and it relied too much on the advice of political appointees. The former cabinet secretary said in an interview with The Spectator magazine: "I would be critical of the present government in that there is too much emphasis on selling, there is too much central control and there is too little of what I would describe as reasoned deliberation which brings in all the arguments." Mr Howard described Lord Butler's intervention as "very important". "This is from someone who was an insider at the very heart of the Blair government. "It is certainly the most damaging testimony I can ever remember from someone in such an eminent position." Lord Butler's report earlier this year into Iraq intelligence said the government's September 2002 weapons dossier did not make clear intelligence about claims that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons was "very thin". The reason for this is that it would have weakened ministers' case for war, Lord Butler said in his Spectator interview, which was conducted by the magazine's editor, Conservative MP Boris Johnson. He said: "When civil servants give material to ministers, they say these are the conclusions we've drawn, but we've got to tell you the evidence we've got is pretty thin. "Similarly, if you are giving something to the United Nations and the country you should warn them." Asked why he thought the warnings were not there Lord Butler said: "One has got to remember what the purpose of the dossier was. The purpose of the dossier was to persuade the British why the government thought Iraq was a very serious threat." When asked whether he thought the country was well governed on the whole, he replied: "Well. I think we are a country where we suffer very badly from Parliament not having sufficient control over the executive, and that is a very grave flaw. "We should be breaking away from the party whip. The executive is much too free to bring in a huge number of extremely bad Bills, a huge amount of regulation and to do whatever it likes and whatever it likes is what will get the best headlines tomorrow. "All that is part of what is bad government in this country." Lord Butler's assessment was backed by his predecessor as Cabinet Secretary, Lord Armstrong. Lord Armstrong told BBC Two's Newsnight: "I agree ... there doesn't appear to be the sort of informed collective political judgement brought to bear on decision making that those affected by decisions are entitled to expect." Liberal Democrat deputy leader Menzies Campbell said he thought Lord Butler's comments were "well justified" and Mr Blair's style of leadership was "corrosive of the whole system of government". But Labour former minister Jack Cunningham accused Lord Butler of basing his comments on the first eight months of the incoming Labour administration, when he was cabinet secretary. Mr Cunningham told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Taken together, Robin Butler's comments are partial, inaccurate and cannot be taken as anything other than politically biased against the Labour government."


Banned American sprinter Kelli White says she knowingly took steroids given to her by Bay Area Lab Co Operative (Balco) president Victor Conte. Conte faces a federal trial next year on charges of distributing steroids and tax evasion, and White said at first he tried to cover up what he was doing. "He's the one who told me that it wasn't what he said it was," White said in the San Francisco Chronicle. But she added: "It was my decision to go to him, not anybody else's." White said Conte at first told her the substance was flaxseed oil, only to change his story later. White failed a drugs test after winning the 100m and 200m titles at the 2003 world athletics championships. She was subsequently handed a two year ban in May this year and has admitted taking the stimulant modafinil. At first, White claimed she took the drug to combat narcolepsy but she now takes full responsibility for her actions. "My whole belief about Victor is that he was selling a product," White said in the LA Times. "Whether it be a good product or a bad product, he was selling a product." White was introduced to Conte through her coach Remy Korchemy, who is also a defendant in the Balco case. The 27 year old believes doping is so common in sport she felt compelled to cheat herself if she was to have any chance of winning. "I have no clue what it's going to take to change that," said White. "I would say I made a mistake and I would never, ever go back. "I would never recommend anyone to take that route."


The Open Society Institute (OSI), financed by billionaire George Soros, has accused Kazakhstan officials of trying to close down its local office. A demand for unpaid taxes and fines of 600,000 ( 425,000) is politically motivated, the OSI claimed, adding that it paid the money in October. The organisation has found itself in trouble after being accused of helping to topple Georgia's former president. It denies having any role, but offices have had to close across the region. The OSI shut its office in Moscow last year and has withdrawn from Uzbekistan and Belarus. In the Ukraine earlier this year, Mr Soros who took on the Bank of England in the 1990s and won, was pelted by protestors. "This legal prosecution can be considered an attempt by the government to force Soros Foundation Kazakhstan to cease its activities in Kazakhstan and shut its doors for Kazakh citizens and organisations," the OSI said. The OSI aims to promote democratic and open, market based societies. Since the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan has been dominated by its president Nursultan Abish uly Nazarbayev. He has powers for life, while insulting the president and officials has been made a criminal offence. The government controls the printing presses and most radio and TV transmission facilities. It operates the country's national radio and TV networks. Recent elections were criticised as flawed and the opposition claimed there was widespread vote rigging. Supporters, however, say he brings much needed stability to a region where Islamic militancy is on the rise. They also credit him with promoting inter ethnic accord and pushing through harsh reforms.


President Bush has presented his 2006 budget, cutting domestic spending in a bid to lower a record deficit projected to peak at 427bn ( 230bn) this year. The 2.58 trillion ( 1.38 trillion) budget submitted to Congress affects 150 domestic programmes from farming to the environment, education and health. But foreign aid is due to rise by 10%, with more money to treat HIV/Aids and reward economic and political reform. Military spending is also set to rise by 4.8%, to reach 419.3bn. The budget does not include the cost of running military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, for which the administration is expected to seek an extra 80bn from Congress later this year. Congress will spend several months debating George W Bush's proposal. The state department's planned budget would rise to just under 23bn a fraction of the defence department's request including almost 6bn to assist US allies in the "war on terror". However, the administration is keen to highlight its global effort to tackle HIV/Aids, the BBC's Jonathan Beale reports, and planned spending would almost double to 3bn, with much of that money going to African nations. Mr Bush also wants to increase the amount given to poorer countries through his Millennium Challenge Corporation. The scheme has been set up to reward developing countries that embrace what the US considers to be good governance and sound policies. Yet Mr Bush's proposed spending of 3bn on that project is well below his initial promise of 5bn. A key spending line missing from proposals is the cost of funding the administration's proposed radical overhaul of Social Security, the pensions programme on which many Americans rely for their retirement income. Some experts believe this could require borrowing of up to 4.5 trillion over a 20 year period. Neither does the budget include any cash to purchase crude oil for the US emergency petroleum stockpile. Concern over the level of the reserve, created in 1970s, has led to rises in oil prices over the past year. The Bush administration will instead continue to fill the reserve by taking oil rather than cash from energy companies that drill under federal leases. The outline proposes reductions in budgets at 12 out of 23 government agencies including cuts of 9.6% at Agriculture and 5.6% at the Environmental Protection Agency. The spending plan for the year beginning 1 October is banking on a healthy US economy to boost government income by 6.1% to 2.18 trillion. Spending is forecast to grow by 3.5% to 2.57 trillion. But the budget is still the tightest yet under Mr Bush's presidency. "In order to sustain our economic expansion, we must continue pro growth policies and enforce even greater spending restraint across federal government," Mr Bush said in his budget message to Congress. Mr Bush has promised to halve the US's massive budget deficit within five years. The deficit, partly the result of massive tax cuts early in Mr Bush's presidency, has been a key factor in pushing the US dollar lower. The independent Congressional Budget Office estimates that the shortfall could shrink to little more than 200bn by 2009, returning to the surpluses seen in the late 1990s by 2012. But its estimates depend on the tax cuts not being made permanent, in line with the promise when they were passed that they would "sunset", or disappear, in 2010. Most Republicans, however, want them to stay in place. And the figures also rely on the "Social Security trust fund" the money set aside to cover the swelling costs of retirement pensions being offset against the main budget deficit.


Gordon Brown has called on rich nations to fund a 5.5bn ( 10bn) plan to fight the Aids epidemic and find a vaccine. On the fourth day of his six day tour of Africa, the UK chancellor predicted a vaccine could be found by 2012 if the world stepped up its funding pledges. Doubling the 400m being spent yearly on finding such a vaccine could advance it by three years and save six million lives, Mr Brown said on Thursday. He hopes to use the UK's G8 presidency to push the issue forward. "I believe that the generation that provided the finance to combat, cure and eradicate the world's deadliest disease of today and today the world's least curable disease HIV/Aids will rightly earn the title 'the great generation'," Mr Brown said in a speech during his African tour. The problems of HIV/Aids were inseparable from poverty, he added. "At least 10 billion per annum ( 5.5bn) is needed to address the HIV/Aids crisis in low and middle income countries. "Existing financial commitments on their own will not stop the pandemic. "The UK's proposal for an International Finance Facility is so important increasing world aid flows by over 50 billion ( 27bn). A doubling of world aid to halve world poverty." Mr Brown also said he had agreed with the Italian finance minister Domenico Siniscalco to push forward with plans for the world wide sharing and co ordination of research into the disease. Currently the private sector was only spending 60m a year on seeking an inoculation and the market needed boosting, Mr Brown said. He called on industrialised nations to commit themselves to buying the first 300m vaccines at a cost of 20 each, thereby boosting the market for inoculations. This would be a "large enough inducement to create much stronger interest from both large and small pharmaceutical firms", Mr Brown added. More must also be done to finance the treatment and care of those living with HIV/Aids and their families, he said. But Aid charity Actionaid criticised Mr Brown's preoccupation with finding a vaccine and called on G8 nations to fund HIV/Aids treatments. The charity's head of HIV/Aids in Britain, Simon Wright said: "While encouraging the pharmaceutical industry to discover an HIV vaccine is important, a failure to provide any funding for HIV treatments condemns a generation of people to death. "HIV is decimating African countries, killing the most productive adults who should be working, caring for children and building the economy. An HIV vaccine is probably at least 10 years away. Treatments are needed now." On Wednesday, Mr Brown visited slums in the Kenyan capital Nairobi . He will visit an HIV/Aids orphanage in Tanzania and a women's credit union in Mozambique before chairing a meeting of the Commission for Africa in Cape Town. The chancellor has already unveiled proposals for a G8 aid package which he has likened to the Marshall Plan used by the United States to rebuild Europe after World War Two.


Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr admitted he was frustrated his side did not score more than one goal in their friendly win over Croatia. Robbie Keane took his Republic record to 24 with a first half goal which proved enough for victory. "We had more good chances. It is just a shame we did not take them against such a technically gifted team," said Kerr. "But, given the conditions and the standard of the Croatian team, we should be very happy with the win." The Republic side kept a clean sheet for the eighth time in 11 matches and are unbeaten in 14 home games since Kerr succeeded Mick McCarthy. Kerr applauded the decisive move which earned the victory. "It was a brilliant goal, fantastic skill by Damien Duff. Robbie might have scuffed it a little but it was a good goal." Matchwinner Keane was another full of praise for Duff's role in the goal. "It was great play from Damien," said the Tottenham striker. "I always try to be sniffing around because you know nine times out of 10 Duffer is going to get it in the box. "Playing three up was something different. Brian Kerr wanted to try it out and it was good to see young Stephen Elliott getting a run out. "The conditions were difficult but he did well and is definitely one for the future. It is nice to see young players coming through." Man of the match Duff explained what went wrong when he fluffed a chance to make it 2 0 midway through the second half. He opted to bring Steve Finnan's cross down and shoot against the bar when a close range header looked the best option. "I would have headed that every time but I completely lost it in the lights," said the Chelsea star. "I was desperate to get on the scoresheet myself but the result is the important thing. "We have had a good year and are going nicely in the qualifiers. Hopefully that can continue in 2005."


Climate change and the fight against Aids are leading the list of concerns for the first day of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos. Some 2,000 business and political leaders from around the globe will listen to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's opening speech on Wednesday. Mr Blair will focus on Africa's development plans and global warming. Earlier in the day came an update on efforts to have 3 million people on anti Aids drugs by the end of 2005. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said 700,000 people in poor countries were on life extending drugs up from 440,000 six months earlier but amounting to only 12% of the 5.8 million who needed them. A 2bn "funding gap" still stood in the way of hitting the 2005 target, the WHO said. The themes to be stressed by Mr Blair whose attendance was announced at the last minute are those he wants to dominate the UK's chairmanship of the G8 group of industrialised states. Other issues to be discussed at the five day conference range from China's economic power to Iraq's future after this Sunday's elections. Aside from Mr Blair, more than 20 other world leaders are expected to attend including French President Jacques Chirac due to speak by video link after bad weather delayed his helicopter and South African President Thabo Mbeki, whose arrival has been delayed by Ivory Coast peace talks. The Ukraine's new president, Viktor Yushchenko, will also be there as will newly elected Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Showbiz figures will also put in an appearance, from U2 frontman Bono a well known campaigner on trade and development issues to Angelina Jolie, a goodwill campaigner for the UN on refugees. Unlike previous years, protests against the WEF are expected to be muted. Anti globalisation campaigners have called off a demonstration planned for the weekend. At the same time, about 100,000 people are expected to converge on the Brazilian resort of Porto Alegre for the World Social Forum the so called "anti Davos" for campaigners against globalisation, for fair trade, and many other causes. In contrast, the Davos forum is dominated by business issues from outsourcing to corporate leadership with bosses of more than a fifth of the world's 500 largest companies scheduled to attend. A survey published on the eve of the conference by PricewaterhouseCoopers said four in ten business leaders were "very confident" that their companies would see sales rise in 2005. Asian and American executives, however, were much more confident than their European counterparts. But the political discussions, focusing on Iran, Iraq and China, are likely to dominate media attention.


Former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero insists he can get back to his best despite a tough start to 2005. The 2003 French Open champion has slipped to 64 in the world after a year of illness and injuries in 2004, but is confident that his form will return. "I don't know when it is going to happen," Ferrero told BBC Sport. "But I have a lot of confidence in me that I will be the same Juan Carlos as I was before, and very soon. I feel 100% again mentally." The 25 year old Spaniard joins a top field for the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam this week as he looks to add to just two wins in 2005. He opens against Rainer Schuettler and potentially faces fourth seed David Nalbandian in the second round. "Because I'm no longer seeded it's tougher," Ferrero admitted. "I had to play against Joachim Johansson in the first round last week in Marseille. "In the past when I was a top seed I would have played a match like that in the quarters or semi finals. "This is the big difference but I have to do it to get higher in the rankings." Despite this, Ferrero insists he is feeling positive after chicken pox and a rib injury destroyed last season. "Physically I am 100% since December of last year," said Ferrero. "I was working very hard before the Davis Cup final to prepare and I've felt 100% from then until now. "The difficult moments were when I knew that I had the chicken pox and that it would take two or three months to recover. "I had to start from zero again physically because the virus left me at zero per cent. "When I started to come back I had my rib broken when I fell on court and that was another two months out. Those five months were pretty difficult for me." Among the low points of a difficult year for Ferrero was the decision of Spain captain Jordi Arrese to drop him for the Davis Cup final against the USA. "It was difficult because I had been playing well for the whole year and the coaches told me that I would play," said Ferrero. "But then I had some problems with my hand two days before the Friday matches so they decided to choose Nadal instead. "It was difficult for me not to be in the Friday matches but I had to understand. "Inside me I wanted to play but this was the decision of the captain and they had to make it."


The worst kept secret in Scottish football was revealed on Thursday when Walter Smith was named as the new national manager. From the moment Berti Vogts' miserable tenure in charge of Scotland ended, the former Rangers and Everton boss has been the overwhelming favourite for the post. But is Smith the man for what must be one of the hardest jobs in football? The 56 year old takes over at a time when the national side is in the doldrums. Scotland have not reached a major finals since the World Cup in 1998 and reaching Germany 2006 looks near impossible, having picked up just two points from the opening three games in the qualifying race. And the Fifa rankings see Scotland listed at an all time low of 77th, below the likes of Estonia, Ghana, Angola and Thailand. Scotland are not blessed with quality players with experience at the top level, so Smith will have to get the best out of meagre resources. Smith's track record make impressive reading and he is widely respected within the game. The man who was Alex Ferguson's assistant when Scotland played at the 1986 World Cup won seven league titles with Rangers. And his appointment has been widely endorsed by many of the games' top names, including Ferguson and Graeme Souness, who took him to Ibrox as his assistant in 1986. Characters like Souness, Ferguson and current Ibrox manager Alex McLeish all cite Smith's experience and his expansive knowledge of the Scottish game. Much was made of Vogts' inability to express himself to the players and media. That will certainly not be the case with Smith. The former Dundee United and Dumbarton full back is from the managerial old school straight talking and never slow to let players know when he expects better (often with the use of some colourful invective). But it should be remembered Vogts came to Scotland with an impressive curriculum vitae a World Cup winner as a player and a European Championships winner as a manager. Smith will inherit the same problems Vogts had a callow squad of players with no exceptional talents. And it remains to be seen if Smith will experience the rash of call offs that blighted so much of Vogts' preparation work. A fresh start for the Scottish national team was imperative and Smith is widely regarded as a safe pair of hands. But will a safe pair of hands be enough when the adroit hands of a magician might be required...


As Tory spokesman Oliver Letwin said any chancellor would use his pre election budget to offer some vote winning sweeteners, wouldn't he. And everyone does, indeed, expect Gordon Brown to do just that in his last budget before the expected polling day of 5 May. There will be plenty of talk about taking no risks with the economy or handing out irresponsible giveaways. But Mr Brown will stun Westminster and break just about every historical precedent if he fails to do something designed to put a smile on voters' faces and make them more inclined to back Labour in the election. And there has already been speculation about possible tax reductions for the poorest and increasing the threshold on stamp duty in this week's Budget. The aim of his package will be to keep any disillusioned core Labour voters in the fold, while ensuring the middle England voters who gave Tony Blair two election victories don't desert him at the third poll. And, needless to say, there will be plenty of analysis of what impact the Budget will have on Mr Brown's own ambitions to replace Mr Blair as prime minister at some point after a third win. But there is a shadow hanging over this pre election performance in the shape of 11 billion or thereabouts. That is the size of the financial "black hole" the Tories, backed by some independent forecasters, believe Mr Brown will have to fill with tax increases after the election. The opening shot in that battle was fired at the weekend with claims a Treasury leak suggested Mr Brown was ready to slap capital gains tax on home sales to raise some of that cash. It was immediately denied, but the Tories remain suspicious, claiming that, as Mr Letwin said, if the money does not come from there, where will it come from. Mr Brown will undoubtedly claim the forecasts are simply wrong and that he will have absolutely no need to raise taxes after the election, should Labour win. Previous gloomy forecasts proved wrong, he will argue, while suggesting that only by sticking with him can Britain continue to have a sound economy, low unemployment and high public spending. The opposition will reject that by claiming they can keep the economy sound, increase spending and cut taxes at the same time. The Liberal Democrats will also promise to run a sound economy, but based on increased taxes to fund spending and, amongst other things, abolishing the council tax in favour of a local income tax. And there will be prolonged argument over which of the parties can make the greatest savings in Whitehall and beyond to fund their policies. But probably what that all boils down to is a simple question of which of the parties the voters most trust to keep the economy stable and avoid any unpleasant surprises in the coming years. And it is probably still the answer to that one question that will overwhelmingly decide the outcome of the general election.


The chief executive of the Fiat conglomerate has taken day to day control of its struggling car business in an effort to turn it around. Sergio Marchionne has replaced Herbert Demel as chief executive of Fiat Auto, with Mr Demel leaving the company. Mr Marchionne becomes the fourth head of the business which is expected to make a 800m euro ( 1bn) loss in 2004 in as many years. Fiat underperformed the market in Europe last year, seeing flat sales. The car business has made an operating loss in five of the last six years and was forced to push back its break even target from 2005 to 2006. The management changes are part of a wider shake up of the business following Fiat's resolution of its dispute with General Motors. As part of a major restructuring, Fiat is to integrate the Maserati car company currently owned by Ferrari within its own operations. Ferrari, in which Fiat owns a majority stake, could be separately floated on the stock market in either 2006 or 2007. Mr Marchionne, who only joined the company last year, said Fiat Auto was now the "principal focus" of his attention. "I have made the decision to take on the post of chief executive of the auto unit to speed up the company's recovery," he said. "A profound cultural transformation is underway following a management reorganisation that has delivered a more agile and efficient structure," he added. Although Mr Marchionne does not have a background in the car industry, he has been playing an increasing role in the group's activities. Last year, he said that a series of new models, launched as part of the group's recovery plan, had not boosted revenues as much as hoped. The car business, best known for its Alfa Romeo marque, is expected to make a loss of about 800m euros in 2004. Sales are expected to fall in 2005, Fiat said this week, as it exits unprofitable areas such as the rental car market. Mr Demel, a car industry veteran, took the helm in November 2003 after being recruited by former Fiat chief executive Giuseppe Morchio. Mr Morchio made a bid last year to become chairman after the death of president Umberto Agnelli. However, this was rejected by the founding Agnelli family and Mr Morchio subsequently resigned. Earlier this week, Fiat reached an agreement with GM to dissolve an alliance which could have obliged GM to buy the Italian firm outright. GM will pay Fiat 2bn as part of the settlement.


Two thirds of the world's population, 4 billion people, live on 2,000 a year or less. You might think that the last thing on their minds would be getting a television set or a computer. But that's not the case. Many people in the developing world give up one of their daily meals so they can afford to buy a TV. And now, an Indian born computer engineer thinks he's come up with a way to give them cheap access to the internet. Carnegie Mellon Professor Raj Reddy has spent the bulk of his professional career trying to find ways to make technology accessible to poor people. The first step is to figure out why poor people would want a personal computer and Professor Reddy thinks he has a pretty good idea of why they might. "I come from a village," says Prof Reddy, "I know what the population is like, many of them are illiterate, and many of them have other concerns." "There, nobody will use it for the conventional uses of a PC, word processing and Powerpoint," he said. "So it's clear to me that if people wanted to use PCs in a village it has to usable by illiterate people and it must be primarily for entertainment, education, telemedicine, and access to expert advice." Prof Reddy also thinks that tying it into some kind of aid package was the wrong approach. After all, he asked what aid group could possibly give expensive computers to 250 million less fortunate Indians, let alone the billions of poor people around the world? Instead, Prof Reddy decided to think of those 250 million Indians as a potential market. The problem then becomes one of making the product compelling enough. "It must be so compelling that you would give up your third meal in order to have this," Prof Reddy says. "People do this today with television sets. If you go to India, and many other countries, they will first go get a television set before they worry about one more meal. Why? Because personalized entertainment has become very important." This hatched a completely new idea. He calls it a PCtvt A personal computer, television and telephone all in one that runs on a normal desktop machine. Literate users can surf through the applications with a keyboard and mouse but illiterate users can use what looks like a television remote control. On the screen, pictures not words designate applications like TV, voice mail, and video e mail. This dependence on graphics, video and audio means that a computer for an illiterate person needs 100 times more power and more memory than one for a PhD. Prassana Rambathla, one of Prof Reddy's graduate students, says that "when you're talking illiterate you're talking audio and video, and that demands exponentially high bandwidth.' "It can't choke at any point in time, and it has to withstand anything no matter what you're pressing." "The major part is making it foolproof, very tough, so that it never breaks," he says. The Carnegie Mellon team says this project is only possible because PCs are now so much cheaper and have built in audio and video hardware and software. Limited trials of the PCtvt are due to start this month in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Although Andhra Pradesh has a fairly good infrastructure but work has to be done to ensure reliable connections to the net. Prof Reddy has teamed up with Eric Brewer at the University of California at Berkeley. The answer, says Prof Brewer, is wi fi. "We're looking at the thing you'll see in Starbuck's or many other hotspots," he says. "We're doing a lot of work on long distance wireless and how to make the network work better in the presence of intermittency, when the power goes up and down, and the links go up and down, and the computers you're connected to just get turned off for no reason." Prof Reddy says he hopes to lease the PCtvts for about 10 a month, and thinks Indians will rent the units for the television and DVD capabilities. Reddy says he can then introduce the PCtvt's other technologies such as video mail. For example, a farmer could use the PCtvt's webcam to send a picture of a harmful insect to a local official who could send back a proposed course of action to the farmer. Prof Reddy thinks this kind of communication is the real pay off. "The underlying problem," he says, "is how you can increase their wealth and reduce their poverty and reduce their illiteracy, and improve their health care.' "And what I'm postulating is that this is the technology that will enable them. If I didn't have it, it would be an uphill battle. Even with the technology it's an uphill battle. But I have a tool. There is hope. I can reach them in ways that have not been possible before." Clark Boyd is technology correspondent for The World, a BBC World Service and WGBH Boston co production


New Home Secretary Charles Clarke has vowed to plough on with plans for ID cards despite a call for him to "pause for thought" from Charles Kennedy. The Lib Dem leader said David Blunkett's resignation was a "good opportunity" to question whether the legislation was necessary. But Mr Clarke said he had supported the plans when Mr Blunkett argued for them in Cabinet and he supported them now. "ID cards are a means to creating a more secure society," he said. Mr Clarke acknowledged how the measure was introduced remained a matter for debate but he said legislation had already been "significantly influenced" by the recommendations of the Commons' home affairs committee. The issue would be debated in Parliament next Monday as scheduled he insisted. Earlier Mr Kennedy, whose party opposes the ID cards plan as "deeply flawed" said with Christmas coming up the new home secretary had time to think again. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Mr Clarke had been reported to be less enthusiastic about ID cards than his predecessors. "Wouldn't this be a good opportunity for a new home secretary, a new broom, to sweep clean in this respect and why do we need this legislation in the first place?" he asked. Earlier this week the Tories announced they would back the government's plans although Michael Howard was forced to deny the shadow cabinet was split over its decision. They had decided to support the plans as the police said they would help fight terror, crime and illegal immigration. Among those reported to have serious reservations over the strategy were senior shadow cabinet members David Davis, Oliver Letwin and Tim Yeo. The chairman of the Bar Council, Guy Mansfield QC has warned there is a real risk that people on the "margins of society" would be driven into the hands of extremists. "What is going to happen to young Asian men when there has been a bomb gone off somewhere? They are going to be stopped. If they haven't ID cards they are going to be detained." The Home Office says people will pay 85 for a passport and ID card together or a undecided fee for a separate ID card. The first cards would be issued in 2008 and when he was introducing the bill, Mr Blunkett suggested Parliament could decide in 2011 or 2012 whether to make it compulsory for everybody to own the cards, although not to carry them. The new bill will also create new criminal offences on the possession of false identity documents. And there will be civil penalties including a fine of up to 1,000 fine for people who fail to say they have moved house or changed other details and of up to 2,500 for failing to sign up if the cards become compulsory. The scheme will be overseen by a new independent watchdog.


A British terror suspect held in Guantanamo Bay for 33 months plans to sue the government, it is reported. Martin Mubanga claimed in the Observer that an MI6 officer played a key role in consigning him to the US camp in Cuba, following his arrest in Zambia. Mr Mubanga, 32, from Wembley, London, said he was brutally interrogated and daubed with urine at the camp. The home secretary said he would not be launching an investigation and that the media reports were not "well informed". Mr Mubanga, who has dual British and Zambian nationality, was one of four Britons who were released from the US camp in January. He said he was sent there after being interrogated by a British man who said he was from MI6, shortly after his arrest in Zambia in March 2002. Mr Mubanga said he had been in Afghanistan and Pakistan to study Islam. But he said he was unable to return to the UK because he had lost his British passport, and was travelling on his Zambian passport instead. Mr Mubanga said the "MI6 agent" told him the passport had been found in a cave in Afghanistan along with documents listing Jewish groups in New York and suggested he had been on an al Qaeda reconnaissance mission. Mr Mubanga said the man, and an American female defence official, tried to recruit him as an agent, but he refused and within three weeks was told he would be sent to Guantanamo Bay. His lawyer Louise Christian said: "'We are hoping to issue proceedings for the misfeasance of officials who colluded with the Americans in effectively kidnapping him and taking him to Guantanamo." And Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrats' foreign affairs spokesman, said it was vital to establish whether ministers approved Mr Mubanga's transfer to Guantanamo. But a Foreign Office spokesman said he could not comment on the activities of British intelligence or security agencies. And Home Secretary Charles Clarke told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost: "I'm not organising a specific investigation into it." Mr Mubanga is the first of the four detainees freed last month to give a media interview. He told the Observer his worst moment was when he was told he would be released last March, only to be confined and told he would be there for many more years. He claimed he was stripped of his clothes and mattress and forced to remain in an empty metal box, naked except for boxer shorts. And he said an interrogator used a mop to daub him with his own urine while he was chained hand and foot. Mr Mubanga, who insists he does not feel bitter, said: "I've lost three years of my life, because I was a Muslim. He added: "The authorities wanted to break me but they strengthened me. They've made me what I am even if I'm not quite sure yet who that person is." The US government denied the claims, saying it condemned and prohibited torture. In a statement, it said: "The Department of Defense has no doubt that Mr Mubanga was properly detained as an enemy combatant under the laws of war. "He was detained to prevent him from fighting against the US and our allies in the war on terror." But Fair Trials Abroad director Stephen Jakobi said there were similarities between Mr Mubanga's account and those of other Guantanamo detainees. He said: "The pattern is the same. The real problem is the concentration camp conditions in Guantanamo. "Is Charles Clarke really pretending this is all made up?" Mr Mubanga and the three other freed British detainees were released without charge by UK police on their return from Cuba.


A judge should look into the David Blunkett controversy as key questions remain unanswered, the Lib Dems say. Sir Alan Budd's inquiry linked the ex home secretary to the speeding up of a visa claim by his ex lover's nanny. But he could not say whether Mr Blunkett had treated the nanny as a special case or had used her as an example of immigration problems. Lib Dem spokesman Mark Oaten said the number of officials who had forgotten what happened was worrying. He told BBC News: "I'm extremely concerned that 20 individuals appear to have forgotten what happened or more suspiciously are not prepared to say what happened. "That must be bad for government, it must be bad for public confidence in the system." Mr Oaten said people would be mystified why Sir Alan's inquiry failed to uncover why processing of the visa application was speeded up. He said: "There is a strong case for a judge led judicial review of this because, of course, next time it happens it may not be about a nanny and their visa. It may be about something even more important than that. "So we do need to understand what took place and who was involved." The Tories criticised the Lib Dem stance, saying Mr Oaten had initially said he accepted Mr Blunkett's word unless further evidence emerged. But Lib Dem officials say Mr Oaten was speaking when an inquiry was under way and was avoiding rushing to judgement.


The new law banning hunting with dogs is "so poorly drafted" no one can define the offence, pro hunt MPs say. The accusation came after it emerged a Devon man had been told he could use his four dogs to "chase away unwanted animals" from his farm. Because he did not intend to kill deer or foxes it was not hunting. Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik said ministers had invented a new category of hunting chasing away and asked how police were supposed to interpret the rules. North Devon landowner Giles Bradshaw was put in touch with the Middle Way Group, of which Mr Opik is a co chairman, after he had been in contact with the rural affairs ministry, Defra. He had asked whether his technique of using his four dogs to frighten off deer and foxes would be outlawed under the Hunting Act. Mr Bradshaw was initially told it was an offence prompting him to complain. The Middle Way group also said Mr Bradshaw would be put in a position where he would have to buy a rifle to shoot animals that would have previously gone free. In a later conversation Mr Bradshaw was told that according to Defra's lawyers chasing away unwanted animals was "not in fact hunting as described in the Hunting Act 2004 therefore you would not be committing an offence". Mr Opik said: "Hunting with dogs and flushing are not defined in the Hunting Act. "Now Defra have also invented a completely new category of hunting 'chasing away' which isn't even covered by the Act. "However, all these activities involve the use of dogs to chase wild mammals. "How is the village bobby who sees a group of people with dogs supposed to distinguish between illegal hunting, exempt hunting, drag hunting, unintentional hunting, a hunt exercising hounds or simply chasing away?" Tory MP Peter Luff, another co chairman of Middle Way, said that the legislation was "so poorly drafted nobody appears able to properly define the offence". "It is no wonder the government desperately wants to move on from this disastrous law. However, I seriously doubt the countryside will be that accommodating." Mike Hobday, of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: "There is no confusion, it is a matter of simple common sense. "If Mr Bradshaw is setting his dogs to chase wild animals then he is hunting them and that will be a criminal offence. "If all the dogs are doing is barking at the deer, then nobody can define that as hunting."


Shell is to pay 1m ( 522,000) to the ex finance chief who stepped down from her post in April 2004 after the firm over stated its reserves. Judy Boynton finally left the firm on 31 December, having spent the intervening time as a special advisor to chief executive Jeroen van der Veer. In January 2004, Shell told shocked investors that its reserves were 20% smaller than previously thought. Shell said the pay off was in line with Ms Boynton's contract. She was leaving "by mutual agreement to pursue other career opportunities", the firm said in a statement. The severance package means she keeps long term share options, but fails to collect on a 2003 incentive plan since the firm has failed to meet the targets included in it. The revelation that Shell had inflated its reserves led to the resignation of its chairman, Sir Phil Watts, and production chief Walter van der Vijver. An investigation commissioned by Shell found that Ms Boynton had to share responsibility for the company's behaviour. Despite receiving an email from Mr Van de Vijver which said the firm had "fooled" the market about its reserves, the investigation said, she did nothing to inquire further. In all, Shell restated its reserves four times during 2003. In September, it paid 82.7m in fines to regulators on both sides of the Atlantic for violating market rules in its reporting of its reserves.


The war of words between Microsoft and the open source movement heated up this week as Linux founder Linus Torvalds led an attack on software patents. In a panel discussion at a Linux summit in California Mr Torvalds said software patents were a problem for the open source movement. Mitchell Kapor, chairman of the Mozilla foundation, warned that Microsoft could use patent lawsuits in the future. Linux is a freely available alternative to Microsoft's Windows. It relies on a community of programmers for its development and is based on open source principles, which allow others to use and modify it without having to pay licence fees. The attack on software patents comes at a time when IBM has made 500 of its patents freely available. Other companies are expected to follow suit. There are between 150,000 and 300,000 registered software patents in the US and open source developers argue that many should never have been granted. This is a view corroborated by the UK Patent Office. "Some of the patents have dubious validity and are being wielded by some big companies to force smaller companies to buy licenses in the knowledge that they can't afford to take them to court," said Dr Jeremy Philpott of the UK Patent Office. Some panel members are worried that Microsoft would issue a series of patent lawsuits in the future. "If totally pushed to the wall because their business model no longer holds up in an era in which open source is an economically superior way to produce software...of course they're going to unleash the WMDs," Mr Kapor is reported as saying. Microsoft did not want to comment directly, referring the issue instead to trade body Intellect, of which it is a member. "As far as Intellect is concerned, open source and patents have co existed for many years without problems," said spokeswoman Jill Sutherland. "The industry respects the open source movement and in fact many of the members we represent use the open source system to develop software," "We think the important point to make is that companies should be able to choose between patents, copyrights and open source as to the treatment of their intellectual discoveries, and not be forced into using one or the other," she added.


The UK's top judge has revealed he has clashed with ministers about how the heads of public inquiries are chosen. Lord Woolf said he was determined his current veto on whether a judge should chair an inquiry should continue as a guard for judicial independence. But he told MPs the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, was insisting he should have the final say in such cases. Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly sparked debate about who should run inquiries. The government says the lord chancellor would be unlikely to go against Lord Woolf's wishes. Lord Woolf, who is Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, was giving evidence to the Commons public administration select committee's inquiry into public inquiries. He said he had not been involved in the choice of Lord Hutton, who as a law lord did not come under his jurisdiction. But he argued he should have a veto on whether judges generally should chair a particular inquiry and if so, which judge it should be. In written evidence to the committee, Lord Woolf said: "I have, so far, failed to reach an agreement with the lord chancellor on this issue ... I intend to maintain my position and will press for this safeguard to be in any future legislation." Judges should think carefully before heading an inquiry into a highly political issue, such as the intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, he said. He argued: "The subject matter of the inquiry may be so political that it would be damaging to the judiciary for a judge to be involved. "In addition, the question of whether there should be an inquiry at all may be highly controversial and if a judge is appointed, the judiciary, as a result of the appointment, may be seen as siding inappropriately with the government." He told the MPs: "Anything that tends to undermine the confidence of the public in the judiciary worries me." Lord Woolf said the current rules were not written down but it was inconceivable in practice that the lord chancellor would overrule his concerns. But that situation could change with new legal reforms. The issue had been "overlooked" when a new agreement was drawn up about those responsibilities and the dispute had emerged in later discussions. "What I am asking for is a situation where if the lord chancellor cannot obtain my agreement on appointing a judge , it doesn't happen," he said. Lord Woolf said he did not think there would be difficulties but he wanted to establish the principle. A Department for Constitutional Affairs spokeswoman said Lord Woolf and Lord Falconer agreed about what happened in practice. "Their disagreement is about whether the legislation should include a requirement for consultation or concurrence a very narrow dispute, in Lord Woolf's words," she said. "As Lord Woolf also acknowledged, it is highly unlikely that the lord chancellor would appoint a judge against the wishes of the lord chief justice. "Judges are free to decide for themselves whether to accept positions as inquiry chairs." Parliament will examine the issue next year when it debates a new bill about public inquiries.


Six foreign owned textile factories have closed in Lesotho, leaving 6,650 garment workers jobless, union officers told the AP news agency. Factory Workers Union secretary general Billy Macaefa blamed the closures on the end of worldwide textile quotas. The quotas for developing nations, ended on 1 January, gave them a set share of the rich countries' markets. They also limited the amount countries like China could export to the big markets of the United States and EU. "We understand that some (owners)... were complaining that the South African rand was strong against the US dollar, and they were losing when exporting textiles and clothing to the United States," Mr Macaefa said at a news briefing in the capital, Maseru. Lesotho's currency, the maloti, is fixed to the rand. "But we suspect that they left the country unceremoniously because of the end of quotas introduced by the World Trade Organization." He said the six factories were Leisure Garments, Modern Garments, Precious Six Garments, TW Garments, Lesotho Hats and Vogue Landmark. The owners two from Taiwan, two from China, one from Mauritius and one from Malaysia left over the December holiday period without informing or paying their employees, he said. Union leaders and trade campaigners have been warning that developing nations such as Lesotho, Sri Lanka, and Bangaldesh could lose thousands of jobs once the quotas were lifted. In the mountainous country surrounded by South Africa, it is feared as many as 50,000 textile workers could lose their jobs, and Mr Mafeca said he expected more companies to leave. The assistance of a US law had given Lesotho's textiles duty free access to North American markets. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), gave sub Saharan countries preferential access to the US market for apparel and textile products as well as a wide range of other goods. A Lesotho government news briefing is expected on Wednesday.


Sania Mirza, the first Indian woman to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tennis event, has lost to women's favourite Serena Williams. The 18 year old Mirza, who got a wild card entry into the Australian Open in Melbourne, lost to Williams 1 6,4 6 in the third round. Williams took just 56 minutes to defeat Mirza and sail into the fourth round. The only other Indian woman to win a match at a Grand Slam is Nirupama Vaidyanathan. Vaidyanathan made it to the second round of the Australian Open in 1998. Playing the biggest match of her life, Mirza made little impact on Williams in the early stages of the game. But the teenager showed more confidence in the second set and engaged the seventh seeded Williams in some well contested rallies. Mirza, a junior Wimbledon doubles title winner, became the first Indian woman to reach the third round of a grand slam tennis event when she beat Hungarian Petra Mandula on Wednesday. "I'm really excited. I was confident but I didn't think it was going to be that easy," Mirza said after her second round win. "My aim was to win a round here. When I did that I was so relieved, there was no pressure." Tennis is not a particularly popular sport in India, but a number of Indians watched the live telecast of the match between Mirza and Williams. Mirza, who lives in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad known for producing a host of top Indian cricketers, turned professional two years ago. She says she was considered too small when she went for her first tennis classes as a six year old girl. "Then finally the coach called my parents up and said 'the way she hits the ball, I've never seen a six year old hit a ball like that'," Mirza told the Associated Press.


Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren believes his side can clinch a top four spot in the Premiership and secure qualification for the Champions League. After their 3 2 win over Manchester City, McClaren said: "We are playing exciting football, it's a magnificent result to keep us in the top five. "But how well we do depends how often we can get our best team out. "Once we got the third goal it should have been four or five but we nearly paid for it in the end." McClaren also praised winger Stewart Downing and strikers Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka, who both ended barren runs in front of goal. He added: "If Stewart keeps playing like this Sven Goran Eriksson has got to pick him. "And the strikers scored great goals, the combination play between them shows they want to play with each other and they are trying."


As mobile phones move closer to being a ubiquitous, all in one media player, audio is becoming ever more important. But how good can that sound be from such a small device? The sound of a buzzing bee jumps from left to right before disappearing around the back of my head. The surround sound demo is unremarkable when heard on a multi speaker home cinema system but startling when emerging from a small mobile phone. British firm Sonaptic is one of a number of companies to have developed 3D audio technology that emerges from stereo speakers. Firms AM3D and SRS both offer stereo widening technology for mobile phones. But Sonaptic's managing director David Monteith says his firm is the only company to offer positional 3D audio on a mobile. "There are quite a few basic technologies out there, making the sound seem a bit bigger, headphones a bit nicer. "No one has really tried before to make proper 3D positional audio where an individual channel can be moved around." Sonaptic has been working with Japanese mobile network NTT DoCoMo to set standards for 3D audio on mobile phones. In the last few months handsets from NEC, Fujitsu and Mitsubishi have been released on to the Japanese marker which have chips produced by Yamaha and Rohm with Sonaptic's technology. "The technology has been around on PCs and games consoles for some time but what we are doing is making it more efficient so it can go on a small consumer device like a mobile phone," said Mr Monteith. The technology works through applying the science of psychoacoustics and grew out of medical research done by the company's research director Dr Alastair Sibbald. "We are basically trying to fool your ears into thinking sound is coming from areas it actually isn't. "Your brain uses certain bits of information which we are effectively synthesising on a mobile phone handset." The structure of the ear works as a 3D encoder for sound helping the brain understand from where sound is emanating. Sonaptic's audio processing algorithms mimic that 3D encoding, giving the impression that sound is coming from the left, right, and behind a listener when in fact it is coming from a single source. Mr Montieth says: "If the sound is off to one side it will get to one ear before the other if it is on the right it has to bend around your head to get to your left ear. "The shape of your ear causes differences in sound from one ear to the other. We are synthesising those differences." Sonaptic hopes the technology will have a big impact in the growing market of mobile gaming and music downloading. "Handhelds often have limitations screens will be small by definition. "If you want to get impact from media you are running either a movie, a game or watching TV if you want it to be more immersive then our technology can help." A fishing game is the first title to use the technology, creating a 3D sound field while the gamer plays. Driving games and shoot 'em ups using the technology are in development. The technology can also be used for music giving songs a much more expansive and immersive feel. Sonaptic offers its technology on a chip or in software and is about to release a new version which significantly improves the efficiency of the audio processing. "It's important we only use 10 or 15% of the processor otherwise you won't be able to play a game on the handset," explained Mr Montieth. The company is now looking to the US and European markets, where it has been working with network Vodafone. "We have focused first on Japan because it has a very advanced mobile phone market. "We knew Japan would be the first place to have the handsets that could use our technology. "There should be handsets out in the UK in the next six months."


Plans to shed 71,000 civil service jobs will prove to be a "false economy" that could hamper public sector reforms, according to a TUC report. Public and Commercial Services union members have already voted to strike over cuts for one day on 5 November. The TUC said cuts would deliver less than 6% of the 22bn ministers hope to save through efficiency reforms. General secretary Brendan Barber warned the "costs could easily outweigh the benefits". "The government's big boost to public spending is now showing results," said Mr Barber. "Public services are improving but looking for simple savings through job cuts at this stage could be a false economy. "They may shoot a Tory fox, but cutting thousands of civil service jobs will hit the morale and capabilities of the public servants expected to implement government reforms. The costs could easily outweigh the benefits." Next Friday's strike action by the PCS is the biggest in the civil service since 1993, hitting Jobcentres, benefit agencies, pensions offices, customs and driving tests. The union says it is concerned about pensions, sick pay and forced relocation as well as the cut in jobs. Last month it was announced that a total of 37 social security offices and Jobcentres across the UK would close in the first wave of plans to shed civil service jobs. The number of civil servants in Britain rose to more than 520,000 in April. Other areas the strike will affect include passports, museums and galleries, libraries and health and safety inspections.


Michael Owen revelled in his return to the to the Real Madrid starting line up and inspired a 3 1 win over Real Betis on Wednesday by scoring the first goal. He said: "I am happy I could play a game from the start again. "I felt good all though the game and it is obvious that I am happy to have scored another goal. "People have talked a lot about my performances and I think I have had some months that were not so good and others that were very good." Owen, starting his third successive La Liga match, converted a low cross from Santiago Solari. Robert Carlos made it 2 0 at the break, smashing home an indirect free kick. Midfielder Edu reduced the deficit after half time but Ivan Helguera headed past keeper Antonio Doblas to seal victory for his team. Victory took Real to within six points of leaders Barcelona and Owen is confident Real can close the gap. He added: "We had several chances against Betis and I think we can get back in touch with Barcelona. "It is only six points between Barcelona and us and that is nothing. If we can beat them at the Bernabeu (on 10 April), then it will be just three." Owen has scored nine league goals, one behind Real's top scorer Ronaldo. Real had lost their previous two league games.


Controversy and Lawrence Dallaglio have never been very far away from each other throughout a glittering international career. Even the end of his nine year career came out of the blue, just four days before the start of the season. But then Dallaglio has always been his own man. Ever since emerging onto the international scene Dallaglio has polarised opinions. To supporters of England, Dallaglio could do no wrong. An integral part of a sustained period of success for England, Dallaglio's crowning glory was his part in the side that won the Rugby World Cup in 2003. Rival fans, meanwhile, have tended to take an alternative view, seeing Dallaglio as the epitome of the less agreeable characteristics of English rugby. Never afraid to speak his mind, be it to the referee or the opposition on the pitch, or his coach or the media off it, Dallaglio has sometimes rubbed people up the wrong way. Dallaglio arrived as part of the unheralded England side which became the shock winners of the first Rugby Sevens World Cup in 1993. It took him another two years to graduate to the full England XV, but once there he proved to the manor born. Displaying maturity and physical power beyond his years, Dallaglio rapidly established himself as an automatic choice able to play any one of the three back row positions at international standard. Within two years of his debut, Dallaglio was offered the England captain's band, and his career continued to go from strength to strength as he made the 1997 Lions tour to South Africa. Although overlooked for the captaincy in favour of England team mate Martin Johnson, he played a massive role in the 2 1 series victory. But after building up a seemingly unstoppable momentum, Dallaglio's career hit the buffers at speed in 1999. First came the last minute defeat to Wales in which Dallaglio's decision not to kick for goal in the dying minutes was blamed for costing England a Grand Slam. Worse was to follow though as an infamous newspaper sting cost him his treasured England captaincy. With sensational allegations of drug use of which he was subsequently cleared splashed across the front pages, a devastated Dallaglio stepped down as England skipper. But he bounced back, getting his head down at club level before returning to the England fold, albeit now as a lieutenant to new captain Johnson. As a member of a new look England side on the long road to World Cup glory a journey not without mishaps as a succession of Grand Slams opportunities were spurned Dallaglio emerged as a key performer once again. Yet another setback arrived in 2001 as a serious knee injury cut short Dallaglio's involvement on the Lions tour to Australia. Rumours began to circulate that his career was over but, in typical Dallaglio style, he embarked on a punishing schedule of rehabilitation to return an even more fearsome physical specimen. One effect of the injury was to rob Dallaglio of much of his pace, but ever the pragmatist, he reinvented himself as a close quarters number eight of the highest calibre. The only player to play every minute of England's World Cup triumph in Australia, Dallaglio could hardly have done more to secure England's historic win, and for that he will always be held in the highest esteem by England supporters. Following Johnson's retirement, Dallaglio's career came full circle as Woodward restored him as England captain. While England did not hit the heights in Dallaglio's second spell as captain, losing five of their eight post World Cup Tests, Dallaglio led by example, leaving him as one of the few members of a squad lacking many World Cup stars to live up to expectations. Dallaglio walks away from the international game safe in the knowledge that he will go down as one of England's most accomplished players, if not one of the great captains despite his evident pride in leading his country. The problem now for England is how to replace the almost irreplaceable. The likes of Matt Dawson, Jonny Wilkinson, Phil Vickery and Hill have all been mentioned as contenders for Dallaglio's role as captain. But it is as a player that England will really struggle to replace the 32 year old. Although players like Joe Worsley and Chris Jones are more than capable of stepping up, the fact that there is no stand out candidate speaks volumes about Dallaglio's massive influence on English rugby.


Ireland fly half Ronan O'Gara hailed his side's 19 13 victory over England as a "special" win. The Munster number 10 kicked a total of 14 points, including two drop goals, to help keep alive their Grand Slam hopes. He told BBC Sport: "We made hard work of it but it's still special to beat England. "I had three chances to win the game but didn't. We have work to do after this but we never take a victory over England lightly." Ireland hooker Shane Byrne echoed O'Gara's comments but admitted the game had been England's best outing in the Six Nations. Byrne said: "It was a really, really hard game but from one to 15 in our team we worked really, really hard. "We just had to stick to our defensive pattern, trust ourselves and trust those around us. All round it was fantastic." Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll, who scored his side's only try, said: "We are delighted, we felt if we performed well then we would win but with England also having played very well it makes it all the sweeter. "We did get the bounce of the ball and some days that happens and you've just got to jump on the back of it." Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan was surprised that England coach Andy Robinson said he was certain Mark Cueto was onside for a disallowed try just before the break. "Andy was sitting two yards from me and I couldn't see whether he was offside or not so I don't know how Andy could have known," said O'Sullivan. "What I do know is that England played well and when that happens it makes a very good victory for us. "We had to defend for long periods and that is all good for the confidence of the team. "I think our try was very well worked, it was a gem, as good a try as we have scored for a while." O'Sullivan also rejected Robinson's contention England dominated the forward play. "I think we lost one lineout and they lost four or five so I don't know how that adds up to domination," he said. O'Driscoll also insisted Ireland were happy to handle the pressure of being considered favourites to win the Six Nations title. "This season for the first time we have been able to play with the favourites' tag," he said. "Hopefully we have proved that today and can continue to keep doing so. "As for my try it was a move we had worked on all week. There was a bit of magic from Geordan Murphy and it was a great break from Denis Hickie."