The Lord Chancellor has defended government plans to introduce control orders to keep foreign and British terrorist suspects under house arrest, where there isn't enough evidence to put them on trial. Lord Falconer insists that the proposals do not equate to a police state and strike a balance between protecting the public against the threat of terrorism and upholding civil liberties. But thriller writer Frederick Forsyth tells BBC News of his personal response to the move. There is a mortal danger aimed at the heart of Britain. Or so says Home Secretary Charles Clarke. My reaction? So what? It is not that I am cynical or just do not care. I care about this country very much. But in the 66 years that I have been alive, there has not been one hour, of one day, of one month, of one year, when there has not been a threat aimed at us. My point is, the British have always coped without becoming a dictatorship. We have coped with fear without becoming a state based on fear; we have coped with threat without turning our country into a land of state threat. But that is what the Blair government now seeks to do create a tyranny to defend us from the al Qaeda tyranny. I was born on 25 August, 1938. The mortal threat back then was a scruffy little Austrian called Adolf Hitler. A week after my first birthday, the threat had become reality. We were at war. My father wore a uniform for five years. After 1945 we yearned for peace at last. But in 1946 Winston Churchill told us from the Baltic to the Adriatic an Iron Curtain has descended across Europe. Behind the Iron Curtain, another genocidal psychopath, another threat. Josef Stalin triggered the Cold War, with the Berlin blockade in 1948. My whole generation was blighted by it. We were threatened by the nuclear holocaust, the nuclear wind, the nuclear winter. We built shelters that would have sheltered nothing. We spent our treasure on weapons instead of hospitals. We took silly precautions. Some fought it; some marched futilely against it. Some pretended it was not there. The Cold War lasted 43 years, but we remained a parliamentary democracy. By the early seventies it was terrorism as well. Al Fatah, Black September, Red Brigades, but most of all for us the IRA and the INLA. Thirty more years; 300 policemen and women, over 600 soldiers, more than 3,000 civilians dead, but we won because even IRA bombs could not force us to become a tyranny. That was why the tyrants lost. Civil rights were infringed as little as humanly possible. Evidence had to be taken in secret to protect covert sources; yes , and one judge, no jury courts had to be instituted when juries were terrorised. Informants had to be given immunity from their own crimes to win the bigger battle. But habeas corpus did not die; right of appeal was not abolished. Now the threat is Islamic fundamentalism. Its leaders want to destroy our society; so did the IRA. It is based and funded abroad; so was the IRA. It has sleeper fanatics inside our society; so did the IRA. It is extremely hard to penetrate with our agents; so was the IRA. The prime movers are not easy to bring to trial; neither were the IRA. But we did. And without becoming a tyranny. Now the Blair government proposes the law system of fascism and communism. The citizen can be arrested and held without charge or trial, not even on the careful consideration of an experienced judge, but the whim of a political activist called a government minister. To be protected from terror the government says, we must become a tyranny. But a tyranny is based on the citizen's terror. This is not victory; this is defeat before a shot is fired. An interesting article its good to see widening participation in the debate but I suggest we move one step further. Our own bombs and bullets will can only shatter peace, because invading foreign nations, imprisoning the innocent and 'hunting' in the 'shadows' cannot destroy an evil of the mind, and hatred within the heart. Rather than focusing upon effect, we should consider the cause, because terrorism does not begin with bombs. Why not try a foreign policy of compassion, it can only enhance our democracy, and share our freedom. I agree with Frederick Forsyth. We really can't deal with terrorism by turning Britain into a fascist state. What we really need is more honesty from our security services and our politicians. If they do not have evidence to bring these people to trial, there probably isn't any. Our security services, behave like the detective who having decided that a certain person is guilty, rakes over all kinds of obscure and flimsy evidence to try and prove it, while the real villain gets away. Remember there were no WMD in Iraq. Just because a person may have made some stupid and naive decisions in life does not make them a terrorist. In this overly 'politically correct' society, it is good to see someone like Mr. Forsyth speak out. Yes, there has been oppression by the British government in the past, and overstepping the mark in places like Ireland, but yes, we are still a democracy where it is rare to be arrested without charge/trial etc. (apart from a number of prisoners in Belmarsh goal, for example).This country signs up to human rights, and then pretends that they only apply to the people with nothing to fear, the innocent people (defined by whom?). When ID cards become mandatory, the data collected will not be protected by the Data Protection Act, and will be readily available to people like GCHQ, with no control by the person whose ID is being checked. The threat now is new. You cannot compare the threats of past years with now. Forsyth says 3000 died over 30 years or terrorism; 3000 people died in one morning in NY on September 11th 2001. The threat today is that terrorists will acquire nuclear or biological technology. A Kilo of Semtex will flatten a building, a Kilo of plutonium will flatten a city. You now have a combination of people who will perform terrorist acts with technology that is rapidly becoming accessible. I agree, the government is probably encouraging a degree of mass hysteria and talking up the threat; but talking down the threat and doing nothing is unacceptable too. The problem with this issue is not that it isn't important, but the fact that in general we Brits can be so politically apathetic some times, that we will just let this go without telling the government no. However, as the nation that gave the world the common law and a true sense of the rights of individual liberty I hope this will prove to be one step too far. As somebody of Chinese origin, I can say that this country used to be a good place to migrate and start a new life. Whilst life wasn't perfect, we could make better for ourselves. Now we are riddled with red tape and be told what we can or cannot do. We have to be politically correct and we are not allowed to have beliefs or opinions. We have a Prime Minister who spends too much time meddling in US politics and affairs which have little to do with the lives of British Citizens at home or abroad. Mr Forsyth has done a good job in voicing his opinions. Let's hope the BBC doesn't get gagged for letting people express their views. The people have the right to know and the BBC's role is to Inform, Educate and Entertain... I agree. Terrorists intend to spread fear but in reality it is the government which has spread the fear, by its constant publicising of the this invisible enemy so dangerous that we must allow them to ride roughshod over our rights and liberties. In the end, the very thing we seek to protect is what we are giving up in the name of safety from this invisible enemy. The terrorists have already won. I absolutely agree with Frederick Forsyth. Yes we have to defend ourselves against terrorism but existing laws seem to be more than adequate. The idea that the "new terrorism" demands new powers is erroneous. The evidence of any real terrorist capability in the UK is scant. Ricin, for example, is a dangerous poison but it is not a weapon of mass destruction. What is really worrying is the enthusiasm of Mr Blair and his government for authoritarian reactions and attempts to manipulate the electorate through fear. If the government has its way with ID cards, tracking and so on then totalitarianism has won and as such it then matters little whether we give in to the terrorists demands or not. We will have lost the precious freedom which Bush and Blair constantly tells us we have and that they seek to bring to others. I agree wholeheartedly with Mr Forsyth. I am shocked at the ease with which this government is prepared to wipe out a major portion of the liberties that British people have enjoyed for centuries the right not to be deprived of our liberty without a trial in open court. That goes right back to Magna Carta, and ordinary people have spilled their blood to enforce that right against governments who thought they "knew best". When you look at today's Britain, you realise George Orwell was only wrong about one thing: the date. Frederick Forsyth puts it beautifully. The government is seeking to introduce a police state. The new powers of home internment without trial follow a pattern which includes the introduction of surveillance via compulsory ID cards and the linking of data bases, together with the un British idea that we will have to swear allegiance to the state at the age of 18 years. We are sleep walking into this. Wake up! An interesting view but missing two crucial facts of this new threat: 1) If these terrorists acquire weapons of mass destruction they WILL use them without fear of Mutually Assured Destruction that kept the cold war in a state of tense balance. These people will use devastating force against us without fear of ANY consequence. 2) The terrorists are prepared to use suicide bombers which means they could kill innocent people on the London Underground and we could do very little to stop it. Because these terrorists are potentially SO deadly, we have to come up with new, tougher responses. It will be a little late in the day when people outside London wake up one morning to find out that London has been nuked. We won't have much of a society left to debate ! He's correct in most of what he says. Mind you he does seem to have forgotten that disgraceful internment policy in Northern Ireland which probably caused many idealistic if misguided young Catholics to join the IRA. Administrative detention of Muslims could have a similar effect now. Surely we the public would be better protected if the security services, rather than alerting a suspect terrorist by placing them under house arrest (and for how long?)They were to place suspect terrorist under surveillance and maybe acquire sufficient evidence to prosecute or even better prevent a terrorist attack. I don't usually have much time for Mr Forsyth's largely right wing views but this time he has got it spot on. There is no doubt that there are terrorist organisations who would like to do harm to the U.K. but it is very doubtful whether al Qaeda is a global organisation co ordinating this. The rise of surveillance cameras, ID cards, the plan to charge for road use by tracking every vehicle at all times, this is the stuff of nightmares. Add to this this new legislation which effectively means that the protection of the law will be removed from anyone at the whim of the Home Secretary, and I genuinely wonder what sort of world my two children will inherit. Where will this end. As it stands terrorists do not need to attack the U.K. it's government will soon have it's people terrorised more that they could very achieve with a few bombs. Mr Forsyth has expressed exactly what my gut fears and reservations were about this proposed legislation, but could not verbalise. Thank you. Mr Forsyth seems to forget that killings in the Troubles occurred on both sides of the religious divide and was carried out by killers from both sides. He also forgets basic Human Rights were suspended then as now. Experienced Judges sat over some of the greatest miscarriages of justice during those times. For very little return and maximum alienation. These laws and the emphasis on the Islamic threat will just do the same. Forsyth is wrong. The nature of the current threat is new. It is no longer to our armed forces, as the Soviet threat in the Eastern bloc was. It is to you and I. The terrorist aim to kill indiscriminately. The best comparison is therefore the blitz, 1941. At this time, let us not forget, suspects (foreign and British were routinely rounded up and interned for the duration of the war, without any complaints from the public. We must not forget we are at war. I'd say that that the likelihood of an attack by a sleeper cell of fundamentalist lunatics against a major UK target is a "When" not an "If" probability. I'll bet any money you like that the day after any such attack Freddie Forsyth will be saying that the government didn't do enough to protect the UK. People like Forsyth can only see one side of any argument and for him it is the side that is opposite New Labour and Tony Blair. I agree wholeheartedly with Mr Forsyth. The very reason this country has been such a wonderful place to live, is under attack, not from terrorists, but from this government. The perpetuation of the perceived terrorist threat is not because of what the 'alleged' terrorists are doing, but from our own government. I believe what this government is doing, is, at the very least, highly questionable and at worst, sinister. At what point will they feel they have enough control over every single person in the British Isles; when we are all tagged and monitored constantly? Our freedom is being craftily and surreptitiously whittled away by this government and we are gaining nothing. It should be of great concern to everyone. I am slightly older than Mr Forsyth and therefore have lived through the same history as him. I am against a police state and would not like to think that I lived in one. I think that the attack on Iraq made the international situation worse and may have provoked further acts of terrorism. How true. There are extremely worrying parallels between Britain now and Germany during the 30's. I never thought it would be so easy to take over a country from within. Mr Forsyth has forgotten one key point; the terrorists who threaten Britain today are well aware that Hitler, Stalin, and the IRA all failed. As a result modern day terrorists are willing to do things their predecessors did not. That does not mean that the civil liberties of modern Britain must be eroded to counter the threat; that should always be the absolute last resort. But to meet the new threat, to defeat the sinister fanaticism of today's terrorists, we may need to do things a little differently. Let us hope not. Frederic Forsythe's comments seem to me to be a well thought out analysis of why we (human society as a whole, and Britain in particular) should resist the temptation to over protect through fear. It is this fear which enables terrorists to succeed in the end, and terrorists can come in all forms, as Mr. Forsythe's opening comments suggest. I am reminded of a quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson. "A nation that limits freedom in the name of security will have neither." The government are faced with an incredibly difficult task, and have made a policy to deal with it. It's all very well criticising that policy, but if Mr Forsythe can't draw on his years of experience to offer an alternative, I say 'So what?' to his opinions. Frederick Forsyth's rhetoric is absurd and his conclusions laughable. He distorts reality to serve his own prejudice against New Labour. This government seeks to balance protection of our democracy with minimum loss of civil rights. It is Frederick Forsyth who is the extremist, because he does not appreciate the need for balance. I rarely find myself agreeing with My Forsyth, but in this instance I think he is correct. The rule of law must prevail, civil liberties are worth defending. If the government can hold 'suspects' without charge or trial, what's next? I agree absolutely. By introducing fascist type laws we loose the moral high ground in our fight against terror. Our democratic system is not perfect, but as Churchill points out it is "better than all the others that have been tried". Terrorist attacks will take place but for many reasons we should take that personal risk in return for personal freedom. I do not usually agree with Mr. Forsyth, but he is spot on here. The single biggest threat we face is that of a government dedicated to acting illegally and manipulating international and national law to suit its own purpose. Totalitarianism always requires an outside threat, justifying a range of extraordinary powers leaders want. The British government is a far greater threat that and terrorist organisation. Although, in principle I agree with him, Frederick Forsyth fails to address one key point al Qaeda attacks (though obviously there have been none yet in the UK) seek to kill the maximum number of people. The IRA wanted to limit the death toll of their attacks so as to maintain support among the republican movement. Yes, I agree with Mr. Forsyth's views. I do not believe the government's plans are justified. There is over reaction to and the negative influence of the US President's interpretation of democracy and freedom. He uses the same arguments that were current before the WWII, the Wars to "liberate" Iraq, Afghanistan with Syria and Iran to come. We are leaving a poor inheritance for the future generations. Mr Forsyth is a wonderful writer and should keep his fiction where it belongs. The British Government is not going down the road that Mr Forsyth suggests. Sadly comments such as his will make a lot of people believe that they are governed by people who are fast becoming tyrants instead of being genuinely committed to stopping tyranny, even if the method employed to do that is at the moment alien to the British people who have lived in a democracy protected by Tony Blair and others of like mind who, Mr. Forsyth seems to be putting along side the 'scruffy little Austrian.' Thomas Hobbes would be smiling in his grave at Labour's propositions. Like New Labour, he called himself a libertarian. Like New Labour, he believed he was promoting the people's best interests. But as Forsythe criticises this government, Hobbes has been criticised by most subsequent philosophers for arguing his way into the hands of the totalitarians. Simply put, he argued that in favour of the ultimate liberty the liberty to live man should be prepared to surrender all other liberties to a supreme sovereign, as protection against his fellow, barbaric, man. Hobbes has been roundly condemned by posterity, and rightly so. I hope New Labour suffers the same treatment. I agree with Mr Forsyth's views. The governments approach is totally against the spirit of British democracy. They must not be allowed to get away with it. Of course Frederick is wrong about Britain winning the war against the IRA and he's wrong too about the country not becoming a tyranny. Has he forgotten about shoot to kill, torture, internment without trial, collusion with loyalist death squads etc? My background is somewhat similar to Freddie's so I am persuaded to agree with many of his sentiments. We can have no moral justification for imposing our system of government on anyone while we are systematically depriving our own citizens of basic individual and collective freedoms. Whilst the principle of keeping potential terrorists under house arrest might seem superficially attractive, it is, unfortunately, also the first step towards totalitarianism. Who is to decide whom is a suspect? Why should we believe them? Who can have faith in the honesty, integrity, and competence of our intelligence services and politicians in light of the events of recent years? What is to stop false denunciations? What of those falsely accused who will lose their careers? Who will support their families? Will their children still go to school? It smacks to me of the methods of Nazi Germany, Stalin's Russia, Ceausescu's Romania the list goes on. It looks as if a new dark age is coming. I see that opinion on Mr Forsyth's remarks are divided. The problem I see is that those who support imprisonment without trial believe it will never happen to them or their family, only to people they don't like or are scared of. But history has shown that if you have laws like that, they always get abused by those in power. After all, today you may be scared of the same people as those in power but someday those in power may be scared of you! And that day, you'll be the one imprisoned without the chance of justice. Our laws are such that you cannot just be imprisoned at the whim of our police forces, you have to be shown to be deserving of it. If we imprison people without trial for an indeterminate period, we are no better that those we are fighting. I never thought it possible for me to agree with a single word uttered by Frederick Forsyth, but I'm in wholehearted agreement with him on this one. We, as a nation are in grave danger of being duped by pro US propaganda, which of course also means we'll inherit most, if not all of their total paranoia, and allow our governments, of any political persuasion incidentally, to gradually, and insidiously, impose a police state by well tried tested back door methods. I grieve for the future of my children, it's no wonder they're adamant they don't ever want any of their own. This government, with much fanfare, signs us up to the European Convention on Human Rights but now wants to introduce indefinite house arrest without trial. This puts it on a par with the government of Burma. Like many of your respondents, I wouldn't usually think of Mr Forsyth as someone whose views I share, but in the instance of opposing Charles Clark's proposals for house arrest, I agree wholeheartedly with Mr Forsyth/ I agree with Mr Forsyth. Just look at the facts our government (along with the US) invaded another sovereign country (Iraq) by selecting intelligence that backed it's case based on fear. The facts turned out to be very different. If individuals are treated in the same distorted way, then we've done ourselves more damage than any terrorist organisation could with bombs. We become animals too. I agree in many ways with what Mr Forsyth has said if we are to be respected and have influence within the world we must be seen to be walking the walk as well as talking the talk how can we accuse countries such as Zimbabwe and Burma of human rights abuses when we are locking up people who may be totally innocent, it is hypocrisy of the highest order. Mr Forsyth links "Islamic fundamentalism" to the new "threat". However it appears that he has misunderstood the term "Islamic fundamentalism". It should be pointed out that a Muslim who adheres to the true fundamentals of the Qur'aan and the teachings of the last Prophet Muhammad is an Islamic Fundamentalist. This person does not commit suicide in any shape or form, nor does she/he kill innocent women, men and children. This person is self reflective and constantly tries to better her/his actions by being good to others. The people who Mr Forsyth labels the new "threat" are those who do not follow the correct teachings of Islam. They have arrived at their own interpretations and assumptions with regards their actions. On top of that, they claim to be following Islam in its true form! I accept that the intentions of these policies are to make Britain a safer place but I cannot think of a single example from history where doing this sort of thing has ever made any difference in Northern Ireland internment certainly didn't achieve anything the bombings didn't stop, and it could be argued that all it achieved was to just supply the IRA with yet more angry and resentful republicans willing to take up arms against the British. Being eight years older than Frederick Forsyth and a survivor of the Blitz on London, it is easy to agree with him, he is absolutely spot on. During the IRA bombings there were massive explosions in Canary Wharf, to the right of where I write this, and also to the left in the City of London. Notwithstanding these and the attempted and nearly successful assassination attempts on Prime Minister Thatcher in Brighton and on later occupants of 10 Downing Street, there was no retaliatory blitz on Belfast or Dublin as there has been on Afghanistan and Iraq. Even when England was in true peril in 1940 apart from some detentions there were no wholesale derogation of habeas corpus and the like. We have to see off these latest attempts on our liberties including ID cards, which Winston Churchill decided had to go since, he said, the average Bobby on the beat could not be relied on to not be tempted to take undue advantage against the citizen going about their lawful activities (incidentally I can still remember my old ID card number). Hence it is clear that the far too great police state powers set for the statute books have to be resisted and neutered. What can I add to Mr. Forsyth's eloquently put arguments... except applause! Well done that man for standing up and being counted in the "war against tyranny".


Internet search engine users are an odd mix of naive and sophisticated, suggests a report into search habits. The report by the US Pew Research Center reveals that 87% of searchers usually find what they were looking for when using a search engine. It also shows that few can spot the difference between paid for results and organic ones. The report reveals that 84% of net users say they regularly use Google, Ask Jeeves, MSN and Yahoo when online. Almost 50% of those questioned said they would trust search engines much less, if they knew information about who paid for results was being hidden. According to figures gathered by the Pew researchers the average users spends about 43 minutes per month carrying out 34 separate searches and looks at 1.9 webpages for each hunt. A significant chunk of net users, 36%, carry out a search at least weekly and 29% of those asked only look every few weeks. For 44% of those questioned, the information they are looking for is critical to what they are doing and is information they simply have to find. Search engine users also tend to be very loyal and once they have found a site they feel they can trust tend to stick with it. According to Pew Research 44% of searchers use just a single search engine, 48% use two or three and a small number, 7%, consult more than three sites. Tony Macklin, spokesman for Ask Jeeves, said the results reflected its own research which showed that people use different search engines because the way the sites gather information means they can provide different results for the same query. Despite this liking for search sites half of those questioned said they could get the same information via other routes. A small number, 17%, said they wouldn't really miss search engines if they did not exist. The remaining 33% said they could not live without search sites. More than two thirds of those questioned, 68%, said they thought that the results they were presented with were a fair and unbiased selection of the information on a topic that can be found on the net. Alongside the growing sophistication of net users is a lack of awareness about paid for results that many search engines provide alongside lists of websites found by indexing the web. Of those asked, 62% were unaware that someone has paid for some of the results they see when they carry out a search. Only 18% of all searchers say they can tell which results are paid for and which are not. Said the Pew report: "This finding is ironic, since nearly half of all users say they would stop using search engines if they thought engines were not being clear about how they presented paid results." Commenting Mr Macklin said sponsored results must be clearly marked and though they might help with some queries user testing showed that people need to be able to spot the difference.


Marat Safin suffered a shock loss to unseeded Nicolas Kiefer in round one of the Dubai Tennis Championships. Playing his first match since winning the Australian Open, Safin showed some good touches but was beaten 7 6 (7 2) 6 4 by the in form Kiefer. The German got on top in the first set tie break, striking a sweet forehand to win the first point against serve. And he maintained the momentum early in the second set, breaking the Russian with the help of an inspired volley. Spain's Feliciano Lopez lined up a second round clash with Andre Agassi by beating Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan. Lopez, who lost in three sets to Roger Federer in last year's final, won 6 2 3 6 6 3. Former champion Fabrice Santoro of France was beaten 6 3 6 0 by sixth seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko. There were also wins for two other Russians, Igor Andreev and seventh seed Mikhail Youzhny.


Oil giant BP has announced a 26% rise in annual profits to 16.2bn ( 8.7bn) on the back of record oil prices. Last week, rival Shell reported an annual profit of 17.5bn a record profit for a UK listed company. BP added that it was increasing its fourth quarter dividend by 26% to 8.5 cents, and that it would continue with share buybacks. BP chief executive Lord Browne said the results were strong "both operationally and financially." The company is earning about 1.8m an hour. Despite the record annual profits figure, BP's performance was below the expectations of some City analysts. However, BP's share price rose 4p or nearly 1% in morning trading to 548p. Its profit rise for the year included profits of 3.65bn ( 1.97bn) for the final three months of 2004 up from 2.89bn a year ago but below its third quarter. Speaking on the BBC's Today programme on Tuesday, Lord Browne said the profits were not solely down to the high oil price alone. "The profits are up more than the price of oil is up," he said. Lord Browne pointed out that BP was reaping the benefits of its investment in oil exploration. "We have spent many years buying (assets) when the price is low," he said. The company has made new discoveries in Egypt, the Gulf of Mexico and Angola. However, Lord Browne rejected calls for a windfall tax on his company's huge profits, saying that in the North Sea it paid progressively more tax, the more profits it made. Lord Browne believes oil prices will remain quite high. Currently above 40 a barrel, he said: "The price of oil will be well supported above 30 a barrel for the medium term." BP put production for the year at 3.997 billion barrels of oil, up 10% on 2003, but slightly lower than the four billion barrels it had initially aimed for.


Consumer electronics giants Hitachi and Matshushita Electric are joining forces to share and develop technology for flat screen televisions. The tie up comes as the world's top producers are having to contend with falling prices and intense competition. The two Japanese companies will collaborate in research development, production, marketing and licensing. They said the agreement would enable the two companies to expand the plasma display TV market globally. Plasma display panels are used for large, thin TVs which are replacing old style televisions. The display market for high definition televisions is split between models using plasma display panels and others manufactured by the likes of Sony and Samsung using liquid crystal displays (LCDs). The deal will enable Hitachi and Matsushita, which makes Panasonic brand products, to develop new technology and improve their competitiveness. Hitachi recently announced a deal to buy plasma display technology from rival Fujitsu in an effort to strengthen its presence in the market. Separately, Fujitsu announced on Monday that it is quitting the LCD panel market by transferring its operations in the area to Japanese manufacturer Sharp. Sharp will inherit staff, manufacturing facilities and intellectual property from Fujitsu. The plasma panel market has seen rapid consolidation in recent months as the price of consumer electronic goods and components has fallen. Samsung Electronics and Sony are among other companies working together to reduce costs and speed up new product development.


Tory leader Michael Howard has dismissed claims that his immigration policy was "moving onto the turf" of the British National Party (BNP). BNP leader Nick Griffin told the Independent he expected some BNP voters to switch to the Tories over the issue. But Mr Howard said he rejected the idea that the Tories and BNP appealed to the same voting instincts. Asked if he would welcome BNP voters he told the BBC: "I don't want anybody to vote for these extremist parties". He added, on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "If you want good community relations in this country...then you have to have firm, fair immigration controls." The Tories have promised an upper limit on the number of people allowed into Britain with the slogan: "It's not racist to impose limits on immigration". All parties are stepping up campaiging in the run up to the general election, widely expected to be called for 5 May. Labour has unveiled its own "points system" for ensuring migrants who want to work in the UK have skills that are required, but have rejected immigration quotas. The Liberal Democrats have warned both parties against "pandering to prejudice". Mr Griffin told the Independent the Tories' plans were "a definite move onto our turf". He said: "I quite freely accept that on a nationwide basis, the Tories will con enough people to make a significant hole in our vote." Asked whether he was comfortable with the perception that the Conservatives and the BNP appeal to the same voting instincts, Mr Howard told the BBC: "I reject that entirely". He said he found BNP's policies "abhorrent" but he said the UK had to take a different approach to immigration, which he said was out of control. "The government doesn't want to limit it in any way, we do, there's a legitimate difference between us there which we can discuss in a calm, rational and reasonable way," he said. He again rejected newspaper speculation that his own father entered Britain illegally.


Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou are yet to respond to doping charges from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The Greek pair were charged after missing a series of routine drugs tests in Tel Aviv, Chicago and Athens. They have until midnight on 16 December and an IAAF spokesman said: "We're sure their responses are on their way." If they do not respond or their explanations are rejected, they will be provisionally banned from competition. They will then face a hearing in front of the Greek Federation, which will ultimately determine their fate. Their former coach Christos Tzekos has also been charged with distributing banned substances. Under IAAF rules, the athletes could receive a maximum one year suspension. Kenteris and Thanou already face a criminal trial after being charged with avoiding a drug test on the eve of the Athens Olympics and then faking a motorcyle crash. No date for the trial has yet been set and again Tzekos is also facing charges. The IAAF issued an official warning to the trio last year after they were discovered training in Qatar rather than in Crete, where they had said they would be. All athletes must inform their national federations where they are at all times, so they can be available for out of competition drugs tests. But Kenteris and Thanou then went on to skip tests in Tel Aviv and Chicago, when they decided to fly back to Greece early. Then just before the Olympics, the pair dramatically missed another test in Athens and withdrew from the Games.


Hearts of Oak set up an all Ghanaian Confederation Cup final with a 3 2 win over Cameroon's Cotonsport Garoua in Accra on Sunday. The win for Hearts means they will play Asante Kotoko in the two leg final, after the Kumasi team qualified from Group A on Saturday. In the other Group B game Cameroon's beat of South Africa 3 2 in Douala, neither side could have qualified for the final. Hearts of Oak started the game needing a win to qualify for the final while Cotonsport only needed to avoid defeat to go through. Louis Agyemang scored the first two goals for Hearts either side of half time before Ben Don Bortey scored the third. Hearts looked set for a comfortable win but Cotonsport staged a late fight back scoring twice late on. First of all Boukar Makaji scored in the 89th minute and then 3 minutes into injury time at the end of the game Andre Nzame III was on target. But it was too little too late for the Cameroonians and Hearts held on to win the game and a place in the final. The first leg of the final will be played in Accra on the weekend of 27 28 November and the second leg two weeks later on the 11 December in Kumasi. In the other Group B game Cameroon's Sable Batie took the lead in the 35th minute through Kemadjou before Santos equalised on the hour mark thanks to Thokozani Xaba . Bernard Ngom put Sable ahead just five minutes later and then Ernest Nfor settled the game on 68 minutes. Ruben Cloete scored the South African sides consolation with just three minutes left on the clock.


European stock market Euronext has met with the London Stock Exchange (LSE) amid speculation that it may be ready to launch a cash bid. Euronext chief Jean Francois Theodore held talks with LSE boss Clara Furse the day after rival Deutsche Boerse put forward its own bid case. The German exchange said it had held "constructive, professional and friendly" talks with the LSE. But Euronext declined to comment after the talks ended on Friday. Speculation is mounting that the Germans may raise their bid to 1.5bn. Deutsche Boerse previously offered 1.3bn, which was rejected by the LSE, while Euronext is rumoured to have facilities in place to fund a 1.4bn cash bid. So far, however, neither have tabled a formal bid. But a deal with either bidder would create the biggest stock market operator in Europe and the second biggest in the world after the New York Stock Exchange. There was speculation Euronext would use Friday's meeting as an opportunity to take advantage of growing disquiet over Deutsche Boerse's own plans for dominance over the London market. Unions for Deutsche Boerse staff in Frankfurt has reportedly expressed fears that up to 300 jobs would be moved to London if the takeover is successful. "The works council has expressed concerns that the equities and derivatives trade could be managed from London in the future," Reuters news agency reports a union source as saying. German politicians are also said to be angry over the market operator's promise to move its headquarters to London if a bid were successful. Meanwhile, LSE shareholders fear that Deutsche Boerse's control over its Clearstream unit the clearing house that processes securities transactions would create a monopoly situation. This would weaken the position of shareholders when negotiating lower transaction fees for share dealings. LSE and Euronext do not have control over their clearing and settlement operations, a situation which critics say is more transparent and competitive. The German group's ownership of Clearstream has been seen as the main stumbling block to a London Frankfurt merger. Commentators believe Deutsche Boerse, which has now formally asked German authorities to approve its plan to buy the LSE, may offer to sell Clearstream to gain shareholder approval. Euronext, so far, has given little away as to what sweeteners it will offer the LSE Europe's biggest equity market into a deal.


Investors have snapped up shares in Jet Airways, India's biggest airline, following the launch of its much anticipated initial public offer (IPO). The IPO for 17.3 million shares was fully sold within 10 minutes of opening, on Friday. Analysts expect Jet to raise at least 16.4bn rupees ( 375m; 198m) from the offering. Interest in Jet's IPO has been fuelled by hopes for robust growth in India's air travel market. The share offer, representing about 20% of Jet's equity, was oversubscribed, news agency Reuters reported. Jet, which was founded by London based travel agent Naresh Goyal, plans to use the cash to buy new planes and cut its debt. The company has grown rapidly since it launched operations in 1993, overtaking state owned flag carrier Indian Airlines. However, it faces stiff competition from rivals and low cost carriers. Jet's IPO is the first in a series of expected share offers from Indian companies this year, as they move to raise funds to help them do business in a rapidly growing economy.


A former executive at the London offices of Merrill Lynch has lost her 7.5m ( 14.6m) sex discrimination case against the US investment bank. An employment tribunal dismissed Stephanie Villalba's allegations of sexual discrimination and unequal pay. But the 42 year old won her claim of unfair dismissal, resulting from her sacking in August 2003. Her partial victory is likely to cap her compensation to about 55,000, a tiny fraction of what she asked for. The extent of damages will be assessed in the New Year. The action the biggest claim heard by an employment tribunal in the UK had been viewed as something of a test case. The tribunal decided that Ms Villalba had been unfairly dismissed because, having been removed from a senior post, she was entitled to wait to see if a suitable alternative position could be found in the organisation. Ms Villalba, the former head of Merrill's private client business in Europe, has made no decision on whether to appeal. A spokesman for her lawyers described the decision as "very disappointing", but pointed to some criticism of Merrill's procedures within the lengthy judgement. The tribunal upheld Ms Villalba's claim of victimisation on certain specific issues, including bullying e mails in connection with a contract, but said it found no evidence of "laddish culture" at the bank. "We said from the start that this case was about performance not gender," Merrill said in a statement. "Ms Villalba was removed by the very same person who had promoted her into the position and who then replaced her with another woman. "Merrill Lynch is dedicated to creating a true meritocracy where every employee has the opportunity to advance based on their skills and hard work." Based in London's financial district, Ms Villalba worked for Merrill's global private client business in Europe, investing funds for some of Merrill's most important customers. But in 2003 her employers told her she had no future after 17 years with the company, and she was made redundant. Merrill Lynch denied Ms Villalba's claims and said she was removed from her post because of the extensive losses the firm was suffering on the continent. The firm had told the tribunal that Ms Villalba's division had been losing about 1m a week. Merrill said Ms Villalba lacked the leadership skills to turn around the unit.


Tony Blair does not believe abortion should be an election issue, arguing it is a matter for individual conscience. The prime minister's spokesman set out Mr Blair's view after the top Catholic in England and Wales backed Michael Howard's stance on abortions. The Tory leader supports a reduction in the legal limit from 24 weeks to 20 and has said current rules are "tantamount to abortion on demand". The prime minister has made it clear he has no plans to the change the law. Mr Blair's spokesman said: "The Catholic church has a well known position on this issue and it was one of many issues the Cardinal mentioned and therefore it should be seen in that context." His words came as Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, backed Mr Howard's stance and distanced himself from Labour. In a statement, he said abortion was a "very key issue", saying: "The policy supported by Mr Howard is one that we would commend, on the way to a full abandonment of abortion." Cardinal O'Connor claimed Labour had "developed" the notion that it was the natural party of Catholics, but he said: "We are not going to suggest people support one particular party." The Family Planning Association says a reduction would particularly affect young women who often seek help later. More than 180,000 women in England and Wales had terminations last year, of which fewer than 1% were carried out between 22 and 24 weeks. In the Cosmopolitan interview Mr Howard said: "I believe abortion should be available to everyone, but the law should be changed. "In the past I voted for a restriction to 22 weeks and I would be prepared to go down to 20." All three main parties say the issue is one for each MP's conscience, rather than one where there is a party wide policy. Mr Howard stressed his views were his personal views. Shadow home secretary David Davis said he understood Mr Howard had been signalling that a Conservative government would allow a Commons vote on the issue. Mr Blair and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy also gave their views during interviews, conducted as part of the magazine's "High Heeled Vote" campaign. Mr Blair, who last year denied he planned to join his wife and four children in the Catholic faith despite regularly taking communion, said abortion was a "difficult issue". "However much I dislike the idea of abortion, you should not criminalise a woman who, in very difficult circumstances, makes that choice. "Obviously there is a time beyond which you can't have an abortion, and we have no plans to change that although the debate will continue." Mr Kennedy said he had previously voted for a 22 week limit but medical advances mean "I don't know what I would do now". The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff, the Most Reverend Peter Smith, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the church merely wanted people to "reflect on issues in light of the gospel" before voting. Anne Weyman, chief executive of the Family Planning Association, asked: "What is the benefit to women, or to the potential child, of forcing a woman to have a baby?" Anti abortion group the Pro Life Alliance "congratulated" Mr Howard on his new stance, but said it did not go far enough.


Turkey's investment in Iran's mobile industry looks set to be scrapped after its biggest mobile firm saw its investment there slashed by MPs. Iran's parliament voted by a large majority to cut Turkcell's stake in a new mobile network from 70% to 49%. The move, which was justified on national security grounds, follows an earlier vote by MPs to give themselves a veto over foreign investments. Turkcell said the decision "increases the risks" attached to the project. Although the company's statement said it would continue to monitor developments, observers said they thought Turkcell was set to pull out of the 3bn deal. "The possibility of carrying out this project is next to zero," said Atinc Ozkan, analyst at Finans Investment in Istanbul. If Turkcell does back out, MTN the South African firm which lost out in the original tender may well be back in the running. The company has said it is prepared to accept a minority stake if Iran will award it the mobile deal. Turkcell's mobile deal is the second Turkish investment in Iran to run into trouble. Turkish Austrian consortium TAV was chosen to build and run Tehran's new Imam Khomeini International Airport but the army closed it just hours after it opened in May 2004. In both cases, the justification has been national security, amid allegations that the Turkish firms are too close to Israel. The hardline posture taken by parliament, which is dominated by religious conservatives, could yet impact other inward investments.


Growth in Japan evaporated in the three months to September, sparking renewed concern about an economy not long out of a decade long trough. Output in the period grew just 0.1%, an annual rate of 0.3%. Exports the usual engine of recovery faltered, while domestic demand stayed subdued and corporate investment also fell short. The growth falls well short of expectations, but does mark a sixth straight quarter of expansion. The economy had stagnated throughout the 1990s, experiencing only brief spurts of expansion amid long periods in the doldrums. One result was deflation prices falling rather than rising which made Japanese shoppers cautious and kept them from spending. The effect was to leave the economy more dependent than ever on exports for its recent recovery. But high oil prices have knocked 0.2% off the growth rate, while the falling dollar means products shipped to the US are becoming relatively more expensive. The performance for the third quarter marks a sharp downturn from earlier in the year. The first quarter showed annual growth of 6.3%, with the second showing 1.1%, and economists had been predicting as much as 2% this time around. "Exports slowed while capital spending became weaker," said Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist at UBS Securities in Tokyo. "Personal consumption looks good, but it was mainly due to temporary factors such as the Olympics. "The amber light is flashing." The government may now find it more difficult to raise taxes, a policy it will have to implement when the economy picks up to help deal with Japan's massive public debt.


Tom Shanklin will start in the centre for Wales against England in Cardiff on Saturday after Sonny Parker failed to recover from a trapped neck nerve. Shanklin was first choice wing in the autumn Tests, but prefers centre and will face England debutant Mathew Tait. Dragons three quarter Hal Luscombe takes Shanklin's wing berth. Up front, Mefin Davies plays at hooker, open side Martyn Williams is fit to start and lock Rob Sidoli replaces veteran Gareth Llewellyn. Davies wins the vote ahead of Robin McBryde, who sits on the bench having recently returned to action for the Scarlets following a neck injury. Sidoli is back for the first time since last season's Six Nations, the Blues second row back to form after a niggling groin problem. Williams, Sidoli's team mate at Cardiff, is set to win his 50th cap, replacing the injured Colin Charvis after making a quicker than expected recovery from a neck disc problem. "Initially when I had the diagnosis it was a case of trying to get fit for the Italy game next week, but fortunately my recovery has been a lot quicker than we all hoped," Williams told BBC Sport Wales. "I haven't started a game since 1 January and would have preferred to have a couple of games in the lead up to this, but the good thing with the injury is that I have kept up my fitness levels. "I feel quite fresh and I just can't wait to play again." Williams says he expects a torrid time from an England loose forward trio of Lewis Moody, Joe Worsley and Andy Hazell. "They are three top class players, especially Worsley and Moody. They have been there and done it," Williams added. "They were back ups behind Richard Hill, Neil Back and Lawrence Dallaglio, but now they have come forward and proved what good players they are there are no weaknesses there." Luscombe gets the nod on the wing ahead of Dragons team mate Kevin Morgan, who wins a place on the bench alongside uncapped Blues prop John Yapp. G Thomas (Toulouse (capt); H Luscombe (Dragons), T Shanklin (Blues), G Henson (Ospreys), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Clermont Auvergne), D Peel (Scarlets); G Jenkins (Blues), M Davies (Gloucester), A Jones (Ospreys), B Cockbain (Ospreys), R Sidoli (Blues), D Jones (Scarlets), M Williams (Blues), M Owen (Dragons). R McBryde (Scarlets), J Yapp (Blues), J Thomas (Ospreys), R Jones (Ospreys), G Cooper (Dragons), C Sweeney (Dragons), K Morgan (Dragons).


A failed government scheme to offer UK university courses online has been branded a "disgraceful waste" by MPs. The e University was scrapped last year, having attracted only 900 students at a cost of 50m. Chief executive John Beaumont was paid a bonus of 44,914, despite a failure to bring in private sector backers. The Commons education select committee called this "morally indefensible" but the government said the e University project had "improved understanding". A Department for Education and Skills spokeswoman said the venture had been "ambitious and ground breaking, but take up had not been "sufficient to continue with the project". She added: "UK e Universities was not the only organisation to have lost out on private sector investment in the collapse of the dotcom boom." The select committee found that those responsible for founding the e University in 2000 had been caught up in the "general atmosphere of enthusiasm" surrounding the internet. Initial business plans forecast a quarter of a million students joining within a decade, bringing in at least 110m in profit. But virtually no market research was carried out and just 4.2m was spent on worldwide sales and marketing of courses. Some 14m went on developing the technology to make the e University work. This was used by just 200 students, the rest preferring to work through existing university websites. With no significant private investors and no direct accountability to a government minister, the e University had had "too much freedom to spend public money as it wished", the report found. Committee chairman Barry Sheerman said: "UK e University was a terrible waste of public money. "The senior executives failed to interest any private investors and showed an extraordinary over confidence in their ability to attract students to the scheme." The report warns that the government should not be scared off investment in innovative but potentially risky schemes by the failure of the e University, but "should learn the lessons from this disaster".


Elena Dementieva swept aside defending champion Venus Williams 6 3 6 2 to win Hong Kong's Champions Challenge event. The Russian, ranked sixth in the world, broke Williams three times in the first set, while losing her service once. Williams saved three championship points before losing the match at the Victoria Park tennis court. "It's really a great start to the year no matter whether it's an exhibition or not. I was trying to play my best and I really did it," said Dementieva. "This will give me all the confidence before the Grand Slams. I was trying so hard to win this tournament." Williams, 24, was disappointed with her display. "She played some nice points, but it was mostly me committing unforced errors four or five errors in each game," she said. Before the match, organizers auctioned off rackets belonging to the players, raising 115,000 for victims of the tsunami disaster.


Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou have appeared before an independent tribunal which will decide if their bans should stand. They were given provisional suspensions by athletics' ruling body the IAAF in December for failing to take drugs tests before the Athens Olympics. The pair arrived with former coach Christos Tzekos to give evidence at the Hellenic Olympic Committee's offices. A decision is expected to be announced before the end of February. Whatever the ruling, all parties will have the right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Yiannis Papadoyiannakis, who was head of the Greek Olympic team at the Athens Games last year, also testified at the tribunal, along with other Greek sports officials and athletes. "I believe the tribunal will reach a decision that will uphold the standing of the institution," said Papadoyiannakis. "Whatever the athletes have done, we must not forget that they have offered us great moments." Kenteris won 200m gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, while Thanou won silver in the 100m. They withdrew from the Athens Games last August after missing drugs tests on the eve of the opening ceremony. The pair spent four days in a hospital, claiming they had been injured in a motorcycle crash. The five member tribunal, assembled by the Hellenic Association of Amateur Athletics, is also examining allegations that Kenteris and Thanou avoided tests in Tel Aviv and Chicago before the Games. Tzekos was also banned for two years by the IAAF. He faces charges of assisting in the use of prohibited substances and tampering with the doping inspection process. All three, who have repeatedly denied the allegations, have also been charged by a Greek prosecutor and face trial for doping related charges. A trial date has not been set. In imposing two year suspensions on the duo on 22 December, the IAAF described their explanations for missing the tests as "unacceptable". But Kenteris' lawyer Gregory Ioannidis told BBC Sport earlier this week he was confident the sprinters would be cleared of the charges of failing to give information on their location and refusing to submit to testing. "We refute both charges as unsubstantiated and illogical," he said. "There have been certain breaches in the correct application of the rules on behalf of the sporting authorities and their officials, and these procedural breaches have also violated my client's rights. "There is also evidence that proves the fact that my client has been persecuted."


There is no doubt that mobile phones sporting cameras and colour screens are hugely popular. Consumers swapping old phones for slinkier, dinkier versions are thought to be responsible for a 26% increase in the number of phones sold during the third quarter of 2004, according to analysts Gartner More than 167 million handsets were sold globally between July and September 2004, a period that, according to Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi is "seldom strong". But although consumers have mobiles that can take and send snaps, sounds and video clips few, so far, are taking the chance to do so. In fact, the numbers of people not taking and sending pictures, audio and video is growing. Figures gathered by Continental Research shows that 36% of British camera phone users have never sent a multimedia message (MMS), up from 7% in 2003. This is despite the fact that, during the same period, the numbers of camera phones in the UK more than doubled to 7.5 million. Getting mobile phone users to send multimedia messages is really important for operators keen to squeeze more cash out of their customers and offset the cost of subsidising the handsets people are buying. The problem they face, said Shailendra Jain, head of MMS firm Adamind, is educating people in how to send the multimedia messages using their funky handsets. "Also," he said, "they have to simplify the interface so its not rocket science in terms of someone understanding it." Research bears out the suspicion that people are not sending multimedia messages because they do not know how to. According to Continental Research, 29% of the people it questioned said they were technophobes that tended to shy away from innovation. Only 11% regarded themselves as technically savvy enough to send a picture or video message. The fact that multimedia services are not interoperable across networks and phones only adds to people's reluctance to start sending them, said Mr Jain. "They ask themselves: 'If I'm streaming video from one handset to another will it work?'" he said. "There's a lot of user apprehension about that." There are other deeper technical reasons why multimedia messages are not being pushed as strongly as they might. Andrew Bud, executive chairman of messaging firm Mblox, said mobile phone operators cap the number of messages that can be circulating at any one time for fear of overwhelming the system. "The rate we can send MMS into the mobile network is fairly constant," he said. The reason for this is that there are finite capacities for data traffic on the second generation networks that currently have the most users. No one wants to take the risk of swamping these relatively narrow channels so the number of MMS messages is capped, said Mr Bud. This has led to operators finding other technologies, particularly one known as Wap push, to get multimedia to their customers. But when networks do find a good way to get multimedia to their customers, the results can be dramatic. Israeli technology firm Celltick has found a way to broadcast data across phone networks in a way that does not overwhelm existing bandwidth. One of the first firms to use the Celltick service is Hutch India, the largest mobile firm in the country. The broadcast system gets multimedia to customers via a rolling menu far faster than would be possible with other systems. While not multimedia messaging, such a system gets people used to seeing their phones as a device that can handle all different types of content. As a result 40% of the subscribers to the Hutch Alive, which uses Celltick's broadcast technology, regularly click for more pictures, sounds and images from the operator. "Operators really need to start utilising this tool to reach their customers," said Yaron Toren, spokesman for Celltick. Until then, multimedia will be a message that is not getting through.


For an international manager, a friendly provides an important opportunity to work with your players. The only problem is that the game itself can often be a farce. Some people have been saying it would be better to get the players together for the week, and do away with the 90 minutes at the end. I would say it's 50 50 whether you should have these games or not, and if you look at it that way you would probably say you're better not doing so. It would certainly keep club managers happy, as it would reduce the risk of players returning to domestic duty injured. But international bosses will tell you that scrapping friendlies is counterproductive because the only way for a team to get better is by playing. The more you play together, the easier it is when it comes to the crunch in games like World Cup quarter finals against Brazil. Often in friendlies, though, a manager will play his strongest side for the first 45 minutes and then send out an entirely different one in the second half. And it's very difficult for any player to come on as substitute in a side with a few changes, let alone a whole team's worth. The debate will rage on, and I'm not sure there is a satisfactory solution. One manager who has got it right this week is Walter Smith. The new Scotland manager has decided to have a training camp instead of a friendly for his first international week since replacing Berti Vogts. It is the sort of move you would expect from Walter, who is a canny manager. The players have had such a hard time recently that he is better off getting them together in a relaxed atmosphere and trying to generate some team spirit before the next World Cup qualifiers. If he had sent them out on Wednesday and they had been badly beaten, it would have done them no good whatsoever. John Toshack has his first game in charge of Wales, and it will be important for him to get a decent result against Hungary. He will have his own ideas on individuals and how to play and will probably look more at the performance, but the public wants results. It's extremely difficult to get the balance for friendlies. If you win, people forget them, but if you lose it becomes a stat that can be used against you. England's game against Holland is a good example. It looks like a good opportunity to try out players like Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing or Crystal Palace striker Andy Johnson. But you have got to remember Sven Goran Eriksson's side were given a lesson by Spain in the last game they played. The injury problems in defence should at least give the likes of Wes Brown and Jamie Carragher a chance to impress. For the club managers, it will simply be a case of waiting at home with fingers crossed.


The hi tech industry is starting to get more environmentally aware. Bill Thompson thinks it's about time. My first car ran on four star petrol and pumped vast quantities of lead into the atmosphere as I drove around Cambridge. Now you can't buy petrol with lead additives, and we're all better off as a result. Chip giant Intel recently began shipping computer circuit boards that are lead free too, reflecting a growing awareness on the part of the technology industry that products have to be designed and built in more environmentally friendly ways. Apart from reducing the use of toxic materials like arsenic, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals in the products themselves, the manufacturing process is also being cleaned up, with fewer complex and potentially damaging organic chemicals used as solvents. And work is going into making power supplies that are more energy efficient, since current transformers are astonishingly wasteful as they charge our laptops, mobiles and music players. One of the key aspects of the new approach is to design products that are easier to recycle. If you have got a phone or a computer with toxic chemicals or heavy metals in it then extracting them can be tricky and expensive. A well designed electronic component is able to be recycled at low cost. This is going to be very important to hardware manufacturers in Europe since from August the new Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment directive will oblige them to accept returned products for recycling. They will end up paying if they build things that are expensive or impossible to take apart and will find their profits hit, something which is likely to motivate them where appeals to the wider public interest might fall on deaf ears. It is, as they say, about time. We have a long and depressing history of developing new technologies with complete disregard for their potential impact on the environment, and waiting until there is a crisis looming before we try to redesign them to cause less damage. The car engine is a case in point: lead additives helped stop petrol vapour exploding too early in the cylinder, a phenomenon called 'knocking', so they were simply used without any real thought for the fact that the lead would end up in the atmosphere. Redesigning engines and making petrol slightly different was a lot more work, so it took decades before it was done. We're seeing the same thing in the technology industry and, as a result, there are billions of devices, from old mobile phones to antique handhelds, that will have to be recycled in years to come. If Apple gets its way then a lot of people are going to be buying a new Mac Mini and throwing away their old PC, keeping the monitor and other peripherals. Even if Apple does not get its way, four or five year old computers are not good enough to run modern programs and it's not unreasonable to replace them. But what do we do with the old ones? I've just looked around my office and I find two monitors, an old 386 PC, two old handhelds, three ancient laptops, four antique mobile phones, a collection of rechargeable batteries and even a Sun workstation that is no longer really much use. They are all old enough to be hazardous waste the monitors alone will be full of arsenic and lead but it's possible that some of the components could be useful. I could take them up the to the council recycling centre, but it's a 10 mile drive away across town, and like many other people my commitment to recycling is shallow at best. Here in Cambridge we have green bins for compostable waste, a box for glass, cans and paper that can be recycled, and a black bin for the rest. There are bottle banks and clothing banks scattered around town and in supermarket car parks. Would it be too much to ask for an electronics recycling box too? I'd probably remember to take my old mobile with me to the supermarket and drop it in a box at least eventually. Bill Thompson is a regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Go Digital.


One in 10 adult Americans equivalent to 22 million people owns an MP3 player, according to a survey. A study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that MP3 players are the gadget of choice among affluent young Americans. The survey did not interview teenagers but it is likely that millions of under 18s also have MP3 players. The American love affair with digital music players has been made possible as more and more homes get broadband. Of the 22 million Americans who own MP3 players, 59% are men compared to 41% of women. Those on high income judged to be 75,000 ( 39,000) or above are four times more likely to have players than those earning less than 30, 000 ( 15,000). Broadband access plays a big part in ownership too. Almost a quarter of those with broadband at home have players, compared to 9% of those who have dial up access. MP3 players are still the gadget of choice for younger adults. Almost one in five US citizens aged under 30 have one. This compares to 14% of those aged 30 39 and 14% of those aged 40 48. The influence of children also plays a part. Sixteen percent of parents living with children under 18 have digital players compared to 9% of those who don't. The ease of use and growth of music available on the net are the main factors for the upsurge in ownership, the survey found. People are beginning to use them as instruments of social activity sharing songs and taking part in podcasting the survey found. "IPods and MP3 players are becoming a mainstream technology for consumers" said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. "More growth in the market is inevitable as new devices become available, as new players enter the market, and as new social uses for iPods/MP3 players become popular," he added.


Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will unveil plans aimed at kickstarting the country's sputtering economy on Thursday night in Rome. He will present an "Action Plan for the Development of Italy" in a meeting with industrialists and trade union leaders. Mr Berlusconi is expected to table reforms aimed at boosting research and development (R D) spending, and the competitiveness of small firms. Also in focus will be bankruptcy laws and the slow pace of the legal system. The prime minister is scheduled to start the meeting at 1830 GMT. The government has been accused of underfunding R D, making it harder for Italy to compete with other European nations and leading to a "brain drain" of the country's brightest talents. Analysts say that hiring and firing staff is still too difficult and expensive, hampering the development of small and medium sized businesses. As a result, they say, Italy's corporate landscape is filled with numerous smaller companies that are often reluctant to become bigger because of all the extra hassle that would accompany the running of a larger firm. At the same time, bankruptcy laws make it difficult for failed company directors to set up new businesses and emerge from their debts, a situation that is hampering Italy's entrepreneurial spirit. The government says that it has set about tackling the problems, adding that getting growth going was the responsibility of all of Italy's 60 million population. According to Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy's business newspaper, the government will focus on "opening up markets, infrastructure, research, making more incentives available, bankruptcy law, the slow pace of the justice system". Mr Berlusconi has previously promised to cut taxes by 6.5bn euros ( 8.6bn; 4.5bn) this year in an effort to get people and companies to spend. He has also promised to cap spending on transport, education and health so as to trim the ballooning budget deficit. Italy plans to raise as much as 25bn euros from privatisations in 2005, including a partial flotation of the post office and utility Enel. Critics argue that these moves do not go far enough and could make Italy's problems worse. Limiting government spending will lead to job losses, they counter, while the income tax cuts will have a negligible effect on sentiment and ultimately favour the wealthy. The country has been one of the eurozone's worst economic performers in recent years. Growth was 1.1% in 2004, up from just 0.3% in 2003 and 0.4% in 2002 an improvement but still a long way from ideal. At the same time, business and consumer confidence has dipped and analysts have raised concerns that what little spending there is stems from Italians dipping into their savings accounts or using credit cards. Without a pick up in national growth, they say, the money could eventually run out, bringing Italy's economy to a juddering halt. Consumer spending accounts for about two thirds of Italy's economy.


Oil prices recovered in Asian trade on Tuesday, after falling in New York on milder winter weather across the US. With winter temperatures staying relatively high in the northern US, a barrel of light crude ended Monday down 1.33 to 42.12. However crude prices have rebounded in Asia, rising to 42.30 a barrel for February delivery. In London, trading of Brent crude was suspended for a public holiday, but the price fell to 39.20 in the Far East. With milder temperatures expected to continue in the northern parts of the US over the next few days at least, analysts have said the price of oil may fall further even if the decline was only temporary. "Weather has been the Achilles' heel of this market," said ABN AMRO analyst John Brady. "But it is winter in the northeast. Eventually we'll get another cold blast." Despite a fall of more than 12 a barrel from the record highs reached in late October, the price of crude oil remains almost 30% higher than year ago levels. Prices rose last week after militant attacks in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, briefly renewed fears that the supply chain might be broken in the world's leading crude exporter. "The market was panicked but fears essentially evaporated... since there was no follow up," said Deborah White, senior economist for energy at SG Securities in Paris.


Number eight Imanol Harinordoquy has been dropped from France's squad for the Six Nations match with Ireland in Dublin on 12 March. Harinordoquy was a second half replacement in last Saturday's 24 18 defeat to Wales. Bourgoin lock Pascal Pape, who has recovered from a sprained ankle, returns to the 22 man squad. Wing Cedric Heymans and Ludovic Valbon come in for Aurelien Rougerie and Jean Philippe Grandclaude. Rougerie hurt his chest against Wales while Grandclaude was a second half replacement against both England and Wales. Valbon, capped in last June's Tests against the United States and Canada, was a second half replacement in the win over Scotland. France coach Bernard Laporte said Harinordoquy had been axed after a poor display last weekend. "Imanol has been dropped from the squad because the least I can say is that he didn't make a thundering comeback against Wales," said Laporte. "We know the Ireland game will be fast and rough and we also want to be able to replace both locks during the game if needed, and Gregory Lamboley can also come on at number seven or eight. "The Grand Slam is gone but we'll go to Ireland to win. "It will be a very exciting game because Ireland have three wins under their belt, have just defeated England and have their eyes set on a Grand Slam." France, who lost to Wales last week, must defeat the Irish to keep alive their hopes of retaining the Six Nations trophy. Ireland are unbeaten in this year's tournament and have their sights set on a first Grand Slam since 1948. Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), Pierre Mignoni (Clermont), Yann Delaigue (Castres), Frederic Michalak (Stade Toulousain), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Yannick Jauzion (Stade Toulousain), Ludovic Valbon (Biarritz), Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais), Cedric Heymans (Stade Toulousain), Julien Laharrague (Brive) Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin), Sebastien Bruno (Sale/ENG), William Servat (Stade Toulousain), Fabien Pelous (Stade Toulousain, capt), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Pascal Pap 233; (Bourgoin), Gregory Lamboley (Stade Toulousain), Serge Betsen (Biarritz), Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), Yannick Nyanga (B 233;ziers)


The government must act quickly on the Law Lords' ruling that detention of foreign terror suspects without trial is unlawful, Mary Robinson has said. The former UN commissioner for human rights and Irish president told Radio 4's Today the government's response would be scrutinised internationally. "It would be very troubling if the government did not accept the judgement and then work within it," she said. Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said detainees will not be freed at present. Speaking to Parliament on his first day in office as home secretary following David Blunkett's resignation, Mr Clarke said: "I will be asking Parliament to renew this legislation in the New Year. "In the meantime, we will be studying the judgement carefully to see whether it is possible to modify our legislation to address the concerns raised by the House of Lords." Mrs Robinson said the Law Lords' ruling was "in line with international legal opinion" and praised their "very decisive" eight to one majority. "What the Law Lords did was acknowledge the role of the government, but say that there had been a disproportionate use, that it amounted to executive detention and it was discriminatory because it didn't apply to British citizens," she said. Mrs Robinson warned that a lack of action by the British government could lead to further action in legal arenas such as the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. "If the government were not to accept this ruling then there is further redress, including possible damages for the individuals who could claim that the government either was tardy or was resisting the implications of the judgement of the Law Lords." She said a meeting of the Club of Madrid a group of former world leaders to be held in the Spanish capital on the March anniversary of the train bombings there would probably discuss the ruling and its implications. "I have no doubt that this judgement will be looked at, both as a very positive step in clarifying the law and restating the fundamental principles, but also the response of the British government will be under quite a clear international scrutiny there." The detainees took their case to the House of Lords after the Court of Appeal backed the Home Office's powers to hold them without limit or charge. The government opted out of part of the European Convention on Human Rights concerning the right to a fair trial in order to bring in anti terrorism legislation in response to the 11 September attacks in the US. Any foreign national suspected of links with terrorism can be detained or can opt to be deported. The Law Lords said the rules were incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights as they allowed detentions "in a way that discriminates on the ground of nationality or immigration status". The case was heard by a panel of nine law lords rather than the usual five because of the constitutional importance of the case.


China lent Russia 6bn ( 3.2bn) to help the Russian government renationalise the key Yuganskneftegas unit of oil group Yukos, it has been revealed. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the 6bn which Russian state bank VEB lent state owned Rosneft to help buy Yugansk in turn came from Chinese banks. The revelation came as the Russian government said Rosneft had signed a long term oil supply deal with China. The deal sees Rosneft receive 6bn in credits from China's CNPC. According to Russian newspaper Vedomosti, these credits would be used to pay off the loans Rosneft received to finance the purchase of Yugansk. Reports said CNPC had been offered 20% of Yugansk in return for providing finance but the company opted for a long term oil supply deal instead. Analysts said one factor that might have influenced the Chinese decision was the possibility of litigation from Yukos, Yugansk's former owner, if CNPC had become a shareholder. Rosneft and VEB declined to comment. "The two companies Rosneft and CNPC have agreed on the pre payment for long term deliveries," said Russian oil official Sergei Oganesyan. "There is nothing unusual that the pre payment is for five to six years." The announcements help to explain how Rosneft, a medium sized, indebted, and relatively unknown firm, was able to finance its surprise purchase of Yugansk. Yugansk was sold for 9.3bn in an auction last year to help Yukos pay off part of a 27bn bill in unpaid taxes and fines. The embattled Russian oil giant had previously filed for bankruptcy protection in a US court in an attempt to prevent the forced sale of its main production arm. But Yugansk was sold to a little known shell company which in turn was bought by Rosneft. Yukos claims its downfall was punishment for the political ambitions of its founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Once the country's richest man, Mr Khodorkovsky is on trial for fraud and tax evasion. The deal between Rosneft and CNPC is seen as part of China's desire to secure long term oil supplies to feed its booming economy. China's thirst for products such as crude oil, copper and steel has helped pushed global commodity prices to record levels. "Clearly the Chinese are trying to get some leverage in Russia ," said Dmitry Lukashov, an analyst at brokerage Aton. "They understand property rights in Russia are not the most important rights, and they are more interested in guaranteeing supplies." "If the price of oil is fixed under the deal, which is unlikely, it could be very profitable for the Chinese," Mr Lukashov continued. "And Rosneft is in desperate need of cash, so it's a good deal for them too."


Manchester United's Alex Ferguson has praised his players' gutsy performance in the 1 0 win at Aston Villa. "That was our hardest away game of the season and it was a fantastic game of football, end to end with lots of good passing," said the Old Trafford boss. "We showed lots of character and guts and we weren't going to lose. "I look at that fixture and think we've been there and won, while Arsenal and Chelsea have yet to come and Villa may have some players back when they do." Ferguson also hailed senior stars Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane, who came off the bench for the injured John O'Shea. "Roy came on and brought a bit of composure to the midfield which we needed and which no other player has got. "Giggs was a tremendous threat and he brings tremendous penetration. "All we can do is maintain our form, play as we are and we'll get our rewards."


Venezuelan authorities have identified more than 500 farms, including 56 large estates, as idle as it continues with its controversial land reform policy. Under a 2001 land law, the government can tax or seize unused farm sites. A further 40,000 farms are yet to be inspected, the state's National Land Institute has told Associated Press. Vice president Jose Vicente Rangel has said farmers and ranchers with their titles in order and their lands productive have "nothing to fear." Critics of the land reform policy claim president Hugo Chavez is trying to enforce a communist style economic programme that ignores property rights and will damage the country. Land owners claim the National Land Institute has made mistakes in classifying lands as public or private. But the government Venezuela's largest land owner say they are proceeding cautiously to prevent conflicts. In a statement, Mr Rangel said the land reform is not against the constitution, which permits private property, while stressing the efforts are to "vindicate social and economically" years of inequality in the country. One property in conflict with the government is the El Charcote cattle ranch, run by Agroflora, a subsidiary of the UK food group Vestey. Agriculture minister Arnoldo Marquez told Reuters news agency the site's documents "do not guarantee that this is a private land". Administrators of the ranch, however, have complained that pro Chavez squatters have taken over 80% of the property in the last four years, and the UK government has asked Venezuelan authorities to resolve the conflict. "You should ask the company when they are going to put their papers in order and hand over the land that is not theirs," said Mr Marquez.


People in England, Scotland and Wales must have registered by 1700 GMT to be able to vote in the general election if it is held, as expected, on 5 May. Those who filled in forms last autumn should already be on the register but those who have moved house or were on holiday may have been left off. There will also be elections for local councils and mayors in parts of England on 5 May. The deadline for voters to register in Northern Ireland expired on Thursday. Completed registration forms can be handed into local authorities throughout the day on Friday, and some will accept them by fax. As well as for English county councils, polls for unitary authorities at Bristol, Isle of Wight and Stockton on Tees and mayors at Doncaster, Hartlepool, North Tyneside and Stoke on Trent are also scheduled for 5 May. Last week Preston City Council reported that more than 14,000 of its voters were not registered. Its electoral roll fell by 17.5% in a year the biggest dip in the UK. An Electoral Commission spokeswoman said: "Political decisions are made on your behalf every day but only by using your right to vote at an election can you really have a say on the issues you care about. "If you want your voice to be heard on 5 May you will need to have registered by Friday 11 March." Council tax payers are not eligible to vote without registration, officials have stressed.


Newcastle manager Graeme Souness is closing in on signing Chelsea defender Celestine Babayaro when the transfer window reopens. Souness is bidding to bolster his defence and, according to reports, contract negotiations are at an advanced stage with the player. Babayaro has been in the Premiership since 1997 when he moved to Chelsea for 2.25m from Anderlecht. But the 26 year old has been surplus to requirements this season. Souness would not be drawn on specifics over individual players. But he said: "All I can tell you is that the chairman has worked really hard in the last couple of months to try to do deals. "We have said from day one we want to strengthen, and that is what we are hoping to do in the coming weeks."


Headingley Friday, 25 February 2000 GMT The Tykes have brought in Newcastle prop Ed Kalman and Tom McGee from the Borders on loan while fly half Craig McMullen has joined from Narbonne. Raphael Ibanez is named at hooker for Saracens in one of four changes. Simon Raiwalui and Ben Russell are also selected in the pack while Kevin Sorrell comes in at outside centre. Friday's game at Headingley got the go ahead on Friday after passing an early pitch inspection. Leeds: Balshaw; Rees, Christophers, Bell, Doherty; McMullen, Dickens; McGee, Rawlinson, Gerber; Murphy, Palmer (capt), Morgan, Parks, Popham. Replacements: Kalman, Regan, Hyde, Rigney, McMillan, Rock, Vickerman. Saracens: Bartholomeusz; Castaignede, Sorrell, Harris, Vaikona; Jackson, Bracken; Yates, Ibanez, Visagie; Raiwalui, Fullarton; Randell, Russell, Vyvyan (capt). Replacements: Cairns, Lloyd, Broster, Chesney, Johnston, Rauluni, Little.


Jason Gardener fought all the way to the line to narrowly claim the men's 60m title at the Norwich Union Indoor trials and AAAs Championships. The world 60m champion got off to a rolling start and had to dig deep to dip ahead of Mark Findlay and Darren Chin, who both set personal bests. "It was a close race," admitted Gardener. "I stumbled out the blocks but my experience told through. "I still feel there's more life in me and I believe I can go faster." Gardener's performance in Sheffield could have been affected by the news, which he heard before his semi final, that his European record had been broken Frenchman Ronald Pognon, who will be a real threat at the European Championships, set a new time of 6.45, one hundreth of a second faster than Gardener's previous mark. Favourite delivered a powerful performance to take the women's 60m title in 7.27 seconds. "You'll see me in Madrid and I feel there is a lot more to come along," said the 22 year old. Katherine Endacott battled hard to take second and dip under the European qualifying mark. Defending champion Joice Maduaka had pulled out of the final with a chest infection. was on record breaking form as she stormed to the women's 60m hurdles crown. The 25 year old set a new British record for the second time in seven days, clocking 7.96 seconds to finish ahead of rival Diane Allahgreen. "I'm so happy," a tearful Claxton told BBC Sport. "All the years I've been running and I'm getting recognition." Claxton's time was also good enough to qualify for the European Championships. The men's 800m went to form in Sheffield as dominated the race from start to finish. The Northern Ireland athlete went off at a startling pace but had to hold off the challenge of Welshman Jimmy Watkins over the final 200m to win in one minute, 47.96 seconds. Both McIlory and Watkins, who set a life time best of 1:48.32, had already booked their places in Madrid and were again well within the qualifying time. "I had to go out and go through all the gears before the Europeans and I won't run again until then," said McIlroy. could not reach the European mark in the women's race as she crossed the line to win in 2:04.45. Olympic bronze heptathlon medallist rounded off a useful weekend with two more personal bests in Sheffield. The 28 year old reached 1.80m in the high jump and clocked 8.47secs in the heats of the 60m hurdles. "I've surprised myself," said Sotherton. "I'm starting to thrive on the pressure but if I don't perform then it's not the end of the world." Pole vaulter made a winning return to major competition after a drugs ban. The Trafford athlete, who has served a two year ban after testing positive for anabolic steroids, clinched the title with a championship record 4.25m. also set a new championship mark in the men's triple jump title in Sheffield. The 26 year old, who has been training in Australia over the winter, landed 17.30m with his final effort the longest leap in the world this year. "I didn't have a clue," said Idowu. "I've not jumped indoors before and I just wanted the qualifying mark. "But this isn't a bad start and hopefully I'll come back from Madrid with a gold medal." Nathan Douglas continued his steady progress this season as he set a life time best of 16.76m in second while Jonathan Moore took third. and resumed their rivalry in the long jump competition, both achieving the European standard. Commonwealth champion Morgan reached a personal best of 7.96m on his very first jump and then promptly retired with a bruised heel. Olympian Tomlinson tried to play catch up with his six jumps but had to settle for a season's best jump of 7.91m. "I was advised not to jump by my doctor and so I'm pleased to come here and get the qualifying mark," said Tomlinson. , now based at Loughborough, sprinted past front runner Catherine Murphy in the final 100m to steal the women's 400m title. The 21 year old ran a personal best of 53.45 seconds to win her first indoor title. Wall's time was just short of the qualifying mark something Murphy already has. Ireland's took the men's title in 46.46 ahead of promising Channel Islands decathlete Dale Garland. Sudanese 18 year old Rabah Yusuf, who is seeking British citizenship, showed his raw talent as he burst through in third. cleared the required 1.90m to qualify for the European championships and claim the AAAs title in the women's high jump. In the men's 3,000m, powered to a new personal best of seven minutes, 56.86 seconds to defend his AAAs title in style. It was the first time in 11 years the eight minute barrier has been broken at the championships and was just within the European mark. took the women's 1500m AAAs title in the absence of Kelly Holmes. Her time of 4:19.11 was not good enough to qualify for Madrid but Ovens had already opted out of the championships. The men's race was won by , who had to fight off a closing pack to claim the title in 3:45.87.


Rising oil prices and the sinking dollar hit shares on Monday after a finance ministers' meeting and stern words from Fed chief Alan Greenspan. The London FTSE fell 0.8% while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 2.11%, its steepest fall in three months. G20 finance ministers said nothing about supporting the dollar, whose slide could further jeopardise growth in Japan and Europe. And Mr Greenspan warned Asian states could soon stop funding the US deficit. On Monday afternoon, the euro was close to an all time high against the dollar at above 1.30. Oil pushed higher too on Monday, as investors fretted about cold weather in the US and Europe and a potential output cut from oil producers' group Opec, although prices had cooled by the end of the day. In London, the benchmark Brent crude price closed down 51 cents at 44.38 a barrel, while New York light sweet crude closed down 25 cents at 48.64 a barrel. The slide comes as the US has been attempting to talk up the traditional "strong dollar" policy. The latest to pitch in has been President George W Bush himself, who told the Asia Pacific Economic Co operation (Apec) summit in Chile that he remained committed to halving the budget deficit. Together with a 500bn trade gap, the red ink spreading across America's public finances is widely seen as a key factor driving the dollar lower. And last week US Treasury Secretary John Snow told an audience in the UK that the policy remained unaltered. But he also said that the rate was entirely up to the markets a signal which traders took as advice to sell the dollar. Some had looked to the G20 meeting for direction. But Mr Snow made clear exchange rates had not been on the agenda. For the US government, letting the dollar drift is a useful short term fix. US exports get more affordable, helping perhaps to close the trade gap. In the meantime, the debt keeps getting bigger, with Congress authorising an 800bn rise in what the US can owe taking the total to 8.2 trillion. But in a speech on Friday, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan warned that in the longer term things are likely to get tricky. At present, much of gap in both public debt is covered by selling bonds to Asian states such as Japan and China, since the dollar is seen as the world's reserve currency. Similarly, Asian investment helps bridge the gap in the current account the deficit between what the US as a whole spends and what it earns. But already they are turning more cautious an auction of debt in August found few takers. And Mr Greenspan said that could turn into a trend, if the fall of the dollar kept eating into the value of those investments. "It seems persuasive that, given the size of the US current account deficit, a diminished appetite for adding to dollar balances must occur at some point," he said.


The memory Gordon Brown says keeps returning to him the one that he says is burnt into him is that of a 12 year old girl, whose parents died of Aids, and who is HIV positive herself. Mr Brown seems haunted by her eyes, desolate of all hope. And then he talks of those eyes that do inspire optimism: an extraordinary performance by schoolgirls of Kenya's largest slum, advancing with crowded menace, flicking their hips in a manner almost as disturbing, before the finale of a clenched fist salute and shout of "free education free education for all". Mr Brown's message generally, that compassion must become action before that hope is squandered. But he is such a pivotal figure in British politics, it is almost impossible not to ask him why he is doing this. His answer, in part, is because of the missionaries that used to come to his father's church. Ever since, he says, Africa has been important to him. I've absolutely no doubt whatsoever this is heartfelt. But he also believes it is time for the world to see a new Gordon Brown. Not the dull, reassuring bank manager but a man driven by a moral passion and it just so happens the Labour Party feels an awful lot happier ridding the world of debt than ridding the world of dictators. There's also a sense of liberation. If Mr Blair won't allow him to run the election campaign then he can at least pretend it was all getting tedious and he'd much rather be out examining social problems in the raw. It also goes some way to solving one of the overarching problems for all politicians of all parties: scepticism sliding into cynicism about politics itself. If he can help the world's poor just a little, then it shows politics isn't worthless. But is his vision for Africa too grand? Can poverty in the continent really be halved? Brown replies that no one thought the Berlin Wall would ever come down either. He's still got to overcome not only the reluctance of other finance ministers in the world but also the cynicism of experts who wonder whether debt relief will just be squandered by governments that just won't in the end spend wisely.


Japanese communications firm Softbank has widened losses after heavy spending on a new cut rate phone service. The service, launched in December and dubbed "Otoku" or "bargain", has had almost 900,000 orders, Softbank said. The firm, a market leader in high speed internet, had an operating loss for the three months to December of 7.5bn yen ( 71.5m; 38.4m). But without the Otoku marketing spend it would have made a profit and expects to move into the black in 2006. The firm did not give a figure for the extent of profits it expected to make next year. It was born in the 1990s tech boom, investing widely and becoming a fast rising star, till the end of the tech bubble hit it hard. Its recent return to a high profile came with the purchase of Japan Telecom, the country's third biggest fixed line telecoms firm. The acquisition spurred its broadband internet division to pole position in the Japanese market, with more than 5.1 million subscribers at the end of December.


Shares of Skis Rossignol, the world's largest ski maker, have jumped as much as 15% on speculation that it will be bought by US surfwear firm Quiksilver. The owners of Rossignol, the Boix Vives family, are said to be considering an offer from Quiksilver. Analysts believe other sporting goods companies may now take a closer look at Rossignol, prompting an auction and pushing the sale price higher. Nike and K2 have previously been mentioned as possible suitors. Rossignol shares touched 17.70 euros, before falling back to trade 7.8% higher at 16.60 euros. European sporting goods companies have seen foreign revenues squeezed by a slump in the value of the US dollar, making a takeover more attractive, analysts said. Companies such as Quiksilver would be able to cut costs by selling Rossignol skis through their shops, they added. The Boix Vives family is thought to have spent the past couple of years sounding out possible suitors for Rossignol, which also makes golf equipment, snowboards and sports clothing.