An Iranian weblogger has been jailed for 14 years on charges of spying and aiding foreign counter revolutionaries. Arash Sigarchi was arrested last month after using his blog to criticise the arrest of other online journalists. Mr Sigarchi, who also edits a newspaper in northern Iran, was sentenced by a revolutionary court in the Gilan area. His sentence, criticised by human rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders, comes a day after an online "day of action" to secure his release. Iranian authorities have recently clamped down on the growing popularity of weblogs, restricting access to major blogging sites from within Iran. A second Iranian blogger, Motjaba Saminejad, who also used his website to report on bloggers' arrests, is still being held. A spokesman for Reporters Without Borders, which tracks press freedom across the globe, described Mr Sigarchi's sentence as "harsh" and called on Iranian President Mohammed Khatami to work to secure his immediate release. "The authorities are trying to make an example of him," the organisation said in a statement. "By handing down this harsh sentence against a weblogger, their aim is to dissuade journalists and internet users from expressing themselves online or contacting foreign media." In the days before his arrest Mr Sigarchi gave interviews to the BBC Persian Service and the US funded Radio Farda. Iranian authorities have arrested about 20 online journalists during the current crackdown. They accused Mr Sigarchi of a string of crimes against Iranian state, including espionage, insulting the founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, and current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mr Sigarchi's lawyer labelled the revolutionary court "illegal and incompetent" and called for a retrial in a public court. Mr Sigarchi was sentenced one day after an online campaign highlighted his case in a day of action in defence of bloggers around the world. The Committee to Protect Bloggers designated 22 February 2005 as Free Mojtaba and Arash Day. Around 10,000 people visited the campaign's website during the day. About 12% of users were based in Iran, the campaign's director told the BBC News website. Curt Hopkins said Mr Sigarchi's sentence would not dent the resolve of bloggers joining the campaign to help highlight the case. "The eyes of 8 million bloggers are going to be more focused on Iran since Sigarchi's sentence, not less. "The mullahs won't be able to make a move without it be spread across the blogosphere."


Irish shares have risen to a record high, with investors persuaded to buy into the market by low inflation and strong growth forecasts. The ISEQ index of leading shares closed up 23 points to 6661.89 on Thursday, fuelled by strong growth in banking and financial stocks. A fall in the rate of inflation to 2.3% in January gave a fresh boost to shares which have advanced 4% this month. The economy is set for strong growth in 2005 while interest rates remain low. Several of Ireland's biggest companies saw their market value hit recent highs on Thursday. Allied Irish Banks, Ireland's biggest company by capitalisation, touched a five year peak while Bank of Ireland shares rose to their highest level since August 2002. Telecoms firm Eircom, which recently revealed that it would re enter the Irish mobile phone market, hit a yearly high. Analysts said that economic conditions were benign and Irish shares were still trading at a discount to other European markets. "Ireland ticks all the boxes as far as international investors are concerned," Roy Asher, chief investment officer of Hibernian Investment Managers, told Reuters. "Buoyant economic conditions are set to continue in Ireland over the next few years and Irish equities continue to offer quality growth at a reasonable valuation." Bernard McAlinden, head of equity research at NCB Stockbrokers, said equities represented good value compared to other investments. "It is still looking good," he told Reuters. "We have seen good economic data on Ireland which benefits the financial stocks." Ireland's economic 'miracle' is enjoying a second wind, with 5% growth forecast for 2005 and 2006. The economy cooled markedly between 2001 and 2003 after enjoying spectacular growth of more than 10% in 2000. However, it has bounced back strongly with growth of just under 5% expected in 2004.


Thousands of products and tens of thousands of visitors make Cebit the place to be for technology lovers. "Welcome to CeBit 2005" was the message from the pilot as we landed, the message on flyers at the airport, and the message on just about every billboard in town. CeBit fever has taken over Hanover. Hotels have been booked out for months; local people are letting out rooms in their homes to the hoards of exhibitors, visitors, and journalists. CeBit itself is huge, the exhibition site could almost be classified as a town in its own right. There are restaurants, shops, and a bus service between the halls of which there are 27. There are more than 6,000 companies here, showing their latest products. The list of them that I was given when I came in is the size and weight of a phone book. One of the mains themes this year is the digital home, and one of the key buzzwords is convergence. The "entertainment PC" is being billed as the replacement for DVD players, stereos, telephones and computers offering a one box solution, wirelessly connected throughout a house. To show them off, one display has been modelled as a prototype "digital lifestyle home" by German magazine Computer Reseller News. "We wanted to show how this fits into a living room or workplace, to give people a feeling how it would work in their homes," said Claudia Neulling from the magazine. The house has webcams for security in each room, which can be called up on the high definition TV, connected to the PC in the living room. That PC provides home entertainment, movies or music. It can also be linked to the car parked outside, which is kitted out with a processor of its own, along with a DVD player and cordless headphones for the kids in the back. "Convergence for me is about how technology, the transfer of data, can do things that make it easier and more convenient for me as a consumer," said Mark Brailey, director of corporate marketing for Intel. "The real challenge is to show people it's easier than they think, and fun." He firmly believes that entertainment PCs are the future, but says they have to get past people's fears of frequent crashes and incompatibilities. That is something Microsoft is trying to do too its stand has computers running Windows XP Media Centre edition 2005 for people to try out. Mobile phones do not escape the convergence theme. Samsung is showing off its SGH i300, a handset with a three gigabyte hard drive, that can be used to watch compressed video or as an MP3 player. And if you would rather watch live TV than a downloaded movie NEC is showing a phone, on sale in China, which can show analogue TV on its colour screen. "I think the most probable application is at somewhere like the train station if you want to check the status of the soccer game for example" said Koji Umemoto, manager of mobile terminals marketing for NEC. He admitted that the signal quality is not very good if you are on the move, and they do not have plans to launch it in Europe at the moment. Nokia was happy to demonstrate its 6230i, an upgrade to the very popular 6230. It now has a 1.3 megapixel camera, and a music player that can handle multiple formats, rather than just MP3s. It is also compatible with Nokia's new Visual Radio technology. The handset can receive FM broadcasts, and the user can interact with compatible broadcasts using a GPRS connection, to take part in competitions or get extra information such as the name of the song playing. Most companies are reluctant to show prototypes, preferring to display products that are already on sale, or just about to hit the market. Portable media player firm Creative showed off a new wireless technology, based on magnetic inductance rather than radio a system some hearing aids use. "The benefits over conventional Bluetooth are the lack of interference, and longer battery life," said Riccardo de Rinaldini, Creative's European marketing manager. The firm has a prototype headset linked up to a Zen Micro player. The transmitter on the player creates a private, magnetic "bubble" around the user, which is picked up by the headset. The range is only about one metre so it is only suitable for personal use. A single AAA battery is said to last up to 30 hours. Creative expects it to hit the market in its final form later this year. Even clothing is likely to be part of the convergence trend. Adidas has a trainer which, according to Susanne Risse from the company, can "sense, understand, and adapt to your running style". It has a battery, processor, and motor embedded in the sole. Buttons on the side allow you to set the amount of cushioning you would like by adjusting the tension on a cable running through the heel. The processor then monitors the surface you are running on, and adjusts the tension accordingly. It is being billed as "the world's first intelligent shoe".


Microsoft has given game makers a glimpse of the new Xbox 2 console. Some details of the Xbox's performance and what gaming will be like with the device were given at the annual Game Developers Conference in the US. Xbox frontman J. Allard said the console looked set to be capable of one trillion calculations per second. Also all titles for the new Xbox will have the same interface to make it easy to play online and buy extras for characters or other add ons for games. Microsoft is saving the official unveiling of the Xbox 2, codenamed Xenon, for the E3 show in May and the device could be on shop shelves by November. However, during his keynote speech at GDC Mr Allard, who heads development of game making tools for the console, gave a glimpse into how some of its core software will work. He said gaming was entering a "high definition" era that demanded detailed and convincing graphics that could adequately compete with the HDTV people were starting to watch as well as the HD DVDs that will soon start to appear. Industry watchers took this to mean that the Xbox 2 will push for HDTV quality graphics as standard as well as multi channel audio to give gamers an authentic experience. Mr Allard said Microsoft had to work hard to ensure that it was easy for game makers to produce titles for the Xbox 2 and for players to get playing. To this end Microsoft was building in to Xbox hardware systems to support headset chat, buddy list controls and custom soundtracks so developers were free to concentrate on the games. The Xbox would also support well known industry specifications, such as DirectX, to make it simple for game studios to make titles for the console. For gamers this emphasis on ease of use would mean every Xbox title uses the same interface to set up online play and get at music stored on the hardware. This interface will hold details of a player's statistics and skill level on a "gamer card" as well as give access to a store where people can spend small amounts of cash to buy extras for their avatars or add ons, such as new maps or vehicles, for games they possess. This ability to personalise games and in game characters would be key in the future, said Mr Allard. Only with such consistency would the Xbox be able to support the 10 20 million subscribers that it was aiming for, said Mr Allard. During his speech Mr Allard took several swipes at the Playstation and said processors for consoles had to be made with developers, not just engineers, in mind. "Our approach is Bruce Lee, not brute force," he said.


Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier has praised the work of his Anfield successor Rafael Benitez. Houllier was angry at reports that he has been critical of Benitez since the Spaniard took over at Liverpool. But Houllier told BBC Sport: "In private and in public, I have stressed I believe Rafa is doing a good job. He is the right man at the right place. "Rafa is a good coach and a good man. I've spoken to him since he has been at Liverpool and never criticised him." Houllier also revealed he is now ready to return to the game after leaving Liverpool in May following six years at Anfield. The former France boss has been linked with a host of jobs and pulled out of the race to succeed Mark Hughes as Wales national coach. He has been working for Uefa, covering the Premiership for French television and also coaching in Brazil with national coach Carlos Alberto Perreira. Houllier said: "If a good club comes up at the right time then yes, I am ready to come back. "It has been interesting to watch games from a different perspective and I have learned things. "I have been involved in football since leaving Liverpool and my batteries are recharged." Houllier has been impressed with the quality in the Premiership after watching as a pundit particularly with Jose Mourinho's work at leaders Chelsea. He said: "Chelsea are doing very well. They have some very good creative players in Damien Duff and Arjen Robben and Didier Drogba showed he can change the face of a game when he came on against Newcastle. "They have got a good team spirit and are strong mentally. They have shown they can cope with all the pressure put on them because of the expectations and cope well with Jose's principles. "Jose had results before he came to Chelsea and I think he will have an impact in the Premiership because he manages his team very cleverly." And Houllier, away from his brief at Liverpool, has been hugely impressed with the Premiership. He said: "It is a very exciting league. It is entertaining, goals are scored and teams are always trying to win. "It has been very interesting to watch the game from a different perspective. "Games switch from end to end and there is more pace to the Premiership than other leagues. It is a very good product."


UK retail sales were better than expected in November as Christmas shoppers began their seasonal flock to the High Street, figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said retail sales rose 0.6% on the month and 6.1% on the year. But the figures, along with this week's inflation report, could trigger another interest rate rise in the New Year. However, recent data from the British Retail Consortium showed a 0.2% slip in High Street sales during November. The ONS data confounded analyst expectations. Many had expected sales to fall slightly in November as shoppers put off buying Christmas presents until December. However, retailers' attempts to draw in the crowds may be behind November's unexpected rise in sales, they say. Aggressive tactics, such as one day discount sales adopted by stores such as Marks Spencer, appear to have paid off. "Price discounting has certainly accounted for much of this because the value of retail sales hasn't grown as much as volumes," said Investec economist David Page. The figures sparked a rally for sterling as the data supported the view that it is too early to assume that base rates have peaked.


Former WorldCom chief Bernie Ebbers has denied claims that he knew accountants were doctoring the books at the firm. Speaking in court, Mr Ebbers rejected allegations he pressured ex chief financial officer Scott Sullivan to falsify company financial statements. Mr Sullivan "made accounting decisions," he told the federal court, saying his finance chief had "a keen command of the numbers". Mr Ebbers has denied charges of fraud and conspiracy. During his second day of questioning in the New York trial Mr Ebbers played down his working relationship with Mr Sullivan and denied he frequently met him to discuss company business when questioned by the prosecution. "In a lot of weeks, we would speak ... three or four times," Mr Ebbers said, adding that conversations about finances were rarely one on one and were usually discussed by a "group of people" instead. Mr Ebbers relationship to Mr Sullivan is key to the case surrounding financial corruption that led to the collapse of the firm in 2002 following the discovery of an 11bn accounting fraud. The prosecution's star witness is Mr Sullivan, one of six WorldCom executives indicted in the case, He has pleaded guilty to fraud and appeared as a prosecution witness as part of an agreement with prosecutors. During his time on the witness stand Mr Sullivan repeatedly told jurors he met frequently with Mr Ebbers, told him about changes made to WorldCom's accounts to hide costs and had warned him such practises were improper. However during the case on Tuesday Mr Ebbers denied the allegations. "I wasn't advised by Scott Sullivan of anything ever being wrong," he told the court. "He's never told me he made an entry that wasn't right. If he had, we wouldn't be here today." Mr Ebbers could face a jail sentence of up to 85 years if convicted of all the charges he is facing. Shareholders lost about 180bn in WorldCom's collapse, 20,000 workers lost their jobs and the company went bankrupt. The company emerged from bankruptcy last year and is now known as MCI.


UK house prices increased by 1.1% in December, the first monthly rise since September, the Halifax has said. The UK's biggest mortgage lender said prices rose 15.1% over the whole of 2004, but by only 2.8% in the second half of the year. The average price of a house in the UK now stands at 162,086, Halifax said. The survey seems to fly in the face of recent evidence that the UK housing market has been slowing substantially in response to interest rate rises. Last week, the Nationwide said that house prices fell 0.2% in December, with annual inflation running at a three year low. On Tuesday, figures from the Bank of England showed that the number of mortgages approved in the UK has fallen to the lowest level for nearly a decade. New loans in November fell to 77,000, from 85,000 in October, the lowest rate since September 1995, the Bank of England said. Growth in unsecured lending, such as personal loans and credit cards, also slowed last month. Capital Economics, which has in the past predicted a sharp fall in UK house prices, branded Halifax's findings a "temporary surprise," which would be reversed over the coming months. "The month by month volatility of the Halifax house price data should not distract from the fact that there is a clear downward trend in house prices," a Capital Economics statement said. Experts believe five interest rate rises since November 2003 are cutting borrowers' appetite for debt. Despite recording a price rise in December, the Halifax survey concluded that there was "continuing signs of a genuine slowdown in the housing market." Martin Ellis, Halifax chief economist, said that there was no need to revise the bank's prediction, made last month, that prices would fall by 2% in 2005. "Sound housing market fundamentals will continue to underpin the market in 2005, ensuring that the market remains healthy and that house prices fall only slightly," Mr Ellis said. If the bank's prediction of a 2% price drop comes true, it will be the first annual fall in nine years. The bank said that the recent pattern of house prices rising the fastest in the north of England continued in December. In the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber, Halifax said prices rose by 3% and 1.2% in the two regions respectively during the month. At the other send of the scale, prices in the South East and London fell by 1.6% and 0.5% respectively. The biggest decline was seen in Wales where prices fell by 6.2%, an area that had experienced strong house price growth during most of 2004. Overall, Halifax said prices in the final quarter of 2004 were 0.1% higher than in the previous quarter. This was the smallest quarterly rise since the second quarter of 2000, the bank said. As a result, annual house price inflation dipped below 20% during the final few months of 2004.


Shares in Europe's leading reinsurers and travel firms have fallen as the scale of the damage wrought by tsunamis across south Asia has become apparent. More than 23,000 people have been killed following a massive underwater earthquake and many of the worst hit areas are popular tourist destinations. Reisurance firms such as Swiss Re and Munich Re lost value as investors worried about rebuilding costs. But the disaster has little impact on stock markets in the US and Asia. Currencies including the Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah weakened as analysts warned that economic growth may slow. "It came at the worst possible time," said Hans Goetti, a Singapore based fund manager. "The impact on the tourist industry is pretty devastating, especially in Thailand." Travel related shares dropped in Europe, with companies such as Germany's TUI and Lufthansa and France's Club Mediterranne sliding. Insurers and reinsurance firms were also under pressure in Europe. Shares in Munich Re and Swiss Re the world's two biggest reinsurers both fell 1.7% as the market speculated about the cost of rebuilding in Asia. Zurich Financial, Allianz and Axa also suffered a decline in value. However, their losses were much smaller, reflecting the market's view that reinsurers were likely to pick up the bulk of the costs. Worries about the size of insurance liabilities dragged European shares down, although the impact was exacerbated by light post Christmas trading. Germany's benchmark Dax index closed the day 16.29 points lower at 3.817.69 while France's Cac index of leading shares fell 5.07 points to 3.817.69. Investors pointed out, however, that declines probably would be industry specific, with the travel and insurance firms hit hardest. "It's still too early for concrete damage figures," Swiss Re's spokesman Floiran Woest told Associated Press. "That also has to do with the fact that the damage is very widely spread geographically." The unfolding scale of the disaster in south Asia had little immediate impact on US shares, however. The Dow Jones index had risen 20.54 points, or 0.2%, to 10,847.66 by late morning as analsyts were cheered by more encouraging reports from retailers about post Christmas sales. In Asian markets, adjustments were made quickly to account for lower earnings and the cost of repairs. Thai Airways shed almost 4%. The country relies on tourism for about 6% of its total economy. Singapore Airlines dropped 2.6%. About 5% of Singapore's annual gross domestic product (GDP) comes from tourism. Malaysia's budget airline, AirAsia fell 2.9%. Resort operator Tanco Holdings slumped 5%. Travel companies also took a hit, with Japan's Kinki Nippon sliding 1.5% and HIS dropping 3.3%. However, the overall impact on Asia's largest stock market, Japan's Nikkei, was slight. Shares fell just 0.03%. Concerns about the strength of economic growth going forward weighed on the currency markets. The Indonesian rupiah lost as much as 0.6% against the US dollar, before bouncing back slightly to trade at 9,300. The Thai baht lost 0.3% against the US currency, trading at 39.10. In India, where more than 2,000 people are thought to have died, the rupee shed 0.1% against the dollar Analysts said that it was difficult to predict the total cost of the disaster and warned that share prices and currencies would come under increasing pressure as the bills mounted.


Israel's economy is forecast to grow by 4.2% in 2004 as it continues to emerge from a three year recession. The main driver of the faster than expected expansion has been exports, with tourism seeing a strong rebound, the statistical office said. The economy is benefiting from a quieter period in Palestinian Israeli violence and a pick up in global demand for technology products. The outlook is better than it has been for a number of years, analysts said. Many companies have focused on cost cutting and greater efficiency, while the government has been trying to trim public spending and push through reforms. The growth figures come about despite a strike earlier this year by about 400,000 public sector worker which closed banks, hospitals, postal services and transport facilities. Growth did slow in the second half, but only slightly. Exports for the year rose by 14%, while tourist revenues were up by 30%. Imports gained by 13%, signalling that domestic demand has picked up again. In 2003, imports declined by 1.8%. In 2003, the economy expanded by 1.3%


The Lib Dems are set for their best results in both the general election and the local council polls, one of their frontbenchers has predicted. Local government spokesman Ed Davey was speaking as the party launched its campaign for the local elections being held in 37 English council areas. The flagship pledge is to replace council tax with a local income tax. The Tories say the Lib Dems would make people pay more tax and Labour says the party's sums do not add up. Looking to the coming elections, which are all expected to be held on 5 May, Mr Davey said: "We are going to be winning more votes and winning more seats. "I think we are going to have the best general election results and local election results we have ever had under party leader Charles Kennedy. "I couldn't think of a stronger endorsement of a leader."


Eight out of 10 voters do not trust politicians to tell the truth, a new poll conducted for the BBC suggests. And 87% of the 1,000 adults quizzed by ICM for BBC News 24 said politicians did not deliver what they promised. The poll comes after Foreign Secretary Jack Straw predicted trust would be "the key choice" at the next election. Both the Tories and the Lib Dems are keen to emphasise a perceived lack of trust in Tony Blair, following his claims over Iraqi weapons. But according to the BBC poll, 61% said the issue of trust made no difference to whether or not they would vote at the next election, widely expected on 5 May. The poll also looked at what lay behind the lack of trust in politicians. Some 87% said politicians did not keep the promises they made before elections, while 92% said they never gave "a straight answer". Just under three quarters of respondents (73%) said politicians had shown themselves to be dishonest too often. Mr Straw told activists in Blackburn on Thursday that voters would have to decide at the next election which party "best deserves" their "future trust". "That in the end is the key choice at the next election." He acknowledged that the public had lost faith in Labour, but suggested it could persuade people to "reinvest their trust with us" if the party could overcome Tory attempts to spread cynicism in politics. The Conservatives are keen to highlight the trust issue. During his response to Gordon Brown's Budget statement on Tuesday, Michael Howard compared the chancellor's figures to the prime minister's claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The Lib Dems are also keen to highlight the trust issue, with Charles Kennedy has claiming voters had a "fundamental lack of trust in the prime minister". And the Green Party unveiled a billboard opposite the Palace of Westminster accusing the government of lying over the Iraq war. Former education secretary Estelle Morris told BBC News 24 that there was a "real problem of trust" between the public and the politicians. She said she did not feel her own colleagues could be trusted, but suggested the "three cornered relationship" between the press, politicians and the public had a hand in the issue. The public was often turned off by sitting on the sidelines in "the battle of words" between the politician and the journalist, she added. Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said the Iraq war had hit trust in politicians hard. "Issues of war and peace, life and death do have a very damaging effect on the credibility of politicians". Martin Bell, who won the Tatton seat from Tory Neil Hamilton on anti corruption platform, said politicians often failed to see themselves as others did. "We need public figures we trust to tell the truth and who can see themselves as others see them."


News Corp, the media company controlled by Australian billionaire Rupert Murdoch, is eyeing a move into the video games market. According to the Financial Times, chief operating officer Peter Chernin said that News Corp is "kicking the tyres of pretty much all video games companies". Santa Monica based Activison is said to be one firm on its takeover list. Video games are "big business", the paper quoted Mr Chernin as saying. We "would like to get into it". The success of products such as Sony's Playstation, Microsoft's X Box and Nintendo's Game Cube have boosted demand for video games. The days of arcade classics such as Space Invaders, Pac Man and Donkey Kong are long gone. Today, games often have budgets big enough for feature films and look to give gamers as real an experience as possible. And with their price tags reflecting the heavy investment by development companies, video games are proving almost as profitable as they are fun. Mr Chernin, however, told the FT that News Corp was finding it difficult to identify a suitable target. "We are struggling with the gap between companies like Electronic Arts (EA), which comes with a high price tag, and the next tier of companies," he explained during a conference in Phoenix, Arizona. "These may be too focused on one or two product lines." Activision has a stock market capitalisation of about 2.95bn ( 1.57bn), compared to EA's 17.8bn. Some of the games industry's main players have recently been looking to consolidate their position by making acquisitions. France's Ubisoft, one of Europe's biggest video game publishers, has been trying to remain independent since Electronic Arts announced plans to buy 19.9% of the firm. Analysts have said that industry mergers are likely in the future.


World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) chief Dick Pound says Marion Jones should be stripped of all her medals if found guilty of taking banned substances. Victor Conte, of Balco Laboratories, claims the American sprinter regularly used drugs to enhance her performance. "If she is found guilty she should be stripped of all her medals and banned for two years," said Pound. Asked if there was a timescale as to what medals could be taken, Pound said: "That is not an issue at all." However, under International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules, athletes can only be stripped of their medals if caught within three years of the event. Jones, who won five medals at the 2000 Olympics, denies using drugs and says she will take legal action over Conte's allegations. Balco Laboratories is the firm at the centre of a wide reaching investigation into doping in the US. Pound continued: "If she has indeed taken drugs it is going to be a big disappointment for a lot of people."


Internet giant Yahoo has launched software to allow people to search e mail and other files on their PCs. The firm is following in the footsteps of Microsoft, Google and Ask Jeeves, which have offered similar services. Search has become a lucrative and hotly contested area of expansion for net firms, looking to extend loyalty beyond the web. With hard drives providing bigger storage, users could need more help to locate important files, such as photos. The desktop search technology has been licensed from a US based firm X1 Technologies. It is designed to work alongside Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express e mail programs. Searching e mail effectively is becoming increasingly important, especially as the amount of spam increases. According to research from message analysts the Radicati Group, up to 45% of businesses' critical information is stored in e mail and attachments. Yahoo's software can also work separately on the desktop, searching for music, photos and other files. Users can search under a variety of criteria, including file name, size, date and time. It doesn't yet incorporate web searching, although Yahoo has promised that future versions will allow users to search both web based and desktop data. "We are all getting more and more files on our desktop but the real commercial opportunity lies with linking this through to web content," said Julian Smith, an analyst with research firm Jupiter. "It is all about extending the idea of search and getting a closer relationship with consumers by organising not just how they search on the internet but the files on your computer as well," he said. Search engines are often the first port of call for users when they go onto the web. The new foray into desktop search has rung alarm bells for human rights groups, concerned about the implications to privacy. And not everyone is impressed with the functionality of such services. Alexander Linden, vice president of emerging technologies at analyst firm Gartner,downloaded the Google product but has since removed it. "It was just not very interesting," he said. He believes the rush to enter the desktop business is just a way of keeping up with rivals. "Desktop search is just one of many features people would like but I'm suspicious of its usefulness," he said. More useful would be tools that can combine internet, intranet and desktop search alongside improvements to key word searching, he said.


Peer to peer (P2P) networks are here to stay, and are on the verge of being exploited by commercial media firms, says a panel of industry experts. Once several high profile legal cases against file sharers are resolved this year, firms will be very keen to try and make money from P2P technology. The expert panel probed the future of P2P at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier in January. The first convictions for P2P piracy were handed out in the US in January. William Trowbridge and Michael Chicoine pleaded guilty to charges that they infringed copyright by illegally sharing music, movies and software. Since the first successful file sharing network Napster was forced to close down, the entertainment industry has been nervous and critical of P2P technology, blaming it for falling sales and piracy. But that is going to change very soon, according to the panel. The music and film industries have started some big legal cases against owners of legitimate P2P networks which are not illegal in themselves and of individuals accused of distributing pirated content over networks. But they have slowly realised that P2P is a good way to distribute content, said Travis Kalanick, founder and chairman of P2P network Red Swoosh, and soon they are all going to want a slice of it. They are just waiting to come up with "business models" that work for them, which includes digital rights management and copy protection standards. But, until the legal actions are resolved, experimentation with P2P cannot not happen, said Michael Weiss, president of StreamCast Networks. Remembering the furore around VCRs when they first came out, Mr Weiss said: "Old media always tries to stop new media. "When they can't stop it, they try to control it. Then they figure out how to make money and they always make a lot of money." Once the courts decided that the VCR in itself was not an illegal technology, the film studios turned it into an extremely lucrative business. In August 2004, the San Francisco based US Court of Appeals ruled in favour of Grokster and StreamCast, two file sharing networks. The court said they were essentially in the same position that Sony was in the 1980s VCR battle, and said that the networks themselves could not be deemed as illegal. P2P networks usually do not rely on dedicated servers for the transfer of files. Instead it uses direct connections between computers or clients. There are now many different types of P2P systems than work in different ways. P2P nets can be used to share any kind of file, like photos, free software, licensed music and any other digital content. The BBC has already decided to embrace the technology. It aims to offer most of its own programmes for download this year and it will use P2P technology to distribute them. The files would be locked seven days after a programme aired making rights management easier to control. But the technology is still demonised and misunderstood by many. The global entertainment industry says more than 2.6 billion copyrighted music files are downloaded every month, and about half a million films are downloaded a day. Legal music download services, like Apple iTunes, Napster, have rushed into the music marketplace to try and lure file sharers away from free content. Sales of legally downloaded songs grew tenfold in 2004, with 200 million tracks bought online in the US and Europe in 12 months, the IFPI reported this week. But such download services are very different from P2P networks, not least because of the financial aspect. There are several money spinning models that could turn P2P into a golden egg for commercial entertainment companies. Paid for pass along, in which firms receive money each time a file is shared, along with various DRM solutions and advertiser based options are all being considered. "We see there are going to be different models for commoditising P2P," said Marc Morgenstern, vice president of anti piracy firm Overpeer. "Consumers are hungry for it and we will discover new models together," agreed Mr Morgenstern. But many net users will continue to ignore the entertainment industry's potential controlling grip on content and P2P technology by continuing to use it for their own creations. Unsigned bands, for example, use P2P networks to distribute their music effectively, which also draws the attention of record companies looking for new artists to sign. "Increasingly, what you are seeing on P2P is consumer created content," said Derek Broes, from Microsoft. "They will probably pay an increasing role in helping P2P spread," he said. Looking into P2P's future, file sharing is just the beginning for P2P networks, as far as Mr Broes is concerned. "Once some of these issues are resolved, you are going to see aggressive movement to protect content, but also in ways that are unimaginable now," he said. "File sharing is the tip of the iceberg."


The arrival of new titles in the popular Medal Of Honor and Call of Duty franchises leaves fans of wartime battle titles spoilt for choice. The acclaimed PC title Call of Duty has been updated for console formats, building on many of the original's elements. For its part, the long running Medal of Honor series has added Pacific Assault to its PC catalogue, adapting the console game Rising Sun. Call of Duty: Finest Hour casts you as a succession of allied soldiers fighting on World War 2 battlefronts including Russia and North Africa. It is a traditional first person viewed game that lets you control just one character, in the midst of a unit where cohorts constantly bark orders at you. On a near identical note, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault does all it can to make you feel part of a tight knit team and plum in the middle of all out action. Its arenas are the war's Pacific battles, including Guadalcanal and Pearl Harbour. You play one character throughout, a raw and rather talkative US soldier. Both games rely on a carefully stage managed structure that keeps things ticking along. When this works, it is a brilliant device to make you feel part of a story. When it does not, it is tedious. A winning moment is an early scene in Pacific Assault, where you come under attack at the famous US base in Hawaii. You are first ushered into a gunboat attacking the incoming waves of Japanese planes, then made to descend into a sinking battleship to rescue crewman, before seizing the anti aircraft guns. It is one of the finest set pieces ever seen in a video game. This notion of shuffling the player along a studiously pre determined path, forcibly witnessing a series of pre set moments of action, is a perilous business which can make the whole affair feel stilted rather than organic. The genius of something like Half Life 2 is that it skilfully disguises its linear plotting by various means of misdirection. This pair of games do not really accomplish that, being more concerned with imparting a full on atmospheric experience. Call of Duty comes with a suitably bombastic score and overblown presentation. Finest Hour has a similar determination, framing everything in moody wartime music, archive footage and lots of reflective voice overs. Letting you play a number of different roles is an interesting ploy that adds new dimensions to the Call of Duty endeavour, even if it sacrifices the narrative flow somewhat. The game's drawback could be said to be its format; tastes differ, but these wartime shooters often do seem to work better on PC. The mouse control is a big reason why, along with the sharper graphics a top end computer can muster and the apparent notion that PC games are allowed to get away with a bit more subtlety. Call of Duty on PC was more detailed, plot wise and graphically, and this new adaptation feels a little rough and ready. Targeting with the PS2 controller proved tricky, not helped by unconvincing collision detection. You can shoot an enemy repeatedly with zero question as to your aim, yet the bullets will just refuse to hit him. Checkpoints are so few and far between that when you get shot, which happens regularly, you are set harshly far back, and will find yourself covering vast tracts of scorched earth again and again. The game wants to be a challenge, and is, and many players will like it for that. It is as dynamic a battlefield simulator as you will experience and even if it is not as refined as its PC parent, the sense of being part of the action is thoroughly impressive. Both of these games feature military colleagues who are disturbingly bad shots and prone to odd behaviour. And in Pacific Assault in particular, their commands and comments are irritatingly meaningless. But the teamwork element in titles like this is superficial, designed to add atmosphere and camaraderie rather than affect the gameplay mechanics at all. Of the two games, Pacific Assault gets more things right, including little points like auto saving intelligently and having tidier presentation. It engages you very well and also looks wonderful, making the most of the lush tropical settings that are reminiscent of the glorious Far Cry, although we had to ramp up the settings on a high spec machine to get the most out of them. Finest Hour is by no means bad, and it is only because the PC original was so dazzling that this version sometimes feels underwhelming. Those looking for a wartime game with plenty of atmosphere and a hearty abundance of enemies to shoot will be contented. But they will also have a niggling puzzlement as to why it does not break a little more ground rather then just being competent.


Wales fly half Stephen Jones admitted he was happy to hand Gavin Henson responsibility for taking the match winning kick against England. Jones had missed three earlier shots at goal when Wales, 9 8 down, were awarded a long range penalty with four minutes left in Cardiff. "I knew the percentages of Gavin reaching it were far higher than me," Jones said. "When he said he wanted it, there were no problems." Jones had seen a long range effort fall a whisker under the crossbar on the hour, before Charlie Hodgson put England in front with 10 minutes left. "I looked at where it was and I knew I was going to struggle to make it," Jones added. "I said to Gareth (Thomas, the Wales captain) 'This is touch and go.' It was out of my range and obviously Gavin is phenomenal when it comes to distance. He was confident and fancied it. "There were no questions that he'd miss it the way he was playing. He had a superb game." Jones was happy to hail Henson's heroic contribution to Wales' first win over England in Cardiff since 1993. "Physically he's a specimen: he's a balanced player, he glides when he runs and obviously he's got a great kicking game as well," Jones said. "His defence was superb, he made some great hits and he had a great game. "I'm glad he's Welsh." Victory over England for the first time since 1999 will no doubt fuel expectations of what Wales might achieve in this year's Six Nations. But they now face three away fixtures in Italy, France and Scotland before completing their campaign against Ireland in Cardiff. "People all over the world want to see Wales back at the top table of world rugby," said a proud coach Mike Ruddock. "But we are not there yet. The next step is finding the consistency to get further wins. "We have to travel this week and we can't afford to get too giddy about this result. "We have got to be professional and keep focused on facing Italy." None more so than Henson, who can now expect to have the same sort of spotlight thrust upon him as the likes of Jonny Wilkinson and Brian O'Driscoll. The confident 23 year old is undaunted by the prospect of dealing with such weighty expectations however. "I'm the sort of player who likes pressure on me," he said. "It makes me more concentrated and I think I perform better under more pressure. "I set a high standard against England and I've got to back it up next week. "Two years ago when we played Italy I wasn't involved and we lost, so we've got to put that right next week."


Half of the money put aside by the Colombian government to help the country's poor is benefiting people who do not need it, a study has found. A total of 24.2 trillion pesos ( 10.2bn; 5.5bn) is earmarked for subsidies for the poor, the government department for planning said. But it also found 12.1 trillion pesos was going to the richest part of the population, rather than to those in need. Sound distribution of the cash could cut poverty levels to 36% from 53%, the government believes. "Resources are more than enough to reduce poverty and there is no need for more tax reforms but a better distribution," deputy planning director Jose Leibovich said. Colombia has a population of about 44 million and half lives below poverty line. However, some large properties are paying less in tax as they are situated inside poor areas, which benefit from cheaper utilities such as electricity and water, government research found. Government expenditure in areas such as pensions, public services, education, property and health should be revised, Mr Leibovich said. He added that the government is now examining the report, but warned there would be no easy solution to the problem. With a good distribution of such subsidies and economic growth of just 2%, by 2019 poverty could fall as low as 15.3%, he said.


A knee injury has forced Arvind Parmar out of Great Britain's Davis Cup tie in Israel and left Alex Bogdanovic in line to take the second singles place. Parmar picked up the injury last week and has failed to recover in time for the Europe/Africa Zone I tie, which begins in Tel Aviv on Friday. Bogdanovic looks set to take the second singles place alongside Greg Rusedski. GB captain Jeremy Bates could use 17 year old Andrew Murray and David Sherwood in the doubles rubber. Bogdanovic and Murray both pulled out of tournaments last week through injury but are expected to be fit. Jamie Delgado and Lee Childs have been called into the squad in Tel Aviv as designated hitters for team practice but Bates has no plans to call either of them into his squad at present. The unheralded Sherwood was the surprise inclusion when the squad was announced last week, and Bates said: "David has earned his place in this squad on the merit of his form and results over the last 12 months." The 6ft 4in Sherwood is ranked 264th in the world and the LTA have high hopes for him after Futures tournament wins in Wrexham and Edinburgh. The Sheffield born right hander, aged 24, also reached another final in Plaisir, France, a week after making the semi final in Mulhouse. Bates is glad to have Rusedski available after Tim Henman's retirement from Davis Cup tennis. "His wealth of experience is invaluable, particularly to the younger players and I know he will lead by example," Bates said. "We are looking forward to the tie. The squad are all in excellent form."


First it was the humble home video, then it was the DVD, and now Hollywood is preparing for the next revolution in home entertainment high definition. High definition gives incredible, 3D like pictures and surround sound. The DVD disks and the gear to play them will not be out for another year or so, and there at are still a number of issues to be sorted out. But when high definition films do come out on the new format DVDs, it will profoundly change home entertainment. For Rick Dean, director of business development for digital content company THX, a high definition future is an exciting prospect. He has worked on the Star Wars DVD trilogy, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Indiana Jones. "There was a time not so long ago when the film world and the video world were two completely separate worlds," he told the BBC News website. "The technology we are dealing with now means they are very much conjoined. "The film that we see in theatres is coming from the same digital file that we take the home video master," he says. But currently, putting a master feature film onto DVD requires severe compression because current DVD technology cannot hold as much as high definition films demand. "As much as you compress the picture data rate wise, you also take qualities away from the picture that we fight so hard to keep in the master," he explains. "I would love to be able to show people what projects that we worked on really look like in the high def world and I find it very exciting." High definition DVDs can hold up to six times more data than the DVDs we are used to. It will take time though to persuade people who spent money on DVD players to buy the different players and displays required to watch high definition DVDs in 18 months' time. Mr Dean is confident though: "I think if they see real HD high definition , not some heavily compressed version of it, there is such a remarkable difference. "I have heard comments from people who say the images pop off the screen." High definition will mean some changes for those working behind the scenes too. On the whole, producing films for high definition DVDs will be easier in some ways because less compression is needed. Equally, it may mean Hollywood studios ask for more to be put onto the average DVD. "When we master movies right now, our data rates are running at about 1.2 gigabits per second," says Mr Dean. "Our DVDs that we put out today have to be squashed down to about five or six megabits per second. "That's a huge amount of compression that has to be applied about 98%. So if you have anything that allows more space, you don't have to compress so hard." Studios could fit a lot more marketing material, games, and features, onto high capacity DVDs. Currently, an entire DVD project can take up to three months, says Mr Dean. Although the step of down converting will be bypassed, this will realistically only save a day's work, says Mr Dean. One of the most time consuming elements is building DVD navigation and menu systems. On the fairly complex Star Wars disks, making sure the menu buttons worked took 45 human hours alone. If studios want to cash in on the extra space, it could mean extra human hours, for which someone has to pay. "If the decision on the studio side is that they are going to put a lot more on these disks, it could be more expensive because of all the extra navigation that is required." And if studios do focus on delivering more "added value content", thinks Mr Dean, ultimately it could mean that they will want more money for it. Those costs could filter down to the price ticket on a high definition DVD. But if the consumer is not willing to pay a premium price, studios will listen, thinks Mr Dean. High definition throws up other challenge to film makers and DVD production alike. More clarity on screen means film makers have to make doubly sure that attention to detail is meticulous. "When we did the first HD version of Star Wars Episode I, everybody was very sun tanned, but that was make up. "In the HD version of Episode I, all these make up lines showed up," explains Mr Dean. The restoration of the older Star Wars episodes revealed some interesting items too. "There are scans of a corridor on the Death Star and fairly plainly in one of those shots, there is a file cabinet stuck behind one of the doorways. "You never used to be able to see it because things are just blurred enough during the pan that you just didn't see it." What high definition revolution ultimately means is that the line between home entertainment and cinema worlds will blur. With home theatre systems turning living rooms into cinemas, this line blurs even further. It could also mean that how we get films, and in what format, will widen. "In the future we are going to look towards file delivery over IP internet protocol broadband , giving a DVD like experience from the set top box to the hard drive," says Mr Dean. But that is some time off for most, and for now, people still like to show off something physical in their bookshelves.


The world's largest retailer, Wal Mart, has agreed to pay a total of 14.5m ( 7.74m) to settle a lawsuit over gun sales violations in California. The lawsuit alleged Wal Mart committed thousands of gun sales violations in California between 2000 and 2003. The total payment includes 5m in fines and more than 4m to fund state compliance checks with gun laws and prevent ammunition sales to minors. Wal Mart agreed to suspend firearms sales in its California stores in 2003, The alleged violations included the sale of guns to 23 people who were not allowed to possess them, and delivering 36 guns to customers who acquired them for people not allowed to own firearms. Although Wal Mart has suspended firearms sales in the state, California attorney general Bill Lockyer said he wanted to be sure the giant supermarket chain would follow state rules in future. "Wal Mart's failure to comply with gun safety laws put the lives of all Californians at risk by placing guns in the hands of criminals and other prohibited persons," said Mr Lockyer. "Although Wal Mart has suspended gun sales in California, this settlement will ensure that it follows state law if it renews sales and will also provide valuable public education about the importance of gun safety." The world's largest retailer has not yet decided whether to resume firearms sales in California, company spokesman Gus Whitcomb said.


The EU and US have agreed to begin talks on ending subsidies given to aircraft makers, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has announced. Both sides hope to reach a negotiated deal over state aid received by European aircraft maker Airbus and its US rival Boeing, Mr Mandelson said. Airbus and Boeing accuse each other of benefiting from illegal subsidies. Mr Mandelson said the EU and US hoped to avoid having to resolve the dispute at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). "With this agreement the EU and US have confirmed their willingness to resolve the dispute which has arisen between them," Mr Mandelson said. "I hope our negotiations in the next three months will lead to an agreement ending subsidies to development and production of large civil aircraft." Last year, the US terminated an agreement with the EU, reached in 1992, which limits the subsidies countries can hand over to civil aircraft makers. The US filed a complaint against Brussels with the WTO over state aid to Airbus, prompting a retaliatory EU complaint over US support for Boeing. However, both sides agreed to suspend their requests for WTO arbitration at the beginning of December, to allow bilateral talks to continue. EADS and BAE Systems, the European defence and aerospace firms which own Airbus, welcomed Mr Mandelson's announcement. "It has always been preferable that any differences between the US and Europe on this matter be overcome through constructive discussion rather than through legal recourse," the companies said in a joint statement. Separately, the world's largest package delivery company, UPS, said it had placed an order for 10 Airbus A380 superjumbo freight carrying jets, with an option to buy 10 more of the triple decker aircraft. The US company said it needed to expand its air freight capacity following strong international growth, and would begin receiving deliveries of the A380s from 2009. However, UPS said it was cutting a previous order for smaller Airbus A300s from 90 planes to 53. So far, Airbus has delivered 40 A300s to UPS. Airbus overtook Boeing as the world's largest manufacturer of commercial airliners in 2003.


Elderly and disabled people would choose how their own budget for personal care was spent and organised under government plans. Ministers say elderly and disabled people themselves, not social workers, should be able to decide on their care and stay in their own homes. They also plan a supremo for adult services in each English area to get different agencies working together. But the government shunned opponents' calls for free long term care. There are 1.7m people needing care in England and ministers suggest the number could quadruple by 2050. Monday's consultation paper on social care for adults in England is aimed at ending a system which generates dependency. Health Minister Stephen Ladyman said: "This document is the antithesis of the nanny state. "It's about taking power away from the state and giving it to individuals and saying that we will help you make these decisions but we are not going to make them for you any more." The government has already allowed local councils to give people money so they can pay for their services directly but take up of the scheme has been "disappointing". Ministers say the new plans would make direct payments simpler and try to counter reluctance in some local councils to use the payments. They also want to set up a new "half way house" where social workers tell people how much money is available for their care and help them choose how to spend that "individual budget". The scheme will be funded on existing budgets set until 2008. But Mr Ladyman said the plans could deliver savings in some areas, such as freeing up NHS beds and preventing illnesses. He ruled out free personal care in England which is on offer in Scotland and Wales, saying it was "unsustainable". David Rogers, from the Local Government Association, said agencies were working together on the kind of innovation proposed by the government. And Tony Hunter, president of the Association of Directors of Social Services, said the plans could improve dignity and well being for thousands of people. But Age Concern argued social care was chronically under funded and older people were being offered choice in principle, but not in practice. Its director general, Gordon Lishman, said: "Direct payments will not work if there are no services for people to choose from locally." The Tories say people who pay for three years' long term care directly or through insurance should be guaranteed free care for the rest of their lives. Tory spokesman Simon Burns said more than 80,000 long term care places had been lost since 1997. "After eight years of persistent change, dogmatic enforcement of regulation, and overbearing government initiatives we need action, not a vision," said Mr Burns. The Lib Dems say they would fund free personal care by a new 50% tax rate on incomes over 100,000. Health spokesman Paul Burstow said: "Promoting independence sounds good and helping people to live in their own homes is a goal we share. "But the risk is that independence can turn into isolation if the right support and care is not available."


Thousands of civil service jobs have already been cut or moved out of London as part of a major cost cutting drive. Chancellor Gordon Brown said 12,500 jobs had gone while 7,800 were being moved out of the South East. He plans to axe 104,000 jobs to free up money for education, health, defence, housing and overseas aid. Unions oppose the plans but Mr Brown said 2bn savings had already been made and more jobs had been cut than had been expected at this stage. A further 200 jobs at the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have been earmarked to be cut. At the Department for Work and Pensions, 30,000 jobs are to go, 560 will be lost by the end of the month at the Department of Trade and Industry and 400 are to go at the Inland Revenue and Customs. In his Budget statement, the chancellor said the first 12,500 civil service jobs had been cut, on target. About 4,300 civil servants will leave London and the South East by the end of March 2005 and there are plans to relocate another 3,500. Of those 300 Department of Health posts will go to Yorkshire while hundreds at the Department of Culture will move to Birmingham and Newcastle. Mr Brown also announced plans to merge 35 agencies into nine described by one civil service union as a "bonfire of the quangos". Mark Serwotka, the leader of the Public and Commercial Services Union said: "In last year's budget we had the day of the long knifes as the chancellor kicked off the crude game of who could cut the most civil service jobs between the government and the Tories. "There was a time when the only worry thousands of hard working civil and public servants had on budget day was whether petrol or taxes would go up, nowadays the worry is whether they will have a job by the end of it." He said Mr Brown had made welcome announcements on closing tax loopholes and extending the New Deal, while cutting "the very people who deliver them." The Treasury also announced plans to reduce the number of public sector workers on sick leave with a new system of checks and tougher measures against those suspected of abusing the system.


The current slew of sports games offers unparalleled opportunities for fans who like to emulate on field action without ever moving from the couch. The two giants in the field ESPN and EA Sports have been locked in a heavyweight battle for years. The latter is the world's largest games manufacturer. Years of experience mean that the titles in their steady flow of sport sims are finely honed, massively entertaining and ooze flair. Sports broadcaster ESPN, meanwhile, has leant its name to a series of games that are similarly classy but lower in profile and price. But that status quo was changed forever or for the next 15 years at least by a deal earlier this year when ESPN sold EA the rights to its TV branding and on air talent, meaning the ESPN games presently developed by Sega will have to come to and end in their present form. It was a massive money deal that not only raised eyebrows but stirred active indignation in many quarters, with fans concerned that it is set to enable EA to monopolise the sports gaming landscape to an unhealthy degree. Some particularly disgruntled fans set up an online petition that notched more than 18,000 virtual signatures. Many of those clicking to complain were already rankled, for the ESPN coup happened just weeks after EA had pulled off another enormous licensing deal, controversially giving them exclusive rights to teams and personnel from America 191;s National Football League (NFL). So, will the Sega ESPN range be missed? A key reason for answering "yes" is that liking or disliking a sports game regularly comes down to personal taste, and having some options available always proves hugely handy. Online soccer fans will testify to that, between bouts of arguing over which high profile title rules supreme out of the similar yet hugely different FIFA 2005 and Pro Evolution Soccer 4. On the same note, the ESPN 2k5 and EA sports games have so little to choose between them that picking favourites will come down to players' personal preferences and spending budget rather than any technical elements. Taking hockey and basketball as examples, both publishers' efforts are phenomenally entertaining and fairly accessible. They also both look awesome, with the Sega / ESPN versions perhaps shading things on a graphical front. In terms of gameplay, I marginally preferred EA's NBA Live 2005 for basketball, and was more satisfied ice hockey wise by ESPN's NHL 2K5. The ESPN games are a touch more arcade like in look and feel and are slightly easier to get into, although like their rivals, they also offer a dizzyingly extensive array of in game tricks and overall challenge modes that should be enough to quench thirsts of even the most die hard of sports fans. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the ESPN deal will be seeing how it affects the presentation of EA's future titles. The front end decoration of EA's games has become something of an art form in itself, loaded with slick visuals and oodles of licensed music. They are also immediately identifiable as coming from the EA stable, and the inevitable compulsion to add an ESPN look will no doubt change that in various ways. What is a shame is that the ESPN titles took similar care about framing the gameplay with an authentic setting their preambles look and sound much like they would on TV. They are neat and excellent value games in their current form, and combining them with EA's own established brand should produce a truly formidable beast.


Libya has withdrawn 1bn in assets from the US, assets which had previously been frozen for almost 20 years, the Libyan central bank has said. The move came after the US lifted a trade ban to reward Tripoli for giving up weapons of mass destruction and vowing to compensate Lockerbie victims. The original size of Libya's funds was 400m, the central bank told Reuters. However, the withdrawal did not mean that Libya had cut its ties with the US, he added. "We are in the process of opening accounts in banks in the United States," the central bank's vice president Farhat Omar Ben Gadaravice said. The previously frozen assets had been invested in various countries and are believed to have included equity holdings in banks. The US ban on trade and economic activity with Tripoli imposed by then president Ronald Regan in 1986 after a series of what the US deemed terrorist acts, including the 1988 Lockerbie air crash was suspended in April. Bankers from the two country's had been working on how to unfreeze Libya's assets.


Brazil's unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in three years in December, according to the government. The Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said it fell to 9.6% in December from 10.6% in November and 10.9% in December 2003. IBGE also said that average monthly salaries grew 1.9% in December 2004 from December 2003. However, average monthly wages fell 1.8% in December to 895.4 reais ( 332; 179.3) from November. Tuesday's figures represent the first time that the unemployment rate has fallen to a single digit since new measurement rules were introduced in 2001. The unemployment rate has been falling gradually since April 2004 when it reached a peak of 13.1%. The jobless rate average for the whole of 2004 was 11.5%, down from 12.3% in 2003, the IBGE said. This improvement can be attributed to the country's strong economic growth, with the economy registering growth of 5.2% in 2004, the government said. The economy is expected to grow by about 4% this year. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promised to reduce unemployment when he was elected two years ago. Nevertheless, some analysts say that unemployment could increase in the next months. "The data is favourable, but a lot of jobs are temporary for the (Christmas) holiday season, so we may see slightly higher joblessness in January and February," Julio Hegedus, chief economist with Lopes Filho Associates consultancy in Rio de Janeir, told Reuters news agency. Despite his leftist background, President Lula has pursued a surprisingly conservative economic policy, arguing that in order to meet its social promises, the government needs to first reach a sustained economic growth. The unemployment rate is measured in the six main metropolitan areas of Brazil (Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Salvador and Porto Alegre), where most of the population is concentrated.


US crude prices have soared to fresh four month highs above 53 in the US as refinery problems propelled petrol prices to an all time high. US light sweet crude futures jumped to 53.09 a barrel in New York before closing at 53.03. The gains tracked a surge in US gasoline futures to a record high of 1.4850 a gallon. The jump followed a fire at Western Refining Company's refinery in Texas, which shut down petrol production. A spokesman for the group was unable to say when the production unit would be back up and running. "This market simply wants to go up," Citigroup Global Markets analyst Kyle Cooper told Reuters news agency. Ed Silliere, analyst at Energy Merchant, added: "Gasoline is up because of the refinery issues in Texas, which means there will be a scramble for product in the (US) Gulf Coast." Elsewhere, a refinery in Houston was closed due to mechanical problems, while on Tuesday production at BP's Texas City refinery was taken down for a short time. In the approach to Spring, the market becomes much more sensitive to problems with petrol production as dealers anticipate rising demand for fuel ahead of the holiday season. The rise in prices came despite a US government report that showed domestic supplies of fuel oil and fuel were rising. Meanwhile, oil production cartel Opec's recent announcement that it was now unlikely to cut production levels has also failed to calm fears on the market. Oil prices are roughly 45% higher than a year ago and have risen sharply in recent weeks due to a combination of colder weather, the declining value of the dollar and fears that Opec could rein in production to head off a seasonal drop in demand. Instability in Iraq and underlying fears about terrorism have also played a part in the rally.


Yangtze Electric Power, the operator of China's Three Gorges Dam, has said its profits more than doubled in 2004. The firm has benefited from increased demand for electricity at a time when power shortages have hit cities and provinces across the country. As a hydroelectric power generator it has not been hurt by higher coal costs. Net income jumped to 3bn yuan in 2004 ( 365m; 190m), compared with 1.4bn yuan in 2003. Sales surged to 6.2bn yuan, from 3bn yuan a year earlier. The figures topped analysts expectations, even though the rate of growth has slowed from 2003. Analysts forecast that it is likely to decline further this year to a rate of expansion of closer to 20%. Yangtze Electric has been expanding its output to meet demand driven by China's booming economy. The government has delayed the building of a number of power plants in an effort to rein in growth amid concerns that the economy may overheat. That has led to an energy crunch, with demand outstripping supply. Earlier this month, work was halted on an underground power station, and a supply unit on the Three Gorges Dam, as well as a power station on its sister Xiluodu dam because of environmental worries. A total of 30 large scale projects have been halted across the country for similar reasons. The Three Gorges Dam project has led to more than half a million people being relocated and drawn criticism from environmental groups and overseas human rights activists. Its sister project, the Xiluodu Dam, is being built on the Jinshajiang or "river of golden sand" as the upper reaches of the Yangtze are known.


Scarlets and USA Eagles forward Dave Hodges has ended his playing career to pursue a coaching role in the States. The 36 year old, who has 54 caps, was Llanelli's player of the season in 2001/2, but has battled injury for the last two of his seven years at Stradey. He tore a pectoral muscle against the Ospreys on Boxing Day, an injury that would have kept him out for the season. "Realising I would be unable to play this season, the club and I agreed to end my contract early," said Hodges. "It allows me to move back to the US and pursue opportunities there and allows the Scarlets to look to the next generation." The Scarlets have begun to rebuild their squad for next season after a disappointing Heineken Cup campaign, with plenty more signings and departures expected in the coming weeks. Scarlets chief executive Stuart Gallacher confirmed that 17 of the current squad would be out of contract in the summer. "We have a deliberate policy whereby around half the squad are coming out of contract and they know they won't all be re signed, it's a chance to invigorate the squad," he said. "I'm positive about the future of the Scarlets both on and off the field." Gallacher was keen to pay tribute to the role back five forward Hodges has played at Stradey Park, though. "David has been a highly influential member of our squad for seven years," said Gallacher. "He is a real professional and we thank him for the part he has played in our success. "I am sure he has an enormous contribution to make to the development of rugby in the US and we wish him and his family well." Hodges described his years at Stradey as "the best time of my life."


Distinguished lawyer Lord Scarman, who conducted the inquiry into the 1981 Brixton riots, has died aged 93. The peer enjoyed a celebrated judicial career, serving as Law Commission chairman in its first seven years. He also chaired the 1969 tribunal set up to investigate civil disturbances in Northern Ireland. Paying tribute, the Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said Lord Scarman was one of the "great advocates of our generation". "His legacy from his decisions in the Lords and the Court of Appeal is substantial. "His work in the wake of the Brixton riots and his commitment to the vulnerable and dispossessed was second to none. "A great judge, a great lawyer and a great man." Lord Scarman's nephew George Ritchie said the peer, who passed away peacefully on Wednesday, would be "sadly missed". The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, who is the most senior judge in England and Wales, said it was Lord Scarman's "pioneering work" which paved the way for the Human Rights Act 1998. "He was a lawyer and a judge who had a remarkable insight into human nature, and an exceptional sensitivity to the needs of a healthy society," he said. "He was, personally, totally charming and he will be remembered with great affection and admiration by all who came into contact with him." Dame Elizabeth Butler Sloss, the president of the Family Justice Division, said Lord Scarman was a "good and humane judge" and one of the greatest figures of the late 20th century. Lord Scarman will be remembered for the public inquiry he led into a string of race riots which began in Brixton when racial tensions rose after a police crackdown on street robbery. During the following three days of disturbances that spread to the Midlands, Merseyside, Bristol and Leeds, nearly 400 people were injured and buildings and vehicles were set alight. The inquiry famously settled on the so called "rotten apples" theory, which argued that only a few police officers were racist, saying most were not. It spawned new law enforcement practices and led to the creation of the Police Complaints Authority. Trevor Phillips, chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, praised Lord Scarman's "ability to listen". He said: "When Lord Scarman toured the streets of Brixton his presence was electrifying. "A community which had been systematically ignored by everyone else was suddenly embraced by the epitome of the English establishment. "His great quality was the ability to listen to young people of all backgrounds, many of whose language he could barely understand, genuinely to hear what they had to say and to talk to them as human beings. "He never lost the special combination of wisdom, humanity and the spark of radicalism that marked his watershed report into the Brixton riots."


British triple jumper Ashia Hansen has ruled out a comeback this year after a setback in her recovery from a bad knee injury, according to reports. Hansen, the Commonwealth and European champion, has been sidelined since the European Cup in Poland in June 2004. It was hoped she would be able to return this summer, but the wound from the injury has been very slow to heal. Her coach Aston Moore told the Times: "We're not looking at any sooner than 2006, not as a triple jumper." Moore said Hansen may be able to return to sprinting and long jumping sooner, but there is no short term prospect of her being involved again in her specialist event. "There was a problem with the wound healing and it set back her rehabilitation by about two months, but that has been solved and we can push ahead now," he said. "The aim is for her to get fit as an athlete then we will start looking at sprinting and the long jump as an introduction back to the competitive arena." Moore said he is confident Hansen can make it back to top level competition, though it is unclear if that will be in time for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next March, when she will be 34. "It's been a frustrating time for her, but it has not fazed her determination," he added.


Another three US insurance executives have pleaded guilty to fraud charges stemming from an ongoing investigation into industry malpractice. Two executives from American International Group (AIG) and one from Marsh McLennan were the latest. The investigation by New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer has now obtained nine guilty pleas. The highest ranking executive pleading guilty on Tuesday was former Marsh senior vice president Joshua Bewlay. He admitted one felony count of scheming to defraud and faces up to four years in prison. A Marsh spokeswoman said Mr Bewlay was no longer with the company. Mr Spitzer's investigation of the US insurance industry looked at whether companies rigged bids and fixed prices. Last month Marsh agreed to pay 850m ( 415m) to settle a lawsuit filed by Mr Spitzer, but under the settlement it "neither admits nor denies the allegations".


Scotland's back row crisis has worsened ahead of the RBS Six Nations with news that Scott Gray will miss out on the opening matches. The Borders flanker has a knee injury and joins Donnie Macfadyen and Allister Hogg on the sidelines. Star number eight Simon Taylor will miss at least the first two games after damaging an ankle during his comeback. Scott MacLeod (ankle ligaments) and Jon Petrie (cartilage) are also doubtful for the opener in Paris on 5 February. Gray, 26, who won his first cap against Australia at Murrayfield last year, was hurt in club action at the weekend. Scotland doctor James Robson said: "A scan has shown damage to the medial ligaments of Scott's right knee ruling him out of the first part of the Championship. "We will seek further specialist advice in due course to determine just how long Scott may be out for." Another potential option, Glasgow flanker Andrew Wilson, has been ruled out for a month after damaging ligaments in both knees against Northampton recently. Flanker Jason White and prop Tom Smith have also been suffering from flu and missed this week's training sessions. "We have got plenty of good, young players coming through and we have got to look at the opportunities it represents for them, rather than the negatives," Williams added. Williams could now turn to Edinburgh pair Alasdair Strokosch and Simon Cross. Leeds Tykes flanker Jon Dunbar also trained with the squad but is still awaiting verification of his eligibility to qualify for Scotland.


Intel has unveiled research that could mean data is soon being moved around chips at the speed of light. Scientists at Intel have overcome a fundamental problem that before now has prevented silicon being used to generate and amplify laser light. The breakthrough should make it easier to interconnect data networks with the chips that process the information. The Intel researchers said products exploiting the breakthrough should appear by the end of the decade. "We've overcome a fundamental limit," said Dr Mario Paniccia, director of Intel's photonics technology lab. Writing in the journal Nature, Dr Paniccia and colleagues Haisheng Rong, Richard Jones, Ansheng Liu, Oded Cohen, Dani Hak and Alexander Fang show how they have made a continuous laser from the same material used to make computer processors. Currently, says Dr Paniccia, telecommunications equipment that amplifies the laser light that travels down fibre optic cables is very expensive because of the exotic materials, such as gallium arsenide, used to make it. Telecommunications firms and chip makers would prefer to use silicon for these light moving elements because it is cheap and many of the problems of using it in high volume manufacturing have been solved. "We're trying to take our silicon competency in manufacturing and apply it to new areas," said Dr Paniccia. While work has been done to make some of the components that can move light around, before now silicon has not successfully been used to generate or amplify the laser light pulses used to send data over long distances. This is despite the fact that silicon is a much better amplifier of light pulses than the form of the material used in fibre optic cables. This improved amplification is due to the crystalline structure of the silicon used to make computer chips. Dr Paniccia said that the structure of silicon meant that when laser light passed through it, some colliding photons rip electrons off the atoms within the material. "It creates a cloud of electrons sitting in the silicon and that absorbs all the light," he said. But the Intel researchers have found a way to suck away these errant electrons and turn silicon into a material that can both generate and amplify laser light. Even better, the laser light produced in this way can, with the help of easy to make filters, be tuned across a very wide range of frequencies. Semi conductor lasers made before now have only produced light in a narrow frequency ranges. The result could be the close integration of the fibre optic cables that carry data as light with the computer chips that process it. Dr Paniccia said the work was the one of several steps needed if silicon was to be used to make components that could carry and process light in the form of data pulses. "It's a technical validation that it can work," he said.


Scientists have expressed concerns that new education secretary Ruth Kelly's religious views could hamper vital scientific research. Ms Kelly, who is Catholic, is reported to be "pro life" and has opposed embryo research. Medical Research Council Professor Nancy Rothwell said Ms Kelly's views mattered as she was responsible for training future scientists. The Department for Education and Skills would not comment on the concerns. A spokeswoman said: "It is not news that Ms Kelly is a Catholic but we are not going into any details on this." But she added that claims Ms Kelly was in charge of a 1bn university research budget were not true. It was down to the Higher Education Funding Council and the research councils to decide on universities' research allocations. British law is open to the cloning of human embryos to create stem cells, master cells that can develop into all the body's tissue types. This cloning activity is not permitted for reproductive purposes only for research into new disease treatments. However, it is controversial because it involves the destruction of embryos. Professor Rothwell, who is also vice president of research at Manchester University, told the Times Higher Education Supplement it would worry her "a great deal" if ministers were anti stem cell. She said: "The views of ministers in the DfES do matter as they are responsible for training the next generation of scientists. "You can't have a higher education policy that is at odds with the government's science policy." Head of developmental genetics at the National Institute of Medical Research, Professor Robin Lovell Badge, said he had witnessed the confused situation in the US where many religious groups opposed the practice. He said: "If someone as senior as Ruth Kelly is not going to favour stem cell research we will end up with a similarly schizophrenic system in this country. It is very worrying." But fertility expert Lord Winston said he thought it was "rather good" ministers held ethical views. Concerns have also been raised by "pro choice" organisations that Ms Kelly's views might affect sex education policy in schools. Family Planning Association chief executive, Anne Weyman, said teaching pupils about contraception and abortion were key. "Young people must be informed about all the issues within sexual health, which include contraception and abortion. "I think it is very important that the government maintains its commitment to the teenage pregnancy strategy." Currently, individual schools devise their own sex education policies based on a framework provided by the DfES. Ms Kelly has not set out her detailed views on either issue yet, but has said she intends to put parents first in education policy. This would include the quality of teaching, classroom discipline and academic standards in schools, she said.


More lives than previously thought could be saved by cutting drink drive limits by a third, a report says. University College London research claims cutting the limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg would save 65 lives a year. The findings are being published by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety as MPs are due to vote on the government's Road Safety Bill. The bill includes changes to speeding fines but not to the drink drive limit. The research, carried out by transport expert professor Richard Allsop, says cutting the limit would also lead to 230 fewer serious injuries on the UK's roads compared with 2003. He estimates that this would save the country 119m a year. A previous estimate, contained in a 1998 Department of Transport Document, suggested such a move could save 50 lives a year. The findings are based on the assumption that drivers who currently keep below the legal limit would continue to do so were it to be lowered and that those who tend to exceed the limit slightly would also lower their drinking. Professor Allsop said: "Reducing the limit from 80mg to 50mg can be expected to save around 65 lives a year or around half of those who die in accidents where the driver's BAC blood alcohol content is within 30mg of the current limit. "Only about one in 50 of those driving during weekend evenings and nights will need to moderate their drinking to achieve this and fewer still at other times." Ministers do not support a lower limit, saying it is not clear it would have a major impact on drink drive casualties. They believe educating drivers is more important. The AA Motoring Trust said it was not sure what affect dropping the limit would have on drivers' attitudes to drink driving. Road safety head Andrew Howard said: "It remains to be seen whether the social disapproval of the drinking driver will stay at the current rate if the alcohol limit is cut. "Parliamentarians need to consider this carefully. Britons police themselves by consensus much more effectively than they do by weight of enforcement alone." Liberal Democrat transport spokesman John Thurso said drink driving remained a "major killer", with figures showing a worrying rise in the number of accidents involving drivers who had been drinking. He said there had been a 29% drop in the number of drivers being breathalysed since 1997, which he said the government needed to address if it wanted to reduce the danger caused by drink driving. The Road Safety Bill, which gets its second reading on Tuesday, would allow the results of roadside breath tests to be used in court currently a blood test is needed. It also includes plans for a staggered speeding fines and points system, penalising drivers who exceed limits by a wide margin more than those who are caught going just over. These have been criticised by road safety campaigners, including Labour backbencher Gwyneth Dunwoody, who says it will reduce the incentive for drivers to stay within the limits in residential areas, leading to more road casualties. In an article for the Times newspaper, Ms Dunwoody, who chairs the Transport Select Committee, says: "Slight increases to low car speeds increase hugely the risks to pedestrians and cyclists. "It is quite simple: if you hit someone at 30mph, they have a 50 per cent chance of survival. If you are going at 40mph, nine times out of ten they will die."


Concessions on a bill which critics claim would allow euthanasia "through the back door" were not a political ploy, the lord chancellor has said. Ministers have been accused of panic in offering last minute changes to the Mental Capacity Bill amid chaotic scenes in the Commons on Tuesday. Lord Falconer said it was fair to criticise the late timing of the offer. He said the changes provided a solution to a very difficult issue but some MPs argue the situation is still unclear. The bill allows people to give somebody the power of attorney to make decisions on their behalf if they become too ill to decide for themselves. Ministers insist the plans would not change laws on euthanasia and would improve safeguards. Critics fear it could allow "killing by omission" through withdrawing treatment, including food and fluids. Tony Blair said he would do everything he could to meet concerns about the bill. But changes to the bill must not overturn the law set when a court ruled that doctors could withdraw artificial feeding and hydration from Hillsborough coma victim Tony Bland. "It is important we don't end up in the situation where doctors and consultants are confused about the law and may lay themselves open to prosecution in circumstances where no sensible person would want that to happen," he said. On Tuesday, the government saw off a backbench attempt to force changes to the bill by 297 votes to 203, despite rebellion by 34 Labour MPs. The revolt was also reduced by news that Lord Falconer had promised the Catholic archbishop of Cardiff to strengthen safeguards in the bill. But that only came after MPs bombarded Constitutional Affairs Minister David Lammy with a barrage of requests for him to read the letter as they complained they had been left in the dark. Eventually, he was hurriedly handed the letter to read out five minutes before the crunch votes, prompting claims of a shambles. The deputy speaker later said the debate had not been handled as it should have been. Lord Falconer says there will be amendments when the bill goes to the House of Lords. He told BBC News: "We have given a commitment to put into the bill a clause that says that nothing in the bill authorises any act where the motive of the person authorising the decision is to end life. "The motive has got to be to end suffering." He denied the concessions were a "political manoeuvre" forced by panic about the rebellion. It was inevitable that minds became more focused as the bill went through Parliament but the result was a "sensible solution", he said. "I don't think it is something to be embarrassed about. These issues are not easy to deal with," he went on. BBC political editor Andrew Marr said Mr Lammy was "waste deep in quicksand and sinking fast" after his performance. But Lord Falconer praised his minister for an "excellent job". Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, one of the chief critics of the plans, condemned the debate as a "charade" and complained the promises of changes to the bill were vague.


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


The battle for control of Manchester United has taken another turn after the club confirmed it had received a fresh takeover approach from US business tycoon Malcolm Glazer. No formal offer has been made yet, but Manchester United have confirmed they have received a "detailed proposal" from the US entrepreneur which could lead to a bid. Reports have put the offer at 300p per share, which would value Manchester United at about 800m ( 1.5bn). The approach by the 76 year old owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American football team is reportedly being led by his two sons, Avi and Joel. A previous approach to the United board by Mr Glazer in October last year was turned down. However, the BBC has learnt that the club is unlikely to reject the latest plan out of hand. Mr Glazer's previous offer involved borrowing large amounts of money to finance any takeover. That would have left the club with debt levels which were deemed "not... in the best interests of the company" by Manchester United's board when they rejected his approach last year. However, Mr Glazer's latest offer is reported to have cut the amount of borrowing needed by 200m. While United's board may be casting a serious eye over Mr Glazer's latest proposals, supporters remain fiercely opposed to any deal. Supporters' group Shareholders United which has proved adept in rallying opposition to Mr Glazer's campaign said it would fight any move. "Manchester United are a debt free company. We don't want to fall into debt and we don't need to fall into debt," Shareholders United's Sean Bones told the BBC. United's players also appear unhappy at the prospect of a takeover. "A lot of people want the club's interest to be with people who have grown up with the club and got its interests at heart," Rio Ferdinand told BBC Radio Five Live. "No one knows what this guy will be bringing to the table." The key to any successful bid will be attracting the support of United's largest shareholders, the Irish horse racing tycoons John Magnier and JP McManus. Through their Cubic Expression vehicle they own 28.9% of the club. Mr Glazer owns 28.1%. Joe McLean, a football specialist at accountancy firm Grant Thornton, said the support of Mr Magnier and Mr McManus was "utterly crucial". "Mr Glazer's bid will not proceed without their support and they have previously indicated that they are holding their stake as an investment. "If that's the case, the shares will therefore need a price attachment of about 300 pence, maybe 305. "If that's the case then Mr Glazer might well secure their support if he does, this bid could well go ahead." Indeed it is. Malcolm Glazer was little known in the UK until he started to build up his stake in Manchester United in late 2003. In February 2004 he said he was "considering" whether to bid for the club. No bid emerged, but Mr Glazer continued to increase his holding in the club. In October 2004, Manchester United said they had received a "preliminary approach", which turned out to have come from Mr Glazer. However, the board rejected the move because of the amount of debt it would involve. At the club's annual general meeting in November, Mr Glazer took revenge by using his hefty stake in the club to oust three directors from the board. Legal adviser Maurice Watkins, commercial director Andy Anson and non executive director Philip Yea were voted out, against the wishes of chief executive David Gill. But the move led to bankers JP Morgan and public relations firm Brunswick withdrawing from the Glazer bid team.


Toulouse's former Irish international Trevor Brennan could be one of Clive Woodward's many surprises when the 44 man Lions tour squad is announced. Brennan, who last played for Ireland against Samoa in 2001, is held in high esteem by the former England coach. "If you speak to the players there's a huge amount of respect for the guy," Woodward told the Sunday Independent. "Players tend to know better than most coaches. It's not just the Irish, but Welsh and English players as well." The 31 year old former Dublin milkman moved from Leinster to Toulouse in 2003 and immediately picked up a Heineken Cup winner's medal in an all French final against Perpignan at Lansdowne Road. Brennan is highly rated at Stade Toulousain, where he is used anywhere in the back five. Woodward is ensuring his preparations for the trip to New Zealand in June are as thorough as possible. "I've spoken to quite a few players, and they probably don't know what they're actually saying when we're having these conversations," he told the newspaper. "But you talk about certain players and they'll say if they think they're up to scratch or that they don't want them in their team. "I haven't heard a bad word said against Trevor, which, considering he has a pretty tough guy reputation, is, to me, impressive."