Tory plans to cut immigration to the UK are not racist and will make the asylum system fairer for genuine refugees, Michael Howard has said. As his party set out detailed asylum reform plans, Mr Howard said they would help smash people smuggling gangs. There would be an annual limit on asylum and all claims would be processed overseas. Some charities say the plans would put refugees' lives at risk if they were turned away once quotas were filled. Tony Blair said Labour would set out workable plans for tackling immigration abuse in the next few weeks and attacked the Tory plans. "By cutting the number of front line immigration staff at our borders, they will actually make the problem worse," said Mr Blair. Liberal Democrat chairman Matthew Taylor said there needed to be a quick, fair and firm asylum system. But he said it was "absolutely disgusting" to propose a system which could turn away genuine refugees. The Conservatives say there is little risk of this happening as demand for asylum will be considered when quotas are set. In a speech in London on Monday, Mr Howard said: "It's not racist, as some people to claim, to talk about controlling immigration far from it." He said that coming from an immigrant family himself he recognised that "firm but fair" immigration controls were essential for good community relations. Withdrawing from the 1951 United Nations Convention on refugees, which obliges countries to accept people being persecuted on the basis of need, not numbers Introduce laws to allow the immediate removal of asylum seekers whose claims were clearly unfounded because they came from safe countries or had destroyed documents Detain asylum seekers without documents so people whose identity was not known were not able to move freely around the UK a worry for "national security" Stop considering asylum applications inside the UK and instead take people from United Nations refugee agency camps. Anyone applying for asylum would be taken to new centres close to their countries of origin. The Tories also want quotas for those seeking work permits through an Australian style points system and those wanting to join families in the UK. Mr Howard said nearly 160,000 people were settling in the UK every year the size of a city like Peterborough. The plans would help achieve a "substantial reduction" in immigration, he said, although he could not predict a figure. He said that only two out of 10 asylum seekers had their claims accepted under the current "unfair and inhumane" system. "We need to break the link between arriving in Britain and claiming asylum," Mr Howard said. "By breaking that link we can smash the criminal gangs at the heart of the trade in people smuggling." But the UN refugees agency is worried the policy sends the wrong message to poorer countries which receive the bulk of refugees. And a spokesman for European Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini said the plans would contravene EU asylum policy, which meant the UK could not simply refuse to hear an asylum case. Refugee Council Chief Executive Maeve Sherlock called the plans "dangerous, ill thought out and hugely irresponsible". Lives could be put at risk if refugees were turned away once the quotas were filled, she warned. Commission for Racial Equality chairman Trevor Phillips said asylum applications were down 40% and economic migration down about 10%. He did not think Mr Howard intended to centre the debate about race. But he warned that some campaigners could use his words to hint the policy was about keeping out people of a different colour or culture. Mr Howard called that suggestion "disgraceful".


Interactive posters are helping Londoners get around the city during the festive season. When interrogated with a mobile phone, the posters pass on a number that people can call to get information about the safest route home. Sited at busy underground stations, the posters are fitted with an infra red port that can beam information directly to a handset. The posters are part of Transport for London's Safe Travel at Night campaign. The campaign is intended to help Londoners, especially women, avoid trouble on the way home. In particular it aims to cut the number of sexual assaults by drivers of unlicensed minicabs. Nigel Marson, head of group marketing at Transport for London (TfL), said the posters were useful because they work outside the mobile phone networks. "They can work in previously inaccessible areas such as underground stations which is obviously a huge advantage in a campaign of this sort," he said. The posters will automatically beam information to any phone equipped with an IR port that is held close to the glowing red icon on the poster. "We started with infra red because there are a huge number IR phones out there," said Rachel Harker, spokeswoman for Hypertag which makes the technology fitted to the posters. "It's a well established technology." Hypertag is also now making a poster that uses short range Bluetooth radio technology to swap data. Although the hypertags in the posters only pass on a phone number, Ms Harker said they can pass on almost any form of data including images, ring tones and video clips. She said that there are no figures for how many people are using the posters but a previous campaign run for a cosmetics firm racked up 12,500 interactions. "Before we ran a campaign there was a big question mark of: 'If we build it will they come?'" she said. "Now we know that, yes, they will." The TfL campaign using the posters will run until Boxing Day.


Everton defender David Weir has played down talk of European football, despite his team lying in second place in the Premiership after beating Liverpool. Weir told BBC Radio Five Live: "We don't want to rest on our laurels and say we have achieved anything yet. "I think you start taking your eye off the ball if you make statements and look too far into the future. "If you start making predictions you soon fall back into trouble. The only thing that matters is the next game." He said: "We are looking after each other and hard work goes a long way in this league. We have definitely shown that. "Also injuries and suspensions haven't cost us too badly and we have a lot of self belief around the place."


South Korea's Hyundai Motor has announced that it plans to build a second plant in India to meet the country's growing demand for cars. The company didn't give details of its investment but it said the new plant would produce 150,000 cars a year. This will boost the annual production capacity of the company India's second largest car manufacturer to 400,000 units. Hyundai expects its sales in India to grow 16% to 250,000 in 2005. By 2010, it expects to nearly double sales to 400,000 cars. The new plant will be built close to the existing one in Chennai, in the southern province of Tamil Nadu. South Korea's top car maker estimates that the Indian market will grow 15% this year, to 920,000 vehicles, reaching 1.6 million vehicles by 2010. Demand in India has been driven by the poor state of public transport and the very low level of car ownership, analysts said. Figures show that currently only eight people per thousand are car owners. "We desperately need to expand our production in order to meet growing demand in the Indian auto market, which is growing over 12 percent every year, and to top our competitors," chairman Chung Mong koo said in the statement. He said the company plans to use India as a base for exports to Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The company which controls half of the South Korean's market aims to become a global top five auto maker by 2010.


Cold weather across parts of the United States and much of Europe has pushed US crude oil prices above 50 a barrel for the first time in almost three months. Freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall have increased demand for heating fuel in the US, where stocks are low. Fresh falls in the value of the dollar helped carry prices above the 50 mark for the first time since November. A barrel of US crude oil closed up 2.80 to 51.15 in New York on Tuesday. Opec members said on Tuesday that it saw no reason to cut its output. Although below last year's peak of 55.67 a barrel, which was reached in October, prices are now well above 2004's average of 41.48. Brent crude also rose in London trading, adding 1.89 to 48.62 at the close. Much of western Europe and the north east of America has been shivering under unseasonably low temperatures in recent days. The decline in the US dollar to a five week low against the euro has also served to inflate prices. "The dollar moved sharply overnight and oil is following it," said Chris Furness, senior market strategist at 4Cast. "If the dollar continues to weaken, oil will be obviously higher." Several Opec members said a cut in production was unlikely, citing rising prices and strong demand for oil from Asia. "I agree that we do not need to cut supply if the prices are as much as this," Fathi Bin Shatwan, Libya's oil minister, told Reuters. "I do not think we need to cut unless the prices are falling below 35 a barrel," he added. Opec closely watches global stocks to ensure that there is not an excessive supply in the market. The arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere will focus attention on stockpiles of US crude and gasoline, which are up to 9% higher than at this time last year. Heavy stockpiles could help force prices lower when demand eases.


US German carmaker DaimlerChrysler has sold 2.1% more cars in 2004 than in the previous year, as solid Chrysler sales offset a weak showing for Mercedes. Sales totalled 3.9 million units worldwide during 2004, the company said at the Detroit Motor Show. A switch to new models hit luxury marque Mercedes Benz, with sales down 3.1% at 1.06 million. Chrysler avoided the fate of US rivals Ford and General Motors, both of whom lost ground to Japanese firms. Its sales rose 3.5% to 2.7 million units. Similarly on the up was the Smart brand of compact cars, with the division's sales jumping by 21.1% during 2004 to 136,000. The future of the brand which is controlled by the Mercedes group within DaimlerChrysler remains in question, however. Smart has consistently lost money since it started trading in 1998, and new model launches are now "on hold", said Mercedes chief executive Eckhard Cordes. In Europe, the Smart will now go on sale through regular Mercedes dealerships as well as its own dealer network, Mr Cordes said.


Third generation mobile (3G) networks need to get faster if they are to deliver fast internet surfing on the move and exciting new services. That was one of the messages from the mobile industry at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes last week. Fast 3G networks are here but the focus has shifted to their evolution into a higher bandwidth service, says the Global Mobile Suppliers Association. At 3GSM, Siemens showed off a system that transmits faster mobile data. The German company said data could be transmitted at one gigabit a second up to 20 times faster than current 3G networks. The system is not available commercially yet, but Motorola, the US mobile handset and infrastructure maker, held a clinic for mobile operators on HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access), a high speed, high bandwidth technology available now. Early HSDPA systems typically offer around two megabits per second (Mbps) compared with less than 384 kilobits per second (Kbps) on standard 3G networks. "High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) sometimes called Super 3G will be vital for profitable services like mobile internet browsing and mobile video clips," according to a report published by UK based research consultancy Analysys. A number of companies are developing the technology. Nokia and Canada based wireless communication products company Sierra Wireless recently agreed to work together on High Speed Downlink Packet Access. The two companies aim to jointly market the HSDPA solution to global network operator customers. "While HSDPA theoretically enables data rates up to a maximum of 14Mbps, practical throughputs will be lower than this in wide area networks," said Dr Alastair Brydon, author of the Analysys report: Pushing Beyond the Limits of 3G with HSDPA and Other Enhancements. "The typical average user rate in a real implementation is likely to be in the region of one megabit per second which, even at this lower rate, will more than double the capacity... when compared to basic WCDMA 3G ," he added. Motorola has conducted five trials of its technology and says speeds of 2.9Mbps have been recorded at the edge of an outdoor 3G cell using a single HSDPA device. But some mobile operators are opting for a technology called Evolution, Data Optimised (EV DO). US operator Sprint ordered a broadband data upgrade to its 3G network at the end of last year. We are "expanding our network and deploying EV DO technology to meet customer demand for faster wireless speeds," said Oliver Valente, Sprint's vice president for technology development, when the contract was announced. As part of 3bn in multi year contracts announced late last year, Sprint will spend around 1bn on EV DO technology from Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks and Motorola that provides average data speeds of 0.3 0.5 megabits a second, and peak download rates of 2.4Mbps. MMO2, the UK based operator with services in the UK, Ireland and Germany, has opted for technology based on HSDPA. Using technology from Lucent, it will offer data speeds of 3.6Mbps from next summer on its Isle of Man 3G network, and will eventually support speeds of up to 14.4Mbps. US operator Cingular Wireless is also adopting HSDPA, using technology from Lucent alongside equipment from Siemens and Ericsson. Siemens' plans for a one gigabit network may be more than a user needs today, but Christoph Caselitz, president of the mobile networks division at the firm says that: "By the time the next generation of mobile communication debuts in 2015, the need for transmission capacities for voice, data, image and multimedia is conservatively anticipated to rise by a factor of 10." Siemens in collaboration with the Fraunhofer German Sino Lab for Mobile Communications and the Institute for Applied Radio System Technology has souped up mobile communications by using three transmitting and four receiving antennae, instead of the usual one. This enables a data transmission, such as sending a big file or video, to be broken up into different flows of data that can be sent simultaneously over one radio frequency band. The speeds offered by 3G mobile seemed fast at the time mobile operators were paying huge sums for 3G licences. But today, instead of connecting to the internet by slow, dial up phone connection, many people are used to broadband networks that offer speeds of 0.5 megabits a second much faster than 3G. This means users are likely to find 3G disappointing unless the networks are souped up. If they aren't, those lucrative "power users", such as computer geeks and busy business people will avoid them for all but the most urgent tasks, reducing the potential revenues available to mobile operators. But one gigabit a second systems will not be available immediately. Siemens says that though the system works in the laboratory, it still has to assess the mobility of multiple antennae devices and conduct field trials. A commercial system could be as far away as 2012, though Siemens did not rule out an earlier date.


Chinese online game operator Shanda Interactive Entertainment has bought a 20% stake in Sina, the country's biggest internet portal firm. The move may be a precursor to a full takeover, with analysts saying that a better known international firm may also now show an interest in Sina. Shanda said that it may boost its stake in Sina, even buying it outright. A merger would create a firm that offers online role playing games, news, entertainment and wireless messaging. Sina said that the purchase of a stake by Shanda would have no impact on its business. The board of directors said in a statement that it would "continue to act in the best interests of all the company stakeholders, including shareholders, employees and customers". Both companies are listed on the New York Stock Exchange's (NYSE) technology dominated Nasdaq index. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Sina said its shares were purchased between 12 January and 10 February for about 230m. Rumours about a possible takeover boosted Sina's shares by more than 10% on Friday. They added an extra 6.4% to 27.24 in electronic trading after the trading session had finished. And there may be more gains amid bid speculation when trading resumes in New York on Tuesday after Monday's public holiday, analysts forecast. "There could still be some potential parties that could still counter bid," said Wallace Cheung, an analyst at DBS Vickers. "Even though Shanda has 20% of Sina, they still have quite a long way to take full control." However, Mr Cheung noted that a foreign company trying to take control of a Chinese internet portal firm, with its ability to filter and pass on news, may not be viewed very favourably by Beijing.


Apple has unveiled a new, low cost Macintosh computer for the masses, billed as the Mac mini. Chief executive Steve Jobs showed off the new machine at his annual MacWorld speech, in San Francisco. The 499 Macintosh, sold for 339 in the UK, was described by Jobs as the "most important Mac" made by Apple. Mr Jobs also unveiled the iPod shuffle, a new music player using cheaper flash memory rather than hard drives, which are used in more expensive iPods. The new computer shifts the company into new territory traditionally, the firm is known as a design and innovation led firm rather than as a mass market manufacturer. The Mac mini comes without a monitor, keyboard and mouse, and a second version with a larger hard drive will also be sold for 599. The machine which will be available from 22 January was described by Jobs as "BYODKM... bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse". In an attempt to win over Windows PC customers, Mr Jobs said it would appeal to people thinking of changing operating systems. "People who are thinking of switching will have no more excuses," he said. "It's the newest and most affordable Mac ever." The new computer has been the subject of speculation for several weeks and while few people will be surprised by the announcement many analysts had already said it was a sensible move. In January, Apple sued a website after it published what it said were specifications for the new computer. Ian Harris, deputy editor of UK magazine Mac Format, said the machine would appeal to PC owning consumers who had purchased an iPod. "They want a further taste of Mac because they like what they have seen with iPod." Harris added: "Everybody thought that Apple was happy to remain a niche maker of luxury computers, and moving into a market dominated by low margin manufacturers like Dell is a bold move. "But it shows that Apple is keen to capitalise on the mass market success it's had with the iPod. The Mac mini will appeal to PC users looking for an attractive, 'no fuss' computer." The new iPod shuffle comes in two versions one offering 512mb of storage for 99 ( 69 in the Uk) and a second with one gigabyte of storage for 149 ( 99) and went on sale Tuesday. The music player has no display and will play songs either consecutively or shuffled. The smaller iPod will hold about 120 songs, said Mr Jobs. Mr Jobs told the delegates at MacWorld that iPod already had a 65% market share of all digital music players.


Liverpool and Millwall have been charged by the Football Association over crowd trouble during their Carling Cup match on 26 October. Millwall, who lost the match 3 0, have also been charged over alleged racist behaviour by their supporters. During the match at Millwall's new Den Stadium, seats were ripped up and four people were ejected from the ground. A disabled fan was injured at the perimeter of the pitch and riot police were needed to control the situation. Liverpool fans claimed the trouble was sparked by chants about the Hillsborough disaster, where 96 supporters were crushed to death in April 1989. But Lions chairman Theo Paphitis has denied the claims. He has said CCTV footage showed the catalyst for the trouble was a Liverpool fan attacking a Millwall fan in the west stand. However, Millwall have been charged with two breaches of FA rules. They have been charged with failing to ensure that fans refrained from racist and/or abusive behaviour and for failing to prevent spectators throwing missiles onto the pitch. Liverpool have been charged with one breach for failing to prevent their fans conducting themselves in threatening and/or violent and/or provocative behaviour. Both clubs have until 23 December to respond.


The warm reception that has greeted Star Wars: Battlefront is a reflection not of any ingenious innovation in its gameplay, but of its back to basics approach and immense nostalgia quotient. Geared towards online gamers, it is based around little more than a series of all out gunfights, set in an array of locations all featured in, or hinted at during, the two blockbusting film trilogies. Previous Star Wars titles like the acclaimed Knights Of The Old Republic and Jedi Knight have regularly impressed with their imaginative forays into the far corners of the franchise's extensive universe, and their use of weird and wonderful new characters. Battlefront on the other hand wholeheartedly revisits the most recognisable elements of the hit movies themselves. The sights, sounds and protagonists on show here will all be instantly familiar to fans, who may well feel that the opportunity to relive Star Wars' most memorable screen skirmishes makes this the game they have always waited for. The mayhem can be viewed from either a third or first person perspective, and you can either fight for the forces of freedom or join Darth Vader on the Dark Side, depending on the episode and type of campaign as well as the player's personal propensity for good or evil. There is ample chance to be a Wookie, shoot Ewoks and rush into battle alongside a fired up Luke Skywalker. In each section, the task is simply to wipe out enemy troops, seize strategic waypoints and move on to the next planet. It really is no more complicated than that. Locations include the frozen wastes of Hoth, the ice planet from The Empire Strikes Back, complete with massive mechanical AT ATs on the march. There are also the dusty, sinister deserts of Tatooine and Geonosis, as well as the forest moon of Endor, where Return Of The Jedi's much maligned Ewoks lived. The feel of those places is well and truly captured, with both backdrops and characters looking good and very authentic. It is worth noting though that on the PlayStation 2, the game's graphics are a curiously long way behind those of the Xbox version. The pivotal element behind Battlefront's success is that it successfully gives you the feel of being of being plunged into the midst of large scale war. The number of combatants, noise and abundance of laser fire see to that, and the sense of chaos really comes over. Speaking of noise, Battlefront is a real testament to the strength of the Star Wars galaxy's audio motifs. The multitude of distinctive weapon and vehicle noises are immensely familiar, as are the stirring John Williams symphonies that never let up. There is also a particularly snazzy remix of one of his themes in the menu section. It has to be said if the game did not have the boon of being Star Wars, it would not stand up for long. The gameplay is reliable, bog standard stuff, short on originality. There are also odd annoyances, like the game's insistence on re spawning you miles away from the action, an irritating price to pay for not getting blown up the second you appear. And some of the weapons and vehicles are not as responsive and fluid to operate as they might be. That said, it is still great fun to pilot a Scout Walker or Speeder Bike, however non user friendly they prove. Whilst it is firmly designed with multiplayer action in mind, Battlefront is actually perfectly good fun as an offline game. The above average AI of the enemy sees to that, although given the frenetic environments they operate in, their strategic behaviour does not need to be all that sophisticated. Battlefront's novelty value will doubtless wear off relatively fast, leaving behind a slightly empty one trick pony of a game. But for a while, it is an absolute blast, and one of the most immediately satisfying video game offerings yet from George Lucas' stable.


Ethiopia produced 14.27 million tonnes of crops in 2004, 24% higher than in 2003 and 21% more than the average of the past five years, a report says. In 2003, crop production totalled 11.49 million tonnes, the joint report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Food Programme said. Good rains, increased use of fertilizers and improved seeds contributed to the rise in production. Nevertheless, 2.2 million Ethiopians will still need emergency assistance. The report calculated emergency food requirements for 2005 to be 387,500 tonnes. On top of that, 89,000 tonnes of fortified blended food and vegetable oil for "targeted supplementary food distributions for a survival programme for children under five and pregnant and lactating women" will be needed. In eastern and southern Ethiopia, a prolonged drought has killed crops and drained wells. Last year, a total of 965,000 tonnes of food assistance was needed to help seven million Ethiopians. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recommend that the food assistance is bought locally. "Local purchase of cereals for food assistance programmes is recommended as far as possible, so as to assist domestic markets and farmers," said Henri Josserand, chief of FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System. Agriculture is the main economic activity in Ethiopia, representing 45% of gross domestic product. About 80% of Ethiopians depend directly or indirectly on agriculture.


The Premier League is attempting to find a mutually convenient date to investigate allegations Chelsea made an illegal approach for Ashley Cole. Both Chelsea and Arsenal will be asked to give evidence to a Premier League commission, but no deadline has been put on when that meeting will convene. "It's hard to put a date on it," a Premier League spokesman confirmed to BBC Sport. "It's not a formal situation where they've got so much time to respond." Arsenal and England defender Cole reportedly met Blues boss Jose Mourinho and chief executive Peter Kenyon in a London hotel 11 days ago. Chelsea have yet to officially confirm or deny the meeting, which would be in breach of Premier League rule K3. Now the Gunners have asked for an inquiry to look into claims that their player has been "tapped up". Both clubs have pledged to co operate with the inquiry which will be conducted on a single day as opposed to being run as an ongoing evaluation. Cole is in negotiations with the Gunners over extending his current deal which ends in 2007. And his Arsenal team mate Robert Pires has urged the England left back to stay at Highbury. Pires told the Evening Standard: "He has been at Arsenal for ever. He is a very attacking left back and I think he is enjoying his football because at Arsenal he plays in an offensive team. "I am not sure he will get the same pleasure at Chelsea, even though they are doing so well at the moment. "I have built a fantastic playing relationship with Ashley. "We play together so well we could do it with our eyes shut. "But you have to respect the decision of the player. Everybody has that right."


A team of US researchers has shown that controlling devices with the brain is a step closer. Four people, two of them partly paralysed wheelchair users, successfully moved a computer cursor while wearing a cap with 64 electrodes. Previous research has shown that monkeys can control a computer with electrodes implanted into their brain. The New York team reported their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "The results show that people can learn to use scalp recorded electroencephalogram rhythms to control rapid and accurate movement of a cursor in two directions," said Jonathan Wolpaw and Dennis McFarlane. The research team, from New York State Department of Health and State University of New York in Albany, said the research was another step towards people controlling wheelchairs or other electronic devices by thought. The four people faced a large video screen wearing a special cap which, meant no surgery or implantation was needed. Brain activity produces electrical signals that can be read by electrodes. Complex algorithms then translate those signals into instructions to direct the computer. Such brain activity does not require the use of any nerves of muscles, so people with stroke or spinal cord injuries could use the cap effectively. "The impressive non invasive multidimensional control achieved in the present study suggests that a non invasive brain control interface could support clinically useful operation of a robotic arm, a motorised wheelchair or a neuroprosthesis," said the researchers. The four volunteers also showed that they could get better at controlling the cursor the more times they tried. Although the two partially paralysed people performed better overall, the researchers said this could be because their brains were more used to adapting or that they were simply more motivated. It is not the first time researchers have had this sort of success in brain control experiments. Some teams have used eye motion and other recording techniques. Earlier this year, a team at the MIT Media Labs Europe demonstrated a wireless cap which read brain waves to control a computer character.


Middlesbrough midfielder James Morrison has been ruled out for up to eight weeks after an operation on Tuesday. The 18 year old, who has played in 13 of the club's last 14 games, had surgery to repair a double hernia. A club spokesman confirmed: "It is a bilateral sportsman's hernia, which was operated on yesterday." Morrison was sent for scans after being substituted at half time during Boro's 2 1 UEFA Cup win over Graz AK in which he scored the equaliser. His injury is the latest blow for the Teessiders, who have been without Gaizka Mendieta, George Boateng and Mark Viduka for extended periods. Meanwhile, the kick off time for Boro's Uefa Cup match at Sporting Lisbon on 17 March has been brought forward from 2115 GMT to 1945 GMT.


Choking traffic jams in Beijing are prompting officials to look at reorganising car parking charges. Car ownership has risen fast in recent years, and there are now two and a half million cars on the city's roads. The trouble is that the high status of car ownership is matched by expensive fees at indoor car parks, making motorists reluctant to use them. Instead roads are being clogged by drivers circling in search of a cheaper outdoor option. "The price differences between indoor and outdoor lots are unreasonable," said Wang Yan, an official from the Beijing Municipal Commission for Development and Reform quoted in the state run China Daily newspaper. Mr Wang, who is in charge of collecting car parking fees, said his team would be looking at adjusting parking prices to close the gap. Indoor parking bays can cost up to 250% more than outdoor ones. Sports fans who drive to matches may also find themselves the target of the commission's road rage. It wants them to use public transport, and is considering jacking up the prices of car parks near sports grounds. Mr Wang said his review team may scrap the relatively cheap hourly fee near such places and impose a higher flat rate during matches. Indoor parking may be costly, but it is not always secure. Mr Wang's team are also going to look into complaints from residents about poor service received in exchange for compulsory monthly fees of up to 400 yuan ( 48; 26). The Beijing authorities decided two years ago that visiting foreign dignitaries' motorcades should not longer get motorcycle outriders as they blocked the traffic. Unclogging Beijing's increasingly impassable streets is a major concern for the Chinese authorities, who are building dozens of new roads to create a showcase modern city ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games.


Singapore's economy grew by 8.1% in 2004, its best performance since 2000, figures from the trade ministry show. The advance, the second fastest in Asia after China, was led by growth of 13.1% in the key manufacturing sector. However, a slower than expected fourth quarter points to more modest growth for the trade driven economy in 2005 as global technology demand falls back. Slowdowns in the US and China could hit electronics exports, while the tsunami disaster may effect the service sector. Economic growth is set to halve in Singapore this year to between 3% and 5%. In the fourth quarter, the city state's gross domestic product (GDP) rose at an annual rate of 2.4%. That was up from the third quarter, when it fell 3.0%, but was well below analyst forecasts. "I am surprised at the weak fourth quarter number. The main drag came from electronics," said Lian Chia Liang, economist at JP Morgan Chase. Singapore's economy had contracted over the summer, weighed down by soaring oil prices. The economy's poor performance in the July to September period followed four consecutive quarters of double digit growth as Singapore bounced back strongly from the effects of the deadly Sars virus in 2003.


US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova has tested positive for a banned drug, according to Belgian authorities. Belgian sports minister Claude Eerdekens said that the Russian world number five tested positive for the stimulant ephedrine on 19 December. Kuznetsova was playing in an exhibition event in Charleroi at the time. Eerdekens said: "There is a problem. Ephedrine was discovered. She remains innocent until proved guilty. She can ask for it to be tested again." The situation remains unclear as the tournament was not commissioned by the World Anti Doping Agency (Wada), the International Tennis Federation (ITF) or the Women's Tennis Accosiation (WTA). The test was carried out by regional Belgian authorities and Kuznetsova has not yet been able to have a B sample tested. Speaking at the Australian Open on Monday, before Eerdekens identified her, Kuznetsova said: "I'm not worried. I'm not using anything to push myself. "I have not been notified of any positive test, and I think it is unfair that it's come out the way it did." Eerdekens said that confirmation of the findings was sent last Friday to the player's address in Spain, as well as to the Belgian prosecutors' office and the Belgian and Russian tennis federations. He conceded Kuznetsova might have taken a medicine which contained the banned substance. "We have simply stated a fact," he said. "It is for the federation concerned to impose the disciplinary measures after a procedure that respects the defence. "Either the ephedrine was taken to improve her performance or it is because she took some medicine legitimately to cure an infection." However, Kuznetsova's naming was condemned by Russian tennis chief Shamil Tarpishchev. "First of all, this Belgian sports minister has broken every ethical rule in the book by naming a player without any proof of wrongdoing, without any basic evidence," Tarpishchev said. "We all know the basic principle in doping cases. If there is a positive sample, then they should notify the International Tennis Federation (ITF) as well as the national federation within three days," he said. "This is not the case here. As of today we have not received any statement from the doping officials, nor did the ITF. "Today I called the ITF headquarters and they told me they know nothing about it. "If WADA (the World Anti Doping Agency) was behind the testing, then we would also have known something by now. "Otherwise, all these looks to me as pure fiction and fabrication of the facts."


Maurice Greene aims to wipe out the pain of losing his Olympic 100m title in Athens by winning a fourth World Championship crown this summer. He had to settle for bronze in Greece behind fellow American Justin Gatlin and Francis Obikwelu of Portugal. "It really hurts to look at that medal. It was my mistake. I lost because of the things I did," said Greene, who races in Birmingham on Friday. "It's never going to happen again. My goal I'm going to win the worlds." Greene crossed the line just 0.02 seconds behind Gatlin, who won in 9.87 seconds in one of the closest and fastest sprints of all time. But Greene believes he lost the race and his title in the semi finals. "In my semi final race, I should have won the race but I was conserving energy. "That's when Francis Obikwelu came up and I took third because I didn't know he was there. "I believe that's what put me in lane seven in the final and, while I was in lane seven, I couldn't feel anything in the race. "I just felt like I was running all alone. "I believe if I was in the middle of the race I would have been able to react to people that came ahead of me." Greene was also denied Olympic gold in the 4x100m men's relay when he could not catch Britain's Mark Lewis Francis on the final leg. The Kansas star is set to go head to head with Lewis Francis again at Friday's Norwich Union Grand Prix. The pair contest the 60m, the distance over which Greene currently holds the world record of 6.39 seconds. He then has another indoor meeting in France before resuming training for the outdoor season and the task of recapturing his world title in Helsinki in August. Greene believes Gatlin will again prove the biggest threat to his ambitions in Finland. But he also admits he faces more than one rival for the world crown. "There's always someone else coming. I think when I was coming up I would say there was me and Ato (Boldon) in the young crowd," Greene said. "Now you've got about five or six young guys coming up at the same time."


Intel has said it has found a way to put a silicon based laser on a chip, raising hopes of much faster networks. 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.


A Conservative election challenger is quitting after being quoted as wanting a "period of creative destruction in the public services". Danny Kruger, who also works in the Tory research unit, had been due to take on Tony Blair in Sedgefield. He says his remark last week was misrepresented but he will not contest the election for fear of damaging the Conservative cause. Tory leader Michael Howard accepted his decision "with regret". Mr Kruger was quoted in the Guardian newspaper saying: "We plan to introduce a period of creative destruction in the public services." In a statement, the party said the comment had been taken out of context. "He fully supports the party's policies on, and approach to, the public services," said the statement. "However, in order to avoid any further misrepresentation of his views and any damage to the Party, he has decided not to stand in the Sedgefield constituency at the next election." Mr Kruger is continuing in his job at the Tory campaign headquarters. Labour election coordinator Alan Milburn claimed Mr Kruger had exposed the Tory agenda for 35bn of cuts to public services. Mr Milburn said: "He is not some unknown hopeful fighting an unwinnable seat. He is a man who has worked at the heart of Conservative policy development... "His claim that the Tories were planning 'a period of creative destruction in the public services' is not a rogue claim. "It is the authentic and shocking voice of the Conservative Party. It reveals the true picture of what they would do."


Movie studio efforts to stop pirated films being shared on peer to peer networks have claimed a high profile victim. The campaign of legal action is thought to be behind the closure of the widely used Suprnova.org website. The site was the most popular place for people swapping and sharing links for the BitTorrent network. A recent study showed that more than half of the peer to peer traffic during June was for the BitTorrent system. In a message posted on Suprnova.org on Sunday, the site's controllers said the site was "closing down for good in the way that we all know it". If the site did return, the message said, it would not be hosting any more torrent links. It continued: "We are very sorry for this, but there was no other way, we have tried everything. " The only parts that would keep going, said the operators of the Suprnova site, were the discussion forums and net chat channels. The site is thought to have closed following an announcement by the Motion Picture Association of America that it was launching legal action against those operating BitTorrent servers rather than end users. Because of the way that BitTorrent works, server sites do not host the actual file being shared, instead they host a link that points people to others that have it. By targeting servers, the MPAA hopes to cripple BitTorrent's ability to share files. In the opening days of the MPAA campaign, the organisation filed 100 lawsuits against operators of BitTorrent server site. The launching of the legal seems to be having an effect. Phoenix Torrents, another popular BitTorrent site, has also decided to shut down and, though it gave no reasons for the closure, it is thought to be motivated by the threat of legal action. Last week Finnish police raided a BitTorrent site based in the country that, according to reports, let 10,000 users shared pirated films, software, music and games.


The new health minister for Wales says there are lessons to learn from England in tackling waiting lists. Dr Brian Gibbons, on his first full day in the job after Jane Hutt was sacked, admitted "big challenges" but insisted the "essentials" were in place. But both Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats said Dr Gibbons needed to change policy. Meanwhile Ms Hutt defended her record, saying waiting times and lists were "only 10% of the health agenda. Dr Gibbons, who was a GP in Blaengwynfi, in the Upper Afan Valley, before becoming AM for Aberavon, said NHS staff wanted a period of consolidation after "tremendous change and reform". One of the biggest problems which had faced Ms Hutt during her five and a half years as the assembly's first health minister was the length of waiting lists in Wales. In November the British Medical Association said NHS staff were "weeping with despair" as figures showed 311,000 people were waiting for treatment in Wales, up by 2,400 on the previous month. In the same month lists in England were at their lowest for 17 years, with 856,600 people waiting for treatment. Dr Gibbons told Radio Wales: "There is no doubt that, in managing waiting lists, England has done a lot of very very useful work, and we do need to learn from that." But he said the NHS in Wales also needed to create a healthier population rather than respond only to ill health, and a balanced view of priorities was important. "We do need a consistent across the board approach, recognising the patients' experience of how they use the service is going to be, at the end of the day, the main test of how the service is working." He said NHS staff wanted a period of consolidation after "tremendous change and reform". Later, Dr Gibbons praised the work of Ms Hutt, saying he "agreed with everything she's done" to change the health service in Wales. Dr Gibbons said he accepted there was a problem, but his job now was to build on the foundations put in place by his predecessor. He also acknowledged that until the waiting list issue was sorted out, the rest of the assembly government's health policy would be overshadowed. Opposition members and some Labour MPs had long called for Ms Hutt's removal after sustained criticism over extended hospital waiting times. First Minister Rhodri Morgan told BBC Wales he had agreed with Ms Hutt in 2003 that she would not be health minister in the run up to the 2007 elections. "She's been doing the job for five years and eight months and, apart from Nye Bevan himself, (architect of the NHS), I don't think anybody has ever done the job for so long." Mr Morgan said he had only told Ms Hutt of the reshuffle on Monday morning, and said the NHS in Wales was Dr Gibbons' "baby" now. In response to Dr Gibbons' comments, Ieuan Wyn Jones, leader of the Plaid Cymru group in the assembly, said: "It is apparent that this reshuffle by the first minister was just changing the deckchairs on a sinking Titanic." Kisrty Williams, for the Lib Dems, added: "If the underlying policy is going to continue, then changing the minister will serve no purpose, other than to deflect flak from Labour's MPs," she said. Meanwhile Ms Hutt said she hoped "that the people of Wales would benefit from my investment of the past five years and eight months" Asked about waiting lists, she said that waiting times and lists were "only 10% of the health agenda" and that the Welsh Assembly Government had "turned the corner" on the issue.


Creditors of South Korea's top credit card firm have said they will put the company into liquidation if its ex parent firm fails to back a bail out. LG Card's creditors have given LG group until Wednesday to sign up to a 1.1bn rescue package. The firm avoided bankruptcy thanks to a 4.5bn bail out in January 2004, which gave control to the creditors. LG Group has said any package should reflect the firm's new ownership, and it will not accept an unfair burden. At least seven million people in South Korea use LG Card's plastic for purchases. LG Card's creditors have threatened parent group LG Group with penalties if it fails to respond to their demands. "Creditors would seek strong financial sanctions against LG Group if LG Card is liquidated," said Yoo Ji chang, governor of Korean Development Bank (KDB) one of the card firm's major creditors. LG Group has said providing further help to the credit card issuer could hurt its corporate credibility and could spark shareholder lawsuits. It says it wants "fair and reasonable guidelines" on splitting the financial burden with the creditors, who now own 99.3% of LG Card. The creditors have asked the government to mediate to avoid any risk to the stability of financial markets, KDB said. Analysts believe a compromise is likely. "LG Group knows the impact on consumer demand and the national economy from a liquidation of LG Card," said Kim Yungmin, an equity strategist at Dongwon Investment Trust Management. LG Card almost collapsed in 2003 due to an increase in overdue credit card bills after the bursting of a credit bubble. The firm returned to profit in September 2004, but now needs a capital injection to avoid being delisted from the Korea Stock Exchange. The exchange can delist a company if its debt exceeds its assets for two years running. LG card's creditors fear that such a move would triggered massive debt redemption requests that could bankrupt the firm, which owes about 12.05bn. "Eventually, LG Group will have to participate, but they have been stalling to try to earn better concessions," said Mr Kim.


Voting is under way for the annual Bloggies which recognise the best web blogs online spaces where people publish their thoughts of the year. Nominations were announced on Sunday, but traffic to the official site was so heavy that the website was temporarily closed because of too many visitors. Weblogs have been nominated in 30 categories, from the top regional blog, to the best kept secret blog. Blogs had a huge year, with a top US dictionary naming "blog" word of 2004. Technorati, a blog search engine, tracks about six million blogs and says that more than 12,000 are added daily. A blog is created every 5.8 seconds, according to US research think tank Pew Internet and American Life, but less than 40% of the total are updated at least once every two months. Nikolai Nolan, who has run the Bloggies for the past five years, told the BBC News website he was not too surprised by the amount of voters who crowded the site. "The awards always get a lot of traffic; this was just my first year on a server with a bandwidth limit, so I had to guess how much I'd need," he said. There were many new finalists this year, he added, and a few that had won Bloggies before. Several entries reflected specific news events. "There are four nominations for the South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog, which is a pretty timely one for 2005," said Mr Nolan. The big Bloggies battle will be for the ultimate prize of blog of the year. The nominated blogs are wide ranging covering what is in the news to quirky sites of interest. Fighting it out for the coveted award are Gawker, This Fish Needs a Bicycle, Wonkette, Boing Boing, and Gothamist. In a sign that blogs are playing an increasingly key part in spreading news and current affairs, The South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog is also nominated in the best overall category. GreenFairyDotcom, Londonist, Hicksdesign, PlasticBag and London Underground Tube Blog are the nominees in the best British or Irish weblog. Included in the other categories is best "meme". This is for the top "replicating idea that spread about weblogs". Nominations include Flickr, a web photo album which lets people upload, tag, share and publish their images to blogs. Podcasting has also made an appearance in the category. It is an increasingly popular idea that makes use of RSS (really simple syndication) and audio technology to let people easily make their own radio shows, and distribute them automatically onto portable devices. Many are done by those who already have text based blogs, so they are almost like audio blogs. Three new categories have been added to the list this year, including best food, best entertainment, and best writing of a weblog. One of the categories that was scrapped though was best music blog. The winners of the fifth annual Bloggies are chosen by the public. Public voting closes on 3 February and the winners will be announced sometime between 13 and 15 March.


The US stock market regulator is investigating troubled insurance broker Marsh McLennan's shareholder transactions, the firm has said. The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked for information about transactions involving holders of 5% or more of the firm's shares. Marsh has said it is co operating fully with the SEC investigation. Marsh is also the focus of an inquiry the New York attorney general into whether insurers rigged the market. Since that inquiry was launched in October, Marsh has replaced its chief executive and held a boardroom shake out to meet criticism by lessening the number of company executives on the board. Prosecutors allege that Marsh the world's biggest insurance broker and other US insurance firms may have fixed bids for corporate cover. This is the issue at the heart of the inquiry by New York's top law officer, Eliot Spitzer, and a separate prosecution of five insurers by the State of California. The SEC's investigation into so called related party transactions includes dealings in the Trident Funds, managed by MMC Capital, the company's private equity firm. Marsh's new chief executive, Michael Cherkasky, is trying to negotiate a settlement with Mr Spitzer. Mr Spitzer has built up a reputation as a fierce critic and campaigner against corporate America's misdeeds. The uncertainty unleashed by the scandal has prompted three credit rating agencies Standard Poor's, Moody's and Fitch to downgrade Marsh in recent weeks. According to the Financial Times, insurance analysts are now questioning whether Marsh will be able to maintain its strong record of earning growth as they draw up forecasts for the first quarter of next year. Doubts also exist over how much the company may have to pay regulators and lawyers to put the scandal behind.


Martina Hingis makes her return to competitve tennis after two years out of the game at the Volvo Women's Open in Pattaya, Thailand, on Tuesday. She faces German Marlene Weingartner in the first round. "As a competitor and athlete, I always want to win. I hope my body will hold up," said Hingis. "You miss being out there in a Grand Slam final and not competing. It's a big difference between playing and commenting for TV. I miss it a lot." The former world number one was 22 when she retired after having surgery on both ankles, and her last WTA event was in Filderstadt, Germany, in October 2002, when she lost to Elena Dementieva. Only last year she insisted that a comeback was unlikely, but speaking in Thaliand Hingis admitted: "I said that because I didn't know what would happen with my body." Her appearance will also benefit charities in the region and the Swiss star will donate her prize money.


A mobile phone that recognises and responds to movements has been launched in Japan. The motion sensitive phone officially titled the V603SH was developed by Sharp and launched by Vodafone's Japanese division. Devised mainly for mobile gaming, users can also access other phone functions using a pre set pattern of arm movements. The phone will allow golf fans to improve their swing via a golfing game. Those who prefer shoot 'em ups will be able to use the phone like a gun to shoot the zombies in the mobile version of Sega's House of the Dead. The phone comes with a tiny motion control sensor, a computer chip that responds to movement. Other features include a display screen that allows users to watch TV and can rotate 180 degrees. It also doubles up as an electronic musical instrument. Users have to select a sound from a menu that includes clapping, tambourine and maracas and shake their phone to create a beat. It is being recommended for the karaoke market. The phone will initially be available in Japan only and is due to go on sale in mid February. The new gadget could make for interesting people watching among Japanese commuters, who are able to access their mobiles on the subway. Fishing afficiandos in South Korea are already using a phone that allows them to simulate the movement of a rod. The PH S6500 phone, dubbed a sports leisure gadget, was developed by Korean phone giant Pantech and can also be used by runners to measure calorie consumption and distance run.


The decision to keep interest rates on hold at 4.75% earlier this month was passed 8 1 by the Bank of England's rate setting body, minutes have shown. One member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Paul Tucker voted to raise rates to 5%. The news surprised some analysts who had expected the latest minutes to show another unanimous decision. Worries over growth rates and consumer spending were behind the decision to freeze rates, the minutes showed. The Bank's latest inflation report, released last week, had noted that the main reason inflation might fall was weaker consumer spending. However, MPC member Paul Tucker voted for a quarter point rise in interest rates to 5%. He argued that economic growth was picking up, and that the equity, credit and housing markets had been stronger than expected. The Bank's minutes said that risks to the inflation forecast were "sufficiently to the downside" to keep rates on hold at its latest meeting. However, the minutes added: "Some members noted that an increase might be warranted in due course if the economy evolved in line with the central projection". Ross Walker, UK economist at Royal Bank of Scotland, said he was surprised that a dissenting vote had been made so soon. He said the minutes appeared to be "trying to get the market to focus on the possibility of a rise in rates". "If the economy pans out as they expect then they are probably going to have to hike rates." However, he added, any rate increase is not likely to happen until later this year, with MPC members likely to look for a more sustainable pick up in consumer spending before acting.


UK retail sales fell in December, failing to meet expectations and making it by some counts the worst Christmas since 1981. Retail sales dropped by 1% on the month in December, after a 0.6% rise in November, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. The ONS revised the annual 2004 rate of growth down from the 5.9% estimated in November to 3.2%. A number of retailers have already reported poor figures for December. Clothing retailers and non specialist stores were the worst hit with only internet retailers showing any significant growth, according to the ONS. The last time retailers endured a tougher Christmas was 23 years previously, when sales plunged 1.7%. The ONS echoed an earlier caution from Bank of England governor Mervyn King not to read too much into the poor December figures. Some analysts put a positive gloss on the figures, pointing out that the non seasonally adjusted figures showed a performance comparable with 2003. The November December jump last year was roughly comparable with recent averages, although some way below the serious booms seen in the 1990s. And figures for retail volume outperformed measures of actual spending, an indication that consumers are looking for bargains, and retailers are cutting their prices. However, reports from some High Street retailers highlight the weakness of the sector. Morrisons, Woolworths, House of Fraser, Marks Spencer and Big Food all said that the festive period was disappointing. And a British Retail Consortium survey found that Christmas 2004 was the worst for 10 years. Yet, other retailers including HMV, Monsoon, Jessops, Body Shop and Tesco reported that festive sales were well up on last year. Investec chief economist Philip Shaw said he did not expect the poor retail figures to have any immediate effect on interest rates. "The retail sales figures are very weak, but as Bank of England governor Mervyn King indicated last night, you don't really get an accurate impression of Christmas trading until about Easter," said Mr Shaw. "Our view is the Bank of England will keep its powder dry and wait to see the big picture."


Michael Howard has denied his shadow cabinet was split over its decision to back controversial Labour plans to introduce ID cards. The Tory leader said his front bench team had reached a "collective view" after holding a "good discussion", but admitted it was "not an easy issue". He had decided to support the plans as the police said they would help fight terror, crime and illegal immigration. The Lib Dems have pledged to oppose the bill when it is debated next Monday. Tory sources say senior party figures had argued vociferously against the ID card scheme. Among those reported to have serious reservations over the strategy were senior shadow cabinet members David Davis, Oliver Letwin and Tim Yeo. But Mr Howard denied Mr Yeo, his transport and environment spokesman, said the plans "stink". He also said he was confident shadow home secretary Mr Davis would "set out the position very clearly" when he stands up to debate the matter next week. Mr Howard said the police had said ID cards could "help them foil a terror bomb plot in which people could lose their lives". He added: "When the police say that you have to take them seriously". He acknowledged there were "good libertarian arguments" against the cards, but said the shadow Cabinet had weighed up all the "conflicting interests" before reaching its decision. "I don't pretend that it is an easy decision but at the end of the day a decision has to be taken." He also denied he was afraid of looking "soft" on the issue, compared to Labour. The Conservatives announced their support for the government plans on Monday evening. Sources within the party told the BBC Mr Howard had always been in favour of ID cards, and tried to introduce them when he was Home Secretary. But the Tories insisted they would hold ministers to account over the precise purpose of the scheme. They said they would also press Labour over whether objectives could be met and whether the Home Office would be able to deliver them. And they pledged to assess the cost effectiveness of ID cards and whether people's privacy would be properly protected. "It is important to remember that this bill will take a decade to come into full effect," a spokesman said. Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten has branded the ID scheme a waste of money and "deeply flawed". He said: "This has all the signs of Michael Howard overruling colleagues' concerns over ID cards." The chairman of the Bar Council, Guy Mansfield QC warned there was a real risk that people on the "margins of society" would be driven into the hands of extremists. "What is going to happen to young Asian men when there has been a bomb gone off somewhere? They are going to be stopped. If they haven't ID cards they are going to be detained." Tory ex minister Douglas Hogg said he opposed the plans for ID cards branding them a "regressive" step which would intrude into the lives of ordinary citizens without any counterbalancing benefits. He predicted ultimately carrying the cards would become compulsory and that would lead to large numbers of Britain's ethnic minorities being stopped by police.


Scandinavians and Koreans, two of the most adventurous groups of mobile users, are betting on mobile TV. Anders Igels, chief executive of Nordic operator Teliasonera, tipped it as the next big thing in mobile in a speech at the 3GSM World Congress, a mobile trade fair, in Cannes this week. Nokia, the Finnish handset maker, is planning a party in Singapore this spring to launch its TV to mobile activities in the region. Consultancy Strategy Analytics of Boston estimates that mobile broadcast networks will have acquired around 51 million users worldwide by 2009, producing around 6.6bn ( 3.5bn) in revenue. SK Telecom of South Korea, which is launching a TV to mobile service (via satellite) in May plans to charge a flat fee of 12 a month for its 12 channels of video and 12 channels of audio. It will be able to offer an additional two pay TV channels using conditional access technology. Mr Shin Bae Kim, chief executive of SK Telecom, also at 3GSM, said: "We have plans to integrate TV with mobile internet services. "This will enable viewers to access the mobile internet to get more information on adverts they see on TV." There will be 12 handsets available for the launch of the Korean service. LG Electronics of South Korea was demonstrating one at 3GSM that could display video at 30 frames a second. Footage shown on the handset was clear and watchable. A speech on mobile TV by Angel Gambino of the BBC also drew a large crowd, suggesting that even those mobile operators and equipment vendors which are not particularly active in mobile TV yet are starting to look into it. But all is not simple and straightforward in the mobile TV arena. There is a battle for supremacy between two competing standards: DVB H for Digital Video Broadcasting for Handsets and DMB for Digital Multimedia Broadcasting. Dr Chan Yeob Yeun, vice president and research fellow in charge of mobile TV at LG Electronics, said: "DMB offers twice the number of frames a minute as DVB H and does not drain mobile batteries as quickly." The Japanese, Koreans and Ericsson of Sweden are backing DMB. Samsung of South Korea has a DMB phone too that will be one of those offered to users of the TU Media satellite mobile TV service to be launched in Korea in May. Nokia, by contrast, is backing DVB H, and is involved in mobile TV trials that use its art deco style media phone, which has a larger than usual screen for TV or visual radio (a way of accompanying a radio programme with related text and pictures). Mobile operators O2 and Vodafone are among the operators trialling mobile TV. But even if the standards battle is resolved, there is the thorny issue of broadcasting rights. Ms Gambino says the BBC now negotiates mobile rights when it is negotiating content. For those not convinced mobile users will want to watch TV on their handsets, Digital Audio Broadcasting may provide a good compromise and better sound quality than conventional radio. Developments in this area are continuing. At a DAB conference in Cannes, several makers of DAB chips for mobiles announced smaller, lower cost chips which consume less power. Among the chip companies present were Frontier Silicon and Radioscape. The jury is still out on whether TV and digital radio on mobiles will make much money for anyone. But with many new services going live soon, it won't be long before the industry finds out.


Deaf people who prefer to communicate using British Sign Language (BSL) could soon be having their phone conversations relayed using webcams or videophones and an interpreter. The Video Relay Service is being piloted by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), but the organisation says unless the service is provided at the same rate as voice calls it will be beyond most people's pockets. The RNID is urging telecoms regulator, Ofcom, to reduce the cost of the service from the current 7.00 per minute and make it the same as ordinary phone calls. The service works by putting a deaf person in visual contact with a BSL interpreter via a webcam or video phone, and the interpreter then relays the deaf person's conversation using a telephone and translates the other person's response into sign language. For many deaf people, especially those born deaf, BSL is a first and preferred means of communication. Until now, the only alternative has been to use textphones which means having to type a message and have it relayed via an operator. "In the past, I've used textphones but they have problems," said Robert Currington who is taking part in the pilot. "I communicate in BSL; my written English is not very good and it takes me longer to think in English and type my message." "I sometimes find it difficult to understand the reply." The RNID says the UK is lagging behind other countries which are already making relay services available at the cost of an ordinary phone call. "There are no technical or economic reasons for not providing equivalent access to services for deaf people," said RNID technology director, Guido Gybels. "In the US and Australia, sign language relay services have already been made universally available at the same cost as a voice call. "By failing to provide and fund the video relay service for sign language users, the telecommunications sector is effectively discriminating against an already disenfranchised group." Ofcom says it has plans to review the services that telecoms companies are obliged to provide early next year. And new technology, including the Video Relay Service, will be discussed with interested parties in the near future. But a spokesman said its powers were limited by legislation. "Any proposals to extend existing arrangements to cover new services would be for government to consider," he said. Mr Currington, like many of the UK's 70,000 BSL users, will be hoping that a way can be found to make a cost effective service available. "The relay service makes phone conversations a pleasure," he said. "I can show my emotions more easily in BSL in the same way hearing people express emotions through voice calls."


Divorced parents seeking access to their children are often disadvantaged by the legal system, MPs have said. The Constitutional Affairs Select Committee said parents with custody could exploit delays in the system to stop former partners gaining access. Courts should be used as a last resort, but where they are, their orders should be enforced more rigorously, MPs said. But they rejected the claim made by some campaign groups that there should be a legal presumption of equal access. Currently the presumption is that the interests of the child are paramount. "An arbitrary 'template' imposed on all families, whatever the needs of the child, would relegate the welfare of individual children to a secondary position," the MPs said. They said the law should be changed to require family courts specifically to take account of the importance of sustaining the relationship between the child and the non resident parent in contested cases. This would "reassert the rights of non resident parents to contact with their children, as well as the rights of children to contact with both their parents, while maintaining sufficient flexibility to cope with issues of safety", they said. Delays in court hearings and the inability to effectively enforce court orders allowed "a new 'status quo' arrangement for the children to become established by default", they said. "Although the courts rigorously avoid conscious bias, there are considerable grounds for accepting that non resident parents are frequently disadvantaged by the system as it is administered at present. "Given the strong animosity between the parties which is common in contested family cases, we find it hard to believe that tactical delay is not sometimes used to the advantage of resident parents." Committee chairman Alan Beith said the five month inquiry had been a "complex and emotive" one. "At the moment, far too many contact and residency cases are being dealt with by the courts when they could be better resolved through professional mediation and negotiation," he said. "This situation has to change. The court system should only be used as a last resort, where mediation and negotiation have completely broken down or where issues of abuse or domestic violence need to be dealt with. "This will help to reduce delays and improve the lives of many children across the country."


An investigation into doping claims against Marion Jones has been opened by the International Olympic Committee. IOC president Jacques Rogge has set up a disciplinary body to look into claims by Victor Conte, of Balco Laboratories. Jones, who says she is innocent, could lose all her Olympic medals after Conte said he gave her performance enhancing drugs before the Sydney Olympics. But Rogge said it was too early to speculate about that, hoping only that "the truth will emerge". Any decision on the medals would be taken by the IOC's executive board and could hinge on interpretation of a rule stating that Olympic decisions can only be challenged within three years of the Games closing. The Sydney Olympics ended more than four years ago, but World Anti Doping Agency chief Dick Pound said the rule may not apply because the allegations are only coming out now. "We will find a way to deal with that," Pound said. In a statement released through her attorney Rich Nichols, Jones repeated her innocence and vowed she would be cleared. "Victor Conte's allegations are not true and the truth will be revealed for the world to see as the legal process moves forward," she said. "Conte is someone who is under federal indictment and has a record of issuing contradictory, inconsistent statements."


Scandal hit jet fuel supplier China Aviation Oil has offered to repay its creditors 220m ( 117m) of the 550m it lost on trading in oil futures. The firm said it hoped to pay 100m now and another 120m over eight years. With assets of 200m and liabilities totalling 648m, it needs creditors' backing for the offer to avoid going into bankruptcy. The trading scandal is the biggest to hit Singapore since the 1.2bn collapse of Barings Bank in 1995. Chen Jiulin, chief executive of China Aviation Oil (CAO), was arrested by at Changi Airport by Singapore police on 8 December. He was returning from China, where he had headed when CAO announced its trading debacle in late November. The firm had been betting heavily on a fall in the price of oil during October, but prices rose sharply instead. Among the creditors whose backing CAO needs for its restructuring plan are banking giants such as Barclay's Capital and Sumitomo Mitsui, as well as South Korean firm SK Energy. Of the immediate payment, the firm China's biggest jet fuel supplier said it would be paying 30m out of its own resources. The rest would come from its parent company, China Aviation Oil Holding Company in Beijing. The holding company, owned by the Chinese government, holds most of CAO's Singapore listed shares. It cut its holding from 75% to 60% on 20 October.


Phone companies are not doing enough to warn customers about internet "rogue dialling" scams, according to premium phone line regulator Icstis. It has received 45,000 complaints in recent months about dial up internet connections diverting to premium rate numbers without users' knowledge. Phone companies refuse to pay compensation because they say calls must be paid for. They must warn people earlier about possible fraud, Icstis said. People who use dial up connections can be affected by the scams. Without realising, a program can be downloaded which diverts internet calls via a premium phone line. Victims often fail to notice until they receive an unusually high bill. Icstis spokesman Rob Dwight said: "Phone companies should get in touch with their customers sooner. "If my bill goes over the usual 50 a month I want to know about it straight away I don't want to be told when it's hit 750." Phone companies had the systems in place to spot fraudulent activity and artificially inflated traffic, he said. "We alert them to the numbers that we have under investigation and they should be looking out for these numbers," he added. Telecoms ombudsman Elizabeth France said: "Certainly I would not be surprised to find my credit card company phoning me if I do something out of the ordinary. "So I would expect phone companies to be looking to see if they can have a similar approach." The biggest phone company BT says it is doing what it can to monitor fraud and warn people about rogue dialling. Its advice to customers is to use call barring if they want to prevent calls to premium lines because, under the current system, once the call has been made there's little that can be done. Gavin Patterson, group managing director for BT Consumer, said "We do look at customer's calling patterns and we do make interventions when they are out of the ordinary. "We're looking at the moment at whether we can improve this." But as BT handled 180 million calls a day monitoring was "quite a task in itself", he added. The government has ordered a review of premium line services and is likely to say Icstis should have more power to deal with rogue diallers in future. At the moment, it cannot demand pay outs on the behalf of customer it can only close illegal services down. I use free anti virus software (AVG) and free firewall protection (ZoneAlarm). Both of these tools have prevented unauthorised access and outgoing calls inadvertently and innocently caused by my daughter's love of music sites. How about ISPs informing all customers of such facilities? The responsibility clearly falls with the customer but many fall prey through simply not knowing how to avoid these issues. Ignorance is and always has been an expensive business. Does any one know what happens once this fraud has been committed and recognised? The phone companies pay the people who obtaining money fraudulently, so are these people followed up and prosecuted ? These diallers are mainly downloaded from sites offering illegal MP3s, porn and pirated software. If people didn't visit such sites they'd be considerably less at risk. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? It seems everyone has to be a 'victim' these days! Part of the blame has to rest with the manufacturers of home computer operating systems. A secure system should not allow a web page or email to download and install anything without the user's knowledge. These scams are illegal and telephone companies should have nothing to do with them. They should refuse to pay money over to the perpetrators. Or are they themselves receiving such good returns that it is in their interest to keep the scam going? Why don't BT et al block all premium numbers by default and only turn it off at the customer's request? To anyone who falls foul of this scam refuse to pay your telephone provider for these calls. After you notify your telephone provider of these fraudulent transactions, they cannot insist on you paying the bill. To do so would be to knowingly assist the fraudsters to commit the fraud. No customers have yet been taken to court for refusing to pay these bills. Disable or remove your modem and use broadband instead then you have nothing to worry about. Or buy some decent firewall software and anti virus. You would not walk out in the freezing cold without a coat you would not drive your car without any insurance so why not protect your PC? Stop blaming the phone companies it's not their fault! I was very impressed with our phone company recently. I had kept ringing a hotline number for Kylie tickets and next day they rang back to ask if I was aware there were 40 odd calls to the same number. Great service. And I got the tickets as well! I have a colleague who has fallen victim to this kind of scam. He informed the phone company about it, they subsequently put a block on premium rate numbers. Three months later another huge bill of over 1,000 came in the block apparently didn't work and he still has to pay for it, even though a block was in place. Phone companies are probably quite happy for their customers to be hit with a huge bill, otherwise they'd be taking extra steps to prevent this kind of problem. I have been scammed of 139. The operator will do nothing about this and, to add insult to injury, I was charged VAT by the government. Premium rate numbers have been subject to various scams ever since they were invented. One example was where thieves would set up a premium rate number and then dial it day and night from phones whose quarterly bills were never paid. The telephone company was the victim here and you can bet that loophole was blocked very quickly. I know people who have run up large bills, despite being IT literate. From talking to BT in Belfast, I believe that they will shortly be giving out a free application that can stop you dialling expensive numbers without knowing. It's not the fault of phone companies, and at last they are doing something about it. It's about time that the profiteering by the 'legitimate' phone companies came to an end, mainly by doing away with dial up altogether and bring broadband down to the same price as dial up! Not only will this ruin things for the dialler scammers but also allow people to update and upgrade their security more easily and quickly. I haven't "fallen victim to a rogue dialling scam" but I think you're seriously remiss in not pointing out that the vast majority of these scams arise from people trying to access services purporting to provide free pornography. In most cases the user is entirely at fault, which is probably why the telephone companies are rightly unwilling to refund them. My telephone supplier did not inform me that my monthly bill had risen from its normal 3 to 5, to 320. This was because of the scam. They simply billed me. What particularly galls me, over and above having over 300 stolen, is that the supplier and the government (through VAT) are profiting from this crime and will not reimburse me their portion of my losses. How about an automatic monthly cap of say 20 on premium rate calls that you would have to contact your provider to have lifted? That way you could use legitimate premium rate numbers while limiting fraudulent usage. At least any disputed amount would be limited, far easier for a telecoms operator to write off 20 than it is 750. A few years back I was also the target of such scams but thank God I have already upgraded to broadband and nothing was connected to my modem so all I heard was the sound of an attempted connection. How about home users take some responsibility and ensure their anti virus and firewall software is up to date? That should prevent the vast majority of these scams.


England tight head prop Phil Vickery has been ruled out of the rest of the 2005 RBS Six Nations after breaking a bone in his right forearm. Vickery was injured as his club side, Gloucester, beat Bath 17 16 in the West country derby on Saturday. He could be joined on the sidelines by Bath centre Olly Barkley, who sat out the derby due to a leg injury. Barkley will have a scan on Sunday and might miss England's trip to Six Nations leaders Ireland next weekend. The news is just the latest blow for coach Andy Robinson, who has seen his side lose their opening two matches in the 2005 Six Nations. Robinson is already without World Cup winners Jonny Wilkinson, Will Greenwood, Mike Tindall, Richard Hill and Trevor Woodman through injury. Vickery has broken the radius, a large bone in his forearm. He only returned to the England side last weekend after a long term back injury, which was followed by a fractured eye socket. And the Gloucester prop was only recalled after Leicester tight head Julian White suffered a neck injury which has already seen him ruled out of the Ireland game. Bath prop Matt Stevens is the only remaining tight head in England's training squad and could be involved against Ireland. But he has to play second fiddle at club level to Duncan Bell, who excelled for England A against France and may now be called into the squad. The extent of Barkley's injury is not yet clear but Bath boss John Connolly rates him no better than "50 50" to face Ireland. Barkley played at inside cente in England's defeat by France and if he is unable to play, England's constantly changing midfield will once again have to be altered. Robinson could choose to recall Mathew Tait or Henry Paul, although Tait endured a nightmare for Newcastle against Leicester on Saturday and Paul limped off with an ankle injury against Bath. In form Leicester centre Ollie Smith is the other outstanding candidate, and two tries against Newcastle will have boosted his chances. Fly half Andy Goode is also a strong contender for the match day 22 after an immaculate kicking display on Saturday. England, fourth in the Six Nations table with zero points, play Ireland, top of the table, in Dublin on 27 February, kick off 1500 GMT.


Malaysia's central bank is to relax restrictions on foreign ownership to encourage Islamic banking. Banks in Malaysia will now be able to sell up to 49% of their Islamic banking units, while the limit on other kinds of bank remains at 30%. RHB, Malaysia's third biggest lender, is already scouting for a foreign partner for its new Islamic banking unit, the firm told Reuters. The moves put Malaysia ahead of a 2007 deadline to open up the sector. The country's deal to join the World Trade Organisation set that year as a deadline for liberalisation of Islamic banking. Also on Tuesday, the central bank released growth figures showing Malaysia's economy expanded 7.1% in 2004. But growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter to 5.6%, and the central bank said it expected 6% expansion in 2005. Malaysia changed the law to allow Islamic banking in 1983. It has granted licences to three Middle Eastern groups, which along with local players mean there are eight fully operational Islamic banking groups in the country. Islamic banks offer services which permit modern banking principles while sticking to Islamic law's ban on the payment of interest. Most of the Malays which make up half the country's population are Muslims.


The Mac mini has been welcomed by Apple fans, industry experts and PC users. The release of the tiny, low cost machine is seen as a good move for Apple which currently has a small share of the desktop computer market. Mac watchers and some analysts say the Mac mini will go a long way to help Apple appeal to the mass of consumers. They speculate that the Mac mini will be bought by iPod owners and those wanting an easy to use and administer second home computer. "It's the bravest move they have made yet," said Jonny Evans, news editor at Macworld magazine. Mr Evans said the combination of low cost, small size and huge numbers of iPod users could make it a big success. He thought that the machine would appeal to those that like Apple technology but who before now have balked at paying high prices for its hardware. "It's deeply affordable," he said. "Plus you know that you do not get viruses or all of the associated problems." Already, he said, PC owning friends had declared that they would be buying one. Interest in the new products launched at Macworld expo was so strong that websites for Apple's store and the show struggled to cope with demand. According to response statistics gathered by Netcraft many visiting the Apple store in the wake of Mr Jobs' speech suffered lengthy response times. The Macworld Expo site was completely overwhelmed and went offline. "I think fundamentally it's a good idea because it's cheap even for a PC," said Nick Ross, deputy labs editor at PC Pro. Apple's work on making things easy to use would also help the Mac mini win fans, he said. "I think people expect it just to work now and really it should," hesaid. The Mac mini could find a role in homes that need a second computer that is easy to install and administer, he said. "For browsing the web, e mail and all kinds of basic duties it's going to be absolutely adequate," said Mr Ross. Ian Fogg, broadband and personal technology analyst at Jupiter Research, agreed that the Mac mini could be very popular. "Apple has been hoping that sales of the iPod will have a halo effect on the sales of the Mac," he said. Before now, he said, Apple has been seen as a premium brand. But, he said, the Mac mini changed that perception. "It's a particularly good price when you see that it's Apple that is doing it," he said. Apple expects the Mac mini to sell for 339 in the UK and 499 in the US. Adding extras such as a larger hard drive, more memory and networking options will increase the basic price. It will go on sale from 22 January. "For consumers interested in style, design and small size which is what the majority of iPod customers are interested in it's a natural next step," said Mr Fogg. Apple has traditionally done well in the market that the Mac mini is aimed at, said Mr Fogg, who also expected many PC makers to release copycat devices in reaction. His only misgivings were over how easy other consumers, other than iPod owners, would find using the machine. He said anyone wanting to use the Mac mini with the peripherals from an old computer may find it odd to have something so small and sleek next to a hulking monitor. "They'd be much more likely to pair a Mac mini with a LCD or flat panel monitor which increases the upgrade cost," he said. Those with flat screens and LCD monitors are likely to have bought them recently and not be in the market for a new machine. There are also questions over whether the Mac mini will work with very old peripherals, such as display, keyboard and mouse. The Mac mini also fell short of being a media server that can be a video recorder as well as a store for all the digital music, movies and images people accumulate, said Mr Fogg. "The Mac mini is not quite ready for that yet," he said. "It does not have the right connectors that fit a TV screen or enough storage." Said Mr Fogg: "It's very much a computer." One dissenting opinion came from Brian Gammage, vice president of research at analysts Gartner. He said: "I don't think it changes the world." Although the Mac mini was very cheap for an Apple computer, it was still expensive compared to many PCs. Also, he said, it appealed in categories that few consumers care about when buying a home computer. "The PC world is a pile em high, sell em cheap market," he said, "and all of them are pretty interchangeable." "Since the days when Apple ruled the personal computing world its market share has been on a long, slow decline," he said. "Every few years it does something to give its market share a kick then it starts to go back down again," said Mr Gammage. The release of the Mac mini fit perfectly with this trend, he said.


UK based bank Standard Chartered said it would spend 3.3bn ( 1.8bn) to buy one of South Korea's main retail banks. Standard Chartered said acquiring Korea First Bank (KFB) fulfilled a strategic objective of building a bigger presence in Asia's third largest economy. Its shares fell nearly 3% in London as the bank raised funds for the deal by selling new stocks worth 1bn ( 1.8bn), equal to 10% of its share capital. Standard Chartered expects about 16% of future group revenue to come from KFB. The South Korean bank will also make up 22% of the group's total assets. The move, a year after Citigroup beat Standard Chartered to buy Koram bank, would be the South Korean financial sector's biggest foreign takeover. This time around, Standard Chartered is thought to have beaten HSBC to the deal. KFB is South Korea's seventh largest bank, with 3 million retail customers, 6% of the country's banking market and an extensive branch network. The country's banking market is three times the size of Hong Kong's with annual revenues of 44bn. Standard Chartered has its headquarters in London but does two thirds of its business in Asia, and much of the rest in Africa. "We're comfortable with the price paid...the key here has been speed and decisiveness in making sure that we won," said Standard Chartered chief executive Mervyn Davies at a London press conference. Standard Chartered said KFB was a "well managed, conservatively run bank with a highly skilled workforce" and represented a "significant acquisition in a growth market". In London, Standard Chartered's sale of 118 million new shares to institutional investors pushed its share price down, and contributing to the FTSE 100's 0.3% decline. Standard Chartered's shares were 28 pence lower at 925p by midday. Some analysts also queried whether Standard Chartered had overpaid for KFB. The deal, which requires regulatory approval, is expected to be completed by April 2005 and to be earnings accretive in 2006, Standard Chartered said. Rival banking giant HSBC, which is based in London and Hong Kong, was also in the running. Standard Chartered is believed to have gained the initiative by putting together a bid during the Christmas break. "They were able to move so quickly it caught HSBC by surprise," the Financial Times newspaper quoted an insider in the talks as saying. HSBC will now have to wait for the next South Korean bank in line to be sold off thought likely to be Korea Exchange Bank, also currently in the hands of a US group. Standard Chartered said it was buying 100% of KFB, an agreement that would bring an end to the bank's complex dual ownership. The South Korean government owns 51.4% of KFB, while the remaining shareholding, and operational control, are in the hands of US private equity group Newbridge Capital. Newbridge bought its stake during the government's nationalisation of several banks in the wake of the 1997 Asia wide currency crisis which crippled South Korea's financial institutions. South Korea's economy is expected to grow by 4.5% this year. Although often thought of an export driven economy, South Korea's service sector has overtaken manufacturing in the last decade or so. Services now make up roughly 40% of the economy, and consumer spending and retail banking have become increasingly important. In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, the government encouraged the growth of consumer credit. Bad loan problems followed; LG Card, the country's biggest credit card provider, has been struggling to avoid bankruptcy for months, for instance. But analysts believe South Korea's financial services industry is still in its infancy, offering plenty of scope for new products. Standard Chartered sees "the opportunity to create value by the introduction of more sophisticated banking products". Since 1999, KFB has been restructured from a wholesale bank into a retail bank focused on mortgage lending, which makes up 45% of its loans.


Ballymena sprinter Paul Brizzel will be among eight of Ireland's European Indoor hopefuls competing in this weekend's AAA's Championships. US based Alistair Cragg and Mark Carroll are the only Irish athletes selected so far for the Europeans who will not run in Sheffield. Brizzel will defend his 200m title in the British trials. In form James McIlroy will hope to confirm his place in the British team for Madrid by winning the 800m title. McIlroy has been in tremendous form on the European circuit in recent weeks. He is one of the fastest 800m runners in the world this winter and already seems assured of a place in Madrid. Corkman Mark Carroll confirmed in midweek that he would join Cragg in the European Championships. Carroll is ranked number three in the world 3000m ranking at the moment with Cragg occupying top spot. Meanwhile, nine times champion Dermot Donnelly will not be coming out of retirement to compete in the Northern Ireland Cross Country Championships in Coleraine on Saturday. An injury crisis in the Annadale Striders squad led to Donnelly being entered by coach John McLaughlin but the athlete told BBC Sport on Friday evening that he would not be running. Willowfield's Paul Rowan will go in as individual favourite but Annadale could have a tough job holding on to their team title as Andrew Dunwoody and Noel Pollock are unlikely to run.


Car maker Honda's humanoid robot Asimo has just got faster and smarter. The Japanese firm is a leader in developing two legged robots and the new, improved Asimo (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) can now run, find his way around obstacles as well as interact with people. Eventually Asimo could find gainful employment in homes and offices. "The aim is to develop a robot that can help people in their daily lives," said a Honda spokesman. To get the robot running for the first time was not an easy process as it involved Asimo making an accurate leap and absorbing the impact of landing without slipping or spinning. The "run" he is now capable of is perhaps not quite up to Olympic star Kelly Holmes' standard. At 3km/h, it is closer to a leisurely jog. Its makers claim that it is almost four times as fast as Sony's Qrio, which became the first robot to run last year. The criteria for running robots is defined by engineers as having both feet off the ground between strides. Asimo has improved in other ways too, increasing his walking speed, from 1.6km/h to 2.5km, growing 10cm to 130cm and putting on 2kg in weight. While he may not quite be ready for yoga, he does have more freedom of movement, being able to twist his hips and bend his wrists, thumbs and neck. Asimo has already made his mark on the international robot scene and in November was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame. He has wowed audiences around the world with his ability to walk upstairs, recognise faces and come when beckoned. In August 2003 he even attended a state dinner in the Czech Republic, travelling with the Japanese prime minister as a goodwill envoy. He is one of a handful of robots used by tech firms to trumpet their technological advances. Technology developed for Asimo could be used in the automobile industry as electronics increasingly take over from mechanics in car design. For the moment Asimo's biggest role is an entertainer and the audience gathered to see his first public run greeted his slightly comical gait with amusement, according to reports. Robots can fulfil serious functions in society and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe predicts that the worldwide market for industrial robots will swell from 81,000 units in 2003 to 106,000 in 2007.