Jade Johnson edged out rival Kelly Sotherton with her last effort to claim the AAAs long jump title at the Norwich Union European Indoor trials. Olympic heptathlon bronze medallist, Sotherton, led the event with her first leap of 6.43m a personal best. But Johnson, who has not competed indoors for five years, leapt to a life time best of 6.50m in her last jump, after four fouls. Both Johnson and Sotherton passed the European Championships qualifying mark. Although Sotherton's main aim in Madrid next month will be the pentathlon where she will take on Olympic heptathlon champion Carolina Kluft. Ireland's delivered a shock in the men's 200m as he stormed to his first major title in 21.01 seconds. British favourite Chris Lambert had to settle for second place while defending champion Ireland's Paul Brizzel took third. There was some consolation for Lambert as he set a personal best of 20.94 in the first round good enough to qualify for Europe. Two time AAAs champion Allyn Condon and Ian Mackie had no such luck as they were disqualified in the heats. There was plenty of hot action in the men's 60m hurdles where Scotland's was vying for top spot with Olympian Andy Turner. Scott, 22, smashed his personal best on the way to the final, where he broke it again to win the AAAs title in 7.58 seconds. Turner finished second in 7.82 after previously setting a personal best on the 7.83 in the semi finals, while Damien Greaves did not finish the final. The trio of athletes have reached the European qualifying mark this season though one of them is set to miss out on a call up to the British squad. comfortably defended her 3,000m title, clocking eight minutes, 49.87 seconds to easily surpass the European qualifying mark. The European cross country bronze medallist is ranked number one in Europe this season and will go to Madrid with high hopes. Helen Clitheroe was agonisingly close to the 9:05.00 qualifying mark as she claimed the runners up spot in a personal best of 9:05.73. In the men's 800m heats, qualified fastest in the 800m heats to lay down a challenge to in form . The Welsh runner attacked the last 200m to come through ahead of James Thie in one minute, 49.87 seconds. McIlroy, who is third in the European rankings, eased across the finish in 1:50.87 to set up a showdown in Sunday's final in Sheffield. Both Watkins and McIlroy have already achieved the European qualifying mark. Scotland's Susan Deacon stole 's thunder in the final of the women's 200m. Fraser became the fastest British woman over the distance this season when she qualified for the final in 23.68 seconds though that time is outside the European standard. But Deacon claimed her first AAAs title over the distance, edging Fraser into second in 23.67. In the women's shot put veteran claimed her fourth AAAs title with a throw of 15.27m. But that mark was not good enough for the 39 year old to book her place at next month's European Indoor Championships in Madrid. Sotherton finished fifth after producing two throws of 13.77m. In the absence of injured British number one Carl Myerscough, claimed the men's shot put title with a throw of 17.64m, which was below the qualifying mark. Sale's Robert Mitchell climbed to a season's best of 2.20m just 3cm short of the European standard to claim the British indoor high jump title. could only clear 2.16m to finish in fourth but the 27 year old's disappointment will be tempered as he had already achieved the qualifying mark at a meeting in Slovenia on Tuesday. There was bad luck for British number one in the pole vault as he failed to clear the bar after deciding to come in at 5.45m. The AAAs indoor title went instead to Ashley Swain, who climbed to a season's best of 5.25m And Ireland's Taniesha Scanlon set a new national record of 13.28m in the women's triple jump.


Chelsea's William Gallas believes they will battle it out with Arsenal for the Premiership in the coming months. "It'll be a two horse race all the way to the end of the season because we are both going to give it everything," he told BBC Sport. "You need to be good and you need a lot of luck. You need a bit of both but it will be as hard for the Arsenal players as it is for the Chelsea boys." "We know that we have got the power in our hands just now," added Gallas. "But you never know what is going to happen in football two seasons ago Manchester United picked up so many points towards the end of the season when they won the title. "Obviously, nobody at Chelsea wants to come second but you never know what happens in football. "We will be challenging to come first as much as every Arsenal player will be challenging to come first." Gallas has been given extra confidence by the impact manager Jose Mourinho has had since taking over as manager during the summer. And the French international defender believes Mourinho is perfectly suited to boss the squad of Chelsea stars and says his managerial expertise will prevent any player revolt. "It's only normal when you have got a team put together of such big names that you put the finishing touch to it and the finishing touch at Chelsea is a fantastic manager like Mourinho," he said. "He is the icing on the cake at the club. He has this fantastic knack of thinking of everything. "Another incredible quality that Mourinho has is that every player, even though the fans may consider them to be a stars, within the dressing room they are absolutely equal. "Mourinho reminds everyone but he doesn't have to because he has created a wonderful atmosphere where everybody is playing and laughing every day. "It is a changed dressing room from the atmosphere there was last year."


Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been guaranteed transfer funds to boost his squad the summer. The club's managing director, Keith Edelman, stressed that the development of their new 350m stadium had no affect on Wenger's spending power. "The money is there. Don't worry we've got it," Edelman told BBC Sport. "Hopefully, we'll spend it this summer and in the coming years. Arsene attends all our board meetings and he knows our finances are very strong." Edelman added that it was pointless having a brand new stadium if the team did not match the surroundings. "Its great to have nice, new surroundings, but if the team aren't performing on the pitch, then there isn't great respect in having a fabulous stadium," he said. "It's important that we had sufficient funds for our team in place, before we began on the stadium."


Labour and the Conservatives are still telephoning the millions of people who have signed up to make sure they do not get marketing "cold calls". The parties say they can stick to the rules by ensuring that their calls are not marketing for instance by asking about people's voting intentions. The Lib Dems are asking the watchdog overseeing the rules to stop the calls. The information commissioner's office says surveys are allowed but there is a "grey" area if personal data is kept. Telephone call centres are expected to be used as never before by all the three major parties in the run up to the general election. But seven million telephone numbers are on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) lists, which ban unsolicited sales and marketing calls. Both schemes are run by the Direct Marketing Association and backed by EU directives on privacy and electronic communications. The rules on marketing calls apply as much to politicians as to private sector companies. But that does not mean Labour and the Tories are not calling people signed up to the TPS. A Labour Party spokesman told the BBC News website the party avoided those on TPS lists when telephoning people about membership or fundraising. But that did not happen for "voter identification" calls. "When we ask which party they will vote for, that is not marketing and we have very clear legal advice that it is not," he said. "So it is not covered by the Telephone Preference Service." He said the party always asked people if they would be happy to be contacted again and if they said no, they were not rung again. A Conservative spokeswoman said the party stuck to the rules when it rang TPS subscribers. She said: "We do apply TPS but in line with the law. We would not do things that are not allowed in the law." A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office said it would be classed as marketing if political parties telephoned people to encourage them to vote for them. But the rules did allow polling organisations to telephone people about their voting intentions if they recorded them only as part of a bigger set of statistics, not person by person. "If a political party was doing that than it may be that also would not be marketing," he said. The spokesman said it might be considered unsolicited marketing if a party recorded voting preferences with a view to marketing information in the future. The spokesman said there was "no yes or no" answer and the area was "pretty grey". He added: "If someone complained, then we would investigate that. Political parties are aware of the regulations. At the last by elections, we reminded them." Lib Dem chairman Matthew Taylor has now written to the watchdog saying: "The advice we have received on several previous occasions is that such phone calls are illegal." He says evidence from local Lib Dem parties around the country suggests there are "significant" numbers of such calls. "I hope you can therefore take swift and efficient action to ensure that this ceases," he tells the commissioner. Mr Taylor argues there should be new guidelines so all parties can act in the same way if the watchdog believes the rules allow parties to ring TPS numbers about voting intentions and later urge those people to vote for them.


For the umpteenth time, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are said to have declared all out war on each other. This time the alleged rift is over who should take the credit for the government's global aid and debt initiatives, particularly in the wake of the tsunami disaster an issue many hoped and believed was above such things. It dominated the prime minister's monthly news conference, which saw Mr Blair start in full irritation mode as he was forced to bat away question after question about his relationship with his neighbour. As he told journalists: "I am not interested in what goes in and out of newspapers. There is a complete unity of purpose." And he again heaped praise on Mr Brown saying he was doing a great job, and would continue doing it although he would not commit to any job for Mr Brown after the election. So why did he arrange his press conference at the last moment so it coincided with Mr Brown's long arranged keynote speech on aid and debt, he was asked? By now Mr Blair had moved from irritation mode to his barely disguised fury setting. He snapped back that the hacks knew very well what the operational reasons were for the timing of his press conference. Well, not really, as it happens. And he repeated what a great man Gordon was and how united they were, before again sneering that he took absolutely no notice of what went in and out of the newspapers, preferring to get on with the job of doing the best for the country and the world. Although in the next breath he declared: "I get increasingly alarmed by what I read in the newspapers" before catching himself on and quickly adding: "In so far as I read them of course." He probably had good reason to be alarmed because the newspapers had been full of stories about the claimed open warfare between the two men. As far as the timing of the prime minister's press conference is concerned, there are two options. The first is that it was a calculated attempt to upstage the chancellor and seize back the initiative on the big issue of the moment. If that is the case it suggests that even the fear of seriously negative newspaper headlines is not enough to stop the squabbling. The second option is that it was an unavoidable coincidence, which would suggest the government has lost its once famed ability to strictly co ordinate announcements through the infamous Downing Street grid to avert just such allegations. Either way, the effect was the same to overshadow the big announcements of government policy on a hugely pertinent issue. And there had been previous suggestions that the new year had started with a fresh outbreak of the warfare between the two men. Firstly, the prime minister insisted on Wednesday that he had been intimately involved in the development of the proposals to get G8 countries to freeze debt repayments from the tsunami hit countries. It was claimed he had been embarrassed by the fact that Gordon Brown appeared to have taken the initiative over the government's response to the disaster while Mr Blair was still on holiday in Egypt. Then, as if to pour fuel on the flames, both men separately spoke about working on tsunami or wider aid and development policy with their cabinet colleagues Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Aid minister Hilary Benn and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott without mentioning the other. All this came amid fresh claims that Mr Brown was still seething that he had been excluded from a prominent role in general election planning and had, as a result, started to set out his own platform. The fact that he used an article in the Guardian newspaper to set out what he believed "should" be in the manifesto, has embarked on a mini tour of Britain to set out his aid plans and will next week visit Africa on the same mission often seen as the prime minister's "turf" has only added to the impression of rival camps operating entirely independently of each other. The prime minister denied all that as well, repeating his insistence that it was inconceivable the economy and the chancellor would not be at the centre of the election campaign. But the big fear with many on the Labour benches now is that, unless a lid can be put on the speculation over the rivalry, it may even threaten to undermine the election campaign itself.


Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced a freeze on fuel duty in his pre budget speech to the Commons on Thursday. Mr Brown told the House that government policy is to raise fuel duty at least in line with inflation each year to fulfil environmental commitments. But this financial year, because of "volatility in the oil market", he said the duty would be frozen. During 2000 many motorists campaigned against the rises but environmentalists believe less duty means more pollution. He said: "It is our policy that each year fuel duties should rise at least in line with inflation as we seek to meet our targets for reducing polluting emmissions and fund our public services. "But this financial year because of the sustained volatility in the oil market I propose to match the freeze in car vehicle licence duty with a continuation on the freeze on the main road fuel duties." The RAC welcomed the news, calling it an "early Christmas present" for motorists. But the organisation urged drivers to continue to shop around to get the best price for petrol. Environmental group Transport 2000 said the freeze sends the wrong message to motorists. "We are concerned that although Britain leads the world in rhetoric about climate change it often fails in practical action," said a spokesman. In 2000 the People's Fuel Lobby caused chaos by blocking roads with slow moving convoys after Mr Brown threatened to raise fuel taxes. The chancellor did not raise duty that year, but despite threats of more protests in 2003, he added 1.28p per litre.


Male life expectancy is much higher than originally estimated, leading pension researchers have said. The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) said life expectancy for unskilled and professional men has been understated. Life expectancy at birth is 71 years for a manual worker and 79 years for a professional a gap of eight years. But if measured at age 65 instead, the PPI said, a manual worker will live to 81 years and a professional worker to 86 years a gap of just five years. The PPI's estimate is higher because it excludes people who have died before they reach 65 years of age and also takes into account ongoing improvements in life expectancy. The government has ruled out raising the state pension age, because it says it would penalise lower skilled workers who generally have lower life expectancies. Chris Curry, PPI research director, said its calculations suggested there could be more pressure on state pension spending than originally envisaged. "Even people in social class V unskilled manual workers who are widely likely to have the lowest life expectancy can still expect to live 16 years after state pension age," he said. Researchers have not updated life expectancy projections for women, who on average live longer than men.


Thousands of public bodies are ill prepared for the Freedom of Information Act, due to come into force next month, because of government failures, say MPs. From next month anyone will have the power to demand information from a range of public bodies from Whitehall departments to doctors' surgeries. But an all party committee said it was "not confident" many would be ready. It blamed the Department for Constitutional Affairs for a "lack of consistent leadership". The Act comes into effect in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, on 1 January while similar measures are being brought in at the same time in Scotland. It provides the public with a right of access to information held by about 100,000 public bodies, subject to various exemptions. But the government department responsible for implementing the change suffered from an "unusually high turnover" of staff within the department, which had "seriously interfered" with its work, said the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee. It said, despite four years of preparations, some local authorities and parts of the health sector were still not ready. The DCA had "failed" to provide early guidance on technical matters and shown a "lack of consistent leadership", the MPs found. Committee chairman Alan Beith said: "The DCA has had four years to prepare for freedom of information, but with less than a month to go it appears that some bodies may not be well enough prepared. "Our report shows that in the past support and guidance from the DCA, which has overall responsibility for guiding the public sector through the process of implementation for the freedom of information regime, has been lacking." A spokesman for the DCA said: "The DCA has provided and will continue to provide strong, clear leadership. "It has delivered a simple, liberal fees regime, guidance on the Act which has been widely praised, and expert networks of staff working on freedom of information implementation."


China has been accused of blocking access to Google News by the media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders. The Paris based pressure group said the English language news site had been unavailable for the past 10 days. It said the aim was to force people to use a Chinese edition of the site which, according to the watchdog, does not include critical reports. Google told the BBC News website it was aware of the problems and was investigating the causes. China is believed to extend greater censorship over the net than any other country in the world. A net police force monitors websites and e mails, and controls on gateways connecting the country to the global internet are designed to prevent access to critical information. Popular Chinese portals such as Sina.com and Sohu.com maintain a close eye on content and delete politically sensitive comments. And all 110,000 net cafes in the country have to use software to control access to websites considered harmful or subversive. "China is censoring Google News to force internet users to use the Chinese version of the site which has been purged of the most critical news reports," said the group in a statement. "By agreeing to launch a news service that excludes publications disliked by the government, Google has let itself be used by Beijing," it said. For its part, the search giant said it was looking into the issue. "It appears that many users in China are having difficulty accessing Google News sites in China and we are working to understand and resolve the issue," said a Google spokesperson. Google News gathers information from some 4,500 news sources. Headlines are selected for display entirely by a computer algorithm, with no human editorial intervention. It offers 15 editions of the service, including one tailored for China and one for Hong Kong. Google launched a version in simplified Chinese in September. The site does not filter news results to remove politically sensitive information. But Google does not link to news sources which are inaccessible from within China as this would result in broken links.


Details of the chip designed to power Sony's PlayStation 3 console will be released in San Francisco on Monday. Sony, IBM and Toshiba, who have been working on the Cell processor for three years, will unveil the chip at a technology conference. The chip is reported to be up to 10 times faster than current processors. It is being designed for use in graphics workstations, the new PlayStation console, and has been described as a supercomputer on a chip. Sony has said the Cell processor could be used to bridge the gap between movies and video games. Special effects and graphics designed for films could be ported for use directly in a video game, Sony told an audience at the E3 exhibition in Los Angeles last year. Cell could also be marketed as an ideal technology for televisions and supercomputers, and everything in between, said Kevin Krewell, the editor in chief of Microprocessor Report. The chip will be made of several different processing cores that work on tasks together. The PlayStation 3 is expected in 2006 but developers are expecting to get prototypes early next year to tune games that will appear on it at launch. Details of the chip will be released at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco. Some details have already emerged, however. When put inside powerful computer servers, the Cell consortium expects it to be capable of handling 16 trillion floating point operations, or calculations, every second. The chip has also been refined to be able to handle the detailed graphics common in games and the data demands of films and broadband media. IBM said it would start producing the chip in early 2005 at manufacturing plants in the US. The first machines off the line using the Cell processor will be computer workstations and servers. A working version of the PS3 is due to be shown off in May 2005 but a full launch of the next generation console is not expected to start until 2006. "In the future, all forms of digital content will be converged and fused onto the broadband network," said Ken Kutaragi, chief operating officer of Sony, said last year. "Current PC architecture is nearing its limits," he added.


Paula Radcliffe made a triumphant return to competitive running with victory in the New York Marathon. The Briton, running for the first time since dropping out of the Olympic marathon and 10,000m, held off Kenyan Susan Chepkemei in a thrilling finish. The pair were locked together for the last few miles before Radcliffe finally sprinted clear to win in two hours, 23 minutes and 10 seconds. "It's a good way to end the year," she said. "I'm ready for a good rest now." Radcliffe decided only recently to run in the race and many had doubted whether she had sufficiently recovered from her Olympic ordeal just 11 weeks ago. But the world record holder was prominent at the head of the field for the whole race as her rivals slowly dropped off the pace. Just Chepkemei and Radcliffe were left in contention as the race came into the final few miles. The Kenyan put in several bursts of speed to throw off Radcliffe but the Briton managed to hang in. Both runners looked to be suffering as they reached the final mile in Central Park. But it was Radcliffe who managed to dredge up a final sprint to see off Chepkemei in the closest finish in the race's history and in the process make a huge step in erasing the disappointment she suffered in Athens.


Manchester City boss Kevin Keegan has praised striker Robbie Fowler for his landmark return to form. The 29 year old, out of favour at City earlier this season, took his Premiership goal tally past 150 with a brace in Monday's 3 2 win at Norwich. "He is still a quality player and knows where the net is we have just got to supply him with ammunition and, in the end, we did," Keegan said. "He has worked hard to get back to where he is now." The former Liverpool striker, who moved to City in 2003 after a poor stint at Leeds, has battled back into first team contention after struggling with fitness at the start of the season. Fowler overtook Les Ferdinand on Tuesday evening to become the third highest scorer of all time in the Premiership, with 151 goals, and he only trails Alan Shearer (250) and Andy Cole (173). And Keegan believes there is still more to come from the former England forward. "He can get better if we can supply him better," added Keegan. "People want to write him off but if he has kept the articles of those people who have written him off he could throw them back at them and they would be left with a bit of egg on their face." Fowler's double strike helped City come back from two goals down to clinch a dramatic win at Carrow Road and Keegan sympathised with Norwich boss Nigel Worthington afterwards. "I feel a bit for Nigel Worthington," he said. "His team have got great character, they have a lot of drive and enthusiasm. "I know it is a killer blow for Norwich but I really think they have brought something to the Premiership. "The stadium and the atmosphere is great, it is just a tough league to stay in as they are finding out and as we know."


German airline Lufthansa has returned to profit in 2004 after posting huge losses in 2003. In a preliminary report, the airline announced net profits of 400m euros ( 527.61m; 274.73m), compared with a loss of 984m euros in 2003. Operating profits were at 380m euros, ten times more than in 2003. Lufthansa was hit in 2003 by tough competition and a dip in demand following the Iraq war and the killer SARS virus. It was also hit by troubles at its US catering business. Last year, Lufthansa showed signs of recovery even as some European and US airlines were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The board of Lufthansa has recommended paying a 2004 dividend of 0.30 euros per share. In 2003, shareholders did not get a dividend. The company said that it will give all the details of its 2004 results on 23 March.


Carlos Moya became the first man to successfully defend the Chennai Open title by beating four times finalist Paradorn Srichaphan 3 6 6 4 7 6 (7/5). The Spaniard then donated his 28,000 prize money to relief efforts for the victims of the Asian tsunami. The final was close throughout, with Thai second seed Srichaphan the 2003 winner closing out the first set. But Moya took the second set, before bouncing back from 5 2 down in the decider to force and win a tie break. Moya confirmed afterwards: "I'm donating my prize money from this tournament for the tsunami victims, hoping it makes some difference to their lives. His contribution follows pledges by four other players to donate their prize money from the tournament, which went ahead after the 26 December disaster which has so far claimed at least 150,000 lives. Scrichapan said he would donate an unspecified amount for relief work in Thailand, where more than 5,000 people were killed. The ATP has announced that it would contribute the US 25,000 tournament fee to Unicef's emergency relief fund in Tamil Nadu. The ATP Tour's sponsor, Mercedes, said it would also contribute, increasing the ATP donation to US 40,000.


Talks aimed at averting a series of national strikes over pensions reforms will take place this weekend. Five public sector unions will hold private talks with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at Labour's spring conference in Gateshead. They want the government to withdraw regulations due to be introduced in weeks which would raise the pension age for council workers from 60 to 65. Up to 1.4m workers could take part in a strike already earmarked for 23 March. However, all sides are anxious to avoid a major confrontation in the run up to the general election, said BBC labour affairs correspondent Stephen Cape. In four days, Britain's biggest union Unison will start balloting 800,000 local government workers on strikes. Other public sector unions have pledged to follow. It is just weeks before new regulations are introduced to raise the pension age of local government workers. The five unions meeting Mr Prescott want the government to withdraw these regulations. This would allow months of tough negotiations to follow, said our correspondent. But a spokesman for Mr Prescott warned that the changes to the local government pension scheme would have to go ahead in April. Privately ministers believe this will be the "less painful" option, our correspondent added. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) will co ordinate any industrial action with up to six other public sector unions. PCS leader Mark Serwotka warned last week that there could be further walkouts unless there was a government rethink. "For a government that lectures everyone on choice choice on public service, choice on this and choice on that isn't it ironic that they're saying to public sector workers there is no choice," he said. "If you want the pension you were promised when you started you must work for an extra five years that is working until people drop. "In the 20th century, it's completely unacceptable." Unison's 800,000 workers, the Transport and General Workers' Union's 70,000 and Amicus' 20,000 are among those being balloted about a 23 March walkout. Mr Prescott held a private meeting with senior union figures last week. It is understood no deal was offered in that meeting but there was room for further negotiations.


Tony Blair says his personal standing in the eyes of voters will be "an issue" in the general election. The prime minister said he was "up for it" as the country waits to go to the polls, possibly in a matter of weeks. He told The Observer government life was a "constant barrage of attack" but said he would not stay in charge if he felt unable to contribute. Mr Blair also spoke of meeting many people across the country with concerns about the compensation culture. He said Britain was in danger of needless panic over public safety issues. Speaking amid a flurry of pre election campaigning, the prime minister said: "I am an issue, I always will be. Whoever is the prime minister will be." He added: "If you are afraid to take criticism, you should go and do another job." Asked if he would quit as leader if he felt like a liability to Labour, he said: "It's important always not to do the job unless you feel you have something to contribute." Whether he still had something to offer, he said, was a judgement for people to make. Mr Blair's assessment is likely to be seen as a signal that replacing him would not bring an upsurge in fortunes for the Labour administration. His comments come as the co chairman of the Conservative Party, Liam Fox, on Saturday called him "a disappointment of historic proportions" as a prime minister. Mr Blair said he had learned from a series of at times tough encounters with members of the public, during question and answer sessions across the country in recent weeks. He pledged to clamp down on Britain's growing compensation culture, which has brought concerns that doctors, teachers and other professionals are being hampered in their work by the fear of frivolous lawsuits. "I was quite shocked to be told by people who were running a nursery that they were worried about letting the kids out into the playground when it was wet in case one of them slipped and fell and they ended up having a legal case against them ," he said. "We have got to look at a way of getting people protection on that." Mr Blair said the government was also looking at "how to make sure that legal aid is not abused with actions against doctors and others", as part of a review being carried out by the Lord Chancellor's Department. And there should be "real debate" about the risk posed by public safety threats, he said. "We are in danger of depending on whatever is the media campaign of the day ending up spending literally hundreds, sometimes millions of pounds meeting quite a small risk." His comments come after the government announced it is to spend 200m on drugs to treat a possible outbreak of bird flu, and the Sudan 1 food scare. Meanwhile, Commons leader Peter Hain has warned that on the campaign trail he has seen "dangerous complacency" being displayed by Labour voters convinced of a general election victory. If Labour voters "stayed at home" in marginal seats they could see Tory leader Michael Howard "coming in the back door to Number 10 with the tradesman's key to Number 10, getting into power", he added.


Kelly Holmes has been forced out of this weekend's European Indoor Athletics Championships after picking up a hamstring injury during training. The double Olympic champion said: "I am very disappointed that I have been forced to withdraw. "I can hardly walk at the moment and I won't be able to do any running for two or three weeks although I'll be keeping fit as best I can." Holmes will have now have intensive treatment in South Africa. The 34 year old made a cautious start to the season but looked back to her best when she stormed to the 1,000m title at the Birmingham Grand Prix 10 days ago. After that race and more progress in training, Holmes revealed she had decided to compete at the European Indoors before her plans were wrecked last weekend. "On Saturday night I pulled my hamstring running the last bend on my final 200m of the night," said Holmes. "I was going really, really well when I felt a massive spasm in my left leg and my hamstring blew. "I saw the doctor here and he has said it is not serious but it's frustrating missing Madrid when I knew I was in great shape." Holmes has now been advised by her coach Margot Jennings not to rush back into training and it is unlikely she will compete again until the summer. Helen Clitheroe now goes to Madrid as the only British competitor in the women's 1500m while there will be no representative in the 800m.


Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has insisted that Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger would swap places with him. Mourinho's side were knocked out of the FA Cup by Newcastle last Sunday before seeing Barcelona secure a 2 1 Champions League first leg lead in the Nou Camp. But he denied his club was suffering a dip in form which league rivals Arsenal and Manchester United could exploit. "They cannot speak to us about blips because they're not in a better position than us," Mourinho said. "Do they want to change positions with us? We are top of the league by nine points and in the Carling Cup final. "The only thing they can say they are in a better position than us in is the FA Cup. "In the Champions League all three teams can either go through or go out but the one team that is in the best position is still Chelsea." Mourinho said it was important to keep his team's results in perspective. "Don't try to put pressure on me because I am never under pressure," he warned. "We have lost one important game this week at Newcastle and we're out of the FA Cup but I don't think a defeat in a first leg tie is a real defeat. We are just 2 1 down at half time." Asked if his Chelsea honeymoon was now over, Mourinho replied: "I have had 20 years of honeymoons with my wife. "The day that this club is not happy with me is the day that I go."


Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham has no plans to become a manager when his playing career is over. "I am not interested in being a coach but I would like to have football schools," the England captain said on television station Canal Plus. "I have wanted to do that since I went to the Bobby Charlton school. I'm going to open one in London and one in LA. "My second passion is charity work I am an ambassador for Unicef and it gives me great pride." But Beckham revealed that his immediate priority was winning the Spanish league title with Real Madrid. Real slipped to 13 points behind leaders Barcelona with a 1 0 defeat at the hands of Sevilla on Wednesday. Beckham admitted: "It's disappointing and frustrating to see the results, considering the team we have. "I would really like to win La Liga with Real Madrid I have been here two years and we still have not done it." In a wide ranging interview, Beckham also revealed that his sending off against Argentina and the resulting media storm had been the most significant moment in his career. Asked for his worst memory, he said: "To be sent off against Argentina it was not for the sending off but for what happened afterwards. "I was lucky because I had a manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who supported me and a strong family behind me but I believe that changed me. "I believe it changed me for the better."


Mike Ruddock paid tribute to his Wales side after they came from 15 6 down to beat France 24 18 in the Six Nations. "After going two tries down in 12 minutes we had to show character," said the national team coach. "I didn't have to tell them anything at half time because those players have stared down the barrel of a gun before. "They decided they didn't want to do that again and came out fighting. It was a great team effort and we showed great character to come back." Man of the match Stephen Jones, who kicked three penalties, a drop goal and conversion, was ecstatic following after the win at Stade de France. "It's just a special moment. Two years ago we didn't win a single game in the Six Nations. But we're a very happy camp now," he said. "We worked hard as a squad and I'm a proud Welshman. We've got hard matches to come, so we're just happy with the start." Double try scorer Martyn Williams was keen not to talk about a possible Grand Slam for Wales. "We've got more self belief these days. Two or three years ago we might have collapsed after going behind so early. "There's no mention of a Grand Slam among the players. We've got a tough game against Scotland at Murrayfield. They could bring us crashing down to earth."


England coach Andy Robinson says English rugby has to act now to prevent injury destroying players' careers. He will be without a host of big names for the Six Nations as the intensity of professional rugby union hits players. "Injuries are part of the sport but we have to have a look at the amount of injuries that occur in the English season," Robinson told BBC Sport. "I think players are probably going to have three or four years taken off their careers." Robinson will be missing an entire midfield for the Six Nations with the likes of Jonny Wilkinson, Mike Tindall and Will Greenwood injured. Rugby union has become far more physically demanding since the game went professional nearly 10 years ago. As a result three of the major stakeholders in English rugby have launched an "injury audit" to find out how players are coping. The audit is jointly funded by the Professional Rugby Players' Association, the Rugby Football Union and Premier Rugby. As far as Robinson is concerned its findings must not be ignored. "I think there's an injury audit coming out in March that's got some great information in there that I think everybody in the English game has got to look at," he said. "If we don't the situation is going to get worse and not better, so I think rugby as a whole has got to look at this."


Michael Howard has said a claim by Peter Hain that the Tory leader is acting like an "attack mongrel" shows Labour is "rattled" by the opposition. In an upbeat speech to his party's spring conference in Brighton, he said Labour's campaigning tactics proved the Tories were hitting home. Mr Hain made the claim about Tory tactics in the anti terror bill debate. "Something tells me that someone, somewhere out there is just a little bit rattled," Mr Howard said. Mr Hain, Leader of the Commons, told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that Mr Howard's stance on the government's anti terrorism legislation was putting the country at risk. He then accused the Tory Leader of behaving like an "attack mongrel" and "playing opposition for opposition sake". Mr Howard told his party that Labour would "do anything, say anything, claim anything to cling on to office at all costs". "So far this year they have compared me to Fagin, to Shylock and to a flying pig. This morning Peter Hain even called me a mongrel. "I don't know about you, but something tells me that someone, somewhere out there is just a little bit rattled." Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett rejected Mr Howard's comment, telling Radio 4's PM programme that Labour was not "rattled". "We have a very real duty to try to get people to focus on Michael Howard's record, what the proposals are that he is trying to put forward to the country and also the many examples we are seeing now of what we believe is really poor judgement on his behalf." Mr Howard said Tory policies on schools, taxes, immigration and crime were striking a chord with voters. "Since the beginning of this year election year we've been making the political weather," he told the party conference. Mr Howard denied he had been "playing politics" by raising the case of Margaret Dixon, whose operation had been cancelled seven times, which grabbed headlines for the party two weeks ago. And he hit back at Labour claims he had used Mrs Dixon as a "human shield". "She's not a human shield Mr Blair, she's a human being." Mr Howard said his party plans for immigration quotas, which have also been the focus of much media coverage, were not "racist" just "common sense". He pledged cleaner hospitals and better school discipline, with a promise to get rid of "political correctness" in the national curriculum and give everyone to the same chance of a "decent" state education as he had. "I come from an ordinary family. If the teenage Michael Howard were applying to Cambridge today, Gordon Brown would love me." And he stressed his party's commitment to cut taxes and red tape and increase the basic state pension in line with earnings. He finished with a personal appeal to party activists to go out and win the next election. "One day you will be able to tell your children and grandchildren as I will tell mine, 'I was there. I did my bit. I played my part. I helped to win that famous election the election that transformed our country for the better'." Labour election co ordinator Alan Milburn said: "Michael Howard's speech today confirms what we have always said that his only strategy is opportunism but he has no forward vision for the country. In reference to the appearance of Mr Howard's family on the conference stage with him, Mr Milburn said: "Michael Howard is perfectly entitled to pose with his family today. "But it is the hard working families across Britain that will be damaged by his plan to cut 35bn from public spending."


Mobiles are not yet ready to be all singing, all dancing multimedia devices which will replace portable media players, say two reports. Despite moves to bring music download services to mobiles, people do not want to trade multimedia services with size and battery life, said Jupiter. A separate study by Gartner has also said real time TV broadcasts to mobiles is "unlikely" in Europe until 2007. Technical issues and standards must be resolved first, said the report. Batteries already have to cope with other services that operators offer, like video playback, video messaging, megapixel cameras and games amongst others. Bringing music download services based on the success of computer based download services will put more demands on battery life. Fifty percent of Europeans said the size of a mobile was the most important factor when it came to choosing their phone, but more power demands tend to mean larger handsets. "Mobile phone music services must not be positioned to compete with the PC music experience as the handsets are not yet ready," said Thomas Husson, mobile analyst at Jupiter research. "Mobile music services should be new and different, and enable operators to differentiate their brands and support third generation network launches." Other problems facing mobile music include limited storage on phones, compared to portable players which can hold up to 40GB of music. The mobile industry is keen to get into music downloading, after the success of Apple's iTunes, Napster and other net music download services. With phones getting smarter and more powerful, there are also demands to be able to watch TV on the move. In the US, services like TiVo To Go let people transfer pre recorded TV content onto their phones. But, the Gartner report on mobile TV broadcasting in Europe suggests direct broadcasting will have to wait. Currently, TV like services, where clips are downloaded, are offered by several European operators, like Italy's TIM and 3. Mobile TV will have to overcome several barriers before it is widely taken up though, said the report. Various standards and ways of getting TV signals to mobiles are being worked on globally. In Europe, trials in Berlin and Helsinki are making use of terrestrial TV masts to broadcast compressed signals to handsets with extra receivers. A service from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation lets people watch TV programmes on their mobiles 24 hours a day. The service uses 3GP technology, one of the standards for mobile TV. But at the end of 2004, the European Telecommunications Institute (Etsi) formally adopted Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld (DVB H) as the mobile TV broadcasting standard for Europe. Operators will be working on the standard as a way to bring real time broadcasts to mobiles, as well as trying to overcome several other barriers. The cost and infrastructure needs to set up the services will need to be addressed. Handsets also need to be able to work with the DVB H standard. TV services will have to live up to the expectations of the digital TV generation too, which expects good quality images at low prices, according to analysts. People are also likely to be put off watching TV on such small screens, said Gartner. Digital video recorders, like Europe's Sky box, and video on demand services mean people have much more control over what TV they watch. As a result, people may see broadcasting straight to mobiles as taking away that control. More powerful smartphones like the XDA II, Nokia 6600, SonyEricsson P900 and the Orange E200, offering web access, text and multimedia messaging, e mail, calendar and gaming are becoming increasingly common. A report by analysts InStat/MDR has predicted that smartphone shipments will grow by 44% over the next five years. It says that smartphones will make up 117 million out of 833 million handsets shipped globally by 2009.


Ministers will invite international observers to check the forthcoming UK general election is fairly run. The move comes amid claims the poll could be marred by electoral fraud. A report by two MPs committees called on Thursday for urgent changes to the electoral registration system to combat vote rigging and boost turnout. But in a written response to Labour MP Gordon Prentice, the government said it would normally invite observers to any UK election. Junior constitutional affairs minister Christopher Leslie said: "I fully expect us to repeat our previous practice of doing so once the date for the next general election is announced." The government has looked at ways of boosting voter turnout, which fell to 59% in the last general election in 2001. But trial all postal ballots in four English regions last summer were hit by delays and some fraud allegations. Liberal Democrat peer Lord Greaves called last week for international observers at the general election saying otherwise there could be months of court challenges "on a scale not seen since the 19th Century". Thursday's report was drawn up by two committees scrutinising the work of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA). It said that, with the growth of postal voting, there was a strong case to tighten up fraud protection by requiring voters to register individually, rather than by household. It also said about three million people eligible to vote are not registered to do so. Figures for the 2001 general election suggest 29% of people aged between 18 and 24, and 19% of black voters were not on the electoral roll. Young people in shared accommodation are thought to miss out because no one acts as head of the household to fill in the form. ODPM committee chairman Andrew Bennett said individual voter registration, as opposed to registration by household, should be quickly introduced as it could "dramatically reduce the chances of fraud". But his counterpart on the DCA committee, Alan Beith, said it should be delayed "until measures likely to increase registration have been put in place and proved effective." Shadow Constitutional Affairs Secretary Oliver Heald accused the government of "dragging its feet" over "this badly needed measure". "It is vital that we move ahead with the Northern Ireland system of individual electoral registration to safeguard the integrity of the Britain's electoral system," he said. The report said individual registration should be treated carefully as 12% of voters disappeared from the electoral roll in Northern Ireland when it was introduced in 2002. The report said the government should consider fines for unregistered voters, but accepted many experts said it would be an expensive system that would be hard to enforce. It said incentives to register, such as 20 council tax rebate, were likely to be seen as "gimmicks" and risked undermining the integrity of the system, MPs said. Instead they called for "imaginative campaigns" to boost interest.


The Lib Dems have appointed a senior figure from BT to be the party's new communications chief for their next general election effort. Sandy Walkington will now work with senior figures such as Matthew Taylor on completing the party manifesto. Party chief executive Lord Rennard said the appointment was a "significant strengthening of the Lib Dem team". Mr Walkington said he wanted the party to be ready for any "mischief" rivals or the media tried to throw at it. "My role will be to ensure this new public profile is effectively communicated at all levels," he said. "I also know the party will be put under scrutiny in the media and from the other parties as never before and we will need to show ourselves ready and prepared to counter the mischief and misrepresentation that all too often comes from the party's opponents. "The party is already demonstrating on every issue that it is the effective opposition." Mr Walkington's new job title is director of general election communications.


Tony Blair has dismissed reports he told Gordon Brown he would quit before the next general election. "You don't do deals over jobs like this," the prime minister told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme. According to a new book, Brown's Britain, Mr Blair went back on a pledge to make way for Mr Brown after Cabinet allies intervened in June 2004. Mr Blair said the claims were "reheated from six months ago" and that he was concentrating on running the country. Mr Blair said: "I've dealt with this six months ago. I said then you don't do deals over jobs like this you don't. "What both of us are actually concentrating on are the issues that concern the country." The book, by Sunday Telegraph journalist Robert Peston and serialised in the newspaper, said the pair had "mutual animosity and contempt" for each other. It claims Tony Blair felt by November 2003 he had lost voters' trust because of the Iraq war and that he was no longer an asset to the Labour Party. And that at a dinner hosted by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott he told Mr Brown of his intention to stand down. According to Mr Peston the prime minister said: "Help me to get through the year and I will then stand down." But he then changed his mind in June 2004, following intervention from allies in the Cabinet and the suspicion that the chancellor was deliberately manoeuvring against him, according to the book. Mr Peston told BBC News: "My understanding is that they are not nearly as close or as friendly as they once were. "What the book says is there is now a pretty profound mutual mistrust, mutual animosity. "I think in public you see this double act pretending everything is alright, but in private I don't think the relationship is good because Brown, understandably, feels deeply betrayed particularly over this issue of the leadership." But, in a wide ranging BBC interview covering issues such as the Asian tsunami disaster, the Middle East peace process and Northern Ireland, Mr Blair said: "When you get to the top in politics you get this huge swell around you. "All sorts of people make all sorts of claims and counter claims." He admitted to a "sense of frustration" about the allegations which he said had been made "countless times". There has been fresh speculation of a rift recently, following their separate responses to the Asian tsunami. These rumours were fuelled by Mr Blair's decision to hold his monthly media conference at the same time as a long planned speech by Mr Brown on UK plans to tackle global poverty with a new "Marshall Plan" for Africa. There was speculation the pair were trying to outdo each other's response to the disaster. But the prime minister said he had discussed these claims with the chancellor and dismissed them as a "load of nonsense". Former welfare minister Frank Field MP said the prime minister should sack Mr Brown, but did not believe Mr Blair was strong enough to do so. Tory leader Michael Howard accused the prime minister and Mr Brown of "squabbling like schoolboys". He told Sky News' Sunday with Adam Boulton: "This is the politics of the playground and Britain really does deserve better." The Liberal Democrat parliamentary chairman Matthew Taylor said the personal ambition of Mr Blair and Mr Brown was "getting in the way of good government". "Either they need to grow up and put their squabbles to one side or they cannot expect the electorate to support a divided government at the next election." During the interview Mr Blair also said the former home secretary David Blunkett would play a "big role" at the general election.


Most areas of the US saw their economy continue to expand in December and early January, the US Federal Reserve said in its latest Beige Book report. Of the 12 US regions it identifies for the study, 11 showed stronger economic growth, with only the Cleveland area falling behind with a "mixed" rating. Consumer spending was higher in December than November, and festive sales were also up on 2003. The employment picture also improved, the Fed said. "Labour markets firmed in a number of districts, but wage pressures generally remained modest," the Beige Book said. "Several districts reported higher prices for building materials and manufacturing inputs, but most reported steady or only slightly higher overall price levels." The report added that residential real estate activity remained strong and that commercial real estate activity strengthened in most districts. "Office leasing was especially brisk in Washington DC, and New York City, two of the nation's strongest commercial markets," the Fed said.


The owner of the technology dominated Nasdaq stock index plans to sell shares to the public and list itself on the market it operates. According to a registration document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nasdaq Stock Market plans to raise 100m ( 52m) from the sale. Some observers see this as another step closer to a full public listing. However Nasdaq, an icon of the 1990s technology boom, recently poured cold water on those suggestions. The company first sold shares in private placements during 2000 and 2001. It technically went public in 2002 when the stock started trading on the OTC Bulletin Board, which lists equities that trade only occasionally. Nasdaq will not make money from the sale, only investors who bought shares in the private placings, the filing documents said. The Nasdaq is made up shares in technology firms and other companies with high growth potential. It was the most potent symbol of the 1990s internet and telecoms boom, nose diving after the bubble burst. A recovery in the fortunes of tech giants such as Intel, and dot.com survivors such as Amazon has helped revive its fortunes.


Despite a short lived increase in Palestinian jobs in 2003, the economy is performing well below its potential, said a World Bank report. Unemployment stood at 25%, compared with 10% before the uprising against Israeli occupation four years ago. Young people are particularly hard hit with 37% out of work, compared with 14% four years ago. But 104,000 new jobs were created last year during a brief easing of violence and closures. However, during the first half of this year, the Palestinian economy lost more than 22,000 jobs. Last year's growth rate of 6% can also be attributed to this temporary gap in violence, the report said. According to the report, Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis: An Assessment, there is a close link between the number of closures both border closures and internal closures between cities and Palestinian economic problems. The closures arranged by Israel restrict the movement of Palestinian people and goods, slowing down trade. "Closures are a key factor behind today's economic crisis in the West Bank," said Nigel Roberts, World Bank country director for the West Bank and Gaza. Nearly half of all Palestinians some 47% live below the poverty line and are particularly vulnerable to economic shocks. The report said even more would be on the poverty line without an average of 950m a year from international donors, some of which goes towards job creation. It also called on the Palestinian Authority to revive its reform programme and maintain financial discipline to create an investment friendly climate. This week Colin Powell, US Secretary of State was visiting the West Bank to stress US support for a smooth Palestinian election in January.


US industrial production continued to rise in November, albeit at a slower pace than the previous month. The US Federal Reserve said output from factories, mines and utilities rose 0.3% in line with forecasts from a revised 0.6% increase in October. Analysts added that if the carmaking sector which saw production fall 0.5% had been excluded the data would have been more impressive. The latest increase means industrial output has grown 4.2% in the past year. Many analysts were upbeat about the prospects for the US economy, with the increase in production coming on the heels of news of a recovery in retail sales. "This is very consistent with an economy growing at 3.5 to 4.0%. It is congruent with job growth and consumer optimism," Comerica chief economist David Littman said of the figures. The US economy grew at a respectable annual rate of 3.7% in the three months between July and September, while jobs growth averaged 178,000 during the same period. While the employment figures are not spectacular, experts believe they are enough to whittle away at America's 5.4% jobless rate. A breakdown of the latest production figures shows mining output drove the increase, surging 2.1%, while factory output rose 0.3%. But utility output dropped 1.4%. Meanwhile, the amount of factory capacity in use during the month rose to 77.6% its highest level since May 2001. "Many investors think that product market inflation won't be a problem until the utilisation rates are at 80% or higher," Cary Leahy, senior US economist at Deutsche Bank Securities, said. "So there is still a lot of inflation fighting slack in the manufacturing sector," "Overall I'd say manufacturing at least away from autos continues to improve and I would bet that it improves at a faster rate in coming months given how lean inventories are," Citigroup senior economist Steven Wieting added.


US interest rates are expected to rise for the fifth time since June following the US Federal Reserve's latest rate setting meeting later on Tuesday. Borrowing costs are tipped to rise by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.25%. The move comes as a recovery in the US economy, the world's biggest, shows signs of robustness and sustainability. The dollar's record breaking decline, meanwhile, has spooked markets and along with high oil prices has raised concerns about the pace of inflation. "We are seeing evidence that inflation is moving higher," said Ken Kim, an analyst at Stone McCarthy Research. "It's not a risk, it's actually happening." Mr Kim added that borrowing costs could rise further. The Fed has said that it will move in a "measured" way to combat price growth and lift interest rates from their 40 year lows that were prompted by sluggish US and global growth. With the economic picture now looking more rosy, the Fed has implemented quarter percentage point rises in June, August, September and November. Although the US economy grew at an annual rate of 3.9% in the three months to September, analysts warn that Fed has to be careful not to move too aggressively and take the wind out of the recovery's sails. Earlier this month figures showed that job creation is still weak, while consumer confidence is subdued. "I think the Fed feels it has a fair amount of flexibility," said David Berson, chief economist at Fannie Mae. "While inflation has moved up, it hasn't moved up a lot." "If economic growth should subside... the Fed would feel it has the flexibility to pause in its tightening. "But if economic growth picked up and caused core inflation to rise a little more quickly, I think the Fed would be prepared to tighten more quickly as well."


The UK property market remains robust despite the recent slowdown, according to mortgage lender Bradford Bingley and housebuilder George Wimpey. B B said the buy to let market in which the bank is a major player would continue to grow much faster than the wider mortgage market. The comments came as it reported a 6% rise in profits to 280.2m ( 532m). Wimpey reported a 19% rise in profits to 450.7m and said recent new home reservations were better than expected. Recent housing market surveys have indicated that the UK property market has cooled in recent months after several years of rapid growth. Last week, figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) indicated that the popularity of buy to let mortgages a key phenomenon of the housing boom could be waning. But B B which has a 22% share of the UK buy to let mortgage market said that while rates of growth were moderating, the sector "continues to grow at a rate considerably above that of the whole mortgage market". Overall, B B said that "housing market fundamentals remain strong". "Interest rates and unemployment are both likely to remain at historically low levels, real household incomes should continue to grow and housing demand is likely to outstrip supply into the medium term." Despite the upbeat tone, shares in B B were down more than 4% at 325.5p in morning trade as analysts worried over future earnings growth. Wimpey's profit figures came in at the top of expectations, with the numbers helped by buoyant sales in the US offsetting a slight slowdown in the UK. Wimpey said the UK housing market had proved "challenging" last year. "By late summer, the market in general had slowed sharply across the country and showed no real improvement during the autumn," it added. However, the first seven weeks of this year had produced promising signs, Wimpey said. "Visitor levels and interest in this period have been encouraging and reservations have been at the stronger end of our expectations." Shares in Wimpey were up 6% at 458.5p in morning trade.


Ian Rush's future as Chester manager is uncertain after he and assistant Mark Aizlewood refused a severance package. Chester have won only two of their last 10 League games but Chairman Steve Vaughan claims he cannot afford to sack the 43 year old Liverpool legend. Vaughan said: "I offered a financial settlement so they could resign with dignity but an obvious action is to dismiss them. "I haven't because of the finances, so technically they're still employees." Vaughan claimed that Aizlewood had "verbally agreed" to the offer. But the Chester chairman added: "After they discussed the offer with their solicitor, who also acts as their agent, they decided to withdraw the verbal agreement, which was disappointing." Rush was appointed at the end of August following the departure of former Liverpool team mate Mark Wright, who guided Chester to the Conference title last season. Chester were bottom of League Two when Rush took over but the former Liverpool striker enjoyed an impressive start to managerial life, taking the club into the third round of the FA cup and winning the manager of the month award for October. Chester's downturn in form culminated in a 5 0 defeat at Shrewsbury that leaves them hovering just above the League Two relegation zone.


The old fashioned audio tour of historical places could soon be replaced with computer generated images that bring the site to life. A European Union funded project is looking at providing tourists with computer augmented versions of archaeological attractions. It would allow visitors a glimpse of life as it was originally lived in places such as Pompeii. It could pave the way for a new form of cultural tourism. The technology would allow digital people and other computer generated elements to be combined with the actual view seen by tourists as they walk around an historical site. The Lifeplus project is part of the EU's Information Society Technologies initiative aimed at promoting user friendly technology and enhancing European cultural heritage. Engineers and researchers working in the Europe wide consortium have come up with a prototype augmented reality system. It would require the visitor to wear a head mounted display with a miniature camera and a backpack computer. The camera captures the view and feeds it to software on the computer where the visitor's viewpoint is combined with animated virtual elements. At Pompeii for example, the visitor would not just see the frescos, taverns and villas that have been excavated, but also people going about their daily life. Augmented reality has been used to create special effects in films such as Troy and Lord of the Rings and in computer gaming. "This technology can now be used for much more than just computer games," said Professor Nadia Magnenat Thalman of the Swiss research group MiraLab. "We are, for the first time, able to run this combination of software processes to create walking, talking people with believable clothing, skin and hair in real time," she said. Unlike virtual reality, which delivers an entirely computer generated scene to the viewer, the Lifeplus project is about combining digital and real views. Crucial to the technique is the software that interprets the visitor's view and provides an accurate match between the real and virtual elements. The software capable of doing this has been developed by a UK company, 2d3. Andrew Stoddart, chief scientist at 2d3, said that the EU project has been driven by a new desire to bring the past to life. "The popularity of television documentaries and dramatisations using computer generated imagery to recreate scenes from ancient history demonstrates the widespread appeal of bringing ancient cultures to life," he said.


Northampton coach Budge Pountney has been fined 2,000 and banned from match day coaching for six weeks for calling a referee "a disgrace". Pountney was found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute at a Rugby Football Union disciplinary hearing in London on Thursday night. Pountney criticised referee Steve Lander's performance in Northampton's defeat by Saracens on 5 February. The last two weeks of the six week ban are suspended. Pountney pleaded guilty to the offence before a panel consisting of chairman Robert Horner, Nigel Gillingham and Jeff Probyn. The ban means former Scotland international Pountney cannot enter the playing enclosure, technical areas or go near the touchline, tunnel or players and officials' areas on the day of a game.


Sun Microsystems has launched a pay as you go service which will allow customers requiring huge computing power to rent it by the hour. Sun Grid costs users 1 (53p) for an hour's worth of processing and storage power on systems maintained by Sun. So called grid computing is the latest buzz phrase in a company which believes that computing capacity is as important a commodity as hardware and software. Sun likened grid computing to the development of electricity. The system could mature in the same way utilities such as electricity and water have developed, said Sun's chief operating officer Jonathan Schwartz. "Why build your own grid when you can use ours for a buck an hour?" he asked in a webcast launching Sun's quarterly Network Computing event in California. The company will have to persuade data centre managers to adopt a new model but it said it already had interest from customers in the oil, gas and financial services industries. Some of them want to book computing capacity of more than 5,000 processors each, Sun said. Mr Schwartz ran a demonstration of the service, showing how data could be processed in a protein folding experiment. Hundreds of servers were used simultaneously, working on the problem for a few seconds each. Although it only took a few seconds, the experiment cost 12 ( 6.30) because it had used up 12 hour's worth of computing power. The Sun Grid relies on Solaris, the operating system owned by Sun. Initially it will house the grid in existing premises and will use idle servers to test software before shipping it to customers. It has not said how much the system will cost to develop but it already has a rival in IBM, which argues that its capacity on demand service is cheaper than that offered by Sun.


The Conservative Party would cut the number of MPs by about one fifth if they were elected, Tory leader Michael Howard has said. The plan forms part of the party's "smaller government bill", to be unveiled later this week. Mr Howard told the Sunday Times the party would also reduce the number of government special advisers. And he said a referendum would be held in Wales to decide whether or not to scrap the Welsh Assembly. The changes would all take place within five years of the Conservatives winning a general election, Mr Howard told the paper. The precise number of MPs to go would depend on the result of the Welsh referendum, but it would probably mean a reduction of around 120 from the current total of 659. If Wales decided to keep its assembly it would stand to lose more MPs. Mr Howard said as both parties planned to cut the number of civil servants at Whitehall Labour by more than 80,000 and the Tories by almost 100,000 they should accept a similar drop in their own numbers. "It is all very well saying government departments should be reduced, but what about ministers, Parliament and special advisers?" he said. Shadow leader of the Commons Oliver Heald said: "This will be part of our aim to reduce unnecessary and costly interference in people's lives by reducing the size and role of the State". Mr Howard said the plan would also even out the "great unfairness" of there being proportionately more Scottish and Welsh MPs at Westminster than those from England. The average size of an English constituency was 70,000 people, Mr Howard said. In Northern Ireland it was just over 66,000, in Wales just over 59,000 and in Scotland 53,000. The number of Welsh MPs would be set at an amount that was "consistent and fair in terms of representation with the rest of the United Kingdom" if the assembly was scrapped. Mr Howard said the changes should be carried out quickly and could even be implemented by the election after next. "You have got to have a big bang. We don't want this like the House of Lords reform, getting to one stage and then not having the next stage."


Shares in Multiplex Group, which is building the new Wembley stadium, fell as much as 19% after it said it would not make any money on the project. The Australian firm said it would only break even on the 1.2bn Australian dollars ( 458m; 874m) rebuild, after a rise in costs on the work. Any profits would depend on the outcome of legal cases resulting from a change in steel contractor, it added. It cut A 68m from profit targets for Wembley and another UK project. Investors were shaken by the news and the firm's shares fell to a four month low of A 4.50, before recovering to close 16% down at A 4.67. The decline came despite Multiplex reporting an 11% rise in pre tax profits to A 67.7m for 2004 and reaffirming its 2005 profit forecasts. Increased costs at Wembley and a separate development in London's Docklands saw Multiplex's construction division report profits of A 35.1m. The firm said the result was below expectations but stressed that the majority of its UK projects which also include the White City redevelopment scheme in west London were performing strongly. To recoup any profit from Wembley, where the firm changed its steel contractor due to a legal dispute, Multiplex will have to win legal claims against subcontractors. These claims could take up to two years to resolve. "Multiplex believes its claim are sound and ultimately will exceed the level needed to support the break even position," it said. "It is expected that profits will be possible in future periods as the claims are finalised." Wembley Stadium is to due to be completed in January and will officially open for the 2006 FA Cup Final. Analysts expressed concern at the unexpected paring back in profit. "Such a big writeback on the Wembley project in such a short period has impacted on management credibility," Simon Wheatley, from Goldman Sachs, told Reuters.


Labour is to be investigated by a watchdog over claims its election campaign has broken the rules on "cold calling" householders. The information commissioner is to look into a complaint from the Lib Dems about how Labour uses its call centres. The Lib Dems say Labour is telephoning people who have signed up to make sure they do not get marketing calls. Labour denies breaking rules. It says calls are not marketing if they just ask about people's voting intentions. The party says it would expect the watchdog to take complaints seriously but it has clear legal advice on the issue. Telephone call centres are expected to be used as never before by all the three major parties in the run up to the general election. But seven million telephone numbers are on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) lists, which ban unsolicited sales and marketing calls. Lib Dem chairman Matthew Taylor has written to the watchdog accusing Labour of a "flagrant and systematic breach" of the laws governing the TPS. He says the initial call may not be marketing but it identifies voters to whom the party can send promotional material in the future. His letter to the commissioner quotes from a Labour Party handbook about "identifying target voters". And it quotes a Stevenage Labour Party members' newsletter explaining how voters will be telephoned about their voting intentions. The voters are put in 24 categories according to their last known voting intention, ranging from "Labour (firm)" to "target (Conservative)" those who supported the party in the past but this time will be voting Tory. The newsletter says: "Using the information we know about people, we can send them direct mailings. "For example, we could send the target (Conservative) people a letter from someone who had defected from the Tories to Labour explaining the reasons why voting Tory is a bad idea or we could send Labour (weak) people a letter encouraging them to sign up for a postal vote." Mr Taylor tells the commissioner: "It is clear beyond peradventure from the above that the Labour Party is engaging in a large scale voter ID project for subsequent promotional purposes through targeted and segmented mailings. "Insofar as this project is directed at TPS subscribers, it is equally clear that it is unlawful." The Lib Dems raised worries about Labour and Conservative calls in February and 680 people have signed up to the website they set up to help people to complain. A party official said there was only scattered evidence of the Tories breaking the rules but people had complained every day about Labour. A spokeswoman for the Information Commissioner's Office said it was examining one complaint about political calls understood to be Mr Taylor's. "We are investigating one of the complaints where some evidence has been given to us," she said. "Obviously evidence is needed for us to start investigations." The commissioner's office will now examine the Lib Dem evidence. "The guidance is that cold calling can be made as long as no marketing is going on," said the spokeswoman. If Labour is judged to have broken the rules, it will be asked stop immediately. If it fails to do so after two or three warning letters, the commissioner can issue an enforcement notice spelling out what the party needs to do or stop doing. The party could appeal against the decision to an Information Tribunal. If the appeal fails and it continues breaking the rules, it could be fined up to 5,000. Labour says it avoids those on TPS lists when telephoning people about membership or fundraising but not when making "voter identification" calls. Asked about the commissioner's inquiry, a Labour spokesman told BBC News: "We expect the information commissioner to take any complaint seriously. However, we are absolutely clear that we haven't broken any rules. "As the information commissioner himself has said, if people are not marketing something, if they are asking them which way they are going to vote, they are not in breach of the law. "We always ask everyone we phone up whether they would be happy to be contacted by the Labour Party again."


Microsoft's Internet Explorer has a serious rival in the long awaited Firefox 1.0 web browser, which has just been released. Few people get excited when some new software is released, especially when the program is not a game or a music or movie player. But the release of the first full version of Firefox has managed to drum up a respectable amount of pre launch fervour. Fans of the software have banded together to raise cash to pay for an advert in the New York Times announcing that version 1.0 of the browser is available. The release of Firefox 1.0 on 9 November might even cause a few heads to turn at Microsoft because the program is steadily winning people away from the software giant's Internet Explorer browser. Firefox has been created by the Mozilla Foundation which was started by former browser maker Netscape back in 1998. Much of the development work done since then has gone into Firefox which made its first appearance under this name in February. Earlier incarnations, but which had the same core technology, were called Phoenix and Firebird. Since then the software has been gaining praise and converts, not least because of the large number of security problems that have come to light in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Rivals to IE got a boost in late June when two US computer security organisations warned people to avoid the Microsoft program to avoid falling victim to a serious vulnerability. Internet monitoring firm WebSideStory has charted the growing population of people using the Firefox browser and says it is responsible for slowly eroding the stranglehold of IE. Before July this year, according to WebSideStory, Internet Explorer was used by about 95% of web surfers. That figure had remained static for years. In July the IE using population dropped to 94.7% and by the end of October stood at 92.9%. The Mozilla Foundation claims that Firefox has been downloaded almost eight million times and has publicly said it would be happy to garner 10% of the Windows using, net browsing population. Firefox is proving popular because, at the moment, it has far fewer security holes than Internet Explorer and has some innovations lacking in Microsoft's program. For instance, Firefox allows the pages of different websites to be arranged as tabs so users can switch easily between them. It blocks pop ups, has a neat way of finding text on a page and lets you search through the pages you have browsed. One of the most powerful features of Firefox is the many hundreds of extras, or extensions, produced for it. The Mozilla Foundation is an open source organisation which means that the creators of the browser are happy for others to play around with the core code for the program. This has resulted in many different add ons or extensions for the browser which now include everything from a version of the familiar Google toolbar to a Homeland Security monitor that keep users aware of current threat levels. Firefox, which used to be called Firebird and before that Phoenix, also has a growing number of vocal net based fans. A campaign co ordinated by the Spread Firefox website attempted to raise the 50,000 needed for a full page advert in the New York Times. The campaign set itself a target of recruiting 2500 volunteers. Ten days in to the campaign 10,000 people had signed up and now about 250,000 has been raised. The ad is due to run sometime in a three week period in late November/early December. The surplus cash will be used to help keep the Mozilla Foundation running. Microsoft is facing a growing challenge to IE's hold on the web using population. from alternative browsers such as Opera, Safari, Amaya and even Netscape.


Nintendo is releasing an adapter for its DS handheld console so it can play music and video. The add on for the DS means people can download TV programmes, film clips or MP3 files to the adaptor and then play them back while on the move. The release of the media add on is an attempt by the Japanese games giant to protect its dominance of the handheld gaming market. Nintendo said the media adapter will be available from February in Japan. The Nintendo DS is the successor to the hugely successful GameBoy handheld game console and went on sale in Japan on 2 December. The DS has two screens, one of which is touch sensitive, and also has on board a short range wireless link that lets people play against each other. The launch of the media adapter, and the attempt to broaden the appeal of the device, is widely seen as a response to the unveiling of the Sony PSP which was built as a multi purpose media player and game gadget from the start. Sony is thought to be preparing pre packaged movies and music for the PSP. The add on will also work with the GameBoy Advance SP. Nintendo dominates the handheld gaming console world thanks to successive versions of the GameBoy. More than 28 million GameBoy Advance handhelds have been sold around the world. The dual screen DS is also thought to be selling well with more than 2.5 million expected to be sold by the end of 2004. Nintendo said it had no plans to sell the media adapter outside Japan. When it goes on sale the adapter is expected to cost about 5000 yen ( 25), roughly the difference in price between the DS and the higher priced Sony PSP.


Life insurer Axa Sun Life has lowered annual bonus payouts for up to 50,000 with profits investors. Regular annual bonus rates on former Axa Equity Law with profits policies are to be cut from 2% to 1% for 2004. Axa blamed a poor stock market performance for the cut, adding that recent gains have not yet offset the market falls seen in 2001 and 2002. The cut will hit an estimated 3% of Axa's policyholders. The rest will know their fate in March. The cuts on Axa's policies will mean a policyholder who had invested 50 a month into an endowment policy for the past 25 years would see a final maturity payout of 46,998. This equated to a annual investment growth rate of 8% Axa said. With profits policies are designed to smooth out the peaks and troughs of stock market volatility. However, heavy stock market falls throughout 2001 and 2002 forced most firms to trim bonus rates on their policies. "The stock market has grown over the past 18 months, however not enough to undo the damage that occurred during 2001 and 2002," Axa spokesman Mark Hamilton, Axa spokesman, told BBC News. Axa cut payouts for the same investors last January.


One of Japan's best known businessmen was arrested on Thursday on charges of falsifying shareholder information and selling shares based on the false data. Yoshiaki Tsutsumi was once ranked as the world's richest man and ran a business spanning hotels, railways, construction and a baseball team. His is the latest in a series of arrests of top executives in Japan over business scandals. He was taken away in a van outside one of his Prince hotels in Tokyo. There was a time when Mr Tsutsumi seemed untouchable. Inheriting a large property business from his father in the 1960s, he became one of Japan's most powerful industrialists, with close connections to many of the country's leading politicians. He used his wealth and influence to bring the Winter Olympic Games to Nagano in 1998. But last year, he was forced to resign from all the posts he held in his business empire, after being accused of falsifying the share ownership structure of Seibu Railways, one of his companies. Under Japanese stock market rules, no listed company can be more than 80% owned by its 10 largest shareholders. Now Mr Tsutsumi faces criminal charges and the possibility of a prison sentence because he made it look as if the 10 biggest shareholders owned less than this amount. Seibu Railways has been delisted from the stock exchange, its share value has plunged and it is the target of a takeover bid. Mr Tsutsumi's fall from grace follows the arrests of several other top executives in Japan as the authorities try to curb the murky business practices which were once widespread in Japanese companies. His determination to stay at the top at all costs may have had its roots in his childhood. The illegitimate third son of a rich father, who made his money buying up property as Japan rebuilt after World War II, he has described the demands his father made. "I felt enormous pressure when I dined with him and it was nothing but pain," Tsutsumi told a weekly magazine in 1987. "He scolded me for pouring too much soy sauce or told me fruit was not for children. He didn't let me use the silk futon, saying it's a luxury." There have been corporate governance issues at some other Japanese companies too. Last year, twelve managers from Mitsubishi Motors were charged with covering up safety defects in their vehicles and three executives from Japan's troubled UFJ bank were charged with concealing the extent of the bank's bad loans.


Neil Kinnock has said his acceptance of a seat in the House of Lords will allow him to help "achieve further progress with substantial democratic reform." On the BBC's Breakfast with Frost it was put to Mr Kinnock that he had once referred to Lords members as "brigands, muggers, bribers and gangsters". But the outgoing European Commissioner said his comments made some 26 years ago needed to be put in context. He said advocates for reform needed to be inside the Lords to vote for it. "It was pointed out to me that if the additional democratic reform is going to take place it is going to require advocates in the Lords and people there willing to vote for it." Mr Kinnock added that the second factor behind his acceptance of the peerage was his appointment as chairman of the British Council. "History demonstrates that it's immensely useful for the British Council to have its chairman in the House of Lords and that was a conclusive factor." Mr Kinnock said he thought about the decision for "quite a long time" because he had long had reservations about the Lords. But he added: "The process of reform has developed substantially but not sufficiently, and consequently I did take all these factors into consideration because it's not a decision to be made glibly." The former Labour leader said he would probably take the title of Lord Kinnock of Bedwellty his first constituency for which he was selected in 1969.


Forget about going to a crowded bar to enjoy a gig by the latest darlings of the music press. Now you could also be at a live gig on your mobile, via the latest third generation (3G) video phones. Rock outfit Rooster are playing what has been billed as the first ever concert broadcast by phone on Tuesday evening from a London venue. The 45 minute gig is due to be "phone cast" by the 3G mobile phone operator, 3. 3G technology lets people take, watch and send video clips on their phones, as well as swap data much faster than with 2G networks like GSM. People with 3G phones in the UK can already download football and music clips on their handsets. Some 1,000 fans of the London based band will have to pay five pounds for a ticket and need a 3G handset. "Once you have paid, you can come and go as much as you like, because we expect the customers to be mobile," said 3 spokesperson Belinda Henderson. "It's like going to a concert hall, except that you are virtually there." The company behind the trial hopes to learn more about how people use their video phones. "We are looking on how long people will stay on average on the streams. Some people may stay the whole time, some may dip in and out," said Ms Henderson. "We actually expect people to dip in and out because they are mobile and they will be doing other things." 3 is looking to music as a way of persuading more people to take up the latest video phones. It is already planning regular gigs throughout 2005. And during the intermission, of course, you would still be able to make a phone call.


Sale Sharks director of rugby Philippe Saint Andre has re opened rugby's club versus country debate. Sale host Bath in the Powergen Cup on Friday, but the Frenchman has endured a "difficult week" with six players away on England's Six Nations training camp. "It's an important game but we've just the one full session. It's the same for everyone but we need to manage it. "If five players or more are picked for your country they should move the date of the game," he told BBC Sport. Unless the authorities agree to make changes, Saint Andre believes England's national team will suffer as clubs opt to sign foreigners and retired internationals. "That's not good for the politics of the English team or for English rugby," he argues. It is an issue he has taken up before, most notably during the autumn internationals when Sale lost all three Zurich Premiership matches they played. Now he fears it could derail the club's hopes of cup silverware after eight players, including captain Jason Robinson and fly half Charlie Hodgson, were away with their countries. "We're in the quarter finals, it's always better to play at home than away and it's a great opportunity," he added. "But we have to be careful. Bath have just been knocked out of Europe and will make it a tough game. It also comes at the end of a very, very difficult week. "Sebastien Bruno's been with France, Jason White with Scotland and there are six with England, that's eight players plus injuries 13 players out of a squad of 31. "We'll have just one session together and will have to do our best to make that a good one on Thursday afternoon." Gloucester have also been caught in a club versus country conflict after England sought a second medical opinion on James Simpson Daniel's fitness. The winger is carrying a shoulder injury and the national team management believe he requires time on the sidelines. As a result he misses the Cherry and White's quarter final at home to Bristol. "Under the Elite Player Squad agreement, England wanted a second opinion, which they can do," director of rugby Nigel Melville told the Gloucester Citizen. "They obviously want him for international rugby and we want him for club rugby in what is a very important game for us. There is a conflict of interests. "The surgeon who carried out his operation said he was fine for us but England say he is still vulnerable to be damaged again and want him on a full rehab programme." Simpson Daniel added: "I've said to Nigel I want to be back playing and that means if everything goes well this week, I can target the Worcester game (on 29 January) for a return."


Allan Scott is confident of winning a medal at next week's European Indoor Championships after a solid debut on the international circuit. The 22 year old Scot finished fourth in the 60m hurdles at the Jose M Cagigal Memorial meeting in Madrid. "It was definitely a learning curve and I certainly haven't ruled out challenging for a medal next week," said the East Kilbride athlete. The race was won by Felipe Vivancos, who equalled the Spanish record. Sweden's Robert Kronberg was second, with Haiti's Dudley Dorival in third. Scott was slightly disappointed with his run in the final. He won his heat in 7.64secs but ran 0.04secs slower in his first IAAF Indoor Grand Prix circuit final. "I should have done better than that," he said. "I felt I could have won it. I got a poor start but I still felt I should have ran faster." Vivancos slashed his personal best to equal the Spanish record with a time of 7.60secs while Kronberg and Dorival clocked 7.62secs and 7.63secs respectively.


Andre Agassi put in an erratic display before edging into the fourth round of the Australian Open with victory over Taylor Dent. The 34 year old American, seeded eighth, made a poor start, dropping serve early on and later needing two chances to serve out the set. Having secured the lead, Agassi still failed to take control as both players forced a succession of breaks. But Agassi won the tie break before wrapping up a 7 5 7 6 (7 3) 6 1 win. Fourth seed survived an injury scare as he battled past Mario Ancic 6 4 3 6 6 3 6 4. The Russian turned his right ankle in the third game of the fourth set and called for treatment immediately. But he showed no sign of the problem when he returned to the court to wrap up victory in two hours 45 minutes. Ancic, Wimbledon semi finalist in 2004, looked set to push Safin all the way when he took the second set but Safin raised his game to sink the Croatian. Safin said he was trying to keep his temper under control at this year's tournament. The Russian hit himself on the head repeatedly in one second set outburst but was otherwise largely calm in his victory. "I try to stay calm because if you go crazy against players like Ancic, you might never come back because he's a tough opponent," he said. "I'm a little bit calmer than I was before because I'd had enough." The Russian added that he was not worried by his ankle injury. "I have had a lot of problems with that ankle before it will be OK," he said. 's route to the fourth round was made easy when opponent Jarkko Nieminen was forced to retire from their match. The top seed and defending champion was leading 6 3 5 2 when Nieminen pulled out with an abdominal injury. Federer had been in patchy form until then mixing 19 unforced errors with 19 winners. The world number one will play Cypriot next after the former world junior champion beat Tommy Robredo 7 6 (7 2) 6 4 6 1. Federer admitted he was under extra pressure after extending his winning streak to a career best 24. "They are so used to me winning, but it's not that simple," he said. "I had a feeling this could be a tough match. I had a bad start but I bounced back. I always want to play better than I am, but I thought I was pretty OK." French Open champion is out of the tournament after a five set defeat by Dominik Hrbaty. Hrbaty defeated the 10th seed 7 6 (7 5) 6 7 (8 10) 6 7 (3 7) 6 1 6 3 in a match lasting four hours and 21 minutes. The pair traded 16 service breaks during an exhausting baseline battle, with Hrbaty taking a decisive advantage in the eighth game of the final set. Hrbaty will now play 2002 champion , who outlasted American Kevin Kim 3 6 6 2 6 7 6 2 6 2.


The Police Federation has said it strongly opposes giving Community Support Officers (CSOs) the power to detain suspects for up to 30 minutes. The powers piloted in six areas were extended to all police forces in England and Wales on Thursday. The federation said CSOs do not have the experience, training and safety equipment to deal with "potentially confrontational" situations. But the government said the move would help police "build safe communities". Police Federation chairman Jan Berry said civilian officers should act as "eyes and ears" for the police. "They should not be placed in potentially confrontational situations which detaining someone clearly is," she said. CSOs can now use reasonable force to detain suspects for up to 30 minutes while they wait for police officers to arrive. The powers will be granted by chief constables of local forces. Ms Berry said this "dramatically changes" their original purpose to be a visible presence combating low level crime and anti social behaviour. She said more powers would mean more paperwork and less time on the street. But Home Office minister Hazel Blears defended the move saying it would give the civilian officers "just that little bit of edge". She denied their role was changing and said the new powers would not take them away from the streets. "The powers that we are bringing in are things that they need to do when they are out patrolling," she said. The Home Office has produced its own report on CSOs which it describes as "encouraging". Ms Blears said the study shows CSOs are "making a real difference" in the fight against crime. But the report also showed that the public is having difficulties distinguishing between a civilian officer and a proper officer. Shadow home secretary David Davis said the research appeared to acknowledge that CSOs were having no discernible effect on crime figures. "While the answer is a lot more real police, the government wants to recruit 25,000 people who can't arrest anyone," he said. BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the research is inconclusive. There are about 3,500 CSOs in England and Wales but the government intends to have 25,000 on the streets by 2008 at a cost of 50m. They already have powers to hand out fines for a wide range of offences. The Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill proposes extra powers to search suspects, enforce licensing offences, direct traffic and deter begging.