Hundreds of ballot papers for the regional assembly referendum in the North East have "disappeared". Royal Mail says it is investigating the situation, which has meant about 300 homes in County Durham are not receiving voting packs. Officials at Darlington Council are now in a race against time to try and rectify the situation. The all postal votes of about two million electors are due to be handed in by 4 November. A spokesman for Darlington Council said: "We have sent out the ballot papers, the problem is with Royal Mail. "Somewhere along the line, something has gone wrong and these ballot papers have not been delivered. "The Royal Mail is investigating to see if they can find out what the problem is." A spokeswoman for Royal Mail said: "We are investigating a problem with the delivery route in the Mowden area of Darlington. "This is affecting several hundred properties, which have failed to receive ballot papers. "We are working closely with the council and will do all we can to help rectify the problem. "No one will not receive their ballot paper as special hand deliveries will take place where necessary. "We are unaware of any other problems of this kind to do with the regional assembly vote." The Darlington Council spokesman added: "Initially we had complaints from a couple of residents in Mowden to say they thought they should have had their ballot papers by now. "We then made further investigations and it became clear this was a bigger issue." A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission told BBC News Online that letters were being sent out to those homes affected. She said the commission was satisfied that measures had been put in place to ensure all voters received ballot papers in time. So far a total of 569,072 ballot envelopes have been scanned by bar code at counting offices across the North East.


Former European 200m champion Dougie Walker is to retire from athletics after a series of six operations left him struggling for fitness. Walker had hoped to compete in the New Year Sprint which is staged at Musselburgh Racecourse near Edinburgh on Tuesday and Wednesday. The 31 year old Scot was suspended for two years in 1998 after testing positive for nandrolone. "I had intended to race but I'm running like a goon," said Walker. He told the Herald newspaper: "I'm not in great shape, after missing about a month of training. "I missed a big chunk of speed work over about three weeks, and then another week working in America. "If I'd had a half decent mark it might have motivated me more, but I won't be racing. "I still enjoy training, but feel it's time to move on, and concentrate on a career."


Reports that Tony Blair is planning a snap general election for February 2005 have been described as "idle speculation" by Downing Street. A spokesman said he had "no idea" where the reports in the Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph had come from. The papers suggest ministers believe the government could benefit from a "Baghdad bounce" following successful Iraq elections in January. A British general election was last held in February in 1974. In that election, Edward Heath lost and failed to build a coalition with the Liberals. Harold Wilson took over and increased his majority later in the year in a second election The latest speculation suggests the prime minister favours a February poll in order to exploit his current opinion poll lead over Conservative leader Michael Howard. But that strategy could prompt criticism he was seeking to "cut and run" after less then four years of a parliamentary term. The papers report that Alan Milburn, Labour's head of elections strategy, has played a key role in the plan for a February election, which would include a New Year advertising blitz. New Labour's campaign, both newspapers said, would be centred around the slogan "Britain is Working". A Labour Party spokesman said the election date was ultimately a matter for Mr Blair, but he was unaware of anything to suggest it would be in February. Most commentators have been expecting an election on 5 May. The last election was in June 2001.


Norwich have signed Charlton midfielder Graham Stuart until the end of the season for an undisclosed fee. "It was a very easy decision to make," the 34 year old told Norwich's website. "The attraction for me was to continue to play in the Premiership." Canaries boss Nigel Worthington added: "I'm delighted that Graham will be joining us until the end of the season. "He's gives us a wealth of experience. Hopefully, he can be part of keeping us in the Premier League." Stuart has extensive top flight experience with Everton, Chelsea and Charlton and can play across the midfield positions. He joins Norwich with the Norfolk club second from bottom in the Premiership, but Stuart is confident that the Carrow Road outfit have a bright future. "I've been very impressed with the facilities here. It's obviously a very well run football club with excellent facilities and I've always enjoyed playing at Carrow Road," he added. "It's a nice compact ground with a good atmosphere and hopefully I can help give the fans something else to cheer." Stuart, a former England Under 21 international, made 110 appearances for Chelsea, scoring 18 goals, before joining Everton. He won the FA Cup with the Toffees in 1995 and remains a hero at Goodison Park after his 81st minute winner against Wimbledon saved Everton from relegation in 1994. Stuart spent just over four years at Goodison Park, making 125 senior appearances and scoring 25 goals, before signing for Sheffield United where he scored 12 goals in 68 appearances. After signing for Charlton he made 164 appearances, scoring 23 times, but recently he has been battling a back problem and had not played for the Londoners for three months before heading to Norwich.


Asian governments and international agencies are reeling at the potential economic devastation left by the Asian tsunami and floods. World Bank president James Wolfensohn has said his agency is "only beginning to grasp the magnitude of the disaster" and its economic impact. The tragedy has left at least 25,000 people dead, with Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and Indonesia worst hit. Some early estimates of reconstruction costs are starting to emerge. Millions have been left homeless, while businesses and infrastructure have been washed away. Economists believe several of the 10 countries hit by the giant waves could see a slowdown in growth. In Sri Lanka, some observers have said that as much as 1% of annual growth may be lost. For Thailand, that figure is much lower at 0.1%. Governments are expected to take steps, such as cutting taxes and increasing spending, to facilitate a recovery. "With the enormous displacement of people...there will be a serious relaxation of fiscal policy," Glenn Maguire, chief economist for the region at Societe Generale, told Agence France Presse. "The economic impact of it will certainly be large, but it should not be enough to derail the momentum of the region in 2005," he said. "First and foremost this is a human tragedy." India's economy, however, is less likely to slow because the areas hit are some of the least developed. The regional giant has enjoyed strong growth in 2004. But India now faces other problems, with aid workers under pressure to ensure a clean supply of water and sanitation to prevent an outbreak of disease. Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has estimated the destruction at 20bn baht ( 510m). Analysts said that figure is likely to rise and the country's tourist industry is likely to be hardest hit. Thailand's fishing and real estate sectors also will be affected by Sunday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake, which sent huge waves from Malaysia to Africa. Malaysia said as many as 1,000 fishermen will be affected and that damage to the industry will be "significant", Agence France Presse reported. Rapid rebuilding will be key to limiting the impact of the tragedy. "In three months, we should rebuild 70% of the damage in the three worst hit provinces," said Juthamas Siriwan, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The outlook for Sri Lanka is less optimistic, with analysts predicting that the country's tourist industry will struggle to recovery quickly. Tourism is a vital to many developing countries, providing jobs for 19 million people in the south east Asian region, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).


Fiat is to stop making six cylinder petrol engines for its sporty Alfa Romeo subsidiary, unions at the Italian carmaker have said. The unions claim Fiat is to close the Fiat Powertrain plant at Arese near Milan and instead source six cylinder engines from General Motors. Fiat has yet to comment on the matter, but the unions say the new engines will be made by GM in Australia. The news comes a week after GM pulled out of an agreement to buy Fiat. GM had to pay former partner Fiat 1.55bn euros ( 2bn; 1.1bn) to get out of a deal which could have forced it to buy the Italian carmaker outright. Fiat and GM also ended their five year alliance and two joint ventures in engines and purchasing, but did agree to continue buying each other's engines. "Powertrain told us today that Alfa Romeo engines will no longer be made in Arese," said union leader Vincenzo Lilliu, as reported by the Reuters news agency. "The assembly line will be dismantled and the six cylinder Alfa Romeo motor will be replaced with an engine GM produces in Australia." Reuters also said that Mr Lilliu and other union bosses shouted insults at Fiat chairman Luca di Montezemolo, following a meeting on Tuesday regarding the future of the Arese plant. The unions said the end of engine production at the facility would mean the loss of 800 jobs. All Alfa Romeo models can be bought with a six cylinder engine the 147, 156, 156 Sportwagon, 166, GTV, GT and Spider.


Australian mining firm WMC Resources has said it is worth up to 30% more than a hostile 7.4bn Australian dollar ( 5.8bn; 3bn) bid by rival Xstrata. There is now pressure on Swiss based Xstrata to increase its takeover offer. A report from investment firm Grant Samuel in WMC defence documents values WMC shares at A 7.17 to A 8.24, against Xstrata's bid of A 6.35 a share. Analysts said the defence documents provided more details on WMC, and may trigger a possible rival bid. "If a bid is going to emerge it is probably likely in the next one to two weeks," said Daiwa Securities analyst Mark Pervan. He said the valuation would put increased pressure on Xstrata to look at "sweetening" its offer. Marc Gonsalves, an executive at Xstrata, said: "We will review the information contained in the target's statement over the next week or so." He added: "While we will review the assumptions made by Grant Samuel in detail, we are extremely sceptical of their conclusion, and suggest that WMC shareholders take extreme care in presuming that these optimistic assumptions are capable of being realised." Last month Australia's competition watchdog said it would not oppose the purchase of WMC by Zurich and London based Xstrata. On Tuesday, WMC chairman Tommie Bergman said in a statement the directors believed it was in shareholders' best interest to reject the offer. He said WMC would pursue "value creating options" provided by a portfolio of "world class assets". And WMC chief executive Andrew Michelmore claimed the Xstrata offer was aimed at creating value for Xstrata's shareholders, and was not being made for the benefit of WMC's shareholders. Grant Samuel said its valuation of WMC was based on lower average prices for nickel, copper and uranium than current market levels. "Any longer term commodity price improvements would only improve our outlook," Mr Michelmore said. In 2003 Xstrata acquired Australia's largest copper miner MIM Holdings. WMC Resources is the world's third largest producer of concentrated nickel, and also a miner of copper and uranium. It owns the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, which contains about one third of the world's known uranium resources and is also the world's fourth largest copper mine. Xstrata is a global mining giant with operations in Australia, South Africa, Spain, Germany, Argentina and the UK. Its core products are copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, vanadium and zinc. It also has growing businesses in gold, lead and silver.


Mexican labourers living in the US sent a record 16.6bn ( 8.82bn) home last year. The Bank of Mexico said that remittances grew 24% last year and now represent the country's second biggest source of income after oil. Better records and greater prosperity of Mexican expatriates in the US are the main reasons behind the increase. About 10 million Mexicans live in the US, where there are 16 million citizens of Mexican origin. Remittances now represent more than 2% of the country's GDP, according to the Bank of Mexico's figures. Last year, there were 50.9 million transactions, with an average value of 327 per remittance, the bank said. According to Standard Poor's, which has recently upgraded Mexico's sovereign debt rating, the rise in remittances helps protect the Mexican economy against a potential fall in the international oil prices. The growth in remittances has sparked fierce competition between banks. Bank of America announced last week that it planned to eliminate transfer fees for some customers. Remittance charges are estimated to have dropped by between 50 and 60%, reports from the US Treasury and the Inter American Development Bank have said. The Inter American Development Bank estimates that remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean reached 45bn in 2004.


Less than four years after the new Mini was launched, German car maker BMW has announced 100m of new investment. Some 200 new jobs are to be created at the Oxford factory, including modernised machinery and a new body shell production building. The result of the investment could be to raise output to more than 200,000 cars from 2007. The rise, from 189,000 last year, is a response to rapidly rising demand and could help wipe out waiting lists. Before Wednesday's announcement, BMW had invested some 280m in Mini production. Since its launch during summer 2001, the new Mini has gone from strength to strength. Last year, almost one in six cars sold by the BMW group was a Mini. The company admits that the success of the brand came despite scepticism from many in the industry. "Our decision to produce a new Mini was not received well right away," said Norbert Reithofer, a member of the BMW management board. Initially, BMW said it would produce 100,000 Mini models a year at its vast Cowley factory on the outskirts of Oxford, but the target was quickly reached, then raised, time and time again. Not everyone is convinced that the boom can continue. "The risk is that after they've invested massively in the brand, demand tapers off like it did with the new VW Beetle," said Brad Wernle, from Automotive News Europe. The price of the car has also gone up. When it was launched, the cheapest Mini cost just more than 10,000. These days, buyers will have to fork out almost 11,500 to own a new Mini One, or even more for the Cooper S which costs up to 17,730. The Mini Convertible, which was launched last spring, costs up to 15,690 for the top model, and there is even a waiting list. Second hand Minis are not cheap either. A Mini One bought when the model was launched should still fetch at least 8,000 for the cheapest model, while a used Cooper S is likely to be priced from 12,556, according to the car buying website Parker's. The consumers' association Which operates with slightly different numbers, yet it confirms that the Mini Cooper 1.6 depreciates slower than any other car, other than the Mercedes Benz C180 SE and the BMW 1 Series 116i SE. The Cowley factory, which initially seemed far too large a production plant for just 100,000 Minis, is increasingly being put to good use. There are plans to tear down old buildings and build new ones and there are rumours that a new paint shop could be included in the plans. BMW's Mini adventure has made good much of what went wrong during its stewardship of the UK car maker Rover which it sold for 10 five years ago to the Phoenix consortium. In 1999, when BMW still owned Rover, the Oxford factory was producing the award winning Rover 75. During that year, 3,500 people produced 56,000 cars. Last year, in the same factory, almost four times as many vehicles were produced by just 4,500 Mini workers. The Mini factory's current output is equally impressive when compared with the main Rover factory in Longbridge, which in 1999 produced 180,000 Rover cars. Last year, MG Rover, which employs more than 6,000 people, produced just 110,000 cars, though it hopes to land a deal with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) that could help double the number of cars produced at Longbridge. Indeed, Mini is not only producing more cars than MG Rover does; it remains ahead even when the current sales of Land Rovers and Range Rovers (which are made by the former Rover unit that BMW sold to Ford) are taken into account.


Thousands of slaves were accepted as collateral for loans by two banks that later became part of JP Morgan Chase. The admission is part of an apology sent to JP Morgan staff after the bank researched its links to slavery in order to meet legislation in Chicago. Citizens Bank and Canal Bank are the two lenders that were identified. They are now closed, but were linked to Bank One, which JP Morgan bought last year. About 13,000 slaves were used as loan collateral between 1831 and 1865. Because of defaults by plantation owners, Citizens and Canal ended up owning about 1,250 slaves. "We all know slavery existed in our country, but it is quite different to see how our history and the institution of slavery were intertwined," JP Morgan chief executive William Harrison and chief operating officer James Dimon said in the letter. "Slavery was tragically ingrained in American society, but that is no excuse." "We apologise to the African American community, particularly those who are descendants of slaves, and to the rest of the American public for the role that Citizens Bank and Canal Bank played." "The slavery era was a tragic time in US history and in our company's history." JP Morgan said that it was setting up a 5m scholarship programme for students living in Louisiana, the state where the events took place. The bank said that it is a "very different company than the Citizens and Canal Banks of the 1800s".


Japanese industry is growing faster than expected, boosting hopes that the country's retreat back into recession is over. Industrial output rose 2.1% adjusted for the time of year in January from a month earlier. At the same time, retail sales picked up faster than at any time since 1997. The news sent Tokyo shares to an eight month high, as investors hoped for a recovery from the three quarters of contraction seen from April 2004 on. The Nikkei 225 index ended the day up 0.7% at 11,740.60 points, with the yen strengthening 0.7% against the dollar to 104.53 yen. Weaker exports, normally the engine for Japan's economy in the face of weak domestic demand, had helped trigger a 0.1% contraction in the final three months of last year after two previous quarters of shrinking GDP. Only an exceptionally strong performance in the early months of 2004 kept the year as a whole from showing a decline. The output figures brought a cautiously optimistic response from economic officials. "Overall I see a low risk of the economy falling into serious recession," said Bank of Japan chief Toshihiko Fukui, despite warning that other indicators such as the growth numbers had been worrying. Within the overall industrial output figure, there were signs of a pullback from the export slowdown. Among the best performing sectors were key overseas sales areas such as cars, chemicals and electronic goods. With US growth doing better than expected the picture for exports in early 2005 could also be one of sustained demand. Electronics were also one of the keys to the improved domestic market, with products such as flat screen TVs in high demand during January.


Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said his side's task against AC Milan would not be made any easier by the absence of Andriy Shevchenko. Milan's talismanic European footballer of the year misses Wednesday's Champions League first leg tie after fracturing his cheekbone. "It's a loss (to Milan), but it could be worse if they didn't have such quality to bring in," Ferguson said. "How much they miss him I think they'll know tomorrow night." Ferguson said Milan's front line would still represent a formidable challenge for his defenders. "They can play Rui Costa and play Kaka forward. They can bring Serginho in and they can play (Jon Dahl) Tomasson," he said. Ferguson's own goalscoring talisman Ruud van Nistelrooy is fit again, but the Scot admitted he was unsure whether to start the Dutchman, who has not played for three months. "Ruud is the best striker in Europe. What I have to judge is whether he will struggle with the early pace after being out for so long," he said. "His ability puts him in with a big shout but it is a major decision." Ferguson, though, is confident his young players, particularly Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, are up to the task. "We have an opportunity to win this cup this year, no question about that," he declared. "With the maturity we see every week in Ronaldo and Rooney, the return of Van Nistelrooy and the form of Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, we must have a fantastic chance." It is a view shared by Rooney, who believes "if we can get past Milan, we have a great chance". "As soon as I knew we were playing Milan, I got excited. Looking at the draw, it is anyone's trophy but we have every chance. "Hopefully, we can get to that final in Turkey and bring the cup back to Manchester." Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said his team were looking forward to returning to the venue where they lifted Europe's most prestigious club title two seasons ago. Milan beat Juventus in a penalty shootout after a 0 0 tie at Old Trafford and Ancelotti said: "We are all very happy to return (to Old Trafford) to play in the Champions League and this will give us great motivation." Ancelotti said he was aware of the threat United posed to his hopes of Champions League glory. "It's fundamental that we don't allow them to take control of the game. Our intention is not to adapt to their play but to play our game," he said. "They have great quality in attack, they use the wings a lot and we will have to make sure we stop them."


Stade de France, Paris Saturday, 26 February 1600 GMT BBC1, Radio 4 LW and this website France may have beaten Scotland and England but they were tedious and uninspired throughout both matches. Wales, on the other hand, have played some fine rugby and have made their best start since they last won the title in 1994. They also have a good record at the Stade de France, having won their first two games there, in 1999 and 2001. Wales have made two changes from the team that thrashed Italy 38 8 in Rome. Kevin Morgan takes over from his injured Newport Gwent Dragons colleague Hal Luscombe on the right wing. In the pack Neath Swansea Ospreys forward Ryan Jones bas been brought on the blind side flank to beef up the Wales back row in place of Jonathan Thomas. Wales coach Mike Ruddock is determined that his team will not go into their shells after their promising start to the championship. "Graham Henry (former Wales coach) said a couple of years ago that we should 'be bold' when going to France, and he was proved right," said Ruddock. "That is a great way to approach the game, and something we will further endorse with the players this week." Despite their stuttering displays in their first two games defending champions France are also unbeaten. Under pressure coach Bernard Laporte has made four changes, with Yannick Nyanga, the debutant Julien Laharrague, Aurelien Rougerie and Yannick Jauzion coming into the side. France have been criticised for the absence of traditional "French flair" as they have ground their way to victory so far this year but captain Fabien Pelous sees hope on the horizon. "I get the impression we are getting better," he said. "Against Wales, which is different from the teams we have beaten, I hope we can show our proper game." J Laharrague; A Rougerie, Y Jauzion, D Traille, C Dominici; Y Delaigue, D Yachvili; S Marconnet, S Bruno, N Mas; F Pelous (capt), J Thion; S Betsen, Y Nyanga, J Bonnaire (Bourgoin). W Servat, O Milloud, G Lamboley, I Harinordoquy, P Mignoni, F Michalak, J P Grandclaude. G Thomas (capt); K Morgan, T Shanklin, G Henson, S Williams; S Jones, D Peel; G Jenkins, M Davies, A Jones; B Cockbain, R Sidoli; R Jones, M Williams, M Owen. R McBryde, J Yapp, J Thomas, R Sowden Taylor, G Cooper, C Sweeney, R Williams.


Jose Antonio Reyes has added to speculation linking him with a move from Arsenal to Real Madrid after falling victim to a radio prank. The Spaniard believed he was talking to Real Madrid sporting director Emilio Butragueno when he allegedly berated his team mates as "bad people". "I wish I was playing for Real Madrid," the 21 year old told Cadena Cope. "Hopefully it could happen. I love the way Madrid play. I'm not happy with the way things are." The striker joined the Gunners from Seville for 17m at the start of 2004, but it has frequently been reported that he is homesick. He began the season in superb form but has struggled to maintain his high standards as Arsenal have gradually lost the Premiership initiative to Manchester United and Chelsea. "If I'm not (playing for Real) I'm going to have to carry on playing with some bad people," he added. "I'm sure there are none in the Real dressing room. "I'm happy Madrid is interested in me because it has always been my dream since I was little to play there." Before the story surfaced, Reyes had moved to play down reports linking him with the Spanish giants, issuing a statement through Arsenal describing the speculation as "flattering". "I have seen the stories in the media linking me with Real Madrid," he had said on Thursday lunchtime. "But not only am I under contract at Arsenal, I am happy here and committed to helping the team win more trophies." Butragueno, meanwhile, was angry at being impersonated by the radio disc jockey. "It is a disgrace, there is no foundation to this," he said. "He is an Arsenal player and we have to be respectful. We have to be careful because of the rumours that appear in the news."


Microsoft is working on a new version of its Internet Explorer web browser. The revamp has been prompted by Microsoft's growing concern with security as well as increased competition from rival browsers. Microsoft said the new version will be far less vulnerable to the bugs that make its current browser a favourite of tech savvy criminals. Test versions of the new program, called IE 7, are due to be released by the summer. The announcement about Internet Explorer was made by Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect, during a keynote speech at the RSA Security conference currently being held in San Francisco. Although details were scant, Mr Gates, said IE7 would include new protections against viruses, spyware and phishing scams. This last category of threats involves criminals setting up spoof websites that look identical to those of banks and try to trick people into handing over login and account information. In a bid to shore up the poor security in IE 6, Microsoft has regularly issued updates to patch loopholes exploited by criminals and the makers of nuisance programs such as spyware. Earlier this month it released a security bulletin that patched eight critical security holes some of which were found in the IE browser. Microsoft has also made a series of acquisitions of small firms that specialise in computer security. One of the first fruits of these acquisitions appeared last month with the release of a Microsoft anti spyware program. An own brand anti virus program is due to follow by the end of 2005. The decision to make Internet Explorer 7 is widely seen as a U turn because, before now, Microsoft said it had no need to update the browser. Typically new versions of its browser appear with successive versions of the Windows operating system. A new version of IE was widely expected to debut with the next version of Windows, codenamed Longhorn, which is due to appear in 2006. The current version of Internet Explorer is four years old, and is widely seen as falling behind rivals such as Firefox and Opera. There are also persistent rumours that search engine Google is poised to produce its own brand browser based on Firefox. In particular the Firefox browser has been winning fans and users since its first full version was released in November 2004. Estimates of how many users Firefox has won over vary widely. According to market statistics gathered by Websidestory, Firefox's market share is now about 5% of all users. However, other browser stat gatherers say the figure is closer to 15%. Some technical websites report that a majority of their visitors use the Firefox browser. Internet Explorer still dominates with a share of about 90% but this is down from a peak of almost 96% in mid 2004.


Maternity pay for new mothers is to rise by 1,400 as part of new proposals announced by the Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt. It would mean paid leave would be increased to nine months by 2007, Ms Hewitt told GMTV's Sunday programme. Other plans include letting maternity pay be given to fathers and extending rights to parents of older children. The Tories dismissed the maternity pay plan as "desperate", while the Liberal Democrats said it was misdirected. Ms Hewitt said: "We have already doubled the length of maternity pay, it was 13 weeks when we were elected, we have already taken it up to 26 weeks. "We are going to extend the pay to nine months by 2007 and the aim is to get it right up to the full 12 months by the end of the next Parliament." She said new mothers were already entitled to 12 months leave, but that many women could not take it as only six of those months were paid. "We have made a firm commitment. We will definitely extend the maternity pay, from the six months where it now is to nine months, that's the extra 1,400." She said ministers would consult on other proposals that could see fathers being allowed to take some of their partner's maternity pay or leave period, or extending the rights of flexible working to carers or parents of older children. The Shadow Secretary of State for the Family, Theresa May, said: "These plans were announced by Gordon Brown in his pre budget review in December and Tony Blair is now recycling it in his desperate bid to win back women voters." She said the Conservatives would announce their proposals closer to the General Election. Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for women Sandra Gidley said: "While mothers would welcome any extra maternity pay the Liberal Democrats feel this money is being misdirected." She said her party would boost maternity pay in the first six months to allow more women to stay at home in that time. Ms Hewitt also stressed the plans would be paid for by taxpayers, not employers. But David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, warned that many small firms could be "crippled" by the move. "While the majority of any salary costs may be covered by the government's statutory pay, recruitment costs, advertising costs, retraining costs and the strain on the company will not be," he said. Further details of the government's plans will be outlined on Monday. New mothers are currently entitled to 90% of average earnings for the first six weeks after giving birth, followed by 102.80 a week until the baby is six months old.


The US dollar has dropped against major currencies on concerns that central banks may cut the amount of dollars they hold in their foreign reserves. Comments by South Korea's central bank at the end of last week have sparked the recent round of dollar declines. South Korea, which has about 200bn in foreign reserves, said it plans instead to boost holdings of currencies such as the Australian and Canadian dollar. Analysts reckon that other nations may follow suit and now ditch the dollar. At 1300 GMT, the euro was up 0.9% on the day at 1.3187 euros per US dollar. The British pound had added 0.5% to break through the 1.90 level, while the dollar had fallen by 1.3% against the Japanese yen to trade at 104.16 yen. At the start of the year, the US currency, which had lost 7% against the euro in the final three months of 2004 and had fallen to record lows, staged something of a recovery. Analysts, however, pointed to the dollar's inability recently to extend that rally despite positive economic and corporate data, and highlighted the fact that many of the US's economic problems had not disappeared. The focus once again has been on the country's massive trade and budget deficits, with predictions of more dollar weakness to come. "The comments from Korea came at a time when sentiment towards the dollar was already softening," said Ian Gunner, a trader at Mellon Financial. On Tuesday, traders in Asia said that both South Korea and Taiwan had withdrawn their bids to buy dollars at the start of the session. Mansoor Mohi Uddin, chief currency strategist at UBS, said that there was a sentiment in the market that "central banks from Asia and the Middle East are buying euros". A report last month already showed that the dollar was losing its allure as a currency that offered rock steady returns and stability. Compiled by Central Banking Publications and sponsored by the UK's Royal Bank of Scotland, the survey found 39 nations out of 65 questioned were increasing their euro holdings, with 29 cutting back on the US dollar.


Sydney will host a northern versus southern hemisphere charity match in June or July, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said on Wednesday. The match will include players from the Lions tour of New Zealand. "The Australian Rugby Union has thrown its support behind a proposed North South match to raise funds for the tsunami appeals," the ARU said. The date is yet to be decided but the most likely venue is Sydney's Olympic Stadium. ARU chief executive Gary Flowers said the world cricket charity match in Melbourne earlier this month had inspired the ARU. "We still need to discuss the options with the IRB (International Rugby Board), the Lions and our SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby) partners, but June or July is seen as a better option than March to ensure we have the cream of southern hemisphere rugby available," he said. Wallabies captain George Gregan said the charity match was a "great initiative". Tri Nations rivals Australia, New Zealand and South Africa would feature prominently in a southern team against a northern side comprised of Six Nations teams France, Ireland, England, Wales, Italy and Scotland. Coach Clive Woodward's Lions squad will tour New Zealand in June and July, including Tests on 25 June, 2 and 9 July. Almost 80,000 fans packed into Melbourne Cricket Ground on 10 January for a charity match that raised 5.9m for victims of the Asian tsunami.


UK aid to help the victims of the Asian tsunami disaster will not take much needed relief from Africa, Prime Minister Tony Blair has promised. Mr Blair told the BBC's Breakfast with Frost show the money spent on the tsunami would not "invade" the money Britain wanted to spend on Africa. Questioned about the disaster, he said his faith in God had not been shaken. He added he would give new figures on the number of tsunami related British deaths to the Commons on Monday. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Friday that about 440 Britons were either dead or missing in the disaster. Mr Blair told Sunday's programme: "Since Jack Straw gave those figures a couple of days ago they haven't moved a great deal, which should give us some hope that we are beginning to reach the peak of the numbers. But we just can't be sure. "It is just an immensely difficult job to get absolutely accurate figures, all countries are struggling with this." He said the 50 million originally allocated from the Department for International Development was now "well on the way" to being spent. But the exact allocation could not be clarified until the World Bank had completed its assessment of the needs of the countries affected. Within the next few weeks a clearer picture would emerge of the long term costs of reconstruction, he added. But he pledged that Africa which sees a "preventable" tsunami size death toll every month from conflict, disease and poverty would not be neglected. As Britain takes up its presidency of the G8 group of leading nations, Mr Blair said ministers had a big agenda for Africa. "For the first time we have a plan that won't just deal with aid and debt but will also deal on issues of governance within African countries and conflict resolution," he said. "A lot of the problems in Africa come from conflict, that again are preventable, but only with the right systems in place."


Children would be offered two hours' free sports training a week by a future Tory government, the party has said. The Club2School policy would provide up to 250m yearly for local sports clubs in the UK to deliver after school sport. The extra coaching would be funded by the National Lottery and would come on top of the two hours of sport a week children are supposed to get in school. Shadow home secretary David Davis said five million children were being denied adequate sporting opportunities. The plans would help tackle the "fastest growing rate of obesity in the developed world", he said. Shadow sports minister Lord Moynihan said the policy would empower local clubs and create a lasting legacy. "We aim to shift the emphasis on after school sport provision away from our overstretched teachers and schools directly in to the 151,000 sports clubs in the UK." The Tories say Labour's plans to give all children two hours of sports lessons a week in schools have failed. Government figures show that in England in 2002 only a third of schools at Key Stages 1, 3 and 4 and two fifths of schools at Key Stage 2, met that target. The Tories also claim that of the 750m the prime minister pledged in 2000 to invest on school sports facilities, only 41m had been spent. But the Big Lottery Fund has said that complex capital projects are involved and it was confident the money would all be allocated by next year as intended.


Nine overseas embassies and high commissions will close in an effort to save money, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has announced. The Bahamas, East Timor, Madagascar and Swaziland are among the areas affected by the biggest shake up for the diplomatic service for years. Other diplomatic posts are being turned over to local staff. Mr Straw said the move would save 6m a year to free up cash for priorities such as fighting terrorism. Honorary consuls will be appointed in some of the areas affected by the embassy closures. Nine consulates or consulates general will also be closed, mostly in Europe and America. They include Dallas in the US, Bordeaux in France and Oporto in Portugal, with local staff replacing UK representation in another 11. The changes are due to be put in place before the end of 2006, with most savings made from cutting staff and running costs. Some of the money will have to be used to fund redundancy payments. In a written statement, Mr Straw said: "The savings made will help to underpin higher priority work in line with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's strategic priorities, including counter proliferation, counter terrorism, energy and climate change. "Some of the savings will also be redeployed to strategic priority work within certain regions where we are closing posts. "In Africa, for instance, we plan to create new jobs to cover these issues across the region, with a new post in Nairobi to help support our work on climate change, one in Nigeria to cover energy and one in Pretoria to cover regional issues more generally as well as covering Maseru and Mbabane." The Foreign Office currently has about 6,100 UK based staff. It has opened major new missions on Baghdad and Basra in Iraq, Kabul in Afghanistan and Pyongyang in North Korea since 1997 in response to what the government says are changing needs. Since 1997 10 overseas posts have been closed excluding Wednesday's cuts but 18 new embassies or consulates have been opened. The shake up is aimed at helping making 86m in efficiency savings between 2005 and 2008. The chancellor has demanded all government departments make similar savings. Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram said there was a constant need to ensure value for money from foreign missions. "But the government must give a far clearer reason for making the dramatic changes it has announced and must show that British commercial interests and the interests of Britons abroad will not be adversely affected," he said.


The US dollar has continued its record breaking slide and has tumbled to a new low against the euro. Investors are betting that the European Central Bank (ECB) will not do anything to weaken the euro, while the US is thought to favour a declining dollar. The US is struggling with a ballooning trade deficit and analysts said one of the easiest ways to fund it was by allowing a depreciation of the dollar. They have predicted that the dollar is likely to fall even further. The US currency was trading at 1.364 per euro at 1800 GMT on Monday. This compares with 1.354 to the euro in late trading in New York on Friday, which was then a record low. The dollar has weakened sharply since September when it traded about 1.20 against the euro. It has lost 7% this year, while against the Japanese yen it is down 3.2%. Traders said that thin trading levels had amplified Monday's move. "It's not going to take much to push the dollar one way or the other," said Grant Wilson of Mellon Bank. Liquidity a measure of the number of parties willing to trade in the market was about half that of a normal working day, traders said.


France have brought flanker Serge Betsen back into their squad to face England at Twickenham on Sunday. But the player, who missed the victory over Scotland through injury, must attend a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday after being cited by Wasps. "Serge has a good case so we are confident he will play," said France coach Bernard Laporte. The inexperienced Nicolas Mas, Jimmy Marlu and Jean Philippe Grandclaude are also included in a 22 man squad. The trio have been called up after Pieter de Villiers, Ludovic Valbon and Aurelien Rougerie all picked up injuries in France's 16 9 win on Saturday. Laporte said he was confident that Betsen would be cleared by the panel investigating his alleged trip that broke Wasps centre Stuart Abbott's leg. "If he was to be suspended, we would call up Imanol Harinordoquy or Thomas Lievremont," said Laporte, who has dropped Patrick Tabacco. "We missed Serge badly against Scotland. He has now recovered from his thigh injury and played on Saturday with Biarritz." France's regular back row combination of Betsen, Harinordoquy and Olivier Magne were all missing from France's side at the weekend because of injury. Laporte is expected to announce France's starting line up on Wednesday. Forwards: Nicolas Mas, Sylvain Marconnet, Olivier Milloud, William Servat, Sebastien Bruno, Fabien Pelous, Jerome Thion, Gregory Lamboley, Serge Betsen, Julien Bonnaire, Sebastien Chabal, Yannick Nyanga. Backs: Dimitri Yachvili, Pierre Mignoni, Frederic Michalak, Yann Delaigue, Damien Traille, Brian Liebenberg, Jean Philippe Grandclaude, Christophe Dominici, Jimmy Marlu, Pepito Elhorga.


Nintendo's DS handheld game console has officially gone on sale in Europe. Many stores around the UK opened at midnight to let keen gamers get their hands on the device. The two screen clamshell gadget costs 99 (149 euros) and 15 games are available for it at launch, some featuring well known characters such as Super Mario and Rayman. The DS spearheads Nintendo's attempt to continue its dominance of the handheld gaming market. Since going on sale in Japan and the US at the end of 2004, Nintendo has sold almost 4m DS consoles. Part of this popularity may be due to the fact that the DS can run any of the catalogue of 700 games produced for Nintendo's GameBoy Advance handheld. Games for the DS are expected to cost between 19 and 29. About 130 games for the DS are in development. As well as having two screens, one of which is controlled by touch, the DS also lets players take on up to 16 other people via wireless. A "download play" option means DS owners can take each other on even if only one of them owns a copy of a particular game. Other DS owners can also be sent text messages and drawings. Nintendo is also planning to release a media adapter for the handheld so it can play music and video. Five Virgin megastores and 150 Game shops were expected to open early on Friday morning to let people buy a DS. "We know that customers want it as soon as it's released and that means the minute, not the day," said Robert Quinn, Game's UK sales director. But Nintendo will only have sole control of Europe's handheld gaming market for a few weeks because soon Sony is expected to release its PSP console. Although Nintendo is aiming for younger players and the PSP is more for older gamers, it is likely that the two firms will be competing for many of the same customers. Sony's PSP represents a real threat to Nintendo because of the huge number of PlayStation owners around the world and the greater flexibility of the sleek black gadget. The PSP uses small discs for games, can play music and movies without the need for add ons and also supports short range wireless play. When it goes on sale the PSP is likely to cost between 130 and 200.


Prince Harry should personally make clear how sorry he is about wearing a Nazi uniform to a friend's fancy dress party, says Tory leader Michael Howard. Mr Howard, whose grandmother died in Auschwitz, said many people would be offended by the prince's actions Clarence House has issued a statement saying the prince has apologised and realised it had been a poor costume. Number 10 said an error was made but now Harry had apologised the matter should be left to the palace. That was a message repeated by Home Secretary Charles Clarke who said the matter should now be left to lie. But Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy said Harry was in a privileged position and said he should apologise in person. "There is a reservoir of goodwill for Prince Harry, and Prince William with him, in this country, but I think he needs to remember that it can't last forever." He added that Sandhurst would probably be good for Harry as it would teach him some self discipline. Former Labour MP Lord Janner, who is a high profile member of Britain's Jewish community, branded Harry's action's "stupid and evil". He told ITV: "The time has come for him to make a public apology. It is about common decency, of respect to the people who fought the Nazis, to the families of those who were killed by the Nazis and to people who suffered during the Holocaust." He added: "I would send him in the army as fast as possible. I hope that would teach him not to behave like that." A photograph of Prince Harry wearing a swastika armband and German desert uniform at the party appears in Thursday's Sun newspaper under the headline: "Harry the Nazi." Mr Howard acknowledged the prince's apology and said he had no doubt the prince's father and family would have much to say to him privately about the incident. But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It might be appropriate to tell us himself just how contrite he is." Mr Howard declined to say what form the statement should take. But former Buckingham Palace press spokesman Dicky Arbiter said the prince should make a personal, broadcast apology. Mr Clarke said he recognised people's concerns about the costume but argued: "He has apologised and I think we should leave the matter there."


Nottingham Forest have confirmed they have received an 8m bid from Tottenham for Andy Reid and Michael Dawson. Reid rejected a move to Southampton after Forest accepted a cash plus players offer while Spurs had made previous bids for the 22 year old. Spurs had also made an undisclosed offer for 21 year old defender Dawson. Forest chief executive Mark Arthur said: "We've received an 8m bid from Spurs for the two players and we're considering the offer." Southampton's offer for Republic of Ireland international Reid comprised 3m plus and two players Brett Ormerod and Darren Kenton. Spurs had seen previous bids of 3m, 4m and 5m for Reid rejected by the Championship club.


Eighty large net service firms have switched on software to spot and stop net attacks automatically. The system creates digital fingerprints of ongoing incidents that are sent to every network affected. Firms involved in the smart sensing system believe it will help trace attacks back to their source. Data gathered will be passed to police to help build up intelligence about who is behind worm outbreaks and denial of service attacks. Firms signing up for the sensing system include MCI, BT, Deutsche Telekom, Energis, NTT, Bell Canada and many others. The creation of the fingerprinting system has been brokered by US firm Arbor Networks and signatures of attacks will be passed to anyone suffering under the weight of an attack. Increasingly computer criminals are using swarms of remotely controlled computers to carry out denial of service attacks on websites, launch worms and relay spam around the net. "We have seen attacks involving five and ten gigabytes of traffic," said Rob Pollard, sales director for Arbor Networks which is behind the fingerprinting system. "Attacks of that size cause collateral damage as they cross the internet before they get to their destination," he said. Once an attack is spotted and its signature defined the information will be passed back down the chain of networks affected to help every unwitting player tackle the problem. Mr Pollard said Arbor was not charging for the service and it would pass on fingerprint data to every network affected. "What we want to do is help net service firms communicate with each other and then push the attacks further and further back around the world to their source," said Mr Pollard. Arbor Network's technology works by building up a detailed history of traffic on a network. It spots which computers or groups of users regularly talk to each other and what types of traffic passes between machines or workgroups. Any anomaly to this usual pattern is spotted and flagged to network administrators who can take action if the traffic is due to a net based attack of some kind. This type of close analysis has become very useful as net attacks are increasingly launched using several hundred or thousand different machines. Anyone looking at the traffic on a machine by machine basis would be unlikely to spot that they were all part of a concerted attack. "Attacks are getting more diffuse and more sophisticated," said Malcolm Seagrave, security expert at Energis. "In the last 12 months it started getting noticeable that criminals were taking to it and we've seen massive growth." He said that although informal systems exist to pass on information about attacks, often commercial confidentiality got in the way of sharing enough information to properly combat attacks.


Paula Radcliffe has been granted extra time to decide whether to compete in the World Cross Country Championships. The 31 year old is concerned the event, which starts on 19 March in France, could upset her preparations for the London Marathon on 17 April. "There is no question that Paula would be a huge asset to the GB team," said Zara Hyde Peters of UK Athletics. "But she is working out whether she can accommodate the worlds without too much compromise in her marathon training." Radcliffe must make a decision by Tuesday the deadline for team nominations. British team member Hayley Yelling said the team would understand if Radcliffe opted out of the event. "It would be fantastic to have Paula in the team," said the European cross country champion. "But you have to remember that athletics is basically an individual sport and anything achieved for the team is a bonus. "She is not messing us around. We all understand the problem." Radcliffe was world cross country champion in 2001 and 2002 but missed last year's event because of injury. In her absence, the GB team won bronze in Brussels.


The budget proposals laid out by the administration of US President George W Bush are highly controversial. The Washington based Economic Policy Institute, which tends to be critical of the President, looks at possible fault lines. US politicians and citizens of all political persuasions are in for a dose of shock therapy. Without major changes in current policies and political prejudices, the federal budget simply cannot hold together. News coverage of the Bush budget will be dominated by debates about spending cuts, but the fact is these will be large cuts in small programs. From the standpoint of the big fiscal trends, the cuts are gratuitous and the big budget train wreck is yet to come. Under direct threat will be the federal government's ability to make good on its debts to the Social Security Trust Fund. As soon as 2018, the fund will begin to require some cash returns on its bond holdings in order to finance all promised benefits. The trigger for the coming shock will be rising federal debt, which will grow in 10 years, by conservative estimates, to more than half the nation's total annual output. This upward trend will force increased borrowing by the federal government, putting upward pressure on interest rates faced by consumers and business. Even now, a growing share of US borrowing is from abroad. The US Government cannot finance its operations without heavy borrowing from the central banks of Japan and China, among other nations. This does not bode well for US influence in the world. The decline of the dollar is a warning sign that current economic trends cannot continue. The dollar is already sinking. Before too long, credit markets are likely to react, and interest rates will creep upwards. That will be the shock. Interest sensitive industries will feel pain immediately sectors such as housing, automobiles, other consumer durables, agriculture, and small business. Some will recall the news footage of angry farmers driving their heavy equipment around the US Capitol in the late 1970s. There will be no need for constitutional amendments to balance the budget. The public outcry will force Congress to act. Whether it will act wisely is another matter. How did this happen? By definition, the deficit means too little revenue and too much spending but this neutral description doesn't adequately capture the current situation. Federal revenues are at 1950s levels, while spending remains where it has been in recent decades much higher. In addition, the United States has two significant military missions. The Bush administration's chosen remedy is the least feasible one. Reducing domestic spending, or eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse" is toothless because this slice of the budget is too small to solve the problem. Indeed, if Congress were rash enough to balance the budget in this way, there would hardly be any such spending left. Law enforcement, space exploration, environmental clean up, economic development, the Small Business Administration, housing, veterans' benefits, aid to state and local governments would all but disappear. It's fantasy to think these routine government functions could be slashed. The biggest spending growth areas are defence (including homeland security), and health care for the elderly and the poor. To some extent, increases in these areas are inevitable. The US population is aging, and the nation does face genuine threats in the world. But serious savings can only be found where the big money is. Savings in health care spending that do not come at the expense of health can only be achieved with wholesale reform of the entire system, public and private. Brute force budget cuts or spending caps would ill serve the nation's elderly and indigent. On the revenue side, the lion's share of revenue lost to tax cuts enacted since 2000 will have to be replaced. Some rearranging could hold many people harmless and focus most of the pain on those with relatively high incomes. Finally, blind allegiance to a balanced budget will have to be abandoned. There is no good reason to fixate on it, anyway. Moderate deficits and slowly rising federal debt can be sustained indefinitely. Borrowing for investments in education and infrastructure that pay off in future years makes sense. The sooner we face that reality, the sooner workable reforms can be pursued. First on the list should be tax reform to raise revenue, simplify the tax code, and restore some fairness eroded by the Bush tax cuts. Second should be a dispassionate re evaluation of the huge increase in defence spending over the past three years, much of it unrelated to Afghanistan, Iraq, or terrorism. Third must be the start of a serious debate on large scale health care reform. One thing is certain destroying the budget in order to save it is not going to equip the US economy and government for the challenges of this new century.


High speed net connections in the UK are proving more popular than ever. BT reports that more people signed up for broadband in the last three months than in any other quarter. The 600,000 connections take the total number of people in the UK signing up for broadband from BT to almost 3.3 million. Nationally more than 5 million browse the net via broadband. Britain now has among the highest number of broadband connections throughout the whole of Europe. According to figures gathered by industry watchdog, Ofcom, the growth means that the UK has now surpassed Germany in terms of broadband users per 100 people. The UK total of 5.3 million translates into 7.5 connections per 100 people, compared to 6.7 in Germany and 15.8 in the Netherlands. The numbers of people signing up to broadband include those that get their service direct from BT or via the many companies that re sell BT lines under their own name. Part of the surge in people signing up was due to BT stretching the reach of ADSL the UK's most widely used way of getting broadband beyond 6km. Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line technology lets ordinary copper phone lines support high data speeds. The standard speed is 512kbps, though faster connections are available. "This breakthrough led to a dramatic increase in orders as we were suddenly able to satisfy the pent up demand that existed in many areas," said Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale which provides phone lines that other firms re sell. BT Retail, which sells net services under its own name, also had a good quarter and provided about 30% of the new broadband customers. This was a slight increase on the previous three months. Despite the good news about growth in broadband, figures from telecommunications regulator Ofcom show that BT faces increasing competition, and dwindling influence, in other sectors. Local Loop Unbundling, (LLU), in which BT rivals install their hardware in exchanges and take over the line to a customer's home or office, is growing steadily. Cable Wireless and NTL have announced that they are investing millions to start offering LLU services. By the end of September more than 4.2 million phone lines were using so called Carrier Pre Section (CPS) services, such as TalkTalk and One.Tel, which route phone calls across non BT networks from a local exchange. There are now more than 300 different firms offering CPS services and the percentage of people using BT lines for voice calls has shrunk to 55.4%.


British and Irish Lions coach Clive Woodward says he is unlikely to select any players not involved in next year's RBS Six Nations Championship. World Cup winners Lawrence Dallaglio, Neil Back and Martin Johnson had all been thought to be in the frame for next summer's tour to New Zealand. "I don't think you can ever say never," said Woodward. "But I would have to have a compulsive reason to pick any player who is not available to international rugby." Dallaglio, Back and Johnson have all retired from international rugby over the last 12 months but continue to star for their club sides. But Woodward added: "The key thing that I want to stress is that I intend to use the Six Nations and the players who are available to international rugby as the key benchmark. "My job, along with all the other senior representatives, is to make sure that we pick the strongest possible team. "If you are not playing international rugby then it's still a step up to Test rugby. It's definitely a disadvantage. "I think it's absolutely critical and with the history of the Lions we have got to take players playing for the four countries." Woodward also revealed that the race for the captaincy was still wide open. "It is an open book," he said. "There are some outstanding candidates from all four countries." And following the All Blacks' impressive displays in Europe in recent weeks, including a 45 6 humiliation of France, Woodward believes the three test series in New Zealand will provide the ultimate rugby challenge. "Their performance in particular against France was simply awesome," said the Lions coach. "Certain things have been suggested about the potency of their front five, but they're a very powerful unit." With his customary thoroughness, Woodward revealed he had taken soundings from Australia coach Eddie Jones and Jake White of South Africa following their tour matches in Britain and Ireland. As a result, Woodward stressed his Lions group might not be dominated by players from England and Ireland and held out hope for the struggling Scots. "Scotland's recent results have not been that impressive but there have been some excellent individual performances. "Eddie in particular told me how tough they had made it for Australia and I will take on board their opinions." And Scotland forward Simon Taylor looks certain to get the call, provided he recovers from knee and tendon problems. "I took lessons from 2001 in that they did make a mistake in taking Lawrence Dallaglio when he wasn't fit and went on the trip. "Every player has to be looked at on their own merits and Simon Taylor is an outstanding player and I have no doubts that if he gets back to full fitness he will be on the trip. "I am told he should be back playing by March and he has plenty of time to prove his fitness for the Lions and there are other players like Richard Hill in the same boat."


The UK's biggest brewer, Scottish and Newcastle (S N), is to buy 37.5% of India's United Breweries in a deal worth 4.66bn rupees ( 106m: 54.6m). S N will buy a 17.5% equity stake in United, maker of the well known Kingfisher lager brand, and make a public offer to buy another 20% stake. A similar holding will be controlled by Vijay Mallya, chair of the Indian firm. The deal was a "natural development" of its joint venture with United, said Tony Froggatt, S N's chief executive. Its top brands include Newcastle Brown Ale, Foster's, John Smith's, Strongbow and Kronenbourg. In 2002 S N and United agreed to form a strategic partnership, one that would include a joint venture business and a UK investment in the Indian brewer. The joint venture was established in May 2003. with both parties having a 40% stake in the venture Millennium Alcobev. Millennium Alcobev will now be merged with United, which expects post merger to have about half of India's beer market. India, with a population of more than one billion, consumes about 1.2 billion bottles of beer every year. Kingfisher has market share of about 29%. In addition to the equity stake S N is to invest 2.47bn rupees in United through non convertible redeemable preference shares. Meanwhile, United's budget airline, Kingfisher Airlines, is to buy 10 A320 aircraft from Airbus and has the option to buy 20 more aircraft in a deal worth up to 1.8bn. The airline, the brainchild of Mr Mallya, expects to start its operations by the end of April. The new airline would break even in the very first year of operation, Mr Mallya said.


Jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has transferred his controlling stake in oil giant Yukos to a business partner. Mr Khodorkovsky handed over his entire 59.5% stake in holding company Group Menatep which controls Yukos to Leonid Nevzlin. A close ally of the ex Yukos boss, Mr Nevzlin is currently based in Israel. Mr Khodorkovsky handed over his stake after the forced sale of Yukos' core oil production unit, Yuganskneftegaz to pay a giant tax bill. Yuganskneftegaz was sold off at auction in December last year, eventually falling into the hands of state oil firm Rosneft in a deal worth 9.4bn ( 5bn). "Since the sale of Yuganskneftegaz, I have been delivered of (all) responsibility for the business that remains and the group's money as a whole," Mr Khodorkovsky said. "It is all over. As before, I see my future in public activity to build a civil society in Russia." Mr Nevzlin is Yukos' largest shareholder but is living in self imposed exile in Israel. Yuganskneftegaz pumps around 1 million barrels of oil a day. It was sold by the Russian authorities to recover government tax claims against Yukos totalling over 27bn. Previously considered to be Russia's richest man, with an estimated fortune of 15bn, Mr Khodorkovsky is currently on trial for fraud and tax evasion following his arrest in October 2003. However, the charges are widely seen as politically motivated and part of a drive by Russian President Vladimir Putin to rein in the country's super rich business leaders, the so called oligarchs. It is also believed that Mr Khodorkovsky was particularly targeted because he had started to bankroll political opponents of Mr Putin.


Music downloading, for those that have rejected the free peer to peer services, can be a costly business. The cost of paying even as little as 70p per track can add up, particularly for those people who own one of the new generation of players that can store thousands of songs. Paying per track for music is becoming as outmoded as paying per minute for internet access and alternative monthly or yearly subscription models are springing up as a more convenient, and ultimately cheaper way of owning music. "Music fans are moving away from buying the traditional bundled package of a dozen or more songs that we used to call an album to newer ways that fit their lifestyle; either single tracks or subscriptions services," said Paul Myers, chief executive of Wippit, a UK based music download service. While iTunes is doing good business with its sales of individual tracks to iPod owners, others are questioning whether the concept of owning music is even valid in the digital age. Napster is due to launch a new rental subscription service dubbed Napster to Go in the UK in the next few months. The service can be used on players that support Microsoft Windows latest Digital Rights Management technology known as Janus. This includes players made by Samsung, Rio and Creative. Currently on offer in beta version in the US, the service costs 15 per month for unlimited downloads. The technology ensures that music downloaded to the player only remains playable while the user subscribes to the service. Users need to update their license on a monthly basis or the tunes will no longer play. This has outraged some digital music lovers, especially as Napster already offers a cheaper service for downloading music to the PC. Napster claims the higher price is a result of record labels charging more for the to go service and says it also offers "greater value" for customers. Mr Myers is not convinced a rental model will work for consumers. "We've been offering our unlimited music subscription service for more than three years now and our customers know what they want. Format interoperability, excellent value and the reassurance that music purchased from Wippit is theirs to keep and enjoy on whatever device they choose," he said. "Who wants to download a track that won't play next month if you decide to unsubscribe to the service or change portable player for an iPod or the latest mobile phone?" Wippit offers a download subscription service for 4.99 per month or 50 per year. It has a catalogue of around 60,000 songs.


Students can decide the fate of MPs in some seats at the next election, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has claimed. The party says the votes of students can win it 27 new seats at the poll. The figures assume all students will vote in their university town. In fact, some may vote where the parents live. The Lib Dems say scrapping university fees wins them student support. But the Tories would also end fees and Labour says both would cap people's ambitions. The Lib Dems have named the 14 seats where there are enough students to take the Lib Dems from second place to beat Labour, and the 13 where they could go from second to beat the Tories. Launching his campaign to win students' votes at the London School of Economics, Mr Kennedy urged students to "make their mark". He underlined Lib Dem plans to scrap university fees and reintroduce maintenance grants of up to 2,000. He said: "Top up fees put students off university, especially those from a poorer background. "And is it really right that so many young people are starting out in life with mortgage style debts hanging round their necks?" Mr Kennedy also said students want action on the environment and see the Iraq war, which his party opposed, as a defining issue. Labour has pushed through plans to let universities charge fees of up to 3,000 a year, with the poorest students eligible for non repayable support of up to 3,000. Ahead of Mr Kennedy's launch, a Labour spokesperson said: "Like the Tories, the Liberal Democrats would restrict access to higher education and put a cap on aspiration, closing the door to students with good grades and restricting their life ambitions. "They are committed to abandoning Labour's targets of getting 50% of 18 to 30 year olds going into higher education and under Lib Dem plans students would even have to study near home." The Conservatives say they would abolish university tuition fees and instead offer large student loans at commercial rates of interest. They say the Lib Dem policy would leave universities wholly dependent for their income on the "goodwill" of the chancellor. Shadow education secretary Tim Collins is on Thursday setting out a new scheme of vocational grants for 14 to 16 year olds to tackle what he says are "crippling skills shortages". The Lib Dem analysis of the difference students could make to its election chances is based on all students being registered to vote near their university, not in their home towns. Although the expected 5 May election would be during term time, students can vote by post. The Electoral Commission and National Union of Students are worried students in halls of residence can find it hard to register to vote. Some hall wardens are reluctant to register students because of data protection fears but students can get themselves registered. If the election is on 5 May, voters need to register by 11 March. The seats where the Lib Dems say student votes can swing the election for them are: Bristol West, Cardiff Central, Leeds North West, Cambridge, Manchester Gorton, Sheffield Central, Oxford East, Newcastle upon Tyne Central, Liverpool Riverside, Holborn and St Pancras, Oldham East and Saddleworth, Manchester Withington, Islington South and Finsbury, Birmingham Yardley, Surrey South West, Taunton, Orpington, Haltemprice and Howden, Eastbourne, Isle of Wight, Dorset West, Bournemouth East, Wells, Canterbury, Cities of London and Westminster, Bournemouth West, Westmorland and Lonsdale.


A string of storms, typhoons and earthquakes has made 2004 the most expensive year on record for property insurers, according to Swiss Re. The world's second biggest insurer said disasters around the globe have seen property claims reach 42bn ( 21.5bn). "2004 reinforces the trend towards higher losses," said Swiss Re. Tightly packed populations in the areas involved in natural and man made disasters were to partly to blame for the rise in claims, it said. Some 95% of insurance claims were for natural catastrophes, with the rest attributed to made made events. The largest claims came from the US, which was struck by four hurricanes, and Japan, which suffered the highest concentration of typhoons for decades plus a major earthquake. Europe suffered fewer natural disasters, but 191 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured in March after the terrorist attack on train stations in Madrid. The damages claimed in 2004 eclipsed previous years, including 2001 when the 11 September attacks pushed claims up to 37bn. Swiss Re said it had registered about 300 natural and man made disasters around the world in 2004. Twenty one thousand people lost their lives in the catastrophes with a cost to the global economy of around 105bn ( 54bn).


Germany's economy, the biggest among the 12 countries sharing the euro, grew at its fastest rate in four years during 2004, driven by strong exports. Gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 1.7% last year, the statistical office said. The economy contracted in 2003. Foreign sales increased by 8.2% last year, compared with a 0.3% slide in private consumption. Concerns remain, however, over the strength of the euro, weak domestic demand and a sluggish labour market. The European Central Bank (ECB) left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2% on Thursday. It is the nineteenth month in a row that the ECB has not moved borrowing costs. Economists predict that an increase is unlikely to come until the second half of 2005, with growth set to sputter rather than ignite. "During 2004 we profited from the fact that the world economy was strong," said Stefan Schilbe, analyst at HSBC Trinkaus Burkhardt. "If exports weaken and domestic growth remains poor, we cannot expect much from 2005." Many German consumers have been spooked and unsettled by government attempts to reform the welfare state and corporate environment. Major companies including Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler and Siemens have spent much of 2004 in tough talks with unions about trimming jobs and costs. They have also warned there are more cost cutting measures on the horizon.


Volkswagen is considering building a car factory in India, but said it had yet to make a final decision. The German giant said it was studying the possibility of opening an assembly plant in the country, but that it remained only a "potential" idea. Its comments came after the industry minister of India's Andhra Pradesh state said a team of VW officials were due to visit to discuss the plans. B. Satyanarayana said he expected VW to co sign a memorandum of agreement. Several foreign carmakers, including Hyundai, Toyota, Suzuki and Ford, already have Indian production facilities to meet demand for automobiles in Asia's fourth largest economy. VW's proposed plant would be set up in the port city of Visakhapatnam on India's eastern coast. An Andhra Pradesh official added that VW had already approved a factory site measuring 250 acres.


Parents who refuse to allow former partners contact with their children could be electronically tagged under plans being considered by ministers. Curfews and community service orders were other options which could be used if court orders to allow parental access were defied, Lord Falconer said. The constitutional affairs secretary outlined some of the plans on Tuesday. He denied fathers' activists had forced the changes, telling the BBC "there is a recognition that something is wrong". Between 15,000 and 20,000 couples go to court to resolve access disputes each year, although in nine out of 10 separations there is no court intervention. Lord Falconer told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he hoped voluntary mediation could help solve disputes before they reached court. But he opposed compulsory mediation, saying that it would lead to many people taking part with the wrong attitude. Other plans include: Parenting plans to give advice on access arrangements, based on real life examples that have worked in the past Extending in court conciliation more informal hearings before contested court cases Better access to legal, emotional and practical advice by telephone and internet Legal aid changes to give incentives for early resolution of disputes. Judges can already jail parents who breach contact orders but that was a "nuclear option" which was rarely used as it was not seen as being in the child's interests, a spokesman said. The aim of the new legislation was to provide a "medium range" of penalties, such as fines, community service orders, compulsory anger management or parenting classes or curfews. Failure to comply with these measures could result in offenders being electronically tagged. On the possibility of tagging uncooperative parents, Lord Falconer said: "Tagging may be going too far, but let's have a debate about that." Full details of the new powers will not be revealed until a bill is published "in the next two weeks," a spokesman said. The government's proposals have met with disapproval from fathers' rights groups. John Ison, from the controversial group Fathers 4 Justice, said: "It is very disappointing. What we have got is a cynical case of recycling existing legislation." Jim Parton, from Families Need Fathers, said the new proposals "lacked compulsion". "We would like to see couples develop a plan and then have it as a source of a court order then you know where you stand, you know what the minimum access is. "Otherwise, you see people make agreements which then fall apart." Mr Parton said he had been told by Children's Minister Margaret Hodge there was not enough time to pass the bill through parliament before the general election, which is likely to take place in May. The Conservatives have called for an equal split between parents on access to be made law. Theresa May, shadow secretary for the family, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the government's plans were "inadequate" and were "papering over the cracks of the current system". She said a Conservative government would bring a "radical reform" of the family courts, as well as enforcing a "legal presumption of co parenting and compulsory mediation". "We want to make courts the last resort, rather than the first resort," she added. The government says children cannot simply be divided up "like property" when a marriage collapses. The Liberal Democrats have argued for flexibility in deciding access rules, rather than having "rigid targets".


Military chiefs are expected to meet to make a final decision on the future of Scotland's Army regiments. A committee of the Army Board, which is made up of the most senior defence figures, will discuss plans for restructuring regiments on Monday. The proposals include cutting Scotland's six single battalion regiments to five and merging these into a super regiment. The plans have faced stiff opposition from campaigners and politicians alike. The committee's decision must be ratified by Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and Prime Minister Tony Blair. It is expected that it will be made public next week. When ministers announced a reorganisation of the Army it drew a question mark over the futures of the Black Watch, the Kings Own Scottish Borderers, the Royal Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. In October, the Council of Scottish Colonels proposed the merger of the Royal Scots and the King's Own Scottish Borderers into a single battalion. Under their vision, it would be one of five in the new super regiment. The proposals to either merge or amalgamate the six regiments into a super regiment sparked a political outcry, with Labour backbenchers and opposition politicians opposing the plan. They felt the timing was insensitive because the Black Watch was in the frontline in Iraq, suffering casualties. The Save the Scottish Regiments campaigners were so angered they threatened to stand against Labour at the next general election. Speaking ahead of the expected Army Board meeting, a spokesman said: "The government and the Army Board have spent the past four months attempting to trick serving soldiers and the public into thinking their planned changes for the Scottish regiments are for the good of the Army and for that of the serving soldier. "They are very much not for the good and will destroy Scotland's regiments by moulding them into a single super regiment which will lead to severe recruitment problems, a loss of local connections to those regiments and a loss to Scotland of an important part of her heritage and, most importantly, her future the regiments are the envy of armies around the world." An alternative blueprint had been put forward by Labour MP Eric Joyce, who proposed going ahead with the merger while preserving the other regiments. For a brief time, there was speculation the prime minister might consider the plan, but that now seems unlikely. Speaking in Scotland last week, Mr Blair said the aim was to preserve tradition but introduce a more effective structure and hinted that a super regiment was likely. He said: "They don't want to get rid of the history or the traditions of the regiment or the local connections far from it, all they want to do is make sure they can transfer people easily across regiments and deploy them more flexibly." The prime minister said he hoped campaigners' concerns would be taken into account but the need for effective change had to be paramount.


A batch of downbeat government data has cast doubt over the French economy's future prospects. Official figures showed on Friday that unemployment was unchanged at 9.9% last month, while consumer confidence fell unexpectedly in October. At the same time, finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy warned that high oil prices posed a threat to French growth. " Oil prices will weigh on consumer spending in the short term, and potentially on confidence," he said. World oil prices have risen by more than 60% since the start of the year as production struggles to keep pace with soaring demand. Analysts said French companies, keen to protect their profit margins at a time of rising energy costs, were reluctant to take on extra staff. " The unemployment figures show the main problem of the French economy: we have growth but without an improvement in employment," said Marc Touati, an economist at Natexis Banques Populaires. "Politicians must have the will and guts to solve structural unemployment with thorough reforms, otherwise in five or ten years, it will be too late." Obligatory employer contributions to worker welfare programmes mean that it costs more to hire staff in France than in many other European economies. Many economists have urged the government to stimulate employment by reducing non wage payroll costs, and by scrapping restrictions on working hours. The French statistics agency, INSEE, expects the economy to grow by about 2.4% this year, buoyed by strong consumer spending and business investment. That is above the projected eurozone average of just above 2%.


Science Minister Lord Sainsbury has made a 2m donation to the Labour Party for its General Election fund. It is the latest hefty donation to the party by the billionaire he has contributed more than 10m since 1999. David Sainsbury said he was pleased to give cash to a party that had the "vision" to deliver economic prosperity and better public services for Britain. General Secretary Matt Carter said it was "a fantastic gift" that would help Labour "fight and win the election". "Through the generosity of David Sainsbury and other Labour supporters, Labour will be campaigning hard to take Britain forward and to stop the Tories taking us back," Mr Carter said. Lord Sainsbury added: "I am pleased to be able to make this contribution to the general election funds of the Labour Party because I believe that they are the only party that has the vision to deliver both economic prosperity and better public services for Britain." The 64 year old latest donation follows a 2.5m gift to the party in 2003. Lord Sainsbury was created a life peer in 1997, a year before he was appointed as minister for science.


Mike Tindall's agent has warned Bath they have until next week to improve their contract offer to the England man or risk losing him to a rival club. Dipo Alli says he has received an offer for Tindall which dwarfs Bath's deal and that two other clubs want to talk. "Mike does not want to go into the Six Nations worrying about where he will be playing his club rugby next season," Alli told the Guardian newspaper. "It is up to (Bath owner) Andrew Brownsword. He has to make it happen." Tindall is out of contract at the end of the season but it is understood that Brownsword is unwilling to break the club's salary structure to accommodate the 26 year old's demands. But Alli insists the player is worth more than Bath have put on the table. "Mike has been at Bath for eight years and wants to remain with the club and his demands are anything but excessive," the agent added. "But Brownsword has to recognise Mike's value and we want to resolve things by the end of next week."


Lleyton Hewitt suffered a shock defeat to Taylor Dent in the quarter finals of the Australian Hardcourt Championships in Adelaide on Friday. The top seed was a strong favourite for the title but went down 7 6 (7 4) 6 3 to the American. Dent will face Juan Ignacio Chela next after the fourth seed was too strong for Jurgen Melzer. Olivier Rochus beat third seed Nicolas Kiefer 6 7 (4 7) 7 6 (8 6) 7 5 and will take on second seed Joachim Johansson. The Swede reached the last four by beating compatriot Thomas Enqvist 6 3 4 6 6 1. "I felt like I was striking the ball much better," said Johansson. "I felt like I had a lot of break chances, I didn't take care of them all, but I broke him four times and he only broke me once. "I felt that was the key to get up in the set early."


Virus writers have begun using the power of the web to spread their malicious wares. A Windows virus called Bofra is turning infected machines into distributors of its malicious code. Those clicking on the poisoned links in e mail messages sent out by infected machines may fall victim to the virus. The trick is being used to prevent the progam being caught by anti virus software that combs through code contained in e mail attachments. The virus that uses this trick is called Bofra and the first member of the family of worms appeared on 10 November. They exploit a Windows vulnerability that was discovered only a few days earlier. Like many other recent viruses, Bofra plunders the address book in Microsoft Outlook for e mail addresses and scours other files on an infected machine for fresh target addresses. The virus uses its own mail sending software to despatch e mail messages to potential victims but, unlike many other recent viruses, does not itself travel via mail. Instead the body of the mail messages sent out contain fake weblinks that, when clicked on, connect back to the machine that distributed that e mail. Essentially, Bofra turns infected machines into small web servers that happily dole out copies of the virus. The messages try to trick people into clicking on the links by promising pornographic videos and images or by posing as payment confirmation for a Paypal transaction. Copies of the messages seen by the BBC News website had bright yellow and green backgrounds. Those clicking on the links will inadvertently download the Bofra virus which will then start searching for new addresses to send itself to. Filtering firm Clearswift said this tactic of creating thousands of mini web servers was designed to help the virus spread quickly and avoid attempts to shut it down. In the past other malicious programs have relied on a single web server that downloads viral code to target machines. Shutting down this central server usually stops the virus spreading. Clearswift said that fact that no viral code travels in the e mail messages sent out by machines infected by Bofra could hamper effects to limit its spread. Finnish anti virus firm F Secure said that, so far, it had not seen many copies of the Bofra virus and its variants in circulation. Tim Warner, spokesman for anti virus firm Finjan, said: "You have people getting very creative now to deliver the virus and get it propagating." Mr Warner said organisations needed to prepare deep defences to keep out the modern form of malicious mobile code. "Most firms have secured their e mail gateway," said Mr Warner, "but the irony is that most of them let malicious content through the web gateways." He said behavioural systems that monitor what users do can help to spot when viruses have penetrated organisations and have started hunting for other victims. The Bofra family of viruses, which were originally thought to be offshoots of the MyDoom bug, can infect machines running Windows 2000, 95, 98, Me, NT, XP and Server 2003. Users running Windows XP that have applied the SP2 update are not vulnerable to the loophole that Bofra exploits.


Yukos has said a US bankruptcy court will decide whether to block Russia's impending auction of its main production arm on Thursday. The Russian oil firm has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US in an attempt to halt the forced sale. However, Judge Letitia Clark said the hearing would continue on Thursday when arguments in the case would be heard. Russian authorities are due to auction off Yuganskneftegas on 19 December to pay a huge tax bill sent to Yukos. Russian prosecutors are forcing the sale of the firm's most lucrative asset Yuganskneftegas to help pay a 27bn ( 14bn) back tax bill, which they claim is owed by Yukos. Filing for bankruptcy protection in the US was "a last resort to preserve the rights of our shareholders, employees and customers," said Yukos chief executive Steven Theede. The company added it had opted to take action through American courts as US bankruptcy law gives worldwide jurisdiction over a debtor company's property and because it was seeking a judiciary willing to protect the value of shareholders' investments. However, as the firm is based in Russia and has no significant US assets, lawyers are unsure of the outcome of the case. "We are here to stop 60% of our body from being cut off on Sunday," Zack Clement, a lawyer for Yukos, told Judge Clark in an emergency hearing in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday. As well as the bid to get Chapter 11 bankruptcy which protects firms from creditors, allowing them to continue trading as they restructure their finances the group also made a claim for damages against the Russian government. Yukos asked the Houston court to order Russia to arbitration so that it can press claims for billions of dollars in damages over a "campaign of illegal, discriminatory and disproportionate" tax claims. Mr Clement said that under Russian law, the Russian government was obliged to enter into arbitration as set out in international law. He added that the opening bid for the firm's Yuganskneftgas unit was 8bn less than half of the 20bn that Yukos advisers say it is worth. "We believe the only significant bidder at the auction on Sunday is Gazprom," he said, referring to Russia's natural gas giant. Yukos maintains that the forced auction is illegal and "will cause the company to suffer immediate and irreparable harm." Many commentators believe the Russian government's aggressive pursuit of Yukos is a politically motivated response to the political ambitions of its former chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Mr Khodorkovsky, who had funded liberal opposition groups, was arrested in October last year on fraud and tax evasion charges and is still in jail Analysts believe that if its production unit is auctioned off, it is likely to be bought up by a government backed firm, like Gazprom, effectively bringing a large chunk of Russia's lucrative oil and gas industry back under state control.


Lansdowne Road, Dublin Sunday, 27 February 1500 GMT BBC1, Radio 4 LW and this website Ireland are going for their first Grand Slam since 1948 after two opening wins, and England represent their sternest test of the Championship so far. England were sloppy and leaderless in the defeats against Wales and France and another loss would be unthinkable. The pressure is on coach Andy Robinson and his side have to deliver. Despite England's dramatic dip in form since the World Cup final they have lost eight of their last 13 matches Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan says his side should not underestimate the visitors. "Had they kicked their points they would have beaten France and that would have created a different landscape for Sunday," he said. "This is England we are talking about. They have a depth of talent and a very good record against Ireland. "They will target a victory in Dublin as the turning point in their Six Nations." The differences between the sides is also highlighted in the team selections for the Dublin encounter. Ireland, despite having Gordon D'Arcy still out injured, have been boosted by the return of star skipper Brian O'Driscoll who missed the Scotland game with a hamstring injury. "The knowledge that the England game was coming up really helped during rehabilitation," he said. "The will to play in this game was enormous. It doesn't get much bigger than England at home." As well as entering the tournament without players like Jonny Wilkinson, Mike Tindall and Richard Hill, England have now lost two tighthead props in Julian White and Phil Vickery while blind side flanker Lewis Moody is a major concern. Robinson, who received a lot of flak for the inclusion and then dropping of centre Mathew Tait, has kept faith with kicking fly half Charlie Hodgson despite his horror show at Twickenham. If England slump in Dublin, it will be their worst run of results in the Championship since 1987. But Robinson was bullish during the week about the game, saying that his side "are going there to get in their faces", and has identified the line out and tackle area as the key to England's chances. And despite the recent results, skipper Jason Robinson believes there is nothing wrong with the mood in the camp. "There is no lack of confidence in the team," said the Sale full back. "We have had a good week's training and we are all looking forward to the challenge. "I still believe in this team. I know if we get our game right we will win the games." G Murphy; G Dempsey, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, D Hickie; R O'Gara, P Stringer; R Corrigan, S Byrne, J Hayes; M O'Kelly, P O'Connell; S Easterby, J O'Connor, A Foley. F Sheahan, M Horan, D O'Callaghan, E Miller, G Easterby, D Humphreys, K Maggs. J Robinson (capt); M Cueto, J Noon, O Barkley, J Lewsey; C Hodgson, H Ellis; G Rowntree, S Thompson, M Stevens; D Grewcock, B Kay; J Worsley, L Moody, M Corry. A Titterrell, D Bell, S Borthwick, A Hazell, M Dawson, A Goode, O Smith.


London's famous Savoy hotel has been sold to a group combining Saudi billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and a unit of HBOS bank. Financial details of the deal, which includes the nearby Simpson's in the Strand restaurant, were not disclosed. The seller Irish based property firm Quinlan Private bought the Savoy along with the Berkeley, Claridge's and the Connaught for 750m last year. Prince Alwaleed's hotel investments include the luxury George V in Paris. He also has substantial stakes in Fairmont Hotels Resorts, which will manage the Savoy and Simpson's in the Strand, and Four Seasons. Fairmont said it planned to invest 48m ( 26m) in renovating parts of the Savoy including the River Room and suites with views over the River Thames. Work was expected to be completed by summer 2006, Fairmont said.


Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said their qualification for the next stage of the Champions League was "one of the proudest nights of my career." The Reds beat Olympiakos 3 1 with a late Steven Gerrard strike and Benitez said: "It was a really great night. "The players ran hard all the time and you see how much it means to the fans. "We knew before the game that it was very important for the club to gain these extra finances. For Liverpool, this result is very, very important." Benitez hailed Gerrard for his match winning strike four minutes from time and also the Anfield crowd for sticking by their side after they had fallen a goal behind at the interval. The Reds scored three second half goals in a sensational comeback capped by Gerrard's 20 yard drive. He added: "Steven can play all over the pitch and he influences every part of the game. "I have said to him many times that he has the freedom because he has talent and is very important to us. "I felt that the difference between the sides was really our supporters, I cannot thank them enough. "I want to say thank you to the supporters, they were magnificent to help us achieve this result." Gerrard admitted he thought they were going out of the Champions League after trailing 1 0 at half time. He said: "I'd be lying if I thought we were going through when we were losing at half time. "We had a mountain to climb, but we have climbed it and credit to everyone. "That was one of the best goals I have scored, I caught it sweet, I haven't caught one like that for ages. It was a massive night for me and the team." Liverpool's win means all four of England's Champions League representatives have reached the knockout stages for the first time.