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Apple sues HTC over phone patents

2010-03-02T22:45:00.001-08:00

Jobs: "Competitors should create their own original technology"

Apple has taken legal action against phone maker HTC, alleging it has infringed patented technology.

HTC has been accused of infringing 20 patents owned by Apple that are used in the iPhone.

Apple said the patent infringements covered technology used in the iPhone interface as well as its "underlying hardware and architecture."

HTC makes phones for many firms including Google and was behind the Nexus One handset.

In a statement Apple boss Steve Jobs said: "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it.

"We've decided to do something about it," he said. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

In its legal filing, Apple is seeking a lasting injunction which would effectively bar HTC from selling phones that use the disputed technology in the US.

The legal action has been filed with the US International Trade Commission and a district court in Delaware.

In its response to the legal action, HTC said it had only just learned about Apple's legal action and has not had the chance to investigate the filing.

"Until we have had this opportunity, we are unable to comment on the validity of the claims being made against HTC," it said in a statement.

In addition to making the Nexus One, the first handset to be branded by Google, HTC has also made several handsets that use Google's Android operating system.

At the same time Apple is locked in legal action with Nokia. The Finnish phone giant sued Apple for patent infringement in October 2009, alleging it had stolen patented technology.

In response, Apple countersued in December 2009. Nokia launched a second round of legal action in the closing days of 2009.

Money sharing comes to Facebook

2010-03-02T22:43:00.000-08:00

16,000 online traders accept payments via Buxter's parent company.

Friends on social networking site Facebook can now send small payments directly to each other via an application called Buxter.

Buxter handles transactions in Euros or US dollars, with plans to launch in Sterling in the next four weeks.

Other currencies are subject to a 5% conversion fee at the point of upload to a Buxter account.

The company behind the application is ClickandBuy which operates an online payment service across the web.

More than 13 million people across the world already have accounts with it, and a ClickandBuy account is required in order to use Buxter.

Transactions between Buxter accounts are free to make and receive but a 1.9% commission fee, minimum 2 euros or $3 (£2), is charged to move the money to another source such as a bank account.

"People share their statuses, their information and their pictures on Facebook so the question is why not share money there too?" Christian von Hammel-Bonten, senior vice president at ClickandBuy told BBC News.

The application is designed for fairly small payments (a maximum of 50 euros (£45) can be held in any one account) and transactions can only be made among people who are friends on Facebook.

Mr von Hammel-Bonten said he hoped people would use the service to pay each other for shared expenses such as cinema tickets and restaurant bills initially.

"We're not trying to compete with national banking systems. This is not somewhere to pay your gas or rent," he said.

Did the discovery of cooking make us human?

2010-03-02T22:38:00.000-08:00

Cooking is something we all take for granted but a new theory suggests that if we had not learned to cook food, not only would we still look like chimps but, like them, we would also be compelled to spend most of the day chewing.

Without cooking, an average person would have to eat around five kilos of raw food to get enough calories to survive.

The daily mountain of fruit and vegetables would mean a six-hour chewing marathon.

It is already accepted that the introduction of meat into our ancestors' diet caused their brains to grow and their intelligence to increase.

Meat - a more concentrated form of energy - not only meant bigger brains for our ancestors, but also an end to the need to devote nearly all their time to foraging to maintain energy levels.

As a consequence, more time was available for social structure to develop.

'Accident'

Harvard Professor Richard Wrangham believes there is more to it than simply discovering meat.

Australopithecus was ape-like but walked upright like humans

He thinks that it is not so much a change in the ingredients of our diet, but the way in which we prepare them that has caused the radical evolution of our species.

"I think cooking is arguably the biggest increase in the quality of the diet in the whole of the history of life," he says.

"Our ancestors most probably dropped food in fire accidently. They would have found it was delicious and that set us off on a whole new direction."

To understand how and when our bodies changed, we need to take a closer look at what our ancestors ate by studying the fossil records.

Our earliest ancestor was the ape-like Australopithecus.

Australopithecus had a large belly containing a big large-intestine, essential to digest the robust plant matter, and had large, flat teeth which it used for grinding and crushing tough vegetation.

None the less, it was Australopithecus that moved out of the trees and onto the African savannah, and started to eat the animals that grazed there.

And it was this change of habitat, lifestyle and diet that also prompted major changes in anatomy.

Bigger brain

The eating of meat ties in with an evolutionary shift 2.3 million years ago resulting in a more human-looking ancestor with sharper teeth and a 30% bigger brain, called Homo habilis.

The brain consumes 20% of a person's energy while sitting

The most momentous shift however, happened 1.8 million years ago when Homo erectus - our first "truly human" ancestor arrived on the scene.

Homo erectus had an even bigger brain, smaller jaws and teeth.

Erectus also had a similar body shape to us. Shorter arms and longer legs appeared, and gone was the large vegetable-processing gut, meaning that Erectus could not only walk upright, but could also run.

He was cleverer and faster, and - according to Professor Wrangham - he had learned how to cook.

"Cooking made our guts smaller," he says. "Once we cooked our food, we didn't need big guts.

"They're costly in terms of energy. Individuals that were born with small guts were able to save energy, have more babies and survive better."

Professor Peter Wheeler from Liverpool John Moores University and his colleague, Leslie Aiello, think it was this change in our digestive system that specifically allowed our brains to get larger.

Energy transfer

Cooking food breaks down its cells, meaning that our stomachs need to do less work to liberate the nutrients our bodies need.

This, says Wheeler, "freed up energy which could then be used to power a larger brain. The increase in brain-size mirrors the reduction in the size of the gut."

Significantly Wheeler and Aiello found that the reduction in the size of our digestive system was exactly the same amount that our brains grew by - 20%.

Professor Stephen Secor at the University of Alabama found that not only does cooked food release more energy, but the body uses less energy in digesting it.

He uses pythons as a model for digestion as they stay still for up to six days while digesting a meal. This makes them the perfect model as the only energy they expend is on digestion.

His research shows that pythons use 24% less energy digesting cooked meat, compared with raw.

So being human might all be down to energy.

Cooking is essentially a form of pre-digestion, which has transferred energy use from our guts to our brains.

According to Professors Wheeler and Wrangham and their colleagues, it is no coincidence that humans - the cleverest species on earth - are also the only species that cooks.

Horizon: Did Cooking Make Us Human? will be shown on Tuesday, 2 March 2010, at 2100 GMT on BBC Two. It will be available for seven days after that from the BBC iPlayer

Dinosaur-eating snake discovered

2010-03-02T22:37:00.000-08:00

Reconstruction of the snake attacking a freshly hatched sauropod

Scientists say they have identified the fossilised remains of a snake that dined on dinosaur eggs.

The 67-million-year-old skeleton was found in a dinosaur nest.

The study, published in the journal Plos One, is said to show the first direct evidence of feeding behaviour in a fossilised primitive snake.

This 3.5m fossil snake is believed to have fed on the hatchlings of sauropods, as it was found wrapped around a baby titanosaur.

Fully grown, the plant-eating titanosaurs weighed up to 100 tonnes. Many people have a fear of snakes and this research indicates that even giant dinosaurs may have been scared of them, too.

"It was such a thrill to discover such a portentous moment frozen in time," said Dr Dhananjay Mohabey from the Geological Survey of India, who unearthed the fossil.

Experts at the University of Michigan and University of Toronto Mississauga studied and identified the find.

Ancient gape

According to researchers, the fossil would have lacked the mobile jaws of modern snakes and would have struggled to eat dinosaur eggs. However, the hatchlings of these dinosaurs would have been just the right size.

The fossil was first uncovered in India in 1987 but it was not until 2001 that American scientists were able to detect that there was a snake among the dinosaur eggshells.

The researchers now believe that the snake was attacking a hatchling that had just emerged from the egg. The event was then overcome by a natural disaster, possibly a storm, and the whole scene was frozen in time.

The snake, one of the few animals that preyed on giant dinosaurs, has been named Sanajeh indicus, meaning "ancient gaped one from India" in Sanskrit.

Fossil of Sanajeh indicus, three sauropod eggs and a sauropod hatchling

James Bulger murderer Jon Venables returned to prison

2010-03-02T22:34:00.000-08:00

James Bulger was murdered in Liverpool in 1993

One of the killers of two-year-old James Bulger is back in prison after breaching the terms of his release, the Ministry of Justice has said.

Jon Venables, now 27, and his friend, Robert Thompson, murdered James in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1993. Both killers were aged just 10 at the time.

They were given life sentences, but released in 2001 with new identities and under certain licence conditions.

The ministry did not detail the nature of Venables' breach of his licence.

Mother's 'anxiety'

It said in a statement: "We can confirm that Jon Venables has been recalled to custody following a breach of licence conditions.

"Offenders on licence are subject to strict conditions; if they breach those conditions they are subject to immediate recall."

Venables' solicitor at the time of his trial, Laurence Lee, told the BBC: "He could have been recalled on licence if he committed an offence, it could be that he returned to Merseyside, it could be he might have approached the family.

Venables was released from custody in 2001 and given a new identity

"There is no evidence so far that he did any of these things."

Retired Det Supt Albert Kirby, who led the murder inquiry, said he was surprised Venables was back behind bars.

He added: "I've always thought, with regards to that particular boy, that from what we've heard over the years there was every possibility he would have avoided going back into prison."

A relative of Denise Fergus, James's mother, said the family had no plans to comment on Venables' return to prison at this time.

But Mr Kirby told BBC News he had spoken to James's mother and the news had brought "a whole load of anxiety" back to her.

He said: "There's always been a lot of anxiety as to where both boys are.

"To hear something like that this evening; it brings back to her a lot of the concerns, quite understandably, that she and any other parents in these sorts of circumstances would have."

'Unparalleled barbarity'

On 13 February 1993, Venables and Thompson abducted James from a shopping centre in Bootle and killed him on a railway line.

A week-long appeal followed, with CCTV footage being released of the little boy holding the hand of one of his killers as he was led out of the Strand shopping centre.

ANALYSIS

Dominic Casciani, BBC News

When Jon Venables walked out of prison in 2001, it was not as a free man. His release came because the Parole Board decided the public would be safe if he were allowed into the community on a licence that includes strict conditions.

A criminal's recall to prison is triggered by one of three circumstances. He either committed a crime, showed the signs that he was about to, or breached specific conditions imposed. Breaches can be technical, such as being out of the home at the exact start of a curfew, or far more serious, such as contacting a victim's family.

Venables will be told why he is back inside and he can seek a full oral hearing before the Parole Board. But with public protection being the top priority, the panel will start with the case for keeping him inside, rather than the argument for letting him out.

The toddler had been approached and befriended by the two boys while his mother was in a shop.

James's body was found by children playing on a freight railway line near Walton Lane police station.

He had been beaten to death with bricks and an iron bar.

The 10-year-old killers were arrested days later and became the youngest to be charged with murder in the 20th Century.

Eight months later they were convicted following a 17-day trial at Preston Crown Court and ordered to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.

Trial judge Mr Justice Morland told the pair they had committed a crime of "unparalleled evil and barbarity".

In 1999 the European Court of Human Rights decided they should not have been tried in an adult court.

Despite public outcry, two years later the parole board recommended their release as they "were no longer a danger to society".

More than 300,000 people signed a petition saying the sentence of eight years was too short.

Both Thompson and Venables were given new identities when they were released.

An order prohibiting the publication of details which could reveal their whereabouts has remained in place since their release.

Pair held over Northern Ireland policeman murder

2010-02-16T04:21:00.000-08:00

Constable Stephen Carroll, 48, was shot dead in his patrol car

Two men have been arrested in connection with the murder of a police officer in Craigavon, County Armagh.

Constable Stephen Carroll was shot dead by dissident republicans when he went to answer a distress call on 9 March last year.

The men, who are in their 20s and 30s, are being questioned at Antrim police station.

A teenager and a 38-year-old man have previously been remanded in custody charged with the murder.

The Continuity IRA said it killed Constable Carroll, who was 48 and a married man from Banbridge.

He was murdered two days after the Real IRA shot dead two soldiers outside Massereene Barracks in Antrim.

NHS trusts 'not complying with safety alerts'

2010-02-16T04:04:00.000-08:00

Some 300 trusts have yet to comply with at least one alert

Three-quarters of NHS trusts are endangering patients by not complying with safety alerts meant to stop fatal errors recurring, a charity says.

Action Against Medical Accidents found that some 300 trusts had not complied with at least one patient safety alert despite the deadline passing.

AvMA's Chief Executive Peter Walsh said: "Lives are being put at risk."

The Department of Health said it expected all trusts to comply with the alerts and to "record and action them".

It added: "The department will shortly be issuing all NHS organisations a formal reminder of their obligations to do this."

'Tortured' death

Under the patient safety alert system, the National Patient Safety Agency can issue guidance to NHS organisations to tighten procedures by a set time.

But AvMA said that robust compliance systems were lacking in many hospitals in England.

Figures obtained by the charity via freedom of information requests revealed that 200 trusts had not complied with an alert dating back five years.

FIND OUT MORE

Listen to File on 4, BBC Radio 4 2000 GMT, Tuesday 16 February 2010, repeated 1700, Sunday 21 February 2010.

Listen on iPlayer

Download the podcast

Grim toll of missed safety alerts

Some 80 trusts had not said whether they had complied with 10 or more alerts.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust had not confirmed whether it had taken action on 37.

The trust told the BBC that three of these alerts were not applicable or could not be carried out for technical reasons. It did concede that they were still working on five but claimed to have fully carried out 41.

In one case, the BBC's File on 4 has discovered evidence that Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust, based in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, failed to update fully its own policy in the light of advice from the National Patient Safety Agency about the right way to test the position of feeding tubes.

A year later, patient Peter Cameron died a "tortured" death when a nasal-gastric feeding tube was inserted into his lung instead of his stomach, the programme found.

Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust would not comment in detail on the specific case for legal reasons.

Mr Walsh said he was shocked by the data.

"There is actually no system in place to systematically monitor compliance and follow-up with the trusts," he said.

The Department of Heath said that from April, the Care Quality Commission would have improved powers to monitor incidents and to ensure compliance with alerts.

Japan sets inflation goal in fight against deflation

2010-02-16T03:12:00.000-08:00

Deflation means consumers tend to postpone major purchases

Japan has reiterated its commitment to beating deflation, with the country's finance minister setting a target for price rises of 1%.

Naoto Kan said the Bank of Japan shared this "policy goal".

The bank's governor Masaaki Shirakawa said he was "serious" about beating deflation, but said it would take time.

The latest figures show consumer prices in Japan fell by 1.2% in December, the biggest drop since the current consumer price index began in 1970.

"I personally would like to see growth of around 1%, or perhaps even a little more," said Mr Kan.

But he said it was up to Japan's central bank to decide how best to achieve this goal.

Deflation fight

Interest rates in Japan are just above zero, meaning there is little room to cut rates to stimulate growth.

Analysts also said there is little appetite in Japan for further quantitative easing - or creating money to pump into the economy - as the policy proved unsuccessful in beating deflation in the past.

"I think the government and the Bank of Japan share the goal and there's no disagreement on a fight against deflation," David Cohen at Action Economics in Singapore told the Reuters news agency.

"But there is little the bank can do given its view that quantitative easing didn't achieve anything... all they can do is keep interest rates at [close to] zero."

Deflation depresses demand, and therefore economic activity, because consumers tend to put off major purchases as they know that prices will become cheaper in the future.

Despite deflation, figures released on Monday showed that Japan's economy grew by a better-than-expected 1.1% in the final quarter of last year.

This is the equivalent of an annualised increase of 4.6%.

BBC man Ray Gosling admits killing Aids-suffering lover

2010-02-16T03:01:00.001-08:00

A broadcaster for the BBC's Inside Out programme smothered his ailing lover to spare him from "terrible pain".

Police are investigating after the Nottingham film-maker said he had a pact with the deceased man to act if his suffering increased.

During a documentary on death and dying, Ray Gosling, 70, said: "I killed someone once. He'd been my lover and he got Aids.

"I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead. No regrets."

Mr Gosling said he smothered his former lover while he was in a hospital - which he did not name - after doctors told him that there was nothing further that could be done for him.

We have a case, by Ray's account, not of assisted suicide but of intentional killing or murder

Dr Peter Saunders
Care Not Killing

"I said to the doctor: 'Leave me… just for a bit,' and he went away.

"I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead.

"The doctor came back and I said: 'He's gone.' Nothing more was ever said.

"When you love someone, it is difficult to see them suffer. My feelings on euthanasia are like jelly - they wobble about.

"This is the time to share a secret I have kept for quite a long time."

Nottinghamshire Police have started an inquiry.

A spokesman said: "We were not aware of Mr Gosling's comments until the BBC Inside Out programme was shown.

"We are now liaising with the BBC and will investigate the matter."

Dr Peter Saunders, of pressure group Care Not Killing, said the facts need to come out in court.

Ray Gosling: "We'd got an agreement - if it got worse, the pain, and nobody could do anything"

Dr Saunders said: "We have a case, by Ray's account, not of assisted suicide but of intentional killing or murder."

Assisted suicide remains a criminal offence, but interim guidelines issued in September by the director of public prosecutions set out the factors which weigh in favour of and against prosecution in different cases in England and Wales.

Last month Kay Gilderdale, 55, of Stonegate, East Sussex, was cleared of the attempted murder of her severely ill daughter who had ME. Mrs Gilderdale had administered lethal drugs to end 31-year-old Lynn Gilderdale's life after her daughter called her for help when her own attempts at suicide failed.

Days before that another mother, Frances Inglis, 57, of Dagenham, east London, was jailed for nine years for murder after she injected her brain-damaged son Thomas, 22, with a lethal dose of heroin.

'Let it be'

Mr Gosling, asked by Inside Out presenter Marie Ashby if he had regrets, said: "Absolutely none. He was in terrible pain - I was there and I saw it. It breaks you into pieces. I don't think it's a crime.

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME

BBC man Ray Gosling admits killing Aids-suffering lover

2010-02-16T03:01:00.000-08:00

A broadcaster for the BBC's Inside Out programme smothered his ailing lover to spare him from "terrible pain".

Police are investigating after the Nottingham film-maker said he had a pact with the deceased man to act if his suffering increased.

During a documentary on death and dying, Ray Gosling, 70, said: "I killed someone once. He'd been my lover and he got Aids.

"I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead. No regrets."

Mr Gosling said he smothered his former lover while he was in a hospital - which he did not name - after doctors told him that there was nothing further that could be done for him.

We have a case, by Ray's account, not of assisted suicide but of intentional killing or murder

Dr Peter Saunders
Care Not Killing

"I said to the doctor: 'Leave me… just for a bit,' and he went away.

"I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead.

"The doctor came back and I said: 'He's gone.' Nothing more was ever said.

"When you love someone, it is difficult to see them suffer. My feelings on euthanasia are like jelly - they wobble about.

"This is the time to share a secret I have kept for quite a long time."

Nottinghamshire Police have started an inquiry.

A spokesman said: "We were not aware of Mr Gosling's comments until the BBC Inside Out programme was shown.

"We are now liaising with the BBC and will investigate the matter."

Dr Peter Saunders, of pressure group Care Not Killing, said the facts need to come out in court.

Ray Gosling: "We'd got an agreement - if it got worse, the pain, and nobody could do anything"

Dr Saunders said: "We have a case, by Ray's account, not of assisted suicide but of intentional killing or murder."

Days before that another mother, Frances Inglis, 57, of Dagenham, east London, was jailed for nine years for murder after she injected her brain-damaged son Thomas, 22, with a lethal dose of heroin.

'Let it be'

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME

Murder probe into three-year-old's death in Birmingham

2010-02-16T02:59:00.000-08:00

The death of a three-year-old girl at an address in Birmingham is being treated as murder.

The discovery was made when police went to a house in Milverton Road, Erdington, during Saturday evening.

A woman in her 20s has been arrested in connection with the death and is being interviewed.

A post-mortem examination has not determined the cause of death. Police said a hazardous substance was found at the scene.

'Suspicious circumstances'

A West Midlands Police spokesman said more toxicology and forensic tests are to be carried out on the child's body.

He added specially trained fire officers had to be called to the scene to make it safe after the hazardous substance, which has not been identified, was discovered.

More tests are being carried out on the substance.

Ch Insp Mark Payne said: "The death of the little girl in suspicious circumstances has led to an immediate and comprehensive investigation.

"Detectives, forensic experts and local officers are working together to establish how the girl died and who is responsible."

Indian police question four over Pune bombing

2010-02-16T02:56:00.000-08:00

The restaurant was packed with diners at the time of the blast

Four people are being questioned in connection with Saturday's deadly blast in the western Indian city of Pune, police say.

Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh said one of those injured had died in hospital, raising the death toll to 10.

At least 56 others were wounded in the attack at the German Bakery restaurant, which is popular with tourists.

The bombing was the first major strike of its kind in India since the deadly Mumbai attacks in November 2008.

One of the suspects had been taken in for questioning in Pune and another in the neighbouring industrial township of Pimpri, news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) reported. Television news channels said two others had been detained in Aurangabad, about 200kms (120 miles) from Pune.

'Unattended package'

Mr Singh told reporters a student, 24, admitted to Inlaks Budhrani hospital after the blast, had died on Monday night.

Forensic reports suggested substances used in the explosion had included RDX, ammonium nitrate and petroleum hydrocarbon, he added.

The explosion tore through the German Bakery restaurant, on North Main Road, at about 1900 local time (1330 GMT), when it was packed with diners.

Reports said an unattended package exploded when a waiter in the restaurant attempted to open it.

The German Bakery is near the Osho Ashram, a mystic centre popular with visitors to Pune.

The Chabad centre, run by the Jewish Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement, whose members were targeted in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is also in the area.

The Indian home ministry has advised all state governments to be on high alert.

The blast came a day after India and Pakistan agreed to meet for talks in Delhi - their first formal negotiations since the Mumbai attacks of November 2008.

India blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant organisation, for the attacks in which more than 170 people, including nine gunmen, died.

India Maoist rebels kill 24 troops in West Bengal

2010-02-16T02:53:00.000-08:00

There has been a surge in Maoist violence in recent months

At least 24 troops were killed when armed Maoists attacked a camp of the paramilitary forces in India's West Bengal state, officials said.

Nearly 50 rebels on motorcycles encircled the camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (ERF) at Silda village on Monday and started firing on it.

More fighters joined the assault on foot, firing from automatic weapons.

More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels' 20-year fight for communist rule in many Indian states.

The Indian government recently began a major offensive against the rebels in several states.

Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as India's "greatest internal security challenge".

The rebels now have a presence in 223 of India's 600-odd districts.

Landmines

The camp was overrun by the Maoists after the troops put up brief initial resistance, district magistrate of West Midnapore district NS Nigam told the BBC.

"The Maoists then burnt down the camp and planted landmines on the entire length of the road leading to the camp. Reinforcements with night vision and anti-landmine vehicles reached the camp late at night," Mr Nigam said.

At least 24 bodies have been recovered from in and around the camp and some of them are badly charred, he said.

The government has launched a major offensive against the rebels

The seriously injured troops were being taken to the state capital, Calcutta, for treatment. Officials said at least 12 soldiers were still missing.

It took four hours for reinforcements to reached Silda as there were landmines planted on the entire stretch of the road.

Police officials leading the reinforcements that reached Silda late at night said many of the paramilitary troops were shot dead by the rebels as they tried to escape the fire.

West Bengal's police chief Bhupinder Singh said there were nearly 50 ERF troops in the camp when the attack took place.

The Maoists pulled out of Silda after looting a huge amount of weapons from the camp's armoury.

Chief of the rebels' military wing, Koteswara Rao - alias Kishenji - claimed responsibility for the attack.

He said this attack was the beginning of "Operation Peace Hunt", the Maoist answer to the government "Operation Green Hunt" launched against the Maoists recently.

"We are looking for peace but we are forced to fight and kill the poor troops of the government forces. We will mourn the death of those killed but the government is responsible for their death," Kishenji told the BBC by phone from an undisclosed location.

The Maoist leader warned of more such attacks unless Operation Green Hunt was stopped.

Earlier this month Home Minister P Chidambaram held a meeting of four Maoist-affected states - West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa - in Calcutta.

He threatened to intensify Operation Green Hunt if the rebels did not start talks by abjuring violence.

The Maoists said they would agree to talks if four of their senior leaders now in jail were released and Operation Green Hunt was halted.

The government has not responded to that conditional overture.

Iran hits back at Clinton 'dictatorship' warning

2010-02-16T02:51:00.000-08:00

Manouchehr Mottaki hit back at Hillary Clinton's suggestion

Iran has attacked US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her suggestion that the country is becoming a "military dictatorship".

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called Monday's statement in Qatar a "new deception".

Mrs Clinton had said the government of Tehran was being "supplanted" by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

"America itself is trapped in a kind of military dictatorship, fuelling tension in the region," Mr Mottaki said.

His remarks were reported by the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency.

"America has a wrong attitude toward the issues in the Middle East and it is a continuation of their past wrong policies," he said.

Saudi concern

On Monday Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister said imposing more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme would not be a quick enough solution.

ANALYSIS

Kim Ghattas,
BBC News, Riyadh

The Saudi foreign minister did not openly back Washington's call for sanctions, but neither did he say Saudi Arabia was opposed to it. He made clear the kingdom wanted a more immediate resolution to the problem rather than a gradual one.

He also said China, a top importer of Saudi oil, did not need to be prodded by Saudi Arabia to know what it ought to do about sanctions against Iran.

Saudi officials are known for using very careful, often opaque, diplomatic language. It sounded as though he was saying the kingdom would not use oil as an incentive to prod China to back UN sanctions against Iran.

But the statement could also be read as a veiled warning - if China failed to back UN sanctions, it risked upsetting its top oil supplier.

Prince Saud al-Faisal said the threat posed by Iran demanded a "more immediate solution" than sanctions.

He spoke in Riyadh alongside US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who earlier said Iran was "becoming a military dictatorship".

On Tuesday, Turkey's foreign minister is due in Iran aiming to mediate.

Turkey is a Nato member, and Ahmet Davutoglu is expected to try to promote a deal on Tehran's nuclear programme between Turkey's western allies and Iran's Islamic government.

Speaking at a joint Riyadh news conference with Mrs Clinton, Prince Saud said: "Sanctions are a long-term solution. They may work, we can't judge.

"But we see the issue in the shorter term maybe because we are closer to the threat... So we need an immediate resolution rather than a gradual resolution."

While the Saudi minister did not detail his vision of a quick solution in public, it is likely that options were discussed behind closed doors in the meeting between Mrs Clinton and King Abdullah, says the BBC's Kim Ghattas, who is travelling with the top US diplomat.

Clinton's warning

Some regional experts believe neither sanctions nor engagement will work with Iran and have suggested a multi-pronged approach involving intense economic pressure from Iran's neighbours, our correspondent adds.

Hillary Clinton: "Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship"

Speaking to students at a Qatar university earlier on Monday, Mrs Clinton said Iran's elite army corps, the Revolutionary Guard, had gained so much power they had effectively supplanted the government.

"We see that the government of Iran, the supreme leader, the president, the parliament, is being supplanted and that Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship. That is our view," Mrs Clinton said on her maiden visit to the kingdom.

The US and its allies fear Iran is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.

Turkey has already offered to store Iran's nuclear material as part of a swap arrangement agreed last year.

Under terms of that deal, Iran would get medical isotopes from France in return for handing over its own enriched uranium.

Turkey's government hopes its offer to act as a nuclear repository will appeal more to Iran than storing its uranium elsewhere, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Istanbul.

But Iran is still insisting that any nuclear swap must take place on its own soil.

Pope meets Irish bishops on child abuse scandal

2010-02-16T02:42:00.000-08:00

The Pope said he was "disturbed and distressed" by the Murphy report

Pope Benedict XVI has opened two days of talks with Ireland's Roman Catholic bishops to discuss their response to a child sex abuse scandal.

In a report issued last year the Church admitted covering up abuse for decades.

At a Mass in Rome before the meeting one of the Vatican's top cardinals called the abuse "abominable".

Four bishops criticised for failing to address concerns about abuse have already resigned. But victims say more must be done to restore public trust.

Last year, a report was highly critical of the Dublin Archdiocese's handling of priests who were suspected sex abusers.

The Murphy Commission laid bare a culture of concealment where Church leaders prioritised the protection of their own institution above that of vulnerable children in their care, and often failed to pass on details to the police.

The Pope has said he is "disturbed and distressed" by the report and shares the "outrage, betrayal and shame" felt by Irish people.

'Enormous injustice'

Before the meeting began on Monday, the Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone held a Mass attended by the Irish bishops.

He called the sexual acts committed against children "particularly abominable".

He said the scandal was "humiliating" but that the Church must face the challenge.

ANALYSIS

Julie Kirby, BBC NI reporter in Rome

It is no secret that there has been tension within the hierarchy as to how the Murphy Report was handled by the Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin.

Some of the bishops had been openly critical of him.

Bishop of Clougher Joseph Duffy spoke on Sunday on behalf of all the bishops and he said that those tensions had now been "thrashed out".

He said that relations between the bishops were now very cordial.

"Every kind of challenge can become a reason for purification and sanctification as long as it is illuminated by faith," he said.

Armagh Archbishop Sean Brady, the primate of all Ireland, told Vatican Radio that the two days of meetings were part of a "journey of repentance, reconciliation and renewal".

BBC religious affairs correspondent Christopher Landau says bishops from a particular country normally visit the Vatican around once every five years.

But the Pope has summoned Ireland's bishops for a special two-day meeting, specifically to address the issue that has severely undermined Catholicism's standing there, our correspondent says.

The Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin - the Murphy report - published in November, found the Church had "obsessively" hidden child abuse from 1975 to 2004, and operated a policy of "don't ask, don't tell".

Some bishops still in office had been part of the cover-up, the report said.

Four out of five key bishops who were particularly criticised have now resigned, but the fifth, Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan, is expected to meet the Pope.

Groups of abuse victims have written an open letter to the Pope, calling on him to demand the resignation of Bishop Drennan, who has insisted he did nothing to endanger children.

They are also asking the Pope to instruct the bishops "to comply fully with civil child protection guidelines, including the mandatory reporting of all concerns or complaints to the civil authorities for investigation".

'Truth must out'

On Sunday, one of the prelates said they would acknowledge the "failure on the part of all of us" to be vigilant against abuse and express their commitment to try to rectify "the enormous injustice and cruelty" the victims suffered.

"A casualty of all this has been the truth," the Bishop of Clogher, Joseph Duffy, told reporters at the Irish seminary in Rome. "The fullness of the truth must come out, everything must be laid on the table."

The Bishop of Clogher, Joseph Duffy, briefed reporters

Bishop Duffy said questions of resignation would not be "on the agenda of the bishops because that is not our prerogative".

Our correspondent says Ireland's bishops know that much has to change if the Church is going to regain even a fraction of the standing it had in national life a century ago.

But as elsewhere in Europe, dwindling congregations and a shortage of priests make for further uncertainty about the Church's future, he adds.

International Space Station gets new observation deck

2010-02-16T01:39:00.000-08:00

The node was initially installed on the station on Friday

Astronauts have successfully installed an extension to the International Space Station in a series of spacewalks.

The so-called Tranquility Node includes a number of docking locations and will provide a breathtaking, 360-degree view of Earth through its "cupola".

The node was initially installed on Friday, with electrical connections and commissioning occurring in a series of spacewalks over the weekend.

A final spacewalk on Tuesday will complete the node's commissioning.

The US space agency Nasa has extended the mission of space shuttle Endeavour by a day to allow all the crew's tasks to be completed.

Installation of Tranquility and the cupola, both supplied by the European Space Agency, marks the end of major construction of the ISS, an international effort that first began in 1998.

Node out

The 14-tonne node will house core life-support systems, exercise equipment, robotic workstations and - in the form of its cupola - the best view of Earth and approaching spacecraft that the ISS has ever enjoyed.

A spacewalk of nearly six hours undertaken on Saturday saw Tranquility connected to the ISS's cooling system.

NODE 3 - 'TRANQUILITY'

Key unit connects and helps manage other ISS modules

Multiple docking ports for visiting vehicles or future modules

7m by 4.6m; a mass of 14 tonnes, but will be fitted out in orbit

Sophisticated life support systems will include air cleaning unit

Cupola to be fixed to an Earth-facing port once in orbit

Panoramic views provide ideal control room for robotic arm

Named after Sea of Tranquility, the Apollo 11 landing site

A small mishap occurred when ammonia from the system shot out on to mission specialist Nicholas Patrick's spacesuit.

The liquid ammonia had already solidified by the time it hit the suit and bounced off, but the spacewalk was cut short to carry out safety procedures.

With cooling in place, Tranquility's electrical systems could be powered up.

In a spacewalk late on Sunday, the crew moved the cupola into place on the Earth-facing side of the node.

Space station commander Jeffrey Williams found that several of the bolts holding the cupola in place were jammed.

With instructions from ground control, the crew increased the force applied and were able to free the bolts - only to find an electrical connector appearing to hang loosely from the dome.

Commander Williams assured crew that the wiring would not interfere with the cupola's Earth-side installation, and the cupola was put into place without further incident.

'Eagerly awaiting'

Tuesday's spacewalk will see the crew install a robotic workstation and a back-up cooling system on the node.

On Wednesday or Thursday, the cupola's shutters will be drawn back, giving a view through the largest window ever to be sent into space.

"The cupola, I think, is really one of the most spectacular viewing platforms that we will have had in space... so we're eagerly awaiting the release of the shutters and the first views," said flight director Kwatsi Alibaruho.

The shuttle is now due to land at Kennedy Space Center on 21 February.

There are four more shuttle missions to the ISS planned in the coming seven months before the shuttle fleet is retired.

Intel and Nokia merge software to create MeeGo

2010-02-16T00:58:00.000-08:00

The launch calls into question Nokia's commitment to the Symbian software

The world's largest chip maker and the world's largest mobile phone maker have merged operating systems to create a single platform for mobiles.

The new MeeGo platform, unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, will be used to power phones, netbooks, TVs and in-car entertainment systems.

The open-source software has been created by merging elements of Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo software.

The two firms first announced their intention to collaborate in June 2009.

Ian Fogg, an analyst at Forrester Research, said that the merger was a "bold play" and placed MeeGo into a "competitive position with Android, iPhone OS, Google's Chrome and even desktop software like Ubuntu".

The technology heavyweights said that the software would run on "multiple processor architectures", meaning that it will not be confined to devices just containing Intel chips.

The mobile industry tends to favour chips from UK firm Arm, rather than Intel.

Symbiosis?

The launch of Meego calls into question Nokia's commitment to the Symbian platform, the world's most popular smart phone operating system which the firm bought in 2008.

Symbian has shipped in more than 330m mobile phones, including popular phones such as the N97.

The Symbian Foundation - of which Nokia is a part - announced earlier in February that it would make all of the platform's source code open source, effectively giving away billions of dollars of code.

The foundation launched the first open-source release, dubbed Symbian^3, at the Mobile World Congress on Monday.

At the Meego launch, Nokia's executive vice president of devices, Kai Oistamo, said that the two operating systems would co-exist, although Meego would likely be used for premium devices.

The new software will be given away for free but Nokia will make money by selling other products, such as applications. Some applications developed for Meego will also run on Symbian phones and other devices.

The first version of the software will ship in the second quarter of 2010.

Mobile World Congress runs from 15-18 February.

Mobile firms unite to offer applications

2010-02-16T00:56:00.000-08:00

The initiative was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

Twenty-four of the largest phone operators have banded together to challenge the dominance of mobile app stores, such as that operated by Apple.

The Wholesale Applications Community, as it is known, aims to make it easier for developers to build and sell apps "irrespective of device or technology".

The alliance, which includes Vodafone, China Mobile and Sprint, has access to more than three billion customers.

Analysts said it was an attempt by operators to "regain control of apps".

However, research firm CCS Insight warned that operators "have a poor track record with this type of industry consortium".

The app market is currently a lucrative business for mobile firms.

Analysts at Gartner have predicted that spending on the specialist pieces of software will hit $6.2bn (£4bn) this year with the number of downloads rising to 4.5 billion from 2.5 billion last year.

It predicts that downloads will top 21 billion by 2013, yielding almost $30bn.

Simple approach

Apple currently dominates the app market, with more than 3 billion downloaded from its app store in 18 months.

Blackberry, Google, Nokia, Symbian and Microsoft all offer their own app stores.

The mood this year should be grim after a 2009 that this industry like many others will want to forget

Rory Cellan-Jones
Technology correspondent, Barcelona

Read Rory's thoughts in full

As a result, developers often have to create different versions of apps and go through separate approval processes for each individual store.

The Wholesale Applications Community aims to overcome this fragmentation by offering a single "open platform that delivers applications to all mobile phone users".

It aims to develop a common standard for applications in the next 12 months.

As well as the 24 network operators, the work is also supported by hardware manufacturers such as LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, as well as industry body the GSM association.

The consortium's approach to simplify application development and distribution is echoed by software firm Adobe.

The company has announced that it will begin to offer its AIR platform on mobile devices, starting with phones running Google's Android operating system.

AIR is currently available on desktops and allows developers to build desktop applications for services that are more commonly found in the browser.

For example, there are a number of Twitter applications that use AIR.

Until now it has been unavailable on smart phones.

The technology could make it easier for developers to create and publish apps that can run on many different platforms at the same time.

Apple has traditionally spurned some Adobe software - such as Flash - on its iPhone.

However, Adobe has now built a tool that allows developers to build an app for phone running AIR and easily publish a slightly different version which should also run on the iPhone.

"We enable developers and content publishers to deliver to any screen," said David Wadhwani of Adobe.

The announcements were made at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which runs from 15-18 February.

Microsoft launches Windows Phone 7 Series for mobiles

2010-02-16T00:50:00.001-08:00

Microsoft has launched the latest version of its mobile phone operating system, called Windows Phone 7 series.

The software has a redesigned user interface and incorporates many Microsoft services such as Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music service.

The software was introduced at an event at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

According to research firm Canalys, Microsoft's software currently has around 9% of the smartphone market.

That puts it fourth in the global market behind Symbian, Rim (makers of the Blackberry) and Apple's iPhone OS.

The new system follows the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 in October 2009.

The new operating system has at its heart the three must-have features of the modern mobile world - search, social, and location

Rory Cellan-Jones
Technology correspondent, Barcelona

Read Rory's thoughts in full

"This is obviously a huge step forward," analyst Pete Cunningham of Canalys told BBC News.

"Microsoft have really struggled with windows mobile 6 and 6.5 and have been losing market share off the back of it."

However, he said, the firm could not "rest on its laurels".

"Although it looks good today and competitive today, the other other firms haven't revealed their hand.

"It doesn't launch for another eight or nine months and that's a long time in the mobile world."

For example, in a little over 30 months Apple has claimed 15% of the smartphone market, according to Canalys figures, whilst Google's Android operating system has claimed 5% of the market in around two years.

Games machine

Microsoft's new operating system is built around a series of so-called 'live tiles', which pull in real time content from a users web sites and social networks.

The software use a new interface called 'live tiles'

User can create their own tiles, for example, to keep tabs on the latest posts and pictures from friends or relatives on social networks.

"We wanted the software experience to fundamentally focus on what is most important to each individual user," said Joe Belfiore of the firm at the launch.

The new interface also has a series of "hubs", which bring together related content from the web, applications and services into a single view.

The six hubs are people, pictures, games, marketplace, music and office.

The games hub, for example, incorporates elements of the firm's online gaming network Xbox live, including games and the ability for gamers to access their online profiles.

The music hub brings together music and video content from a user's PC, online music services and an in-built FM radio.

The first phones using the new operating system will be available later this year from manufacturers including Samsung, LG, HTC and Sony Ericsson.

"We have a chance to make an impact on the market," said Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer.

Although Microsoft will only provide the software for the phones, it will specify certain hardware requirements to manufacturers.

For example, all handsets will be multi-touch and will come with a dedicated hardware button for Microsoft's search engine Bing.

Manufacturers will also be restricted to the smart tile user interface, according to Mr Cunningham. Other operating systems - such as Android - allow manufacturers to customise the look and feel of the interface.

"That may make [Windows Phone 7] less attractive in the long term," he said.

Microsoft launches Windows Phone 7 Series for mobiles

2010-02-16T00:50:00.000-08:00