Apple unveils refreshed iPhone 4S

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 23:38 GMT Rory Cellan-Jones looks at Apple's new iPhone 4S

Apple has unveiled the latest iteration in its iPhone range, but there was no sign of the widely rumoured iPhone 5.

The iPhone 4S, as the model will be known, boasts an improved camera and significantly extended battery life.

It will run the latest iOS5 operating system, which is set for release on 12 October.

The event was the first major announcement for new boss Tim Cook who took over from Steve Jobs in August.

The iPhone 4S, which will go on sale on 14 October, will be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models - in both black and white.

It has the same look and feel as the existing iPhone 4 which was launched 15 months ago.

However, Apple said that updates to iOS meant the phone would boast some "200 new features".

Continue reading the main story Shares in Apple fell by almost 5% within minutes of the eagerly anticipated launch, with analysts saying that investors and Apple fans had expected the latest version to be a more radical improvement over its predecessor.

However, the company's shares later regained most of their losses to close down just 0.6%, albeit underperforming the NASDAQ index as a whole.

Voice control

Among the additions is an "intelligent assistant" that allows users to ask questions aloud and receive detailed answers back.

Siri, which began life as a third-party app, was purchased by Apple in 2010 but has yet to appear within its software.

Luke Peters, editor of gadget magazine T3, said that the software announcements would do just enough to keep Apple fans interested in the face of strong challenges from rival smartphone manufacturers.

Continue reading the main story

You could sense a great wave of disappointment rolling through the Apple community.

Why rush out and buy the new, new thing if it looks just like that old phone that's been around for more than a year?

"Some people were looking for a brand new phone and they haven't got that today, so some will be disappointed," he told BBC News.

"But with the update to iOS5 and Siri that could be enough to sway people to make the investment."

Disappointment

Other industry watchers were less charitable about the iPhone refresh, and the non-appearance of the iPhone 5.

Gareth Beavis, phones editor at TechRadar said that the new hardware would leave many people underwhelmed.

"It was quite disappointing. I think there is going to be a lot of anger from users expecting something big bold and quite exciting after a long time of waiting from the iPhone 4.

"People will buy this in their droves, but Apple has missed a trick by just releasing the exact same phone again with marginally upgraded specs."

Details of the new phone were unveiled by Apple's Philip Schiller

For Apple's new chief executive, the event was as much about making a statement about his leadership as it was new products.

Tim Cook had previously acted as interim boss, looking after the company while Steve Jobs was on sick leave.

Unlike his charismatic predecessor, Mr Cook left the biggest announcement of Tuesday's event to a colleague - marketing boss Phil Schiller.

"Maybe he wants to bring other people to the forefront by letting others speak on his behalf," said Gregory Roekens, chief technology officer at PR firm Wunderman.

"But in terms of style, it was underwhelming. People were expecting iPhone 5, but instead it's almost fixing the weaknesses the previous phones had.

"It will be interesting to see how people react to that."

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Smart jeans: A cause for concern?

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22 September 2011 Last updated at 23:06 GMT By Katia Moskvitch Science and technology reporter, BBC News More and more objects are getting on the web What if those new jeans you've just bought start tweeting about your location as you cross London Bridge?

It sounds far-fetched, but it's possible - if one of your garments is equipped with a tiny radio-frequency identification device (RFID), your location could be revealed without you knowing about it.

RFIDs are chips that use radio waves to send data to a reader - which in turn can be connected to the web.

This technology is just one of the current ways of allowing physical objects to go online - a concept dubbed the "internet of things", which industry insiders have shortened to IoT.

This is when not only your PC, tablet and smartphone can connect to the web, but also your car, your home, your baseball cap and even the sheep and cows on a farm.

And as we switch from IPv4 towards IPv6, which will support some 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses, more and more objects will jump into the web.

Smart buildings and intelligent cars with assigned IP addresses are already making cities smarter - and soon enough, the entire planet may follow.

"A typical city of the future in a full IoT situation could be a matrix-like place with smart cameras everywhere, detectors and non-invasive neurosensors scanning your brain for over-activity in every street," says Rob van Kranenburg, a member of the European Commission's IoT expert group.

In Italy, a group of elderly people have had sensors placed at their homes for remote monitoring

This vision might still be years off, but one by one, "smarter" cities are beginning to crop up around our landscape.

Endless opportunities

IoT advocates claim that overall interconnectivity would allow us to locate and monitor everything, everywhere and at any time.

"Imagine a smart building where a manager can know how many people are inside just by which rooms are reflecting motion - for instance, via motion-sensitive lights," says Constantine Valhouli from the Hammersmith Group, a strategy consulting firm.

"This could help save lives in an emergency."

Continue reading the main story

The ethical worries are manifold... which principles should govern the deployment of the IoT?”

End Quote Gerald Santucci European Commission But as more objects leak into the digital world, the fine line that separates the benefits of increasingly smart technology and possible privacy concerns becomes really blurred.

"The IoT challenge is likely to grow both in scale and complexity as seven billion humans are expected to coexist with 70 billion machines and perhaps 70,000 billion 'smart things', with numbers infiltrating the last redoubts of personal life," says Gerald Santucci, head of the networked enterprise and RFID unit at the European Commission.

"In such a new context, the ethical worries are manifold: to what extent can surveillance of people be accepted? Which principles should govern the deployment of the IoT?"

Talking shirts

Peter Hustinx, European data protection supervisor, says that sometimes firms tend to overlook the importance of personal data.

"In much of the monitoring, tracking and tracing [devices] which are embedded in these facilities, there's privacy relevance, and it will have to be compliant with the new European Commission Framework," he says.

Toyota Friend lets cars communicate with the drivers on a private social network

The Framework was signed by the European Commission in April 2011, and its main purpose is to safeguard consumer privacy and assure the public that web-connected objects are safe for the industry to develop - and for people to consume.

Take clothing, for instance.

A number of stores, among them major retail chain Wal-Mart, have started using RFID tags to enable employees to quickly check the stock by scanning items on shelves, and to track products more easily from manufacturing to the final delivery.

But privacy advocates are concerned that the same RFID reader could also read the data on, say, a consumer's passport or driving licence equipped with the same kind of chip - and it could lead to identity theft.

And although the tag is supposed to be removed at the checkout, if a consumer leaves the shop with the chip still attached, the item could be tracked on the street.

Once the tag is thrown away, it can still be scanned, enabling someone to get an idea of your shopping habits.

Hackers also know how to decode RFID tags.

And because the information is transmitted via radio waves, one can simply listen in.

That's exactly what happened when the Soviets presented a US ambassador during the Cold War with a wooden carving of the Great Seal, bugged with an RFID predecessor - a device called The Thing.

The Americans failed to find it - just like modern RFID tags, it only worked when enabled by a radio wave - which led to the Soviets eavesdropping on the conversations at the ambassador's office by beaming radio signals to it.

Going smart

Another way to make things smarter is by embedding sensors in them and sending data online via a wireless low-power technology called Zigbee.

Sensors "tell" the driver where free parking spaces are

IBM is doing just that - its project that remotely monitors the environment that could affect the health of elderly people in Bolzano, Italy, extended caretaker supervision with sensors embedded all over the patients' homes, providing round-the-clock peace of mind not only for the patients but for their families too.

The sensors read the levels of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, temperature and smoke, and send the information to the caretakers' PCs and mobile devices.

To protect the patients' personal data, IBM uses encryption, says Bharat Bedi from the firm's lab in Hursley, UK.

"And we've also added some anonymous features to the system - when you log on to the dashboard, you don't see the person's name or their exact address, they've been given almost like code names which only mean something to the council workers and the relatives," he says.

A Spanish company Worldsensing has come up with a similar sensor-based technology.

With help of a special app on your smartphone, drivers can receive data from sensors installed in parking spaces, telling them where the closest free spot is.

Continue reading the main story

Your mobile phone operator and your bank know much more about your life than your wife or husband does”

End Quote Mischa Dohler Worldsensing "So that no one tries to sneak into your system and steal personal data - such as where you parked and how long you stayed - we use encryption, and also apply a decoupling technique that separates personal information from purely technical data," says the firm's chief technical officer, Mischa Dohler.

Chatting cars

Cars are rapidly becoming smart, too.

Toyota, for instance, has always been one of the frontrunners in telematics - and now it has decided to team up with Salesforce.com to allow cars to chat to their drivers on a private social network.

The venture, called Toyota Friend, will first work only for hybrid and electric cars. So if the battery is almost flat, for instance, the driver would receive a short message via Bluetooth on his or her smartphone.

In a demonstration at a Tokyo showroom, one of the Toyota owners showed such a message: "The charge will be completed by 2:15 am. Is that OK? See you tomorrow."

Stores all over the globe are tagging their items with RFID chips

The car will also be able to update its - and hence the driver's - location.

And it is here that privacy issues may come into play. What if the location is revealed automatically, for instance if the owner forgets to modify the privacy settings, just like on Facebook?

But Salesforce.com's Tim Barker says that privacy should not be a concern.

"Social Enterprise applications provide customers an opt-in to allow them to share information such as their location and 'likes', to enhance their experience as a customer and the information that they receive," he says.

It is hard to predict how well all these issues will be addressed once the entire planet gets on the web.

But as Mischa Dohler from Worldsensing puts it, in our already digital and high-tech society, the IoT privacy issues have to be taken with a little pinch of salt.

"It's just like with your phone and a credit card - your mobile phone operator and your bank know much more about your life than your wife or husband does," he says.

"And this data is likely to be more critical than the type of jeans you wear or for how long you've been parked."

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Crowds swell Wall Street protests

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1 October 2011 Last updated at 01:49 GMT The crowds in Zuccotti Park are frustrated at a lack of employment and opportunity in the US An estimated 2,000 people have gathered in Lower Manhattan, New York, for the largest protest yet under the banner Occupy Wall Street.

Demonstrators marched on New York's police headquarters to protest against arrests and police behaviour.

Several hundred people have camped out near Wall Street since 17 September as part of protests against corporate greed, politics, and inequality.

Earlier, UK band Radiohead were forced to deny rumours they would appear live.

A tweet sent out by a Twitter account linked to the protest movement set off a firestorm of online interest.

But a spokesman for the band later denied they were planning to appear, and the group themselves denied the rumour on Twitter.

"We wish the best of luck to the protesters there, but contrary to earlier rumours, we will not be appearing today at #occupywallstreet," @Radiohead tweeted.

Anger at police

The Occupy Wall Street movement has set up its base camp in Zucotti Park, a privately owned patch of land not far from Wall Street.

Continue reading the main story

We blame the banks. They were part of this, but so was Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae and Congress and you and me and everybody”

End Quote Michael Bloomberg Mayor of New York City Hundreds of people have camped out in the park since 17 September.

The loosely organised group says it is defending 99% of the US population against the wealthiest 1%, and had called for 20,000 people to "flood into lower Manhattan" on 17 September and remain there for "a few months".

Some 80 people were arrested during a march on 25 September, mostly for disorderly conduct and blocking traffic, but one person was charged with assaulting a police officer.

Friday's protest numbers were swelled by local trade unions and by those attracted to the area by the rumour of Radiohead's attendance.

New York's police have come in for criticism by the movement since video emerged of pepper sprays being used against demonstrators last weekend.

"NYPD protects billionaires and Wall Street," read one placard carried aloft on Friday, the AFP news agency reported, as crowds marched towards the city's police headquarters, where they rallied peacefully before dispersing.

The stand-off at One Police Plaza passed off largely peacefully

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg used his weekly appearance on a radio show to criticise the protesters, saying they were targeting the wrong people.

"The protesters are protesting against people who make $40,000 or $50,000 a year and are struggling to make ends meet. That's the bottom line," he said.

"We always tend to blame the wrong people. We blame the banks. They were part of this, but so was Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae and Congress and you and me and everybody."

A series of other small-scale protests have also sprung up in other US cities in sympathy with the aims of Occupy Wall Street.

The movement's website on Friday said a Boston movement had begun, with other reports online suggesting a sit-in was due to begin on Saturday in downtown Washington DC.

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New fees for tribunals from 2013

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3 October 2011 Last updated at 14:33 GMT Employees will have to work for longer before being able to go to a tribunal A fee for bringing an employment tribunal will be charged for the first time from April 2013, Chancellor George Osborne has announced.

There will be a refund for any individual who wins their case.

The amount that will be charged and how it should be paid will be subject to consultation starting by the end of November.

There is currently no fee for an applicant who wants to make an employment tribunal claim.

The low-paid, or those without an income, may also have the fee waived or reduced at the start of the process, under the new scheme.

"We are ending the one way bet against small businesses," Mr Osborne told the Conservative conference in Manchester.

Timescale

The chancellor also confirmed that, from April 2011, the qualifying period for a claim for unfair dismissal will be that the individual must have been in the job for at least two years.

At present they only need to have been working for one year.

"We respect the right of those who spent their whole lives building up a business, not to see that achievement destroyed by a vexatious appeal to an employment tribunal. So we are now going to make it much less risky for businesses to hire people," Mr Osborne said.

Last year there were 236,000 employment tribunal claims - of which only some were unfair dismissal claims, with an average award for successful complainants of ￡8,900.

Under Mr Osborne's plan, workers will still be able to take action immediately if they suffer discrimination, but by reducing the risk of tribunals for unfair dismissals the government hopes bosses will feel more confident about hiring people.

The GMB union has criticised the plan.

"The very notion that reducing the rights of workers of between 12 months and two years service to bring unfair dismissal claims will create a single new job is quire frankly absurd. Job creation is not the real reason the Tory party want to take away these rights," said Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the move was a "charter for bad bosses".

Abandoned

However, business lobby the CBI, welcomed it.

"We have been urging the government to do everything it can to make it easier for firms to grow and create jobs, and this will give employers, especially smaller ones, more confidence to hire," said director general John Cridland.

In 2010-11 the cost to the taxpayer of running employment tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal in England, Wales and Scotland was more than ￡84m, according to the Ministry of Justice.

The Treasury said that more than 80% of applications made to an employment tribunal did not result in a full hearing.

Almost 40% of applicants withdrew their cases, but employers still had to pay legal fees in preparing a defence. More than 40% settled out of court and there was no record of how much applicants settled for, it added.

Martin Edwards, employment law expert at law firm Weightmans, said: "The changes may have mixed results. Someone who has not worked long enough to claim unfair dismissal may claim they are a whistleblower or a victim of discriminaiton instead, causing employers even more hassle than before.

"But people who have to pay to bring a claim may regard that as a significant disincentive to litigating a dispute."

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Wolseley returns to annual profit

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 07:19 GMT Wolseley said weaker economic forecasts would have an impact on its markets Building and heating materials group Wolseley has returned to a full-year profit in 2010-11.

The group suffered when the housing market was hit during the recession, but said it had focused on improving its "customer, product and vendor mix".

Wolseley reported a pre-tax profit of ￡391m in the year to July, compared with a ￡328m loss a year earlier.

It said markets were broadly stable but there had been "no strong rebound in activity after the recession".

Revenues rose 3% to ￡13.6bn.

The group also took a ￡39m charge on its Bathstore and BCG brands in the UK, "reflecting a deterioration in the outlook for retail markets".

It added that in the current environment, it remained cautious about its cost base.

"Recent economic forecasts have weakened, and over time this is likely to have an impact on our markets," said chief executive Ian Meakins.

The company has been selling off units as part of a disposal strategy over the past 18 months.

In July, it sold its French distribution division Brossette and British Build Center business to France's Saint-Gobain for ￡310m.

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Shares up on eurozone bank plan

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5 October 2011 Last updated at 21:02 GMT German support is considered crucial for any European bank rescue proposal European stock markets ignored fresh warnings about Italy's ability to repay its debts by staging a strong rally.

Reports that European leaders are considering co-ordinated action to bolster banks sent European markets up 3%-5%, while Wall Street also rallied.

On Tuesday, Moody's cut Italy's credit rating by three notches and warned about the country's growth rate.

But investors focused on signs that the debt-laden banking system may soon be recapitalised by European authorities.

German support

In an interview in the Financial Times, Olli Rehn, European commissioner for economic affairs, said: "There is an increasingly shared view that we need a concerted, co-ordinated approach.

"There is a sense of urgency among ministers and we need to move on," he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also said she favoured a pan-European recapitalisation programme if it proves necessary, and that she stood ready to help German banks absorb losses from a possible write-off of Greece's debts.

Continue reading the main story

There are some European regulators and politicians who regard the downgrade of Italy and the woes of the Franco-Belgian bank Dexia as positive events (oh yes)”

End Quote Robert Peston Business editor, BBC News German support is seen as crucial for any such proposal to succeed.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - which has also been calling for eurozone governments to bolster their banks - put the likely cost of such a programme at 200bn euros ($267bn; ￡173bn).

That would put it within the means of the eurozone's bailout fund - the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) - which is currently being augmented.

In an embarrassing gaffe, the IMF's Europe director, Antonio Borges, suggested in a press conference that the IMF itself may add its own money to the EFSF's.

But he later rushed out a statement retracting his comments, noting that the IMF lacked the legal authority for such a move, nor did the idea have the backing of the IMF's shareholders, which include the US government.

Banks rise

Signs that Europe's leaders were ready to act came on Tuesday when plans were announced to split struggling Franco-Belgian financial group Dexia into its "good" and "bad" banks.

This plan to ring-fence Dexia's toxic debts led to an initial 10% jump in the firm's share prices in early trading, but it ended the day only 1.4% higher.

Continue reading the main story The problems at Dexia have further undermined the credibility of stress tests carried out earlier this year by European regulators to determine the resilience of the EU's banks - tests that Dexia comfortably passed.

Any recapitalisation programme may need to be preceded by a new round of stress tests, according to the BBC's business editor, Robert Peston, and would presumably consider the possibility of a significant write-off of Greek - and possibly other government - debts.

France's three big banks, which are also heavily exposed to Greece, rose sharply on stock markets, with Credit Agricole 9.9% higher at the close of trading.

Italy's biggest banks were up 5%-7%, while in London Barclays rose 7.7% and RBS was 5% higher.

The rally, which began as a late surge on Wall Street on Tuesday night, continued into US trading hours on Wednesday.

By the close of trading in New York, the Dow Jones was up a further 1.2%, with tech and media stocks taking the lead, while the Nasdaq rose 2.3%.

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Firms fear energy price hikes

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 04:09 GMT By Gerry Northam Reporter, File on 4 Energy-intensive industries have seen gas and electricity bills soar Despite government hopes that manufacturing will lead the UK recovery, there are fears some energy-intensive industries may be forced to leave the UK as prices rocket.

Davin Bates is standing at the cool end of a tunnel kiln watching racks of cups and sugar bowls trundle out ready for glazing.

As we peer fifty feet in to the bright orange centre, he tells me that the internal temperature is well over 1000 degrees centigrade.

Then he breaks the bad news about his gas bill.

Davin is a management accountant at one of Stoke-on-Trent's remaining successful potteries, Steelite. It is a sprawling village of redbrick buildings employing 650 people which produces half a million pieces of crockery a week.

There are seven kilns in all. Keeping them fired up was costly enough last year.

But this year Davin has faced a 55% rise in the cost of gas. The firm's electricity bill has also gone up by 17%.

Tough decisions

"We find it difficult to pass on these costs to our customers," says Davin.

He says profits are therefore getting squeezed and the company's future plans are in jeopardy: "Investment will have to be looked at, because this is coming off the bottom line," he adds.

Across the whole sector, energy bills are driving managers to make tough decisions.

At the British Ceramic Confederation, Dr Laura Cohen has watched factory after factory close - and she identifies high energy costs as a major problem.

She knows that other companies have moved production overseas.

"We heard only a few weeks ago that one firm has transferred all of their manufacturing to China," she says. "Energy costs are a significant part of that."

It is a trend which is not confined to the long-troubled Potteries. Other parts of the country are hit too.

The huge chemical industry, which contributes ￡30m a day to the British economy, is also suffering.

At the family firm of Thomas Swan in County Durham, enormous sealed vats of chemicals are heated and stirred to make specialist powders and liquids for niche hair dyes, printing and cleaning products.

Managing director Harry Swan, a great-grandson of the founder, has steered the company through the recession and now finds himself hit by electricity and gas bills of almost ￡1m.

His plant uses 28,000 megawatt hours of energy a year. Even before the latest round of price rises, his extra energy costs this year were equivalent to a month's profit. He is dreading the next bill.

For the Chemical Industries Association, chief executive Steve Elliott fears British job losses could be imminent: "There will come a moment when people say enough is enough," he says.

"There will only be one direction of travel - out of the UK."

There could be worse to come.

Industries have been totting up the cost of government and European initiatives to promote a low-carbon economy, the so-called "green taxes", and some say their additional bill will run into the millions.

'Tipping point'

Cemex UK runs the biggest cement plant in the country, based on the outskirts of Rugby. It is not averse to the idea of a green economy. In recent years it has moved away from dependence on coal alone.

It now also burns chippings from old tyres and a fuel made from minced-up household waste. But the company is worried about the impact of coming green taxes.

Director Andy Spencer estimates that they will increase his annual energy costs by ￡12m.

What most concerns Cemex is that other countries will not impose similar new taxes on their cement producers. His prices would then struggle to compete on world markets.

So Andy Spencer's thoughts are already turning to the possibility of switching production out of the UK to Cemex plants abroad, particularly in Egypt.

"I can foresee a time when economically it makes more sense to do that and I don't think that time is far away," he says.

"We are very committed to the UK, but there is a genuine concern that we could reach that tipping point where the economics don't stack up to produce domestically in the UK."

This seems at odds with the government's goal of rebalancing the economy in favour of manufacturing industries. The Chancellor George Osborne has called for "a march of the makers".

Andy Spencer sees that march hitting a roadblock. "We know we need to make the transition to a green economy," he says.

"But it must not come at the price of exporting our domestic energy intensive industries."

No blank cheques

The Energy Secretary Chris Huhne says there is little the government can do about some energy price rises.

"How much of this is due to the fact that these businesses are very reliant on world market factors? We've had a 27% increase in the gas price on world markets over the year to August," he says.

"Now with the best will in the world, I can't do anything about that."

But he argues the government's reform of the electricity market will reduce prices for business and domestic consumers alike.

He is working on plans to announce special help for high-energy industries later this year, and says that in 2020 the net effect of the government's energy and climate change policies will be to reduce bills across the board.

But he is sceptical of some complaints on green taxes.

"I don't accept that some of the stories we are hearing about green taxes are correct. There are some ludicrously inflated and exaggerated claims," he says.

"I do not want to see even the most energy-intensive industries leave the UK, that would be madness.

"But am I writing blank cheques to anybody who says they've got a problem? No."

File on 4 is on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 4 October at 20:00 BST and Sunday 9 October at 17:00 BST. Listen again via the Radio 4 website or download the podcast.

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VIDEO: Samsung's smartphone makes inroads

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7 October 2011 Last updated at 05:06 GMT Help

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Can the iPhone still scare rivals?

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 23:33 GMT By Tim Weber Business editor, BBC News website Sony Ericsson hopes that Android will help it regain market share The days when Apple had a free run for our smartphone hearts and minds are over.

It's the first time that Apple's latest offering, the iPhone 4S, encounters a truly competitive field of rivals.

The competition is powered by Apple's former partner Google, whose Android operating system for smartphones is rapidly gaining marketshare.

Mobile phonemakers, long suffering under Apple's smartphone dominance, have embraced Android with gusto and are jostling to add software and hardware touches that trump Apple's offering.

The iPhone rivals

Samsung's Galaxy S II, for example, is already slimmer and lighter than both the old iPhone 4 and the new 4S and arguably has a better screen.

Taiwanese competitor HTC, meanwhile, hopes that a clever user interface dubbed HTC Sense will help it to best Apple.

Instead of the iPhone's static icons, HTC has improved Android to offer a raft of rich, dynamic widgets that bring information and functionality directly to the smartphone screen. HTC's Sensation, for example, is currently hard to best in terms of ease of use, not just when compared to the new iPhone but Android rivals as well.

For its top-end phones HTC also throws in a free service that allows owners to track and remotely manage their phones, probably one of the reasons why Apple recently stopped charging for a similar service.

Android has even allowed Sony Ericsson to get back into the game. For several years the company and its lacklustre range of phones have been losing market share; now the company is back with the Android-based Xperia Arc S - a well-built and user-friendly phone that can compete with most rivals.

Apple also lags in terms of hardware innovation, with several competitors pushing phones that sport 3D cameras and glasses-free 3D screens - like the Sharp 3D Aquos, the HTC Evo 3D and the LG Optimus 3D.

Google is also constantly updating Android, and provides the software free to manufacturers. This is not charitable behaviour, of course. Google search is deeply integrated into Android phones, providing healthy profits from clicks on sponsored search results (although a few network operators have begun to point customers to different search engines).

The rise of Android

The rise and rise of Android is reflected in the market share.

According to research firm Gartner, during the second quarter of 2011 Android captured a massive 43.4% of the global smartphone market - up from 17.2% just a year ago.

In contrast, Apple's iPhone software iOS gained just four percentage points to 18.2% - mainly by entering 15 new countries and signing up 42 new network operators to sell the iPhone.

The big losers are Nokia's Symbian smartphones, Blackberry maker RIM - and Microsoft who is struggling to gain traction for its new mobile operating system Windows Phone 7.

Operating System 2nd quarter 2011 2nd quarter 2010

Research in Motion (Blackberry)

Advantage Apple

Despite Android's advances, Apple still dominates the "mindshare" of the smartphone market.

This is less a function of the many Apple fans amongst tech journalists. It's more a question of first-mover advantage and, most importantly, branding.

Dozens of manufacturers are now selling numerous Android phones, ranging from the cheap and cheerful to the high end of the market. Apple and its network partners can focus all marketing around a single brand and - now - two devices.

No wonder that the iPhone is still seen by many as the benchmark against which other smartphones have to be measured - even though the new iPhone 4S has arguably failed to raise this benchmark in a significant manner. Some of the new features on the 4S have been standard on Android phones for many months.

The lack of a big "and one more thing" unveiling by Apple's new chief executive will have been greeted with loud sighs of relief by rivals.

Still, any move by Apple creates headaches for competitors. Internal documents of a mobile phone maker seen by the BBC last week showed how worried this company was that an iPhone 5 could steal all attention from the forthcoming launch of its top-end Android smartphone.

Microsoft, meanwhile...

Amidst all the Android and iPhone frenzy, spare a thought for Microsoft. A year ago and to considerable acclaim the software giant launched an all-new mobile phone software, Windows Phone 7.

Microsoft is betting on a distinct user interface

The operating system broke new ground in terms of usability, with a fresh look and many clever little features that neither Google's nor Apple's developers had thought of. Considering this was version one of the software, it was surprisingly polished.

So far, Microsoft has had little commercial success in return for its efforts. But Microsoft hopes that it can still challenge both Android and iPhone. After ironing out a few software wrinkles it has just launched Windows Phone 7.5, also known as Mango.

It's a compelling offering. The software delivers a deep integration with social networks like no other phone. Short messages exchanged with a friend - whether on SMS, Facebook or Twitter - will show up in one thread chronicling the conversation, regardless of which service was used.

A contact stored on the phone shows not just address and phone number but the most recent Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn status updates too. And the diary is easier to use than any other.

However, Microsoft's fresh assault on the smartphone market is slow out of the starting blocks.

Mango was presented to the public many months ago. A few handset makers have announced a handful of new Windows phones. The first HTC phones running Mango are only now - slowly - arriving in the shops. Microsoft's new best friend, struggling Finnish phone company Nokia, won't launch its first Windows phone before 26 October, at Nokia World in London.

Apple, in contrast, is set to bring the iPhone 4S to market in less than two weeks.

The ecosystem

As operating systems and mobile phone makers jostle for position (don't forget RIM's Blackberry, about to roll out a range of handsets with a new operating system) it may be neither clever software nor stunning hardware that decides who will win the smartphone war.

The clincher will be the services connected to smartphones. Just as Google uses Android to lure people into their ecosystem, from email to media storage to YouTube videos to documents, Apple tries to lock in its customers into the world of iTunes and iCloud services.

Surprisingly, it is Microsoft that is offering the most open mobile phone ecosystem right now.

Consumers should be able to cherish this fierce competition. They may not get the chance. As iPhones, Androids and other devices rush to market, the patent lawyers of all sides are gearing up for epic court battles over patents and protected designs.

Not all that we'll see presented on stage will reach consumers' hands.

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China tech stocks dive on Nasdaq

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30 September 2011 Last updated at 01:19 GMT Continue reading the main story Chinese internet stocks have dived in New York trading after the US Justice Department said it was considering launching a fraud investigation.

The news was disclosed by Robert Khuzami, director of enforcement at the US financial services regulator.

Youku, which models itself on web video firm Youtube, was among the hardest hit, falling 18%.

Chinese search engine firm Baidu fell 9%, rival portal site Sohu lost 5.3%, and messaging firm Sina dipped 9.5%.

The fraud concerns have arisen after accounting irregularities emerged at a number of Chinese firms whose shares are traded in the US.

"There are parts of the Justice Department that are actively engaged in this area," said Mr Khuzami, when asked by the Reuters news agency whether criminal cases were being prepared.

He also confirmed that other federal prosecutors are involved in the investigation, but did not identify them, nor which Chinese companies and auditors are being looked into.

'A big issue'

The probe is the latest spotlight to fall on Chinese companies and their accounting practices.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu resigned as auditors for software firm Longtop earlier this year, after the accountancy firm claimed to have uncovered evidence of falsified financial records.

Questions have also been raised over the indirect way in which some Chinese firms obtained their US stock market listings.

Normally, a firm conducts a formal "initial public offering" on a stock exchange - something that is heavily regulated in the US and requires the detailed disclosure of a firm's finances to prospective investors.

However, many Chinese firms followed another route to market known as a "reverse merger".

This method involves the Chinese company being bought up by a smaller US firm that was already listed on a stock exchange, such as the Nasdaq, thereby minimising the company's disclosure requirement.

"Not having proper accounting and reliable audit review for publicly traded companies with operations in China is just not acceptable," said Mr Khuzami.

"We have to find a path to resolution of this issue. It is...a big issue for us."

A former investment banker who now works at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr Khuzami has built himself a reputation as someone who is happy to go after some of the biggest names in the financial industry.

He has also filed against Goldman Sachs for misleading investors.

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EU airline emissions cap 'legal'

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VIDEO: Will China help at-risk Italy?

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5 October 2011 Last updated at 00:32 GMT Help

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German factory data disappoints

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6 October 2011 Last updated event at 11: 29 GMT 16-Volkswagen in its release of detailed investment plan yet, despite economic concerns German factories recorded a 0.9% drop in industrial orders over the month of August, according to government data.

It is the second month in a row that demand has weakened, casting further gloom over the prospects for Europe ' s value economy.

Economists had expected no change after July's 2.6% fall.

The German economy support blamed "special factors". It said the decline was driven by a fall in domestic demand during the summer holidays.

Orders from maintains rose by 0.1% over the month.

Eurozone debt and NGO

Surveys suggest button Pack German business confidence is waning. The closely watched Ifo business climate index hit its lowest level for more than a year in 203.

Analysts say a lack of "clarity" about how the eurozone debt and NGO will be resolved is making consumers and companies cautious about spending.

"These numbers are too volatile to draw any firm conclusions." said Berenberg bank's chief economist, Holger Schmieding.

"But of course the significant fall in orders in August, following the drop in July, could be a first sign that demand is weakening."

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Barclay brothers buy Claridge's

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 21:39 GMT Claridge's is the latest luxury hotel to be owned by the Barclays The Barclay brothers have bought three of London's top hotels, including Claridge's, for 800m euros (￡695m).

They acquired Claridge's, the Connaught and Berkeley from the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), the Irish government agency created to manage the toxic property loans of its bust banks.

Nama said it had recovered 100% of the original value of the loans plus interest.

The Barclays already own the Ritz hotel in London.

The loans had originally been made to the Maybourne Hotel Group by two Irish banks to fund the acquisition of the hotels in 2005.

By buying the loans, the Barclays have acquired the hotels.

Nama took control of the bad property debt from Irish banks during the height of the financial crisis, and it is tasked with maximising the return to the Irish taxpayer over the long term.

The agency has said that it wants to dispose of 5bn euros of UK loans in 2011. Its annual report listed total UK assets of about ￡8.5bn.

Sir David Barclay and his brother Sir Frederick also own the Daily Telegraph and the Littlewoods retail group.

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VIDEO: Cleaning machines 'based on military robots'

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Experts have been promising for decades to put a robot in everyone's home - and finally robots are beginning to make the transition from specialist to everyday use.

Spencer Kelly discovers the similarities between robots used for cleaning and those used by soldiers in Afghanistan for a very different purpose.

Follow the Click team on Twitter - @bbcclick

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Deloitte sued for $7.6bn in US

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26 September 2011 Last updated at 21:33 GMT It is alleged that Deloitte missed financial fraud at the mortgage company Taylor Bean and Whitaker Giant accounting and consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has been accused of failing to detect fraud during audits of a mortgage firm which failed during the US housing crash.

A trust overseeing now-defunct Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW), and one of the company's subsidiaries, have filed complaints in a Florida court.

They are claiming a combined $7.6bn (￡4.9bn) in losses.

TBW shut down after federal agents raided its headquarters in August 2009.

Deloitte spokesman Jonathan Gandal said the firm rejected the court claims, and that they were "utterly without merit".

'Red flags'

The fraud at Ocala-based TBW began in 2002 and continued until its collapse two years ago.

Seven TBW executives were convicted of federal criminal charges, with former chairman Lee B Farkas sentenced to 30 years in jail.

The lawsuits claim Deloitte's certifications of the TBW books were essential in giving it the appearance of a legitimate mortgage business.

However the lawsuits say TBW was selling false or highly overvalued mortgages, mis-stating its liabilities and hiding overdrawn bank accounts.

"They [Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu] certainly did not do their job," said attorney Steven Thomas, who represents those suing Deloitte.

"This is one of those cases where the red flags are staring you in the face, and you've got to do a lot, and they did not."

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US factory orders drop slightly

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 15:08 GMT Activity remained subdued at US factories in the summer New orders at US factories declined slightly, adding to concerns over the health of the world's largest economy.

The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured goods fell 0.2% in August, after rising a downwardly revised 2.1% in July.

Economists had expected orders to be unchanged.

But orders for capital goods - expensive items such as computers and communications equipment - rose 0.9%, the second gain in three months.

Sluggish growth in the US economy earlier this year has not been sufficient to reduce high levels of unemployment.

The economic recovery is "close to faltering", Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the ISM Manufacturing Index unexpectedly rose in September, beating expectations that the index would remain unchanged.

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Citic securities dips on HK debut

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6 October 2011 Last updated at 04:55 GMT The Hong Kong stock exchange has seen many proposed listings being cancelled or postponed Shares of Citic Securities have fallen on their debut at the Hong Kong stock exchange as market volatility continues to dent investor sentiment.

Its shares fell by as much as 10% in early trade to HK$11.90 from an offer price of HK$13.30.

Citic securities, China's largest listed brokerage had sold 995.3m shares raising HK$13.2bn ($1.7bn, ￡1.1bn).

Many Chinese firms have recently cancelled or postponed their proposed listing on the exchange.

"It is a very difficult time for any initial public offering (IPO) because market sentiment is so weak right now," said Patrick Yiu of CASH Asset Management.

No appetite?

Hong Kong stock exchange has witnessed sharp falls in recent days, with the Hang Seng index hitting a two-and-a-half year low on Tuesday.

Analysts said that given the uncertainty surrounding the global economy and the volatility in the stock markets, investors were being cautious.

"Investors want to look for stocks now with a track record, with very low valuations," said Mr Liu. "They don't have the appetite for new stocks."

The lack of investor confidence has seen listings worth some $4.5bn being cancelled or postponed.

Sany Heavy Industry Co has delayed the launch of the retail portion of its $3.3bn offering and also pushed back its listing date.

XCMG Construction Machinery Co, China's biggest crane maker also cancelled its proposed $1.1bn listing after some of the underwriters pulled out.

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Spain halts lottery privatisation

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 12:18 GMT The national lottery is famous for its El Gordo, or fat one, draw Spain has stopped the part-privatisation of the national lottery which had been expected to raise billions of euros.

The sale of up to 30% of the national lottery was postponed because the market valuation had been too low, the finance ministry said.

It intends to start the sale process again when conditions improve.

Spain had hoped to sell off a number of its assets, including 49% of the airports operator, to cut its deficit.

The lottery sale had been expected to raise several billion euros and would have been the country's biggest privatisation. It would also have created one of the biggest firms on the Spanish stock exchange's Ibex index.

It had been approved by the Spanish government just last week and presentations for potential investors had been expected to start at the beginning of October.

"Rather than have it valued for less than we had expected and for less than we believe to be the fair value, we decided to delay this listing," Finance Minister Elena Salgado told Spanish radio.

"Among individual investors there was and still is an extraordinary interest and among institutional investors too, but at prices that we did not want to accept."

But analysts suggested that opposition to the sale from the Popular Party, who are considered likely winners of the general election in November, may have played a part in the decision to pull it.

Elena Salgado added that the sale of almost half of Aena, the airports operator, would still go ahead.

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Lecturers' pension action resumes

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6 October 2011 Last updated at 23:01 GMT The dispute could escalate to new strikes, the UCU said Lecturers at 67 UK universities are going to re-start a programme of industrial action from 10 October over changes to their pension scheme.

They will start a "work to contract" if the universities do not resume negotiations over the pension changes.

Substantial cuts to the benefits of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) were introduced on 1 October.

The University and College Union (UCU) said 40,000 members at the affected universities might eventually strike.

The union's general secretary, Sally Hunt, said the aim was to force the university employers to renegotiate some of the changes they have just brought in.

"There are key areas that we believe need to be looked at again," she said.

"Examples being accrual rates and another example being redundancy payments for those who are 50 and 55."

The dispute affects staff at the 67 traditional universities which were in existence before 1992, when the former polytechnics and higher education institutions were upgraded to university status.

'Sustained campaign'

The industrial action may be a precursor to more widespread action which has been threatened by unions with members in other parts of the public sector, such as local government, the civil service, NHS, schools, police and the fire service.

The government is trying to press ahead with substantial increases in staff pension contributions, to be followed by full-scale conversion of most of the schemes from their current final-salary basis to become less generous career average schemes.

The lecturers' industrial action will start with a "work to contract" which the UCU said would be the start of a "sustained campaign of industrial action".

Depending on local employment conditions, this might include union members working no more than their contracted hours, not covering other lecturers' classes, and refusing to carry out any additional duties or attend voluntary staff meetings.

"This will affect the universities in very different ways," said a spokesman for the employers body the UCEA (Universities and Colleges Employers Association).

"The changes would be considered moderate by many as they include the retention of a final salary pension for all existing USS members."

The UCU said if the employers refused to start negotiating again at a scheduled meeting later this month, the action might be escalated to a boycott of internal administration, student assessments and even rolling strikes.

Second campaign

The USS pension scheme has 137,000 contributing members at nearly 300 education institutions.

One-day strikes in March, at universities around the country, failed to deter the employers from pressing ahead with the bulk of their pension changes, which have been in train for three years.

So the UCU held a second industrial action ballot last month, which produced a 77% vote in favour on a 42% turnout - even higher than in the union's first ballot earlier this year.

The union said the some of its members would lose ￡100,000 of their pension income over their prospective retirement as a result of the changes.

It said the employers' private aim was to make huge savings by cutting their contribution rate from about 16% of staff salaries to just 10%.

This might be achieved, the UCU said, if the university employers were able, in a few years' time, to impose the career average scheme for new recruits on existing staff as well.

Big changes

The USS changes were brought in from 1 October in a separate process to the one the government has initiated for the other big public sector pension schemes.

The university pension changes were changes were:

A normal pension age of 65 came in for new entrants and for the future service of many existing members. The exceptions to this are those members who were in the scheme before 1 October - and who were also aged 55 or over at that date. They will be exempt from the normal reductions in their accrued pensions that will be imposed if they take their pensions before the age of 65. The normal USS pension age will rise in line with any increases in the state pension age, which is scheduled to rise to 66 by 2020. It is important to note that this will only affect pension built up after April 2020.The employee contribution rate for members of the final-salary section has gone up from 6.35% to 7.5%. Pension increases (for pensions in payment and deferred pensions) will now be inflation-proofed in line with increases in the consumer prices index (CPI) up to 5% a year. But for pensions earned after 1 October 2011, if inflation is more than 5% but less than 15%, the increase in pension will be 5% plus half of the increase above that level. And if inflation is more than 15%, there will be no extra pension increases - they will be capped at 10% a year.A career-average revalued earnings (CARE) benefits structure has been introduced for new entrants. The benefits are still be based upon a 1/80th accrual rate and cash lump sum of three times the pension.The contribution rate for members of the new CARE section is 6.5%. If the overall cost of the scheme rises above 23.5% of salaries, then "cost sharing" will be introduced. This means any further increases in contributions will be shared in the ratio 65:35 between employers and employees respectively.

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Chelsea make stadium shares bid

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Chelsea played their first home game at Stamford Bridge back in 1905 Chelsea are a step closer to building a new stadium after making a bid to buy back parts of Stamford Bridge.

The club is still to decide whether to move, but cannot do so unless it regains ownership of the stadium's pitch and stands.

They are owned by Chelsea Pitch Owners - formed in 1993 to prevent the ground being bought by property developers.

"That threat has now gone under (Roman) Abramovich's ownership," insisted Blues chairman Bruce Buck.

Buck and chief executive Ron Gourlay have appealed to the 12,000 shareholders, who are mostly fans, to sell their 15,000 shares to the club for the price they paid in return for various incentives at any new stadium.

Each share cost ￡100 and Chelsea are hopeful they would not be held to ransom, insisting there was no room for negotiation.

Buck said shareholders were getting back far more than the land was worth when the 199-year lease on Stamford Bridge was taken into account.

He said: "Bear in mind that no-one bought these shares as a financial investment.

"Everyone bought these shares as a way of helping the club and they also bought them as mementoes and souvenirs.

"We think we're paying well over the odds."

The incentives for selling include a guarantee that Chelsea would only relocate within a three-mile radius of Stamford Bridge if the club did decide to move before 2020.

A decision on the bid is expected at a Chelsea Pitch Owners' general meeting on 27 October.

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Energy bills break £1,000 barrier

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5 October 2011 Last updated at 12:11 GMT Price rises have recently been announced by all the major energy suppliers The cheapest domestic energy deal available to UK householders has risen above ￡1,000 a year for the first time.

Scottish Power has withdrawn its ￡990 internet tariff, following moves by other energy providers in recent weeks.

Some online packages are cheaper than the average gas and electricity bill because of the lower overheads involved.

But these prices have risen in the same way as other payment options, with companies blaming wholesale costs.

Tariffs

Last month, EDF Energy became the last of the "big six" energy companies to announce increases in prices for domestic customers.

The tariffs across the industry have included price rises of up to 18%.

Price comparison website Uswitch said that in the last couple of months, energy companies had withdrawn some of their most competitive online rates.

Meanwhile, Mark Todd, of price comparison website Energyhelpline, said that the cull meant households with average energy use could no longer get any deals for under ￡1,000.

"This is the first time that has been the case and emphasises in stark terms how bills are reaching historic levels," he said.

Regulator Ofgem is studying whether higher prices are justified, while Energy Secretary Chris Huhne recently pledged to "get tough" with the six biggest energy companies on their tariffs.

Scottish Power Scottish & Southern British Gas Npower E.On EDF

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Default retirement age abolished

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1 October 2011 Last updated at 07:05 GMT The default retirement age has been phased out The default retirement age in the UK has been fully abolished after being phased out from April this year.

New legislation stops employers from compulsorily retiring workers once they reach the age of 65.

However, research by law firm Norton Rose suggests one in 10 firms plans to offer financial incentives to encourage workers to move on at a certain age.

The charity Age UK welcomed the legislation but said age discrimination was still prevalent in the workplace.

'Devastated'

The legislation came too late for Andrew Webster, from Richmond in Surrey.

He was issued with a compulsory notice to retire from his job as an English teacher at a performing arts school.

''I was devastated. I had found a job I loved, I felt I was in my prime. I got on well with the students and they had good results," he said.

"I wanted to go on doing it for as long as possible and I needed the money as well so it was a terrible blow when it happened.''

Andrew Webster said he was pleased others would not be in his position

He has found work as a tutor but said he took home only a third of his previous earnings, even taking his pension into account.

''I know it is too late for me but I am pleased that other people will not also be forced to retire before they are ready," he said.

Rules

The Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement Age Provisions) Regulations 2011 started phasing out the default retirement age from the start of April.

That was the point after which employers could no longer issue the minimum six-month notification for compulsory retirement, using the default retirement age procedure.

Continue reading the main story

Discrimination in the recruitment process is against the law, but it still happens in practice quite a lot”

End Quote Christopher Brooks Age UK If employers still want to enforce retirement, their decisions will have to be objectively justified, but workers can no longer be forced to retire on the grounds of age alone.

The Norton Rose research indicated that some firms were preparing to offer employees a "golden goodbye".

''Our survey suggests employers feel there will be limited ability to take on younger workers as a result of the default retirement age being removed and their perceived inability to ask more senior levels of staff to move on,'' said Paul Griffin, an employment lawyer at Norton Rose.

''If firms are approaching people to retire that could be seen as age discrimination in its own right.

"But our survey indicates that firms are willing to pay to encourage people to move on at a certain time in their career."

Ageism

Age UK said that instead of focusing on making space in firms for younger employees, businesses should instead look at the benefits that experienced older workers could bring.

Christopher Brooks, head of policy for work and learning at Age UK, said there was still a prevailing culture of ageism.

"Many employers simply see the stereotypes of an older worker, particularly in the recruitment phase and statistics show older workers find it harder to find another job than any other age group," he said.

''Discrimination in the recruitment process is against the law, but it still happens in practice quite a lot.

"It is however quite hard to prove but we do get lots of feedback from people who have been in interviews and been told they are over qualified or just too old to do the job, which quite often amounts to age discrimination."

Life experience

Chief executive Liz Fields from business consultancy the Financial Skills Partnership said keeping older workers had benefits.

"The skills and life experience that an older person can bring to a business actually helps that business become much more competitive," she said.

However, the Federation of Small Businesses said the move was "unncessary meddling".

"It will lead to a legal quagmire for a lot of small business owners. If you can't get rid of someone, you then have to go through the process of performance managing someone out of an organisation, which if you have a big HR department and you're experienced in these things is easy," said Andrew Cave from the federation.

"The average business in this country employs four people. The owner-manager doesn't necessarily have that expertise."

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Shell Singapore fire 'contained'

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 04:27 GMT The refinery is on Bukom island about five kilometres away from Singapore's mainland Royal Dutch Shell said a fire that broke out at a refinery in Singapore - its biggest globally - has been contained.

The fire started on the plant on Bukom island, five kilometres off Singapore, on Wednesday and affected a unit that helps make diesel fuel.

Shell said it is shutting down units at the refinery as a precaution.

Singapore is a trading hub and analysts said a prolonged shutdown could tighten supplies.

Shell said that, while the fire was contained, firefighters were still working to completely extinguish it.

It also said an inquiry would be forthcoming

"We believe it was an accident," the company said in a statement. "A full investigation will be conducted once the fire is put out."

Trading centre

Shell shut down a hydrocracker at the refinery, which will affect gas oil and jet fuel production. All crude units were also operating at reduced rates.

Capacity at the Bukom plant is 500,000 barrels a day.

The fire hit at a time when refiners around Asia are already running near full capacity to meet demand.

Singapore is the world's largest market for fuel oil and Asia's hub for crude and refined product trading.

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Trade watchdog link to loan firm

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1 October 2011 Last updated at 23:40 GMT By Adrian Goldberg Presenter, 5 live Investigates Trading Standards is taking consultancy payments from a firm which is also the subject of customer complaints.

West Yorkshire Trading Standards (WYTS) received payments from online loans broker SGE Loans in exchange for regulatory advice.

But some customers claim that SGE Loans has debited their bank accounts without consent - a claim SGE Loans denies.

WYTS says such partnerships are necessary because of budget cuts but its integrity remains unaffected.

WYTS says it has received over ￡88,000 ($137,500) since April 2011 from a total of 47 companies with which it has similar partnerships.

It confirmed that it only started charging SGE Loans for its detailed advice in that month, but would not reveal the precise sum it had received from SGE Loans, citing commercial confidentiality.

However, it did reveal that it had investigated a number of complaints made against the company.

Unauthorised payments

One customer who contacted the 5 live Investigates programme, Lianne Gray, says she rang SGE Loans in August of this year.

Customers say SGE took unauthorised payments from their bank accounts. SGE Loans denies this.

She says she was reassured that no money would be taken out of her account if she decided not to take out a loan.

"I then discovered two days later that the company had taken ￡79.99 out of my bank, which I could not afford to lose because I'm on benefits," she said.

"I am absolutely disgusted with how I have been treated."

5 live Investigates contacted SGE Loans on Ms Gray's behalf and her money was subsequently refunded five weeks after it had been debited.

Continue reading the main story

SGE Loans does not debit money from customers' accounts without authorisation”

End Quote Sally Hill Chief executive, SGE Loans David Dutfield had a similar experience when he called SGE Loans in June.

"I was told on the phone that no money would leave my account if my loan was below ￡200, which is what I was after.

"Yet when I came off the phone I found that ￡69.99 was taken from my account."

Following inquires made by the BBC, Mr Dutfield has also been refunded following more than three months of dispute.

West Yorkshire Trading Standards confirmed, in several instances, recordings of customer calls revealed that some SGE Loans staff had not fully explained the terms of its business and did not warn customers they were liable to pay an upfront fee, which could be refunded after a 14 day cooling-off period.

WYTS says SGE Loans subsequently took disciplinary action and retrained staff who made such mistakes.

SGE Loans chief executive Sally Hill told the BBC that SGE Loans did not debit money from customers' accounts without authorisation.

In a written response, she said that SGE Loans had never refused to refund money to a customer who had cancelled within the 14 day cooling-off period, if the company's service had not been used.

'Error of judgement'

Leeds-based SGE Loans has what is called a Primary Authority Partnership with West Yorkshire Trading Standards, which means that the branch deals with complaints made against the company from across the UK.

The company also has a commercial contract with WYTS, paying for advice about legal and regulatory issues.

During the course of its investigation, 5 live Investigates discovered SGE Loans featured a West Yorkshire Trading Standards logo on its website.

When asked why the logo was being used by the company, WYTS said: "Initially, and possibly naively, this service [WYTS] assumed that this would be taken for what it was - a statement of fact that we and the business had a Primary Authority partnership.

Continue reading the main story

Trading Standards should distance themselves from all companies and it would be better for all of us if all businesses regarded Trading Standards as a threat and something to be worried about”

End Quote Mark Gander Consumer Action Group "However, we now recognise that people are assuming that this is an endorsement of the business."

As a result, WYTS has asked SGE Loans to remove the logo from its company website.

When asked if it felt compromised by taking payment from firms it was also receiving complaints about, WYTS told the BBC:

"We refute any allegation that being in a Primary Authority Partnership with any business means this service does not undertake its duties, including to deal with complaints impartially, in anything but a professional manner."

WYTS also says that its relationship with SGE and other businesses helps them to understand the legal framework within which they operate, and "get it right", thus saving taxpayers money in the long run.

Marc Gander, from Consumer Action Group, told 5 live Investigates that it was inappropriate for a regulatory body to be funded in this way and said it was "a grave error of judgement".

"Trading Standards should distance themselves from all companies and it would be better for all of us if all businesses regarded Trading Standards as a threat and something to be worried about," he said.

WYTS, in common with Trading Standards offices around the UK, is under severe financial pressures as it faces budget cuts.

Planned local government spending on Trading Standards across England has been reduced overall by 11.4% in 2011/12, and in Wales by 7.4%.

WYTS says it faces budget cuts of 22% and this has has made it a necessity to charge companies such as SGE Loans for its regulatory advice.

Some 443 of 538 Trading Standards departments responded to a survey by 5 live Investigates - 18 said they received income from private companies in exchange for regulation and compliance advice.

You can hear the full report on 5 live Investigates on Sunday, 2 October at 21:00 BST on BBC Radio 5 live.

You can listen again on the BBC iPlayer or by downloading the 5 live Investigates podcast.

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VIDEO: ECB holds interest rates

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6 October 2011 Last updated at 15:41 GMT Help

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VIDEO: Business Lessons from Minnesota

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30 September 2011 Last updated at 11:01 GMT Help

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New Sunderland position for Quinn

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Quinn will focus on Sunderland's business interests overseas Niall Quinn is leaving his role as chairman at Sunderland to take charge of "international development".

Owner Ellis Short will take over as chairman while Quinn focuses on the club's business interests overseas.

Discussing Short, Quinn said: "He'll be a fantastic chairman and taking this role on speaks volumes about his ambition for the club."

Short said: "I can assure our fans that it's the same group of people continuing to lead the club."

Continue reading the main story

It's out of the blue. There's been a lot of restructuring behind-the-scenes at Sunderland. It's an interesting move for Quinn; he's very well respected. Maybe it's a precurser for other big changes that might be made at the club

Former Sunderland striker Marco Gabbiadini on BBC Radio Newcastle

He added: "With financial fair play rules coming into effect, it is essential for the long-term success of the club that we develop interests on a global scale and there's no one better than Niall to sell the ethos of Sunderland to an international audience.

"He has been keen to drive this change for some time and I agree that it's the way forward for us now.

"Assuming the position of chairman is a great honour and I will treat the role as guardian of this club with the utmost respect."

Quinn has been linked with the vacant chief executive role at his former club Manchester City recently.

He added to Sunderland's official website: "This is a great opportunity for us to make the club stronger and I'm delighted that Ellis has agreed to support the plan."

Continue reading the main story Becomes Sunderland chairman in July 2006Appoints Roy Keane as manager a month later, leading to the club's promotion to the Premier League that seasonReplaces Keane with Ricky Sbragia in winter 2008 then brings in current boss Steve Bruce during summer 2009 as club stays in top flight

Sunderland chief executive Margaret Byrne added: "Niall is widely known and hugely respected throughout the world of football.

"His profile, coupled with his vast knowledge of the game and the business, means he is perfectly placed to bring Sunderland to the forefront internationally.

"This new challenge begins immediately as he represents the club at the prestigious Leaders in Football conference in London this week, after which he travels to Korea with [manager] Steve Bruce and Mike Farnan, international marketing director.

"Trips to territories such as Vietnam, India, Abu Dhabi and Africa are also taking place in the coming months."

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Drivers 'cut petrol use by 15%'

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 23:18 GMT By Simon Gompertz Personal finance correspondent, BBC News The fall in petrol sales cost the Treasury nearly ￡1bn over the six months to June, the AA reckoned Drivers have cut their petrol consumption by more than 15% since the credit crunch and the recession.

The AA has calculated that petrol sales in the first six months of 2011 were 1.7bn litres less than in the same period three years ago.

The AA says the drop in petrol sales is a direct result of record fuel prices.

Many drivers are struggling to make ends meet in any case, so the high cost of petrol leaves them with no option but to try to use less.

And businesses have been cutting back as well.

The cut in fuel purchases, comparing the first six months of this year with pre-recession levels, is equivalent to 40,000 delivery rounds by fully-laden petrol tankers.

One result has been lower emissions of potentially damaging exhaust fumes.

Another, says the AA, is that the fall in sales has deprived the Treasury of nearly ￡1bn in fuel duty between January and June this year.

And while supermarkets have attracted drivers looking for bargain fuel, hundreds of other petrol stations have gone out of business.

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Brazil growth 'to slow sharply'

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 14:25 GMT President Dilma Rousseff has vowed to get Brazil's spending boom under control Brazil's central bank has lowered its forecast for economic growth to less than half of last year's, partly blaming the slowing global economy.

The central bank lowered its prediction for growth in 2011 to 3.5%, from 4% that it expected in June.

Brazil has boomed as other countries have stalled, growing 7.5% last year.

The bank pointed to "the deterioration in the international outlook" for the downgrade, and also to spending cuts enacted by President Dilma Rousseff.

The central bank said there could be further "moderate" cuts to the basic interest rate, which was lowered in August to 12%, from 12.5%.

In February, the Brazilian government will implement 50bn reais ($30bn; ￡19bn) of spending cuts in order to curb inflation and help prevent the economy from overheating.

This was partly to remove all stimulus packages introduced since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008.

Social spending and infrastructure projects will not be affected, the government has said.

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House prices 'lacking direction'

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6 October 2011 Last updated at 07:24 GMT The market has been relatively difficult for first-time buyers House prices are "lacking genuine direction", according to the Halifax, as it reported a 0.5% fall in values in September compared with August.

Prices were down 2.3% from a year ago, leaving the average home in the UK worth ￡161,132, the lender said.

It said there had been a mixed pattern of monthly changes in prices, but broad stability overall.

And the lender said it expected little change in prices and activity during the rest of the year.

"Greater uncertainty about economic and personal financial circumstances, together with pressure on householders' finances from weak earnings growth, higher inflation and increases in taxes, are likely to be constraining housing demand," said Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis.

"Despite these pressures, low interest rates and a rise in employment over the past year, have been supporting the market."

Lending

Prices in the three months to September were 0.1% higher than the previous three months.

The report of static house prices from the Halifax's lending data chimes with the latest figures from the Nationwide. The building society said last week that prices were "treading water".

However, the latest statistics on mortgage approvals from the Bank of England may suggest that sales funded by mortgage borrowing could pick up this autumn.

It said the number of new mortgages approved, but not yet lent, for home buyers rose to 52,410 in August - its highest monthly level since December 2009.

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Cairn makes strike in Sri Lanka

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3 October 2011 Last updated at 08:42 GMT The discovery of natural gas is the first in Sri Lanka for decades Edinburgh explorer Cairn Energy has made its first gas strike in Sri Lanka through its Indian subsidiary.

The offshore well was the first to be drilled in the country for 30 years.

Cairn India made the discovery after drilling almost a mile down offshore in the Mannar Basin, Sri Lanka.

Simon Thomson, chief executive, Cairn Energy said: "Cairn is delighted with this frontier exploration discovery, the first well in Cairn India's three well drilling programme in Sri Lanka."

Cairn Energy is in the process of selling off 30% of its 52% stake in Cairn India to the Vedanta Resources and recently won shareholder and Indian government approval for the deal.

The company's focus has moved to Greenland since it announced it was reducing its stake in its Indian unit.

However, it has had a number of disappointments after turning up several dry wells.

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Growing trade ties between Indian and Pakistan

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2 October 2011 Last updated at 16:04 GMT By Shahzeb Jillani BBC News Pakistan's commerce minister (right) took a large delegation with him Business leaders from India and Pakistan say there's new optimism about the efforts their governments are making to improve trade ties. But critics warn that overcoming decades of mistrust may not be that easy.

For the first time in 35 years, a Pakistani commerce minister led a business delegation to India last week. The entourage included nearly 80 leading industrialists, traders and high-ranking officials.

Peace talks between the two nuclear-armed neighbours broke down in 2008 after the attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai, which India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

Nearly three years on, as if to emphasize a sense of normalcy, the Pakistani Commerce Minister, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, was hosted at the city's iconic Taj Mahal Hotel - which was one of the main targets of the 2008 attacks.

There, leading Pakistani traders got a chance to mingle with their equally eager-for-business Indian counterparts.

Between them, they spoke not just of the profits their individual businesses could make if their governments removed the long standing hurdles in their way. But also of how much the people of their two countries, and indeed the wider region, stand to benefit from freer movement of goods, money and commodities.

Win-win situation Continue reading the main story

The only way I see realization of trade potential between our two countries is for India to remove its non-tariff trade barriers and for Pakistan to reciprocate by granting the MFN status to India”

End Quote Hasan Khan Former advisor to Pakistan's Ministry of Finance Vijay Kalantri, president of All India Association of Industries, said traders on both sides feel business between India and Pakistan is a win-win situation for everyone.

"Why are Indians and Pakistanis forced to trade unofficially via third countries like Dubai or Sri Lanka?" he tells the BBC from Mumbai.

"All we are asking is, let there be direct business-to-business contact between us."

After the talks in Delhi, ministers from the two sides announced their agreement to boost their annual bilateral trade from current $2.7bn (￡1.7bn) to $6bn by 2015.

They also pledged to ease business travel and promote bilateral trade through the land route.

For Pakistan, a significant announcement was a pledge by India to drop its opposition to the European Union's plan to grant Pakistan tariff waiver on select commodities to help it recover from the devastation of 2010 floods.

There was hope that Pakistan might reciprocate and grant India the Most Favoured Nation status (India granted Pakistan MFN status way back in the 1990s).

Even though no such announcement came, Pakistan committed itself to a road map to implement preferential trade ties with India, as prescribed under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA).

Trade barriers

There are a number of explanations why Pakistan has so far withheld the MFN status from India.

At present there are a number of barriers to prevent trade between Indian and Pakistan

First is political. Pakistani leaders have often linked it to the resolution of the core issue of Kashmir.

It's a stance which has long been propagated for mainly domestic consumption.

But there is a sense in Pakistan that while the country should continue to push for a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir issue, trade and commerce should not be held hostage to resolution of political disputes.

The second is protectionism. For years, domestic industry in Pakistan has feared it would be swamped by imports from India. But even there, the mood appears to have shifted.

Senator Haji Ghulam Ali, president of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, says there's a consensus that Pakistan should open up to Indian business.

"Everyone now recognizes it will be beneficial for both sides. It's just a matter of time before it's done," he tells the BBC from Delhi.

Business leaders say that less trade barriers would benefit firms in both countries

However, the last, and more plausible, obstacle is the issue of non-tariff barriers.

"In my experience, India has one of the most restrictive trade regimes in the region," asserts Dr Ashfaq Hasan Khan, a former advisor to Pakistan's Ministry of Finance. His view matters, given has decades of dealings with South Asian governments on trade liberalization.

He explains that despite granting Pakistan the MFN status, India has a variety of non-tariff barriers in place - such as, stringent certification codes, customs rules, security clearances and movement restrictions - which make it virtually impossible for Pakistani traders to do business in India.

"The only way I see realization of trade potential between our two countries is for India to remove its non-tariff trade barriers and for Pakistan to reciprocate by granting the MFN status to India," says Mr Khan.

He adds: "Unless there's political will to do that, everything else is just talk and photo-op."

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VIDEO: Prodi: Public will accept debt decision

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 11:00 GMT Help

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VIDEO: Cargill chief executive on its success

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 08:43 GMT Help

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VIDEO: Market fears over Greek deficit

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3 October 2011 Last updated at 13:54 GMT Help

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VIDEO: Reaction to Italy credit downgrade

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5 October 2011 Last updated at 10:30 GMT Help

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VIDEO: Check, check and check again

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 14:12 GMT Help

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Fears over debt Chinese surface

October 6, 2011, last updated 04: 28 GMT China market with deep pockets could see slow growth and buoyant, China touted as a White Knight in the world.

But fears are growing that the country can meet its debt crisis as its economy and signs of a slowdown.

Prime weekend urged stronger financial support for small businesses that are missing.

Its a conversation between reports many factories of the private sector are facing bankruptcy due to tightening credit, informal lending operations.

In the eastern city of Wenzhou, a fifth of small businesses to midsize, 360,000 city stops due to lack of cash, reported by China's official Xinhua News Agency on Thursday.

"Efficient means must be taken to contain the trend of usury, crack on illegal fund-raising and handle correctly the problem of collateral, lack of capital to prevent risks from spread and develop regional scale," said Mr. van when visiting the city.

According to media reports, more than 80 businessmen fled town bakpa loans taken from underground banks, owner of a shoe one jumped off a building and killed himself.

' Time bomb '

Continue reading the main story

we take informal lending market most likely short-term time bomb of China's economy, "

end quote Dong Tao, Credit Suisse economists believe it could be the start of a wave of Corporate bankruptcies.

A central concern of China loan informal or shadow banking market-rich individuals and businesses that offer loans at interest rates spanning from 14% to 70%.

Companies and entrepreneurs have turned in this underground, with Chinese banks tightening lending as part of the Government's fight against inflation.

Credit Suisse says it sector statistics was rare, but as total 4 trillion yuan ($ ￡ 627bn; 406bn) is equal to 8% of the formal banking sector-and loans may increase by 50% per year.

He estimates that 60% of informal loans to property developers have with the rest going to other small businesses that need loans bridge.

"We consider formal lending market most likely short-term time bomb of China's economy," Tao Dong, Asia Economist at Credit Suisse, said the report.

"Beijing take decisive measures to deal with active, problem, or the credit crisis is species emerge in our opinion," he says.

Default swaps

Fears of economic slowing down in China has also fuelled a rise in trade of credit default swaps are financial instruments which insure against-risk of debt defaults.

The net value of credit default swaps outstanding bahov Chinese Government rose to US $ 3bn, compared to $ 6bn. two years ago, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Investors are worried that China's economy could have a "hard landing" slowed suddenly after years of blistering growth.

The property market is considered to be particularly vulnerable, with home prices soaring over the past two years.

The State raised interest rates three times so far this year and ordered banks to increase their reserves and six times during the same period.

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Bernanke: US economy 'faltering'

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 20:35 GMT The Fed chairman also lent support to critics of China's exchange rate policies US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has told Congress that the US economy is "close to faltering" and more action may be needed.

Giving testimony to the US legislature, he said the Fed was "prepared to take further action as appropriate" to bolster the recovery.

His comments come after the Fed already decided to shift $400bn of investments into longer-term government debt.

Stock markets responded positively, with the Dow Jones rallying over 1%.

But US markets fell back again somewhat in afternoon trading, until a strong late rally just before the close, which left the Dow Jones Industrial Average uip 1.4% for the day.

China 'blocking'

He said the switch into longer-term government debt announced last month - dubbed Operation Twist - was the equivalent of a half-percentage-point cut in interest rates, and gave a "meaningful, but not an enormous support to the economy".

But he warned that the eurozone debt crisis, as well as overly hasty spending cuts by the federal government, risked undermining the US recovery.

When asked what additional action the Fed might take if the economy continued to weaken, he reiterated policy options he has laid out in past speeches:

giving clearer guidance as to how long interest rates will be held close to zero, and in what circumstances they would rise;increasing "quantitative easing" - the Fed's purchase of US government bonds and other debts;cutting the interest rate paid on excess cash that the banks hold at the Fed.

But he added that the US central bank's monetary policies were "no panacea".

Continue reading the main story The Fed chairman also appeared to lend support to those seeking to take action against China's policy of buying up US debts - which has the effect of holding down the value of the yuan at a more competitive exchange rate.

"Chinese policy is blocking what might be a more normal recovery process in the global economy," said Mr Bernanke, who said China was shifting demand away from the struggling US and European economies.

The US Senate has just begun a week-long debate on a bill that would threaten China, and other countries accused of keeping their currencies unfairly cheap, with trade sanctions.

On the subject of the eurozone debt crisis, Mr Bernanke said there was little help the US could offer.

"The problems are not really economic, they're political," he said. "Because what they are trying to do is find solutions that are acceptable to 17 different countries, which you can imagine is very difficult."

He said that the US was an "innocent bystander" to the crisis, and while the country's direct exposure to any debt default by Greece was limited, the real risk was that a disorderly default could trigger a run on other eurozone governments and a banking crisis, which would hit the US badly.

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