UK media and communications regulator Ofcom released a new broadcasting code on Wednesday that reduced the rules from 30 pages to three pages.

Some regulations will remain the same: hard-core pornography is still off-limits, news and current affairs programming will not be sponsored, and the ban on tobacco and firearms advertising will remain in place.

However, other rules are reportedly relaxed in the new code. Under the new rules, sponsorship of programs is allowed if it is clearly identified as sponsorship, as long as it is clearly separate from the programming being sponsored, and as long as editorial independence of the program sponsored is not compromised.

Additionally, begging and gaming companies will be allowed to sponsor programs for the first time.

Also, Ofcom has said that later in the year it will review the ban on product placement in programs made in the UK.

US net security company, Websense, has identified a new kind of malicious programme known as Trojan.Pgpcoder.

The programme can install itself on a vulnerable computer after the user has visited certain websites, by exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE). It then downloads an encoder application, which searches for common types of files on a computer and networked drives to encrypt. Files are usually encrypted for security purposes and can only be decrypted with specific instructions.

Trojan.Pgpcoder then replaces a user’s original files with ones that are locked and inaccessible and leaves an electronic note in a text file, saying that the files will be released when a ransom fee is paid. The note gives details of how to meet the demands via an online account.

According to Internet security firm Symantec, the program has not spread quickly, but is another example of the increase in illegal extortion activity on the net. Unlike a virus, the Trojan does not spread to contacts that a user may have stored on a computer.

To combat the threat, computer users should ensure that their anti-virus and security software is up-to-date.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT), has given banks six months to find a way to process electronic money transfers made by telephone and over the Internet, within one day. When this six-month period has elapsed, banks will be expected to implement quicker money transfers within two years.

It currently takes up to four days for transfers to reach their destination, allowing banks to make approximately £25m a year in interest during the transfer time.

The speed of direct debits and credits will not be affected by the ruling, which follows a year of negotiations between the OFT and the banking industry.

Consumer groups have welcomed the prospect of quicker money transfers. In an interview with BBC News, Laurence Baxter, senior policy advisor at consumer group ‘Which?’, said that the agreement was a “long delayed step forward”, which would bring the UK’s electronic payments systems into the twenty-first century.

Transfers made by direct debit or direct credit, will not be affected by the OFT ruling, as this already happens instantaneously.

The OFT is also planning to investigate the length of time it takes banks to clear cheques.

The European Union has given China until Tuesday to reduce its textile imports to the EU. If China refuses to comply, quotas may be imposed on textile imports by the fifteenth of June.

Global quotas on Chinese textiles ended in January, since when exports to the EU have increased substantially, threatening the European textile industry.

China has agreed to impose export tariffs on 74 categories of goods, but has said that it will withdraw this decision if EU quotas are imposed.

Informal talks will continue between China and the EU until 31 May, but if these fail, the EU will start mandatory consultations under World Trade Organization rules on 1 June. This will give it the right to impose strong limits on imports 15 days later.

Peter Mandelson, the EU Trade Commissioner, met with chief Chinese negotiator Gao Hucheng on Tuesday. The EU has said that the discussions were constructive, but no other details were released.

Figures compiled by e-retailing trade organisation IMRG, show that although high street sales have fallen by 4.2% since February, e-retail has grown three-fold, from 13.4% to 30%. Twenty two million UK consumers spent a total of £1.4b online during April.

The company expects online shopping to grow by a further 320% by 2010.

Currently 7% of all retail takes place online - IMRG expects this to increase to 20% by 2010. This would mean that 36 million Britons would spend up to £60bn a year online.

E-business performance firm, Keynote Systems, has conducted a study into eight major UK e-commerce sites. It found that cost was the most important factor motivating people to shop online. Consumers expect websites to undercut High Street store prices.

The study asked over 500 shoppers to use the sites of Amazon, eBay, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Argos, Boots, Dixons and Comet. Amazon was best for overall performance, including customer satisfaction, price satisfaction, purchase processes and perceived site performance. Comet was placed second, mainly due to its good search capabilities and ability to compare products and prices.

The survey also identified a number of factors which deterred people from shopping online. Over a quarter of the people surveyed, were annoyed by being asked to register before they could make a purchase, 19% found inadequate customer ratings or reviews a problem and 20% wanted it to be easier to compare items for sale.

Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, is imposing fines on fixed-line phone operators who switch consumers to their service without consent – a practice known as slamming.

For the past six weeks, operators have been drawing up their own code of practice, based on Ofcom rules, to stop the activity. From Thursday, firms which do not adhere to the code, could be fined up to 10% of their turnover. The code will be reviewed in two years time.

Ofcom receives 600 complaints a month from consumers unhappy at being switched without their consent and BT estimates that 15,000 of its customers may be being switched without permission each month.

Consumer groups such as the National Consumer Council and Age Concern have expressed concern at the practice.

Consumers can be switched to another service without a signature or any evidence of consent, providing they are sent a letter giving them ten days to cancel the switch.

Roche, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group, is currently participating in talks with the World Health Organization for the drug maker to donate up to one million treatments of Tamiflu, its antiviral drug, to be used in less developed countries, primarily in Asia where bird flu has appeared to have started infecting humans.

Health officials believe that a pandemic of flu could kill millions worldwide if it were not stopped early. The concern is to have the
drug in place in places where an outbreak would be likely to start in order to stop it before it spreads widely.

Orders for the drug have doubled in two months, but it is mostly being sold to developed nations. Roche has not commented on the retail price of Tamiflu, but government figures from the UK indicate a price of £13 ($24, €19) for a course of treatment with the drug.

The talks are going on as less developed nations are reporting that they would be hardest hit by an outbreak of flu and would not be able to purchase does of the drug, which is currently the only antiviral that is notably effective against the flu.

Roche has previously donated 120,000 treatments of Tamiflu to the WHO.

A report by The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an alliance of developed countries, has reported that a sudden decline in the value of the dollar could threaten the global economy.

The organisation is concerned about the size of the US current account deficit - the difference between the value of imported and exported goods and services. In the US, demand for cheaper Asian products is exceeding sales of domestic goods.

According to the OECD’s chief economist, Jean-Philippe Cotis, this imbalance increases the chance that the value of the dollar could suddenly fall - reducing both net exports and domestic demand in Japan and Europe.

The OECD recommends focusing on increasing domestic demand, rather than on stimulating exports, and allowing currencies to strengthen in thriving Asian economies.

It said that an increase in domestic demand would benefit the Eurozone. The OECD reduced its 2005 growth forecast for the eurozone to 1.2% from 1.9%, because of the strong euro and high oil prices.

In the US, the OECD expects 3.6% growth in 2005, with the US Federal Reserve continuing to increase interest rates to offset the risk of accelerating inflation. In Japan, it expects borrowing costs to stay at zero throughout 2006, with growth rising from 1.5% this year to 1.7% in 2006.

The OECD does not expect UK interest rates to be increased from the current level of 4.75%. It called on the European Central Bank for an “an early easing of monetary policy”, but the ECB said that a rate cut would erode credibility and raise inflation expectations.

A survey commissioned by voice automation software firm Intervoice, showed that concerns about ID theft are starting to deter people from shopping and banking online.

17% of people surveyed said they had stopped banking online while 13% had stopped shopping online.

Online check-out services and credit card readers were identified as possible ID risks.

Concerns about online ID theft have increased following high-profile phishing attacks.

Phishing is the practise of attracting people to fraudulent, but official-looking websites, usually of banks and other financial institutions, and persuading them to reveal personal information such as pin numbers and passwords.

Over 50% of the people surveyed thought that the government’s proposed ID card was the most effective method of preventing identity theft.

George Platt, general manager of Intervoice, said that an identity card only helps the problem of identity theft at the point of purchase and that greater security could be provided by biometric voice verification.

This technology could help in call centres, which are claimed to be often targeted by identity thieves, who gather information about an individual from a number of different sources.

Speculation that Google will be added to the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, caused the company’s shares to jump to $255.45 - the shares have gained a total of 11% over the past week.

Inclusion in the S&P 500 increases the value of stocks because many investors are only allowed to put money into companies that are listed in the larger indexes.

To be included in the S&P 500 a company must have a market capitalisation of over $4bn, with at least 50% of its shares available to be traded. Share trading must also be liquid - easy for investors to buy and sell.

Google has a market value of approximately $71bn and 64% of shares in the market.

Apple shares also increased, by 5.9%, following a Wall Street Journal report that the company is involved in negotiations to use Intel chips in its computers, instead of IBM chips. This would allow Apple to produce cheaper, more competitive products.

Some analysts have expressed scepticism about the report, due to the difficulties involved in changing chip suppliers.

Mobile phone network 3 has secured a contract with marketing company, Big BattleFlytxt, to will allow its customers to download a movie trailer for free. Handset owners were previously charged for film clips.

The contract represents the first time that an advertiser has bought space on a UK 3G network.

Advertising revenue could help 3G firms recoup their high expenditure on licences, although analysts disagree on how lucrative selling adverts could be for phone companies.

While some say that 3G phones offer only a small market for advertisers when compared with television, radio and newspapers, others think that 3G advertising will be targeted and cost-effective.

Big BattleFlytxt, who entered into the contract with 3 in conjunction with RedBus Film Distribution, said that 3G advertising could become a lucrative source of revenue for network operators, as it had become in Japan.

Vodafone said it wasn’t making any firm commitments about advertising on its 3G network, as its users were currently more interested in appealing content.

Some analysts think that the use of 3G for advertising could be limited by the fact that users could opt not to be exposed to adverts.

John Delaney, analyst at telecommunications consultancy Ovum, considers the unique selling point of 3G to be video. A 3G handset owner is likely to want to receive movie clips, but not everyday items such as washing powder.

At a conference in the US, Apple’s chief executive, Steve Jobs, revealed that the next version of Apple’s iTunes music management program will support podcasts.

Podcasts are downloadable “radio shows” - listeners can subscribe to podcasts for free, and the latest broadcast is sent automatically to a subscriber’s digital music player.

Free programs have been built to do this already, but iTunes will have this function built in.

Mr Jobs demonstrated how the program lets people access, organise and sync-up podcasts to any digital music player.

Including this functionality into iTunes opens up the possibility of selling podcasts, just like music.

Podcasts have rapidly grown in popularity because they cover a range of audio, not just music, and anyone with a microphone, computer, software and a net connection, can produce one themselves.

Their increase in popularity is challenging the conventional method of radio broadcasting with the result that many radio stations are now making their shows available as podcasts in downloadable MP3 format.

Google’s AdSense page has been replaced by a smaller web page, showing that even a billion-dollar company can have its internet presence adversely affected by very simple methods.

Jenstar reports that in a process known as “hijacking”, Google’s AdSense page has been replaced by a smaller website in the results of a search of AdSense.

The process involves using nothing more complicated than a meta-refresh redirect, which can confuse Google into thinking that the site redirecting is actually the original site.

Google have had previous problems with different forms of redirects, but the current example shows that even a billion-dollar search giant can be replaced in its own results, using relatively simple methods.

The issue was originally spotted by Patrick Deese.

A study into how people aged 35-45 use the internet, by consultancy firm Panlogic, has shown that it is often the children in a household who research and make online purchases.

A third of the people surveyed said that they would now be lost without Internet access, even though it was originally bought for their children.

Children were found to be the most sophisticated users of the net within the family - 88% of primary school children and 95% of eleven-to-eighteen year-olds, used the Internet at home, with many of them using it for homework.

The study showed that many children had the skills to purchase items over the Internet with minimal adult help and less confident parent were often encouraged to explore the web by their children.

William Makower, the chief executive of Panlogic, said that if children take more control online, there will be increased concerns about security and unsuitable material, especially as, unlike for TV, there is no watershed.

The study also showed that women are using the family computer more, and are now more reliant on it than men, using it for tasks such as grocery shopping or banking.

The largest category of fathers using the Internet, were those who loved gadgets and owned high-tech equipment such as Sky TV or a car navigation system.

Among concerns that the housing market is slowing, the Government has proposed a part-ownership plan, which could help over 100,000 people buy their first home in the next five years.

Buyers would only need to raise half the market-cost of the property and the remaining equity in the house would be shared by the government and the bank or building society.

According to the Treasury, a pilot scheme has already been in place for existing properties, but the new programme would apply to newly built homes. The scheme could help the UK achieve a ratio of home ownership higher than the US or Germany. The buyer would retain the right to sell the house or flat whenever they wished.

There will be no restriction on who can apply for mortgage help under the scheme, and there will be no means test. Banks and building societies will use their discretion to identify applicants whose salaries will not meet the cost of an average-priced house.

The UK’s £3bn EU rebate, which was agreed by Margaret Thatcher in 1984, is being debated at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels. The rebate was award because the UK receives fewer subsidies than other European Union members. It is due for renewal next year.

On Sunday, several EU ministers spoke out against the UK budget rebate, although UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, stressed that it was still justified.

He said that the burden on all member states could be reduced by ensuring that the budget was fixed at 1% of the total national income of the European Union. The commission proposes that it should be set at 200 billion euros more than this.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the EU Commission, argued that payment was no longer justified because Britain was more prosperous than when the rebate was agreed.

France, Germany, Poland and Luxembourg have also expressed opposition to the rebate continuing.

Chancellor Gordon Brown said that the rebate was “wholly justified” and that without it, the UK would pay over £5bn a year into the EU, more than any other member.

The UK receives less money back from agricultural and infrastructure subsidies than countries including France and Italy. Mr Brown said that the UK would use its EU veto to stop the rebate being changed or abolished.

The Office for National Statistics has released figures showing that Britain’s public sector net borrowing (PSNB) in April was £1.3bn; slightly lower than economists’ predictions of £2.3bn. Government tax receipts were slightly higher than a small increase in spending.

PSNB for April 2005 was significantly lower than April 2004’s figure of £2.8bn. However, PSNB for the financial year to the end of March was revised up by approximately £1bn to £35.4bn.

Chancellor Gordon Brown expects UK net borrowing for the current year to be under £32bn.

Economists believe that taxes may have to be increased by approximately £12bn to meet the Chancellor’s rule of only borrowing to invest in an economic cycle.

The UK’s budget deficit for 2004/05 was also revised upwards, from £16.6bn to £17.4bn.

The European Commission has ruled that Microsoft must comply with the terms of a March 2004 judgement concerning the company’s market dominance, by the end of May 2005.

The judgement requires Microsoft to provide details of how it could bring its practices into line with EU rules. The European Commission has repeatedly expressed concern over Microsoft’s slowness in adhering to the judgement, although a Microsoft spokesman said that the company would continue to work towards full compliance with the decision.

The European Commission judgement imposed a 497m-euro fine and ordered Microsoft to open up its core software systems to rivals, to enable other software manufacturers to make programs that worked more seamlessly with the company’s Windows operating system.

Microsoft was also required to provide a version of Windows without its own Windows Media Player. This was to enable rival software makers an opportunity to compete, and allow computer makers to supply PCs with the media software of their choice.

Under European Union rules, Microsoft could be fined up to 5% of its daily global turnover for each day that a decision is not applied to its liking.

According to European Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, it is too early to say if the case against Microsoft could be re-opened.

The US Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday published a proposed regulation in the Federal Register that would ban US companies from launching billboards into space for advertising purposes.

The agency acted after a company, which was not identified, proposed a plan that would launch such billboards into orbit.

According to the FAA, these billboards would look as large as the moon when seen from earth and would be visible to millions of people all over the world.

Included in the information published by the FAA in the Federal Register was the contention that such billboards could eliminate darkness from the night sky, which would make the work of astronomers impossible

FAA is basing the proposed regulation on an act of Congress that prohibits “obtrusive” space advertising.

Title 49 of the United States Code defines obtrusive space advertising as “advertising in outer space that is capable of being recognized by a human being on the surface of the Earth without the aid of a telescope or other technological device.”

This is the definition that the proposed regulation will adopt. The public has until July 18 to comment on the proposed regulation.

Google is following rivals Yahoo and Microsoft, to launch a personalised home page service. Yahoo’s and Microsoft’s personalised pages include news, weather, stocks, e-mail and blogs. Google’s ‘Fusion’ service, however, will offer a range of content, but, as most of its revenue comes from web advertising, will try to ensure that its users are still focused on the core search engine function. Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt, stressed that it was not creating a portal, which could encourage users to spend too long on their personal home pages, but that the service was “a personalisation tool.”

Google will not, initially, place targeted adverts on personalised home pages, but could display them in future. Content will include BBC News, The New York Times, Slashdot, a technology website, and Quote of the Day and Word of the Day options. Google has previously offered a mix of unrelated services, including Gmail for e-mail and Picasa for photo sharing. The new service has the potential to significantly increase revenues for the company - according to figures released by Comscore Networks, 25% of unique visitors to Yahoo also visit My Yahoo.

In order to maintain the traditional ’sparse’ layout of Google’s search engine, users will be able to toggle between their personalised home page and the traditional one.

In April, Google recorded a 600% increase in first-quarter income to $369.2m, helped by revenues from internet advertising.