Music piracy unstoppable, Universal admits

The world's largest music company has admitted that piracy cannot be stopped.

Francis Keeling, head of digital at Universal Music Group International, said: "Are you going to stop piracy? No you're not.

"To try and set that as an objective is just not going to succeed. Can we make piracy socially unacceptable?

"Absolutely, and that has to be our ambition around the world." Mr Keeling was speaking at the Great Escape music convention in Brighton.

He is responsible for striking deals to get artists including Lady Gaga, Eminem and Rihanna onto digital services outside North America.

Rihanna has benefited from the growth of legal downloads

He added: "We've got markets like Spain and Italy, where [people say] 'You buy music? What are you doing buying music when you can get it for free?'

"Clearly those markets are in the situation where, unless we can turn those markets around, we're going to have a major problem having a music business there."

Full weight

Universal has been prominent in the fight against illegal file-sharing.

It has also thrown its full weight behind the UK's Digital Economy Act, which will bring in sanctions against serial offenders, including the possibility of temporary internet suspensions.

The controversial law was approved last month and Mr Keeling stressed it was the "right solution".

He also said he was confident the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government would "remain supportive" of the bill.

The details of the sanctions and how they will be imposed now have to be worked out.

"The solution needs to be fair, proportionate and implemented well," Mr Keeling told delegates.

Ultimate vending machine dispenses gold for cash (surprise, surprise it's located in Abu Dhabi hotel)

It's the ultimate hole-in-the-wall - a money machine that dispenses pure gold.

But installed beneath the gold-coated ceilings of Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace hotel, where royalty and billionaires come for cappuccinos topped with gold flakes, the machine almost seems part of the furniture.

'The reason we chose Emirates Palace is because it really fits with the surroundings here,' said German entrepreneur Thomas Geissler, creator of the 'Gold to Go' brand and chief executive of Ex Oriente Lux.

Enlarge 

Glittering prize: An Emirati man tries the 'Gold to Go' vending machine at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi

Enlarge 

That will do nicely: He collects a gold bar wrapped in gift paper from an ATM-style kiosk which monitors the daily gold price and offers small bars up to 10 grams or coins

The exterior of the machine is coated with a thin layer of gold and offers customers 320 items to choose from, ranging from gold bars that can weigh up to 10 grams, to customised gold coins.

'All the gold is imported from Germany, and soon we will have a customized gold bar with a print of the Emirates Palace logo, which will be a nice souvenir for guests to take home,' said Geissler.

 

Through a computer system, the ATM gold machine updates the gold price every 10 minutes to match international markets.

For now, it takes notes of the local dirham currency, but the option of using credit cards will soon be introduced.

Enlarge 

A 10-gram gold ingot which he purchased from the "Gold to Go" vending machine. The well-heeled in the Gulf can now grab gold from a hotel lobby in the UAE

The cash-for-gold machines were first tested in Germany in 2009, but Geissler chose Abu Dhabi for the official launch of his invention because of the region's high demand for gold.

'On the first night we had a lot of demand,' he said. 'One customer even bought one item of every product we have.'

Geissler's timing is spot-on, as investors flock to gold as a safe haven from economic turbulence.

On Thursday, gold priced in sterling and euros reached record highs, while that priced in the more usual dollar denomination was quoted at $1,236 an ounce, with dealers expecting it to reach fresh highs over coming days.

Enlarge 

Thomas Geissler the CEO of Oriente Lux, left, and an Emirati official remove the cover of the ATM-style kiosk

Australian girl, 18, 'lured to her death by bogus job offer from man she met on Facebook'

An Australian teenager was allegedly lured to her death by a man she met on Facebook after he offered her a fake job protecting wildlife.

Nona Belomesoff, 18, was found dead in a creek south west of Sydney after going to meet a Facebook 'friend'.

Christopher Dannewig, 20, allegedly set up a bogus profile to pose as an animal rescue worker and enticed his victim to the isolated spot.

Nona, who is described as a animal lover, was told she first had to go on an overnight camping trip that would be part of her initial training for the post.

Murder charges: Nona Belomesoff, left, was found dead in a creek south west of Sydney, after she allegedly met Christopher Dannveig, right, pictured on his Facebook page, who had promised her a job

Filled with excitement, she headed off to a railway station to meet 'Jason Green' - the fake identity allegedly set up by Dannewig.

The teenager told her family, who also believed the offer was genuine. Her body was found on Friday night after she failed to return home.

Dannewig, who also has profiles on My Space and Bebo, was charged with murder yesterday and was refused bail after appearing in court.

Police issued a fresh warning to parents to monitor their children's internet habits.

Homicide Squad detective inspector Russell Oxford warned about the dangers of Facebook and other social networking sites.

'It's an area where predators and perverts and other people just get onto. You just don't know who you could be talking to,' he said.

'This young woman had a passion for animals and was led to believe the overnight camping trip would lead to a potential job with an animal welfare group,' Inspector Oxford said.

'She told her family and they thought it was a genuine training area she was going to. That was part of the story to encourage her to go out there.

'And it wasn't until later on that we found out there is no such training facility like that and the people aren't affiliated with that place, so it was a bogus ruse to get her out there.'

Nearly 30 police officers searched bushland before the teenager's body was found in the Campbelltown creek, although her cause of death has not been revealed.

Inspector Oxford said: 'It is heart-wrenching. We have all got kids that age. I have kids that age myself.

'I have been doing this for a long time, but we're very upset. To go outside in the dark and find a young girl lying in the creek bed...'

Comments her accused killer, Christopher Dannevig, wrote on social networking sites hinted at a troubled life.

'Life is full of s*** sometimes,' he wrote earlier this month. In April he wrote that 'a broken heart will heal in time but some wounds won't'.

Nona Belomesoff's grief-stricken mother, Nina, said through her tears today: 'She was scared she was going to lose the job she really likes, so she went - and never came back.'

Her brother Gary, warning young people not to trust strangers they meet over the internet, told Sydney's Channel Seven News: 'I can't believe such a human being would do this. It's so cold hearted.

'Be careful - you can't just trust anybody over the internet.'

Dannevig, who appeared before Parramatta Court, west of Sydney, via a video link from prison at the weekend, has been remanded in custody and will appear in court again on Thursday.

Q+A: What's happening in turbulent Thailand?

Thai troops battled anti-government protesters in Bangkok on Friday, attempting to seal off their encampment after an assassination attempt on a renegade general unleashed a fresh wave of violence.

Troops had yet to completely block roads leading to the area of luxury hotels and ritzy department stores occupied by protesters for nearly six weeks, raising questions over whether the government could soon end the protests.

The crisis, in which 30 people have been killed and more than 1,400 wounded since April, has paralyzed parts of Bangkok, devastated the vital tourism industry and scared away investors.

Here are some questions and answers on the crisis.

WILL THE MILITARY TRY TO DISPERSE THE RED SHIRTS?

The army said on Friday it has no intention of trying to enter the "red shirt" protest encampment, which sprawls over 3 kms (2 miles) of road in central Bangkok to disperse them.

The army spokesman said anyone who wanted to leave can leave safely. The army will focus on sealing off roads in an area of Bangkok that is at least 10 square kilometers, Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said. The military has repeatedly expressed reluctance to enter the protest area. It cannot be ruled out, however, and as time goes on will become increasingly likely.

WHY IS THE MILITARY SKIRMISHING WITH PROTESTERS?

Hundreds of red shirt protesters are trying to keep the army from setting up the security cordon around the sprawling encampment they have occupied for almost six weeks. They have tried to set up at least one checkpoint outside the encampment, fortified with walls of kerosene-soaked tires, bamboo rods and concrete, which troops on Friday said they would not tolerate. Troops are also trying to push protesters, armed with rocks, slingshots and homemade rockets, back into the encampment. Some may also have guns, the military says.

HOW DOES SHOOTING OF ROGUE GENERAL AFFECT PROTESTS?

The latest bout of violence erupted after Gen. Khattiya Sawatdiphol, a suspended army military strategy specialist better known as "Seh Daeng" (Commander Red), was shot in the head, apparently by a sniper, while talking to reporters on Thursday evening.

He underwent brain surgery and was in critical condition.

Khattiya had been branded a terrorist by the Thai government, which accused him of involvement in dozens of grenade attacks that have wounded more than 100 people.

But in recent days he was equally critical of other red shirt leaders, accusing them of embracing Abhisit's proposed "national reconciliation" which unraveled after protesters refused to leave the streets.

Speculation was rife as to who might have tried to assassinate him, with fingers pointing at the military, shadowy militants who have appeared in previous incidents of violence, and the ranks of red shirts themselves.

"It's a clear attempt to decapitate the red shirt military leadership," said Anthony Davies, a security consultant with IHS-Jane's.

"It's a smart tactical move that will cause confusion in the red shirts' military ranks and send a message to the leadership that if they don't want to negotiate and come out, they can expect extreme consequences."

The head of a political party allied to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the iconic figure of the protest movement, called for the red shirts to abandon the protest encampment after the shooting. The 22-member red shirt leadership council has struggled to find common ground on how to end the protests and appeared in disarray on Friday. Its chairman and several others have not been seen in days.

WHAT ARE THE PROSPECTS OF A POLITICAL DEAL NOW?

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva withdrew his offer of a November 14 election and says he will offer no more olive branches to the red-shirted demonstrators after their refusal to budge from their protest site in an upmarket shopping and hotel district.

The red shirts had agreed to Abhisit's five-point reconciliation plan and the November 14th poll date, but then insisted the premier and his deputy, Suthep Thaugsuban, be prosecuted for ordering troops to break up a rally at their previous protest site at the Phan Fah bridge on April 10, a botched effort that left 25 dead and more than 800 wounded.

Abhisit said the deal was non-negotiable and ordered the red shirts to leave. They have refused and his government says it will scrap the polls -- which were due to take place more than a year early -- but proceed with the reconciliation plan without the red shirts on board.

WHAT OPTIONS DOES ABHIST HAVE LEFT?

The latest turn of events indicates Abhisit and his army-backed government will try to settle the immediate crisis, by laying siege to the protesters.

That could take days -- or months, depending on the protesters' ability to sustain themselves behind their fortifications.

The military has repeatedly said it is unwilling to undertake an operation to break up the protest site, which has been occupied by 10,000 to 20,000 people at various times. A crackdown at the well-guarded site could turn out to be another bloodbath, with heavy casualties on both sides. It would no doubt be a chaotic battle security forces have no guarantee of winning

HOW WILL THE CRISIS IMPACT MARKETS AND THE ECONOMY?

The crisis has scared off investors, decimated the tourism industry and begun to hit the wider economy.

The occupation of Bangkok's ritziest shopping area by protesters has forced hotels, malls and offices to close doors and cut jobs. The tourism sector makes up 6 percent of the economy, but employs 15 percent of the national workforce. So loss of tourism has a knock-on effect on economic activity.

Foreign investors have turned negative since violence flared in April and have sold 17.4 billion baht ($539 million) in Thai shares over the past five sessions, cutting their net buying so far this year to 21 billion baht as of Tuesday.

Stocks fell another 1.2 percent on Friday.

The cost of insuring Thai debt jumped the most in 15 months and Thai bond yields fell to a nine-month low on Friday as the wave of violence prompted investors to rush to the relative safety of government debt.

Five-year credit default swaps, used to hedge against debt default but also to speculate on country risk, jumped by more than 30 basis points to 142.

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said on Wednesday the protests could cut growth by 0.3 percentage point off his 4.5-5.0 percent growth forecast. Kasikorn Research Center said growth could be cut by as much as 2 points if there were more clashes.

Consumer confidence fell in February and March, after hitting a 21-month high in January, due to political turmoil, sinking to its lowest since July 2009, with sentiment eroded by political unrest and the possibility of a crackdown.

East Africa seeks more Nile water from Egypt

Four East African states have signed an agreement to seek more water from the River Nile - a move strongly opposed by Egypt and Sudan.

Under colonial-era accords, the two countries get 90% of the river's water.

Upstream countries including Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia say it is unfair and want a new deal but nothing has been agreed in 13 years of talks.

A further three countries were represented at the meeting in Entebbe, Uganda, and may sign up later.

BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross says there is a danger that the split could hamper any further efforts for all nine countries involved to negotiate how the waters should be shared.

The BBC's Wyre Davies in Cairo says that for Egypt, water is a matter of national security.

Egypt has dismissed the Entebbe agreement, saying it "is in no way binding on Egypt from a legal perspective".

"Egypt will not join or sign any agreement that affects its share," ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

'Rule of the jungle'

Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda signed the agreement in Entebbe, which would lead to experts determining how much water each country would be entitled to.

Kenya did not sign the agreement as its minister could not attend. Like Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, it sent officials to Entebbe.

Ethiopia, for example - the source of the Blue Nile - contributes an estimated 85% of the river waters but is able to make relatively little use of its natural resource.

Rwanda's Environment Minister Stanislas Kamanzi told the BBC: "Egypt has been requesting to defer the signing of the Cooperative Framework Agreement - we couldn't wait any longer, since we have been negotiating for over 10 years."

Egypt and Sudan say they will not sign a new deal unless they are first guaranteed an exact share of the water.

Ahead of the meeting, Ahmed el-Mufti, the legal counsel for Sudan's delegation, told Reuters news agency that all nine countries were close to an agreement, so there was no need for the upstream countries to sign their own deal.

He also said Egypt and Sudan needed water more than those in more fertile regions.

"They have a lot of rain: This is nature," he said. "They do not need the water. Here in Sudan we need water."

Egypt's farmers are almost wholly dependent on the River Nile and its water.

The BBC's Will Ross says that, with populations soaring, demand for water increasing and climate change having an impact, there are warnings that wrangling over the world's longest river could be a trigger for conflict.

"If we don't have an agreed co-operative framework, there will be no peace," Kenya's director of water resources John Nyaro told the BBC before the meeting.

"Where there is no rule of law, the rule of the jungle does not provide peace."

BP vows to clean up Gulf of Mexico oil slick

Oil giant BP has acknowledged it is "absolutely responsible" for cleaning up a huge oil spill after an explosion at one of its wells off the US coast.

But BP boss Tony Hayward said the firm was not to blame for the accident which sank the Deepwater Horizon rig on 22 April, causing the slick.

He said the equipment that failed belonged to drilling firm Transocean.

Both companies are expecting lawsuits over the slick, which threatens to cause major ecological damage.

US President Barack Obama has described the oil leak as a "potentially unprecedented" environmental disaster.

"BP is responsible for this leak. BP will be paying the bill," he said.

Slick 'heading to Florida'

The US government has been putting pressure on BP to act quickly.

In a BBC interview, Mr Hayward dismissed talk of a rift between BP and US officials.

Hundreds of people have been drafted in to help clean up the oil

"Despite some of the rhetoric we have established an incredible co-operative relationship with the federal authorities," he said.

"It's clear that we're working very well together. In terms of the responsibility, I want to be clear, this was not our accident but it is our responsibility to deal with the leak and clean up the oil."

Thousands of barrels of oil have been leaking into the Gulf of Mexico every day since the rig sank.

Some oil has washed ashore, but officials say the bulk of the slick remains a few miles from the Louisiana coastline.

The oil is already having a devastating effect on the area's fishing industry, and officials fear much wider environmental damage if the full slick hits land.

Forecasters said south-westerly winds on Monday were pushing the slick towards Florida.

Falling shares

Mr Hayward said BP was making a three-pronged effort to stop the leak:

• Undersea robots are working on the safety valve which failed, allowing the oil to escape
• A containment vessel is being sent to the site and would, in effect, suck up the escaped oil
• BP is drilling a new well to help relieve the pressure and stem the flow from the rupture

Experts warn that the cost of clearing up the spill could run into billions of dollars.

BP has said it will honour legitimate claims for compensation from people affected.

The firm's shares continued to fall on Monday, after previous trading had seen about $20bn wiped from its market value since the accident.

UK markets were closed on Monday, but BP's Frankfurt-listed shares opened 8% lower before clawing back some of the losses.

Analysts say the costs associated with the slick are uncertain, meaning that the share price was likely to remain volatile while the leak continues.

In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger withdrew his support for a plan to expand oil exploration off the state's coast.

He said seeing TV images of the spill in the Gulf had changed his mind about the safety of offshore oil platforms in the Pacific Ocean.

He had supported more drilling as a way to ease the state's budget deficit.

Q&A: Greece's financial crisis explained

European Union leaders have hailed an agreement to use funds from both Europe and the International Monetary Fund to help financially-crippled Greece as important for the euro zone.

So what's the problem in Greece?
Years of unrestrained spending, cheap lending and failure to implement financial reforms left Greece badly exposed when the global economic downturn struck. This whisked away a curtain of partly fiddled statistics to reveal debt levels and deficits that exceeded limits set by the eurozone.


How big are these debts?
National debt, put at €300 billion ($413.6 billion), is bigger than the country's economy, with some estimates predicting it will reach 120 percent of gross domestic product in 2010. The country's deficit -- how much more it spends than it takes in -- is 12.7 percent.


So what happens now?
Greece's credit rating -- the assessment of its ability to repay its debts -- has been downgraded to the lowest in the eurozone, meaning it will likely be viewed as a financial black hole by foreign investors. This leaves the country struggling to pay its bills as interest rates on existing debts rise. The Greek government of Prime Minister George Papandreou, which inherited much of the financial burden when it took office late last year, has already scrapped most of its pre-election promises and must implement harsh and unpopular spending cuts.

Will this hurt the rest of Europe?
Greece is already in major breach of eurozone rules on deficit management and with the financial markets betting the country will default on its debts, this reflects badly on the credibility of the euro. There are also fears that financial doubts will infect other nations at the low end of Europe's economic scale, with Portugal and the Republic of Ireland coming under scrutiny. If Europe needs to resort to rescue packages involving bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, this would further damage the euro's reputation and could lead to a substantial fall against other key currencies.


So what is Greece doing?
As already mentioned, the government has started slashing away at spending and has implemented austerity measures aimed at reducing the deficit by more than €10 billion ($13.7 billion). It has hiked taxes on fuel, tobacco and alcohol, raised the retirement age by two years, imposed public sector pay cuts and applied tough new tax evasion regulations.


Are people happy with this?
Predictably, quite the opposite and there have been warnings of resistance from various sectors of society. Workers nationwide have staged strikes closing airports, government offices, courts and schools. This industrial action is expected to continue.


How are Greece's European neighbors helping?
Led by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, all 16 countries which make up the euro zone have agreed a rescue plan for their ailing neighbor. The package, which would only be offered as a last resort, will involve co-ordinated bilateral loans from countries inside the common currency area, as well as funds and technical assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to a joint statement on the EU Web site, a "majority" of the euro zone States would contribute an amount based on their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and population, "in the event that Greece needed support after failing to access funds in the financial markets."

This means Germany will be the main contributor, followed by France. Although the announcement did not mention any specific figure, a senior European official quoted by Reuters said that the potential package may be worth around 20 billion euro (US$26.8 billion).

However any European-backed loan package requires the unanimous approval of European Union members, meaning any euro zone country would have effective veto power.