Saudi king announces new benefits

23 February 2011 Last updated at 16:21 GMT The king was greeted by hundreds of well-wishers on his arrival at Riyadh airport Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has announced increased benefits for his citizens, as he returned after months abroad getting medical treatment.

There will be extra funds for housing, studying abroad and social security, according to state television.

King Abdullah has been away from the country for three months, during which time mass protests have changed the political landscape of the Middle East.

There have been few demonstrations in Saudi Arabia.

Hundreds of men in white robes performed a traditional sword dance at Riyadh airport and dozens of princes gathered to greet the king on his arrival - including Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa.

King Abdullah left for New York on 22 November and had two operations to repair spinal vertebrae and a herniated disc.

After a period of convalescence at his New York home, the 86-year-old flew to Morocco on 22 January and had been recuperating there since.

By that time, Tunisia's president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali had become the first leader in the region to be ousted after weeks of mass protests - and he had fled to Saudi Arabia.

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, a close ally of King Abdullah, was the next to go.

Small businesses

The younger generation were prominent in both protest movements and among the measures announced ahead of the king's return were plans to tackle unemployment.

Among the 15 - 24 age group, unemployment in Saudi Arabia is reported to be almost 40%.

Meanwhile, state employees are to get a 15% pay rise and the king has reportedly ordered that 40bn riyals ($10.7bn; £6.6bn) be pumped into the country's development fund - which provides interest-free loans to Saudis who want to build homes, get married or start small businesses.

King Abdullah's health has been the subject of intense speculation, especially since the men tipped to succeed him are also elderly.

His half-brother Crown Prince Sultan - who is in his 80s and has been in poor health - has been in charge in his absence.

The monarch's imminent return was welcomed by the Saudi media.

"The king is the only pillar of stability in the region now," read the editorial in the English-language daily Arab News. "He is the assurance of orderly progress... in the Arab world as a whole."

Soon after arrival, King Abdullah went into talks with King Hamad of Bahrain, which is on Saudi Arabia's eastern border.

The small state has seen more than a week of protests and the Bahraini authorities were criticised internationally for their initial crackdown on demonstrators.

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VIDEO: Royal sickbag idea takes off

23 February 2011 Last updated at 14:18 GMT Help

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Assange loses extradition fight

24 February 2011 Last updated at 11:41 GMT Mr Assange is expected to challenge the ruling approving his extradition Wikileaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations, a judge has ruled.

Mr Assange will appeal against the High Court ruling, delivered at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court, south London, following a hearing two weeks ago.

The 39-year-old denies three allegations of sexual assault and one of rape last August in Stockholm.

Mr Assange says the claims are politically motivated because of the work of his whistle-blowing website.

Wikileaks has made headlines worldwide with the publication of sensitive material from governments and high-profile organisations, including leaked US diplomatic cables.

Mr Assange was arrested on 7 December under a European Arrest Warrant, and spent nine days in Wandsworth prison before being released on bail.

During the hearing two weeks ago, Mr Assange's lawyer argued that rape trials in Sweden were regularly "tried in secret behind closed doors in a flagrant denial of justice".

Continue reading the main story

Judge said there was no evidence that #Assange would be extradited to US for torture as a traitor”

End Quote BBC's Anna Adams tweeting from court Geoffrey Robertson QC also said his client could later be extradited to the US on separate charges relating to Wikileaks, and could face the death penalty there.

Clare Montgomery QC, for the Swedish authorities, told the hearing that evidence from a trial would be heard in private but the arguments would be made in public.

In response to the suggested risk of extradition to the US and a possible death penalty, she said Sweden provided "protection against that sort of threat and violation" taking place.

The European Court of Human Rights would intervene if Mr Assange was to face the prospect of "inhuman or degrading treatment or an unfair trial" in the US, she said.

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Salsa salvation

23 February 2011 Last updated at 11:17 GMT By Amy Stillman Cali Delirio's performances highlight the rhythms of salsa and the fun of the circus Santiago Ayala is only 10 years old, but from the moment he struts on stage before an enthralled 1,000-strong audience, his salsa dancing skills are evident.

"At first I was shy, but now it's easier," says Santiago, squinting under the glare of Cali's midday sun, the city known as Colombia's salsa capital.

"My father likes salsa too, but he can't keep up with me."

Santiago is one of the youngest recruits in Delirio - a non-profit organisation whose salsa show has been a hit in Colombia and also with overseas audiences.

In 2007, Delirio toured Beijing, and a year later it came to London, Paris, Madrid and The Hague.

"We were received very well in China and Europe,'' says the show's co-founder and director, Andrea Buenaventura.

"Cali is known around the world for salsa, and people expected something big - so we tried to give them that."

Delirio combines Cali's own salsa style - known for its fast-paced foot work - and circus, bringing a performance akin to Cirque du Soleil meets Strictly Come Dancing.

Created in 2006 by four women from Cali - Ms Buenaventura, Eleonora Barberena, Liliana Ocampo and Angela Gallo - the idea was to bring the city's home-grown salsa talent from the streets to the stage.

Chance to shine

Delirio's talent pool is Cali's 80-plus salsa schools - some of which are found in the city's poorer areas.

Fast footwork: Delirio's dancers aim to present a positive image of Cali

Some of the dancers had options such as going to university open to them, says Delirio performer Victoria Jaramillo, 28.

"Delirio gives them an opportunity to get ahead, and build a career."

In Cali, crime among youths is a major problem. Last year, the mayor's office identified at least 85 gangs, with members between the ages of nine to 25.

In the first few months of 2010, 47 murders were attributed to gangs, of which 16 were committed by under-17s. Overall, Cali had 1,813 murders last year.

Delirio's performers hope their shows can present another side to a city long associated with drugs and murder.

"Delirio is helping change the image of Cali as a violent city," says salsa dancer and choreographer Jose Fernando Uruena, 28.

Delirio's 150 dancers, who range between seven to 50 years old, are recruited from salsa schools Compania Artistica Rucafe, Constelacion Latina, Nueva Dimension, La Fundacion Escuela de Baile Stilo y Sabor, and orchestra Cali Latino.

Young performers are also chosen from Fundacion Circo para Todos, a non-profit organisation in Cali that teaches street children circus acts.

"The children from Cali's poor communities have a very high level of development," says Fabian Hoyos, a director of Circo para Todos and a circus performer in Delirio. "Our mission is to offer them a chance, and see if they want to take it."

Santiago Ayala: One of Cali's homegrown salsa stars

From an early partnership with Circo para Todos, Delirio has come into its own with three productions, each lasting five hours.

One of Delirio's shows, Orula, follows the history of salsa in Cali from its roots in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico and New York.

"We wanted to show people how Cali took to salsa," says Ms Buenaventura.

"In Cali salsa has a different flavour - people from Cali move their legs very fast. It is different from the Cubans, they move from the middle of their bodies to the top."

Cali-style salsa emerged in the late 1960s with the birth of Colombia's first salsa group Fruko y sus Tesos, which modelled itself on salsa pioneers Fania All-Stars in New York.

The dance that developed, influence by the rhythms of cumbia and boogaloo, is reflected today in Delirio's monthly performances.

Come dancing

Held in a circus tent that fits 1,000 people, audience members sit at cabaret-style tables and dance between acts until the early hours of the morning to an intoxicating blend that incorporates cumbia, bomba and mambo.

But according to Mr Uruena, the final element of the show - when the public is invited to dance with the performers - is the highlight.

"When the public dances with us it is very intense, very emotional," he says. "Many people come back to the show just for this."

And it is this aspect that has been a winning formula for Delirio's international performances.

"During our London show there was huge participation, even more than here, because many of the people came from Latin communities," says Mr Uruena. "Some people even cried."

Delirio's international performances are supported by Colombia's ministry of foreign affairs. In Cali, half of the funding comes from private donors, while the rest is made up through food, drink and ticket sales - which go for $45 (£35) each.

The troupe's next big performance will be in May when it celebrates its five-year anniversary.

But according to Ms Buenaventura, even as the show grows to incorporate more acts, more dancers, and an international presence, it is Delirio's slogan "Made in Cali" that is at the heart of its performance, and the heart of its dancers.

"Cali is a multicultural city with high levels of marginality," she explains. "This is reflected in the complexity of the dance."

Or put more simply, as Mr Uruena says, "in Cali, salsa is in the blood".

Audience members get the chance to join in the fun

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Standing out in a cloud

24 February 2011 Last updated at 00:05 GMT By Robert Plummer Business reporter, BBC News Gracenote says its technology helps people discover new music Marketing music in the digital age is fraught with difficulties, but one of the key problems is simply connecting with your audience.

In the old days, the main battle was to get records or CDs into the shops, in the hope that curious fans browsing in the racks would pick up on them.

Nowadays, modern technology makes it a breeze for artists to get their work on the internet. The trouble is, they're easily overlooked.

Most digital music services offer a wider range of tunes than any bricks-and-mortar shop could offer. But when it comes to recommending new, unheard music, they usually point you in the direction of what else the last listener bought.

"A music service might have 300,000 artists, but the average consumer only knows 10 artists, so what about the other 299,990?" says Ty Roberts, chief technology officer for music database firm Gracenote.

"Well we have software that analyses what we know about the music. It goes into the tunes and pulls them apart and analyses the energy, the tempo, the mood.

"It might take Black Sabbath and say, this is Gothic, dark, brooding, heavy metal. If people like that, we can then say what other kind of music you might like."

Accounting for taste

Gracenote's software is at the heart of many "cloud-based" music services - that is, services that do not require you to download songs or host them on your computer.

Instead, the music is on a server and is streamed to your PC, laptop, mobile phone or other device.

Gracenote's music recognition software is used by Apple's iTunes

Services such as Spotify, Pandora and MOG all employ Gracenote's know-how to some extent.

But the one that makes the most use of Gracenote is Sony's new Music Unlimited service, available through its Qriocity online platform, a paid-for service which gives full access to six million tracks.

The service was launched last week in the US, having already been made available in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada and Japan.

The Sony service uses Gracenote's Discover technology to analyse musical taste, based on a user's existing collection.

As well as human input from an in-house team of international music experts, Gracenote also subjects tunes to computer-based analysis of their waveforms that produces what the firm calls "track-level descriptive data".

Using this information, the service can provide customised musical recommendations for individual consumers, giving them new songs to listen to.

'All the data'

"That technology is key to making these cloud services work," says Gracenote's Mr Roberts.

"A lot of people who use these services might have been disconnected from the music process for decades. They still like music, but they haven't gone to the record store in a long time."

It is not surprising that Sony is the most enthusiastic user of Gracenote's latest technology, since it bought the firm in 2008.

However, Gracenote has retained its headquarters in Emeryville, California, and the change of ownership has not stopped it providing services to other firms.

"We work with a lot of other companies that are competitors of Sony - every company we worked with in 2008 is still with us today," says Mr Roberts.

"Everyone gets all the data. We're part of the Silicon Valley community and there's a co-operative spirit.

"I've been doing this for 15 years and it's quite a good community. We all know each other."

Mr Roberts says it is a "challenge" for his firm to become "a more publicly acknowledged brand".

If you have heard of it, the chances are that it's because you have seen the "Connecting to the Gracenote database" message while ripping a CD in Apple's iTunes program.

The firm's most popular product remains its huge music database, which contains details of eight million CDs and 100 million tracks, allowing iTunes and other such programmes to produce perfectly tagged MP3 tracks for your music player.

Growing fast

"The music industry never thought of putting a number on the CD that indicates what it is," says Mr Roberts.

Gracenote's software is behind many MP3 tagging systems

"Our system uses the length of the individual tracks. If you put those numbers into a sequence, it creates a telephone number for the CD.

"If you have six to 10 tracks, the sequence of the lengths is fairly unique. It's down to one seventy-fifth of a second."

Gracenote's MusicID product also helps to power Apple's Genius service, which scans your songs and compiles playlists based on any chosen artist.

And one-third of the firm's revenue now comes from cars, thanks to the incorporation of its database into products since as US Ford's Sync in-car communications system.

All these activities have helped Gracenote to grow fast. Founded in 1998, it had just 20 staff as recently as 2004, but now has 320, with offices in Munich, Berlin and Tokyo, as well as part-time workers inputting CD details all over the world.

"We now have a total access of 5.5 billion searches a month, so we're closing on McDonald's," says Mr Roberts. "We're like the McDonald's of music, but with less cheese."

The only problem is that all these cloud-based services are not necessarily persuading people to pay money for music.

Sony's Music Unlimited service has met with a lukewarm reception from some technology analysts, who cannot see why consumers should be expected to pay for something that they could get for nothing from the likes of Spotify.

Unlike Spotify, the Sony service does not have a free option.

Mr Roberts concedes that the something-for-nothing culture remains a problem for the music industry.

"There is increased usage of music," he says.

"People are playing more music everywhere, but that's not translating into sales, so we also have to get that right as well. We have to get that right, so we can be around to make more music."

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British Gas sees profits up 24%

24 February 2011 Last updated at 10:48 GMT Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw says British Gas is making "profits for a purpose"

Operating profits at British Gas rose 24% in 2010 to £742m, its parent company Centrica has said.

The news comes two months after the UK utility announced a 7% rise in domestic energy bills, which it blamed on rising wholesale prices.

British Gas said it had increased its number of customers by 267,000 during the year to 16 million.

The results helped Centrica to achieve pre-tax profits of £2.8bn, with operating profits up 29% to £2.4bn.

'Bitter pill'

The 24% rise in British Gas's operating profit was largely because of an increase in profit per customer, with the number of customers up just 1.7%, as revealed in the group results of its parent Centrica.

Some 85% of British Gas's profit came in the first half of last year, according to a Centrica spokesperson, when customers increased energy usage in response to cold weather, and the firm attracted new business with a price cut in February.

The second half was less profitable for the group's residential energy unit as wholesale prices rose more quickly.

Centrica has claimed the decision in November to increase British Gas customers' energy bills was necessitated by a 67% rise in wholesale gas prices during the year, and a 29% rise in the cost of wholesale electricity prices.

Continue reading the main story

The issue is not about one company or one year's profit or loss but it is about whether the energy market is working properly ”

End Quote Mike O'Connor Chief executive, Consumer Focus Price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com called the rise in British Gas's profits a "real bitter pill to swallow for Britain's hard-pressed households who have suffered the double whammy of an extremely cold winter coupled with high gas and electricity prices".

British Gas launched what the comparison website considered the cheapest online tariff on the market in February.

But Moneysupermarket's Scott Byrom said that "customers shouldn't be fooled" into thinking British Gas was the cheapest provider overall because its standard, and most popular tariff, was still much more expensive.

Ofgem investigation

"British Gas is the only major UK energy supplier that breaks down its results in any great detail," notes Mike O'Connor, chief executive of Consumer Focus. "As such it acts as a lightning rod for the industry."

Amid allegations that energy suppliers were making excessive profits, government watchdog Ofgem announced a review of the retail energy market in November, that is expected to be published at the end of March.

"The issue is not about one company or one year's profit or loss but it is about whether the energy market is working properly and Ofgem's review must try to answer this question once and for all," said Mr O'Connor.

"There is a compelling case for much more transparency across the market."

Energy price windfall

As part of its business, Centrica typically sits on a large stock of unsold gas and other energy supplies, which it has already purchased on wholesale markets but has yet to deliver to its customers.

With energy prices rising, Centrica made a £1bn windfall gain - over one-third of its 2010 profits - on the value of these inventories.

In 2009 the energy group hedged these energy inventories using financial derivatives, in order to avoid making a gain or loss on changes in their value.

Centrica comprises a lot more than just British Gas

In contrast, the group's 2010 results indicate that the company did not hedge them this time round, meaning the company was in effect speculating on rising energy prices and could pocket a massive gain as prices went up.

The windfall was listed as an exceptional item in Centrica's financial results and was not part of their operating profits.

Upstream growth

Centrica comprises a lot more than just British Gas, including business energy supplies and power generation, as well as substantial operations in North America.

Indeed, its UK residential energy supply unit contributes just 37% of the energy group's revenues.

Operating profits at Centrica's upstream business - which deals with power generation and oil and gas drilling, among others - were up 46% to £771m.

The company has been expanding quickly, according to chief executive Sam Laidlaw, with two major acquisitions last year designed to secure new sources of gas, and to expand into nuclear energy.

"We invested £4bn," he said. "Clearly therefore we have a much bigger group [than just British Gas]. We've been investing £1.60 for every £1 of profit for the group."

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VIDEO: Moment One Show went off air

24 February 2011 Last updated at 11:30 GMT Help

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Discovery poised for final flight

24 February 2011 Last updated at 10:48 GMT By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News Discovery on the pad and ready to go The US shuttle Discovery is all set to make history by launching from Cape Canaveral for the very last time.

The oldest of Nasa's three surviving orbiters has been given the "go" to take six astronauts and a big box of supplies to the space station.

It will also deliver a sophisticated humanoid robot to the outpost.

US politicians have called time on the shuttle fleet, with the expectation that just two further flights will be made before the ships head to museums.

"The last flight of all three vehicles is going to be emotional for all of us but we're going to complete these missions as we always do," said shuttle launch director, Mike Leinbach.

Lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A complex is timed for 1650 local time (2150 GMT).

The US space agency (Nasa) has struggled to get Discovery away on her final voyage. Technical problems have resulted in months of delay.

She should have flown in September last year. That slipped to a target of November, which then drifted out to February when cracks needed fixing in the orbiter's giant external fuel tank.

Discovery is regarded as the "leader of the fleet". First launched in 1984, it has since completed 38 missions, travelling some 230 million km in the process.

Shuttle Endeavour is expected to fly to the station in April. Atlantis will go no earlier than June, if Nasa has sufficient money left in its shuttle programme budget.

Following the fleet's retirement, the plan is for US astronauts to fly to the space station on Russian Soyuz rockets until perhaps the middle of the decade.

A number of American companies then hope to be in a position to sell launch services to Nasa on a range of new vehicles.

The intention is that the agency should put its efforts into leading the development of a large rocket - known as the Space Launch System - that can send astronauts beyond the space station to destinations such as asteroids.

Congress has set out the broad capabilities it expects to see in this rocket and has given a deadline of 2016 for its introduction. However, Nasa has said it cannot deliver such a vehicle in the time and with the budget the politicians have specified.

"We're still working on what's next," said Mike Moses, who chairs the agency's mission management team.

"We have this path toward exploration with developing the SLS, putting the multipurpose crew vehicle on top of it, funding commercial entities to help us get into LEO, [in a] faster, better, cheaper way.

"All that's really good future for Nasa; it's just not the same as we're doing right now, which is launching shuttles every day."

Astronaut Steve Lindsey will command Discovery. Eric Boe will be the pilot. They will be joined by mission specialists Alvin Drew, Michael Barratt, Nicole Stott and Steve Bowen.

Bowen was called in late to replace crewman Tim Kopra who was injured in a bicycle accident last month.

A key task will be to deliver the Italian-built logistics module known as Leonardo. The module, which is used as a packing box for supplies in the orbiter's payload bay, would normally return to Earth with every shuttle mission, but for Discovery's flight it will be left on station to provide extra storage space.

There has been particular interest in a "passenger" being carried up in Leonardo. This is Robonaut 2, or R2, the first human-like robot in space.

R2 is the product of 15 years' research in Nasa and General Motors.

In its current guise, the robot is just a head, arms, and a torso mounted on a pedestal. But the plan eventually is to give R2 some legs to let it move around the station. And in a couple of years, it will also get a body upgrade that should significantly advance its capabilities.

The expectation is that before the decade is out, this robot will be clambering about on the outside of the space station, assisting astronauts on a spacewalk. Inside the station, R2 is likely to take on many mundane tasks such as cleaning.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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Arts venues unite for Bernstein

24 February 2011 Last updated at 02:00 GMT The Sound of Music's Connie Fisher will lead the cast in the comedy musical Three of north-west England's leading arts institutions are to join forces for the first time to revive Leonard Bernstein's musical Wonderful Town.

Braham Murray, joint artistic director of Manchester's Royal Exchange theatre, will direct the show, to be presented at the Lowry centre in Salford.

Manchester's Halle orchestra, conducted by its musical director Sir Mark Elder, will play its music.

The show runs from 31 March to 14 April 2012 and will star Connie Fisher.

The 27-year-old, who starred in The Sound of Music in London after winning BBC One's How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, will play a young woman who travels to New York with her sister in search of love and fortune.

First staged in 1953 on Broadway, Wonderful Town ran for 559 performances and won five Tony awards.

"Bernstein's magnificent work will get what it deserves - a great orchestra performing a great score as part of a great production," said Sir Mark.

Following its run in the Lowry's Lyric theatre, the production will embark on a national tour.

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Boyle's Frankenstein wows critics

24 February 2011 Last updated at 10:54 GMT Cumberbatch (bottom left and top right) alternates roles with Lee Miller (top left and bottom right) in Boyle's production. Photos by Catherine Ashmore Danny Boyle's stage version of Frankenstein has opened at the National Theatre in London with back-to-back press nights.

On Tuesday, Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch played the title role, with Jonny Lee Miller - from Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting - portraying the Monster he creates.

The roles were alternated the following night, as they will be throughout the play's sold-out run.

But what did critics make of Nick Dear's ambitious adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic Gothic horror novel?

This is no Hollywood/Hammer-style version of the old tale with a grunting giant sporting a bolt through his neck.

This creature, liberated by knowledge, is a sensitive intellectual who recites Milton and only wants true love.

Danny Boyle has returned from films to direct and the result is, for the most part, a mesmerising evening.

Yet, despite the action and power of Lee Miller and Cumberbatch's individual performances, the script often dragged as badly as the Creature's foot.

Read the full review here.

What you get in Danny Boyle's production and Nick Dear's adaptation of Mary Shelley's mythic fable is neither shlock nor satire.

Instead it's a humane, intelligent retelling of the original story in which much of the focus is on the plight of the obsessive scientist's sad creation.

The actors complement each other perfectly rather than provide a contest and Boyle's production is a bravura triumph.

Once or twice the language lapses into bathos. But, on the whole, this a stunning evening.

Read the full review here.

In Danny Boyle's eagerly awaited production of Frankenstein the show's stars are alternating the roles of the scientist and the deformed Creature.

Both versions are well worth seeing. Miller, however, strikes me as the more disturbing and poignant monster, while Cumberbatch undoubtedly has the edge as the scientist.

The Frankenstein story has become so familiar that it might seem an impossible task to make the old story seem fresh.

Yet somehow Boyle does just that, constantly creating shocks, spectacular coups de theatre and scenes that tug at the heart.

Read the full review here.

Danny Boyle's extraordinarily haunting production is predicated on the notion of alternating the two leading actors in the roles of Frankenstein and his galvanised handiwork.

The role-reversal makes deep thematic sense because it highlights the irony whereby the son becomes the father, the slave the master.

Broadly speaking, Cumberbatch emphasises the intellectual edge of both roles; Lee Miller takes us further into the feeling.

Cumberbatch is brilliant at conveying the blackly ridiculous aspects of the hubristic Scientist [and] is more horrifying as Frankenstein's handiwork.

Read the full review here.

It is a hell of a production. This taut, thrilling play runs to its awful conclusion without an interval, indeed with hardly a moment for breath.

Yet it remains, as Mary Shelley intended, basically a work of philosophy, pathos and moral seriousness.

Mark Tildesley's stunning design and Bruno Poet's remarkable lighting effects use the Olivier's vastness with controlled imaginative strength.

I nearly fell out of my seat at the shock bridal-chamber scene. Twice.

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HTC’s “Facebook phones” revealed (Ben Patterson)

Rumors had been swirling for weeks that HTC had a pair of new Android phones with deep Facebook integration in the offing, and now the two handsets—the Salsa and the ChaCha, both with their own, dedicated Facebook buttons—have finally been unveiled.

Details on the Salsa, which comes with a 3.4-inch display, and its little brother, the 2.6-inch ChaCha, are still a little sketchy; indeed, reporters and bloggers at HTC's press conference at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona could only gaze at the two handsets through a pane of protective glass.

The larger HTC Salsa looks to be a touchscreen-only handset, with a decent-sized 3.4-inch, 480-by-320-pixel display, while the smaller ChaCha is a BlackBerry-style device with a 2.6-inch screen, also 480 by 320, plus a physical QWERTY keypad.

Both phones come with five-megapixel cameras in back and VGA-quality front-facing cameras for video chat.

All very nice, but let's get to the good stuff—namely, the little blue Facebook button that sits at the bottom of each phone.

My first thought was that the button would do little more than launch the mobile Facebook app—not very exciting. But apparently, there's more to it.

As described by Phonescoop, the button acts more as a content sharer than a mere Facebook launcher; for example, if you stumble upon a webpage, a photo, or a song that you want to share with your Facebook pals, you can post it instantly (though, I'd hope, not before being prompted by a confirmation dialog) by pressing the Facebook button.

And here's another interesting tidbit, this time from Android Central: whenever you're viewing, watching, or listening to content you can share on Facebook, the Facebook button will glow.

So, are these the official "Facebook phones" we've been hearing about? No, insists Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who (in a pre-taped video clip, Android Central reports) told the assembled press at HTC's press conference that rather than a single "Facebook phone," there will be "dozens" of Android handsets featuring deep Facebook integration.

Expect the Salsa and the ChaCha to arrive in worldwide markets in the second quarter, with HTC announcing that the phones—or at least, "this unique user experience"—will arrive on AT&T "later this year." No word on pricing yet.

What's your verdict on HTC's new Facebook button: like, or dislike?

— Ben Patterson is a technology blogger for Yahoo! News.

Follow me on Twitter!

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Yemen confirms 'right to protest'

24 February 2011 Last updated at 08:20 GMT Anti-government protesters believe the concessions offered do not go far enough Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ordered his security forces to offer "full protection" to anti- and pro-government demonstrators alike.

He has also instructed forces to prevent direct confrontation between the two sides, according to an official statement.

Since the unrest began two weeks ago, 15 people have reportedly been killed.

Nine members of the ruling party have quit over the government's handling of the protests.

"Late this evening.. Saleh instructed all security services to thwart all clashes and prevent direct confrontation between pro- and anti-government demonstrators," read the statement, relayed by the Yemeni embassy in Washington.

"The government... will continue to protect the rights of its citizens to assemble peacefully and their right to freedom of expression."

On Wednesday security forces used tear gas and fired bullets in the air to disperse protesters in Aden, and two demonstrators were reported to have been killed during an attack on a sit-in in the capital, Sanaa.

Continue reading the main story President Ali Abdullah Saleh in power since 1978Population 24.3m; land area 536,869 sq kmThe population has a median age of 17.9, and a literacy rate of 61%Youth unemployment is 15%Gross national income per head is $1,060 (World Bank 2009)Thousands have demonstrated daily in these and other Yemeni cities over the past few weeks, demanding that the president step down and that unemployment and corruption be tackled.

They have been confronted not only by security forces but also by armed government loyalists staging counter-protests.

President Saleh has made some concessions to the opposition and promised to step down when his term ends in 2013 but that has not been enough for the protesters.

The president has been in power since 1978, and has faced a separatist movement in the south, a branch of al-Qaeda, and a periodic conflict with Shia tribes in the north.

Yemen is one of a number of countries in the region that have seen an increase in unrest since uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia unseated the presidents there.

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Report: Android-powered Sony tablet to boast PlayStation “integration” (Ben Patterson)

Now that the long-rumored PlayStation phone (or the Xperia Play, as Sony Ericsson is calling it) is finally official, what's the word on Sony cranking out a PlayStation-friendly tablet? Sony execs noted briefly at CES last month that they've got … Continue reading ?

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Motorola CEO confirms $800 price tag for Xoom tablet on Verizon (Ben Patterson)

Those leaked ads showing an $800 sticker price for the Android 3.0-powered Xoom tablet through Verizon Wireless have been confirmed by Motorola's chief exec, who adds that a cheaper, Wi-Fi-only alternative is also on the way.

Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha told Reuters on Wednesday that the 32GB Xoom will sell for an unsubsidized $799 (we'll go ahead and round that up to 800 bucks) when it lands in Verizon's mobile lineup—about $70 pricier than the 32GB iPad 3G, but considerably cheaper than the $1,199 figure that had been floating around in recent days.

Jha added that a Wi-Fi-only version of the Xoom is also on tap, with a price tag of "around" $600, according to Reuters, the same price as the 32GB Wi-Fi-only iPad.

Jha didn't give a specific release date for the Xoom, which is slated to arrive sometime this quarter, although word has it that the tablet could hit Best Buy as early as Thursday. Moto says a 4G version of the Xoom will follow the initial 3G model, which itself will eventually be upgradable to 4G.

The Xoom is among the first devices to run on Android 3.0 "Honeycomb," the tablet-centric version of Google's Android OS. The tablet boasts a 10.1-inch display, twin cameras, and a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor under the hood.

The Xoom follows such Android 2.2-powered tablets as the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Dell Streak 7, with the initially pricey Tab seeing steep discounts in the past several weeks—so don't be surprised if Xoom gets its own price cuts down the road.

Other Android 3.0 tablets expected in the months ahead include the LG G-Slate for T-Mobile and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, with non-Android competitors such as the WebOS-powered HP TouchPad, the BlackBerry Playbook, and the expected iPad 2 waiting in the wings.

Related:
Motorola's Xoom tablet priced at $799 [Reuters]

— Ben Patterson is a technology blogger for Yahoo! News.

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AUDIO: Le Carre's work 'part of British culture'

Writer John le Carre has offered his entire literary archive to the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

Arts editor Will Gompertz reports.

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Moody likely to miss France match

RBS Six Nations: England v France
Venue: Twickenham Date: Saturday, 26 February Kick-off: 1700 GMT
Coverage: Watch on BBC One, BBC HD channel, Red Button and BBC Sport website (also on BBC America); post-match forum 1900-1930; listen on BBC Radio 5 live & online; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles

Moody returned to action for Bath last weekendLewis Moody is expected to be left out on Thursday when England announce their side to face France in Saturday's key Six Nations clash at Twickenham.

The flanker, 32, was expected to captain the side after returning from a five-week knee injury, playing 23 minutes for Bath last weekend.

But reports suggest he suffered a recurrence of the injury in training.

The Rugby Football Union refused to confirm those reports, with the team due to be announced at 1300 GMT.

Centre Mike Tindall has captained England in Moody's absence, steering the team to wins over Wales and Italy.

England boss Martin Johnson said earlier this week that Moody's return would be a bonus but added the flanker would only feature against France if he was ready.

"We would love him to be fit and fully raring to go for a Test match," Johnson stated.

"There's probably a little bit of a difference between playing 20 minutes in the Premiership and playing against France.

"He will know if he is right or if he is not right - and he'll be honest with us and the team.

"It would be great if he is fit to go but if not the other guys have been playing very well."

England and France are both unbeaten after two rounds of Six Nations action.

England began with a 26-19 win in Wales before crushing Italy 59-13 at Twickenham, while defending champions France defeated Scotland 34-21 in Paris before edging past Ireland 25-22 in Dublin.

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Breast cancer drug 'not approved'

24 February 2011 Last updated at 10:21 GMT The drugs watchdog said Avastin had 'no demonstrable benefit' The drug Avastin should not be used to treat secondary breast cancers, the NHS drugs advisory body NICE says.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which issues guidance for NHS in England and Wales, said there was insufficient evidence that the drug prolonged life.

Cancer charities say the decision is disappointing.

Avastin, also known as bevacizumab, works by starving cancer cells of a blood supply.

It is designed to be used in conjunction with another chemotherapy drug, paclitaxel. Clinical trials in breast cancer patients suggested that it might slow the growth and spread of tumours by five months more than using paclitaxel alone.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said there were uncertainties in the evidence and that it was unable to confirm whether the drug could extend a patient's life or improve quality of life.

Sir Andrew Dillon, chief executive of NICE, said: "The evidence for the effectiveness of bevacizumab in prolonging survival was not robust and overall did not show enough of a demonstrable benefit for it to be considered a cost-effective use of NHS resources.

"NICE is committed to ensuring the most effective and efficient treatments. We already recommend a range of treatment options for patients with metastatic breast cancer in our clinical guideline for advanced breast cancer."

Dr Emma Pennery, clinical director at Breast Cancer Care said: "This recommendation will be disappointing for people with secondary breast cancer.

"In the mean time, doctors who believe their patients could benefit from bevacizumab can apply for funding through the Cancer Drugs Fund and we encourage people to discuss this option."

Meg McArthur, senior policy officer at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "We are disappointed with NICE's final decision not to approve Avastin with a taxane. However, as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer, it would not be appropriate for everyone and so we encourage continued investment into effective treatment options.

"We follow with interest new initiatives, including the Cancer Drugs Fund, which could improve access to drugs for cancer patients."

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Youths charged over airgun attack

24 February 2011 Last updated at 06:57 GMT The incident happened near Auchinleck Academy in East Ayrshire Two teenagers have been charged in connection with an airgun attack near a school in East Ayrshire on Wednesday.

Strathclyde Police said that up to 11 Auchinleck Academy pupils, aged between 12 and 16, were injured - none of them seriously.

The incident happened in the town's Church Street, just after 1330 GMT.

An 18-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy are expected to appear at Ayr Sheriff Court later, on charges of assault.

Five girls and six boys were struck by pellets, mainly on their legs and torsos.

It is understood one pupil remains in Crosshouse Hospital, near Kilmarnock.

Firearms officers were called to the scene on Wednesday afternoon and East Ayrshire Council informed parents of those pupils injured.

At least one property nearby had its windows shattered by pellets. It is understood police are still looking for a weapon and further charges, connected with firearms, may be brought.

East Ayrshire Council said it had responded immediately by informing police and parents of the children involved and seeking medical attention.

In a statement it said: "The council is working closely with the school to ensure that the school, the children and their families are appropriately supported."

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Apple sends out invites for March 2 event: iPad 2, anyone? (Ben Patterson)

Well, that didn't take long. Apple just sent out a wave of press invites for an event in San Francisco next Wednesday, just a day after a flurry of rumors that Cupertino was poised to announce the iPad 2.

The event will take place at 10 a.m. PT on March 2, at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the same venue where Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPad last January.

The Apple invite (as seen here on Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog) doesn't say anything specifically about a new iPad, but the graphic—a March 2 calendar page peeled back to reveal an iPad peeking out from behind—doesn't leave much room for doubt.

The none-too-subtle caption for the invite reads: "Come see what 2011 will be the year of."

News of a March 2 unveiling for the new iPad was first reported by All Things Digital's Kara Swisher on Tuesday, with the New York Times and Reuters quickly following up with confirmation.

The scoop also followed a series of rumors that claimed the iPad 2 and the next iPhone—neither of which have been officially announced, by the way—had been delayed, with Apple stock taking a significant hit in the wake of the chatter.

Word has it that the new iPad will be smaller and lighter than its predecessor, with at least one camera for FaceTime video chat and a souped-up processor.

Earlier rumors had raised hopes that the iPad 2 would arrive with a sharper, "retina"-style display, but the latest indications are that the screen on the revamped iPad will have the same 1024-by-768-pixel resolution as the original.

— Ben Patterson is a technology blogger for Yahoo! News.

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Is Microsoft phasing out “Zune” brand? (Ben Patterson)

As the dust settled following Microsoft's bombshell announcement that it was joining forces with Nokia on Windows Phone 7, keen-eyed observers noticed a key Microsoft brand that was snubbed during the presentation of the new "third ecosystem": Zune.

Windows Live, Xbox, Bing, MSN, and Office all got a shout-out last Friday as Microsoft and Nokia laid out their grand plans, but Zune—as in the Zune line of music players, the ZunePass music subscription service, and the Zune Marketplace for music, videos and apps—was missing in action.

So noticed SuperSite for Windows blogger Paul Thurrott, who wrote: "It is my opinion and guess that Microsoft is currently phasing out the Zune brand and will simply roll the various Zune services into Windows Live."

ZDNet writer Mary-Jo Foley followed up on Monday, speculating that Microsoft may "opt to rebrand Zune as 'Xbox entertainment'" or something along those lines, especially given that the Zune group now works under the same corporate division in Redmond (the "Interactive Entertainment Business" division, to be exact) as Microsoft's Xbox team.

Microsoft issued a tepid denial to Foley's queries about the Zune brand, telling her that "we're not 'killing' any of the Zune services/features in any way" and that the software giant "remains committed to providing a great music and video experience from Zune" on Xbox Live, Windows Phone 7, and Zune hardware devices (like 2009's impressive Zune HD).

So …. Zune "services/features" are safe, Microsoft says, but what about the Zune brand itself? Indeed, the response provoked another post from Thurrott on Wednesday, who noted that Microsoft's denial "very conspicuously and decidedly ignores" the possibility that the Zune brand "is disappearing."

Zune began life as one of the first Wi-Fi-enabled music players way back in 2006, and while the devices never made a dent in the iPod's massive market share, the Zune's influence can be seen across a variety of Microsoft services—particularly the Xbox Dashboard and Windows Phone 7's "Metro" interface, which take many of their design cues from the Zune.

Yet the Zune brand itself seem to be getting less and less love, with the core Zune services hidden behind the "Music + Video" live tile in Windows Phone 7, while the main menu headings for music and video on Xbox Live are now called simply "Music Marketplace" and "Video Marketplace."

That said, the "Zune" name can still be seen on Xbox Dashboard tiles and once you drill down into the console's music and video menus, while the Zune desktop client (used for syncing Zune players and Windows Phone 7 devices with PCs) is still around.

Of course, the Zune has been declared dead—prematurely, as it turned out—on several occasions in the past. Yet here we are, still talking about it, and there's even been (relatively) recent chatter of a Zune HD2—although ZDNet's Foley wonders if the rumored sequel to the Zune HD might get a name change and be "positioned and marketed as a portable gaming device."

What do you think: would you like the Zune brand to stick around, or would you rather that Microsoft finally put it to bed?

Related:
Is Microsoft Zune about to be Kinned? [ZDNet]
About Zune. Yes, Microsoft is killing it [Windows Phone Secrets]

— Ben Patterson is a technology blogger for Yahoo! News.

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