Assaults by youngest pupils 'rising'

Assaults by children aged five or under led to 2,600 suspensions from schools in England in 2007-8, figures show.

The figures, highlighted by the Tories, show an increase of 150 suspensions on the previous year and reveal that of the assaults, 1,650 were on adults.

The Conservatives say there is an "increasing problem" with the behaviour of very young children.

The government says exclusions across the school population are falling and its behaviour policy is working.

As a whole, permanent exclusions - or expulsions - have fallen in all types of state schools in recent years, but there has been an increase in suspensions or temporary exclusions.

Teachers' powers

England's schools inspectorate Ofsted, in its annual report this autumn, said behaviour in 95% of primary schools was good or outstanding and that it was satisfactory in 5%.

The new figures show the total number of suspensions of the youngest pupils for assault but not the actual number of pupils involved as the same child might have been suspended several times.

The data was given to the Conservatives in response to a parliamentary question.

The vast majority of infant and primary schools do not exclude any children Iain Wright, Schools Minister

Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said: "Children cannot learn if there are other pupils in the class that are acting violently.

"There is a real and increasing problem with the behaviour of the youngest children in primary schools and it makes life impossible for their teachers."

He said the Conservatives wanted to make teachers' lives easier by giving them more powers to keep order, so that possible problems could be "nipped in the bud before they spiral out of control".

A study earlier this year by Ofsted said that exclusion of children aged under seven was still "very rare".

The government says exclusions should be used as "a last resort" - although it backs head teachers' rights to exclude children even for a first or one-off offence.

Schools Minister Iain Wright said: "The vast majority of infant and primary schools do not exclude any children and a recent report by Ofsted, on exclusions of young children, found that almost all children in the schools they visited knew how to behave properly.

"Ofsted are clear that behaviour standards have significantly improved over the last decade, but we know there is more to do to ensure all children learn in an orderly school where discipline is tough and bad behaviour that disrupts the learning of others is not tolerated."

'More aggressive'

He said the government had given teachers and head teachers tough new powers to discipline pupils and would be legislating in the coming weeks for home-school agreements to make sure parents took their responsibilities seriously too.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) recently surveyed its members in primary schools on behaviour in the classroom.

It said that three-quarters of the 1,078 members who responded to the survey said they thought children in primary schools were becoming more aggressive at a younger age.

Just under 61% said they thought behaviour in the classroom had got worse in the past 10 years.

The US virtual economy is set to make billions

Paying real money for products that do not exist is big business

Virtual goods such as weapons or digital bottles of champagne traded in the US could be worth up to $5bn in the next five years, experts predict.

In Asia, sales are already around the $5bn mark and rapidly growing.

For many, virtual goods are one of the hottest trends in technology and are fuelling huge growth in the social gaming sector.

"This is just an exploding part of the gaming business right now, said venture capitalist Jeremy Liew.

"It is the most exciting area in gaming," he said.

Mr Liew, whose firm Lightspeed Venture Partners has invested $10m in virtual goods companies, said the rapid growth of the sector was unprecedented.

"We have seen companies go from nothing in the last 18-24 months to tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue."

Revenue model

Playfish is a social gaming company that started two years ago. Today it has 11 online games and more than 61 million people who play those games worldwide.

Playfish believes virtual goods will continue to lead to more riches

Crucial to its success is the sale of virtual goods, ranging from furniture for your pet to menu items for your own restaurant in games like Pet Society and Restaurant City.

"Virtual items within the Playfish games are the centre point of the way in which Playfish derives its revenue," Tom Sarris of the firm told BBC News.

"We have two different revenue models. The primary is the sale of virtual goods and the second is in-game advertising, but that is a very minor aspect at this stage."

Mr Sarris would not reveal how much Playfish makes from the sale of virtual goods, but admitted that it accounts for the lion's share of the company's revenue.

That, according to Mr Liew is fairly typical.

"Virtual goods is the whole story in the world of social games. It accounts for 90-95% of revenue for a lot of these social game developers."

The new gamers

And it is not just the stereotypical gamers that are spending their hard earned cash on goods that only add up to a handful of pixels on a website

Emma Cox is probably fairly typical of the new breed of social gamer who plays as a way to stay connected to friends and family.

Ms Cox buys virtual goods to get ahead in the game

"I am not a traditional gamer. I don't buy console games or go out and spend $40 on a game for my PlayStation," said Ms Cox.

"I am playing online games for a different reason and it's instant gratification, playing with friends, showing off to others and have them see all the virtual goods you have bought for yourself and even for them."

Ms Cox told the BBC she spends about $10 a month per game on virtual goods and plays two to three games. Her favourite is Country Store where players trade real money for coins allowing players to move ahead in the game or to buy goods.

The game bills itself as an opportunity to let players get away from the hustle and bustle of life by hanging out in the country tending crops and breathing the country air.

On her last visit, Ms Cox bought fertiliser and seeds for corn and peppers.

"These virtual goods are easy to buy, they are accessible, they are online," said Ms Cox.

"The immediate impact is being able to move throughout the game a lot more quickly. It also enhances your overall experience of the game - it is about total entertainment."

Playfish's Mr Sarris said that is the main reason people are willing to purchase products that do not exist.

"The way we look at it is it's no different from paying money to go and see a movie or rent a dvd. What you are paying for is the experience and that notion of entertainment."

Social is key

Central to the early growth of this virtual goods revolution have been social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

Ten of the top 15 apps on Facebook are social games

Users of these networks can also pay for virtual goods, such as digital birthday cards, champagne or flowers.

"Increasingly as people's relationships migrate online, your interactions occur there," said Lightspeed's Mr Liew.

"That makes it more natural for those acknowledgements of how important someone is to us to occur there also. Buying something like virtual champagne or a birthday card is telling someone they are important to you."

However most of the momentum in this virtual goods market happens through social games which Mr Liew said is responsible for bringing a new type of new gamer to the fore.

"We have found tens of millions, hundreds of millions of people playing these social games and many would never consider themselves as gamers. Yet they spend real money to play these games and in some cases really meaningful amounts of money.

"That is what makes the expansion of this market so exciting," added Mr Liew.

Bright future

The market is clearly one with a lot of life in it.

About two thirds of the top 15 applications on Facebook are games, according to analytics firm AppData. Those ten games are said to draw more than 100 million users a month.

Mr Liew said the virtual goods revolution will remain big news in 2010

Earlier in December, one of the biggest social gaming companies, Zynga, sold a stake in the firm to Russia's Digital Sky Technologies for $180m (£113m).

And in November, Electronic Arts, agreed to buy Playfish in a $400m deal (£251m).

Proof of how successful the virtual goods business has become is evident in moves by Facebook itself to test a payment system to get a cut each time an online-game player buys a digital tractor or pair of flip flops.

"We are still in the growth stage of this industry," said Mr Liew.

"We are still seeing people come out of nowhere and become a leading player. Five years down the line, it will become more stable with five to ten companies becoming more valuable.

"The virtual goods industry is one of the most exciting categories of 2009 and will remain an exciting category in 2010," he added.

Picasso toy guitar found in Italy

Italian police have found a toy guitar sculpture created by Pablo Picasso for his daughter Paloma, which had been kept in a shoe box by a businessman.

Rome police tracked the sculpture down to the businessman's apartment in Pomezia, a town south of the capital.

The businessman, who was not named, was charged with fraud and is now on bail.

Picasso gave the piece to an Italian artist, Giuseppe Vittorio Parisi. He then lent it to the businessman, who was to make a glass showcase for it.

The plan was for the priceless piece to go on display at the civic museum in Maccagno, a small town on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy where Parisi was born.

But the piece disappeared after Parisi handed it over two years ago. When Parisi died in January this year his widow told police that it was still in the businessman's hands.

The Little Guitar will now go on display at the museum in Maccagno, Italy's Ansa news agency reports.

An expert is reported to have authenticated the work, which bears the inscription "Paloma".

Celebrated as a pioneer of Cubism, Picasso is widely regarded as one of the 20th Century's greatest artists.

Music therapy 'may help cut tinnitus noise levels

Individually designed music therapy may help reduce the noise levels experienced by people who suffer from tinnitus, say German researchers.

They altered participants' favourite music to remove notes which matched the frequency of the ringing in their ears.

After a year of listening to the modified music, individuals reported a drop in the loudness of their tinnitus.

The researchers said the "inexpensive" treatment could be used alongside other techniques to relieve the condition.

It could significantly complement widely-used and rather indirect psychological treatment strategies Dr Christo Pantev Westphalian Wilhelms University

It is thought that around 1-3% of the population have chronic ringing in their ears which is significant enough to reduce their overall quality of life.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers said although the cause of tinnitus remains unknown, it has been shown that the part of the brain that processes sounds is frequently disrupted in people with the condition.

The theory behind the new technique is that removing the spectrum of noise associated with tinnitus from the music reduces activity in the brain relating to that frequency, alleviating the condition.

Therapy

The 39 patients who took part in the study all had chronic tinnitus for an average of five years but had no other hearing problems.

They were split into three groups and were offered either the modified music therapy, a dummy version of music therapy or usual treatment.

Participants listened to the music for an average of 12 hours a week and by the end of the study, those who had been given the tailored music reported a significant drop in the level of the ringing they heard compared with those listening to the dummy version.

Study leader Dr Christo Pantev, from Westphalian Wilhelms University in Munster, said the approach specifically targeted the part of the brain responsible for tinnitus.

"The notched music approach can be considered as enjoyable, low cost, and presumably causal treatment that is capable of specifically reducing tinnitus loudness.

"It could significantly complement widely-used and rather indirect psychological treatment strategies."

Dr Ralph Holmes, director of biomedical research at deaf and hard of hearing charity, RNID, said he would look in detail at the findings.

"While we find it encouraging there is new investment in treatment for tinnitus, we know there is no proven 'cure'.

"This seems to be similar to tinnitus retraining therapy which is one of the most common ways of managing the condition."

Singer Van Morrison becomes father again at 64

Van Morrison has become a father again

Acclaimed Belfast-born singer Van Morrison has become a father again at the age of 64.

A statement posted on the singer's website announced the birth of George Ivan Morrison III to the musician and Gigi Lee, who manages him.

It described the newest Morrison, born on Monday, as "the spitting image of his daddy".

"He is a dual citizen of Northern Ireland/United Kingdom and the United States," the statement added.

A spokesman for Morrison said the couple have kept the birth location private.

Van Morrison, whose 45-year career spans soul, blues, jazz, R&B and country, has a 39-year-old daughter, singer-songwriter Shana Morrison, from his first marriage to Janet Minto.

Van Morrison was born in 1945, in Bloomfield, east Belfast, the only child of George Morrison, a shipyard worker, and Violet Stitt Morrison.

He would become known as "Van the Man" but it was as a teenager that he started his professional career when, in the late 1950s, he played a variety of instruments in showbands who covered the hits of the day.

It was as the lead singer of Northern Ireland band Them - with whom he recorded Gloria and Here Come the Night - that he rose to prominence in the 1960s.

While in London with Them he worked with songwriter and producer Bert Berns.

Berns produced and released Van Morrison's album Blowin' Your Mind, in 1967, which included the hit single Brown Eyed Girl.

After Berns' death, Warner Brothers Records bought out his contract and allowed him several sessions to record Astral Weeks in 1968.

Even though this album would gradually garner high praise, it was initially poorly received.

The next one, Moondance, established Van Morrison as a major artist.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 but declined to attend the ceremony.

In 2008 he performed Astral Weeks live for the first time since 1968 and is to release a documentary film charting the experience.

 

Even though this album would gradually garner high praise, it was initially poorly received.

The next one, Moondance, established Van Morrison as a major artist.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 but declined to attend the ceremony.

In 2008 he performed Astral Weeks live for the first time since 1968 and is to release a documentary film charting the experience.

Technology we have loved in 2009

The last 12 months have offered a swathe of new technologies

and seen others cemented as firm favorites.

Here, the BBC News technology team members pick out their choice technology of 2009.

1. Jane Wakefield 3. Rory Cellan-Jones 5. Mark Ward

2. Zoe Kleinman 4. Jonathan Fildes 6. Maggie Shiels

JANE WAKEFIELD

My technology of the year goes to something I've had little chance to actually use much myself yet - the iPlayer on Wii.

On-demand TV is not new but increasingly it is finding its way away from the PC screen to its far more natural home on the box in the corner of the living room.

Programmes on the Wii are a hit with Jane's daughter

Games consoles will kick-start this and next year will see a glut of internet-ready TVs and even, towards the end of the year, the first set-top box developed by the BBC and other partners to bring on-demand content direct to the TV.

I live in an on-demand household and at the moment the thing "on demand" is Cbeebies show Gigglebiz - for the uninitiated Gigglebiz is a show best described as Little Britain for the under-fives.

I love technology to be simple and my six-year-old son has no problem finding the iPlayer channel on the Wii and finding exactly what he wants to watch.

But I think the moment I realised the real power of the technology was when I caught my little girl explaining to her friend that if she misses Gigglebiz she can always "catch up on the iPlayer".

When a technology has entered the vocabulary of a three-year-old it can truly be said to have arrived.

Its ever-availability hasn't been without problems though. Once upon a time there was a clear cut-off between children's TV and adult time when Cbeebies went off air at 7pm.

Alas, no more.

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ZOE KLEINMAN

It's still got a long way to go but I have been really impressed with improvements in web search.

A good friend of mine is using genealogy websites to trace her family tree and persuaded me to have a go at mine too.

Algorithms have replaced trips to the library for Zoe

I have quite a few relatives who have tried and fallen at almost the first hurdle as nobody has ever been able to find a copy of my paternal grandmother's birth certificate.

Even a search by Somerset House proved fruitless, and when she died we had to estimate her age as nobody - including her - knew for sure when she was born.

We all knew her as Cissie, which we presumed was short for Cecilia.

But this particular website - ancestry.co.uk - threw up the name Zesel - it turns out that her Russian parents had anglicised her birth name very early on, and it had stuck. Oh - and her maiden name had also been mis-spelt on the document.

I never thought I would say this - but well done to the algorithm that put 2 and 9 together and came up with that.

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RORY CELLAN-JONES

This was the year that I put my trust in the cloud - perhaps foolishly.

Rory has tentatively put his life into the clouds

In other words, I started to rely more and more on services which take much of the storage and processing of my data off my computer and into giant data-centres dotted around the world.

So I now write just about everything as a Google document, and use Evernote to store important e-mails, pictures and other notes.

Then there is Spotify, which streams music from its cloud to my computer, and the various online photo-sharing services, from Flickr to MobileMe.

Towards the end of the year Google unveiled an operating system, Chrome, which would store most of its users' data and applications in the cloud.

Having got used to watching the vast empty space on the hard disk of each new computer rapidly fill up, this is the first year I can remember when I haven't worried about spare storage capacity. That has been replaced by another concern - just how secure is all that data I have entrusted to those various clouds?

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JONATHAN FILDES

For me, 2009 has been the year of the mobile app, the small, specialist pieces of software that run on a smartphone.

Jonathan - and his wife - have embraced the world of apps

It is a market still dominated by Apple's App store, which now offers more than 100,000 of them. However, everyone from Nokia and Google to Symbian and Research in Motion (Blackberry) now offer apps.

Over the last 5 months I've collected more than 70 of them on my iPhone, and tried, tested and discarded many more. Some I've paid for, but many others have been free.

I use some on a daily basis, browsing Twitter (Tweetdeck) or the news (New York Times, Guardian, WSJ or FT) over breakfast or on the train to work.

They allow me to keep in touch with my social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Yammer), upload pictures to Flickr (Mobile Fotos or Flickr), listen to music (Spotify) or play games (Crash Kart, Rolando and Worms.)

They really come into their own when the app taps into the phone's in-built GPS. For example when I hit the Next Train Home button on the National Rail app it works out where I am, the nearest station and the times of the services which will get me home most quickly. Useful for making sure you catch the last train home.

I've also tried out augmented reality apps, such as Nearest Tube, which overlays large colourful arrows on to the view through the camera to point you towards the nearest Tube stop. It's a compelling use of the technology but not one that I find myself using every day.

That, however, cannot be said about an app that my wife has discovered. BabyBrain allows her to keep track of our newborn - his feeds, nappies and sleeping patterns.

It's become her surrogate brain - invaluable when you're operating on less than four hours sleep a day.

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MARK WARD

For me the technology of the year has been Google, but only in the sense that I'm turning away from it.

Mark and Google have grown apart

This is because its myriad services are proving less and less useful to me.

I've switched to NetVibes because it is far more customisable than iGoogle.

Twitter helps keep up with news about the people I need to watch as does Facebook. I'm also about to start the process of migrating away from Gmail.

Perhaps most worryingly for Google is that its raw search leads me to the right places less than ever.

Increasingly I find myself forlornly clicking through the pages of results to see if it what I want is hidden elsewhere.

Even when sites such as Google Without Google and Give Me Back my Google strip out the search giant's ancillary services, other sites and tools are proving more helpful.

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MAGGIE SHIELS

I wracked my brain long and hard to think about what new and exciting gadget has wowed me this last year.

I confess my choice is not something new and earth shattering, but it has made a massive difference in my life. It is my BlackBerry smartphone. And the killer app remains an old favourite: e-mail.

Maggie can't live without her smart phone

I am in good company here with Jen-Hsun Huang, the president and co-founder of graphic-chip firm Nvidia, agreeing with me.

"I am willing to give up my PC but not my BlackBerry. I would even give up the phone and squint at a small screen but I am not willing to not have my computing device with me at all times and so that says something about the future of computers."

Indeed it does, which is perhaps why Google, with it Android operating system for phones, is set to launch its own hardware.

The blogosphere has been ripe with rumours, photos and discussion of the so called Nexus, but at Google's xmas party at the Googleplex not one member of staff would admit to owning one. It seems they all checked them at the door with their coats.

Still the big rumour is that come January, the wraps will be taken off the Nexus at the Computer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

And while my smartphone might be seen as a lame choice by some, it is undoubtedly going to be the basis of one mighty land grab over the next year or so.

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Ancient whale sucked mud for food

Mammalodon probably lived by sucking small animals up from the seafloor

An ancient "dwarf" whale appears to have fed by sucking small animals out of the seafloor mud with its short snout and tongue, experts say.

Researchers say the 25 million-year-old fossil is related to today's blue whales - the largest animals on Earth.

The ancient animal's mud slurping may have been a precursor to the filter feeding seen in modern baleen whales.

These whales strain huge quantities of tiny marine animals through specialised "combs" which take the place of teeth.

The research is published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

The fossilised remains of the primitive baleen whale Mammalodon colliveri were discovered near Torquay, in Victoria, Australia.

Clearly the seas off southern Australia were a cradle for the evolution of a variety of tiny, weird whales that seem to have lived nowhere else Dr Erich Fitzgerald, Museum Victoria

This animal still had teeth; it had not yet evolved the baleen plates - used for filter-feeding - which characterise present-day baleen whales.

Although Mammalodon was discovered in 1932 and named in 1939, it has not been widely studied, according to Museum Victoria, which holds specimens of this group.

The study's author, Dr Erich Fitzgerald from Museum Victoria, said that his study of the fossil led him to the conclusion that Mammalodon was a bottom-feeding mud-sucker.

Splinter group

The idea would support Charles Darwin's observation about whale evolution in his seminal book On the Origin of Species.

In it, Darwin speculated that some of the earliest baleen whales may have been suction feeders - and that this served as a precursor to the filter feeding of today's giants of the deep.

Mammalodon probably evolved from much bigger ancestors

Mammalodon had a total body length of about 3m. But it appears to have been a bizarre evolutionary "splinter group" from the evolutionary lineage which later led to the 30m-long blue whale.

It was effectively a dwarf whale; the research suggests that Mammalodon may have evolved into a relatively tiny form from larger ancestors.

Mammalodon belongs to the same family as Janjucetus hunderi, fossils of which were also found in 25 million-year-old Oligocene rocks near Torquay in Victoria. This family appears to be unique to south-east Australia.

"Clearly the seas off southern Australia were a cradle for the evolution of a variety of tiny, weird whales that seem to have lived nowhere else," said Dr Fitzgerald.

The baleen plates which allow today's baleen whales to filter their food from water, distinguish this group from the toothed whales - a group which includes beaked whales and dolphins.

Baleen whales are a taxonomical group which includes not only the majestic blue whale, but also the right whales, fin whales and humpbacks, to name but a few.

Mount Mayon: a tale of love and destruction

Mount Mayon is mythologised as the result of a tortured love affair

Mount Mayon is one of the Philippines' most distinctive volcanoes. It draws tourists to see its conical shape, farmers for its fertile soil and volcanologists who want to examine its explosive power, as the BBC's Vaudine England reports.

According to local folklore, Mount Mayon was formed because of a Romeo and Juliet-style love story.
Legend has it that Daragang Magayon - literally Lady Beautiful, from a ruling family of Bicol province - fell in love with a prince who was from a clan at war with her own.
Their families forbade their passion, so they fled. Tribal war ensued, prompting the lovelorn couple to commit suicide together at a site now marked by the volcano.
More lyrical versions of the tale insist the site is a perpetual combination of beautiful Magayon - the volcano - wreathed in white clouds representing the prince.
During eruptions, some older people say they can hear the volcano crying from a voice of a male and a female.
Alex Baloloy, a scientist at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology station at Mayon and veteran of half a dozen eruptions, laughs at the legend, but is convinced the volcano is female "because she's beautiful".
Dangerous force

The lava flows are a spectacular sight at night

But the reality is that Mayon has a destructive power, and a major eruption could trigger pyroclastic flows - superheated gas and volcanic debris that race down the slopes at high speeds, incinerating or vaporising everything in their path.
In previous eruptions, such flows have reached 6 km (4 miles) from the crater.
More extensive explosions of ash could drift toward nearby towns and cities, including Legazpi, about 15 km (9 miles) away.
The first recorded eruption of Mount Mayon was in 1616, but the most destructive came in 1814, when the volcano emitted several hundred million cubic metres of ash.
According to reports at the time, the town of Cagsawa, 11 km (6.8 miles) away from the summit, was completely buried — only the tower of the town's church remained above the new surface.

I've seen a lot of volcanoes and I think Mayon is the archetypal volcanic beauty Mahar Lagmay, volcanologist, University of the Philippines

In July 2006, the 48th eruption since records began, the volcano oozed lava and vented steam and ash for two months.
Then three months later, the powerful Typhoon Durian (local name Reming) brought heavy rainfall, dumping 495.8 mm (almost 20 inches) of water over one-and-a-half days.
This combined with the tons of volcanic ash and debris that had collected on Mayon's slopes, creating a fast-moving avalanche of mud and boulders called lahar, destroying villages and leaving 1,266 people dead.
"The Durian event was exceptional," experts reported in the aftermath, but such post-eruption devastation had happened before. A similar event in 1825 again affected the town of Cagsawa, and killed 1,500 people.
Restive earth
Professor Mahar Lagmay, a volcanologist from the University of the Philippines' National Institute of Geological Sciences, has studied several of his country's 22 active volcanoes.
"There are different types of volcanoes and eruptions, and we can study these based on written records and records of the rocks and deposits around each volcano," he told the BBC.
The Philippines' most dramatic eruption in recent decades was of Mount Pinatubo, in June 1991.
Hundreds of people died in that explosion, which scattered ash as far as away as Manila 60 km ( 37 miles) away, and radically altered negotiations over the future of two United States military bases nearby.

Residents love Mayon for its fertile land and dangerous beauty

"For Pinatubo, the records show the eruptions were very large, widely spaced by about 100 years each time," said Professor Lagmay.
The lengthy build-up of magma beneath the surface over a long period of time produced 11bn cubic metres (390bn cubic feet) of volcanic material, he explained.
By contrast this latest build-up on Mount Mayon is "relatively small", he said, having produced tens of millions of cubic metres of volcanic material.
The general rule of thumb for geologists is that the more often a volcano erupts, the smaller each eruption is likely to be - and Mayon has been a regular emitter.
But "all explosive eruptions are dangerous", Professor Lagmay warned.
Mayon's near perfect cone and its single vent continue to hold experts in thrall.
The Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has a monitoring station just at the base of Mayon, which is akin, scientists said, to having Mayon in an intensive care unit with all its vital signs subject to constant examination.
"I've seen a lot of volcanoes," said Professor Lagmay, "and I think Mayon is the archetypal volcanic beauty."

HP camera 'can't see' black faces

A You Tube video suggesting that face recognition cameras installed in HP laptops cannot detect black faces has had over one million views.

The short movie, uploaded earlier this month, features "Black Desi" and his colleague "White Wanda".

When Wanda, a white woman, is in front of the screen, the camera zooms to her face and moves as she moves.

But when Desi, a black man, does the same, the camera does not respond by tracking him.

The clip is light-hearted in tone but is titled "HP computers are racist".

"HP has been informed of a potential issue with the facial-tracking software included on some of its systems, which appears to occur when insufficient foreground lighting is available," an HP spokesman told BBC News.

"We take this seriously and are looking into it with our partners."

Molecules and synapses cement memories, say scientists

Neurons are core components of the brain, transmitting and processing data US scientists believe they have uncovered one of the mechanisms that enables the brain to form memories. Synapses - where brain cells connect with each other - have long been known to be the key site of information exchange and storage in the brain. But researchers say they have now learnt how molecules at the site of the synapse behave to cement a memory. It is hoped the research, published in Neuron, could aid the development of drugs for diseases like Alzheimer's. The deteriorating health of the synapses is increasingly thought to be a feature of Alzheimer's, a disease in which short-term memory suffers before long-term recollections are affected. Scientists have been perplexed for some time as to why, when synapses are strengthened, you have the degradation of proteins going on side by side with the synthesis of new proteins Kenneth Kosik University of California Santa Barbara A strong synapse is needed for cementing a memory, and this process involves making new proteins. But how exactly the body controls this process has not been clear. Now scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara say their laboratory work on rats shows the production of proteins needed to cement memories can only happen when the RNA - the collection of molecules that take genetic messages from the nucleus to the rest of the cell - is switched on. Until it is required, the RNA is paralysed by a "silencing" molecule - which itself contains proteins. When an external signal comes in - for example when one sees something interesting or has an unusual experience - the silencing molecule fragments and the RNA is released. This interesting development could give a greater understanding of the memory loss experienced by people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia and lead to new treatments Rebecca Wood Alzheimer's Research Trust Kenneth Kosik of the university's neuroscience research institute said: "One reason why this is interesting is that scientists have been perplexed for some time as to why, when synapses are strengthened, you have the degradation of proteins going on side by side with the synthesis of new proteins. "So we have now resolved this paradox. We show that protein degradation and synthesis go hand in hand. The degradation permits the synthesis." Identifying the proteins the brain needs in order to cement the memory could ultimately have benefits for those suffering from memory disorders. Rebecca Wood, head of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "Scientists say they have studied nerve cells in the laboratory and learnt more about how specific proteins may have a role in areas of the brain that transmit messages and help us store memories. The health of synapses and their activity levels is becoming an important and interesting focus of research Professor Julie Williams "This interesting development could give a greater understanding of the memory loss experienced by people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia and lead to new treatments." The most recent projections suggest 115 million people across the globe will suffer from dementia by 2050. Julie Williams, professor of psychological medicine at Cardiff University, said: "Our increasing understanding of genetic risk factors in Alzheimer's is pointing to the synapses so any new study in this area is welcome. "Alzheimer's is a complicated disease and it is early days, but the health of synapses and their activity levels is becoming an important and interesting focus of research."

Archbishop of York condemns Ugandan anti-gay bill

The Archbishop of York has condemned an anti-homosexuality bill going through parliament in Uganda.

Dr John Sentamu, who was born in the African country, said the laws being debated were "victimising".

Under the plans gays and lesbians would be jailed for life if convicted of having sex, and gay people who had sex with a minor would be put to death.

Dr Sentamu told the BBC the Anglican communion was committed to recognising that gay people were valued by God.

Aid threat

Under the bill, proposed by MP David Bahati, people who fail to report homosexuality face up to three years in jail.

Under its terms 'serial offenders' would face the death penalty.

Dr Sentamu told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I'm opposed to the death sentence. I'm also not happy when you describe people in the kind of language you find in this private member's bill."

He added it seemed not only victimising but also "a diminishment of the individuals concerned".

He also pointed out that the current law in Uganda already had provision to jail gay people for engaging in homosexual acts.

The new bill wants the 14-year limit raised to life imprisonment.

Dr Sentamu said: "Sometimes people have not understood that at the moment the law in Uganda, without this bill, does exactly the same thing."

Sweden has threatened to withdraw aid if the bill is approved and Africa minister Baroness Kinnock has raised concerns with her Ugandan counterpart.

Mr Bahati, from the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), said: "Here, we don't recognise homosexuality as a right. We are after the sin, not the sinners. We love them - and we want them to repent and come back.

"It's not an inborn orientation, it's a behaviour learnt - and it can be unlearnt."

'Grisly' Brittany Murphy artwork withdrawn

Promotional artwork for a DVD release showing late actress Brittany Murphy lying apparently lifeless in a bathtub has been pulled by a US rental chain.

Redbox said it planned to complete the removal of DVD covers and posters from its outlets by 1 January.

The artwork promotes Deadline, a direct to DVD title in which Murphy played a writer staying in a haunted house.

A private funeral service is expected to be held later at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

'On her game'

It is the same cemetery where singer Michael Jackson was laid to rest earlier this year.

Murphy, 32, was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre after collapsing in the bathroom of her Hollywood home on Sunday.

The county coroner's office is awaiting the results of toxicology and tissue tests before releasing an official cause of death.

Best known for her roles in Clueless and 8 Mile, Murphy completed a number of films this year that are currently awaiting release.

The director of one, a thriller called Abandoned, said she was delightful to work with and "was on her game".

"She was such a pro and so good at her craft that she could turn it on and off as necessary," said Michael Feifer.

Christmas celebrations begin in Bethlehem

Thousands of Christian pilgrims are gathering in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, to mark the anniversary of his birth.

Festivities began with a traditional boy scout band and will culminate with midnight mass in St Catherine's Church, next to the Church of the Nativity.

The top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land led the annual procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.

Latin Patriarch Foud Twal said the region sought peace above all else.                                                                                                      

 "The wish that we most want, we most hope for, is not coming. We want peace," he said after he and his convoy of cars entered the Palestinian territory, having passed through Israel's heavily-guarded separation barrier.

"We don't have a shortage of food, we don't need aid," he said, according to the Associated Press.

"We want freedom of movement, we don't want walls. We don't want separation fences," he added.

Christmas capital

It was a feeling echoed by the city's mayor, Victor Batarseh.

"We are prepared to welcome Christmas with lights, decorations and joy, but this little town of love and peace, the capital of Christmas, lacks the desired peace it deserves," he said.

The midnight mass will take place next to the church built over the stall where Mary is said to have given birth to Jesus.

Some 300 Christians over the age of 35 from the Gaza Strip were given permission by the Israeli military to leave the territory and come to Bethlehem for 24 hours to celebrate Christmas.

A total of 15,000 tourists are expected in the town during this period, in a year that has seen a record number of visitors - some 1.6 million.

One of the tourists who had crossed the planet to spend Christmas in Bethlehem was 27-year-old Juan Cruz, of Mexico.

"This is the place where God gave us his son, so it is very special for me to be here, for me and my whole community," he told AFP news agency.

Yet the tourism boom has failed to bring money with it as most of the tourists visit the town just for the day, staying in hotels in Israel.

"Only 5% of the money stays on the Palestinian side," Palestinian Tourism Minister Khulud Duaibess said.