Entertainment
 MUSIC STAR RECEIVES JEWELRY FROM BOYFRIEND FOR HER BIRTHDAY
World Wide Web
$10m boost to China's web research
China's internet research efforts have received a $10 million boost from the Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing.
He made the donation to Beijing's elite Qinghua University to fund a research centre to work on the next generation of internet technology, said the Xinhua news agency.
The aim of the research, labelled "Internet Two", is to enable computer networks to run 1,000 times faster than at present, with greater safety and stability.
The project is backed by the Ministry of Education, which is providing $5 million.
Sacked for downloading porn
Mobile phone giant Orange has sacked up to 40 workers after an internal investigation revealed they were downloading pornography from the internet.
All those dismissed were based at offices in Hertford and call centres in the North East of England.
A spokesperson for Orange said: "I can confirm that a number of employees have been dismissed in accordance with company disciplinary procedures as a result of an investigation into the circulation of inappropriate material on company IT systems."
Millions of Americans Netless
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The head of the Texas AFL-CIO understands technology's benefits for future generations of workers. But Joseph Gunn's personal office is devoid of computers, and he would rather let his wife and staff surf the Internet on his behalf.
"To some degree I feel bliss in being ignorant," said Gunn, 69, one of millions of Americans saying no to the Net. "I'd rather read during what time I might devote sitting on the Internet."
NASA, Pentagon hacker sentenced
MIAMI -- A teen-ager was sentenced to six months in jail Thursday after pleading guilty to federal charges of hacking into NASA computers which support the international space station. The teen, now 16, also admitted he had illegally entered a Pentagon computer system, intercepted 3,300 e-mail transmissions and stolen passwords.
English the language of the Net, for now
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- English will remain the language of the World Wide Web despite skyrocketing Internet use in Asia, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said Tuesday.
Gates was commenting on a consultants' report forecasting that China will have the world's largest online population within 10 years. He said the limits of conventional computer keyboards will confine the growth of Asian languages on the Internet until voice recognition interfaces are better developed.
Handheld virus poses 'little risk'
The first hostile virus to target the operating system in the hugely popular Palm handheld computers was identified on Friday.
The screens on infected machines display a dark grey icon called Phage and go blank when the program is run. The virus then replicates itself to other PalmOS applications.
Security software companies were alerted to the problem at around 0100 GMT. They played down the risks and offered patches within hours for users to download.
Someone claiming to have found the virus on a website alerted the companies to its existence, so it is not certain the malicious program is really on the loose.
World Online drops unmetered access
World Online has become the latest internet service provider to stop offering unmetered internet access.
Unmetered internet access means a customer pays a fixed charge and can then use the internet for as long as they like.
World Online has decided to offer its customers 100 free hours a month instead of wholly free internet access, it confirmed on Friday.
Putting payments online
Net users worried about using a credit card online now have one more way to spend money securely and anonymously.
On Tuesday another pre-paid net spending card was launched - barely two weeks after two others were unveiled.
The cards are aimed at people without credit cards or bank accounts who still want to shop online.
But the card may soon face competition from a group of Yorkshire teenagers planning to launch their own debit card for people their own age.
Software targets porn sneaks
A system designed to catch workers who access pornography on their computers has been launched by the UK company Content Technologies.
The software - called Pornsweeper - examines images attached to e-mails and searches picture files for anything that appears to be flesh.
Content Technologies claims the software has a 90% accuracy rate and can be adapted to suit individual users' views of what is and is not acceptable.
A recent survey showed that office workers are frequently using the internet to search for what many employers would regard as inappropriate material.
Money for nothing
Speculators are snapping up new domain names even though no decision has been taken on which net names will be picked.
The organisation that runs the internet, Icann, is due to make a decision on new generic domain names by the end of the year.
Despite this, several companies in the US are starting to take money for domains they hope Icann will pick.
But web experts are warning speculators that they could be wasting their money because paying for a name gives them no rights over it.
Since 5 September, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), which oversees the running of the internet, has been accepting suggestions from companies that want to set up and run new domain names.
Applications close on 2 October and Icann will vote on the applications in November.
Computer filth exposed
The shocking secrets of the life of grime beneath your fingers have been revealed.
Computer keyboards are accumulating up to two grams of dirt every month, research conducted on behalf of AOL UK shows.
The crumbs and dirt collect beneath the keys because users eat breakfast, snacks, and lunch over their computer terminals.
Friday
Schools could lose music and computers
TORONTO  Swimming pools, music classes and computers could all be dropped as the result of funding cuts, a Toronto Board of Education committee said yesterday.
At a budget meeting among staff and trustees, the items were tabled as a way to cope with financial downloading from the Ontario Government.
Trustees who sit on the committee suggested pools at elementary schools that aren't part of joint-use facilities would be closed and music programs would no longer be offered. And the ratio of students-to-computers, which currently stands at one computer for every six students, would jump to one computer for every 10 students. Computer support staff would also be cut.
The issue will come before a full meeting of the board scheduled for next week.
Andrew Matte
Man mounts protest by locking on to boat
NOVA SCOTIA  A fisherman, who has chained himself to the Bluenose Two schooner, won't come down until Ottawa increases fishing quotas.
Take good advantage of networking chances
 Whether it is a company conference, convention, seminar, book launch, cocktail party, or association dinner, the success of your evening can depend on how you behave."
Read Corbella Licia's column
Toronto region today
Windy and cooler with some sunshine. High of 18 degrees. Low of 6 degrees.
Overdue video gives me one more reason to worry
Linwood
Barklay
I'M A WORRIER. When we're away, as we were recently, I worry the entire time.
Has a pipe burst? Is the basement flooded? Are the wires behind the walls heating up, waiting to burst into flames? Did a tree fall on the house? Have raccoons set up their headquarters in the kitchen?
That last mile as we're coming home is the worst for me. What will we find as we round the corner and the house comes into view? Will the tail section of a 747 be sticking out through the roof?
Everything looked okay as pulled into the drive around midnight and unlocked the front door. And all seemed well as I took a quick walk around the house. No animals in the attic. No bikers in the bathtub. No missing appliances. (At night, in our hotel, I could imagine people breaking in and making off with our dryer.)
Finally calm, I checked our voice mail: ``You have 15 messages.'' Not surprising. Most of them, I figured, would be for my daughter. When we're home, I don't answer the phone because I get hoarse from shouting: ``Paige!''
First message. The video store? ``Mr. Barclay, your DVD copy of Romeo Must Die is now two days overdue. We would appreciate its return.'' Huh? Wasn't that the last thing we did the night before we left? Return videos?
Second message: ``Mr. Barclay, your copy of Romeo Must Die is now three days overdue.'' The voice sounded a bit more menacing this time. Now, when you're a worrier like me, you make a point of filing your taxes, returning your library books, paying your bills and returning your videos on time. I am the kind of guy who can be intimidated by a parking meter.
If I'm turning off the light and slipping under the covers at 10:55 p.m., and suddenly remember our rental video must be returned by 11 p.m., I am throwing on my clothes and running out to the car as my wife Neetha says: ``Relax. What are they going to do? Send in the army?'' As if I'm going to wait and find out.
I never rented Romeo Must Die in the first place. Spencer did. He treated me to a few scenes of it. ``Check this out,'' he said, zapping through the movie with the DVD remote. This guy fights a bunch of guys. Then he fights another bunch of guys. Then, for variety, he fights a bunch of guys. Then he goes one on one with another guy, each jumping so high to kick each other they might end up getting hit by a passing police helicopter.
``This is the stupidest movie I've ever seen,'' I said.
``Yeah,'' Spencer said. ``But it has a lot of guys fighting.''
What evidently happened was this: A DVD, like a compact disc, weighs next to nothing. So when we dropped the case through the night slot, we didn't realize that the disc was still in the player at home. Most of the remaining messages were from the video store. Around the sixth overdue day, it was pointed out that our fine was now somewhere in the range of $14,000.
``We're going to lose our house,'' I said to Neetha.
``Leave it to me,'' she said, and the next day returned the DVD without paying so much as a dime in penalties. I don't know what she said, but if she can handle a problem like this, when we return from our next holiday with the tail of that 747 sticking out of the house, Neetha should be able to fix things up with a bit of roof patch.
Drop by and say hello tomorrow at The Star's tent at the Word on the Street festival. For details, see today's Arts and Entertainment section.
Linwood Barclay's column appears Monday, Friday and Saturday. E-mail him at life@thestar.ca.
Rocket part found near MI6 HQ
 Police suggests dissident groups may have fired a rocket
U.K. Police investigating an attack on the MI6 spy headquarters in central London have found part of a rocket launcher, described as a "dangerous military weapon"...
Bailey battles flu on race's eve
OLYMPICS   Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey is suffering from the flu but still hopes to compete in the Olympic's first day of track competition tomorrow.
"He's under the weather," Bailey's agent Ray Flynn said today. "He's got a 'flu bug' — he's not feeling well." Asked if Bailey would compete in tomorrow's first rounds of the 100 metres, an event Bailey won at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Flynn said: "I don't know. I would expect him to go to the line. We have to be positive."
Bailey said he has felt weak and nauseous the past few days, has had serious trouble breathing and bouts of vertigo. He's undergoing acupuncture treatment for his sinuses and chest in the hope of getting better for tonight's qualifiers.
Fighting gridlock unofficial Sydney sport
Police looking for Ugandan Olympian
Lithuanian hoopsters stomp China
SYDNEY (AP) - The transit system bringing fans to and from the Olympics may be near capacity and highways could be headed for gridlock during the women's marathon.
Officials said Saturday that record attendance of nearly 400,000 fans at Olympic Park sparked fears that the transportation system is operating ''right on the edge.''
Drawn by the opening of track and field competition, crowds poured into Olympic Park on Friday, nearly doubling the previous attendance record of 204,000 on Sept. 20. Another big crowd filled the stadiums Saturday.
SYDNEY (AP) - Olympic officials said Saturday that they were helping police track down a Ugandan athlete who allegedly assaulted a 17-year-old woman. Reports said he may already have fled Sydney.
''What we are trying to do is to assist the National Olympic Committee of Uganda to try and find him so that he surrenders to the authorities,'' said Francois Carrard, director-general of the International Olympic Committee. "We don't know his actual location," he told reporters.
Police said Friday they have issued a warrant for the athlete's arrest. The alleged assault occurred in the early hours of Wednesday at a western Sydney suburb adjoining the main Games site.
SYDNEY (AP) - Less than 48 hours after becoming the first team ever to throw a scare into a U.S. men's Olympic team with NBA players, Lithuania got back to the business of chasing a third straight medal.
There was no emotional letdown over what might have been. In fact, Lithuania came out and took control in the opening 10 minutes Saturday and beat China 82-66.
In other Olympic basketball action on Saturday, Yugoslavia beat Spain 78-65.
WATER WOMEN: Canadian women's eights bronze medallists celebrate after their finish in Sydney on Sunday. From left are: Heather McDermid, Heather Davis, Dorota Urbaniak, Theresa Luke, Emma Robinson, Alison Korn, Laryssa Biesenthal, Buffy Alexander and Lesley Thompson.
BERNARD WEIL/TORONTO STAR
Canada's basketball team qualifies for quarter-finals
Spying minister catches officials asking for bribes
Dozens of streams are hidden below the city
AUSTRALIA   Canada qualified for the Sydney Olympic basketball quarter-finals last night with a brilliant shooting display in a comfortable 91-77 win over Spain.
Canadian forward Michael Meeks led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-8 shooting and grabbed 5 rebounds. Pete Guarasci had 17 points and seven rebounds. Canada's opponents in the quarter-finals are yet to be determined.  (Reuters)
KAZAKHSTAN   Dozens of corrupt traffic police and custom officials across the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan demanded bribes from the wrong man — their boss.
Interior minister Kairbek Suleymenov traveled incognito by truck across the Kazakh steppes. The truck's driver, who was transporting tonnes of melons, had to pay bribes to 36 different officials en route. Suleymenov fired them all.  (Reuters)
GEOGRAPHY   Toronto residents may not be aware that a vast network of creeks and rivers lives right beneath their feet.
The waterways, considered lost by some activists, were buried as the city developed over the last centuries...
Internet bank fraud: Five charged
Egg has around 1.1 million customers
Five people have been charged in connection with attempting to defraud an online bank.
Detectives say they have charged four men and a woman with conspiracy to defraud the internet bank Egg.com, in which Prudential has a major stake.
Property consultant Roy Graham, 29, of Dunstable, Bedfordshire, is due to appear at Milton Keynes magistrates on 23 October for allegedly conspiring to defraud the internet bank between 1 November 1999 and 22 August this year.
More information on The Rocket eBook can be found at http://www.ebookempire.com/
E-books shake up market
NEW YORK (AP) -- Book buyers who also use the Internet don't believe electronic books will replace the paper kind, according to a survey published Thursday. And a substantial number said they weren't even aware of the new medium.
"The latest Rocket eBook instrument is very good, better than sitting at your computer, but it still pales next to the 500-year-old technology of the printed book," said Nora Rawlinson, editor-in-chief of the industry magazine Publishers Weekly. "However, the industry remains in its infancy and I expect the technology to improve very soon."
Euro settles below highs
The euro, boosted by a rescue mission launched by leading central banks, settled below highs on Friday.
The euro stood at £0.8780 in late trading, down from the $0.90 level reached around midday in London after major central banks, co-ordinated by the European Central Bank, intervened by selling foreign exchange reserves to support the currency.
The euro, worth $1.18 at its launch in January 1999, hit a record low of $0.84 earlier this week.
News of the support prompted a rally on Europe's stock markets which had plummeted in early trade on news that the world's largest chipmaker, the US-based Intel, had issued a profits warning.
US taps oil reserve
President Clinton has backed his vice-president's call
President Bill Clinton has authorised the release of 30 million barrels of oil from the US strategic reserves in order to bring down prices.
The oil will be released from America's 571-million-barrel emergency reserve over a 30-day period and could be in the hands of oil companies as early as 9 October.
But oil companies will have to replace the oil next year, with a bonus percentage, once markets are less tight.
Republican presidential candidate George W Bush has condemned the move as a political ploy designed to boost the popularity of his Democrat rival, Vice-President Al Gore.
The Exorcist is restored
Classic horror movie The Exorcist has been re-released with 11 minutes of "truly terrifying" previously unseen footage and enhanced sound.
The new version of the Warner Bros film - dubbed by many as the "scariest movie ever made" - goes on show in more than 600 cinemas across the US from Friday.
Could collaboration between Spielberg and Scorsese bring Oscar success?
Spielberg and Scorsese 'form dream team'
Could collaboration between Spielberg and Scorsese bring Oscar success? Movie titans Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese are to join forces on a future film project about the American railroad.
Spielberg's production company Dreamworks will produce and Scorsese will direct the film, titled Into The Setting Sun, according to Hollywood trade paper Variety.