Cambodia leader revisits prison

Duch (centre) was asked to talk through Tuol Sleng's daily routine

The chief interrogator of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge has been taken back to a prison he commanded where at least 14,000 people were killed.

Kaing Geuk Eav, also known as Duch, visited the S-21 prison with judges from a tribunal which has charged him with crimes against humanity.

The judges wanted him to explain what happened at the site, known as Tuol Sleng, which is now a genocide museum.

The Khmer Rouge are blamed for more than one million deaths in the 1970s.

Duch is the first of five senior Khmer Rouge officials to be charged in a UN-backed tribunal, but a date for the trial has yet to be set.

Torture chambers

Despite its gruesome history, Tuol Sleng is normally one of the busiest tourist attractions in Phnom Penh.

For Duch's visit with dozens of investigating judges from the UN-backed tribunal, police cordoned off the genocide museum and the surrounding area.

WHO WERE THE KHMER ROUGE? Maoist regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979 Founded and led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998 Abolished religion, schools and currency in a bid to create agrarian utopia Brutal regime that did not tolerate dissent More than a million people thought to have died from starvation, overwork or execution

Tuol Sleng was once a school, but the Khmer Rouge surrounded the outside with barbed wire and turned the classrooms into tiny cells and blood-spattered torture chambers.

Thousands of people were tortured there until they admitted to crimes against the revolution. Only a handful of inmates left the prison alive.

Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which researches Khmer Rouge atrocities, said the site was a "living nightmare" for Cambodians.

On Tuesday, Duch was taken to visit Choeung Ek, where some 16,000 people were buried in shallow mass graves after being tortured at Tuol Sleng.

Reach Sambath, a tribunal spokesman, said Duch wept during the visit as "the accused explained what happened ... when he was the chief of S-21", the Associated Press news agency reported.

"We noticed that he was feeling pity, tears were rolling down his face two or three times," he said.

The former school is now a museum about the Cambodian genocide

Duch was especially moved, he said, when he stood before a tree with a sign describing how executioners disposed of their child victims by bashing their heads against its trunk.

Both visits, described by officials as re-enactments, were closed to the public and the media.

Duch was arrested and detained in July 2007.

Those also facing charges include Nuon Chea, second-in-command of the late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, the former foreign and social affairs ministers Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, and former head of state Khieu Samphan.

Europe funds internet TV standard

Peer-to-peer technology underpins the BBC's iPlayer

The European Union is spending 14m euros (£10.5m) to create a standard way to send TV via the net.

An additional 5m euros (£3.7m) is being contributed to the project by 21 other partners including the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union.

The project will create a peer-to-peer system that can pipe programmes to set-top boxes and home TV sets.

It will be based on the BitTorrent technology many people already use to share movies and music.

Community work

Dubbed P2P Next, the four-year research project will try to build a system that can stand alongside the other ways that broadcasters currently get programmes to viewers.

"For the broadcasters the incentive is to take their distribution mechanism beyond terrestrial, satellite and cable," said project co-ordinator Jari Ahola, from the VTT technical research centre in Finland.

"They can use the internet as a distribution platform for very low cost," he said.

The finished system would be able to handle stored content for download and streamed content sent from live programmes such as football matches or other big ticket events.

Mr Ahola said peer-to-peer was crucial because, without it, broadcasters trying to serve large audiences would likely be overwhelmed as the numbers of those watching TV via the net grew.

More people are getting TV shows via the net rather than the air

Peer-to-peer systems have no central host that hands out content, such as TV shows, to viewers. Instead all the machines downloading a show make parts of it available to all the others that want it.

In this way, the load is distributed across the network.

However, he added, the finished system would also have to be able to handle broadcast-type events that can be restricted to particular audiences.

"There will be certain streams within an operator's network that will be sent only once and won't be for everyone," he said. "The geographic limitations will support the existing way of doing it."

Mr Ahola said the project aimed to have some parts of the system available by August 2008. A more complete test version should be finished within 16 months that can pipe programmes to set-top boxes so people can watch on their TV set rather than a PC.

The BBC already uses some peer-to-peer technology to underpin the iPlayer - its on-demand TV system.

P2P Next will build on the Tribler technology under development at the Delft University of Technology. Built in to this are tools that viewers can use to communicate with others that enjoy a particular programme or genre.

Xbox to stop making HD DVD add-on

About 300,000 of the HD DVD add-ons have been sold

Microsoft has decided to stop making the HD DVD add-on for its Xbox 360 games console after Toshiba abandoned the high definition DVD format.

Toshiba estimated last week that about 300,000 of the add-ons had been sold.

Microsoft was one of the key backers for the HD DVD format, competing with Blu-ray, which was the format available in Sony's rival PlayStation 3 console.

Microsoft said it would continue to provide warranty support for the $130 (£115 in the UK) HD DVD add-on.

Last week, Toshiba said it would stop production of HD DVD players and recorders after major film studios decided to back Sony's Blu-ray format instead.

Toshiba said the tipping point came last month when Warner Brothers decided to release its movies only in Blu-ray.

The Xbox add-ons sold represented 30% of the one million HD DVD devices that were sold worldwide.

That compares unfavourably with the 10.5 million PS3s sold by Sony, which come with a built-in Blu-ray drive.

Adobe fuses on and offline worlds

Air was code-named "apollo" during its development

Adobe has launched software designed to make it easier for computer users to use online applications offline.

Adobe Air allows developers to build tools that still have some functionality even when a computer is no longer connected to the net.

A free download will allow users of Macs, PCs and, later this year, Linux machines to run any Air applications.

The first programs that use the technology, developed by web sites such as eBay, have already been released.

"Air is going to allow applications that run on the web today - that run in the browser - to be brought down to the desktop," Andrew Shorten, platform evangelist at Adobe told.

"It's about taking existing web applications and adding extra functionality whether you want to work offline or whether you want to access data on your disk."

Seamless vision

Mr Shorten said that the technology is not about replacing the web browser.

Many firms have already developed Air applications

"It's about delivering the best experience depending on where you are and what you need to get from the application, " he said.

"If I'm on the road with my laptop maybe I want to use the desktop version of my application. If I pop into an internet cafe I can still access it through the browser."

The software is part of a growing number of technologies that aim to make the transition between the on and offline worlds seamless.

In 2006, Microsoft unveiled its Silverlight technology. And last year Google launched Gears.

The tool does not allow the creation of new content but does allow web applications to be used offline.

For example, the developers of the free online office package Zoho use Gears to give users similar functionality to normal desktop office programs.

The nice thing about it is that it works on all the different platforms

Similarly, Adobe is looking into provide Air versions of many of its popular programs such as Photoshop.

A host of other companies and web services have already built Air applications.

For example, Ebay has built a program that allows users to do much of the legwork required in setting up auctions offline. The next time the user connects to the internet the listing would be posted to the website.

The application also allows users to keep up to date with auctions and bids without the need to have a browser open at the eBay page.

Blurred boundary

The BBC is also building prototype applications with AIR.

"The nice thing about it is that it works on all the different platforms - Mac, PC and eventually Linux," said John O'Donovan, chief architect in the BBC's Future Media and Technology Journalism division.

The corporation is currently building prototype versions of several applications such as the news ticker, which displays headlines on a desktop, and mini Motty, which provides desktop football commentary.

The current versions of the programs only work on PCs.

Other programs exploit Air's ability to access both web content and files on a computer's disk.

For example, the web-version of Finetunes allows users to stream music over the internet

"If you install the Air version on your desktop it can also look at what you have in your iTunes library and then suggest music based on what it finds," explained Mr Shorten.

"So it's really taking the essence of what works on the web, brining it to the desktop and then making it more personal to you."

Some commentators have pointed out that the ability for an application to delve between the web and a computer's hard drive raises security implications.

"Our advice would be to only install applications from sources that you trust," said Mr Shorten.

The Oscars 2008

The Coen brothers previously won Oscars for Fargo

No Country For Old Men has won four Oscars, including best film and best director, a category awarded jointly to brothers Joel and Ethan Coen.

Javier Bardem also won best supporting actor for his role as a hitman in the film, thanking his family in Spanish.

All of the acting prizes went to Europe, with UK stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Tilda Swinton named best actor and best supporting actress respectively.

France's Marion Cotillard earned the best actress prize for La Vie En Rose.

"I'm speechless now," said Cotillard, who played legendary torch singer Edith Piaf in the movie.

"Thank you life; thank you love. It is true there are some angels in this city."

TOP OSCARS 2008 Best film No Country For Old Men Best actor Daniel Day-Lewis (pictured) Best actress Marion Cotillard Best supporting actor Javier Bardem Best supporting actress Tilda Swinton

Day-Lewis, who picked up his Oscar from Dame Helen Mirren, joked it was "the closest I'll ever come to getting a knighthood".

It was the 50-year-old's second Academy Award, having been recognised for My Left Foot in 1990.

Elsewhere at the ceremony, exotic dancer-turned-scriptwriter Diablo Cody took best original screenplay for the quirky, verbose comedy Juno - her first ever movie.

"I'm shocked by the popularity of the film," she said.

"I mean, when you write basically an independent movie about, you know, a pregnant teenager and you make it for seven million dollars you never, ever think it's going to become this phenomenon."

Birthday

Stewart returned to host the Oscars for the second time

The ceremony, at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, marked the 80th anniversary of the Academy Awards.

Organisers celebrated "Oscar's birthday" with film montages celebrating past winners and memorable Oscar moments - including the streaker who ran behind David Niven during 1974's ceremony.

However, this year's understated show was unlikely to provide many clips for future compilations.

It was put together in just a matter of weeks after the writers' strike - which had threatened to force the cancellation of Hollywood's biggest night - was called off.

That meant there were no large-scale song-and-dance numbers or lovingly-crafted movie spoofs from host Jon Stewart.

George Clooney was accompanied by his girlfriend, Sarah Larson

Returning for his second stint at the helm of the awards show, Stewart acknowledged the impact of the strike on Hollywood.

"These past three and a half months have been very tough. The town was torn apart by a bitter writers' strike," he said.

"But I'm happy to say that the fight is over. So tonight, welcome to the make-up sex."

Batman joke

No Country For Old Men, a dark comedy about a drugs bust gone wrong, had long been the frontrunner to win best film.

Its win cements the reputation of the Coen siblings as Hollywood's favourite leftfield film-makers.

Accepting their award, older brother Joel recalled that the duo had been making films since childhood.

Marion Cotillard was among the night's winners

"What we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then," he said.

"We're very thankful to all of you out there for continuing to let us play in our corner of the sandbox."

Tilda Swinton gave the most spirited speech of the night while picking up her best supporting actress award.

"I have an American agent who is the spitting image of this," she said, referring to her Oscar statuette.

"Really, truly. The same shape head and, it has to be said, the buttocks."

She also poked fun at her Michael Clayton co-star George Clooney, by referring back to his critically-derided stint as superhero Batman.

"Seeing you climb into that rubber batsuit from Batman and Robin, the one with the nipples, every morning under your costume, on the set, off the set, hanging upside-down at lunch... You rock, man."

Parties

Dame Helen Mirren presented Day-Lewis with his award

One awkward moment came as musical duo Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova ran out of time during their acceptance speech for most original song.

Hansard, who sings for Irish band The Frames, had just finished his thank-yous and stepped aside for petite Irglova to make her speech when the orchestra struck up, forcing her off stage.

After a commercial break, Irglova was invited back to rapturous applause from the audience.

"The fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just proof that no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible," she said.

With the main ceremony over, a question mark still lingers over the glitzy post-Oscars parties. The high-profile Vanity Fair bash was cancelled during the writers' strike.

Other casualties included People magazine's party, and that of socialite Dani Jannssen, whose annual gathering attracts the likes of Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood.

However, pop stars Madonna and Prince have stepped into the breach with hastily-arranged parties in their Hollywood homes.

Spears briefly reunited with sons

Spears had not been allowed to see her sons since January

Troubled US pop star Britney Spears has spent several hours with her two sons after being granted access to visit them on Saturday.

It is nearly two months since she last saw them, after her ex-husband Kevin Federline was legally given sole custody of them on 4 January.

But Mr Federline's lawyer said on Saturday an agreement allowing Spears to see her children had been reached.

Mark Vincent Kaplan said both parents agreed to a revision of a court order.

'Participant in their lives'

The order had stripped Spears, 26, of her visitation rights.

"The process of reinstating the children's mother as a participant in their lives can commence," Mr Kaplan said.

Mr Federline's spokesman, Elliot Mintz, said Spears' father, James, played a key part in making possible the visit with Jayden James, aged one, and Sean Preston, two.

He gave no further details of the reunion.

The court order was put in place in January after Spears had refused to return her children to their father after a visit. It resulted in a stand-off with police at her house.

She was admitted to a hospital psychiatric ward following the incident, and spent another six days in a psychiatric unit earlier this month.

Mr Federline had been awarded primary custody of the boys last October.

Computers 'spot Alzheimer's fast'

Alzheimer's can be difficult to diagnose

Computers can diagnose Alzheimer's disease faster and more accurately than experts, research suggests.

University College London researchers say their work may help ensure patients are diagnosed earlier, increasing the chances of effective treatment.

Their study, published in the journal Brain, found computers can identify brain damage caused by Alzheimer's with an accuracy as high as 96%.

At present a definitive diagnosis is usually only possible after death.

Alzheimer's is caused by the build up in the brain of plaques and tangles of brain tissue filaments, which causes tissue to start wasting away.

It is currently diagnosed using a combination of brain scans, blood tests and patient interviews, but distinguishing the disease from other forms of dementia is difficult, and time consuming, and the accuracy of diagnosis is only about 85%.

The new method works by teaching a standard computer the differences between brain scans from patients with proven Alzheimer's, and people with no signs of the disease.

The two conditions can be distinguished with a high degree of accuracy on a single clinical MRI scan.

Researcher Professor Richard Frackowiak said: "The advantage of using computers is that they prove cheaper, faster and more accurate than the current method of diagnosis.

"The new method makes an objective diagnosis without the need for human intervention.

"This will be particularly attractive for areas of the world where there is a shortage of trained clinicians and when a standardised reliable diagnosis is needed, for example in drug trials."

Speed important

Professor Frackowiak emphasised that as symptoms only emerge after a considerable amount of damage has already occurred in the brain it is important to make an accurate diagnosis early to improve the chances of effectively preventing further deterioration.

He said: "The next step is to see whether we can use the technique to reliably track progression of the disease in a patient.

"This could prove a powerful and non-invasive tool for screening the efficacy of new drug treatments speedily, without a need for large costly clinical trials."

Dr Susanne Sorensen, of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "Currently, MRI imaging is not routinely used in diagnosing the diseases causing dementia.

"This paper puts a strong case for the wider use of this technique."

Dr Sorensen said it was vital the National Dementia Strategy currently being produced by the government makes early diagnosis a high priority.

Rebecca Wood, of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "This promising computer aided technique could act as a second opinion to increase the accuracy of a doctor?s diagnosis.

"However, this research is in the early stages and further analysis is required to understand the full benefits and accuracy of this technique and to see if it can be used to assess the effectiveness of new drugs."

It is estimated that over 700,000 people in the UK are currently living with dementia, of which Alzheimer's is the most common form.

Raul Castro named Cuban president

Raul Castro now has to grapple with Cuba's economic problems

Raul Castro has been unanimously selected to succeed his brother Fidel as leader by Cuba's National Assembly.

Fidel Castro stepped down last week after nearly half a century in charge.

Raul has in effect been president since Fidel had major surgery in July 2006. It is understood that he was the only nominee in a vote seen as a formality.

But the real shock came when he chose 78-year-old Politburo hardliner Machado Ventura as vice-president.

The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution is unique, Fidel is Fidel, as we all know well, he is irreplaceable Raul Castro

There had been speculation that Raul Castro, aged 76, would name one of Cuba's younger generation of communist leaders as his number two.

But he instead opted for one of the original leaders of Cuba's communist revolution.

What this means for the prospects for change remains unclear, our correspondent says.

Economic challenge

In an address to the nation, following the behind-closed-doors vote, Raul Castro said the Cuban government would continue to consult Fidel Castro, 81, on major decisions of state - a move backed by the National Assembly deputies.

Cubans in Havana discuss the priorities of their next president

Raul Castro paid tribute to his older brother as he accepted the presidency and said that he was accepting the job on the understanding that Fidel Castro would remain as the "commander in chief of the revolution", a title he was given during the 1959 uprising.

"The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution is unique, Fidel is Fidel, as we all know well, he is irreplaceable," Raul Castro said.

Our correspondent says Raul Castro now has to steer the Caribbean island through un-charted waters in an unpredictable period of economic and political renewal.

Before Sunday's session, Raul Castro had suggested implementing major economic reforms and "structural changes".

He has worked to ensure a smooth political transition, keeping the army loyal to the regime and strengthening the Communist Party's hold by introducing reforms and weeding out corrupt officials.

He has also had the advantage of continued economic support from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the form of millions of barrels of cheap oil, our correspondent adds.

Mr Chavez was quick to congratulate Raul Castro on his appointment, leading a standing ovation to the new Cuban president on his weekly television programme in Caracas.

"Let's applaud Raul, who is a comrade, a companion, more than the brother of Fidel," Mr Chavez said.

Mr Castro said that Venezuela would continue to support the communist state.

Letter announcement

Fidel Castro, who has ruled Cuba since leading a revolution in 1959, announced his retirement in a letter published on the website of the Cuban Communist Party's newspaper Granma last week.

He said he had not stepped down after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in 2006 because he had had a duty to the Cuban people to prepare them for his absence.

But retirement, he added, would not stop him from carrying "on fighting like a soldier of ideas", and he promised to continue writing essays entitled Reflections of Comrade Fidel.

Though he has not been seen in public for 19 months, the government occasionally releases photographs and pre-edited video of him meeting visiting leaders from around the world.

Israel steps up border security

Israel's military has stepped up operations along Gaza's frontier

Israel's military has strengthened positions along its frontier with Gaza ahead of a demonstration against the months-long blockade of the territory.

Three Hamas fighters were killed by Israeli air strikes near Gaza's border on Sunday, the group said.

Tens of thousands of Gazan women and children are expected to form a human chain stretching the length of the coastal enclave in Monday's protest.

Protest organisers say they have no intention of breaching the border.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported there are fears of casualties if the troops try to halt the demonstration.

"Israel will not intervene in demonstrations inside the Gaza Strip but it will ensure the defence of its territory and prevent any violation of its sovereign borders," said a joint statement released by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

"Israel will work to avoid a deterioration of the situation but declares unequivocally that Hamas must assume full responsibility if that happens," said the statement.

Day off school

Monday's demonstration has been organised by the Popular Anti-Siege Committee, a pro-Hamas group.

Organisers hope the chain will stretch along the border

"We do not have intentions of approaching the fence, either in the north or the south," said protest organiser Jamal Khudary.

"We hope all the participants will abide by the instructions and we will try to prevent any violations."

Hamas has said it backs the demonstration but did not organise it.

Hamas-controlled schools across the coastal enclave have given pupils time off to take part in the human chain protest.

An Israeli security source said the army was preparing for "all scenarios", Reuters reported.

"Obviously, if gunmen start shooting at the fence we will have to respond in kind and we are absolutely unwilling to countenance a situation where the fence is breached like it was at Rafah," Reuters reported the source as saying.

Last month, thousands of Gazans crossed the border into Egypt at Rafah, after militants blew holes in the frontier fence.

Smuggling tunnels

In Sunday's airstrikes, two Hamas fighters were killed near the Israeli border in Khan Younes, and another died in northern Gaza, the group said.

Israeli forces also detained 40 Palestinians and said they had discovered five smuggling tunnels along the territory's frontier.

Israel fears similar scenes to those after the Egyptian border breach

Israeli authorities fear a repetition of scenes from last month, when the fence separating Gaza from Egypt was demolished by Palestinian militants in several places near the Rafah crossing point.

Hundreds of thousands of Gazans poured through the breaches to buy essential goods before the border was resealed several days later.

Hamas officials have since raised the possibility of similar breaches along the border with Israel.

Israel's blockade of Gaza was imposed after the Islamist Hamas party routed secular Fatah forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas last June and seized control of the Gaza Strip.

Israel said the siege, which has prevented the flow of everything but essential humanitarian supplies, was in response to cross-border rocket attacks by militants in Gaza.

But Palestinians and several international agencies have said the sanctions amount to collective punishment of Gaza's 1.5 million civilians.

Turkey border tensions fuel confusion

The operation along the rugged, snowbound border is limited

The Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq has apparently turned out to be on a considerably lesser scale than initial reports had suggested.

Iraqi Kurdish officials and US-led coalition sources said only a few hundred Turkish troops at most took part in the cross-border operation.

The Iraqi Kurds - always on the look-out for any Turkish move that might be construed as an attempt against their own autonomous region - said the incursion took place in a remote, rugged and unpopulated sector of the border, where heavy snows hamper movement at this time of the year.

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces, who control the part of northern Iraq south of the Turkish border, had no contact with the Turkish troops and were only aware of the operation from monitoring military radio traffic.

No vehicles or tanks were involved in the move across the border, although helicopter gunships were in action as well as jets and artillery.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari - himself a Kurd - described the operation as "very, very limited".

But he added that the Turks had destroyed five bridges over the Blue River tributary - part of the Greater Zaab river complex - and said he had called in the Turkish charge d'affaires in Baghdad to deliver a protest note.

Protective US umbrella

The underlying situation in Iraqi Kurdistan and on the Turkish border is so sensitive and tense that any news of Turkish military action is often blown out of proportion.

Turkish military statements are usually scant and elliptical, leaving the field open to speculation and interpretation.

Click to view a detailed map of the border region

But Ankara is well aware of Iraqi Kurdish sensibilities, and also that the United States is committed to maintaining the integrity both of Iraq as a whole, and of the federal autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, which has enjoyed a protective US umbrella since the early 1990s.

Tensions were particularly high in October and November, when the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) carried out raids in which about 30 Turkish soldiers were killed.

Turkey massed tens of thousands of troops on the border, a build-up which is still in place.

The Iraqi Kurds feared that a major invasion was imminent, and that their own autonomy would be the real target.

But the invasion did not materialise, with Washington playing a key role in persuading the Turks to hold off in exchange for co-operation in efforts to deal with the PKK with pin-point operations.

Prime Minister Erdogan said the PKK threatens Turkey's integrity

Washington confirmed that it had been notified in advance of the latest Turkish move, and received assurances that it would be directed solely at positions or fighters of the PKK.

They have hideouts in the rugged border mountains, from which they have conducted attacks across the border into Turkey.

The Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, also called his Iraqi counterpart, Jalal Talabani, on Thursday evening to assure him that border operations would not be directed against the Iraqi Kurds.

Mr Gul invited Mr Talabani, who is a Kurd, to pay an official visit to Ankara, an invitation which the Iraqi president accepted.

But the launching of the Turkish operation was preceded by some friction on the ground between Turkish troops and the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

Fighting season

There are two fixed Turkish bases inside northern Iraq, at Bamarni and Bakoufa, where a limited number of troops and tanks have been stationed since 1997 with a static monitoring and intelligence function.

The PKK wants a Kurdish homeland in south-eastern Turkey

On Wednesday, according to senior Iraqi Kurds, Turkish troops tried to move out of the bases to set up checkpoints on nearby main roads.

They were confronted by Peshmerga fighters who took up combat positions. There was a tense stand-off before the Turkish forces returned to their bases without any shots being fired.

The subsequent cross-border raid, so far at least, has fallen far short of the major incursion that had been feared before the winter weather ended the fighting season in late November.

For thousands of troops to pour across the border, as initial reports suggested, they would have to use the only major crossing, at Habur, near Zakho in the far north-west of Iraq.

The Iraqi Kurds say that did not happen. They control the southern end of the crossing, and would be the first to notice - and probably confront - a major Turkish advance.

Operations elsewhere along the rugged, snowbound border would necessarily be of a much more limited nature, until the spring thaws make the remote terrain somewhat more accessible.

Xbox to deliver community games

Little Gamers is one of the first community titles

Hobbyist game developers will be able to share their "home brew" titles over Microsoft's Xbox Live online service.

The company has launched a community driven service that will let amateur creators build and distribute games.

"Ten million people will be able to play your games," said Microsoft's Chris Satchell, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Microsoft also announced a sequel to its four and a half million-selling game Gears of War.

"I think of this as gaming created by the community and managed by the community but enjoyed by everyone," said Mr Satchell of the new game distribution system.

'Democratisation'

Microsoft freely distributes tools, called XNA, which gives amateur developers the chance to build games for the Xbox 360 and for Windows.

But until now the games could not be shared. The tools have been downloaded 800,000 times and more than 400 universities worldwide are using the XNA package.

Mr Satchell said it was the democratisation of development and distribution.

"There are tens of thousands of developers out there chomping at the bit; we need to unlock that potential," said John Schappert, head of Live services.

Microsoft also announced that it was planning a revenue sharing model for the community games distributed over Xbox Live.

US warns India over nuclear pact

The senators warn that the situation is getting critical

A US delegation has warned India it must finalise a nuclear deal by July if Congress in Washington is to ratify it before presidential polls.

The civilian nuclear energy deal between the two countries has been delayed because of opposition from India's communist parties.

The parties provide key support to PM Manmohan Singh's minority government.

They argue that the accord would give the US undue influence over India's foreign and nuclear policy.

Under the terms of the deal, India would get access to US civil nuclear technology and fuel, in return for opening its civilian nuclear facilities to inspection.

But its nuclear weapons sites would remain off-limits.

The deal will also eventually need to be approved by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which regulates global civilian nuclear trade.

'Difficult to ratify'

The delegation of three US senators arrived in Delhi on a day-long visit after monitoring Pakistan's elections.

"Time is of the essence," Joseph Biden, one of the senators, said, urging India to confirm its support for the nuclear deal.

The left-wing parties have been protesting against the nuclear deal

The visiting Americans say the deal is running out of time because of the tight legislative agenda for 2008 ahead of November's US presidential elections.

"If we don't have the deal back with us clearly prior to the month of July, it will be very difficult to ratify," Mr Biden said.

Whatever the merits of the deal, passing it through Congress after July would be harder because of "the mechanics on which our system functions", he said.

Mr Biden also said it was "highly unlikely" the next president would be able to authorise the same deal, if it did not reach Congress in time.

"It will be renegotiated," Mr Biden said.

"It is critical, if India want that deal, they move on relatively soon, within a matter of weeks,'' he said.

Mr Biden and senators John Kerry and Chuck Hagel met Prime Minister Singh on Wednesday to express their concerns over the issue.

India tested nuclear weapons in 1974 and 1998 and consequently is banned from buying fuel for atomic reactors and related equipment.

The deal has already been pronounced dead by some analysts because of India's domestic political rivalries.