VIC:Driver jailed for Vic triple fatality

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2011
VIC:Driver jailed for Vic triple fatality

By Michelle Draper

MELBOURNE, Aug 22 AAP - An Indian student has been jailed for more than 10 years for
causing a head-on collision in which he wiped out three members of one family on a highway
north of Melbourne.

Two teenage girls, now aged 14 and 16, were left orphaned when Gurwinder Singh, 25,
crashed into the family's Volkswagen near Merton, northeast of Melbourne, in May 2009.

Singh was jailed for 10 and a half years on Monday over the head-on collision that
killed Basil "Tex" Rehe, 55, his wife Robyn and his sister Suzanne, both 45.

Singh was overtaking a semi-trailer on the Maroondah Highway at 118km/h when he over-corrected
and spun into the oncoming lane of traffic, colliding with the Rehes' car.

Mr Rehe's mother Joyce, 75, and his then 12-year-old daughter Abbey were seriously
injured in the crash, along with one of Singh's passengers, Amandeep Singh (no relation).

Mr Rehe's sister Angie said the family had been hit hard by the multiple fatalities.

"It breaks a family apart to have so much grief, so many people missing, so many people's
lives changed and so many ongoing things to deal with," Ms Rehe told reporters outside
the Victorian County Court on Monday.

"It wasn't a split-second bad decision, it was a series of foolish, reckless, selfish
decisions," she said of Singh's driving.

Ms Rehe said she did not think the sentence handed down to Singh sent a strong enough
message when the maximum penalty for culpable driving was 20 years' jail.

She said an apologetic letter written by Singh and read out to the court was too little,
too late.

"It's all very well to claim remorse now and say you're sorry in a letter to the court,
but only after you've been convicted.

"I think that's too little too late."

Judge Rachelle Lewitan said Tex and Robyn Rehe's two teenage girls were suffering considerably
because of the loss of their parents.

Their deaths had been felt widely, with each having children from previous marriages.

"Your conduct has had tragic and far-reaching consequences for the Rehe family," Judge
Lewitan said in sentencing Singh.

"Three members of the family have died and two members of that family have sustained
serious injury which will affect them for the rest of their lives.

"In one moment, a 12-year-old child has lost both parents.

"Suzanne, Basil and Robyn Rehe were much loved and will be sorely missed."

In his letter, Singh apologised to the Rehe family.

"From the bottom of my heart, if I could swap my life for theirs, I would, in an instant,"

the letter said.

Singh, who arrived in Australia on a student visa in July 2008, will likely be deported
to India upon his release.

He was driving back from a day at Mount Buller when he hit the Rehes' car, as they
were returning to Wodonga.

Singh, formerly of Murrumbeena, was found guilty by a jury of three counts of culpable
driving and three of negligently causing serious injury.

Judge Lewitan ordered he serve seven years before becoming eligible for parole.

AAP md/mn/it/jl

KEYWORD: SINGH WRAP (PIX AVAILABLE)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

QLD: Six charged over Toowoomba fires

AAP General News (Australia)
02-20-2008
QLD: Six charged over Toowoomba fires

Two men will appear in a Queensland court today .. charged with arson over three fires
in Toowoomba on Saturday night.

The men .. aged 24 and 19 .. both of Hatton …

Carnegie Mellon Researchers Build Time Machine for Visual Exploration of Space and Time

Wireless News
04-27-2011
Carnegie Mellon Researchers Build Time Machine for Visual Exploration of Space and Time
Type: News

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute have leveraged the latest browser technology to create GigaPan Time Machine, a system that enables viewers to explore gigapixel-scale, high-resolution videos and image sequences by panning or zooming in and out of the images while simultaneously moving back and forth through time.

Viewers, for instance, can use the system to focus in on the details of a booth within a panorama of a carnival midway, but also reverse time to see how the booth was constructed. Or they can watch a group of plants sprout, grow and flower, shifting perspective to watch some plants move wildly as they grow while others get eaten by caterpillars. Or, they can view a computer simulation of the early universe, watching as gravity works across 600 million light-years to condense matter into filaments and finally into stars that can be seen by zooming in for a close up.
"With GigaPan Time Machine, you can simultaneously explore space and time at extremely high resolutions," said Illah Nourbakhsh, associate professor of robotics and head of the Create Lab. "Science has always been about narrowing your point of view - selecting a particular experiment or observation that you think might provide insight. But this system enables what we call exhaustive science, capturing huge amounts of data that can then be explored in amazing ways."

The system is an extension of the GigaPan technology developed by the Create Lab and NASA, which can capture a mosaic of hundreds or thousands of digital pictures and stitch those frames into a panorama that be interactively explored via computer. To extend GigaPan into the time dimension, image mosaics are repeatedly captured at set intervals, and then stitched across both space and time to create a video in which each frame can be hundreds of millions, or even billions of pixels.

An enabling technology for time-lapse GigaPans is a feature of the HTML5 language that has been incorporated into such browsers as Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari. HTML5, the latest revision of the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) standard that is at the core of the Internet, makes browsers capable of presenting video content without use of plug-ins such as Adobe Flash or Quicktime.

Using HTML5, Create Lab computer scientists Randy Sargent, Chris Bartley and Paul Dille developed algorithms and software architecture that make it possible to shift from one video portion to another as viewers zoom in and out of Time Machine imagery. To keep bandwidth manageable, the GigaPan site streams only those video fragments that pertain to the segment and/or time frame being viewed.

Guidelines on how individuals can capture time-lapse images using GigaPan cameras are included on the site created for hosting the new imagery's large data files, http://timemachine.gigapan.org. Sargent explained the Create Lab is eager to work with people who want to capture Time Machine imagery with GigaPan, or use the visualization technology for other applications.

Once a Time Machine GigaPan has been created, viewers can annotate and save their explorations of it in the form of video "Time Warps."

Though the time-lapse mode is an extension of the original GigaPan concept, scientists already are applying the visualization techniques to other types of Big Data. Carnegie Mellon's Bruce and Astrid McWilliams Center for Cosmology, for instance, has used it to visualize a simulation of the early universe performed at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center by Tiziana Di Matteo, associate professor of physics.

Google supported development of GigaPan Time Machine.

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

Copyright 2011 Close-Up Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
n/a

--Norwegian PSI Group gets order in Sweden

Internet Business News
02-11-2011
--Norwegian PSI Group gets order in Sweden

INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS-(C)1995-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

11 February 2011 - Norwegian IT solutions provider PSI Group (OSL: PSI) said today it has entered into an agreement for delivery of its closed cash-handling system CashGuard with Swedish purchasing and marketing organisation EMAB AB.
No financial details were available.

EMAB is owned by about 400 independent stores such as Shell, St1, Statoil 123, Bilisten, Preem, OK/Q8 and Frendo and some 170 of these retailers currently use a point-o-sale (POS) system ready for CashGuard integration, PSI Group said.

((Comments on this story may be sent to info@m2.com))

(Copyright M2 Communications, 2011)

FED:Brown talks to Gillard, Swan

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2010
FED:Brown talks to Gillard, Swan

By Bonny Symons-Brown

CANBERRA, Aug 27 AAP - Australian Greens leader Bob Brown says he's held constructive
talks with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her deputy Wayne Swan about Labor forming
a minority government.

Senator Brown did not want to disclose details of the meeting, held at Parliament House
in Canberra on Friday morning, but said it had been positive.

"We are looking at what assurances there would need to be to give stable government
for the future of this country," he told reporters.

"There is progress afoot there."

Senator Brown said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on Monday promised he would get back
to him at the end of this week to discuss the next parliament, but he had so far heard
nothing.

"Very happy to talk to him about the same matters, if he wants to do that," he said.

MORE bsb/rl/apm

KEYWORD: POLL10 GREENS

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: Aussie short film part of Peter Farrelly comedy

AAP General News (Australia)
04-20-2010
FED: Aussie short film part of Peter Farrelly comedy

SYDNEY, April 20 AAP - An Australian short film will be part of a new comedy feature
being produced by the team behind There's Something About Mary.

The Apprentice, by filmmakers Steve Baker and Damon Escott, will be one of 24 short
films to be produced and released as one film by Peter Farrelly of Farrelly Brothers fame,
and Charles B Wessler.

It will begin shooting in Melbourne this week, starring American actor Anton Yelchin
(Star Trek, Terminator Salvation), and local stars Shane Jacobson (Kenny, Charlie and
Boots) and Colin Lane (Lano and Woodley).

AFI Award-winner Baker won Tropfest in 2007 with his animated film An Imaginary Life,
while ARIA Award-winner Escott has made music videos for bands like Silverchair, Powderfinger
and Bernard Fanning.

"Peter (Farrelly) and I are very excited about The Apprentice, our only Australian
contribution to the project," Wessler said.

"Steve's script is both disturbing and hysterically funny.

"It is unique and will stand out from all the other short films in the movie. Steve
and Damon are terrific filmmakers."

Farrelly, who made There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber and Shallow Hal with
Wessler, will direct two of the short films himself.

Australian stars including Hugh Jackman and Naomi Watts are among the actors involved
in the other short films, along with Kate Winslet, Sam Rockwell, Justin Long, Julianne
Moore, Liev Schreiber, Anna Faris, Elizabeth Banks, Gerard Butler, Johnny Knoxville and
more.

The as yet untitled feature will be released later this year.

AAP acb/nf/pc

KEYWORD: APPRENTICE

2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Unhappy Snappy takes a taste of Tracey

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2009
Vic: Unhappy Snappy takes a taste of Tracey

By Michelle Draper

MELBOURNE, Dec 6 AAP - Reptile handler Tracey Sandstrom can't explain why her two-metre
saltwater crocodile, Snappy, sank his teeth into her arm at a Christmas party in Victoria.

It was the kind of cranky behaviour she would have expected from her bigger croc, Getcha.

"He's named Getcha because if you take the tape off his mouth he'll get ya. He's over
two-metres long and double Snappy's body mass," she told AAP on Sunday from Geelong Hospital,
where she is recovering.

"He started to get a little bit agitated and grumpy at displays, so we don't use him
much anymore."

Ms Sandstrom said she wasn't terrified, just rather annoyed, when 22-kilogram Snappy
lived up to his name and chomped.

The Roaming Reptiles operator was presenting a reptile display at Geelong's Eastern
Gardens for a private end-of-year function when Snappy moved, snapping the tape binding
his jaws.

"I was just standing next to him supervising him, and he turned around and half of
the tape broke off his mouth and he opened his mouth about a centimetre or two and bit
my forearm," Ms Sandstrom said, adding it was only for a second or two until she pulled
her arm out.

"He's sitting on the table looking around. I think (he was) thinking: `What else can I bite?'"

Although St John Ambulance officers were in attendance, they could not approach the
Roaming Reptiles operator until she'd secured Snappy.

With the help of her co-worker, Ms Sandstrom - who was well aware Snappy could smell
the blood seeping from three puncture wounds - managed to slip a net over the croc's head.

"He just sat there because that's the normal procedure that we follow.

"I got my noose, which is a very stress-free way of taping him up for both of us.

"I just gently put it over his snout and closed it," she said.

A bystander then helped drag Snappy off the table and place him in his crate.

At the same time, Ms Sandstrom was plugged in to her Bluetooth device calling an ambulance
on her mobile phone.

"There was a bit of a pause when I said I'd been bitten by a crocodile in Geelong," she said.

"They were waiting for the punchline."

Ms Sandstrom, 46, said it was "an annoying shock" rather than a terrifying ordeal when
the croc she's had since he was a 30cm-long baby bit her.

She prides herself on rarely being bitten by her reptilian mates and said she felt disappointed.

She was recovering in Geelong Hospital with a number of staples in her arm on Sunday.

But the incident certainly hadn't impaired her sense of humour.

"It looks like I'm part of an Officeworks Christmas party. I don't know what they do
at Officeworks Christmas parties but someone ran amok on my arm."

As for Snappy, he'll still be part of her reptilian repertoire, but with a bit more
tape around his jaws.

"We'll probably be a little bit more cautious with him.

"We'll use extra tape, that's obviously a given."

AAP md/gfr/it/cdh

KEYWORD: SNAPPY (SUPPLIED PIX AVAILABLE)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: 70 Aussies suspected of having swine flu: health department

AAP General News (Australia)
04-28-2009
Fed: 70 Aussies suspected of having swine flu: health department

Seventy Australians are suspected of having swine flu .. although the virus is showing
signs of abating in Mexico where it's believed to have claimed 152 lives.

There are no confirmed cases of the virus in Australia.

The World Health Organisation's upgraded its pandemic threat level to four .. which
is two steps short of declaring a full-blown pandemic.

A phase four alert means human-to-human transmission is causing outbreaks in at least
one country.

Australia has not elevated its response since the WHO announcement.

Health Minister NICOLA ROXON's told ABC Radio it's concerning that we're now at the
next phase .. but new border measures have been introduced at the country's airports.

Airlines servicing Australia from the Americas are now required to report any passengers
with flu-like symptoms before being cleared to land at local airports.







A spokesman for the health department's told AAP 70 people across the country are being
tested for swine flu. (as at 1750 (AEST) today)

AAP RTV mj/af

KEYWORD: FLU AUST (CANBERRA)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Sydney petrol dips below a dollar on Christmas Eve

AAP General News (Australia)
12-24-2008
NSW: Sydney petrol dips below a dollar on Christmas Eve

Petrol prices in New South Wales have dropped below one dollar in a Christmas bonus
for motorists.

The NRMA's website says the average price of unleaded petrol in Sydney is 99 cents per litre.

The lowest price is 92.9 cents at the Mobil service station in Croydon Park.

Ethanol blended petrol has dipped to a minimum of 89.9 cents per litre .. with an average
price in the city of 96 cents per litre.

But diesel fuel remains high .. averaging 129.8 cents per litre and as high as 151.9
cents per litre at one location.

AAP RTV eb/wjf/ka/af

KEYWORD: PETROL NSW (SYDNEY)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Oly: Most successful Olympic athletes

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2008
Oly: Most successful Olympic athletes

BEIJING, Aug 17 DPA - The top 20 most successful athletes at Olympic
Summer Games after US swimmer Michael Phelps won his 14th career gold
medal on Sunday at the Beijing Olympics.

<#>

Name, country Years Sport Medals

G S B

1. Michael Phelps, United States 2004/2008 Swimming 14-0-2

2. Larisa Latynina, Soviet Union 1956-1964 Gymnastics 9-5-4

3. Paavo Nurmi, Finland 1920-1928 Athletics 9-3-0

4. Mark Spitz, United States 1968/1972 Swimming 9-1-1

5. Carl Lewis, United States 1984-1996 Athletics 9-1-0

6. Birgit Fischer, Germany 1980-2004 Canoeing 8-4-0

7. Sawao Kato, Japan 1968-1976 Gymnastics 8-3-1

Jenny Thompson, United States 1992-2004 Swimming 8-3-1

9. Matt Biondi, United States 1984-1992 Swimming 8-2-1
10. Ray C Ewry, United States 1900-1908 Athletics 8-0-0
11. Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet U. 1972-1980 Gymnastics 7-5-3
12. Boris Shakhlin, Soviet Union 1956-1964 Gymnastics 7-4-2
13. Vera Caslavska, Czechoslovakia 1960-1968 Gymnastics 7-4-0
14. Viktor Shukarin, Soviet Union 1952/1956 Gymnastics 7-3-1
15. Aladar Gerevich, Hungary 1932-1960 Fencing 7-1-2
16. Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italy 1936-1960 Fencing 6-5-2
17. Hubert van Innis, Belgium 1900-1920 Archery 6-3-0
18. Akinori Nakayama, Japan 1968/1972 Gymnastics 6-2-2
19. Gert Fredriksson, Sweden 1948-1960 Canoeing 6-1-1
20. Vitaly Sherbo, CIS/Belarus 1992/1996 Gymnastics 6-0-4
DPA nh

KEYWORD: OLY)8 SWM PHELPS FACTBOX

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Solar-powered glass houses a stone's throw away: researcher

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2008
Qld: Solar-powered glass houses a stone's throw away: researcher

A researcher predicts Australians could soon be living in solar-powered glass houses
as part of the battle against climate change.

Professor JOHN BELL .. from the Queensland University of Technology's Institute for
Sustainable Resources .. says we could see houses made almost entirely of glass solar
cells within years.

He doesn't see the use the glass around the bathroom as likely .. but believes people
are beginning to look for ways to offset some of the issues of climate change.

Professor BELL has been working with Canberra-based company Dyesol .. to develop transparent
solar cells that act as windows and energy generators.

He says the windows .. made from see-through cells .. capture solar energy which can
be used to power the house .. and reduce overheating.

AAP RTV rm/pjo/wz/ibw

KEYWORD: SOLAR (BRISBANE)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: Ombudsman looking into SBS AWA allegations

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2007
FED: Ombudsman looking into SBS AWA allegations

The Workplace Ombudsman is looking into allegations staff at SBS have been pressured
to sign AWA's .. before they're scrapped by the new federal government.

The government has promised to scrap new AWAs as soon as possible .. but all current
AWAs will continue until their term expires.

SBS has denied reports that staff are being pressured to sign new agreements before
the new rules come into effect.

A spokeswoman says AWAs will no longer be offered to new staff .. but people offered
recently-advertised jobs under AWAs may still sign them.







The ombudsman warned employers this week not to rush workers onto AWAs following the
change of government .. and said employers mustn't subject their workers to undue pressure
to sign AWAs.

The ombudsman's also announced it's investigating Telstra over allegations it pressured
workers to sign AWAs.

AAP RTV ag/rl/tm/bart

KEYWORD: WORKPLACE SBS (CANBERRA)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Tradition school subjects top national curriculum plan

AAP General News (Australia)
04-24-2007
Fed: Tradition school subjects top national curriculum plan

Australian high schools will drop the general Studies of Society and Environment subject
in favour of more traditional subjects like history .. geography .. and economics .. under
a new plan released today.

The national school curriculum .. agreed upon by all state and territory governments
.. commits them to drop subjects such as environmental and legal studies.

News Limited newspapers say the catch-all subject Studies of Society and Environment
.. which includes areas such as environmental and legal studies .. has been criticised
and will be dropped.

News Limited report The Council for the Australian Federation outlines a 12-point plan
for the implementation of a national framework for school education.

Victorian Premier STEVE BRACKS releases the report today.



Meanwhile .. state governments also will introduce three benchmark levels of minimum
.. medium .. and high achievement for reporting students' literacy and numeracy results
in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 .. under a new national test to start next year.

AAP RTV vpm/psm/

KEYWORD: CURRICULUM (SYDNEY)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Woolworths to donate one day's profits to help farmers

AAP General News (Australia)
12-22-2006
Fed: Woolworths to donate one day's profits to help farmers

Supermarket giant Woolworths has announced it'll donate one day's profits to helping
drought-hit farming families.

The retailer will give its entire supermarket profits for January 23 next year .. expected
to be over three million dollars .. to the Country Women's Association and research into
sustainable farming practices.

Woolworths Chief Executive MICHAEL LUSCOMBE says there's an immediate need to support
hard-hit farmers.

Mr LUSCOMBE says it's also important to address the viability of Australian agriculture
in the long term .. in a changing and unpredictable climate.

AAP RTV smm/hn/cp/tm

KEYWORD: WOOLWORTHS (SYDNEY)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Subsidise fresh food to fight obesity: experts

AAP General News (Australia)
08-15-2006
Fed: Subsidise fresh food to fight obesity: experts

By Tamara McLean, National Medical Writer

SYDNEY, Aug 15 AAP - Fruit and vegetables should be subsidised to cut fresh food prices
and help overcome "tragic" new obesity rates in Australian kids, experts say.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released research showing Australia is the
only country in the world where childhood obesity rates have overtaken adult rates.

The number of overweight and obese children has doubled since 1985, with 23 per cent
of all Australians under 16 now fitting into the two categories.

Obesity experts Professor Ian Caterson from Sydney University and Paul Zimmet from
Monash University have labelled the figures a tragedy for Australia.

Prof Caterson, who will address the Chronic Diseases Summit in Canberra tomorrow, said
he was particularly concerned by statistics showing people aged 20 to 35 were gaining
weight the fastest.

"Our worry is that if our kids are getting fat quicker and people in their 20s to 30s
are getting fat faster (than the previous generation), when they're middle aged we're
going to have a real problem," he told AAP.

The academics support calls by US-based WHO researcher Professor Barry Popkin to institute
a so-called calorie tax on manufacturers to lift the price of unhealthy food.

But they said it may be even more effective to subsidise fresh food to make fruit and
vegetables cheaper.

"Over the last few years, the things we want people to eat have gone up in price more
than processed food," Prof Caterson said.

"So if we make them cheaper, we're rewarding people for eating the right things rather
than punishing them for eating the wrong things."

He said while eating habits were largely ingrained, research had proved that price
affects what people buy.

One study showed that halving the price of apples boosted sales three fold.

Prices would need to come down substantially through subsidies offered either to growers,
transporters or supermarkets by both state and federal governments, Prof Caterson said.

The move would bring the price of fresh produce back into line with processed foods
and get fruit and vegetables to people quicker and fresher.

The experts will tackle Australia's childhood obesity epidemic at the International
Congress on Obesity in Sydney next month.

"We live in an affluent society and Australian children are now suffering from 'affluenza',"

Prof Caterson said.

"Preventing obesity is a better way of reducing chronic disease and simpler because
you can do it with eating and lifestyle intervention."

AAP tam/sp

KEYWORD: OBESITY SUBSIDIES

) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA: Up to 20 people involved in violent brawl

AAP General News (Australia)
04-09-2006
SA: Up to 20 people involved in violent brawl

Two men have been stabbed in a brawl in Adelaide's city centre.

Police say the stab wounds were minor.

Officers broke up the fight involving 20 people in Hindley Street about 5.15 this morning
.. and arrested three people for drunk and disorderly behaviour.

AAP RTV baw/klf/jmt

KEYWORD: FIGHT (ADELAIDE)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Rapist will allow authorities to supervise him, court

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2005
Vic: Rapist will allow authorities to supervise him, court

A court has been told that a notorious child rapist known as Mr BALDY will agree to
authorities monitoring him for the next 15 years.

Fifty-eight-year-old BRIAN KEITH JONES, who's appeared in the Victorian County Court
via video link, was released from Ararat Prison last month.

He's been placed under parole provisions that Corrections Commissioner KELVIN ANDERSON
has labelled the most stringent ever set in the state.

JONES has been electronically tagged and is subject to a curfew, a ban on contact with
children and residence conditions.

PETER FARIS, QC, applied for a 15-year extended supervision order to come into force
after JONES' parole expires later this month.

Senior public defender CARMEN RANDAZZO, SC, has told the court JONES doesn't object
to the application.

JONES was jailed in 1981 for kidnapping boys, shaving their heads, dressing them in
girls' clothing and sexually assaulting them.

After his release, he attacked again and in 1992 was given a 14-year sentence for raping
a nine-year-old boy and sexually assaulting the boy's six-year-old brother.

Chief Judge Michael Rozenes is expected to hand down his decision on the application
later this week.

AAP RTV kw/gfr/goc/rt

KEYWORD: JONES (MELBOURNE)

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

severance payment

severance payment See compensation for loss of office; redundancy.

e-business: Go-slow threat to launch of G3.

Byline: Steve Pain Technology Editor

BT's planned launch of Europe's first third generation (3G) wireless network this summer may disappoint users, with slower speeds than expected and without always-on connections, a key advantage of the new high-speed technology.

Europe's fifth largest mobile operator will launch 3G on the Isle of Man but its current plan is to start the service without always-on net connections, which enable high-speed web surfing and music and video downloads and help boost videoconferencing services.

The latest setback to 3G could affect not only BT but other mobile operators as well. These companies paid about pounds 60 billion to win European 3G licences and now must make money from that investment by building high-speed networks that offer huge improvements in performance and win customers.

Some analysts say technical obstacles may delay the large-scale deployment of 3G services for as long as five years.

BT is using the Isle of Man as a testbed for the technology. But it says it will offer the 75,000 inhabitants a real 3G service.

However, the speed of the Internet connection will be only 64 kilobytes per second at first. That is about six times faster than current WAP phones, but falls far short of the 384 kb/s that the technology is supposed to be capable of handling.

The service will also not be featuring technically complex packet switching technology, which enables always-on Internet connections.

Users will have to dial-up to get on the web, the same time-consuming and frustrating process that has discouraged widespread use of WAP phones.

BT is racing Japan's NTT DoCoMo to launch the world's first 3G network. Both have delayed launches planned for this month - BT to late summer or early autumn and DoCoMo to October.

A joint venture of Siemens AG and NEC Corp, called Mobispher, is building the network.

Svante Stenbom, Siemens' UK managing director of mobile networks, said BT would be justified in claiming it had beaten DoCoMo even if it launched without packet switching.

'It will still be the world's first 3G network, but it won't be the full 3G experience,' he said.

Few people will be able to use video-conferencing because the 200 NEC handsets BT plans to distribute at the launch require a separate plug-in display to show video

And there are unlikely to be many of those available, according to a project spokesman said.

Siemens also revealed that the project has been delayed by problems with a fundamental network component, and not by faulty NEC handsets as BT recently claimed - triggering a row between the three companies over who was to blame.

NEC engineers are working around the clock to fix software in the radio network controller.

Revenues from voice calls are anyway expected to fall as prices keep dropping towards the level of fixed-line calls.

The cost of free voice could also be offset by higher subscription fees for 3G. BT is using the example of a pounds 30 monthly charge on sample 3G bills.

Mobile firms plan to squeeze further revenues out of 3G by sending advertising to handsets.

Meanwhile, BT has refused to confirm reports it is to scrap its mobile phone brand, BT Cellnet, in favour of a new international identity.

'We will be looking at re-branding BT wireless, when we demerge it this autumn, and we may, at that time, consider re-branding Cellnet,' said a spokesman for the group.