In the papers 20 February
20-02-2007
by Sylvia Leatham

Irish politicians lampooned on Bebo | Vodafone working on shareholder agreement with Essar

The Irish Times reports that a new cross-Border initiative aims to make broadband available to 95 percent of the population of Donegal by the end of the year. Read more about the Community Network Services project as reported by ENN on Monday.

The paper also reports on the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting in San Francisco. Attendees have heard how technology originally built for computer games is being used to help treat US soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. The same virtual reality systems can also be used to treat other psychological conditions, according to Professor Skip Rizzo of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Virtual reality worlds are suitable "for a wide range of clinical conditions", said Prof Rizzo.

The Irish Independent says that small shareholders of listed companies in EU member states will soon be able to legally demand the right to vote electronically at AGMs, the German EU Presidency has said. A new EU directive requiring member states to amend their company law will shortly come into force. German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries told EU Trade and Enterprise ministers the European Parliament has just backed the proposal agreed upon by ministers last month.

The paper also reports that Cork is set to get a major employment boost, with 800 new jobs to be created by separate multi-million-euro investment projects. The new jobs are to be created by media and telecoms giant Vivendi and by US software firm VMWare, as reported by ENN on Monday.

The paper also says that the Government has announced EUR40 million in Science, Technology and Innovation funding, as noted by ENN.

The Irish Examiner says that bogus webpages with inflammatory profiles of the Taoiseach, the health minister and other politicians have been posted on social networking website Bebo. The webpage for Bertie Ahern, which has been viewed more than 2,600 times, has the Taoiseach supposedly declaring: "I think I am one of the greatest leaders to grace our fair country." While meant to be humorous, the profiles degenerate into personalised insults in some instances.

The Financial Times reports that India's Essar group is hoping to hammer out over the next month a shareholder agreement with Vodafone, which is set to buy a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar. Essar executives want an agreement that enshrines "joint management" arrangements over Hutchison Essar and are also interested in the possibility of increasing the Indian group's 33 percent stake in the mobile operator. The agreement should ease the way for Vodafone to complete its takeover of India's fourth-largest mobile operator.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple has been granted more time to respond to Cisco Systems' claim that its new iPhone mobile handset infringes on a Cisco trademark. The networking company said Apple asked for a second extension after the initial extension ended last Thursday, and Cisco complied. Cisco said it agreed to give Apple until Wednesday to file its legal response in the case.

The paper also reports that Hewlett-Packard is starting to offer a new bundle of business software under the HP Software name. HP, which is announcing its first-quarter results on Tuesday, is beginning to offer a new bundle of HP programs that underscores the importance of business software to the strategy of Mark Hurd, HP's chief executive. In the coming weeks, the company will host corporate chief information officers at meetings held in places such as sports arenas and movie studios to promote the software package.