Obama picks Biden as running-mate

US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has announced that Joe Biden will be his running mate in November's election.

Mr Obama's choice, confirmed on his website, comes ahead of next week's Democratic Party convention.

Mr Biden, a 65-year-old veteran lawmaker, has over three decades of Senate experience and is highly respected on foreign policy issues.

Republican contender John McCain could announce his choice next week.

Speculation is mounting that Senator McCain may name his running mate on 29 August, his 72nd birthday and a day after the Democrats wrap up their convention.

'Impressive record'

The announcement came shortly after several US media networks began reporting that Mr Biden had been chosen.

"Barack has chosen Joe Biden to be his running mate," a brief statement on Mr Obama's campaign website said.

"Joe Biden brings extensive foreign policy experience, an impressive record of collaborating across party lines, and a direct approach to getting the job done," it said.

The two men are expected to appear together at a rally in Springfield, Illinois, later in the day.

Mr Biden has represented the state of Delaware in the US Senate since 1972.

He is known as a strong orator and chairs the Foreign Relations Committee - something analysts say would balance Mr Obama's self-confessed lack of foreign policy experience.

The son of a car salesman, he is also expected to appeal to the blue collar workers with whom Mr Obama has struggled to connect.

The senator ran against Mr Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton for the presidential nomination but dropped out after failing to gain enough support.

The McCain camp called the choice of Mr Biden an admission by Barack Obama that he was not ready to be president.

"Biden has denounced Barack Obama's poor foreign policy judgement and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realising - that Barack Obama is not ready to be president," McCain campaign spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement.

John McCain has reportedly not yet settled on a running mate.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney are reported to be under serious consideration for the role.

Game sharers face legal crackdown

A British woman who put a game on a file-sharing network has been ordered to pay damages to the game's creator.

Topware Interactive has won more than £16,000 following legal action against Isabella Barwinska of London, who shared a copy of Dream Pinball 3D.

Three other suspected sharers of the game are awaiting damages hearings.

The test case could open the floodgates for litigation against thousands of other Britons suspected of sharing the game.

'A lot more'

In the case heard at London's Patents County Court the game maker won damages of £6,086.56 plus costs of £10,000.

"The damages and costs ordered by the Court are significant and should act as a deterrent," said David Gore, a partner at Davenport Lyons who acted for Topware.

He added: "This shows that taking direct steps against infringers is an important and effective weapon in the battle against online piracy."

"This is the first of many," said Mr Gore. "It was always intended that there would be a lot more."

Mr Gore said details of "thousands" of suspected file-sharers of the game who might now face legal action were known.

On file-sharing or peer-to-peer (P2P) networks the files being shared are held on members' computers and those who want a particular game, music track or video get bits of it from everyone else who has it.

Topware Interactive started its campaign against pirates of Dream Pinball 3D in early 2007 after legal action forced 18 British net firms to pass on details of suspected pirates that it had identified.

Following this it sent out about 500 letters to Britons it had identified as making the game available via file-sharing networks such as eMule, eDonkey, Gnutella and many others.

In the letters the company asked for a payment of about £300 as a "settlement" figure that would head off further legal action.

Some of those accused of sharing the game chose to fight the legal action and it was in one of these contested cases that Topware Interactive won its claim for damages.

"This is a proper Intellectual Property (IP) court that has made this judgement," said independent IP barrister David Harris. "The previous ones were default judgements where defendants never turned up."

The hearing in the IP court meant the case had been rigorously analysed and the law properly understood, said Mr Harris.

"It's a much more interesting case in that respect," he said.

But, he said, he was not sure if this case meant game makers were getting more aggressive about chasing and prosecuting pirates.

"I do not get any sense that there's been any fundamental shift in the desire to litigate," he said.

Becky Hogge, director of the Open Rights Group that campaigns on cyber liberties issues, said: "An open court process with a full report is certainly preferable to justice of the type being mooted by the government on P2P, where activity takes place behind closed doors through industry action."

She added that awards for damages had to be realistic and not made to act as a "deterrent".

"In relation to the orders for release of personal data, it is important that court processes do not become rubberstamps for industry action but retain judicial safeguards and independence," said Ms Hogge.

Homebuilding in US at 17-year low

The number of homes and apartments being built in the US sank in July to the lowest level in more than 17 years, government figures show.

Builders started work on 965,000 properties, on an annualised basis, from 1.08 million in June, the Commerce Department said.

However, this was not as bleak as some had been expecting.

Separately, inflationary pressures saw US wholesale prices shoot ahead by 1.2% in July - its fastest pace in 27 years.

Core inflation, which strips out energy and food costs, climbed by 0.7% from June, the Labor Department said, well above the the 0.2% rise which had been forecast.

The rapid wholesale inflation seen in July was largely linked to energy costs during the month, which saw crude oil hit a record price of $147.27 per barrel, sending petrol prices soaring.

But there are hopes that prices rises will abate, now that the price of oil has fallen by more than $30 per barrel.

"Though commodity prices have come down significantly from record highs in mid-July and the dollar has strengthened, consumers can still expect to see increased inflation for some time to come as the producer price pressures feed through to consumer prices," said Arek Ohanissian, an economist at the CEBR.

Grim

Economists have been studying forward-looking information for signs that the US housing slump was past its worst.

However, the Commerce Department data made for grim reading, with the number of construction permits issued - seen as a reliable sign of future activity - down 17.7% on an annual basis.

And the number of new homes being constructed last month was down by 39.2% compared with July 2007.

"The continued weakening of the housing market is an additional pressure and households will feel further squeezed in terms of real disposable income," said Mr Ohanissian.

He said that "given this state of affairs and the general weakness of the economy" the Federal Reserve was likely to keep interest rates low at 2% - despite rising inflation.

China shares up from 20-month low

China's main share index climbed by more than 6% on Wednesday on reports that the government is set to intervene to revive investor confidence.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose to 2,499.8 after reports that the government will pump as much as 400bn yuan ($58bn; £31.2bn) into the economy.

The index had fallen to a 20-month low on Monday and has down by about 60% from its peak in October last year.

Shares in stockbrokers gained the most, with many up 10%.

Short-term rebound?

The gains in China lifted sentiment in Hong Kong where the benchmark index recovered from a one-year low.

The Hang Seng index rose 1.6% to trade at 20,803.47 by midday local time.

But analysts doubted the rally signalled an extended recovery and, until a stimulus package was confirmed, they predicted further declines.

"Some kind of correction to the market's steep fall is reasonable", said Chen Huiqin, analyst at Huatai Securities.

"The index may move between 2,300 and 2,600 points for a while as everybody waits to see if the positive news is confirmed."

China shares soared last year, but have fallen sharply amid fears that a slowdown in the Chinese economy will knock profit growth.

Power producers were some of the only stocks not to join in Wednesday's recovery, despite the government raising wholesale electricity prices by 6%.

Analysts considered the price increase would not be sufficient to help power plants offset the costs of higher coal prices.

Camera spots rare clouded leopard

Automatic cameras have captured images of a clouded leopard in Borneo's Sebangua National Park, an area where the cats have not been recorded before.

Researchers say confirmation of the leopards' presence highlights the need to protect the region's habitat.

The park is one of the world's largest deep peat-swap forests, but is at risk from illegal logging and forest fires.

The images are helping a team of scientists identify what big cat species are found in the area.

The motion-activated remote cameras that captured the remarkable images were located on the northern edge of the Sebangau National Park, Indonesian Borneo.

"The Bornean clouded leopard is a top priority for our programme," said Professor David Macdonald, director of Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, which is part of the Sebangau Felid Project.

"We are very excited by this evidence that they occur at Sebangau - a great deal remains to be discovered about these beautiful felids, which are a flagship for conservation in South-East Asia."

Camera action

Based on estimates of density and population range, the team says the clouded leopards number no more than 10,000 sexually mature adults.

The cat was first classified as a separate species in 2007 after genetic testing highlighted at least 40 differences from clouded leopards found on mainland Asia.

The project aims to protect Indonesian Borneo's wild cat species, which also include the leopard cat, marbled cat and flat-headed cat.

As well as capturing the first image of the Bornean cloud leopard (Neofelis diardi) in the park, the cameras have also photographed a number of other species, including Malaysian sun bears, bearded pigs and lesser mouse deer.

The national park is also home to the world's largest remaining population of Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii), and a "substantial" number of Bornean southern gibbons (Hylobates albibarbis).

Harnessing nature's health warnings

It has long been recognised that the weather and health are linked.

We know that when the weather changes we are more vulnerable to colds and sniffles, or headaches.

And the phrase "under the weather" has even become part of our language.

But now scientists are starting to harness nature's warning signals to protect the vulnerable, because more serious conditions are also affected by the weather.

Asthma is one. One stormy day in the summer of 2002, more than 100 extra people went to hospital in the UK with asthma symptoms compared to a normal day.

Heart attacks and strokes also increase a few days after a fall in temperature, because cold causes stress to the vascular system.

The lung disease chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in which the bronchial tubes are damaged making it harder to breathe, is also affected by the weather.

There are around 900,000 people with COPD in England, and each year there are 100,000 COPD-related hospital admissions.

Caring for COPD patients is estimated to cost England's NHS about £1bn annually.

But a new service, launched by the Met Office in November last year, is already claiming success in keeping people well.

Patients alerted

More than 8,000 patients in 189 practices across the UK have now signed up to use the 'Healthy Outlook COPD Forecast Alert' at a cost of just £18 per patient.

And the latest statistics show that there has been a 21% reduction in hospital admissions among those using the service, compared with the previous winter.

In practices not using the scheme, the fall was just 3%.

The head of the Met Office forecasting team, Wayne Elliott, said that the service was "unique" and that this year they are hoping to get even more medical practices on board.

"The patients love it. We give them a pack - developed with healthcare professionals - which gives them quite a lot of information about what their condition is about and what they can do about it.

"We remind them about the importance of keeping warm, the temperature to keep their room at, exercising, trying to avoid the low temperatures and seeking medical advice at an early stage.

"With a small adjustment to their lives in the run up to the cold weather, they can significantly reduce the likelihood of their getting poorly.

"It helps the patients, meaning they do not spend time going in and out of hospital," he said.

Impressive results

Dr David Thomas, a GP whose practice in Aberdare, South Wales, uses the service, said he had been impressed with results.

"Overall it has been fairly successful and patients are hoping it will keep going.

"The patients last year were contacted two or three times.

"This has helped the practice as well as the patients. The patients are aware there is a three-week period, after the cold snap, when they are at most risk and are more vigilant.

"We are more vigilant too and we know we may expect more patients."

Mr Elliott said that, as well as expanding the COPD service, the Met Office is looking into other areas of health where their skills can be useful.

"We are thinking of starting a register of weather and ailments, because a lot of it so far has been anecdotal and in the distant past was perhaps dismissed by some parts of the medical profession.

"We are looking at asthma, mental health, cardiovascular disease strokes and angina, which are all affected by the weather."

There is a plan to work with Asthma UK to try and deliver a warning system to asthma and hay fever sufferers, although Mr Elliott warned this was some way off.

But he said that, although the weather could be linked to certain conditions, if they could not help those who were vulnerable the information would be of little use.

"If you are at risk of having a heart attack, is there something that can be done following an alert from the Met Office to stop you having one - that's an important question?

"If there is nothing that can be done to prevent it then it is probably better for the Met Office to stay out of it. If there is, then we may have a part to play."

Windows 7 details to be released

A first glimpse at the technology inside the next version of Windows will be given in October.

Microsoft has said that engineering information about Windows 7 will be shared with attendees at two technical conferences it runs.

Windows 7 developers will show off their work at both the Professional Developers Conference and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference.

Based on Vista, Windows 7 is expected to be released in January 2010.

The announcement about the unveiling was made on a new Windows 7 blog written by engineers putting the software together.

Before now details about Windows 7 have been scant. Writing on the blog the two senior engineers on the project, Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky, said this was because Microsoft did not want to talk up features that never make it to the final product.

It was also wary, it said, of talking about features and technologies in a way that would cause confusion among its partners.

Microsoft has also been reluctant to talk about Windows 7 as it continues to promote Windows Vista as its flagship operating system.

What is known about Windows 7 is that it will use components from Vista at its core and that it will have a touch interface that, with the appropriate screen, can recognise gestures to complete tasks. For instance pinching the screen could be used to close documents or manipulate images.

Industry experts have speculated that Windows 7 will also have more virtualisation technologies onboard as well as tools that make it easier for people to get at their data and programs as they use different machines.