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Transfer window – closes at 1700 GMT (England) and midnight (Scotland)

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By Jonathan Stevenson

From GMMJohnson on Twitter:"I am off to St James’ Park to look out for all the new signings who do not actually go to the ground!"0725: Worth an early mention that although the deadline for English clubs is 1700 GMT, for Scottish ones it’s midnight. So, for example, Birmingham cannot buy Kris Boyd from Rangers after 1700 GMT, but Rangers could re-sign Barry Ferguson from Birmingham up until midnight. Clear as mud Good. The times are different around Europe and it’s the buying club that is important time-wise.0722: Roman Pavlyuchenko to Arsenal… hmm… You know what Luke – I love it. Shall we run with it for a bit and see what happens Maybe after yesterday Arsene Wenger will realise there’s no point having four stunningly gifted midfielders if they haven’t got a striker to play around. Andrey Arshavin v Wes Brown in the air = shambles.From Luke, Wales, via text on 81111: "I think yesterday showed it is paramount that Arsenal add a striker in some form. I’ll get slated, but Roman Pavlychenko on loan would be an improvement."0716: Actually, hold the phone already.Spanish newspaper AS is reporting that Man City’s Fernando Gago chase is overafter Real Madrid rejected a 15m euro bid from the Eastlands club. Spoilsports.0713: So, any good transfer rumours in the newspapersWell we do have a gossip column as per usual today with all the latest chatand it’s being added to all the time. Any that stand out I likeMan City being linked with £20m move for Real Madrid’s Fernando Gagoandbest of all, Tottenham’s Robbie Keane being linked with a last-gasp move to West Ham.0708: Oh yeah -the 606 messageboard isn’t ready for business until 0900 GMT,so texts and tweets will have to do for now.0705: The day is almost totally dependant on your involvement. Please, please, bring your A-game and get in the deadline day mixer:
Text me on 81111 (UK) and +44 7786200666 (worldwide);
Tweet me to your latest chat right here;
Get involved in the debate on 606.
I need you today perhaps more than ever. Especially if it’s dull.0700: I know, I know -the last one was rubbish.But where there’s life, there’s hope. And if there’s even a 1% chancewe will get a repeat of Monday 1 September, 2008, then the next 12 hours will be worth every second. A very warm – not to mention early – welcome to transfer deadline day. For the next half a day, I’m not moving

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Pop stars Lady GaGa and Taylor Swift have each picked up two early Grammy Awards at the start of the prestigious music ceremony in Los Angeles.

Risque singer Lady GaGa won best dance recording for Poker Face and best electronic/dance album for The Fame.

Taylor Swift won best country song and best female country vocal performance, both for her track White Horse.

Both artists could add to their hauls later. Their main competition comes from Beyonce, who has 10 nominations.

Winners in 100 of the 109 categories are being announced before the main televised ceremony begins.

Beyonce, Swift and Lady GaGa are all nominated in the main three categories – song, record and album of the year – which will be announced during the main ceremony.

Other early winners included Indian composer AR Rahman, who won two trophies for his soundtrack to the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

Rahman won best compilation soundtrack for a motion picture, while his hit Jai Ho won best motion picture song.

Film composer Michael Giacchino also won a pair, for best score soundtrack album and best instrumental composition for his work on the Pixar animation Up.

Neil Young won the first Grammy of his career, taking best art direction on a boxed or special limited edition package for Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 (1963-1972).

And two of Bob Marley’s sons triumphed. Stephen Marley won best reggae album for Mind Control – Acoustic – the fourth time a member of the Marley family has won that category in the last five years.

He beat his half-brother Julian Marley, who was also up for the award.

Ziggy Marley picked up the fifth Grammy of his career in the children’s musical album category for Family Time.

Comedian Steve Martin was the winner of best bluegrass album for The Crow/New Songs For The Five-String Banjo.

French dance star David Guetta won an award for best remixed recording for When Love Takes Over.

"Finally the DJ culture and the dance culture is growing in America," he said.

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A Chinese dissident has agreed to end his highly-publicised 12-week protest at Tokyo’s main international airport.

The man, Feng Zhenghu, has been living at Narita, blogging and posting Twitter messages to highlight China’s refusal to allow him back into the country.

Mr Zheng – a human rights activist who was previously jailed for three years – had visited his sister in Japan.

He said he decided to leave the airport after being visited there by Chinese embassy staff.

He has been denied entry to China eight times since June.

Terminal man

On the last of his attempts to return, he got as far as Shanghai’s Pudong airport, where Chinese officials forced him to get back on a plane for Tokyo, which arrived on 4 November.

Holding a valid Chinese passport and a visa to enter Japan, Mr Feng was free to leave the airport, but refused to pass immigration control.

His decision to end the protest came after Chinese officials visited him at the airport last week – for the first time since he started camping out.

"Chinese Embassy officials came to see me several times. Now they seem to acknowledge the problem," Mr Feng told The Associated Press from the airport terminal on his cell phone.

"I’ve decided to enter Japan, pull myself together and return to Shanghai for the Chinese New Year."

"I believe next time I can return home," Mr Feng said.

"As a Chinese citizen, I have a right to return home."

Described by Amnesty International as a prominent "human rights defender" he has been living in a no man’s land, stuck between the arrivals gates and passport control in Terminal 1.

Tens of thousands of people who pass through the airport every day see him.

Although Mr Feng says he has never seen it he agrees his situation is rather like the Hollywood film The Terminal, although his own conditions have been much worse than in the film.

Equipped with a mobile phone and laptop he is keeping in touch with the outside world by blogging and tweeting.

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This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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Indian composer AR Rahman has won two Grammy Awards at the prestigious US music ceremony in Los Angeles.

Rahman received awards for best film song and best soundtrack, both compositions for the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

Rahman won two Oscars, a Bafta and a Golden Globe last year for his soundtrack to the multi award-winning Slumdog Millionaire.

The composer is often called the Mozart of Madras, the city where he works.

Rahman won in the best compilation soundtrack for a motion picture. His Jai Ho song in the film also won in the best motion picture song.

"This is insane, god is great again," Rahman said as he accepted as he accepted his award.

Rahman beat such rivals as Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds and rock star Bruce Springsteen in the soundtrack and best song categories respectively.

Last month, Rahman was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination for his Tamil song NaNa from the Hollywood film, Couples Retreat.

The song is vying with 62 others for the nominations which will be revealed on 2 February.

The Grammy awards are further recognition of Rahman’s enormous talents, says the BBC’s Soutik Biswas in Delhi.

The 44-year-old composer is a musician with a staggering range – from raga to reggae to hip hop to Indian folk to jungle rhythms to western classical, our correspondent says.

Seventeen years after he began writing music and songs for films, the jingle maker-turned-musician finally got recognition as India’s first truly global film music composer with his score for Danny Boyle’s sleeper hit Slumdog Millionaire in 2009.

Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, guitarist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and tabla player Zakir Hussain are the other Indian musicians who have won Grammy Awards.

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The quickest way to cut emissions from aircraft could be better flight management rather than new technology, an Oxford University study has found.

Better air traffic control and other measures determining how, when and where planes fly could cut aviation emissions by up to 95%, it found.

These include more direct flight paths to airports and less waiting to land.

These are the "low-hanging fruit" compared to technology improvements and existing biofuels, said Dr Chris Carey.

"And they are measures that governments could make a condition of using their airspace," said Dr Carey, aviation expert at Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.

Cheap and easy

"Landing and take-offs could be quicker, stacking would be reduced and planes could fly closer together by taking advantage of prevailing winds"

Dr Chris Carey, aviation expert at Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment

Better traffic control systems should also help aircraft reduce the time spent with their engines running while still on the tarmac, Dr Carey said.

At the same time, better flight control systems should help them spend less time flying.

"The inaccuracy of current control systems means planes must be given a wide berth to avoid collisions," he said.

"If that was improved, landing and take-offs could be quicker, stacking would be reduced and planes could fly closer together by taking advantage of prevailing winds, just as Concorde did."

Such improvements would be cheap to introduce quickly, Dr Carey insisted.

"They should be implemented as soon as possible if we are serious about cutting aviation emissions," he said.

Slow and risky

In contrast, technological advances, such as better engines or reduced weight, tend to take a long time before they have an impact, because aircraft have lifetimes of 30 years or more.

In the long run, innovations that help reduce drag will help reduce emissions, as might a shift away from fossil fuels towards biofuels made from algae.

"But none of those measures can be introduced quickly and most new technology is not retrofitable," said Dr Carey.

"These are all long-term innovations that we won’t see for at least 30 years."

Moreover, investing in new technology is both expensive and risky, Dr Carey said.

"But major technological innovations are a massive financial risk because you could be making a plane that no-one’s going to buy," he said.

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By Juliana Liu
Asia Business Report, BBC World, Singapore air show

Singapore’s taxis are queuing under the searing tropical sun to enter a sprawling complex hosting the Singapore air show – and the event has not even started yet.

But they are not looking for rides.

At the entrance, drivers are given free bottles of mineral water and bumper stickers promoting Asia’s largest air show, where some 800 companies from 40 countries are to display their products.

Its organisers are enticing drivers to visit the site early, so they will be ready to escort some 40,000 visitors and 90,000 locals to the remote site when the trade show begins on Tuesday 2 February.

The detailed planning is part of efforts to ensure the 2010 air show is a success, in a year when airlines across the world are expected to suffer losses to the tune of $5.6bn (£3.47bn), with subsequent hits expected for aircraft makers, engine manufacturers and other companies that support them.

But last year was even worse for airlines globally. In 2009, their losses came to $11bn after they suffered the largest decline in international air traffic in more than 50 years, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

"The industry starts 2010 with some enormous challenges," says Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive, Iata.

"The worst is behind us, but it is not time to celebrate."

Military spending

Walking through the entrance to the main exhibition area, an enormous booth belonging to Singapore Technologies Engineering greets visitors.

The company is the biggest exhibitor at the air show.

Along with life-size model soldiers in camouflage, its armoured personnel carrier, the Terrex, dominates the demonstration area. Other items being promoted include the 3GL semi automatic firearm, and ammunition of different sizes.

Another reason for optimism is that Singapore is now largely known as a trade show for military hardware.

The show is roughly evenly split between military and civilian exhibitors, but with civilian airlines still struggling the manufacturers have higher hopes for their business dealings with governments and military procurement officers.

They will be wowed by a two-hour aerial display that is said to include a fly-over by the B-52 Stratofortress, the largest United States Air Force bomber, as well as the USAF A-10 Thunderbolt II, Swiss PC-21 trainers and Australian F-111 fighter jets.

No deals

"Airlines are always the first to go [into recession] and the last to come out"

Alex Glock, managing director, Embraer Asia Pacific

Military budgets in Asia are growing, even as governments in the United States and Europe cut their spending.

Over the next 10 years, Asian countries are believed to need more than 500 fighter jets, according to one industry estimate.

Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst at Standard & Poor’s, expects the military equipment on sale to appeal particularly to Chinese, Indian and Indonesian buyers.

Though he does not expect major commercial contracts to be negotiated during the air show itself.

Cautious optimism

In Singapore, air show visitors will also be taking the pulse of the tentative global recovery that has lifted the mood in the airline industry.

Much of that recovery is being driven by Asia, where the aviation sector is expected to grow faster in the Asia Pacific than anywhere else.

Globally, passenger demand rose 4.5% in December 2009, compared with a particularly dismal December 2008. Asian airlines recorded an improvement of 8% in the same period.

With Asian carriers well represented at the show, the mood is more buoyant than at other recent industry gatherings.

"I think there’s a feeling of greater optimism now," says Alex Glock, managing director, Embraer Asia Pacific.

But he also pointed out that although there are signs of sales recovering, any progress will be slow.

"The worst is over, but the road to recovery, no one knows how long it will take.

"Airlines are always the first to go [into recession] and the last to come out."

Last year, Boeing and Airbus landed orders for aircraft worth some $62bn during the show. Nobody expect this year to match those results.

"While we don’t expect any major announcements in terms of orders, there’s renewed appetite," says Shukor Yusof, analyst with Standard & Poor’s in Singapore.

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This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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