Obama promises

Obama pledges to put 'economy into overdrive' by 2012

President Barack Obama has vowed to put the economy "into overdrive" by 2012, as he announced the head of a new economic advisory panel.

At a General Electric (GE) plant in New York, Mr Obama said he had named the company's head, Jeffery Immelt, to lead a council on jobs and competitiveness.

Mr Obama also called on China to open to "two-way trade" with US companies.

His remarks came amid what commentators describe as a White House effort to court the US business community.
Grim voters

"Our job is to do everything we can to ensure that businesses can take root, and folks can find good jobs," Mr Obama told General Electric workers.

Despite pushing through a $787bn (£492bn) economic stimulus package and other measures, Mr Obama has been criticised for his handling of the US economy, which has seen sluggish job growth in the two years since he took office during the worst economic downturn in decades.

Mr Obama's success or failure in his 2012 re-election bid will depend in part on the performance of the economy and on whether voters see steady job creation, analysts say.

An Associated Press-GfK poll released on Friday suggested just 35% of Americans believe the economy has improved during Mr Obama's presidency.

In one of several moves aimed at winning back corporate support, Mr Obama this week aimed at reducing the regulatory burden on US businesses.

Mr Obama on Friday emphasised the need to build the US export economy, particularly in terms of trade with China, with whom the US has a roughly $262.3 billion (£164 billion) trade deficit.

Shifting the US-China trade relationship toward a more equitable balance was a major issue in White House talks this week between Mr Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

"We're going to build stuff, and invent stuff," Mr Obama said on Friday. Regarding China, he said: "That's where the customers are. It's that simple."

Chinese President Hu Jintao was spending the final day of his US state visit in Chicago, where business executives were set to sign 60 deals to highlight relations between the countries.

Latest Gadgets 2011

Developer James Walkerdine said the device helps children work out who is contacting them

Researchers launch mobile device 'to spot paedophiles'

A mobile phone application which claims to identify adults posing as children is to be released.

The team behind Child Defence says the app can analyse language to generate an age profile, identifying potential paedophiles.

Isis Forensics developed the tool after parental concerns over children accessing sites on their mobiles.

But child protection experts warned against such technology lulling people into thinking they are safe.

Child Defence project leader James Walkerdine, based at Lancaster University, said: "This software improves children's chances of working out that something isn't right.

"Parents told us they would much prefer to see software solutions that empowered and educated their children to help them protect themselves."

Child campaigning charity NSPCC hopes the application will encourage children to report the crime - but warned of complacency.

Chris Cloke, head of child protection said: "It can lull us into thinking that the child is safe and therefore we can move onto something else.

"I would certainly say that measures of this sort can be helpful but they need to be seen as one of the wider armoury we have for tackling child sexual abuse."

This new advance comes just days after Barnardo's launched a stark warning to the government over the growing threat of child exploitation, when it released its latest figures on child exploitation.

In its report, Puppet on a String, the charity calls for the Secretary of State for Education to appoint a minister to take forward a national action plan against this crime against children.

Figures suggest about 1,500 children were groomed on the net last year.

British film world

More than £1 billion was spent making films in the UK during 2010, data released by the UK Film Council shows.

A record amount of £1.15 billion was spent making 119 films last year - an 8% rise on 2009's £1.07 billion spend.

International film-makers spent more money than ever in the UK last year, pouring almost £929 million into the production of 28 films.

The figures "highlight the importance of a strong film sector", said the UK Film Council's Tim Cagney.

Mr Cagney, managing director of the agency which is to close, said they underlined "the vital contribution that film makes to Britain's cultural and economic fabric".

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The War Horse, Sherlock Holmes 2 and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy were among the many films made in the UK last year.

Yet the number of indigenous or domestic productions was down in 2010, with the 72 films made presenting an 11% fall on the 83 produced in 2009.

According to Mr Cagney, this was evidence of "how difficult it is to raise finance for making independent British films".

Audiences spent more than £1 billion at the UK and Ireland box office in 2010, where Toy Story 3 was the highest grossing title.

The UK Film Council's statistics cover indigenous productions, UK co-productions and "inward investment" productions with budgets of £500,000 and above.

Films in the data include those in the Harry Potter series, which were made mainly or significantly in the UK with overseas finance.

Last July it was announced the UK Film Council, set up in 2000, would close and that its functions would be delegated to other bodies.

From April the British Film Institute (BFI) will be responsible for distributing lottery money to film-makers based in the UK.