EU opens Web addresses

Businesses and organisations across the European Union (EU) can register .eu Web addresses from today that contain characters from all 23 official languages of the EU, says Computing.co.uk.

The move will allow those registering domain names to use characters such as `a, ą, "a, ψ or д from alphabets such as Greek or Cyrillic under any .eu domain.

The change came after the European Commission decided the European top level domain should offer characters in all official EU languages. Internet oversight body Icann gave the green light to IDNs earlier this year.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) called off yesterday's strike by 1 000 of its members employed by HP, ahead of talks next week, writes The Register.

HP confirmed the postponement and said it would be meeting the PCS on Wednesday, 16 December.

The workers are mostly ex-EDS staff unhappy at changes to their terms and conditions since HP took over the company. They work on outsourced government contracts at the Department of Work and Pensions and the MOD.

The legal battle between Finland's Nokia and its US rival Apple has taken a new turn, with Apple countersuing Nokia over alleged patent violations, reports The BBC.

The move follows a Nokia lawsuit filed in October accusing iPhone maker Apple of 10 Nokia patent infringements.

Now Apple, in turn, is claiming that the Finnish phone firm is infringing 13 of its technology patents.

American officials have been holding secret talks with Russia and the United Nations in an attempt to strengthen Internet security and rein in the growing threat of cyber warfare, states The Guardian.

The effort, first reported in the New York Times, is a virtual version of the nuclear arms talks being held between the two nations in Geneva - but rather than focusing on bombs and missiles, the discussions are aimed at curbing the increasing level of attacks taking place online.

With a rising tide of strikes by hackers on major institutions, including banks, businesses, government agencies and the military, diplomats are attempting to forge an international consensus on how to deal with cyber security problems.

A hi-tech 'cryo-egg', which will help predict sea levels changes, is to be created by experts at Bristol university, says The BBC.

The device will be sunk into the depths of the Greenland ice sheet before beaming back data about how frozen water is moving into the sea.

The university won £225 000 from the government-funded Natural Environment Research Council to build the egg.