Call for British anti-child-porn centre

British police have called for a national centre to combat rising Internet child pornography, reports Reuters.

A multinational crackdown and greater use of the Internet in general have led to an explosion in convictions for child pornography offences.

Figures showed 2 234 people were cautioned or charged with child pornography offences in 2003, compared with 549 in 2001, according to children`s charity NCH.

Yahoo has acquired technology to take its Web-based parlour and card games to mobile devices.

In a deal announced on Friday, Yahoo will integrate technology from Stadeon to permit multiplayer games across multiple platforms, reports Associated Press.

This will enable someone on a mobile phone to play dominoes in real-time against a friend playing the same game on a PC. Likewise, two mobile phone users on different service providers could compete against each other.

US companies are increasingly taking notice of what their employees are posting on their personal blogs, according to Associated Press.

"Because it is less formal, you are more likely to say something that would offend your boss," says Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute, a workers` rights group.

The First Amendment only restricts government control of speech, so private employers are free to fire at will in most states, as long as it is not discriminatory or in retaliation for whistle-blowing or union organising, labour experts say.

A few companies actually do encourage personal, unofficial blogs and have policies defining what employees can post online.