IT knocked off UK skills shortage list

UK employers wanting to hire skilled IT workers from abroad will have a tougher time passing the new points-based migration system than employers with "shortage jobs" on offer, if new proposals given to the Home Office go ahead, says Computing.co.uk.

The government asked independent economic advisor - the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) - to provide "evidence-based advice" on where labour market shortages in the UK exist that can sensibly be filled by migration.

MAC responded with a recommended shortage occupation list and IT is omitted from that list.

Apple's latest version of its iPod Nano features what it says are the thinnest measurements yet, says The BBC.

Apple chief Steve Jobs launched the fourth-generation Nano at a US press conference, and announced new shuffle and library features.

He also listed the Nano's environmental credentials, including arsenic-free glass and a mercury- and PVC-free body that is "highly recyclable".

The question of whether the US Justice Department is preparing to challenge a high-profile advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo was debated from Washington to Silicon Valley yesterday, reports The New York Times.

This was after the Justice Department, which has been reviewing the partnership for several weeks, hired Sanford Litvack, a veteran anti-trust lawyer, to help assess the evidence gathered by its lawyers.

The hiring of an outside lawyer like Litvack is rare and represents the clearest indication that the Justice Department could be planning to mount a legal challenge to the deal, some analysts said.

Glasgow's underground railway is not as well connected as London's, but the Scottish city's network will soon boast something the UK capital's tube network does not: subterranean mobile phone coverage, reports The Register.

Carrier O2 has hatched a deal to bring mobile phone coverage to the city's subway, allowing the network operator's customers to make and receive calls, send text messages and access 3G services, including Web access, while travelling beneath the surface.

Underground mobile phone coverage will be rolled out from December and initially cover five Glasgow underground stations. The service will cover the stations' platforms and ticket halls, but O2 said extending the service into the tunnels is an option it will consider in the future.