The Iraqi news agency at /iraqnews seemed to be offline yesterday evening

The Iraqi news agency (at /iraqnews) seemed to be offline yesterday evening.The final post from Salam Pax refers to reports that America had bombed the Iraqi satellite channel Salam disagreed “What was probably hirt were transmiters or something all TV stations are still working,” he wrote But that may no longer be true.. Royal Mail backed down yesterday and agreed to accept a set of price controls which its chairman, Allan Leighton, described only a month ago as a “bombshell”, an act of “wreck-u-lation” and an example of “regulatory treacle”. In each of the following two years Royal Mail will have to cut prices by 1 per cent in real terms but it will have the option of putting a further penny on the price of second-class stamps.Had Royal Mail rejected the price controls proposed by the regulator Postcomm and referred the dispute to the Competition Commission for an inquiry it would have foregone about £100m in extra revenues.Adam Crozier, Royal Mail’s new chief executive, said Postcomm had made “major changes” to the price controls, which now made them acceptable. “After 11 months of detailed discussion with Postcomm we have seen real improvements to the package on the table and we are now able to agree the new deal,” he added.However, Mr Crozier said Royal Mail still had concerns about unresolved issues such as protecting the universal service, which guarantees deliveries to all addresses in the country for the same price, and the amount which Royal Mail will be able to charge rival operators for access to its delivery network.Postcomm said the new price controls would allow Royal Mail £750m in extra revenues over the next three years but the company said inflation would swallow up more than half of that.. Selfridges has shrugged off the impact of the closure of the Tube’s Central Line and the congestion charge in central London to record a solid performance at its flagship Oxford Street store. This compares with a 12 per cent fall in sales at John Lewis’s Oxford Street branch.”To be level in Oxford Street is an excellent outcome, all things considered, since a fall of 6 per cent to 7 per cent would have surprised no one,” Nick Bubb, a retail analyst at Evolution Beeson Gregory, said.The new chief executive, Peter Williams, said exclusive ranges such as a new lingerie collection endorsed by Kylie Minogue had helped but admitted that trade at the busy London thoroughfare had been affected.”We are definitely seeing an impact though it is hard to quantify,” Mr Williams said. “It is noticeable that the evening trade is down.”Mr Williams, who took over from Vittorio Radice earlier this year, confirmed that Selfridges would consider mortgaging the Oxford Street site where it owns the freehold.

This is currently valued at £258m but is likely to be worth much more at the next valuation in January 2004. “We recognise that our existing capital structure is not efficient,” Mr Williams said. However, the company wants to wait until it has secured sites for new stores in Leeds, Bristol and Newcastle before gearing up its balance sheet.”We expect the debate on exploitation of the asset base will now rage more fiercely than ever,” Merrill Lynch said in a research note.Selfridges said the insurance costs on its London store would rise by another £600,000 this year to £2.5m, after an increase of £1.5m last year. This kept the store’s profits flat at £68m.The Trafford Centre branch increased profits by 4.4 per cent to £7.1m in the year. The Exchange Square store in central Manchester made a maiden contribution of £0.9m following its opening on 6 September.A fourth store is due to open in Birmingham in September and a site has been agreed in Glasgow as the group tries to reduce its dependence on the capital.The London store is due to stage a Body Craze promotion in May where customers will be able to get tattoos, ear piercing and massages. A superbrands departments is due to open later this year, featuring fashion from top designers such as Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney.Asked what part Selfridges might play in the possible consolidation of the department store sector, Mr Williams said: “I don’t see us as a bidder. But if a site came up around the M25 we could well be interested.”He said he was enjoying his new role after Mr Radice left to join Marks & Spencer.

“It’s the most fantastic job in retail,” he said.The group’s shares rose 8.5p to 227p.. LINUS TORVALDS is, like Bill Gates, living the geek dream. Both have created computing systems that can be found in companies around the world. But unlike the man behind Microsoft, Mr Torvalds’ technology creation has not propelled him on to any rich lists. But, despite the widely-held belief that Microsoft will, as a consequence, be the obvious loser in the computer server market, it is still far from clear how badly the US software giant will be hit.”There are a lot of arguments going on about who’s replacing who and what’s replacing what,” said Tom Meyer of the research house IDC, adding it is not necessarily a given that Microsoft will come off worst.”I think a lot of people focus on Linux versus Windows and it will be a battle but it’s not just between those two,” he said, pointing to the other main operating system Unix.