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Flickr’s making it easier to stay connected with a brand new mobile site being debuted Thursday. The revamped m.flickr.com brings a refreshed design and a handful of new features, including mobile video playback for some Flickr users.

Mobile Limitations

First, the reality check: The new Flickr mobile won’t work with all cell phones. The enhanced features are limited to devices with “advanced browsers.” The list is pretty ext ensive, though — if you have an iPhone, an iPod Touch, an Android phone, or a device with Opera Mobile, Firefox Mobile, or another WebKit-based browser, you’re golden. Otherwise, you’ll be limited to basic functionality.

The video playback feature is currently available only on the iPhone and iPod Touch, though Flickr promises to roll out support to the other “advanced browser” platforms in the very near future.

As for mobile video uploading, it follows the model introduced on the regular Flickr site and is available only to “pro” subscribers, with a 90-second cap placed on all uploaded clips.

A Full Makeover

The rest of the Flickr mobile revamp features an updated and more user-friendly menu system with more focus on social features. Your activity stream is beefed up and accessible right from the home screen. Flickr mobile will also now let you comment on and favorite photos from your phone — an option missing from the past design. It makes contact management a bit more intuitive, too, letting you add contacts and easily view friends’ recently uploaded photos. Privacy settings are now accessible from the mobile site as well.

Flickr’s modernized interface aims to make submitting pictures simpler with a new built-in way to add Flickr directly into your address book. Once you do that, you can just drop a mobile photo into an e-mail, tap in the “Flickr” address, and hit send. And if you’ve got nothing interesting to show, the retooled Flickr mobile brings the day’s top public photos to your fingertips so you can find something to see.

Mobile Photo Growth

Flickr’s motivation for expanding its mobile space makes sense. The Yahoo-owned company says it’s seen a 50 percent increase in usage over the past year, and it’s not alone. Recent numbers from data measurement firm ComScore indicate mobile photo messaging jumped 60 percent in the U.S. this past year. I n a somewhat surprising twist, the group with the highest percentage of growth wasn’t teenagers, either — it was adults aged 45-54.

Flickr seems to have some catching up to do, too, judging by its traffic. A ComScore study ranked Flickr at 18.3 million U.S. visitors per month in July, behind Facebook Photos at 25.4 million and Photobucket at 23.5 million. Google’s Picasa came in last with 8.3 million monthly U.S. visitors.

Yahoo is currently looking at testing an open source approach to Flickr in the future, another move that could set it apart from the competition in the world of photo sharing.

This isn’t your grandfather’s fireside chat.

President-elect Barack Obama plans to tape a weekly address not just for radio listeners, as presidents have for years, but for YouTube Internet viewers, too.

Well, what else would you expect from the first post-baby boom president?

Connecting the White House hearth to the American home, Franklin Roosevelt talked to the people through the radio, with crackling broadcasts delivered near a crackling fire. John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan mastered television. For Obama, who built a big part of his campaign on the Internet, it’s Google Inc.-owned YouTube.

About 75 years after Roosevelt used a new medium to reach out during troubled times, the president-elect is doing the same with Web videos.

Obama was recording a four-minute address Friday at his transition office in Chicago. It will be posted Saturday through a YouTube link on his transition Web site, http://www.change.gov. And he will continue to do the videos when he takes office on Jan. 20.

And he won’t be the only one in his administration taking a starring role online.

Transition leaders and policy advisers will also appear in videos on a regular basis, Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Other officials, such as Cabinet members, could also take part.

President George W. Bush hasn’t videotaped his radio addresses for online viewing as Obama plans to do, the White House said. YouTube wasn’t around when Bush came into office, though podcasts of his addresses are available on iTunes, and the audio is posted on http://www.whitehouse.gov.

The Saturday radio addresses were initiated by Reagan and have evolved into a weekly fixture of the presidency, accompanied by a response from the party out of power.

Still, relatively few people actually hear them on the radio, and Obama is hoping to reach many more with what his transition team calls a “multimedia opportunity.”

The videos are part of the team’s effort to build on a campaign model that helped Obama reach millions of voters online during the presidential race. It’s a potentially powerful electronic tool in new digital outreach effort aimed at supporters and others interested in being connected to the activities of the Obama White House. The Web site and videos allow him to bypass the traditional media and reinforce his message online.

On the campaign trail, Obama promised to use the Internet to make his administration more open and interactive, offering a detailed look at what’s going on in the White House on a given day or asking people to post comments on his legislative proposals.

The transition team plans to use videos to keep people posted on developments as Obama prepares to take the oath of office, Psaki said.

A two-minute video of Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett is already on the Web page. In it, Jarrett discusses recent staff decisions and the ethics policy in place for the transition.

“We’ll be back frequently to give you updates,” she tells watchers.

A late slip cost Liverpool dear in Wednesday’s Champions League group match at Atletico Madrid as Portuguese winger Simao struck an 83rd minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw.

Irish international Robbie Keane, yet to score in the Premiership, had put the visitors ahead in the 14th minute for his second Champions League goal at the Vicente Calderon stadium.

The 83rd minute goal of Simao, whom the Merseysiders tried to sign two years ago, was a blow for Liverpool although both they and Atletico have seven points from nine in Group D.

Atletico and Liverpool face off again in the next group match at Anfield on November 4.

“We had control of the game for the first half. I am disappointed because we had chances to kill the game and we didn’t. If you don’t take your chances that is what happens sometimes,” said Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez.

“We tried to be too precise, tried to give the perfect pass and didn’t finish when we should have done.

“If you said to me before the game that we would have seven points that would be good. But we have dropped two points and we also have some injury concerns.

“Steven Gerrard, Xavi Alonso and Robbie Keane all went off in the second half and they have some problems.”

Atletico coach Javier Aguirre said: “We always try to win every game. We had more chances in the second half and were more decisive. We will see if the draw is a good result later on.

“It was important not to lose at home.”

It is a big week for Liverpool who have a title tussle with co-leaders Chelsea on Sunday.

With Atletico old boy Fernando Torres, who captained the club at the tender age of 19, missing with a hamstring injury, Benitez started with a 4-5-1 formation with Keane as the target man.

Surprisingly Dirk Kuyt — the match winner in a 3-2 win over Wigan Athletic on Saturday — was left on the substitutes’ bench with Javier Mascherano taking his place.

For Benitez it was a return to his hometown of Madrid and Liverpool had four Spaniards — the same number as Atletico — in their starting line-up in Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso, Albert Riera and Alvaro Arbeloa.

Atletico, reeling from their weekend derby defeat to Real Madrid, handed a debut to 19-year-old defender Alvaro Dominguez with Tomas Ujfalusi out injured.

Sergio “Kun” Aguero was on the bench with Aguirre claiming the Argentine was tired and former Liverpool man Florent Sinama Pongolle started in attack.

Pongolle was not the only old boy on show with Luis Garcia, a 2005 Champions League winner with Liverpool, a surprise starter.

This was Atletico’s biggest European night since March 19, 1997 — when they were ousted by Ajax in the Champions League quarter-final — and there was a red-hot atmosphere at the Calderon.

UEFA had threatened to switch the match to a different venue after the trouble in Marseille but fortunately there was no repeat.

After conceding early goals in their previous two matches Atletico were probably relieved to be 0-0 after 10 minutes but then Keane struck after a slick pass from Gerrard.

Atletico were toothless with the fans chanting for Aguero and Reina had virtually nothing to do in the first half with a shot from Diego Forlan the hosts’ best attempt.

Aguero came on at the start of the second half for Garcia, who had no impact against his ex-employer, as the home side went with three strikers.3

Three minutes after the break Liverpool had the ball in the net again but it was ruled out for offside.

Atletico had the same thing happen to them and then on 56 minutes Simao hit the post but the ball rebounded to Reina.

Simao then equalised with a sweet strike and both sides could have won it in the closing stages.

British prison officers fear that Muslim inmates are turning to extremism.

According to The Times, prison officers at Whitemoor Jail fear growing radicalisation and conversions among the 395 inmates, of whom almost one third were Muslims.

On one wing at the jail staff admitted that Muslim inmates “policed themselves”, theeport said.

One inmate claimed to inspectors that inmates are converting to Islam because they want protection and that Muslim gangs in the jail provide it.

Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons, has urged the prison service to do more to provide staff throughout the jail system but particularly in the top security prisons with help to deal with increasing Muslim numbers.

The number of Muslim prisoners in jails doubled in the ten years to 2006 to reach,243 - 11 per cent of the total prison population.

A new video message purportedly by al-Qaida criticizes Pakistani leaders — both past and present — and accuses them of having no concern for the welfare of Muslims.

Monday’s message was posted on militant Web sites commonly used by al-Qaida. In the hour-long video, an unnamed narrator speaking Urdu calls on Pakistani Muslims to prepare for holy war and take up arms against corrupt governments.

Under U.S. pressure, Pakistan launched a military offensive early last month against Taliban and al-Qaida militants in a tribal region along the Afghan border and fighting has raged in the area ever since. The army claims to have killed more than 1,000 militants.

Al-Qaida’s leaders are believed to be hiding somewhere in the lawless tribal regions along the border.

Could climate change dull the blazing palette of New England’s fall foliage? The answer could have serious implications for one of the region’s signature attractions, which draws thousands of “leaf peepers” every autumn.

Biologists at the University of Vermont’s Proctor Maple Research Center will do some leaf peeping of their own to find out — studying how temperature affects the development of autumn colors and whether the warming climate could mute them, prolong the foliage viewing season or delay it.

Using a three-year, $45,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, they’re planning to measure the color pigments in leaves exposed to varying temperatures in hopes of finding a pattern. The study starts next month, although some experiments are already under way.

“It is getting warmer, and people want to know how that’s going to affect this big process that’s so important to us,” said research associate Abby van den Berg.

The three-week period of peak foliage color — usually from the end of September to mid-October — is among the busiest of the year for Vermont tourism, bringing in an estimated $364 million, according to state officials. It’s also an important time for tourism in the other New England states.

“It’s a critical season for us,” said Allison Truckle, owner of Tucker Hill Inn, in Waitsfield, which does about 40 percent of its business in autumn.

Many variables go into triggering leaf color, but for now the research will focus on temperature. The experiment is starting with the researchers’ assumption that the brilliant colors are promoted by cold nights followed by warm, sunny days.

“Do cold nighttime temperatures affect and promote fall coloration? And specifically, we’re really looking at anthocyanin synthesis, the red pigments that are created at that time,” van den Berg said.

The study also will look at whether cold daytime weather plays a role.

In the fall, chlorophyll — the green pigment in leaves — breaks down in response to decreasing day length, revealing the yellow to orange anthocyanin pigment.

In preliminary experiments so far this year, van den Berg has been subjecting groups of sugar and red maple saplings to a range of temperatures. Some of the test subjects are kept in a constantly refrigerated box with a window to let in sunlight, some potted saplings spend their days outdoors and then are moved into a cooler at night, and some just remain outdoors with no artificially altered temperature.

Every few days, she tests the leaves with handheld meters to measure their chlorophyll and anthocyanin content.

So far, it’s too early to tell what effect temperature is having, but the researchers expect to have results before the three years is up.

The study is unique in investigating how climate change might affect the timing and color of fall foliage, said Jake Weltzin, head of the USA National Phenology Network, which has started its own volunteer effort to track how climate change affects certain plants.

In previous years, the University of Vermont research center found a link between the amount of stress on sugar maples during the growing season — marked by a lower level of nitrogen in leaves — and the onset and amount of red in the leaves.

“So trees that were experiencing a little more stress tended to start turning color a little earlier and making more red,” van den Berg said.

Van den Berg says she’s noticed that in warmer autumns, brilliance is muted in some places. But she tries not to put too much stock in what she sees from place to place.

“It’s always great. … It can be peak in different places at the same time so you just drive around and you hit all these different pockets of the landscape, so it’s always fabulous,” she said.

Mortar bombs hit a Mogadishu market on Monday in a second day of fighting that has killed at least 42 people, witnesses said.

Islamist insurgents are battling the Somali government and their Ethiopian military backers in a nearly two-year conflict that some are calling Africa’s Iraq.

Fighting worsened at the weekend, even as U.N. officials sought to broker a ceasefire between government and opposition representatives in neighbouring Djibouti.

Somali police and the hardline al Shabaab Islamists blamed each other for the attacks.

“Al Shabaab militant group attacked government bases and foreign troop bases. They also threw mortars at residential areas…So al Shabaab is responsible for all that has happened today and last night,” said police spokesman Abdulahi Hassan Barise.

In the biggest incident, shells hit packed Bakara market, horrifying shoppers and killing about 30 people, residents said.

Al Shabaab said government and Ethiopian troops had targeted the residential area considered a stronghold of the Islamist insurgents, after rebel attacks on the presidential palace.

“When troops die in attacks they (government troops) target civilians like … at Bakara Market today,” Muktar Roboow, an al Shabaab official told Reuters.

Ali Dhere, chairman of Bakara business committee, said government-fired shells hit the market, which lies in a densely-populated area.

“We don’t know why they are targeting Bakara because this is a market, a public place,” he told Reuters.

Bakara traders described a terrible scene.

“We saw four people die on the spot. Their flesh and bones were scattered into pieces,” said clothes seller Nur Omar.

Abdi Nur Hassan, who runs an electronics stall, said two missiles landed nearby. “I have seen six people die, some of them missing legs and hands. We collected their bodies, but it is difficult to separate them,” he said.

As well as the presidential palace, the Somali rebels also attacked two bases of African Union (AU) peacekeepers, and shelled the city’s main airport on Monday where a commercial flight defied a ban by the al Shabaab group to land.

Residents also said at least a dozen people had died in fighting on Sunday. “A missile hit a neighbour’s house and killed nine people in the same family,” one resident, Farhiya Abdullahi, told Reuters of the worst incident.

After being chased away from their power base, Mogadishu, Islamists launched an insurgency in early 2007 that has killed nearly 10,000 civilians and an unknown number of combatants.

They have become increasingly bold in the last two months, stepping up attacks in the Somali capital and capturing the strategic southern port of Kismayu.

Al Shabaab is on Washington’s terrorism list, and Western security services say the Islamists have close links to al Qaeda. Rebel leaders, however, depict themselves as nationalists fighting an unwanted occupation by Ethiopia.

During lulls in the fighting, Mogadishu residents rushed their wounded to the city’s few clinics. Staff at Madina hospital said they had admitted 65 wounded people since Sunday.

Eid ul Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, will fall Oct 1 this year in most Islamic countries, the Emirates Astronomical Society (EAS) and Islamic Crescent Observation Project (ICOP) announced Monday.

“Astronomical calculations show that Eid ul Fitr will be on the first of October (Wednesday) for majority of countries which started Ramadan on Monday (Sep 1),” the official Emirates News Agency (WAM) quoted Mohammed Shuwkat, rapporteur of activities at EAS and chairman of the ICOP, as saying.

“Countries which began fasting on Monday will not be able to see the crescent on Monday (Sep 29) as the moon will set before the sunset. Accordingly, these countries must complete Ramadan up to the 30th day,” he added.

Hurricane Ike barreled into the densely populated Texas coast near Houston early on Saturday, bringing with it a wall of water and ferocious winds and rain that flooded large areas along the Gulf of Mexico and paralyzed the fourth-largest U.S. city.

Ike, which has idled more than a fifth of U.S. oil production, came ashore at the barrier island city of Galveston as a strong Category 2 storm at 2:10 a.m. CDT (3:10 a.m. EDT) with 110 mph winds, the National Hurricane Center said.

Ike barreled through the Gulf of Mexico for days and covered a vast area extending hundreds of miles (km) when it slammed into the Texas coast. It is the biggest storm to hit a U.S. city since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

The hurricane drove a wall of water over Galveston and submerged a 17-foot sea wall built to protect the city after a 1900 hurricane killed at least 8,000 people. More than half of its 60,000 residents had fled and emergency operations were suspended through the storm.

About 50 miles inland, Ike lashed downtown Houston’s glass-covered skyscrapers, blowing out windows and sending debris flying through water-clogged city streets.

The storm was downgraded to a Category 1 on the hurricane intensity scale at 8 a.m. CMT (9 a.m. EDT) carrying top sustained winds near 90 mph and moving north, but officials said it was too soon to assess the damage.

Texas officials were waiting for a break in the weather to deploy a search and rescue operation.

“We expected a major storm and our expectations unfortunately came true,” said Mark Miner, a spokesman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. “The weather needs to clear up a little bit to see just what the devastation was.”

The hurricane has shut down 17 oil refineries on the Gulf of Mexico, the heart of the U.S. oil sector where 22 percent of fuel supplies are processed. Energy experts said it would take at least a week for the refineries to get back to normal.

Houston was dark Saturday morning except for downtown and the Texas Medical Center, which are fed by underground power sources, Floyd LeBlanc of CenterPoint Energy said in an e-mail. Nearly all 2 million customers, or 4.5 million people, in the Houston-Galveston area were without power, he said.

“This is a huge storm that is causing a lot of damage, not only in Texas, but also in parts of Louisiana,” U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday.

He said the government would monitor gas prices to prevent extraordinary price increases because of Ike.

Zimbabwe’s ruling and opposition parties have both expressed their optimism over a power-sharing deal, saying they are hopeful the deal is likely to be hammered out Thursday.

The ruling ZANU-PF led by President Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) headed by Morgan Tsvangirai had resumed their power-sharing talks Monday with the mediation of South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mandated by the Southern African Development Community.

After Wednesday’s talks, which have been deadlocked since August over the sharing and distribution of executive power among them, President Mugabe told the press ’so far so good’.

‘Tomorrow (Thursday) we will hopefully sign (an agreement),’ Mugabe said.

MDC also expressed the hope that the negotiation process would be successfully concluded Thursday, the Herald newspaper said.

The Herald reported Tuesday that President Mbeki arrived in Zimbabwe Monday with a document which seeks to resolve the outstanding issue of sharing and distributing executive powers among the parties of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe last week gave the last chance to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to sign the power-sharing deal, warning that he would name the new cabinet if Tsvangirai failed to sign.

‘We know that it is the British government behind it. It is the British government, which does not want an agreement, and as long as they do not want it, he (Tsvangirai) will not sign.’ Mugabe was quoted by the Herald as saying.

In the June presidential election the ZANU-PF lost to MDC its Lower House majority for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, but MDC won the majority by only a narrow margin.

The inter-party talks began in July to resolve the impasse resulting from Mugabe’s re-election in June in a presidential run-off.

The vote was boycotted by Tsvangirai, who accused the Mugabe’s ruling party of backing the violence against the MDC supporters.

The negotiations were very close to a breakthrough on the eve of the Southern African Community Development summit held in mid- August in South Africa, but stalled as Tsvangirai requested to ‘ reflect and consult’ on a sticking point in the dialogue.

Zimbabwe has not had a new cabinet since the presidential run-off elections June 27 this year.