Laura Rohde

The U.K. government's high-tech plans for ID cards using biometric technology was announced Tuesday in the Queen's Speech, amid the traditional pomp and pageantry of the annual opening of the U.K. Parliament.

Some banner ads on popular European Web sites may have spread variants of the Bofra worm over weekend

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is considering a new effort called the "W3C Mobile Web Initiative," that will seek to make Web access from mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants), as simple, easy and convenient as desktop Web access.

The NoSoftwarePatents (NSP) campaign said that without Poland's backing, those countries that supported the proposal in May now fall short of a qualified majority in the Council of Ministers.

Vodafone Group PLC formally rolled out its third-generation (3G) mobile communication products and services in 12 European countries and Japan on Wednesday.

The U.K.'s National Health Service (NHS) has signed a software licensing deal with Microsoft Corp. that the NHS says will provide for the development of a user interface specifically designed for the organization while also providing substantial cost savings for the multi-billion pound project, it was announced Wednesday.

J. Sainsbury PLC, the U.K.'s second-largest grocery chain, is in the process of renegotiating its

Independent Media Center (Indymedia), the U.K.-based group responsible for running about 20 independent news Web sites, said that U.S. authorities returned its servers on Wednesday, but the group is still looking for answers as to why the two servers were seized last week.