National / International News

From skinny teenager to Premier League great

The prospect of an early repeat vote in Italy to break the February election gridlock recedes after the outgoing head of state rejects the idea.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for his role in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

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Several states are scrambling to decide what information about quality would be useful to the millions of people and small businesses expected to shop for insurance coverage in new marketplaces beginning in October.

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The president met with Congressional leaders at the White House. But as before, Democratic and Republican leaders could not agree on a way forward. So at the end of the day, $85 billion worth of automatic spending cuts start kicking in.

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An appeals court overruled decisions that the U.S. government had to provide broad access to its evidence against Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, in order to satisfy the requirements of an extradition hearing.

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A couple of years ago, Brent Goldberg's two young sons downloaded "Dolphin Play," a free game onto their iPod Touch. In the game, you raise dolphins and other fish in a tank. There are also spending opportunities. You would get coins and exchange them for virtual fish. In the case of Goldberg's seven-year-old son, $50 worth of virtual fish.

"I found out two hours later when the credit card company called and said I had some weird charges coming through," he says. "I'm like, 'Oh, where's it from?' They're like, 'Oh, it's from Apple.' I'm like, 'Boys, what are you doing?'"

That cry has echoed through homes across the country -- roughly 23 million homes. That's how many families Apple will compensate under the terms of a proposed legal settlement. Two years ago, peeved moms and dads filed a class-action lawsuit, alleging that Apple didn't have proper parental controls on free mobile-device games. That allowed children to rack up big iTunes charges on so-called "in-app purchases." Depending on the game, these purchases could give players a bigger sword, better house or bonus points.

Parents like Mike Bertrand got stuck with stuck paying for his children's iTunes spree.

"The kids were very surprised to learn that they were spending real money and really confused about it," he says.

Bertrand's three young kids started playing a free iPad game called "Tap Fish."

"It's a little virtual aquarium, but if you want to buy different tanks or you want to buy little castles or little fish for your virtual fish tank or different species of fish, you have to use what appears to be play money," he says.

It's not play money. Bertrand realized what was going on when he noticed an email receipt from the iTunes store for $150.

"I started going through some other ones that were trapped in my spam folder and found that over the course of about a week, my kids tallied about $1,500 on the game," he says.

Apple reimbursed both Betrand and Goldberg. The two fathers didn't join the class-action suit. In agreeing to settle that case, Apple will give many parents a $5 iTunes gift card. Those parents whose kids' fishy charges topped $30 will get cash refunds. The settlement adds up to at least $100 million.

The question is whether the supposedly free games represent a deceptive business practice, says Colby Zintl with the advocacy group Common Sense Media. She applauds the settlement and points out Apple has added some barriers to stop unauthorized iTunes purchases. There's now a setting on iPhones, iPads and other devices that requires a password before any real money can be spent in a game or app. Still, Zintl takes issue with some free games aimed at children.

"The ability to press a button and move to a next level and you're charging your parents's credit card, you have to question what the business practices are," she says.

Those business practices grew out of the app marketplace, says Rene Ritchie of tech news site iMore.

"When the app store originally launched in 2008, there were apps like 'Super Monkey Ball' and they were $10," he says. adding that no one wanted to pay that much.

"And this model emerged called freemium," Ritchie says.

"Freemium" means the game itself is free, but things inside the game costs money.

"Instead of having to earn something in a game, you just buy it," Ritchie says.

Betting on impatience paid off. Ritchie says all of the top-grossing games right now are free...ish.

Mike Bertrand has found a way to keep his children's games genuinely free.  "My kids don't know my iTunes password anymore," he laughs.

US political leaders meet for a deadline-day summit at the White House as hopes fade for a deal to avoid $85bn (£56bn) in budget cuts.

Local authorities in England have been told how they will share a £4bn allocation of funds to provide extra school places and repair school buildings over the next two years.

Lotus's Romain Grosjean sets the pace on a rain-interrupted second day of the final pre-season test.

Activity in the UK's manufacturing sector unexpectedly shrank in February, according to a closely watched survey.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk says the resupply mission to the space station experienced a thruster problem, which appears to have been at least partially solved.

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Giant cranes have been transported by a specially built ship from Shanghai to help build the UK's newest deep water container port on the Thames Estuary.

Broadcaster Andrew Marr leaves hospital almost two months after suffering a stroke, and will continue his recovery at home, the BBC says.

The Brazilian economy grew at its slowest pace for three years in 2012, according to official figures, expanding by 0.9%.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall attend a St David's Day service in Cardiff as part of celebrations to mark the country's national day.

Ten people are arrested in Hong Kong as new restrictions over taking baby milk formula out of the territory come into force.

The West Coast Main Line, closed between Milton Keynes and Northampton after overhead wires were damaged, may reopen for rush hour.

If you know what Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater looks like, you might have Ezra Stoller to thank.

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An animal eradication scheme of unprecedented scope resumes on South Georgia island as researchers set out to kill all of its millions of rats.