Express sites closed, phone users get a warning and it's Bush... again

New owner of Express Newspapers, Richard Desmond has begun his reign by announcing four of the company's branded websites are to be axed.

The Guardian reports that the cost cutting measures will result in the loss of 40 jobs within the group. Desmond, is reportedly appalled that the websites have burned £8m of funding for a return of £100,000 from advertising revenues... Also in the Guardian is news that mobile phones are now to be issued with a health warning - informing consumers of the potential risks of the devices. The warnings are expected to be launched in the run up to Christmas despite the fact no research has proven one way or another whether mobile phones harm the user. As such the warnings will not be as blunt as the warnings on cigarette packets, but rather are aimed at parents buying phones for their children - informing them the present they are buying may not be risk-free and offering advice on how best to use the phone. Handset manufacturers are calling the measure unnecessary, with one certain cause of discontent being the fear that the warnings may yet spoil what was set to be a very merry Christmas for them, with mobile phones increasingly becoming as commonplace beneath the nation's Christmas trees as novelty socks and pine needles... The Financial Times reports that chip designer Arc is set to announce a package to enable the production of chips for Bluetooth devices. The company claims chips manufactured to its specification will be more cost efficient as well as smaller than rival designs. The kit will be available in January for companies wanting to develop prototypes and will produce tools for mass production by April... The Financial Times also reports on the demise of telecom equipment manufacturer Sagem. The French company has seen its share price plummet over the weekend as investors fled following a profit warning. The implications for the market at large are perhaps more concerning however as Sagem's warning came as a result of the slow roll out of WAP. The company claims it has invested too much time and money in WAP and the lack of consumer enthusiasm for the technology has resulted in the company's shortfall& Of course, all of this moring's paper also report on the fact that George W Bush has once again won the US presidential election. If so then all that has been written before about this being good news for Microsoft is once again true, but Bill Gates, like the rest of the world will probably not be getting too excited about this result, perhaps preferring to wait until Bush has actually taken up residence in the White House before finally believing this election may be over&