Felipe Massa has been woken successfully three times to make contact with his family, one of the surgeons who operated on the Brazilian Formula One star told CNN on Monday, after a horror crash in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix left the driver needing surgery on a fractured skull.

Felipe Massa after the crash at the Hungaroring.

Peter Bazso, the medical director of the AEK hospital in Budapest, confirmed that Massa’s injuries had been “life-threatening” after he careered off the Hungaroring at 200kph in his Ferrari, but that his condition was now “slightly improving.”

Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello was also optimistic after visiting his fellow Brazilian on Monday afternoon.

“I saw the doctor and he said that [Massa] had reacted well when he first saw the doctor and reacted well when he saw his father,” he told waiting reporters.

“I asked the doctor ‘as someone who has no understanding of medicine, how will he be?’ the doctor said ‘most probably he is going to be 100 percent fine”

Bazso told CNN said he had watched Saturday’s accident on television and his team, who specialize in brain injuries, was immediately put on standby to operate as Massa was airlifted to his hospital.

Massa was hit on the helmet by a spring which had fallen off the rear of the Barrichello’s Brawn.

The impact left Massa concussed and he lost control of his Ferrari on the high speed Turn Four before ploughing into a tire barrier.

Bazso and his team performed a two-hour emergency operation shortly after Massa arrived at the hospital, which also caters for the Hungarian military.

He remains in a medically-induced coma in intensive care but Bazso said there were good signs of a recovery.

“We tried to wake him up three times so he could make contact with his family and each time we were successful,” he said.

Massa’s parents and his pregnant wife Anna Rafaela flew to Hungary to be at his bedside after the accident.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo told their official Web site that he would be visiting the hospital on Monday to check on his driver’s condition and paid tribute to his teammate Kimi Raikkonen who finished second to Lewis Hamilton in Sunday’s race.

“Compliments to Kimi for a great race and to the team, for working well and very concentrated despite these very difficult circumstances.”

Meanwhile, Baszo added that they hoped to fully bring him out of the coma later today when they would better be able to assess his condition.

“He is definitely not worse, but his injuries were life-threatening,” he added.

Massa’s crash came less than a week after Formula 2 driver Henry Surtees, the son of former world champion John Surtees, was killed in similar circumstances, knocked unconscious by a tire which flew off another car in a race at Brands Hatch, before crashing.

Formula One’s safety record has improved dramatically in recent years, with the last fatality in 1994 when the legendary Brazilian Ayrton Senna crashed at Imola.

The Swedish music streaming service Spotify is planning to launch its first mobile application within weeks.

The company has submitted the application to Apple’s iTunes App Store for its approval.

If given clearance, Spotify’s service will then be available for users to download onto iPhones.

Spotify has been called an “iTunes killer” because of its ease of use and its comprehensive, free library of millions of songs.

It is also looked on as a possible saviour for the music industry, in its bid to offer alternatives to piracy.

The application is designed to search for new music and will allow users to temporarily store playlists to their phone for use when there is no connection.

It will also allow users to stream playlists.

Spotify has said the application will be free, but will require a premium subscription to use.

Being able to download a playlist to your phone over your own network before you go out, then listen to it despite poor or non-existent network coverage is a real bonus Rory Cellan-Jones BBC technology correspondent Dot.life: Spotify - going mobile Have Your Say: What is your desert island download?

The premium service, which currently costs £9.99 a month, allows users to run Spotify on their computers without adverts.

The service, which launched last year, now has more than two million users in the UK, and more than six million across Europe.

It has not yet launched in the United States but says it intends to do so by the end of the year.

The company has already demonstrated an application for mobile phones running Google’s Android software, though that has not been made available to the public.

Mrs Schmidt could be summoned before the budget committee

The German health minister, Ulla Schmidt, has been criticised after her official car was stolen in Spain, where she was using it during her vacation.

The 90,000 euro (£78,000) Mercedes S-class was stolen in Alicante.

Mrs Schmidt flew there at her own expense. Her chauffeur drove 2,400km (1,500 miles) to meet her so she could carry out some official business.

But opposition politicians want to know why she needed her car in Spain, when embassy vehicles are available.

A German taxpayers group also weighed in, telling the Bild am Sonntag newspaper: “Taxpayers’ money should not be wasted on the comfort of a minister”.

Officials at her ministry said Mrs Schmidt, like all cabinet members, has a car at her disposal at all times for official and private use.

They said she was meeting on Monday with Germans living in Spain, and that the minister would reimburse the cost of private use, in accordance with the rules.

Thieves stole the keys from the chauffeur’s accommodation near Alicante, a popular retirement and holiday destination for Germans on Spain’s Costa Blanca.

The award marks the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue album

Jazz lovers are being asked to nominate unsung British live venues for a new heritage project, called the (Kind Of) Blue Plaque scheme.

Brecon Jazz Festival organisers have set up nominations online and will award one blue plaque a year to a former or current venue.

The public is asked to suggest venues associated with legendary performers or having a pivotal role in British jazz.

It marks the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis’ celebrated Kind of Blue album.

The winner will be announced just before the start of this year’s festival in Brecon, Powys in August.

“The environment that allows improvisations to take place is almost as important as the players themselves,” said Peter Florence, director of the Brecon Jazz Festival.

“But the venues remain only in people’s memories, unlike recorded music. We want to tap into the memories of people who remembered the great days of the 1950s - and the record of what went before - to find the location for Brecon’s debut (Kind of) Blue Plaque.”

The plaque could even be awarded to the site of a venue which is no longer standing, but organisers have appealed for jazz lovers and local historians to dig into their knowledge and memories to help compile a shortlist.

The person who nominates the winning venue will be invited to the unveiling of the plaque just before the opening of Brecon Jazz 2010.

The festival has been rescued by organisers of the neighbouring Hay literature festival, after the company in charge hit financial problems after 25 years

A scaled-down version of the festival this year, from 7 August, will feature South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango as headline artists.

Merce Cunningham based himself in New York

US choreographer Merce Cunningham, widely recognised for revolutionising modern dance, has died aged 90.

A statement from the Cunningham Dance Foundation said the New York-based dancer “died peacefully in his home of natural causes” on Sunday.

He formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1953 and choreographed nearly 200 works for it.

Although he used a wheelchair by the end of his career, Cunningham danced on stage right into his 80s.

The statement said he “revolutionised the visual and performing arts, not for the sake of iconoclasm, but for the beauty and wonder that lay in exploring new possibilities”.

Judith Fishman, chairman of the Cunningham Dance Foundation, said: “Merce was an artistic maverick and the gentlest of geniuses.

“We have lost a great man and a great artist, but we celebrate his extraordinary life, his art, and the dancers and the artists with whom he worked.”

Just last month, Cunningham had set up a legacy plan for the continuation of his work in the coming years.

For every Starbucks’s Venti Dark Berry Mocha Frappuchino….

Some iced coffees being sold on the high street contain as many calories as a hot dinner, a cancer charity warns.

The chief offender had 561 calories, others contained more than 450, and the majority had in excess of 200.

It is the combination of sugar, full-fat milk and cream which appears to push some of the cool coffees into the upper echelons of the calorie scale.

The World Cancer Research Fund, which identified the drinks’ calories, noted healthier versions were available.

The “venti” or largest version of Starbucks’ Dark Berry Mocha Frappuccino, a limited offer for the summer, contains 561 calories - more than a quarter, WCRF notes, of a woman’s daily calorie intake.

…you could have had one of these, and even a few fries

Take away the whipped cream and it has 457 calories. The smallest version, without whipped cream, provided 288.

But even some options with skimmed milk are high in calories. At Caffe Nero, the skimmed version of a Double Chocolate Frappe and a Mocha Frappe Latte contain 452 calories, WCRF said.

Costa Coffee’s summer offerings are rather more modest but may still contain more calories than a chocolate bar. The Massimo Coffee Frescato contains 332 calories, while the primo-size, the smallest available, just under 200.

WCRF said it was highlighting calorie content, because after not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight “is the most important thing you can do to help prevent cancer”.

In fact it suggests people should become as lean as possible without being underweight.

Earlier this year it estimated that 19,000 cancers a year in the UK could be prevented if people lost their excess weight.

Dr Rachel Thompson, Science Programme Manager for WCRF, said: “The fact that there is an iced coffee on the market with over a quarter of a woman’s daily calorie allowance is alarming.

“This is the amount of calories you might expect to have in an evening meal, not in a drink.

“As a general rule, if you want to have a coffee, go for an unsweetened version with skimmed or semi skimmed milk as this is likely to contain fewer calories. It is also worth steering clear of ones that contain lots of cream or sugary fruit syrups as these tend to be higher in calories.”

A spokesperson from Starbucks said its Dark Berry Mocha Frappuccino was only one “of over 87,000 beverage variations”.

It noted these others included an ordinary coffee, containing four calories, an iced Americano, containing 11 calories, an iced caffe latte with skimmed milk, containing 68 calories “to more indulgent options on offer which our customers may choose from time to time”.

In a statement, Costa said it took “the nutritional balance of all its food and drink very seriously.

“Currently we provide a nutritional breakdown for consumers on packaging. Full nutritional analysis of all our food and drink products is also available in all of our stores and on the Costa website.

“Costa seeks to provide customers with a choice of products across its drink and sandwich range, meeting all key health trends; allowing them to choose healthy options if they so wish.”

Caffe Nero was not available for comment.

The maximum any donor can get in expenses is currently £250

The UK’s fertility watchdog has called for a fresh debate on reversing the ban on paying egg and sperm donors.

Head of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, Professor Lisa Jardine, says proper payment may persuade more donors to come forward.

More and more British couples are going abroad for infertility treatment since the ban on payments was introduced.

The number of women using donated eggs and sperm fell by 25% and 30% respectively between 2004 and 2006.

‘Patient welfare’

Professor Jardine told the Times she felt a “responsibility” to look at the ban on selling donated eggs and sperm again.

My agenda is to try and keep assisted reproduction within our regulated area, not because I’m bossy, but out of concern for patient welfare Professor Jardine One couple’s fight for a family

She said payments may ease the shortage of stocks and keep more patients in Britain to be treated in regulated clinics.

She said: “I’m not saying the decision arrived at before I became chair wasn’t the right one at the time.

“But given the evidence that egg shortage is driving women overseas, I feel a responsibility to look at it again.”

Professor Jardine added: “My agenda is to try and keep assisted reproduction within our regulated area, not because I’m bossy, but out of concern for patient welfare.”

She also said egg donors should be paid more than sperm donors to reflect the greater physical risks involved.

Anonymity for sperm and egg donors was removed in 2005 - another factor thought to be behind the donor shortage.

The maximum any donor can receive in expenses is currently £250.

Professor Jardine told the BBC a payment comparable to the cost of a cycle of IVF treatment - around £3,000 - might be more appropriate for women who donate eggs.

Rewarding altruism

Professor Jardine also wants a wider debate on the question of when family members should be allowed to donate to one another.

Intergenerational donations have occurred, such as the case of a 72-year-old Briton who provided sperm to his daughter-in-law.

Most people in the profession would agree that donors should be paid more because it is a big commitment Fertility expert Dr Allan Pacey

Another issue is donation between siblings. Although it is generally accepted that sisters can give eggs to one another, Professor Jardine wants to consider whether a brother should be allowed to donate sperm to his sister if she is using a donated egg.

Commenting on the payment concern, Dr Ainsley Newson, a senior lecturer in biomedical ethics at Bristol University, said the issue was around “reasonable compensation” for the burden of egg retrieval rather than paying for the eggs.

“Increasing the capped amount that women are given for donating eggs may increase donation.

“It will also help to emphasise the altruism behind donation, not forgetting the importance of the gift being made.”

Dr Allan Pacey, secretary of the British Fertility Society and a senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield, said: “It’s good that we are having a debate about it.

“Most people in the profession would agree that donors should be paid more because it is a big commitment, particularly egg donation.”

He said the difficulty was deciding the appropriate sum and how to square this with the “free” altruistic act of donation.

BFS chairman Tony Rutherford said there would have to be a limit set on how many eggs a woman could safely donate.

Laura Witjens, chair of the National Gamete Donation Trust, said: “Egg and sperm donors are doing a fantastic thing for people they don’t know with repercussions for themselves and their families for many years to come.

“To fob them off with receipted expenses and a capped £250 payment is an insult to the time, effort, risk and long term implications donors take.”

Obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes

The poorest people in the UK are more than twice as likely to have diabetes at any age than the average person, a charity has warned.

And those with the condition who live in the most deprived homes are also twice as likely to develop complications, Diabetes UK said.

Obesity, lack of exercise, poor diet and smoking are to blame, it added.

One public health expert said efforts to prevent and treat the disease should be targeted at the most vulnerable.

As of 2008, there were 2.5 million people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK.

Numbers have been climbing in recent years due to increased efforts to find people who were unaware they had the condition.

The NHS must ensure that appropriate, high quality care is available across the country and that everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status, is accessing it Douglas Smallwood, Diabetes UK Scots poor’s ‘greater risk of diabetes’

It has been predicted that by 2025, there will be more than four million people with diabetes in the UK.

The most common type is type 2 diabetes, which is generally associated with lifestyle factors, such as being overweight.

It is caused by the body not producing enough insulin or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly.

If not managed effectively it can lead to complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputation.

Deprivation

The report also found that women in England who live in homes with the lowest income are more than four times as likely to get diabetes as those who live in homes with the highest income.

And diabetes in Wales is almost twice as high in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived.

Douglas Smallwood, Diabetes UK chief executive, said action is needed to prevent a generation of people living in deprivation “ending up in an early grave”.

He said health authorities needed to raise awareness among those at high risk.

“In addition, the NHS must ensure that appropriate, high quality care is available across the country and that everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status, is accessing it.

“Research has shown that people with diabetes in deprived or high ethnicity areas are less likely to have key health checks, putting them at increased risk of developing devastating complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputation.

“Finally, in these times of economic uncertainty when people are more likely to turn to cheaper, processed foods, food labelling must be clear and consistent to allow people to make informed choices about what they are eating.”

Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said the figures were not surprising as the risk factors for diabetes were very closely associated with deprivation and hard to tackle.

“We do need to target efforts at the most vulnerable.”

He added that the national vascular screening programme which started in April and is still gearing up would help diagnose people and help them manage the illness.

“But we need to set up a proper call and recall system, we can’t just wait for people to go to the GP, it has to be done in a more active way.”

Bianca Jagger will be outside the meeting with a yellow digger

British mining company Vedanta will face activists at its annual general meeting later, protesting against the firm’s plans to open a mine in India.

The Kondh tribe says the opening of the bauxite mine will destroy a large part of the Niyamgiri Mountain in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

An elder of the tribe will attend the meeting, while environmental campaigner Bianca Jagger will protest outside.

They will appeal to investors to stop Vedanta going ahead with the mine.

Vedanta says the project is ethically and environmentally sound.

We have been living in harmony with this mountain, these forests, these animals for generations. Vedanta has been here for less than 10 years. Sitaram Kulisika, Kondh tribe elder

Ms Jagger is supported by UK-based campaign groups, including ActionAid and Survival International.

They plan to be outside the meeting at Lincoln’s Inn, London, with a yellow mining digger to illustrate the kind of mining assault they say Vedanta will launch on the Niyamgiri hills, which many tribal peoples believe to be sacred.

The meeting is due to start at 1500 BST.

Way of life

ActionAid has bought a single share in Vedanta for tribal activist Sitaram Kulisika so that he can attend the meeting on behalf of the Kondh tribe.

“Last year Vedanta directors promised not to mine without our consent. I am here to request all shareholders to honour that promise and save our livelihood and our god,” he said.

“We have been living in harmony with this mountain, these forests, these animals for generations. Vedanta has been here for less than 10 years.

“They cannot tell us what is best for our future.”

Ms Jagger has called on investors, including the Church of England and some borough councils, to rethink their involvement with Vedanta.

The Church has shares in Vedanta worth £2.5m ($4.1m).

Mining giant Vedanta is based in the UK but has most of its operation in India.

It is about to start mining bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills, to be processed at a refinery that has already been built in the area.

Bauxite is used to make aluminium.

The company and its Indian partner have been accused of forcing people to move from the land.

Ben Bernanke said new laws were needed to allow firms to fail

Ben Bernanke, the boss of the US central bank, has defended the US bail-out plan citing his fears of a second Great Depression, during a public talk.

“I was not going to be the Federal Reserve chairman who presided over the second Great Depression”, he said at an event in Kansas.

Helping finance firms as part of the $700bn (£424bn) stimulus plan had benefitted the wider economy, he said.

He added that more regulation was needed so no firm was too big to fail.

I had to hold my nose and stop those firms from failing. I am as disgusted about it as you are Ben Bernanke

“Too big to fail is a terrible situation and we’ve got to fix that,” said Mr Bernanke during the town hall event.

“I think that’s the top priority for politicians going forward.”

He said more laws were needed to permit government to wind down failing “financial behemoths” in a transparent manner, to prevent “damage throughout the system”.

‘Fiscal sanity’

The central bank in conjunction with the the US Treasury, organised a $700bn bank bail-out plan in last October, and has since spent around $3 trillion to boost the credit markets and mitigate the downturn.

The government’s intervention in rescuing and providing state aid, for insurance giant AIG among others, has come under criticism from those who say no firm should be too large to fail.

“I had to hold my nose and stop those firms from failing. I am as disgusted about it as you are,” said Mr Bernanke.

While most of what Mr Bernanke said has been said before, it is unusual for a Fed chairman to have such direct contact with the public, allowing for questions from ordinary Americans.

Looking ahead he said he expected inflation to remain low for some time, but that once the economy improved it would be crucial for the Fed to raise interest rates.

He also said while the deficit was likely to remain high “it is very important for the Congress and the administration to develop a plan, to say, “Here is how we’re going to get back to fiscal sanity”.