UN secretary general Kofi Annan opened the World Summit on the Information Society yesterday and criticised the English language's dominatation the Internet.

"There is a content divide. Much of the information on the Web is not relevant to the real needs of people," said Annan. "Nearly 70 per cent of sites are in English Ð at times crowding out local voices and needs."

More than 10,000 delegates from 150 countries were in Geneva for the first day of the summit yesterday. They included 50 heads of state.

They are meeting to address the problem of the so-called 'digital divide' Ð the technology gap between rich and poor nations.

But key issues, such as a commitment from developed countries to fund technology projects in the South, and the problem of who should run the Internet, have already been put on hold until the next meeting in 2005 due to internal squabbling.
www.itu.int/wsis