Elephant kills TV expedition guide.

Elephant kills TV expedition guide. Last Updated: Friday, 30 October 2009, 15:37 GMT. The expedition guide for a BBC children's programme tracing the footsteps of explorer David Livingstone in Africa was killed when he was charged by an elephant in Tanzania, the Corporation said. Anton Turner, 38, was assisting with the filming of an episode of the CBBC series Serious Explorers, a spokeswoman said. "We understand at this stage that he was charged by an elephant and was mortally injured," she added. A doctor was travelling with the expedition and treated Mr Turner, a British citizen, at the scene, but it was understood he died shortly after the incident, the spokeswoman said. "Anton was an extremely experienced expedition safari and wildlife ranger and former Army officer who had worked with the BBC in the past.

Eye of the whale.

To see a whale in your dream represents your intuition and awareness. You are in tuned to your sense of spirituality. Alternatively, it indicates a relationship or business project that is too enormous to handle. (I.e. The Duke of Edinburg gaff.) You may be feeling overwhelmed. The dream may also be a pun on "wailing" and a desire to cry out about something… Wake up at 5:15AM. To the North side from my flat the black women loud preying or something. Jump, because before this was dreaming with three separate dreams. In one I’m like the wild animals handler. Where I see the young female elephant, i.e. Chelsea Clinton – in deep hole. And the enormous two males are going to help her. Seems that this is my command. But than I’m changing my mind. Because I see how they are very clumsy and almost smashing her with theirs weight. But it’s too late… This was the first. Then I receive a very powerful electric shock in my neck; because I’m now in the raft like that from Cast Away and see approximate the big eye of the whale. (I.e. Royal Dutch Shell). The third is too much to write about. Too much elaborated, complicated and with lot of details. Like the WB Report. But idea is this: “The two captains”. Or the two bosses. Like the Mozart and Salieri. Although, in the professors variant. One is good and is below in aquarium giving a lesson. And another is me (who are assist, inspect and survive his quality of teaching), the looser but with students. (The Germany and the swine flue of Western Ukraine). Passing nearby of Euro-Station, that place of barroso-miller’s the “a-carro-e-a-fuder” black women asking loud for ten pounds. Around her all that crew hotly discussing. At the place of MI6, – the body-guard with his vybliadok walking by. At the police station, the Brotherhood of City tie was in ‘stay with me’ position. I’m almost finishing. But it’s not right to don’t pay de’void attention to the how “Alta autoridade para comunicação social” treat de six-months old “a andar” killing. In North European (who works) media – the video is complete, but without faces of passing by, and in the almohads media (‘a rico sul’) you can see theirs faces, but cut-out what’s happen inside. In this environment are chosen the new 19 commissars of barroso-miller. No miracles – A PRETO.

Shell in talks with Essar on refineries sale. Chief Energy Correspondent. October 30 2009 11:20. Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch energy group, confirmed on Friday that it was in talks to sell three European refineries to Essar, the Indian conglomerate. Essar bid for the European refineries in August, and the group, which spans mobile phones, steel, shipping and energy, is now understood to have beaten off several suitors from the US and the Middle East to be in bilateral negotiations. The potential sale includes two German refineries near Hamburg, which have an aggregate capacity of about 200,000 barrels a day and employ about 500 workers each, as well as Shell’s Stanlow UK refinery at Ellesmere in Cheshire. Stanlow is Shell’s only UK refinery. It employs 1,000 people and 800 contractors and has the ability to produce 272,000 b/d. The refinery produces about one sixth of the UK’s petrol. The sale by Shell is part of a strategy to rid itself of smaller refineries to allow it to concentrate its investments on large, integrated complexes, such as those in Port Arthur, Texas and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The package is valued at about £1.5bn. Shell is also looking to sell its Montreal East refinery in Canada, which has a capacity of 121,000 b/d. Refinery sales have been controversial because of the potential of large job losses. UK refinery workers earlier this year threatened strike action over pay and other issues. Refiners are in a tough position because profit margins have collapsed amid the drop in demand for refined products that has accompanied the global economic downturn and new environmental policies in the US and Europe. For Essar, a group founded and controlled by Ravi and Shashi Ruia, the purchase of the three refineries would represent a big step in its ambition to expand its presence in Europe’s refining and marketing industry.

How do you do “Group of People”?

How do you do “Group of People”? Do you see how my actions have been filtered into your life? Check this into yourself and than see what kind of ripple effect I’ve been created. Don’t worry, it’s natural and happen to any one. It does occur when you are used to look at something for so long that you stop to seeing it. You only notice “it” if it changes. Personally, for me a little profit to hold back, choose the words and generalize when the faces of ongoing… are just these, around the corner (like a whores) charmers who insist to fooling me down. To sending me letters from Bank of England, from cabinet of cocaine ex-President of Portuguese Republic Jorge Sampaio, etc. to kindly ask me if I don’t willing to invite for my Christmas Diner a homeless person. To this Charles the II eat all my candles? And for me his carbon prints? Send me though, the synonyms for the substitution of the term cocaine Royal Family of Lancaster’s. It might be a little recommended fantasy, like my yesterday “Air Freshener” – but I won’t be willing to let go the 4 billion piece of fat let go without a fight.

1. Teapot Effect
2. Standard Chartered
3. BBVA

The Death of the Teapot Effect. Thursday, October 22, 2009. Fluid dynamicists have worked out how to stop teapots from dribbling, once and for all. Teapot technology is largely ignored by mainstream media (some say unfairly). But today, scientists in France unveil a technique that should breath hi-tech life into a new generation of bespouted objects. The problem with teapots is their annoying habit of dribbling, particularly at low rates of flow. The phenomenon has achieved such notoriety that it has been imaginatively dubbed the "teapot effect". Previous studies have shown that dribbling is the result of flow separation where the layer of fluid closest to the boundary becomes detached from it. When that happens, the fluid flows smoothly over the lip. But as the flow rate decreases, the boundary layer re-attaches to the surface causing dribbling. Previous studies have shown that a number of factors effect this process such as the radius of curvature of the teapot lip, the speed of the flow and the "wettability" of the teapot material. But a full understanding of what's going on has so far eluded scientists. Now Cyril Duez at the University of Lyon in France and a few amis, have identified the single factor at the heart of the problem and shown how to tackle it. They say that the culprit is a "hydro-capillary" effect that keeps the liquid in contact with the material as it leaves the lip. The previously identified factors all determine the strength of this hydro-cappillary effect. So how to overcome it? There are two ways say Duez and co. The first is to make the lip as thin as possible. That's why teapots with spouts made from thin metal are less likely to dribble. The second is to coat the lip with the latest generation of superhydrophobic materials which strongly repel water. Duez and co show how this stops dribbling at a stroke. "Superhydrophobic surfaces fully avoid dripping, and thus beat the "teapot effect"," they say. (Of course, there are one or two other potential applications in shaping the fluid flow in microfluidic machines but these pale into insignificance compared with the teapot revolution in hand.). The really exciting news, however, is that in certain materials the hydro-capillary effect can be controlled electronically. That raises the possibility of a teapot design in which dribbling can be turned on and off with the flick of a switch--an object of desire on a par with the iPhone, USB catapaults and personal hovercrafts. (The iPot, perhaps?). If this doesn't win these guys an IgNobel, I don't know what will.

Too early to call recovery – StanChart. Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:53am GMT LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Chartered (STAN.L), the Asia-focussed bank that is successfully negotiating the credit crisis, said it was benefiting from growth across its franchises but cautioned the economic outlook remained fragile. In its third-quarter trading statement published on Thursday, the bank said its key wholesale division -- which caters to corporations, other banks and government agencies -- had seen continued strong income performance, although competitor activity was increasing. Its consumer banking business, which has been hit by higher loan losses, lower margin lending and less demand for investment products, saw sustained income with strong mortgage performance, cost discipline and improving portfolio credit quality. "Although economic data and the underlying environment are improving, it remains too early to call a sustained recovery and we remain cautious on the outlook," said Chief Executive Peter Sands. "However, it is ever clearer that our markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East are emerging more quickly and stronger than a number of markets in the West." The bank provided no numbers and shares eased by around 0.7 percent to 14.73 pounds in morning trade. But some analysts had upgraded 2009 and 2010 earnings-per-share forecasts ahead of the statement, hoping for a sustained Asian economic recovery, continued robust growth of the bank's wholesale division and a relatively low bad loans tally. Standard Chartered (2888.HK) kicks off the earnings season for London-listed banks, although it stands far apart. Its limited exposure to western economies has helped it weather the worst of a credit crisis that forced states to bail out some rivals. Those European rivals -- many of which are restructuring, retrenching and slashing asset portfolios as a payback for government aid -- have left the field free to operators like Standard Chartered, which wants to expand further in fast-growing emerging markets and Asia that already contribute more than 90 percent of profits. Standard Chartered raised 1.01 billion pounds in new shares in August and has been casting its eye over Asian assets, but exclusive talks with the UK's Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) about buying retail and commercial assets in China, India and Malaysia ended earlier this month without a deal.

Vara "escutado" a pedir dinheiro a empresário. 29/10/09 10:20. O vice-presidente do BCP foi constituído arguido na operação "Face Oculta".As acusações prendem-se com a recolha de informação privilegiada, depois de ter sido escutado a pedir dinheiro a um empresário. Armando Vara foi apanhado nas escutas telefónicas da PJ a pedir pelo menos 10 mil euros ao empresário Manuel Godinho, que foi ontem preso pela Judiciária de Aveiro, noticiam os jornais nacionais. Segundo a Polícia Judiciária, as buscas efectuadas ontem visaram o domicílio e os locais de trabalho dos suspeitos, sendo que o empresário detido tinha um esquema montado para ser beneficiado na adjudicação de concursos na recolha e gestão de resíduos industriais.

BBVA admite comprar um banco em Portugal. 29/10/09 11:42. O espanhol Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) mostrou-se hoje disposto a efectuar aquisições em Portugal, mas só irá avançar com o consentimento das autoridades nacionais. "O BBVA é o segundo banco com maiores lucros do mundo e está com uma disposição compradora, em geral", disse Alberto Charro, administrador-delegado do BBVA Portugal, durante o Fórum Negócios Ibéricos, organizado pelo Diário Económico.Este responsável precisou que, "no momento em que houver oportunidades, vamos analisá-las. Há bancos à venda em Portugal?".Alberto Charro sublinhou que "o BBVA é um banco com muito respeito pelas autoridades, pelo Governo e pelo Banco de Portugal, e não faz nenhum movimento que não tenha apoio das autoridades". "Podemos perder oportunidades por causa disso. É uma forma de estar e temos tido sucesso", disse o administrador-delegado do BBVA Portugal, adiantando que a instituição considera que "em Portugal o banco tem de ser maior". Em Janeiro, foi noticiado que o BBVA sondou as autoridades portuguesas sobre uma eventual entrada no capital do BCP, que terá suscitado preocupações por parte da Presidência da República, embora tanto Cavaco Silva como José Sócrates tenham aceite analisar a possibilidade. Contactado nessa altura pelo Económico, o banco espanhol classificou essas notícias de "rumores de mercado".

The pool with one million dollars watch.

The pool with one million dollars watch. To don’t going beyond, to exceed or to overdo. Begin I write with this idea in mind. Designating the preferences for my day, which strangely, again smell the twat. Plus, the intense feeling of despair. Not necessary to indicate which the “group of people” were telling me that I’m nothing, that I’m without future, that I’m “barato e feliz”, that I’m “cвою маму закопaв”, etc. All this talks enter into one fact: “This group of people just lost the ‘tits’”. Well, which the arguments I can employ by who’s saying what if ‘A PRETO’? Only if I want worsen my “paranoia” and deteriorate my “schizophrenia”. Will be better to opt by taking the measure of my “Butterfly Effect” and how he can do the notable gust. To don’t write the nonsense. Like the one where the medvedev are distributing Kremlins medals in place of many geo-political signatures for losers footballers, and the выблядки of Tony Blair in language of “casamento – apartamento” make ‘penetrations’ for better salaries (i.e. Millibank) calling this Royalties and Concessions. Sounds like a big nonsense. But its not true. Again, the fact is that I’m just for let someone (i.e. “group of people”) lean to me whenever they want. And they never get for me something in return. Our relationship has gone for decades a little one-sided and it’s up to me now, to point it out and restore the “balance”. Get chance and take a fare part. Not that share which are putting the Rei de Bragança spit at me (during my walk) – which derivates from the Latin face (previously putted in my blog explaining how the Barroso/Solana know-how works). In this “way” protecting what is theirs and closing the doors what is my share. The witch from Penafiel was killed by theirs, Ukrainian/”put in” know-how. I don’t have any problem with faces. One things though, maybe this is the principal weapon of the Elizabeth the II when I desperately try to remember the name of some Elizabeth Taylor or Zara Lewis, or Andy Garcia who will represent the выблядки of Tony Blair. Concretely, the Pakistani who lives in Santiago de Campostela/Balmoral Palace is representing the Georgian President during the Caucasian War. You think what? No, just eating his tie. With the “rusia petroleum”, off course. The “group of people” who have a “pinta” to consider themselves “first”, who don’t have a will to work, but are the model for this barroso/solanas CV brokers cock-suckers. Who with the “cão-de-aqua” education have an arrogance enough to be the President. To make the “broxo morto” possible. The first in Europe my friends – are the “delgadinho”. The general Delgado a lutar contra um academico. (i.e. “Fight the Academics!”) And then be without very meticulously, very expensive in price, and with incredible love – container. All this names and thousands to be written yet KNOW what I’m talking about. When I talk to this “group of people” I don’t want say too much. The bad memories could cause me to have a negative image of myself. (You remember the cocaine ex-President of Portuguese Republic Sampaio?) Well, “group of people”, I can’t changer the past, but I can try to influence my future.

Сбился с пути. 27 октября 2009, 15::01. Упавший под Минском самолет не вписался в заданные координаты Самолет ВАе-125-800, упавший в понедельник вечером в районе минского аэропорта, не вписался в заданные координаты. По данным транспортной прокуратуры Белоруссии, воздушное судно вышло за пределы границ, указанных наземными службами. С положенных 200 метров самолет снизился до уровня верхушек деревьев. Если спецкомиссия докажет, что в этом повинны какие-то люди, им грозит до семи лет тюрьмы. Эксперты же видят несоответствия в картине крушения. «Причиной крушения российского самолета под Минском стал, по предварительным данным, его выход за пределы координат, заданных наземными службами», – заявили«Интерфаксу» во вторник в транспортной прокуратуре Белоруссии. При заходе на посадку судно не вписалось в указанные параметры, уточнили в ведомстве. Как рассказал газете ВЗГЛЯД заслуженный пилот СССР Олег Смирнов, с положенных 200 метров самолет снизился до уровня верхушек деревьев. «Погода, если говорить на профессиональном языке, была пионерская. Низкая облачность, не очень хорошая видимость, ночь, но, тем не менее, экипаж на подобном самолете должен был без проблем произвести посадку. Почему же самолет на удалении 4 километров от взлетно-посадочной полосы при прохождении дальней приводной радиостанции, где высота должна была быть минимум 200 метров, вдруг начал «стричь» крыльями верхушки деревьев, предстоит выяснить», – отметил он. По словам летчика, по всей видимости, то, что произошло, произошло мгновенно. При этом ни одного тревожного сообщения от экипажа не поступало. Как рассказал Смирнов, похожая авиакатастрофа с этой моделью самолета случилась в Харькове. «У судна при заходе на посадку произошел несбалансированный выпуск закрылков, что привело к мгновенной потере управляемости самолетом. Точно так же самолет нашли разрушенным», – отметил он. Напомним, самолет бизнес-класса российской авиакомпании «С-эйр» пропал с радаров около 21.40 по минскому времени (22.40 – по московскому). Он разбился на подлете к аэропорту Минска. В результате крушения погибли пять человек, в том числе глава «С-эйр» Марат Ромашкин. На борту кроме него находились второй пассажир Малышев, пилот Самойлов, штурман Снимщиков и бортпроводница Латутина. Ранее сообщалось, что в Белоруссию планировали вылететь шесть человек. Один из пассажиров на рейс не пришел. Обломки судна и тела погибших были обнаружены в 4 километрах от взлетно-посадочной полосы, вблизи деревни Драчково Смолевичского района. Один из бортовых самописцев уже найден. Поиски второго черного ящика продолжаются. По факту крушения возбуждено уголовное дело по статье «Нарушение правил безопасности движения или эксплуатации воздушного транспорта лицом, обязанным соблюдать эти правила в силу выполняемой работы или занимаемой должности, повлекшее по неосторожности смерть двух или более лиц». Как сообщает белорусская газета «Телеграф», статья, по которой возбуждено дело, предусматривает для виновных наказание в виде лишения свободы до семи лет. Для расследования причин катастрофы была сформирована комиссия из представителей Межгосударственного авиационного комитета, специалистов Белоруссии, России, а также американо-британской компании – производителя самолета.

A cuspir: Jogador da Ovarense morre ao intervalo. Basquetebol 25 de Outubro de 2009 17:41h. O jogador da Ovarense, Kevin Widemond, morreu este domingo durante o jogo frente à Académica, para a atribuição do terceiro e quarto lugar do Troféu António Pratas. O Troféu António Pratas estava a ser disputado no Pavilhão Municipal de Pousos, em Leiria. Durante o intervalo do jogo, Kevin Widemond caiu inanimado, tendo sido chamado o INEM para reanimar o jogador. Kevin Widemond ainda reagiu à intervenção do INEM, tendo sido imediatamente evacuado para o Hospital Santo André em Leiria. No Hospital, o atleta norte-americano acabou por não resistir e foi declarado o óbito. Em declarações à Agência Lusa, o responsável da área desportiva da SAD da Ovarense, José Eduardo relatou o sucedido, “Ao intervalo, o jogador estava sentado no balneário, na extremidade do banco, a ouvir as instruções do treinador (Mário Leite), e caiu para o lado” Ainda de acordo com o dirigente, o jogador, que “parecia estar a sofrer convulsões, foi, de imediato, assistido por um médico, que lhe fez uma massagem cardíaca”. “Foi, depois, chamado o INEM, mas o jogador acabou por falecer”, lamentou à Lusa José Eduardo, desconhecendo se a morte do norte-americano aconteceu a caminho ou já no Hospital de Leiria, onde “vai ser autopsiado”. De acordo com fonte hospitalar, contactada pela Agência Lusa, que confirmou o óbito, o jogador “entrou no hospital em paragem cardio-respiratória e não foi possível reanimá-lo”. Os responsáveis do Hospital Santa André vão fazer uma comunicação à imprensa entre as 19:00 e as 19:30. Face a este trágico acontecimento, o encontro entre Ovarense e Académica foi suspenso. De acordo com Paulo António Rosa, presidente da Associação de Basquetebol de Leiria, também “foi suspenso” o encontro da final, que deveria ser disputado entre o Benfica e o Vitória de Guimarães.

Крупным планом: Часовые родины Ведомости 11 часов назад. Российские чиновники не стесняются носить часы за $1 млн. И формально упрекнуть их не в чем: кодекса служебной этики госслужащих в России не существует до сих пор Российские чиновники не стесняются носить часы за $1 млн. И формально упрекнуть их не в чем: кодекса служебной этики госслужащих в России не существует до сих пор Владимир Путин, как известно, несколько раз дарил свои часы народу.

В Москве ограбили ювелирный магазин. 18:01 «Вести.Ru» В Северо-Западном административном округе столицы совершено вооруженное нападение на ювелирный магазин. Как сообщает «Интерфакс», в 19:30 по московскому времени двое преступников, вооруженных ножами, в масках ворвались в магазин по адресу проезд Стратонавтов, дом 9. Две продавщицы успели укрыться в сейфовой комнате. Преступники нанесли охраннику удар кастетом в лицо, после чего разбили витрины и похитили шесть планшетов с золотыми изделиями с бриллиантами. «В настоящий момент устанавливается сумма ущерба, но уже ясно, что она превысит несколько миллионов рублей. В городе объявлен специальный план поиска преступников по приметам», — сообщил представитель правоохранительных органов столицы.

Associado de Madoff encontrado morto na piscine Pedro Duarte. 26/10/09 07:55 Madoff friend Picower dead, found in pool. Thursday, 1 Oct 2009 06:27pm EDT . MIAMI (Reuters) - Palm Beach billionaire Jeffry Picower, described as the biggest beneficiary of Bernard Madoff's fraud, died on Sunday after he was found lying at the bottom of the pool at his home, police said. Emergency services were called to the oceanside mansion after Picower, 67, was pulled from the pool by his wife and a housekeeper and he was later pronounced dead, the Palm Beach Post reported quoting police and Fire Rescue officials. Police were investigating the death as a drowning, the newspaper said. It reported he was not breathing when he was pulled from the pool and paramedics worked unsuccessfully for 20 minutes at the scene to try to revive him. Picower and his wife, Barbara, were friends of Wall Street financier Madoff, who is serving a 150-year sentence after pleading guilty to running a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

У новосибирского юриста в Москве похитили $17 млн. Юрист из Новосибирска заявил о краже из квартиры, которую он снимает на юго-востоке Москвы, $6 миллионов и €7 миллионов, сообщила представитель пресс-службы УВД по Юго-Восточному округу. По ее словам, сообщение о краже из квартиры дома 105 на Волгоградском проспекте поступило в милицию около 11.00. «Мужчина заявил, что у него украли деньги его доверителя, которые он якобы получил накануне в банке. По его словам, воры похитили в общей сложности $6 миллионов д и €7 миллионов», – сказал источник. В настоящее время на месте преступления работает оперативная группа, которая проверяет эту информацию. По некоторым данным, потерпевший является представителем человека, который получил крупное наследство, сказала представитель УВД. РИА «Новости»

Three US helicopters crash in Afghanistan. An American Black Hawk helicopter in Helmand Rescue operations are under way across Afghanistan, after three helicopters crashed in a series of pre-dawn sorties, leaving at least four US troops dead and two others seriously injured.

Ferrari after I think about half-goats of ‘put in’: В Гондурасе убит племянник президента страны Мичелетти. › Происшествия › 27.10.2009 › 06:00 › 686 просмотров. Тэги: Гондурас / В Гондурасе найден мертвым племянник исполняющего обязанности президента Роберто Мичелетти. Тела 24-летнего Энцо Мичелетти и его друга были обнаружены еще в субботу в лесу около города Чолома, но только 26 октября удалось установить их личности. Мануэль Лопес, следователь: Было найдено два тела, уже начавшие разлагаться. Они мертвы уже два или три дня. Трупы обнаружены со связанными руками и с пулевыми ранениями в разных частях тела. Полиция не уверена, что убийство было политически мотивированным. Однако эта версия напрашивается сама собой. Ведь главный противник Мичелетти, свергнутый президент Мануэль Селайя, до сих пор скрывается в посольстве Бразилии в столице Гондураса, а его сторонники продолжают устраивать масштабные акции протеста.

Choose which T-shirt, of the Henrique-Navigator or Marco Polo?

Choose which T-shirt, of the Henrique-Navigator or Marco Polo? It’s not a cheep weekend that’s for sure. Good Lord that I have a brain enough to secure myself through blog from the Anglo-Saxon economical model. (Just see how the hackers targeted the Guardian job site) From the system (i.e. Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization) to me – almost no harm. If do not take into consideration the switched off or damaged somehow, I don’t know yet, the all my flat sockets… The first thought was how the impossible to speak about the Andrew without to getting the fly in my personal soup. To kill all sockets (not sockers) in my place, should I see this like an unexpected expense arrived from those (sic.) who should be sharing with me the burden? Because this is for me (not for you) the very unexpected and expensive expense! By and large, I would normally take the hit on this one, but Andrew, why should I? Look at my dreams. Dream was about one blonde (i.e. white man/brother), all caked, running away from the Argentine. Okay, from the camel or the surveyor, or IVA, for this matter. Prince, let’s fish this fly out and don’t sweat the small stuff today. The Corporation pay – in any way. Let’s say to “our” colleagues just this: ‘One bad apple can spoil the whole barrel, and we don’t need that one bad idea (if left unchecked) ruin a “healthy” team dynamics. This very unexpected and expensive expense should be re-reimbursed by the pirates like the ongoing… who walk a lot around us. With these, I never will be get a chance to think about my pension, or to pit my wits against an unfamiliar challenge and find out what I can if the chips ( see theirs and the ex-President of Portugal cement photo in this text, and the “Indicador dos doze” from Barroso and Solana) are down. Is obvious my need to escape the pressure, or the fancy, from hand of this pirates, titles such as of the “Eminencia Parda de Communidade Europeia”, or outright bullying Dukes who want intimidate me (see the almohads witch at the Indian Docks) than the photo from yesterday and the street full of arabs walking today theirs “new” dogs. Well, going along with this crowd (gado) if I know that the crowd (gado) going in the wrong direction – is the waste of “our” time.

Prince Andrew told to 'shut up' after defending bankers sky-high bonuses. He was also told he should "shut up'" after saying: "Bonuses, in the scheme of things, are minute. They are easy to target." Graham Smith of campaign group Republic said: "It's pretty crass for a multi-millionaire Prince to suggest that multimillionaire bonuses are trivial while most people are struggling to get through the recession. He should keep his mouth shut." Susie Squire, of the Tax Payers Alliance said: "Andrew shows himself to be out of touch with ordinary taxpayers who have bailed out banks with their hardearned cash. The Duke, 49, Britain's "special representative for trade and investment", has been labelled Airmiles Andy for his foreign trips in his Government role. Last year he was criticised for spending £140,000 of taxpayers' money on hotel bills, food and entertaining while globe-trotting across 23 countries.

Hackers target Guardian jobs site. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/8324630.stm. Published: 2009/10/25 11:08:44 GMT. Computer hackers have targeted the Guardian newspaper's jobs website in a "sophisticated and deliberate" move, the company has said. The breach put the personal details of some of the site's users at risk, and those who may have been affected have been identified and e-mailed. The Guardian said it had since been "assured" by the supplier that runs the site that the system was now secure. Officers from the Metropolitan Police's e-crime unit are investigating. The Guardian says its jobs site attracts more than two million unique users a month. The company e-mailed those affected, saying: "You have used the site to make one or more job applications and we believe your personal data, relating to those applications, may have been accessed." “ It's very disconcerting to think that some very important details with regards to my identity could be in the wrong hands ” Paul Rocks, Guardian jobs site user It said there was "no reason to believe" financial or banking data was compromised, but passed on police advice about taking precautions, such as contacting creditors and asking them to monitor users' accounts. Recipients of the e-mail were also given the details of several organisations offering advice and services on identity fraud. A Guardian technology director said: "Not all users are affected by any means." 'Utmost seriousness' But one user Paul Rocks said he was angry about what had happened. "It's very disconcerting to think that some very important details with regards to my identity could be in the wrong hands. These include my past employment details, date of birth and my current address. “I’m also annoyed that the responsibility for doing something about this seems to have been passed on to me." Mr Rocks, 40, who is a freelance journalist in London, said the details a hacker could have obtained would be enough for an identity thief to apply for a loan or credit card. He has contacted his bank, who told him they would pass on a note of the incident to a credit reference agency. The hack does not affect the separate US site, which is independent of the UK operation. A subsequent statement on the jobs website said: "We would like to assure you that we are absolutely committed to protecting the privacy of our users and we are treating this situation with the utmost seriousness."

Willy: Outstanding debts from FIFA: 'Bruxo de Rio de Moinhos' assassinado à pancada. por ROBERTO B. ,23 Outubro 2009. Um homem conhecido como o "bruxo de Rio de Moinhos" foi assassinado à pancada na madrugada de ontem. O crime, que envolveu também agressões ao irmão da vítima mortal, teve contornos de grande violência, o que deixou a população daquela freguesia de Penafiel em estado de choque. As autoridades seguem duas linhas de investigação: a de assalto e a de vingança por algum "serviço" antigo. Agostinho Mendes Moreira, 57 anos, era conhecido em toda a região do Vale do Sousa e Baixo Tâmega. Tratado por "Bruxo Agostinho Lourenço", vivia do que a terra dava, mas sobretudo dos "serviços" que prestava a quem lhe batesse à porta. "Todos os dias vinham cá pessoas. Vinham de todo o lado, até do estrangeiro. Maria Leonor.

Prince Albert's secrets under threat from rebel spy and off course the “put in”. October 25, 2009 A pay dispute could mean an extremely embarrasing court case for the "feckless" Prince of Monaco - complete with sex tape Matthew. Everyone wants to make friends with Albert, the prince of Monaco, the fairytale, Mediterranean mini-state whose balmy weather and strict banking secrecy have turned it into the playground of choice for tax exiles from all over the world. The question of whether they like him, or simply want something from him, has haunted the world’s most eligible bachelor ever since he was preparing to take the helm from his father, Prince Rainier, who died in 2005. Albert, the shy, bespectacled prince was about to become head of the Grimaldi clan. Sipping Martinis in a flat over looking the sea, he asked Robert Eringer, the American adviser he had hired three years earlier as his unofficial head of intelligence, to help him find out what people thought about him, no matter how painful. Eringer, a former undercover FBI operative, had been in the prince’s employment since 2002. Now Albert wanted to clean up Monaco and only an outsider could help, launching secret investigations of officials and foreign entrepreneurs suspected of money laundering and organised crime. Operation Hound Dog, as Eringer named it, had less lofty goals, originally intended to find out who in the prince’s picturesque pink palace was leaking news to the press about him and the other Grimaldis. Later, according to Eringer, Albert asked him “to extend this ruse to engage his many friends to find out what they would say about him behind his back”. Eringer hired an “operative” to pose as the author of an unauthorised biography of Albert, the only son of Grace Kelly, the American actress, to flush out the gossips. He even engineered a bona fide publishing contract for his mole. Today, though, it is Eringer who is dishing dirt on the prince after falling out with his former patron: he has taken Albert to court in California with a demand for €360,000 (£331,000) in wages and severance pay. In order to attract the prince’s attention, his lawsuit — a copy of which has been obtained by The Sunday Times — lays bare some of the dirtiest secrets of the palm-fringed principality on the Riviera. Eringer, a writer of spy fiction and a former journalist, has pay slips to show that he served as Albert’s tireless spymaster between 2002 and 2007. He investigated Russian mobsters and British property tycoons. He warned the prince about which “friends” and supplicants to avoid, including Mark Thatcher, the son of Margaret Thatcher, the British former prime minister. He even became embroiled in negotiations with a Californian teenager who was later recognised as Albert’s illegitimate daughter. Eringer paints an unflattering portrait of a feckless, indecisive prince who quickly tired of intelligence briefings in favour of go-karting and “gallivanting about”. Albert, says the lawsuit, had “convinced himself years ago that attending parties was ‘working’”. The playboy prince, on at least one occasion, asked the spymaster to “assist” a woman who had been the subject of his amorous attentions. As for Operation Hound Dog, it led to Paris, where an American entrepreneur friend of Albert was said to be boasting about a video he had taken of Albert at his 40th birthday party. Eringer said that it showed a woman performing a “sex act” on the prince. “This is what I have on your prince,” the American was in the habit of commenting to friends in Monaco as he showed them the film. The lawsuit is extremely embarrassing to a country which is trying to clean up its act in order to be removed from the famous “blacklist” of uncooperative tax havens issued by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It cast a shadow over Albert’s efforts to promote his fight against climate change at a gathering of celebrities in Hollywood last week. Albert’s lawyers have responded in fury to what they regard as an attempt to extort money from the soft-spoken prince. Thierry Lacoste, Albert’s Paris-based lawyer, said that “the majority” of what was claimed in the lawsuit was “completely false”. Stanley Arkin, the prince’s New York attorney, described himself as one of several lawyers called to the defence of Monaco and its ruler. The prince, he said, “has told us that this is baloney ... the fact that he [Eringer] received money from [Albert] from time to time — so what?” He called Eringer “an unworthy human being” who was trying to “extort” money from Albert, 51, with a “made up” lawsuit. Atkin said, in praise of his client: “This is nothing but an attempt to drag down this wonderful young man.” Eringer, 55, was not amused at what he called “slander”. He said that he had written several times demanding payment before launching his lawsuit. He never had any reply. “I look forward to testifying about the veracity of each element of my complaint under oath in a court,” he said from his home in Santa Barbara, California. “And I look forward to Prince Albert doing the same, under pain of perjury.” Albert, he claims, agreed in 2002 to pay him £220,000 a year to set up an unofficial intelligence service to fight corruption and investigate those suspected of money laundering and fronts for organised crime. With its casino culture, gleaming yachts and luxury real estate, the tiny territory wedged between France and Italy has for long been a magnet for money of dubious origins; “a sunny place”, in the words of Somerset Maugham, the writer, “for shady people”. When Rainier fell ill towards the end of his reign, things began to deteriorate, according to a palace official quoted in the Eringer lawsuit. Rainier’s fairytale romance with Kelly, whom he married in 1956, had brought a touch of glamour to Monaco that helped to turn the tiny state into a key offshore financial centre. The idyll faded slightly after Kelly’s death in a car crash in 1982. As Rainier lay dying in 2005, Monaco was in trouble. Rainier, said Claude Palmero, an accountant at the palace, “wasn’t even a shadow of himself during the last two to three years. He wasn’t there. He could not even discuss his own personal affairs. He signed whatever was put before his eyes”. Those around Rainier, who was famed for his collection of vintage cars, “were exploiting his weakness, his ill health, his mental incapacity and running rampant with awards and Monegasque passports and job appointments and future job promises in Prince Rainier’s name”, according to Eringer. Albert, who is described as being closer to his American mother than to an authoritarian father who insisted on speaking French, decided the time had come to stop the rot. After Rainier was buried next to Kelly in Monte Carlo’s cathedral and Albert had been sworn in, he held a reception at the palace to proclaim the new gospel. It was enough to make his subjects choke on their canapés. “Money and virtue must be combined,” he said. To help him go after the “bad guys”, as Eringer puts it, the spymaster set up meetings with the heads of America’s FBI and CIA, as well as briefings on organised crime from British intelligence. He claims to have notched up successes. Operation Scribe resulted in glowing press coverage of the prince’s crackdown on corruption: “Monaco steers clear of once-shifty image,” was how USA Today reported the transition. Operation Spook, meanwhile, was used to scare away dodgy businessmen with tip-offs that they were under investigation. Eringer also claims that he had thwarted efforts by Russian intelligence to penetrate Albert’s “social orbit” and helped to expose a retired American air force colonel suspected of involvement in Russian money laundering through a Monaco firm. He claims that he managed to stop a corrupt Russian from becoming an investor in Monaco’s much beloved football team and advised the prince to keep away from a French businessman friend of Jacques Chirac, the former French president, who Albert claimed had produced “great ideas for Monaco”. The businessman had allegedly played a role in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal under Saddam Hussein. One of Eringer’s constant concerns was the penetration of Monaco by freemasons. According to the lawsuit, he briefed Albert “on the three masonic lodges in France and their overlap with organised crime, including links to Monaco”. He advised the prince “to curtail freemason influence in Monaco and to follow Britain’s example of compelling those in civic jobs to declare freemason affiliation for the purpose of transparency and to quash any attempt by freemasons to establish a lodge in Monaco”. He also investigated “the connection between Italian organised crime groups and Monaco”, pinpointing which banks in Monaco were used by mobsters for laundering money. It was Eringer who tipped off the prince about efforts by Mark Thatcher to gain residency in 2005, resulting in his rejection as “undesirable”. Albert was apparently pleased with Eringer’s industry. He authorised him to set up a headquarters known as “M-base” in an apartment block overlooking the sea. Eringer regularly briefed Albert there during the cocktail hour. Eringer had a “Monaco intelligence service” identity card, signed by the prince, that urged authorities to give him their full co-operation. Albert gave him a photograph of himself on which he scrawled “Best wishes and long life to M-base”. Eringer says that his running costs for some missions were supplemented with funds from the CIA, which he accepted after consulting the prince. Albert’s only comment was: “Make sure the French don’t find out.” The CIA apparently found it a fruitful co-operation, delighted, no doubt, to have gained such a toe-hold in France’s “back yard”. “As a result of Eringer’s efforts,” says his complaint, “[former] CIA director Porter Goss pledged to protect HSH [His Serene Highness] and Monaco, which became accepted as doctrine within the CIA, along with [giving Monaco] high-priority status”. Other targets of Eringer’s intelligence-gathering were a colourful cast of characters that could have come straight from the pages of any spy novel. One of the Russians he investigated was suspected of several murders in his homeland. Eringer also delved into the activities of members of some of Monaco’s most prominent families. He was particularly proud to have drawn agencies from other European mini-states into a “micro Europe” intelligence union. He claims he would regularly meet the spymasters of Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Andorra, San Marino and Malta for weekends of wine tasting when they would share information about money laundering and organised crime. They would also share jokes. Italian intelligence officials told him, according to the lawsuit, that “they were taking bets not on whether Eringer would make it through the year, but on who would eliminate him: Italian organised crime, Russian organised crime, the freemasons, the Monegasque establishment or the French”. Eringer was dismayed when Albert appointed to a top government post an official who, according to Eringer’s reports, had accepted a £2.7m bribe from a Lebanese entrepreneur, falsely claiming that it was for the prince. The Lebanese businessman was heard boasting: “I’ve got Albert by the balls.” Another official was put in charge of a government department despite his alleged involvement in the theft of a £1m painting by Miro, the Spanish artist, that had been donated to the Monaco Red Cross. According to Eringer, another local figure had been “involved in shredding evidence about the money left in Monaco by 200 Jews deported from Monaco to concentration camps in 1944”. Just as distressing for Eringer was Albert’s dismissal of Jean-Luc Allavena, the prince’s chief of staff. “HSH finally had the balls to fire someone,” Eringer wrote in his journal. “The bad news: he fired the wrong person ... Allavena was the backbone of Albert’s reign, honest and incorruptible, slogging away from 7am to midnight most weekdays while HSH was off gallivanting.” Eringer said that he was “mortified” when, despite all his warnings to Albert about freemasons, the prince, a former member of Monaco’s Olympic bobsleigh team, informed him that “a former bobsledding [colleague] wanted to create a freemason lodge in Monaco and that he was inclined to let him go ahead”. Albert, who had begun dating Charlene Wittstock, 31, a South African Olympic swimmer, seemed to lose his interest in the briefings at M-base. “HSH did not appear at a meeting ... to brief him on a very shady character who had arrived in Monaco to deal in conflict diamonds and laundered money,” says Eringer in one part of his lawsuit. “Instead he went go-karting.” By the summer of 2007, Albert had reduced Eringer’s salary to £144,000 and told him to focus exclusively on “maintaining and working the liaison relationships” with foreign intelligence services instead of investigating money laundering suspects. However, when Eringer sent an invoice for payment for the first quarter of 2008 he got no reply from the palace. Subsequent letters and telephone messages to Albert from Eringer went unanswered, he claims. Eringer decided to cease his activities. “Everything I did was in the service of the prince,” he writes in the suit claiming breach of contract. “I regret nothing. I acted professionally at all times ... we were too damned honest and efficient for our own good.” Threat to expose ‘deadbeat dad’ Prince Albert’s decision to recognise a Californian teenager as his daughter in 2006 followed thinly veiled threats from her agent to shame him as a “deadbeat dad” on US television. Gavin de Becker, an American who advises celebrities, wrote a 14-page letter to Monaco’s ruler to warn him that Jazmin, then 13, might write a book that could be publicised on the Oprah Winfrey show. He described the popular chat show host as a friend. “We’re not talking about accepting $400,000 from the National Enquirer, or taking any other smutty avenues that hurt everyone and benefit nobody,” de Becker wrote in the letter, a copy of which has been seen by The Sunday Times. “A much different path is being explored,” he added, “the path of doing a book, for example, bringing financial value in the form of a publisher’s advance that’s about the same as your proposed agreement.” Albert had already recognised Alexandre Coste, a boy he had with a Togolese air hostess, as his illegitimate son. He had offered a lump sum payment but was reluctant to meet Jazmin, when she arrived in Monaco with Tamara, her mother, in 2005, according to court documents. Albert eventually recognised his daughter, a granddaughter of Grace Kelly, the actress, under the name of Jazmin Grace Grimaldi. De Becker insisted that he had not represented her for money.

Football Team 'Los Maniceros' Feared Killed – Colombian Arjun Miglani, Goal.com. Report. Tragedy appears to have struck a local Colombian team...Oct 25, 2009 9:23:47 AM. Colombian football has suffered another tragedy, with a local football team feared to have been killed. According to BBC News, ten bodies, believed to be members of the 'Los Maniceros' team, were found in Tachira, Venezuela with multiple gunshot wounds. They were known as the 'Peanut men', because they sold nuts across the border. The senior most official of Tachira state, Leomagno Flores, is laying the blame on the ELN, a left-wing Colombian guerilla group. They are still investigating whether the bodies belong to the football team, but local media sources claim that this has been confirmed by the one survivor. No motive for the attacks has been released, but there is suggestion that it is to do with enforced recruitment to the army.

Don’t eat the shellfish and garlic

Don’t eat the shellfish and garlic “…What about succession planning, I ask. The curt response reveals I have stepped over into lèse majesté. “We only do one sort of succession planning. I don’t see anybody in the wings at the moment and that’s mostly because they see how hard I’m working.” The corporate analogy is potent enough for the duke’s office to have approached PricewaterhouseCoopers about 18 months ago to identify what value his role creates. “We’re trying to come up with a model but I’m not sure that it’s going to work. I’d love to be able to say I’ve been responsible for £10bn of business, or for another 250 jobs coming to the UK [but sometimes] the companies themselves don’t know,” he admits. On the cost line of the profit and loss account, he is more adamant, conscious of perennial tabloid needling about royal expenses. “I’m not in receipt of any public funds. The Queen funds out of her personal pocket the cost of my office,” he says. “It’s quite important to understand that we do not get an expense account. Privately, I hold the risks until the audited accounts are done and then I get paid back. And I get paid nothing.” So, I say, you’re doing this job for no pay, with no hope of promotion and no prospect of retirement…”

Extraction from long article “Dining with a friend” is quite explicit. More interesting though, is the “maneuvers” made by the Duke. How he briskly march in, how he “buy the table”, than “change the table”, how he eat instead the green the white noodles, how he run away from shellfish and garlic. These details confirm the long-time suspicion that the ongoing… are using me a lot. With a sick possessiveness. Looking at the “put in” and the medvedev becomes clear who for them long decades serve the etalon. Who is the (see the picture) real emir Urus-Martan for these deripaskas’. This comes not from nothingness, it’s comes from the minute when I’m resolve to tide my cupboard. Simple. And saw that the timetable for GM sale of Opel is a bit late. Feeling restless, I become shake things up a bit. The “Defying gravity” note is example of pure bread to show my capacities to do better control (to don’t eat the shellfish and garlic) of my financial security and to earn the power of €4.5 billion which is ready to drop in. (Why the deripaskas’ run and eating something around me in Vietnamese bicycles all day today). The cornerstone like a see this - is the money. The financial question among a “group of people” still. Perhaps flush of personal safety for this “group of people”. I don’t know, but the Diner with the FT – was in good time. In time where I can teach another/s (mean, the ongoing piggy faces…) about the schemes and promises that harm the innocent in a neighborhood. The 17^th floor is high enough to the any pharaohs or the Nefertiti’s (i.e. Neelie Kroes) for this matter. It is not my fault that even the PricewaterhouseCoopers don’t have a clue whatsoever in understanding of my perception, my bond in the deference of this or that situation. Exactly place where is not intelligent to think for any one that I’m diminishing myself to don’t putting the line between me (the attorney of english speaking world in Argentina or Sakhalin) and the Andrew-good-fellow… Ask Prince Phillip, - he’s my agent. The Gentleman’s Agreement lies exactly between these “groups of people”. Who always are without money (read the article) and rarely agree with my priorities and plans. In my gallery, these caricatures register by the name of Baku.

Open letter to the Neelie Kroes.

To: Neelie Kroes

The EU’s competiyion commissioner

Dear Madame,

Usually, when we face an impossibly and the tight schedule, the easiest way to relieve the pressure is to move the deadline. Few arrangements are as fixed and final as we want to fear. And if something really has to happen by a certain moment and, despite our best effort to plead or negotiate, that moment truly can't be moved, then, either it will happen, or it won't be 'meant to happen'.

There is too much cause for consternation these times. Don't be a bitch and don’t contribute to a mood of unnecessary anxiety.

From my side, I’ll just let things take their own sweet time.

Best regards

Senhor Engineiro V.A. Glugovsky

GM delays Opel sale until November October 23 2009 14:43 | Last updated: October 23 2009 15:00 General Motors’ signing of binding agreements on the sale of its Opel business has been delayed until at least November 3 so its board can respond to a European Union review of the sale, according to its chief negotiator. In a blog post on GM Europe’s website on Friday, John Smith said that GM’s board is scheduled to meet then, and will discuss a German offer of state aid at the heart of the EU’s concerns about the legality of the sale of a majority of its European business. Binding agreements with Magna International and Sberbank, which want to buy 55 per cent of Opel, could then be signed “should that be authorised by GM’s board at the November 3 meeting,” Mr Smith said. The development marks another delay to the long-running deal that Fritz Henderson, GM’s chief executive, said earlier this week that it hoped to have signed by this week. GM had said it wanted to close the deal by November 30. Frank Irwin, chairman of the trust holding Opel during the sale, said this week that by mid-January the carmaker would run out of proceeds of the €1.5bn ($2.25bn) bridge loan Germany’s government approved in May. On October 16 Neelie Kroes, the EU’s competition commissioner, wrote a letter to Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Germany’s economics minister, saying that Germany’s aid appeared to be conditional on Magna International and Sberbank winning control of Opel. This, she said, would not comply with the EU’s internal market and state aid rules. “The German government was asked by [the EU’s Directorate-General for] Competition to communicate its position on financing availability to GM and the Opel Trust Board who, in turn, were requested to consider the recommended bidder for Opel accordingly,” Mr Smith wrote today. “Given the significance of the Opel transaction, GM’s board will soon meet in its regularly monthly meeting [November 3] to consider Minister zu Guttenberg’s letter and changes to the Magna/Sberbank proposal that have occurred since its last review on September 9.” In his letter to GM and the Opel trust, Mr Guttenberg said that the offer of financial aid by Germany – due to offer most of the €4.5bn of loan guarantees needed to spin off GM Europe – was open to all bidders. However, in public statements and private conversations over the summer, several German officials made clear that their willingness to offer financial aid extended only to Magna, and not other bidders led by investment group RHJ International. Mr Smith described the EU’s review of the sale as “usual and customary”, and said that GM had made “a lot of progress” on negotiating with labour unions and preparing documents for signing. Magna on Thursday secured a preliminary agreement with Spanish unions on job cuts needed at Opel’s plant near Zaragoza. Mr Smith said that “work will continue to resolve remaining open points” in the Magna/ Sberbank offer related to labour cost reductions and the government-backed financing package. Representatives of Germany’s central and local governments and the UK were due to meet on Friday to discuss terms of the €4.5bn aid package for Opel.

Driving Conversations. The official GM Europe blog: Opel Update October 23rd, 2009. It has been a while since I last provided you all an update on the status of Opel, but assume you’ve kept up with the selection of the Magna/Sberbank proposal in early September, the subsequent approval of that recommendation by the Opel Trust Board, and the occasional reporting ever since — which has been mostly around the work being done on preparing the binding agreements for signing, negotiations with various labor unions, etc. A lot of progress has been made to be sure. Since the Trust Board approval was given, the European Union has been reviewing the Opel investor process and the circumstances surrounding the selection of Magna/Sberbank. Such a review is usual and customary when extensive government financial support is involved. Last week, the Directorate-General for Competition expressed concerns about possible limitations on the availability of government financing for all Opel bidders, and how that may have influenced the selection process. The German Government was asked by DG Competition to communicate its position on financing availability to GM and the Opel Trust Board who, in turn, were requested to consider the recommended bidder for Opel accordingly. Given the significance of the Opel transaction, GM’s Board will soon meet in its regularly monthly meeting (November 3) to consider Minister zu Guttenberg’s letter and changes to the Magna/Sberbank proposal that have occurred since it’s last review on September 9. In the meantime, work will continue to resolve remaining open points with the Magna/Sberbank proposal—for example, related to labor cost reductions and the government-backed financing package — to document the related understandings, and complete all preparations for the signing of binding agreements should that be authorized by GM’s Board at the November 3 meeting. More to come! John Smith. GM Group Vice President Corporate Planning and Alliances (and GM’s chief negotiator for the sale of a stake in Opel/Vauxhall)

Dinner with the FT: Prince Andrew. Published: October 23 2009 13:44 | Last updated: October 23 2009 13:44. Fifteen minutes before the Duke of York is due to arrive, and I am fretting about a serious breach of protocol. Prince Andrew’s press secretary has called ahead to say that he, the private secretary and the British consul-general for New York will accompany the duke. Given the unexpected crowd, Buckingham Palace is offering to pay. The rules of Lunch, or Dinner, with the FT are clear: we pick up the tab. They say nothing, however, about dinner for five. Fortunately, the staff at Harry Cipriani is used to last-minute accommodations for demanding guests. The maître d’ agrees that two bills can be prepared: one for the FT and the fourth in line to the throne; one for his retinue. Cipriani, on the south-east corner of Central Park, is made for Manhattan royalty. The compact but open room seems designed for a court of publishers, dealmakers and admen who are there to be seen. I have been briefed that the duke doesn’t go for flashy restaurants, and I assume a discreet private room has been booked. Instead, we have been given the VIP table, slap bang in the middle of the crowded room. Shows of power are everywhere, as one man gives another a painful-looking back slap, Botoxed cheeks are kissed and the maître d’ makes small talk with his regulars. There is not much room, so I step outside in time to see the tinted windows of a consular Chevy Escalade pull up on Fifth Avenue. The duke emerges, marching briskly into the restaurant as members of his small security detail disappear into the crowd. He sits down at the table, but quickly decides it is too big. The consul-general has stayed behind, so we will be four. The duke suggests a cramped table on one side, where we squeeze in, knees almost touching, as confused waiters try to keep up. The duke is in town on a rapid-fire tour of financial firms and regulators in his role as the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment. The position – part ambassador, part travelling salesman – has no obvious parallels elsewhere in business or government so I begin by asking how he defines it. “It is the application of royal patronage to the business community,” he says. Just as other members of the House of Windsor might lend their support to a ballet company or a homeless shelter, so “the business community needed somebody to take an interest in it”. The duke took on his duties in 2001 after 22 years in the Royal Navy, which included flying helicopter missions during the Falklands war. He agreed to be “headhunted” because he felt his naval job could be done as well by a non-royal officer, he explains, while the special representative role offered the chance to do something only a royal could do. “Unfortunately, officers have initiative”, he says with satisfaction, “so we’ve rather taken the agenda that was given and developed it beyond what was originally envisaged or we ever considered appropriate.” Last year, his schedule included 628 official engagements, twice the number he performed in 2005. He has flown from Algeria to Ulaanbaatar to open doors for the likes of BP, International Power, Lloyd’s of London and Rio Tinto – a former navy man offering a peculiarly British take on the idea of a military-industrial complex. A waiter comes by to take drinks orders and the teetotal duke asks for still water. The Cipriani logo features a cocktail-shaking barman, but neither of us will be ordering its trademark $20 bellinis. How well did managing a squadron prepare him for his role, I ask? “Oh, undoubtedly, but from a perspective that wasn’t business-oriented. When I was flying my helicopter and delivering weapons to the target, there was the impression that one was the sharp end of the sword. All right?” he adds, for emphasis. His style is crisply articulate, perhaps not surprisingly for someone who learnt the Queen’s English from the Queen. “We [the navy] see 90 per cent of international trade going by sea,” he continues. “But it wasn’t until I left the navy and met businessmen and began to understand what was inside those containers that it became much more evident that business was the engine room of prosperity.” He spent part of the first three years in his new role learning the basics of business, he says. Now, though, he finds he has outlasted several trade ministers and departmental officials. Picking his words carefully, he ventures: “My corporate memory is now, as it were, slightly greater than theirs. So continuity is one thing I bring to this.” Is another advantage the fact that, at a time when trust in both business and government is at record lows, he is from neither camp? He pauses, again watching his words. “Yes, is the answer to that. There are a number of things that are going on at the moment where people come to me in preference to going to somebody else.” Another pause. “We are still trusted, as it were, above and beyond governments. I have no political will or desire. My desire is to serve the United Kingdom to the best of my ability and to get the best for the United Kingdom.” He is, at 49, greying, but in his impeccably-fitting dark suit cuts an imposing physical presence at the small table as he spears a butter curl, rips into a bread roll and expands on his “self-employed” role. “I don’t work for anybody,” he says, describing his function as helping British business punch above its weight against international competitors with armies of lobbyists behind them. “Through knowing what they want to achieve and by being in the right place at the right time, I’m able to say something that will paint Rolls-Royce in a favourable light. It’s for Rolls-Royce to go through the open doors. The people who are supporting GE are as effective or more ... ” There is a pause and he reaches for a military metaphor to clarify his point. “When you’re fighting the United States, they can bring one or two more guns to the table than we can, so we’ve got to fight clever. All right? So it’s the art of being clever.” Naval analogies pepper his speech: “If the ship is alongside, there is absolutely no need for a captain,”; “Where I play my part is outside Buckingham Palace, when I take the ship to sea.” I suggest there may be a book in this collection of nautically tinged wisdom, to join the business manuals that fill airport bookshelves with the leadership lessons of Shakespeare, say, or Joan of Arc. “I don’t need to write one,” the duke says, disclosing that Sun Tzu’s The Art of War has travelled with him for many years “and should be in every businessman’s briefcase”. Our waiter returns and we turn to our menus. Tightly packed days of close contact meetings that could be wrecked by an encounter with a dodgy prawn have cut garlic and shellfish from the duke’s diet, and his tastes seem disappointingly plain for a prince. He orders a baked tagliolini with ham, and is asked whether he would prefer green or white noodles. “Doesn’t worry me. I think we’ll go for green, shall we? Which is your most popular?” White, comes the answer. “I’ll go with white.” He turns to me, saying: “Are you somebody who requires three courses, because if you are ... ” I abandon thoughts of appetisers and order the mushroom risotto. I suggest that New York is an unusual stop for someone with years of exposure to parts of the world where British businesses require more help opening doors. “The need for me to intervene here is minute,” he admits. As someone whose friends include the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, he can seem more at home in the Middle East and Asia. Until the dispute in August over Scotland’s release of the Lockerbie bomber, Prince Andrew had been considered to represent the UK at Libya’s celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to power. The ability to work with countries with which British diplomats may have rockier relationships is something he highlights, pointing to a 2008 visit to Sakhalin, where he attended the opening ceremony for a Russian liquefied natural gas plant. “Five minutes of conversation” with Dmitry Medvedev were invaluable in preparing the Russian president for the G20 summit in London, he argues: “He’s a young man with no experience of that sort of environment ... The ability to walk through the door and see a smiling face he knew made all the difference.” He is in New York to highlight the role of British businesses in employing 1m Americans and to argue for a co-ordinated transatlantic approach to financial regulation. “For the stability of the financial system”, the rival financial capitals “need to be working on similar pages of the book”, he argues. On a previous meeting we’d had in Davos, he had been brave enough to declare that the Bernie Madoff scandal “couldn’t happen in London”, and now he returns to his defence of the “principles-based” regulation preferred in the City of London. Polishing off the last of the bread rolls, he launches into a discussion about free-floating exchange rates, the perils of protectionism and a back-to-basics explanation of what banks do with their savers’ money that borders on teaching a financial journalist how to suck eggs. As our food arrives, I ask about his routine, travelling for 100 to 120 days a year, sometimes squeezing 16 meetings into a two-day visit. Sawing at his food with a fork, the duke says the key is the painstaking preparation that goes into each trip. He adds that “this business of engagement” is something his family may just be genetically predisposed to understand. “You could look at it another way,” he says. “There’s nothing you can do about it. You just have to go with the flow. You just have to go into the thing with the mental attitude that it’s a conveyor belt, and you’re a piece of luggage, and the airline will do its utmost to make that experience as pleasant as possible. It’s outside your control. Sit down. Get on with it.” It is a startling image: the sovereign’s son as a lost suitcase. Does he enjoy the job, I ask, instantly realising how silly the question must sound to someone born into a role where, despite his golf hobby, duty crowds out niceties such as work-life balance. His answer is a slow, “Ye-es. There are times when it gets really quite nerve-racking because if you are having a conversation with a head of state, it is just him and I. There is no help.” The royal family is known, even by its own members, as The Firm. How accurate is the analogy, I ask. Are duties and strategy clearly set out from the top? “Charities and everything else are purely a personal choice. The only time when there was the remotest bit of collaboration was over what the family did when Queen Elizabeth [the Queen Mother] and Princess Margaret died. There was a period when nothing happened, and then everybody was provided with a list and we all stood around a table and went, ‘Right we’ve got to sort this one out.’ “Everybody understands they’re there to support the monarch and what she does and what she stands for. We are all subsidiary companies, effectively, with our own boards of directors and everything else. But there’s not any obvious direction.” What about succession planning, I ask. The curt response reveals I have stepped over into lèse majesté. “We only do one sort of succession planning. I don’t see anybody in the wings at the moment and that’s mostly because they see how hard I’m working.” The corporate analogy is potent enough for the duke’s office to have approached PricewaterhouseCoopers about 18 months ago to identify what value his role creates. “We’re trying to come up with a model but I’m not sure that it’s going to work. I’d love to be able to say I’ve been responsible for £10bn of business, or for another 250 jobs coming to the UK [but sometimes] the companies themselves don’t know,” he admits. On the cost line of the profit and loss account, he is more adamant, conscious of perennial tabloid needling about royal expenses. “I’m not in receipt of any public funds. The Queen funds out of her personal pocket the cost of my office,” he says. “It’s quite important to understand that we do not get an expense account. Privately, I hold the risk until the audited accounts are done and then I get paid back. And I get paid nothing.” So, I say, you’re doing this job for no pay, with no hope of promotion and no prospect of retirement. Before I can finish asking what is left to motivate him, an explosive laugh interrupts me. “It’s a simple answer. That’s my life. That’s what I expect. Right? That is because of who I am and that is because of the life of the family within which I’ve been brought up. So to me this state of affairs is not extraordinary. To anybody else who looks in, they think I’m bloody mad! But that’s what we do.” He rises from the table, declaring that he is 20 minutes late for his next appointment, and leaves us to settle our two bills. Turning to his staff, he says: “See you back in London. I’m not going to be up when you get up.” Before the next flight, the next conveyor belt, there will be the comfort of eggs and bacon – a fixture of every breakfast, wherever in the world he wakes up. “We measure places by the comfort of their beds, and how they cook a breakfast,” he says, as the security men reappear. Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson is the FT’s media editor

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Harry Cipriani
Fifth Avenue
New York

Lightly baked tagliolini with ham $28.95
Risotto and select wild mushrooms $33.95
Large bottle of San Pellegrino $11.00

Total (including service) $94.09

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Royal calendar: Life and times of a ‘playboy prince’

1960 Born February 19 at Buckingham Palace, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and the first child born to a reigning British monarch since Queen Victoria’s youngest, Beatrice, in 1857.
1973-1979 Attends Gordonstoun in northern Scotland, following his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, and brother Prince Charles. Rumours about his romantic attachments lead the tabloid press to nickname him “Randy Andy” and “The Playboy Prince”.
1979 Chooses not to go to university, and joins the Royal Navy.
1980 Passes out of Dartmouth naval college and attends elementary flying training with the RAF.
1981 Receives his Wings from the Duke of Edinburgh and wins the award for best pilot in his year.
1982 Sails to the Falklands on HMS Invincible as part of the Task Force to regain the islands.
1983 Completes his frontline tour. He is described as “an excellent pilot and a very promising officer” by Nigel “Sharkey” Ward, commander of the 820 Naval Air Squadron. Relationship with American actress Koo Stark ends after a scandal over her semi-naked appearance in a film some years earlier.