Queen Elizabeth's grandson weds, tabloids fume

Reuters: [2008-05-17 16:43:00]

By Peter Graff

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - It has all the ingredients of a proper British royal wedding: romance, tradition, rain, and a gossip magazine feud.

Peter Phillips, 11th in line to the throne, becomes on Saturday the first of Queen Elizabeth's grandchildren to wed, marrying his Canadian bride Autumn Kelly in drizzly weather at a chapel at the queen's Windsor Castle residence near London.

Phillips, 30, is the queen's eldest grandchild and son of Elizabeth's only daughter, Princess Anne.

Unlike his first cousins, Princes William and Harry -- or his sister, equestrian champion and Beijing Olympics hopeful Zara Phillips -- he has tended to stay out of the limelight.

Nevertheless, he accepted an offer from gossip magazine Hello! to allow its photographers exclusive access to the wedding for a reported 500,000 pounds (nearly $1 million).

Hello! calls it "the fairytale romance which has bridged continents and social divides".

LOCKED OUT AND FURIOUS

But the rest of Britain's celebrity-obsessed media was locked out, and predictably furious.

"What a start to married life for Princess Anne's son Peter Phillips -- cashing in on the accident of his birth and literally selling his grandmother to Hello! magazine," the Daily Mail thundered.

As is perhaps inevitable at weddings, speculation focussed on who would be next.

Prince Harry was expected to formally present his girlfriend of four years, Chelsy Davy, to Queen Elizabeth for the first time.

Prince William's off-again-on-again girlfriend Kate Middleton also was on the guest list, but William himself was unable to attend because he was at a friend's wedding in Kenya.

Phillips and Kelly met in 2003 at the Montreal Grand Prix, when he worked for the Formula 1 racing team BMW Williams and she worked at the BMW hospitality suite.

He was determined to woo her on his own terms and did not initially tell her of his royal lineage. She has said she found out she was dating a royal when she saw him on a television programme about his cousin Prince William.

Kelly, a graduate of Canada's prestigious McGill University, was raised a Roman Catholic, but converted to Protestantism before the wedding. Under British law, a royal who marries a Catholic loses his claim to the throne.

((peter.graff@reuters.com; +44 207 542 7947; Reuters Messaging: peter.graff.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: BRITAIN ROYAL/

INDICATORS - Egypt - May 15

Reuters: [2008-05-17 09:11:00]

                             --- INTEREST RATES --- 
                          Latest     Date  Pvs Rate  4 weeks ago 
91-day T-bill yield        5.868    06/05     5.943        6.745 
182-day T-bill yield       9.631    13/05     6.734        7.770 
364-day T-bill yield      10.112    20/05     9.207        7.581 
Central Bank discount rate     9   22/1/06       10           10 
Central bank o/n deposit    10.0    8/5/08      9.5          9.5 
Central bank o/n lending    12.0    8/5/08     11.5         11.5 
Overnight interbank        10.00   14/5/08    10.00        9.502 
  
                              --- MONTHLY DATA --- 
                          Month                Pvs        Yr ago 
 Urban consumer prices     April   +16.4       +14.4       +11.7 
 (year/year, pct change)                                
 Urban consumer price      April    117.6      115.3       157.1 
  index 
 Producer price index      March    154.7      148.3         --- 
 Foreign reserves ($bln)   April    33.81      33.71       27.08 
 Oil output (mln tonnes)   Feb      2.707      2.916       2.534 
 Suez Canal ($mln)         April    448.9      416.9       365.5 
 Tourism (x1,000 visitors) Feb        974        916         776 
 Money supply M2 
  (pct change yr/yr)        March    +23.92    +22.15     +14.19 
  
                              --- QUARTERLY DATA --- 
                      Q2 2007/08*    Q1 2007/08   Q2 2006/2007 
                  (*provisional figures) 
Trade balance              -6,068        -5,201        -3,542 
Exports                     7,113         5,990         5,255 
Oil                         3,499         2,523         2,544 
Non-oil                     3,615         3,467         2,711 
Imports                    13,181        11,191         8,797 
Net services               +3,736        +3,060        +2,504 
Goods and services balance -2,332        -2,141        -1,038 
Transfers                  +2,179        +2,049        +1,550 
Current account balance      -153           -92          +512 
Capital account            +1,494        +1,656          -787 
Net errors/omissions         +595          -413        +2,120 
OVERALL BALANCE            +1,936        +1,150        +1,845 
     
                      Q1 2007/08     Q4 2006/07   Q1 2005/2006 
GDP growth (percent)    +6.85           +7.1           +7.2 
     
                     --- ANNUAL DATA --- 
                              2006/2007*  2005/2006    2004/2005 
                        (*preliminary figures) 
Real GDP growth (% change)         7.1          6.9         5.6 
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS ($mln)      +5,282        3,253       4,478 
Trade balance                  -15,817      -11,986     -10,359 
  Exports                       22,018       18,455      13,833 
    Oil                         10,108       10,222       5,299 
    Non-oil                     11,910        8,233       8,534 
  Imports                      -37,834      -30,441     -24,193 
Net services                    11,451        8,191       7,842 
Goods and services              -4,366       -2,795      -2,517 
Transfers                        7,061        5,547       5,428 
Current account                  2,696        1,752       2,911 
Capital account                  1,134        3,511       3,378 
Net errors/omissions             1,453       -2,010      -1,811 
  
                         --- LONG-TERM CREDIT RATINGS --- 
     Standard & Poors  BB plus (non-investment grade) 
     Moody's           Ba1 (non-investment grade) 
     Fitch             BB plus (non-investment grade) 
    * The base for the index has been changed to January 2007 
    Other notes: 
  1. Fiscal year is July-June. 
  2. Data from Central Bank except for the following: 
     Interbank rate - Private banks 
     CPI & Tourism - Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and 
     Statistics 
     Suez Canal & Oil production - Cabinet Information and 
     Decision Support Centre 
   ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
    To access the following, click on the codes in brackets. 
    Country codes                    [COU/] 
    All Egyptian news                [EG] 
    Economic indicator news          [ECI] 
    Reuters News At a Glance         [GLANCE/] 
 ((Cairo newsroom +20 2 2578 3290/1, fax +20 2 2577 1133, 
cairo.newsroom@reuters.com)) 
  Keywords: INDICATORS   Egypt   May 15 
    

UPDATE 1-Colombia says carries out $100 mln debt conversion

Reuters: [2008-05-17 01:10:00]

(Adds details throughout)

BOGOTA, May 16 (Reuters) - Colombia has carried out an operation to convert $100 million in foreign debt to local peso obligations in the first such measure to take advantage of the strong currency, the finance ministry said on Friday.

Colombia earlier this month it plans to eventually convert all of its $20 billion foreign currency debt into pesos through a serious of hedge operations as the peso soars.

The government has said the operations would start with up to $2 billion in its World Bank obligations. The Colombian peso <COP=RR> has strengthened around 10 percent against the U.S. dollar over the last 12 months. (Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota; Editing by Jan Paschal, Gary Hill)

((pat.markey@reuters.com; Tel: +57-1-634-4090; Reuters messaging: pat.markey.reuters.net@reuters.com))

Keywords: COLOMBIA/DEBT

Olympics-Work on 2010 Paralympics in 'very good position'

Reuters: [2008-05-17 00:48:00]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 16 (Reuters) - The International Paralympic Committee is satisfied with preparations for the 2010 Paralympic Games, although issues on accommodations remain, the group's head said on Friday.

Work on facilities for the competitions, to be held immediately after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, is further ahead of schedule than it was at this time for past Paralympics, IPC Chief Executive Xavier Gonzalez said.

"I can tell you we are in a very good position here," he told reporters.

Gonzalez acknowledged that, like other groups associated with the 2010 Olympics, the IPC is struggling with the high cost of accommodation in the mountain resort community of Whistler, near Vancouver, where most Paralympic events will take place.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee had originally planned to hold all Paralympic events in Whistler, but decided in 2006 to shift sledge hockey and wheelchair curling to Vancouver to avoid the cost of building a new ice rink in Whistler.

VANOC has pledged to have all the major Olympic sporting venues built by the end of this summer so they can be tested with international events prior to the start of the Olympics in February 2010. (Reporting Allan Dowd, editing by Rob Wilson) ((allan.dowd@thomsonreuters.com; 1+604 664 7314; Messaging: allan.dowd.reuters.com@reuters.com)) Keywords: OLYMPICS VANCOUVER/PARALYMPICS

UPDATE 1-Olympics-No new stadium roof for 2010 Winter Games

Reuters: [2008-05-16 23:56:00]

(Adds comments from head of organizing committee)

By Allan Dowd

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 16 (Reuters) - The stadium that will hold the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics is adequate for the job -- despite plans to replace its aging roof shortly after the Games are over, officials said on Friday.

The provincial government unveiled plans to replace the fabric cover on BC Place Stadium in Vancouver with a retractable roof, but said it was unrealistic to try to complete the project in time for the Olympics.

"That would be rushing it," said David Podmore, chairman of the provincial corporation that owns the facility -- saying the goal is to have the project completed by early 2011.

"As far as for 2010, we are completely satisfied that this existing system and the building will function very very well," Podmore told an announcement ceremony at BC Place.

When Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Games by the International Olympic Committee in 2003, the Western Canadian city had to overcome concerns about being the first Winter Olympics host to hold opening and closing ceremonies indoors.

The mountains around Vancouver receive heavy snow in the winter, but the moisture almost always falls as rain in the sea-level city, making it preferable to hold the major ceremonies under cover.

Officials began looking at replacing the air-supported roof after a January 2007 storm caused it to collapse like an imploding souffle into the 60,000-seat facility. It took crews about two weeks to re-inflate the fabric.

Premier Gordon Campbell defended keeping the current roof through the Games, saying related work to upgrade the inside of the stadium will be completed before then.

"It doesn't take anything away from the Olympics," he said

Vancouver Organizing Committee Chief Executive John Furlong said he had no problem with the roof decision, and praised the government for pushing ahead with the interior upgrades.

The government refused on Friday to say how much they expected to spend on the upgrades, saying a budget could not be set until more details on the design were compiled. But it said the upgrades can be paid for through the stadium's current revenue sources and by selling adjacent development space.

VANCOUVER EYES MAJOR SOCCER FRANCHISE

The retractable roof, to be modeled on a design now used in Frankfurt, Germany, is part of a larger overhaul of BC Place that Vancouver hopes will land the city a Major League Soccer franchise, officials said.

The downtown facility opened in 1983 and is now primarily used by the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League and for concerts and trade conventions. The facility has also been used in the past for baseball.

Podmore said officials looked at replacing the entire facility, but decided that would be too costly and not make sense environmentally since the current stadium was usable. ($1=$1 Canadian) (Editing by Rob Wilson) ((allan.dowd@thomsonreuters.com; 1+604 664 7314; Messaging: allan.dowd.reuters.com@reuters.com))

Keywords: OLYMPICS VANCOUVER/STADIUM