Known better as Fergie, the Duchess was caught on Tuesday night offering to accept a bribe from the News of the World journalist in disguise as a businessman for a chance [...]]]> The Duchess of York was caught on tape by an undercover reporter, offering him access to Prince Andrew, her ex-husband, for half a million pounds.

Known better as Fergie, the Duchess was caught on Tuesday night offering to accept a bribe from the News of the World journalist in disguise as a businessman for a chance to meet the Prince.

Fergie supposedly agreed to take a cash down payment of £27,650 for the deal, and asked that the rest of the amount be wired directly to her bank account.

The film showed the duchess saying that £500,000 can open doors.  According to the tape, Fergie stated that the Prince is not in on the deal and would not underwrite her efforts, but would have a meeting if prompted by her.

The paper stated that it started to look into the story after it heard from a royal associate that Fergie was making money by setting up deals with businessman unbeknownst to Andrew.

Fergie stepped into the setup at a New York Hotel, and a dining club located in Belgravia.  She then took the reporter to a Mayfair flat where she was caught on film shaking on the deal.

Afterwards, she asked for a seven page confidentiality agreement, and told the reporter that she is the complete aristocrat.

She also stated in regards to the Prince that that have a great relationship and are possibly one of the happiest divorced pair in the world.

Buckingham Palace has not made a comment about the allegations or the film yet.

Hayward stated that the company is ready to [...]]]> BP chief executive, Tony Hayward, has finally conceded that the UK branch of the company is responsible for an oil spill that occurred off the Gulf of Mexico and is threatening the coast line in what President Obama has referred to as an unprecedented and massive environmental disaster.

Hayward stated that the company is ready to pay for all legitimate claims that may result as the crisis continues to grow, and already have the claims process in place with smaller claims paid on demand and larger claims processed for legitimacy and then paid out.

He also stated that BP is prepared in case the situation actually requires attention for the next two to three months which he labelled as the ‘worst case’ possibility.

Two weeks ago, a rig known as Deepwater Horizon, which is operated by Transocean a subsidiary of BP exploded and then sank resulting in the deaths of 11 people on board and the release of 200,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf.

On Monday, President Obama stated that BP was responsible for the leak and will have to foot the bill and that he will continue to relentlessly monitor the situation.  He added that the government response started from the day of the explosion when submersibles were released to survey the 5,000 feet of pope that is leaking oil.

Obama stated that at this point most of the slick is about nine miles from the coastline of the Gulf.

While this will help protect the wetlands, it is embarrassing for the current US Administration as offshore drilling was opened just last month with the assurance that today it is rare for oilrigs to cause spills.

The popular chain plans to introduce its prototype of the ‘human bed warming service’ at the Kensington hotel in [...]]]> Holiday Inn which operates about 4,000 hotels across the world may have the solution for those who want to warm up on cold nights away from home when loneliness may begin to set in, a ‘toasting suit.’

The popular chain plans to introduce its prototype of the ‘human bed warming service’ at the Kensington hotel in London by offering patrons free five minute sessions next week.

The way it works is actually quite simple, if the service is requested then a member of the hotel staff will jump you in bed fully clothed from head to toe in a sleeper suit, thus helping to warm up the bed, ready for you to have a good nights sleep.

Jane Bendnall, a Holiday Inn spokeswoman stated that the concept is like putting a giant hot water bottle into a bed to warm it up.

Director of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre, Dr. Chris Idzikowski, stated that the concept may actually help many people get to sleep while away from home as scientific evidence shows that sleep begins when the natural body temperature begins to slowly reduce.

Idzikowski went on to state that a cold bed makes it hard for the body temperature to drop thus preventing sleep.  He also stated that that the new body warmer concept introduced by Holiday Inn may be a great way to ease patrons into sleep.

This sounds like a massive winner for the hotel chain, and the ultimate in customer service, lawyerphobia postpones any other comments.

The Pope instead stated that the Vatican offered Jews assistance in a discreet hidden way.

The Pope stated that there were still many who remained [...]]]> Pope Benedict XVI defended the Vatican during a visit to the main synagogue in Rome stating that they were not indifferent about the attempted annihilation of Jews by the Nazis during WWII.

The Pope instead stated that the Vatican offered Jews assistance in a discreet hidden way.

The Pope stated that there were still many who remained indifferent to the persecution and murder of the Jews, but stated that the Vatican did offer assistance to many in a covert fashion.

The remarks followed a comment by Riccardo Pacifici, the leader of the Roman Jewish community, in which he stated that the silence of the Pope during the Holocaust still hurts the Jews, given the fact that something should have been said.

Pacifici stated it may not have prevented the death trains from operating but it may have at least sent a signal and word of support to those who were transported to Auschwitz that the action was wrong.

This was Benedict’s third visit to a Jewish temple since he was named the Pope in 2005 and is seen by many as a gesture towards reconciliation of Jews and Catholics.

However, a few members of the Jewish community including a Holocaust survivor and a senior rabbi choose to boycott the event.

Although the Duncan Kennedy BBC centre reported that Jewish leaders are asking the Vatican to release secret archives to put the issue behind both religions, it is not likely this will happen as Pius’ the Pope at that time, is under consideration for sainthood, but as such is a contradiction, indicating that the Vatican does not want facts revealed..

However, passengers that hold pre-booked tickets are still being encouraged not to use their tickets unless absolutely necessary, since operators need to clear a large backlog of delayed journeys.

In particular Eurostar will [...]]]> Eurostar will once again resume operations of its high speed train service through the Channel Tunnel Tuesday following a three day lapse in service.

However, passengers that hold pre-booked tickets are still being encouraged not to use their tickets unless absolutely necessary, since operators need to clear a large backlog of delayed journeys.

In particular Eurostar will be focusing on passengers who were booked over the weekend.  The breakdowns that closed the line are thought to be a result of condensation that formed on electrical parts. This sounds sort of familiar to the great leaves on the track fiasco on the rail networks a few years ago.

Due to the heavy traffic, Eurotunnel which is in charge of trains that carry cars through the Channel Tunnel was forced to delay trains.  According to Eurotunnel, the Folkestone terminal reached full saturation for a couple of hours on Sunday.

The popular travel service will continue to operate this Tuesday but customers that do now have advanced bookings are warned not to even bother attempting to get on a train.

Nicolas Petrovic, the head of Eurostar operations, stated that the shutdown affected approximately 40,000 people in an unprecedented manner causing the company to launch a formal inquiry into the breakdowns.

Sadiq Khan, the Transport Minister, asked those in charge of the review to report to the shareholders and him instead of to the Eurostar board.

Even if the breakdowns cease, Greg Woods from the BBC estimates that it will take up until Christmas Day under optimal circumstances for Eurostar to clear their backlog.

Eurostar stated that those who purchased tickets between Monday at 2030GMT and Tuesday at 0900GMT will be able to catch their train. Those who were foolish enough to purchase them at 20.27 GMT Monday will presumably have to take up cross channel swimming