PRINCE William, the elder son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, was confirmed yesterday by the Church of England, which is headed by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth. The 14 year old's divorced parents and the queen were among the members of the royal family attending the ceremony in the 500 year old chapel inside Windsor Castle.
William, second in line to the throne, is a student at Eton and is said to be shy and strongly affected by his parents' divorce. Prince Charles's assistant, Tiggy Legge Bourke, who has acted as a companion and surrogate mother to the young princes, did not attend. Press reports said she was barred by Diana.
Anthony Minghella won the 49th Director's Guild of America feature film award for The English Patient in New York on Saturday night, making him the odds on favourite to win the Oscar later this month. Minghella, who was not present, relayed a message of thanks in which he referred to the six minutes of credits that appear at the end of the film. "This film is, in fact, a film by them," he said.
Al Pacino won the award for documentaries for directing Looking for Richard about making a film of Shakespeare's Richard III. Other awards went to the directors of the Atlanta Olympic Games opening ceremony and the US comedy series Seinfeld. A lifetime achievement award was presented to Stanley Kubrick.
The secret weapons of Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown's general election campaign emerged today - jelly beans and "cheese". A party insider disclosed that the leader is plied with jelly beans in the evening to keep him sweet.
Cheese is the party chiefs internal acronym for their themes with which they intend to fight the general election crime, health, education, the economy, sleaze and the environment.
Controversial French philosopher Roger Garaudy raised questions in Tehran yesterday about several fundamental Islamic laws, saying he favoured religious moderation. Garaudy, a converted Muslim who has questioned the Holocaust, spoke out against the role of the clergy in society, saying "no one has the right to speak for God".
The writer stirred controversy after he wrote a book questioning the extermination of 6 million Jews in Nazi concentration camps during the second World War. The book is on sale in Iran. Last April, Garaudy was charged in France for "negating crimes against humanity".