People

The Prince of Wales and the late Princess Diana stayed in the enormous suite on a state visit here just days before they announced their separation after 11 years of marriage in 1992. Its last occupant was International Olympic Committee President Juan-Antonio Samaranch, who attended an IOC meeting here last month. The hotel, which enjoys a commanding view of Seoul from a hilltop inthe city centre, was to have played host to Clinton on his last state visit here in 1993.

Bardot and Woofie

French former actress and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot arrived in Scotland determined to save a dog which is due to be destroyed for chasing and growling at a postman. Bardot will join Woofie8217;s owners in a court appeal to save the three-year-old cross between collie and a boxer. Woofie8217;s owner pleaded guilty to dangerous behaviour in the hope of winning a lenient sentence, but the authorities said the dog must be put down. The former sex-symbol denounced the law as a 8220;stupid8221; one which should be changed and said: 8220;Judges should concern themselves with murders and assassins.8221; She added: 8220;I hope Woofie will like to see me.8221; She said that Woofie, who did not actually bite the postman, was innocent. 8220;She is a dog, not a murderer,8221; Bardot said.

The angry prince

Britain8217;s Prince Charles asked a British tabloid newspaper editor to publicly apologise to his son PrinceHarry for a front-page story which sensationalised8217; a minor sports injury he suffered. The Mirror splashed a front page story on Thursday about the accident which befell the 14-year-old Harry, claiming the Prince of Wales8217; office had exercised unreasonable censorship. 8220;Harry8217;s had an accident, but we8217;re not allowed to tell you,8221; an editorial read, above a copy of a letter from the prince8217;s press officer in which details of the accident were blacked out.

In response, Charles8217; press secretary wrote a letter to Mirror editor Piers Morgan complaining that the newspaper had breached a voluntary media agreement to respect the privacy of his sons Princes William, 16, and Harry, while they are at school at the Eton College. The letter complained that the paper had published 8220;the third trivial and intrusive story about Prince Harry since he started at Eton just two months ago8221; and said Charles, heir to the British throne, would complain to Britain8217;s media watchdog.

8220;Despite your argument that the public hasa right to know about the health of Prince Harry, I can assure you that there was absolutely no interest whatever in the very minor bruising which Harry sustained. Indeed, each of the stories you have run about him concerned events which happen to many other children. Yet you sensationalise them to an extent which makes it very difficult for Prince Harry to have a normal life at his school,8221; Charles8217; press secretary said.

Boris8217; shares

One of Boris Yeltsin8217;s former bodyguards and confidants said he had hand-delivered to the Russian leader an order transferring 26 per cent of the shares in Russia8217;s ORT television to the President. Opposition lawmakers in parliament are currently investigating whether the alleged transfer was a veiled bribe paid to the President by ORT shareholder Boris Berezovsky, a powerful Russian oil and media tycoon. Alexander Korzhakov, who served as Yeltsin8217;s bodyguard for nearly a decade, told Interfax that he delivered the official document to Yeltsin in 1994. Korzhakovadded that he 8220;always acted on the President8217;s orders8221;. Yeltsin is entitled to benefit financially from the ORT shares if they indeed have been transferred to his name. ORT television, created in early 1995, is a partially state-owned television network and the chief successor to the Soviet Union8217;s mammoth Ostankino network stretching from the Far East to eastern Europe. On Thursday, the daily business daily Kommersant published a photograph of a power of attorney agreement signed by Berezovsky that entrusts the President with the shares.