French toast cheap champagne

Read full story for latest details.

Twitter creator Jack Dorsey, above left, has given the first public demonstration of his latest launch — a device to allow credit card payments by cell phone — and revealed it would be given away for free.

For the fourth time in less than 11 hours, a major earthquake rocked the South Pacific Ocean near the island nation of Vanuatu on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na easily skated above her nearest challengers on Thursday and claimed Olympic gold in the women’s figure skating finals.

Former Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who resigned from his post after appearing intoxicated at a news conference earlier this year, was found dead in his home Sunday, police said.

The administrators of Michael Jackson’s estate and Sony Music Entertainment have reached a recording deal valued at as much as $250 million, according to published reports.

So they got out their recently-purchased pump action shotguns.The ‘battered child’ defence hinged on persuading the court that they could reasonably fear a threat to their own lives – even if it did not exist. The first time I was allowed to visit them was in February 1975 in Winchester. Conservative Party help for the Bush campaign in 1992, and more recently Bosnia and the flaming row over the Gerry Adams visa, have made the billing and cooing of the Thatcher-Reagan era look like prehistory.
Now however comes a chance to put things right. In a reversal of last year’s tactics (he upset certain customers by putting squirrel on the menu) Worrall Thompson says he is bringing his restaurants ‘closer to the people’, hence this week’s offer of free food to diners at the new cafe ‘in order to get feedback, since we’re bound to get it wrong at first’ Something has gone wrong already, I fear. Surgeon Commander Alistair Miller, 39, who admitted being drunk and breaching discipline, told a court martial he thought the woman was attracted to him.. Her Giro hasn’t arrived, can we help her with some food? I feed the children cornflakes and milk; they eat three large bowlfuls each, ravenously Back to the magazine A copy goes to the Sunday morning radio God slot.

But to my mind, Calders is even closer to Dino Buzzati and Italo Calvino, with a touch of the Swiss Robert Walser and of the Japanese Kobo Abe, whose stories began to be translated into Catalan in the Seventies.Like his friend Brossa, Calders was also a painter. Admittedly, ‘low’ is a relative term but how low does it have to be to be considered ‘low’? My wife and I are denied dental treatment because, with a joint weekly income of pounds 79.41 (unemployment benefit of pounds 66.95 plus pounds 12.46), the Benefits Agency informed us that each of us had been assessed as being able to pay pounds 43.02 towards any one course of dental treatment.It wouldn’t take a genius to work out that that ability is a figment of someone’s peculiar imagination.Name and address withheld. He sees his debate performance as closing the door on four years of Quayle-bashing.Is this the explanation of Mr Quayle’s summary of the campaign yesterday? ‘Except for the polls,’ the Vice-President said, ‘Everything is going well.’SIGNS of a surge in voter interest and attention this year have been a serious blow to the Boring Party and its chairman, candidate and only member, Alan Caruba. Eddie filleted new pieces of wood into the old window sashes and patched new bottoms on the doors.

Within a few years of it opening, it was apparent that something rather grander should have been built, such was the demand. MUSLIM defenders in the besieged town of Gorazde in eastern Bosnia appealed to the international community to save it from destruction yesterday, saying advancing Serbs were now only two miles from the town centre. This has meant that the Socialists have little option but to try to re-structure from within.A key element would have been to try to eliminate the courants or factions whose existence has dogged the work of the Socialists since the modern party was founded by Mr Mitterrand in 1971. The proposed abolition of some police ranks, such as chief inspector, is comparable with the removal by some fire services of senior posts such as divisional officers and assistant chief fire officers, creating the flatter hierarchies and devolved management systems increasingly adopted in the private sector.Cleveland Fire Brigade undertook a comprehensive management restructuring earlier this year. (First Edition)

Johnny Morris, presenter of the television shoe Animal Magic, plans to open a hotel where animals are banned. James Allan Holton, footballer: born Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire 11 April 1951; played for West Bromwich Albion 1968-71, Shrewsbury Town 1971-72, Manchester United 1973-76, Sunderland 1976-77, Coventry City 1977-81; capped once for Scotland Under-23 and 15 times for Scotland 1973-74; died Warwick 4 October 1993. Last week I posed the question ‘are we about to witness Tiny Rowland’s last stand?’.

The ‘thousands of words’ in the in- house journal to which he refers included letters raising concerns by members of the scheme, to which responses were made. By contrast, The Battle of Wednesday Week (1963) describes the conflicts raging between two rival sets of stepchildren in a modern reconstituted family.Yet it was as a historical novelist that Willard made her most important contribution. A write-off of goodwill on business to be sold accounted for pounds 90m – much of which relates to Simon’s pounds 52m purchase of Robertson Group, the oil exploration group, in 1991.Also on the list of exceptional items is pounds 7.5m to cover the cost of professional fees relating to the refinancing. Instead, houses were for the most part left to decay during the Communist era.

It bounced away and Bright nodded it into an empty net.Disappointed as Sunderland’s fans were, the Owls deserved to go through because of the number of chances they created and for overcoming the loss of their central defender, Nigel Pearson, with a locked knee in the 36th minute.Carlton Palmer, who had missed four matches with a hamstring, was his replacement but to expect him to shunt up and down, like a goods engine in a flat back four, is like expecting the Orient Express to stop at Scunthorpe.Wednesday’s superior individual skills were not evident until just before the interval when John Kay headed out and Norman saved two attempts by Bright. When I asked how his work was going, Julie jumped to his defence. They are partly financed by higher property taxes, the termination of certain tax reliefs and increased excise duties.Though the budget is unlikely to make a big dent in Ireland’s high unemployment rate – 18.4 per cent – it is a step in the right direction and in tune with the times.The US will host a jobs summit in March that is likely to lean towards official job-creating measures – financed by taxes on capital if the OECD secretariat has its way. We Conservatives won the first two European elections on a pro- European platform against a Labour Party that wanted to pull out. While the change falls well short of meeting environmentalists’ concerns over the national roadbuilding programme, recosted yesterday at pounds 18bn, it appears to mark the end of the strategy announced in 1989 of building enough roads to cope with a doubling of traffic by 2025.
In announcing the results of the roads review, John MacGregor, the Secretary of State for Transport, said that work on 80 of the 371 remaining schemes would be given ‘priority’ and speeded up, while 173 others, called ‘priority two’ would be built somewhat later.He said many of the schemes had been dropped because of potential environmental damage. With her famous name and her bravery, she rapidly emerged as the movement’s leader.She told Mr Richardson that she was prepared to negotiate with the junta on all issues except her going into exile.

I managed to get myself to Heathrow and even on to an aeroplane, though I was not- a-little-nonplussed when my pilot turned out to be named something like Captain Stephensonnedottirfloorplug. But I put that out of my mind and after what seemed like a surprisingly brief nap, braced myself for arrival in our Old Colony. But as I glanced out of the window, I thought we were arriving at the moon instead: a vast, astounding, lunar-like landscape greeted my eyes, a white, totally deserted, lava-like surface dotted with small craters and hillocks. Had Mr Neil Armstrong been with me – he, my dear younger readers, was the first man on the moon – I am sure he would have been intoning “Twenty feet.. 18.. 15…

12″ as we hovered down inexorably onto this strange new world. Then Captain Whatever-his-name-was welcomed us all to Reykjavik. Reykjavik? The very name filled me with alarm: I was clearly not in America, and I had absolutely no idea what kind of reception a species such as mine would receive in Iceland.
Then I recalled that my travel agent had dispatched me to America via an airline called Icelandair, mainly because the return fare was something like pounds 169 return – and I began to relax. The Icelanders couldn’t actually have been more hospitable to me, even though their “duty free” shop seemed to specialise in items like Nordic sweaters or packs of Icelandic salmon, each at prices something like pounds 10,765. I then continued my journey to the US, when I fell in with a most agreeable Icelandic companion who plied me with Moet & Chandon; as I said, he was an agreeable chap indeed.

By this time, I was noticing that every Icelander seemed to know every other Icelander – it being a country of only 250,000 people, apparently – and I asked him if this was, indeed so.By way of an answer he beckoned over our delightfully comely, blonde stewardess ( I refuse to use the term “flight attendant” that is in such vogue these days). “Put it this way,” my new friend went on, “Annamariadottir here and I have never met before today. But if she and I go to a hotel and make a baby tonight, we could find out afterwards we’re related – and that could lead to problems.” Now I may be vain in such matters, but from her looks I rather think the young lady might have found the prospect of making a baby with The Weasel an altogether more enticing prospect than with her by-now drunken fellow Icelander. But it was an intriguing, revealing exchange, nonetheless: and I hereby resolve, at some future date, to explore this amazing moonscape of a country further.Finally, I arrived in America that night. My host there was a gentleman of the press, a most urbane fellow who seemed to know everybody and everything in Washington. He took me on my second night to the Awards Dinner of the National Press Foundation, a typically Washington, black-tie occasion where, he said, everyone, my dear, would be there. He warned me to be on the lookout fora) General Alexander Haig (he of the Nixon and Reagan Administrations) who is apparently the biggest party bore in Washington, and b) Arianna Stassinopolous Huffington, the most upwardly mobile Greek since Icarus (as someone supposedly once described her) whom it is apparently terribly hard to avoid in Washington.Well, it was just the Weasel’s luck to find himself at the said Arianna’s table, sans husband – and preparing to leave Washington for ever for the second time, licking countless wounds inflicted on her by merciless Washington hostesses, to return to California.

Of Haig, luckily, there was no sign: my ever-informative host told me that Haig’s hysterical “I’m in charge here now!” pronouncement (you’ll have to research that for yourselves, younger readers) came just after Reagan was all-but assassinated as he left the very hotel where we happened to be that night, the Washington Hilton.It all seemed to me to be a quintessentially American occasion: the hero of the evening was a man called Mr Daniel (“Dan”) Rather, a kind of Texan cross between Jeremy Paxman and Trevor McDonald. But to the Americans, he clearly meant far more than a Paxman or a McDonald; to them he was more like an Archbishop, a high-priest of righteousness and holiness generously bestowing his blessings on the flock gathered about him. They showed video clips of Mr Rather blathering on about everything from the Kennedy assassination (long before your time, younger readers) to the Vietnam war to the Challenger disaster to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The effect, somehow, was that by his very presence at such events, Archbishop Rather rendered them real and meaningful to the American people.The highlight of the evening, though, was an award to America’s two leading agony aunts – one called Abigail Van Buren and the other Ann Landers (my host told me some amazing gossip about them, but that will have to wait for another day).

Between them, the two are read by 200 million readers every day – but what really struck me was that, a) this year they will enter their ninth decades, and b) that they are identical twins. Ann started first, only for Abby – in a rage of sibling rivalry – to start up an identical rival operation. The two did not speak for years, and when they hugged each other on stage a few feet from me I couldn’t help feeling there was a distinct lack of warmth in the air; indeed, both then proceeded to make speeches managing not to refer to the other. Thank Heaven we weasels, at least, are more mature than most humans.I had been planning to cut my normal sartorial elegance in Washington, but find I am having immense problems these days when it comes to ties: I simply cannot find any decent, sober, elegant ties suited to a being of my distinction. The day before I left for America, I went into my usual purveyors of such goods – Turnbull & Asser, in Jermyn Street – and asked whether my impression was true, that ties have become altogether jazzier and less tasteful than they used to be. “Ours, sir,” the pompous assistant sniffed, “certainly have not.” I am not tall at the best of times, but he was the kind of jumped-up sales assistant who nevertheless manages to make me feel about a quarter-of-an-inch tall – even though I know it should be the other way round, and that, in any case, he was wrong about his damned ties.

Our clients include Fortune 500 companies, manufacturers, international topconsulting firms, major retailers and wholesalers, professional tradeassociations, financial corporations, universities, governmental entities,start-ups and individuals. We are committed to providing the highest level ofquality to all our clients and assure your satisfaction in the report deliveringas promised. Key Topics Covered:* Preface * Introduction * Executive Summary * Industry Income Statement * Industry Balance Sheet * Capital Expenditures * Product Market Sizes * Cost Analysis * Pricing Analysis * Industry Foreign Trade * Industry Structure * Competitive Landscape * Appendix * Legal * Companies MentionedFor more information visit http:// WoodSenior Fax from USA: 646-607-1907Fax from rest of the world: +353-1-481-1716 Copyright Business Wire 2009. HOUSTON, June 19 (Reuters) – A U.S.

judge on Friday set abond of $100,000 for two accountants accused of helping Texasbillionaire Allen Stanford falsify documents in a massive fraudcase Bonds  |  Funds News  |  ETFs News  |  FranceU.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy set the bond forGilberto Lopez and Mark Kuhrt, accused by the U.S. Securitiesand Exchange Commission of reverse-engineering financialstatements from Stanford’s Antigua bank to report nonexistentincome.(Reporting by Eileen O’Grady) Bonds Funds News ETFs News France. June 19 (Reuters) – Pipeline operator Magellan MidstreamPartners LP (MMP.N) on Friday sold $300 million of 10-yearsenior notes, said IFR, a Thomson Reuters service.Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, and Suntrust were the jointbookrunning managers for the sale.BORROWER: MAGELLAN MIDSTREAM PARTNERS LPAMT $300 MLN COUPON 6.55 PCT MATURITY 7/15/2019 TYPE SR NOTESISS PRICE 99.653FIRST PAY 1/15/2010MOODY’S Baa2 YIELD 6.597 PCT SETTLEMENT 6/26/2009S&P BBBSPREAD 280 BPSPAY FREQ SEMI-ANNUALFITCH N/A MORE THAN TREASNON-CALLABLE Stocks  |  Bonds Stocks Bonds. Second Season of Critically Acclaimed Series EPITAFIOS(R)to Premiere inSeptemberFirst Season of Psychological Thriller Set to Re-Air Starting June 19th,Leading into the Highly-Anticipated New Season PremiereNEW YORK, June 19 /PRNewswire/ — The critically acclaimed psychologicalthriller EPITAFIOS, which captivated HBO television audiences when it made itsU.S. premiere in 2005, is returning for a second season on HBO Latino, HBO2and HBO On Demand this September.

In anticipation of the series’ new season, an encore presentation of EPITAFIOSSeason One will begin airing in Spanish on Friday, June 19th at 10:00 p.m.ET/PT on HBO Latino, and with English subtitles on Saturday, June 20th at11:00 p.m ET/PT on HBO2. The thirteen-episode first season will air onsubsequent Fridays and Saturdays at the same time on their respective channelsthroughout the summer, leading directly into the Season Two premiere.Inaddition, Season One will also be available to all HBO On Demand subscribers(subtitled in English) beginning in August.Filmed in Buenos Aires, the suspense-filled first season follows acat-and-mouse game between a morose police detective (Julio Chavez) who islooking for a reason to live and a psychotic serial killer (Antonio Birabent)who is bent on revenge. “We’re excited to bring back a series that generated such a tremendousfollowing when it first aired,” said Lucinda Desir, vice president,Acquisition & Multicultural Marketing at HBO. “This will allow fans to getback into the action before the new season starts and give new viewers achance to experience the suspense for the first time.” After a highly successful Season One debut on HBO Latin America in August2004, the EPITAFIOS series aired for the first time in the U.S. Peraza; producer, Diego Andrasnik; directors ofphotography, Jorge Fernandez and Guillermo Zappino; editors, Alejandro Alemand Alejandro Parysow; production director, Victor Tevah; music, IvanWyszogrod; art direction, Horacio Pigozzi; sound direction, Anibal Giral andAdrian de Michele.

Cast includes Julio Chavez, Cecilia Roth, Paola Krum,Antonio Birabent, Luis Luque, David Masajnik and Villanueva Cosse.About HBO LatinoHBO Latino is a dedicated Spanish-language premium channel that deliverscompelling and relevant programming to the U.S Latino market.Exclusive tothe channel are the regular U.S. premieres of Spanish-language series, films,and documentaries acquired from North America, Latin America and Spain, aswell as top music videos and original short-form programming.Additionally,HBO Latino offers the best Hollywood movies, HBO boxing and HBO originalprogramming from the network’s main channel in Spanish. Visit http:// for more information and scheduling.(C)2009 Home Box Office, Inc All rights reserved. HBO(R) and related channelsand service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc. EPITAFIOS is a registered trademark of HBO Ole Partners.SOURCEHBO LatinoJeffrey Berger, of The Jeffrey Group for HBO, +1-212-620-4100 Ext.

An American intelligence official vows that the United States would avenge a suspected terrorist attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of seven CIA officers.

Le Saux, who has seen Kenny Dalglish, Alan Shearer and Ray Harford leave the club since he signed in the euphoric aftermath of their 1995 title, as yet sees no reason to do so.Mercenary, disloyal, or justifiably pragmatic? After training at England’s Bisham Abbey HQ yesterday, Le Saux, who turns 29 in October, explained himself “I want to make as much of my career as I can,” he said. “I have already missed 10 months through injury and I don’t want to jeopardise my aspirations. That may be selfish but it is an attitude of ambition more than anything. I don’t want to come out of football saying, `if only I had done that’ You have got to try and make it happen. Unfortunately, the way the game is, you sign contracts and have to honour them.”When you sign a contract you want to honour it and do as well as you can, but the club bears a responsibility to fulfil your aspirations It is easy to say `we’re gonna win this and that’. But there are only three trophies and it’s hard to win any of them.”The situation leading up to when we won the championship was fantastic Everyone can see it has not been carried on. We have spent two seasons going nowhere.”I’m not driven purely by the money.

It’s not a situation where `if they offer me this much’ I am happy again It is finding a balance. I want to spend the next five or six years playing in Europe and winning trophies. No one can foresee the future, but you have to have indications. Anyone in any line of business would be looking at the same criteria.”When I signed a contract we had won the League – the proof was there. You look for that continuity – I was not aware then that Kenny was going Then Alan left, that was not a good sign I’ve had a small taste of success and I want more.

I’d be devastated if I lost my England place because I was not achieving or having the right profile at club level I want to push myself all the time. I want to be in an environment where that is happening on a regular basis.”Some Blackburn fans might suggest that, after paying his wages for 10 months’ of injury, Rovers deserve a bit more, but Le Saux countered: “That does not make me feel guilty A lot of people get left by the wayside in football. If I had not come straight back they could have bought someone else. It took a lot of hard work from me to get back as well.”Le Saux admitted that the speculation had affected his form but felt it was obvious that it was not the real reason he was dropped last weekend (he was swiftly reinstated). The situation at the club, being involved in a relegation battle, and having, in Tony Parkes, a caretaker manager, made it difficult to discuss and settle his position.The new manager, Roy Hodgson, will not arrive until July, which is longer than he wants to wait, although Le Saux admitted: “The club have done well to get him.

A 9,000-acre wildfire burning in Yellowstone National Park has forced the partial closure of the main road that encircles the park.

Don’t be surprised if they lose more than two games now, particularly theirmatchup with Alabama.The Hokies are circling their calendars for: Alabama ( Atlanta), Nebraska, Miami, Georgia TechDon’t overlook: Marshall, Boston College, North Carolina, East Carolina, Maryland, NC State, Virginia (that’s the balanced ACC for ya)Prediction: 10-2 ( Georgia Tech, Maryland) 8. He led the team with 577 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns in 2008. The SEC is home to some of the biggest names in the coaching business, as well as some prime targets, so let’s get started. It seems the dais is filled with the usual stock characters in every roast. Its mission is to deliver a world-class patient experience through itsprograms of excellence in cancer treatment, cardiology, orthopaedics, women’shealth, pediatrics, surgery, neuroscience and wellness. A player coming off a career year in 2004, Beltre was signed, along with Richie Sexson, to provide the Mariners with more pop at the corners. G.M Bill Bavasi had a decision The Mariners needed offense in a bad way.   Go ask the Raiders or the Jets how spendy offseasons worked out last year for them.

Its rival Okuma (6103.T) of Japan, where the sector P/Eaverage is 29.4, trades at 21.6 times earnings. Rob Neyer refers to the LaRoche trade as a “salary dump.”And that’s fine.I’m not thrilled about the two players the Pirates received Just because Diaz, who has an OPS of .619 in AA this year, is known as a slick-fielding, light-hitting shortshop does not mean he projects as an adequate replacement for Jack Wilson, who had an .820 OPS in AA at the same age. Bobby Cox, might consider using Manny Acosta and Logan a bit more to give the trio of Moylan, Gonzalez and Soriano a break on occasion.That late inning trio has been overall excellent all-season. Third Hitter: Rogers Hornsby?.380 BA, 39 HR, 149 RBI, and MVPFourth Hitter: Hack Wilson?.345 BA, 39 HR, 159 RBI, and third in MVPFifth Hitter: Riggs Stephenson?.362 BA, 17 HR, 110 RBI, and 23rd in MVPWhile he would go on to set the single season record for RBI with 191 the next season, it was without Hornsby in the lineup and therefore this is the team’s best duo.For Hornsby, it was the second of his MVPs and astoundingly his .380 BA was only good for third in the NL.The Cubs finished the season 98-54, winning the National League but falling to the A’s 4-1 in the World Series.. 25, 12:00 CSTThe Bears travel toCincinnati to take on a Bengals team whohasn’t made the playoffs since 2006.This should be a good game for Chicago to get a out of division win, andtruly see where their team is at in the season.The last time these two teams met was way back in 2005 when the Bengals came into Soldier Field and whooped the Bears.This is a much different Bengals team since the last time the Bears saw them. Florimon returned from the DL looking like a different player. McQuarters help you transition to the NFL?    – KP respondsWhy is it so important for you to know the assignments of the free safety and strong safety?    – KP respondsWhich position are you more comfortable in?    – KP respondsWhat are your strengths and weaknesses?    – KP respondsDo you and Dave Merritt (the secondary coach) have a good relationship, and what has he focused on with you?    – KP respondsHow does a strong pass rush help you in the secondary?    – KP respondsWhat are your expectations for the upcoming 2009 season?    – KP respondsOK, and now to the personal questions so people can get to know you better.

WWE Champion Randy Orton by disqualification – Talk about wasting your top commodity. Talked about as one of the best catchers to pitch for in the league, Kendall calls a great game and has really improved his defense. In 26 starts, Earnhardt grabbed one top five and seven top tens in route to finishing 10th in the points standings.The next several years, Kerry raced select Busch Series races and ARCA races. But thank you.SOURCEOffice of the Speaker of the HouseBrendan Daly, Nadeam Elshami or Drew Hammill, all of the Office of the Speakerof the House, +1-202-226-7616.

A bomb detonated in the border city of Peshawar on Friday, killing at least six people one day after a series of deadly militant attacks rocked Pakistan.

Read full story for latest details.

This was her first outing as a political candidate- in-waiting since she confirmed last Tuesday that she was forming an “exploratory committee” to look into running for a US Senate seat in the Empire State next year. With none of the usual power-trappings and hoopla of the White House, Hillary Rodham Clinton journeyed through successive upstate towns, some with such Shakespearean names as Verona, Rome and Syracuse, to make first contact with its voters. IT WAS a First Lady-lite who travelled through a swathe of central New York state last week. But she is almost there and that is causing a stir, because of who she is. Who is the retail king in America? (Who also happens to be the wholesale king.) Wal-Mart is the wrong answer Bill Clinton, of course..

If it did, it would be airport hangar campaigning and downtown rallies Hillary isn’t retailing quite yet. Last week, she was meeting mostly with small groups stocked with people hand-picked by party organisers. The opposite would be wholesale politics, if such a phrase existed, which it doesn’t, yet. Corner-shop campaigning, where hands can be shaken and eyeballs eyed. RETAIL POLITICS is the new phrase for a practice as old as politics itself It is campaigning at street level.

`PRIEST’ ROBS RHODES BANK

Police on the resort island of Rhodes are searching for a man who robbed a bank dressed as a Greek Orthodox priest.. TURKS HALT IRAQ OFFENSIVE

Turkish security forces said they ended a week-long offensive into northern Iraq, after killing 40 Kurdish separatist guerrillas who are loyal to condemned rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.. . Six African governments involved in the 11-month war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo signed a ceasefire accord but without the rebel groups who have been fighting to oust President Laurent Kabila. It was her first time in Berlin, and she tried to store up lots of sleep so as to be ready. “This place is just wild,” she said, wriggling her bottom furiously.. “When we began 10 years ago, we made music of the kind that others should have,” said dissident DJ Wolle Neugebauer “Today the same kind of electronic sauce pours out of every radio station.”But for Hans Pikkemmant, a 44-year-old club owner atop one of the floats, it is still “the greatest event on Earth – the girls take off all their clothes.” He had shelled out DM50,000 (pounds 17,000) on his lorry, sound system and 12 bodyguards, and the right to drive all this gear in the parade.Annika Mayer, aged 19, her body painted and “Music is the key” sprayed across her breasts, had come from the small town of Cochem in the Rhineland for two days of concentrated fun.

On the eastern side of the Gate, the annual “Hate Parade”, this year rechristened the “F— Parade”, was under way, organised by techno fans who think both the music and the main event have become too commercialised. That means he does not need to pay for waste disposal – nor clean on his vast earnings. The council footing the bill would be quite happy to see the Love Parade somewhere else, say Paris.But Berlin’s mayor, Eberhard Diepgen, is a fan, and saves the day every time. The event draws lots of tourists and, more importantly, helps to re-establish Berlin as one of the coolest places on the planet. “More people in New York have heard of the Love Parade than of Adolf Hitler,” an organiser claims.By the time the procession set off on the road which cuts across the Tiergarten towards the Brandeburg Gate, peace had been restored: the sponsors had been lumbered with the clean-up bill.It’s not only the council that fails to greet the event with total enthusiasm. That decision, by a local council, was itself the latest twist in the long-running dispute about who should pay for the disposal of the mountains of rubbish left behind.A few years ago, when the Parade was beginning to get seriously big, Dr Motte had the foresight to register it as a “political demonstration”.

The DJ known as Dr Motte, who dreamt up the idea 10 years ago and continues to be in charge, had been refused liquor concessions along the route. If the three-hour procession, involving 50 sound-pumping floats, is not enough, revellers can adjourn to the clubs where the music will go on through to tomorrow morning.
Also part of the choreography, however, are the rows that precede the event, culminating in threats to take the Love Parade to Paris This year was no different. There is a relaxed dress code – as little as possible – you can test your ecstasy tablets at one of the stalls, and dance until you drop. Since its humble beginnings 10 years ago, when a group of 150 techno fans marched down the Ku’damm, the Love Parade has become an annual ritual, almost always blessed with hot, sunny weather and a good-natured, if somewhat spaced out, crowd. A MILLION people, their bodies writhing to the hypnotic beat of techno, crammed into the centre of Berlin yesterday for the world’s biggest annual rave.