Prince William 'confronted' Murdoch execs on hacking (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – Prince William expressed disappointment to two of Rupert Murdoch's top executives that no one from the media tycoon's empire apologised for hacking his aides' phones, a report said Saturday.

During a lunch meeting in January, the British prince admonished Rupert Murdoch's son James and Rebekah Brooks, who were at the time both executives in Murdoch's British newspaper wing News International, The Times newspaper said.

William, second in line to the throne, reportedly said he was disappointed that no one from the publisher of the now defunct News of the World tabloid contacted him to apologise after his aides' voice messages were intercepted.

During the meal at a five-star hotel in north Wales, the prince is reported to have said that "it would have been nice if someone at the time had apologised."

Brooks, who resigned as News International chief executive this month amid the hacking scandal, and James Murdoch, chairman of News International, both said sorry during the meal, the report said.

A source quoted in the paper added James Murdoch was shocked no apology had already been offered.

The meal, which was organised by royal officials to build relations with the press, was "largely friendly", The Times said.

The original police investigation into phone hacking in 2006 centred on illegal interception of voicemail messages of royal officials.

The News of the World's royal editor and a private investigator were jailed in 2007 for hacking into the phones of members of the royal household.

The paper maintained for several years that the hacking was the work of a "rogue reporter" but it has emerged since that the practice was more widespread.

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Professor calls Prince Charles, others "snake-oil salesmen" (Reuters)

LONDON, Jul (Reuters) – A leading professor of complementary medicine accused Britain's heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and other backers of alternative therapies on Monday of being "snake-oil salesmen" who promote products with no scientific basis.

Edzard Ernst, who is stepping down from his post as Britain's only professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University, also said a long-running dispute with the Prince about the merits of alternative therapies had cost him his job -- a claim Prince Charles's office denied.

"Almost directly, Prince Charles has managed to interfere in my professional life and almost managed to close my unit," Ernst told reporters at a briefing.

A spokeswoman for Prince Charles told Reuters the royal heir was not involved in the dispute with Ernst and that she would not respond to professor's comments about snake-oil salesmen.

Ernst's complementary medicine research unit at Exeter's Peninsula School of Medicine had been threatened with outright closure, but the university has now offered it a reprieve and says it is seeking a successor to Ernst to lead it.

"It looked as though I had to go, and that was the price for the unit to continue," Ernst said. "I pay the price gladly as it is a small price to pay for the unit to continue."

Ernst said that during his 18 years of researching the efficacy of hundreds of different types of alternative medicine -- from acupuncture, to herbal remedies, to homeopathy and chiropractic therapy -- he has found that "snake-oil salesmen and pseudo-science are ubiquitous and dangerous."

Asked whether he included Prince Charles in that category, he said, "yes."

He said Prince Charles, a long-time advocate of alternative and integrated medicine and sustainable agriculture, was one of the main obstacles to allowing proper scientific analysis of the efficacy of complementary therapies.

Referring to the prince's Duchy Originals food company as "dodgy originals" he said the firm's promotion of a "detox" tincture made from artichoke and dandelion was an example of how the prince peddled scientifically unproven therapies.

In 2009 Ernst accused Prince Charles of "outright quackery" for promoting the detox tincture and other such products "under the banner of holistic and integrative healthcare."

The 62-year-old prince founded Duchy Originals in 1990 to promote organic food and farming, with profits going to charity.

Duchy Originals describes the product as "a food supplement to help eliminate toxins and aid digestion" and a spokeswoman for the firm said it had no comment about Ernst's remarks.

Ernst's dispute with Prince Charles dates back to 2005, when the professor was asked to look at a report by an economist, Christopher Smallwood, who was investigating whether alternative remedies were cost-effective and should be offered more widely on Britain's taxpayer-funded National Health Service (NHS).

Ernst objected to the report and decided to voice his concerns before it was published. In one section, the report said the NHS could save billions of pounds if some doctors could switch from prescribing conventional medicines to offering alternative therapies. "That was so unspeakable to me that I had to speak out," Ernst said.

Ernst was accused in a letter from an adviser to Prince Charles, Michael Peat, of having breached a confidentiality agreement on the report and an investigation was launched. Ernst was cleared of wrongdoing, but he says he had by that time lost the support of his institution and its commitment to raise more funding for his work.

A spokeswoman for Prince Charles said he "had no knowledge that a letter was being sent to the University of Exeter by Sir Michael Peat about Edzard Ernst's breaching of confidence of the Smallwood report in 2005" and was not involved in the dispute.

Ernst and his team have run many clinical trials and published more than 150 so-called meta-analyses of other studies into complementary and alternative medicines.

He says he has identified around 20 such therapies which "demonstrably demonstrate more good than harm" including the herbal remedy St John's Wort for the treatment of mild depression, hypnosis for the relief of labor pain, and hawthorn for the treatment of congestive heart failure.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

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Prince Andrew step down as trade envoy (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – Prince Andrew is to step down as Britain's roving trade ambassador, Buckingham Palace said, four months after his links to a sex offender prompted calls for him to quit.

The 51-year-old Duke of York is to leave his unpaid job as the government's special representative for international trade and investment, which he has held since 2001, travelling the world in support of British business.

However, Queen Elizabeth II's second son is likely to continue working to boost British business in a lower-profile way.

"The role as special representative will no longer exist as the Duke of York has decided to relinquish it after 10 years," a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said Thursday.

She stressed that Andrew would continue to make official trips abroad as a member of the royal family in support of Britain's foreign interests.

In a statement on his website, Andrew said he had decided "the label I gave myself when I began this role of special representative has served its purpose and is no longer necessary to the work that I do today.

"I am tremendously grateful for the continued support of Her Majesty's Government and the business community in particular, which has been instrumental in delivering prosperity and enabling me to undertake this role," he added.

British Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to the prince's efforts.

"I would like to thank the Duke of York for the major contribution he has made over the last decade to UK trade and the huge support he has given to British businesses," he said in a statement.

"I am certain that he and others in the royal family will continue to support and promote British business interests both at home and overseas."

The former Royal Navy commander, who is fourth in line to the throne, was not paid for his job at the UK Trade and Industry (UKTI) government agency, but his expenses were met from the government coffers.

In recent years, the prince has been dogged by accusations of lavish trips, links with key figures in repressive regimes and outspoken comments.

His friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy US businessman jailed in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution, led to accusations from one opposition politician in March that Andrew had become an "embarrassment".

The prince's ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, also became embroiled in the Epstein row after it emerged the businessman gave her ?15,000 at Andrew's request to help pay off her reported multi-million-pound debts.

Diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website last year showed US officials were shocked by the "rude" prince's "astonishing display of candour" during a business trip to Kyrgyzstan.

Former trade minister Digby Jones, now a business ambassador at UKTI, told BBC television of Andrew's role: "There will be a bit less travelling and a lot more working with apprenticeships and with young people in Britain to get them skilled up to make the stuff we can sell around the world.

"It's the next natural step from what he's been doing.

"Let's use what he can do to actually create some profit, employ some people, pay some tax and get ourselves out of this mess," he said, referring to Britain's record deficit.

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Monaco's Prince Albert slams marriage 'rumours' (AFP)

MONACO (AFP) – Prince Albert II of Monaco has summoned journalists to castigate them for publishing "rumours" about his new marriage to Princess Charlene, saying someone in Monaco wants to cause trouble.

"We want to express our indignation at these rumours," Albert, 53, told journalists from three local newspapers he called to the palace over stories about his marriage to South African Charlene Wittstock, 33.

"It's unbearable," Nice-Matin's Thursday edition quoted the prince as saying.

"What's regrettable is that the media pick up these rumours without verifying the information," said the prince, who married the former swimming champion at a lavish ceremony in July amid swirling rumours of a rift.

"I find that unworthy on the part of your colleagues. I've always respected freedom of expression. But publishing false information is lamentable and subject to criminal penalties.

"Sometimes these rumours make us smile, for example when the media reported that the princess and I did not sleep in the same hotel in South Africa. That was for obvious practical reasons."

Albert said that the couple managed to "escape the paparazzi" by holidaying in Mozambique from July 9-20. It was "a marvellous stay. We weren't disturbed," he said.

"There's one or more people in Monaco who are trying to cause harm," the prince said, declining to give any names.

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