[Howlin]

Now why does that ring a bell?

[Carolina]

Marc Rich: Hero or villain?

Mr Rich fled the US for Switzerland in 1983. He was then facing charges of racketeering, illegal trading and evading a tax bill of $48m.

His ex-wife, Denise Rich, is a songwriter and New York socialite. It was the disclosure of her large donations to the Democratic Party that led Republicans to question Mr Clinton's decision to pardon Mr Rich.

Mr Rich made his money in oil, and was once a regular at OPEC oil conferences.

One of the charges brought against him before he fled the US, was trading oil with Iran - a country which at that time was considered an enemy state.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Do you remember the article from earlier in the week about Blair wanting to head the EU? Inside the article there was a statment that Bush was supporting Blair for that position. At the time I thought that a somewhat odd way for Bush to thank Blair, given as how an endorsement by Bush might not play so well with the European pol's. Perhaps it was actually intended as a subtle bit of payback?