6 The Island, Monday 16th January, 2006 Go, go Johnny go - UK, US and in diplomatic but to row over Muslim-run charity Belgium? By Melissa Kite and Patrick message votes received during Zvi Hefetz, the Israeli ambas- George." Hennessy the three-week series. sador, will meet Ivan Lewis, the The anti-war MP boasted of A charity that stands to make a Interpal, which funds humani- economic secretary to the his intention to help Interpal six-figure sum from George tarian and medical projects in the Treasury and a member of when he entered the house say- Galloway's appearance on , has twice . ing "many will eat in the Gaza Celebrity Big Brother is at the been the subject of investigations Mr Galloway, the Respect MP Strip because I tried". He said of centre of a diplomatic row by the Charity Commission. for Bethnal Green and Bow, was Interpal: "They don't get many between Britain, the United States On each occasion it found no lambasted by his constituents opportunities to raise serious and Israel. evidence of links to terrorism. this weekend for deserting them amounts of money." After days of controversy over Despite this, President Bush and humiliating himself by tak- A Charity Commission inves- Mr Galloway's antics in the Big recently blocked the charity's ing part in Big Brother. tigation in 1996 found that there Brother house, the Sunday bank account and declared He boasted on entering the was no evidence of any chan- Telegraph can reveal that Israel's Interpal a "specially designated house: "I will talk about racism, nelling of Interpal funds ambassador to London will hold global terrorist" organisation. bigotry, poverty, the plight of towards the training of suicide urgent talks with a Treasury min- Ministers agreed to talks after the Tower Hamlets, the poorest bombers. ister this week to demand action intelligence services advised place in England sandwiched The commission said: "It had Kim Willsher in Paris and Justin Stares in Brussels be taken against Interpal, the them to look again at the issue. between the twin towers of been alleged that some funds Ibrahim Hewitt, the chairman wealth and privilege in Canary find their way to supporters of Disbelieving French fans have MP's chosen charity. who want to stop the little chari- accused the country's ageing national The United States is also put- of Interpal, said: "It is a matter of table support we give from actu- Wharf and the spires of the City." terrorism. This is possible in an pop icon, , of betrayal following the ting intense pressure on ministers record that whenever allegations ally getting to needy . Instead, he shocked Muslim area of benefit where a signifi- revelation that he has applied to to blacklist the charity, which of illegal activity have been made We believe we are targets of the constituents by licking imagi- cant number of poor and disad- become a Belgian. President George W. Bush has in the past and then subjected to Israeli and US governments pure- nary milk from the hands of the vantaged people might support News that the 62-year-old singer declared a terrorist organisation. objective scrutiny, Interpal has ly because we are a Muslim-run actress Rula Lenska. the aims of . known as the "French Elvis" is seek- Interpal, established in 1994, invariably been given a clean bill charity." Channel 4 said there may "Poverty and need must, ing to become a citizen of France's describes itself as "a non-political, of health. Last night, a Treasury have been some editing but said however, be the only criteria small neighbour has been greeted non-profit making British charity "Interpal is a British charity spokesman said: "We keep this that the main reason for the lack when deciding how the charity with widespread astonishment. and operates in accordance with matter under review." Insiders of political debate was that no funds are distributed and aid Bad enough that Hallyday should that focuses solely on the provi- consider turning his back on the sion of relief and development English Law under the supervi- say that Gordon Brown is under one else on the show was inter- must not be given because of a country which has taken him to its aid to the poor and needy of sion of the Charity Commission, "massive domestic and interna- ested in Mr Galloway's views. A person's support for terrorism. heart - much worse that he should Palestine". which means that aid is given to tional pressure" to listen to con- spokesman said: "I know he is We found no evidence in the turn instead to the nation which is the It will benefit from Mr beneficiaries purely on the basis cerns. A senior Whitehall official quite surprised that no one has charity of any pro-terrorist bias butt of more Gallic jokes than any Galloway's appearance fee, of need, not political or religious said: "If the Charity Commission asked him about his role. They or indeed any bias of any kind." other. expected to be £60,000, and an affiliation. changes its view we would take are just not very inclined to sit (C) The Telegraph Group "Johnny chooses Belgium" was the estimated £100,000 from the text "Regrettably, there are many action immediately." round the table and talk to London 2006 caption of a cartoon featuring Hallyday singing under a Belgian flag on the front page of the newspaper Le Monde. Condi for the White The popular radio station, RTL, Russia lets cosmonauts drink - said the "terrible" news consigned the star to the status of "future ex-nation- House, says Laura Bush al rocker". Denis Magdelaine, a 56-year-old but they musn't go into orbit Philip Sherwell in Washington Laura Bush has revealed for shop owner, summed up the sense of by Simon Saradzhyan in Moscow disbelief among Hallyday fans. the first time whom she would After years of official prohibi- "Johnny is such a monument it's hard like to see replacing her hus- tion, cosmonauts will soon be for the French. His fans will see this band in the White House: able to unwind with a drink after as a betrayal. He has to explain why Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary he has made this choice," he said. a hard day at the International of State. The news has come as a particular Space Station. "I'd love to see her run. She's shock in France because Hallyday is In a country where vodka is terrific," Mrs Bush said during an almost exclusively French phe- consumed in industrial quantities, an interview in which she pre- nomenon. Viewed largely as a joke officials at Russia's medical dicted that for the first time a outside the francophone world he was space research establishment woman would soon be elected once billed in America as "the biggest said the consumption of alcohol president of the US. rock star you've never heard of". In in space was not only a right but The First Lady, a powerful what was until now his home country a positive advantage. behind-the-scenes figure in Laura Bush and Condoleezza Rice he has sold more than 100 million "Folks are flying in orbit for American politics, is the most "of course, a Republican records in a career spanning 45 years. half a year or so," a spokesman influential voice to speak in woman" and then gave her His fans include President Jacques said. "They do tons of work. favour of a presidential bid in endorsement to Ms Rice. Chirac and his wife Bernadette, who Especially exhausting are space 2008 by Ms Rice. Mrs Bush is normally were said to have helped him and his walks where they can lose sever- Her comments indicate that extremely guarded in her pro- young wife Laeticia adopt a baby from al kilos in several hours. That's the Secretary of State would nouncements, so her expression Vietnam two years ago. why, many of us think that it have backing at the highest of support carries added Last night the Elysees Palace was won't be that bad to have a little level if she were persuaded to weight. It is unlikely that she maintaining a diplomatic silence on drink to replenish one's change her mind and run on the would have adopted such an An official at Russia's Federal change the non-alcohol rule on the subject of Hallyday's decision. But strength." Republican ticket. overt position if her husband Space Agency (Roskosmos) board the International Space Asked about the prospects of friends of the singer pointed out that Russian cosmonauts and were opposed. said: "Not only could the recoil Station," a spokesman said. The a female president, Mrs Bush he is already half-Belgian: he was space officials welcomed the The unmarried Ms Rice is a be unpredictable, but the bottle Russians, it seems, are merely told CNN: "I think it will hap- born, as Jean-Philippe Smet, in June idea of lifting the ban, but cau- close confidante and long-stand- could explode even before you giving official sanction to what pen, for sure. I think it will hap- 1943 to a French mother and Belgian tioned that weightlessness multi- ing friend of the Bush family, open it." was once the practice among pen probably in the next few father, Léon Smet. plies the effect of alcohol. having previously advised He welcomed the idea of cosmonauts. terms of the presidency in the It was only because Smet senior Yuri Lanchakov, commander George Bush Snr on foreign pol- was already married to another allowing alcohol on the space Almost every member of the United States." of the Cosmonaut Corps at the icy when he was president. woman at the time that he was unable station but said "everything crew of the Mir space station She said her choice for that Gagarin Cosmonaut Training (C) The Telegraph Group to confer his nationality on the child. should be in moderation" - per- had a bottle of cognac at their ground-breaking role would be Centre near Moscow, told the London 2006 Hallyday had little contact with his haps remembering how in 1994 disposal. Sunday Telegraph: "Twenty father, whose interest in his son only President Boris Yeltsin failed to Alexander Poleshchuk, who grams of a good cognac [about revived when he became famous. The emerge from his plane at spent six months on Mir in 1993 one pub measure] would be singer told the magazine Psychologies Shannon Airport in Ireland after said that when their personal BBC's £9m Elizabeth I portrays good." He intends to issue a tot that one of the few times they met was imbibing too much. reserves ran out, some on the to anyone returning after a space when his father came to see him dur- But the Americans are unlike- space station would explore it for walk, and to allow astronauts to a monarch terrified of sex ing his military service. ly to follow the Russians' lead. more, removing interior panels drink alcohol to toast New Year. By Chris Hastings, Arts "I saw this man who jumped on me Questions about the possibility during their expeditions. Champagne, however, will Correspondent talking with a Belgian accent. Behind of lifting the ban for astronauts "Sometimes we would bump remain prohibited because the Queen Elizabeth I died a vir- him I saw seven, eight, nine from the United States drew a into a bottle of cognac," he said. paparazzi. He left. I realised he had pressure could turn bottles into gin because her father's murder sober response from the North "What a joy it was." been paid for the photo. I cried all small missiles if opened in the of her mother left her with a American Space Agency. (C) The Telegraph Group night," he said. gravity-free atmosphere of the lifelong fear of physical intima- "There are no plans to London 2006 (C) The Telegraph Group London 2006 space station. cy. A new BBC1 drama, The Virgin Queen, which stars Anne-Marie Duff, will claim Prince Charles 'saved career of Sandhurst commander' that the Tudor monarch was unable to consummate any of By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter Secretary, was said to be up with a hand-written letter to her relationships because of a Elizabeth and her 'lover' Dudley The Prince of Wales personally "seething" over the incompetence the commandant in which he string of childhood traumas of the Army and publicly con- praised the work he had done at intervened to save the job of the which scarred her for life. The to the Hollywood film Elizabeth, demned Sandhurst over the inci- Sandhurst. According to senior commanding officer of Sandhurst £9 million four-part series starring Cate Blanchett, is dent, although defence sources officials close to Gen Ritchie, the after a serious security breach depicts her as a woman haunted expected to depict a sexual liai- say he was not one of those calling commandant was "enormously when Prince Harry joined the mil- by the image of Henry VIII and son with Sir Walter Raleigh, for the commandant's dismissal. grateful" to have had the backing itary academy. unable to accept the circum- played by Clive Owen. Prince Charles wrote a letter of According to senior sources, of Prince Charles during the cri- stances of Anne Boleyn's Paul Rutman, the producer of support and spoke to senior Prince Charles learnt that the sis last June. demise. The Virgin Queen, said the new Government officials to spell out commandant's position was under "John Reid had given The decision to portray characterisation was based on the high regard he has for Major threat and felt that it would be Sandhurst both barrels, but Elizabeth as a virgin is in stark thorough historical research. General Andrew Ritchie, the com- wrong for Gen Ritchie to be made Prince Charles was incredibly contrast to other recent screen "We are convinced on the mandant of Sandhurst, and to say a scapegoat for the failings of oth- supportive at a time when General versions which have sought to basis of the available historical that he thought it would be wrong ers. Ritchie was feeling particularly debunk the "myth" of the Virgin evidence that she died a virgin," for him to lose his job. The Sunday Telegraph has isolated and vulnerable. The gen- Queen. he said. "We portray her as a The Sunday Telegraph has been told that the Prince was so eral knew he received the backing Major General Andrew Ritchie Last year's Channel 4 drama passionate woman, but a learnt that some senior determined that Gen Ritchie of the Prince at a time when he Sandhurst by a newspaper Elizabeth, which starred Dame woman who knew there was a Government officials felt that should not be forced to step down wasn't getting much support from reporter, who claimed to have Helen Mirren, depicted the line she could not cross." "heads should roll" after a fake spent nine hours on the premises. that he made "high-level" phone elsewhere. (C) The Telegraph Group bomb was smuggled into calls of support and followed them (C) The Telegraph Group London 2006 Queen and Robert Dudley, Earl John Reid, the Defence of Leicester, as lovers. A sequel London 2006