Drudge has broken the story that Prince Harry of Britain is on active duty on the front lines of Helmand province, Afghanistan. The British Ministry of Defense has confirmed the report. British news organizations were asked not to reveal Harry's presence in Afghanistan until the Prince's deployment was over. Although they complied, articles appeared in the UK as soon as Drudge put the story up. Links here at IHT and the Telegraph via Drudge.

Prince Harry has been retrained as a battlefield air controller. (He would have been a tank commander if his initial deployment to Iraq had occurred).

This Royal family has a strong tradition of military service. Harry follows his uncle Prince Andrew as a Royal who has seen active duty on the front lines during wartime. Prince Phillip, the Queen's husband and Harry's Grandfather, distinguished himself as an outstanding Naval officer in several theatres of World War II from the Indian Ocean, to the North Atlantic to the Pacific. The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, served on the home front in active duty in the Army during that war. Her father served in the Royal Navy during World War I. (He later was crowned George VI and was Britain's King during World War II). Harry's father Prince Charles also did a tour of active duty in the Royal Navy beginning in 1971.

Amid all the doom and gloom about the state of the US economy, the Financial Times is reporting the results of the most recent financial survey commissioned by the City of London. It shows London dropping as the world's leading financial center as other world cities rise to compete. Led by New York, the other areas improving their standings (as London drops) are Shanghai, and the "city states" of Singapore, Qatar and Dubai. Ireland was included on the list of areas on the rise as centers of commerce. Taxation was named as an influence on the shift.