WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – Britain’s Prince William, an ardent fan of the British and Irish Lions rugby team, came face-to-face with their New Zealand conquerors – twice shaking the hand of its captain.

It was the prince’s first meeting with the All Blacks, coming two days after the New Zealand team thrashed the Lions 48-18 in the capital, Wellington, to take a 2-0 lead in their three-test series.

Prince William, who last week had a practice session with several Lions players, met All Black captain Tana Umaga and other players on Monday in the northern city of Auckland.

His 11-day visit to New Zealand is the first official solo tour for the 23-year-old prince, who is second in line to the British throne.

On Tuesday he was scheduled to make a charity visit with Lions team members, including tour captain Brian O’Driscoll, who dislocated his shoulder in the first test, to Auckland’s Starship Children’s’ Hospital.

The prince was to lunch with the All Blacks on Tuesday before flying to South Island on Wednesday for a school visit and two days of private activity, expected to include skiing near the resort town of Queenstown.

He will also attend the third rugby test next Saturday before carrying out his second World War II commemorative wreath-laying on Sunday at the Auckland War Memorial Cenotaph.

LONDON (AP) – A former book store clerk from Nigeria has won the 2005 Caine Prize for African Writing with a short story exploring how families respond to the dislocations of exile.

S.A. Afolabi was the sixth winner of the $15,000 prize, sometimes dubbed the “African Booker” because of its link to the late Man Booker Prize chairman Sir Michael Caine.

Afolabi, born in Nigeria, grew up in Congo, Canada, Indonesia and elsewhere, and has lived in London for the last decade. During a reading before being named the Caine winner on Monday at a ceremony in Oxford, he said he imagined many of his readers were people like himself, as easily from Central Europe or Latin America as from Africa, wanderers in the modern world.

“Life is on the move all the time, and I think people are looking for stories that express that,” said Afolabi.

His winning “Monday Morning” is set in a refugee hotel in London whose residents, he writes, “were gathering strength after years of turmoil in other places.” The family at the center of the story could be from anywhere; the country they fled is never named, with only hints it is African.

The annual Caine Prize was created in honor of Caine, a British businessman with a deep interest in Africa who for almost 25 years chaired the management committee of the Booker, Britain’s most prestigious literary award.

‘Hey Jude’ downloadable

LONDON (AP) – London Live 8’s “Hey Jude” finale led by Paul McCartney was offered as a download, while the concert’s opening number was topping the online charts in several countries, the distributor said.

The McCartney/U2 concert opener, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” was No. 1 on the iTunes charts in Britain, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Belgium, said Adam White of Universal Music International.

The track was also No. 2 in Spain and No. 3 in France.

Universal said Monday it logged the first “Pepper” sale just 45 minutes after the performance.

McCartney’s performance of “The Long and Winding Road,” also from the end of the concert, was made available for downloading on Sunday, White said.

Universal is donating its share of the sales to Live 8, White said.