Post-Soviet deals come to light as Russian oligarchs go to High Court, The Independent

The row was over the breakup of Russian state assets

Businessman Boris Berezovsky took on Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich in a case worth billions.

The case hinged on a labyrinthine web of deals made following the collapse of communism and the privatisation of former Soviet state assets in the 1990s.

Mr Berezovsky, once one of the most powerful of Russia’s oligarchs, said he was forced to flee Russia in 2000 because of a row with the then president Vladimir Putin.

An exclusive preview of the biggest case in the UK courts is published here.

Environment minister denies hosepipe ban claim, BBC

Hosepipe bans are spreading across the country

Tory water minister Richard Benyon has denied newspaper claims he flouted the hosepipe ban by leaving water running in his garden.

The MP said there was “no way” a 15ft hose was left running at the family estate in his constituency of Newbury in Berkshire.

The claims were made in The People, but the newspaper said it stood by the story.

Mr Benyon, a minister at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said: “Neither I, nor my family, nor anyone who works for me turned that hose on.”

Published here.

Police raid on protesters in bank squat, The Evening Standard

Protestors occupied a squat

Tough new US-style tactics are being used by police to thwart the attempts of anti-capitalist protestors attempting to set up squats in the City of London.

A lightning raid was executed by officers just hours after Occupy London activists took over a former Midland Bank building in the Square Mile.

Officers swooped on the building in central London, just yards from police headquarters.

Four people were arrested and 25 evicted from the premises.

Published here.

I was six before I began learning to read admits Callow, The Evening Standard

Churches in parish coup plot to grab power from Westminster, The Evening Standard

‘Phone app economy’ worth £2.2 billion, The Evening Standard

Happy Monday’s roller coaster Shaun Ryder’s new album imminent, The Independent

Shaun Ryder retains folk hero status in Manchester. Pic by Edwin Stemp.

Shaun Ryder sits himself down, with a double Remy Martin in one hand, while the curl of cigarette smoke wafts from the other.

There’s no disputing the attitude and he still sways with that familiar swagger.

Meet the hellraiser and extraordinaire frontman of the Happy Mondays.

He’s back with an autobiography, Twisting my Melon, which records his addictions, bankruptcy, violence and near-death experiences.

Ryder’s also been quietly crafting an album and plotting a series of solo gigs to support it.

Published here.

 

Fugitive Egyptian minister is in London, The Independent

Former Egyptian finance minister, Youssef Boutros-Ghali, was living openly in London despite being convicted of corruption and profiteering in his home country.

MPs wanted to know why he was being allowed to remain in the UK, despite being the subject of an Interpol “red notice”.

Mr Boutros-Ghali, the nephew of the former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali, was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in jail for corruption, abusing state and private assets as well as profiteering.

He was ordered to repay 60 million Egyptian pounds (£6.1m).

Published here.

Andy Warhol goes to work on an egg The Independent

Berlin street art influenced by Warhol's sleeve for the Velvet Underground and Nico.

A previously unseen silkscreen print by the Pop artist Andy Warhol is causing a stir among fans of his work.

Eggs, 1982 will show in Britain for the first time this autumn, as a star exhibit of The Indiscipline of Painting.

The new show is opening at Tate St Ives in October alongside work by Gerhard Richter, Bernard Frize and Bridget Riley.

Some critics say the print uncovers a new side to the painter who used art to make Campbell’s soup tins famous.

Published here.

The sounds of the suburbs: Britain is a quieter place, The Independent

The hiss of steam has been replaced by the burblings of automated public address systems.

Britain is a quieter place according to a study of the sounds of cities and suburbia compiled by the UK public.

The audio has been kept at the British Library from the 1940s to the present day.

The study concludes that new technology, the lost art of whistling and pedestrianisation have rendered the British urban soundscape more peaceful.

It also revealed the chirp of sparrows, cheerful whistling and the hiss of steam engines have been replaced by the discordant bleep of supermarket tills, and the territorial calls of grey squirrels.

Published here.