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Russia's Richest Man Needs $2 Billion Dollars

October 20, 2008 2:40 PM

BY STEPHEN WEBB, ABC News London

Oleg Deripaska’s company, the UC Rusal Aluminum Group, borrowed $4.5 billion to buy a 25 percent stake in the world’s largest nickel miner, Norilsk Nickel. When the credit crunch hit and the Russian stock market plunged, the stocks that secured the loan plunged in value and the banks called for nearly  half of the loan to be paid back.

They gave Deripaska and UC Rusal Aluminum until the end of October to pay more than $2 billion to secure the loans.

The Russian billionaire made his fortune in aluminum and has an estimated worth of $28 billion, according to Forbes. He borrowed billions to fund his ambitious plan to expand his business empire into automobiles, insurance and mining. But the credit crisis has forced him to give up stakes in a number of foreign companies to his creditors, according to the U.K. 's Financial Times.

Deripaska's move may lead to Russia losing one of its important mining resources, albeit partly, to foreign hands.

Last week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin unveiled a $50 billion package to refinance important Russian companies. Deripaska’s UC Rusal is likely to qualify, but the money may not arrive in time for the bank’s deadline, according to the Financial Times.

David Woodruff of the London School of Economics told ABCNews.com that “there are two ways the Russian government might go." He explained that government or a government-backed company may pay the $2 billion. On the other hand,  they may “use it has an opportunity to show foreign investors Russia is open."

“This is a big departure from normal trends,  but these are desperate times.”

It is not clear whether the  Western banks will give the Russian oligarch more time.

ABCNews.com contacted BNP Paribas but no one was available for comment. Credit Suisse and Royal Bank of Scotland told ABCNews.com that they would not comment because of  client confidentiality.

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October 20, 2008 in Stephen Webb | Permalink | User Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Colin Powell Shows Off His Moves at Africa Festival

October 15, 2008 1:05 PM

By STEPHEN WEBB, ABC News London

Colin Powell may have risen to one of the highest and gravest positions in the world, but judging by his performance last night he isn’t afraid to get his groove on.

The former U.S. secretary of state surprised audiences at the Royal Albert Hall in London yesterday evening when he joined a hip-hop group onstage, even taking the microphone at one point.

Powell, the first African American to serve as secretary of state, was attending the grand finale of the Africa Rising festival, a four-city, three-nation tour to raise awareness of "sustainable solutions" for Africa using music and fashion.

Nigerian group Olu Maintain were onstage when the retired general of the U.S. army joined them in a version of the Nigerian dance Yahoozee.

Despite the surprising dance appearance, Powell had a serious message to deliver, highlighting the importance of his black identity.

According to reports, he told the audience: "I stand before you tonight as an African-American."

"Many people have said to me, you became secretary of state of the U.S.A., is it still necessary to say that you are an African-American or that you are black, and I say, Yes, so that we can remind our children.”

"It took a lot of people struggling to bring me to this point in history. I didn't just drop out of the sky, people came from my continent in chains."

Powell spoke of wrongs done to Africa by Western powers and about the future of the continent.

According to reports, he told his audience: "Asia is expanding, it created jobs for people, and Eastern Europeans are doing the same... it's now Africa's turn."

Nduka Obaigbena, the organizer of Africa Rising, told the U.K. newspaper The Times: “I never thought I would see Colin Powell dance Yahoozee. He showed that common touch.”

Pop singer Christina Aguilera and soul singer Seal performed at the event. The showcase featured fashion collections from Ozwald Boatend and Deola Sagoe.

Colin Powell was born in New York City to Jamaican parents on April 5, 1937. As a general in the U.S. Army, he served as national security adviser from 1987-89. He was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989-93. Under President Bush, Powell was secretary of state from 2001-05.

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October 15, 2008 in Stephen Webb | Permalink | User Comments (50) | TrackBack (0)

Is This the Dirtiest Flat in Britain?

September 11, 2008 1:01 PM

By STEPHEN WEBB, ABC News London

When you get home after a long hard day at work you might be tempted to leave the cleaning until tomorrow. You might decide you are too tired to cook and order takeout. If you did this every day, your home might look something like this….

Chris Dowling, 57, was stunned when he found out that the $175,500 apartment he had rented out to a single man for about two years had been turned into a garbage dump.

There were more than 1,000 takeout boxes dumped in the apartment’s living area, despite its being only 15 feet by 11 feet. It is estimated that the man had eaten his way through $8,800 worth of McDonald's, pizzas and other fast food.

In the bathroom, hundreds of cigarette stubs were stacked up alongside the the tenant’s toothbrush and razor.

Although Dowling, the owner of the property, had never met his tenant, the $800 monthly rent had always been paid on time, so he didn’t expect to have to send in an army of cleaners when the lease ended.

“There were McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken containers everywhere. I couldn't get through to get to the kitchen and they were stacked all around the bed. You couldn't see any part of the floor in the living area,” Dowling told KNS News.

“The tenant had been smoking without opening windows and there were nicotine stains dripping from the walls. It smelt like a giant ashtray.”

Dowling rented the apartment in Slough in southeastern England to the man in December 2005, but a few months ago he was contacted by the local council because the tenant hadn’t paid his council tax.

After attempts to get in touch with the man failed, bailiffs were sent round who found the apartment in a “disgusting” state. Dowling tried to enter the property but the man had changed the locks. Soon after that, the tenant moved out, leaving the keys with the rental agency.

Dowling, who owns 46 homes, said: “It hasn't put me off renting places out. I will just take the hit and carry on.”

September 11, 2008 in Stephen Webb | Permalink | User Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)

Elvis' Finger Prints, Hendrix's Guitar And More Go Under The Hammer

September 04, 2008 11:57 AM

By Stephen Webb, ABC News London

Would you like to own the only remaining set of Elvis’ fingerprints, or the first guitar that Jimi Hendrix set alight on stage? Perhaps the Beatles' first contract would look good on your mantelpiece? Then head on down to a star-studded auction in London tonight -- but you might need a few million dollars.

Hendrix’s Fender Stratocaster guitar is up for auction and is expected to go for around $1 million, according to the Fame Bureau, the specialist auctioneer selling the items.

It’s the same instrument the rock legend set on fire after dousing it in lighter fluid during a concert at London’s Astoria in March 1967. According to the Fame Bureau, the scorched guitar was passed along to multiple people until it ended up in the garage of a relative of one of Hendrix’s business associates. It was only found last year.

Also up for sale is the Beatles’ first-ever contract, signed in 1962 by John, Paul, George, Ringo and their manager, Brian Epstein. The document even bears the signatures of Richard Starkey, the real name of Ringo Starr. The signed, four-page contract is expected to sell for up to $1 million.

The only existing fingerprints of Elvis Presley will also be going under the hammer. The prints were left on a 1970 application for a concealed gun license. The starting bid has been set at $44,000.

Two hundred people have been invited to the auction, including “high-profile American and British” stars, according to the Fame Bureau, though the bureau refused to offer specific names.

Other items up for auction tonight are a previously unseen amateur video of Marilyn Monroe taken from the set of comedy movie “Some Like It Hot,” and the last music notebook owned by Jim Morrison, advertised as the last notebook of “musings, lyrics and poems written” before his death.

Photo Credit: The Fame Bureau

September 4, 2008 in Stephen Webb | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Oscar Winner Dame Helen Mirren Reveals Date Rape and Cocaine Use

September 01, 2008 1:49 PM

By STEPHEN WEBB, ABC News London

Dame Helen Mirren, the Oscar-winning actress most famous for her performance as the Queen of England, has admitted in a forthcoming interview with GQ magazine that she was date-raped multiple times as a student but chose not to report the incidents, according to excerpts of the interview that were released to the British Press Association.

In the interview, due to be published on Thursday, the actress told GQ that the rapes she experienced were "Not with excessive violence, or being hit, but rather being locked in a room and made to have sex against my will."

She said that if a couple were about to have sex but the woman changed her mind at the last moment, it was rape if the man continued. But she admitted to GQ, "I don't think she can have that man into court under those circumstances," according to the Press Association.

That she didn’t go to the police because "you couldn't do that in those days," according to the Press Association.

The remarks have drawn criticism in the British press and from anti-rape organizations.

Jasvinder Sanghera, who runs a British charity for victims of rape and domestic violence, told London’s Independent newspaper, “I'm disappointed by the suggestion that date-rape victims shouldn't bother with the courts. We have such a low prosecution rate for rapes as it is. It's such a harrowing ordeal for rape victims to go through the judicial process that the last thing we need to do is discourage them.”

And Britain’s Home Office Minister Tony McNulty called Mirren’s comments “profoundly disappointing” and told the BBC, “At a time when we're trying to get more and more women to report rape, I find her comments very unhelpful and a matter of regret.”

Only 5 percent of reported rapes in Britain end in a successful prosecution,  according to a report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate -- one of the lowest conviction rates in the developed world. Campaigners argue that British attitudes often partially blaming a raped women for her behavior is part of the reason why so few sexual attacks are reported and successfully prosecuted.

Mirren also admitted in the interview to taking cocaine in the 1980s, but told GQ she gave it up.

“I loved coke,” said Mirren. “I never did a lot, just a bit at parties.”

According to GQ, the 63-year-old actress decided to give up after reading about how Nazi criminal Klaus Barbie had been making money from cocaine in South America.

“All the cards fell into place and I saw how my little sniff of cocaine at a party had an absolute direct route.”

Mirren said she had tried marijuana and “hated it.”

“Dope always made me feel miserable and paranoid and unhappy. And I woke up one day and thought, ‘No more of that, thank you,' she said.

September 1, 2008 in Stephen Webb | Permalink | User Comments (26) | TrackBack (0)

A Piece of Cake: Prince Charles and Princess Diana's Wedding Cake Sells at Auction

August 29, 2008 7:38 AM

By Stephen Webb, ABC News London

How much is a cake wrapped in plastic and kept in an attic for 27 years worth? Well, if it is from British royals Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding, it may be worth more than you think. A mystery buyer has paid $1,830 for an elaborately decorated, 9-inch-square piece.

Moyra Smith, a cleaner at Clarence House, the home of the British royal family, was given the pricey pudding by a royal chef in 1981.

According to the cake’s auctioneer, Dominic Winter Book Auctions, based in southern England, the cake was in surprisingly good condition. The auction listing describes it as having white icing with a decoration of the royal coat-of-arms colored in gold, red, blue and silver.

Auctioneer and royal memorabilia specialist Chris Albury said in a statement, "The decorative icing of the royal coat of arms is very skilled and while there is some cracking and damage it is in remarkably good condition.”

The royal dessert came with a signed thank-you letter from Prince Charles and Diana.

“Whoever buys it is unlikely to eat it, as it will undoubtedly taste stale and be an expensive experiment!" said Albury.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles divorced in 1996. In 1997 Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris.

The auctioning of royal memorabilia is not unusual. According to the auctioneers, last month a collection of items belonging to William Tallon, a servant of the Queen mother, was sold for $914,000.

Photo Credit: Dominic Winter Book Auctions

August 29, 2008 in Stephen Webb | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Budget Airline in Row Over Oxygen Masks

August 26, 2008 11:43 AM

By Stephen Webb, ABC News London

Europe’s largest budget airline, Ryanair, is denying claims that oxygen masks apparently failed to work during an emergency landing.

The flight - from Bristol, England to Barcelona, Spain - lost cabin pressure and plummeted 26,400 feet through the air above France at  11:30 p.m.  local time  Monday. Passengers today spoke  about  how they  believed they were going to die. 

A British medical student even sent a text to her mom saying,  “I love you and I am going down," according to the AFP news agency.

The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800,  was diverted to Limoges airport in central France. Sixteen people were taken to  the  hospital,  but all 168 passengers  survived and the plane landed safely,  according to Ryanair.   

British arctic explorer Pen Hadow and his wife and two children were onboard the troubled aircraft. The U.K newspaper the Telegraph reported that Hadow said a number of oxygen masks inside the cabin failed to work properly.

“The next thing the oxygen masks were dropping. My highest priority was to get a mask onto my son who was sitting next to me in a bemused and frightened state. Mine wasn't filling up with oxygen and neither was my son's. He was hyperventilating. I looked at the lady on my left and hers hadn't filled up either. From where I was sitting I could see about 20 masks and only a few of them were inflating,” said Hadow.

However, Ryanair denied that the oxygen masks were not working. In a statement, the low-cost airline said , “Ryanair’s engineers have inspected the aircraft overnight and have confirmed that the oxygen masks which deployed were working properly.”

Andrew Davies from Boeing, the manufacturer of the aircraft, told ABC News.com that it is very unlikely that there was any problem with the flow of oxygen.

“Speaking very generally,” he said,  “the bag sometimes doesn’t inflate,  but oxygen flow is still there. It all depends on the air pressure in the cabin.”

Charlotte Thorthon, a British medical student traveling  on the plane, criticized the crew for not making an announcement after the plane got into difficulty.   

"For about half an hour no one told us anything, we didn't know what was happening at all. We were quite panicky," said Thorthon. "After half an hour we were told to take the oxygen masks  off, and then the plane landed and we were fine, " said Thorthon to AFP news agency.

Ryanair said an announcement was not made immediately because of safety regulations.

Andrew Davies from Boeing told ABCNews.com that this was nothing out of the ordinary. 

“The priority is always to get oxygen masks on the crew so they land the aircraft quickly. It’s the correct action for the overall safety of the plane.” He said.

The Irish and French Aviation Authorities have begun a full investigation of the incident.

Photo Credit: Associated Press

August 26, 2008 in Stephen Webb | Permalink | User Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

Pop Star Pedophile Back in Britain

August 22, 2008 10:38 AM

By Stephen Webb, ABC News London

Convicted pedophile Gary Glitter is back in the U.K. after serving three years in a Vietnamese jail for abusing two girls, 10 and 11 years old. He had reportedly been avoiding a return to England for several days but ended up in airport lounge limbo, after being refused entry to Hong Kong and Thailand. Now back in the U.K., Glitter’s lawyer has called his conviction in Vietnam, “unsafe... a gross breach of human rights".

Glitter AKA Paul Gadd was avoiding a return to the U.K. after learning he would be ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register. The register keeps track of sex offenders, requiring them to report their movements to the police. The 64-year-old had previously been listed on it for seven years, after he was jailed in the U.K. for possessing child pornography.

Glitter’s lawyer was in court today to fight a police request for the pop star to be put on the Sex Offenders Register. According to the U.K.’s Sky News, whose reporter was in court earlier today, Glitter’s lawyer, David Corker, told the judge that the conviction in Vietnam was “a travesty of justice.” He requested that Glitter should only be added to the register for a short time, while he could prepare a case in his defense. However, the Judge ordered Glitter to sign as a sex offender within three days. The judge said he had demonstrated a “desire to avoid the jurisdiction of this court,” according to Sky News.

Gary Glitter was a popular glam rock star in the 1970s. He sold millions of records, with songs such as "I Love You Love Me Love."

Glitter was deported from Vietnam on Tuesday. According to the BBC, he was booked on a flight to London via Thailand but refused to board the connecting flight. He claimed to be suffering from a heart attack but doctors gave him a certificate stating he was safe to travel. Thai authorities refused to allow him into the country. He then flew to Hong Kong and was again turned away. About 19 other countries made it clear they would not allow the pedophile entry. Glitter then boarded a flight to London and was met by a floury of media attention, as well as police officers.

It is feared that Glitter may use his multi-million dollar wealth to move to another country.  However, the sex offenders register requires him to report any plans to leave the U.K.

The story has provoked calls for tighter controls on pedophiles, including international cooperation to bring back offenders who flee to other countries.

Earlier this week a global internet child porn ring was disrupted when their “librarian” was arrested in the U.K.. Click here for more on this story.

Photo Credit: Reuters

August 22, 2008 in Stephen Webb | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

British Government Attacked Over Light Hearted Video

August 20, 2008 11:29 AM

By Stephen Webb, ABC News London

The British government has been accused of wasting time and money on a jokey video responding to a public petition made on its Web site.

A section of the British prime minister’s Web site allows members of the public to start “e-petitions” on any issue, from lower gas prices to indicting ex-PM Tony Blair for war crimes.

Nearly 50,000 people added their names in support of a petition to make Jeremy Clarkson, the presenter of a popular automobile TV show, the new prime minister of Great Britain.

The government responded with a light-hearted video which explains that the petition was turned down. You can watch a 48-second film below:

The Conservative Party, a member of the opposition, has accused the government of wasting public money and resources. A party spokesperson told the BBC:

“While the British public is having to tighten its belts, the government is spending taxpayers' money on a completely frivolous project."

A government spokesperson said that no money had been spent on the video.

“A member of staff put it together in a spare half-hour."

August 20, 2008 in Stephen Webb | Permalink | User Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Tourists Try to ‘Rescue’ Madeleine McCann Look-Alike

August 19, 2008 10:55 AM

By Stephen Webb, ABC News London

We all want to see missing British girl Madeleine McCann brought home safe and sound, but the intensity of emotional investment on the part of the public in the case demonstrably has its perils.

Two British tourists on holiday in Croatia recently were so convinced that a small blond child they had spotted was Madeleine that they decided to rescue her. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the missing 5-year-old. It wasn’t even a girl.

The U.K. newspaper The Mirror reported the unnamed Brits, who were vacationing on the island of Krk, saw the look-alike walking along a beach with a woman. They followed the pair and even secretly took photos.

The Daily Mail, another U.K. newspaper, reported that when the woman wasn’t looking, they grabbed the child's arm, and then realized their mistake.   

The child was in fact the 2-year old son of a Crotian footballer, Dino Drpic, and glamour model, Nives Drpic.

It is reported that yesterday Nives said: "I started getting suspicious when the British woman approached Leone and started chatting with him … Suddenly she grabbed him by the arm, apparently thinking nobody was watching him … However, when I went over she realized her mistake and apologized."

Madeleine McCann disappeared in May 2007 while on holiday in Portugal with her parents. She was 3 years old at the time. There have been hundreds of reported sightings across the world since.

Photo Credit: Associated Press

August 19, 2008 in Stephen Webb | Permalink | User Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)