Exclusive: Jailed billionaire hits out from cell

By Matthew Chance and Maxim Tkachenko, CNN

Moscow, Russia (CNN) -- Russia's most famous prisoner, and once its richest citizen, says the latest corruption charges against him are designed to prevent his release from jail.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, head of the giant Yukos oil company, has been jailed since his arrest, as his private jet was about to take off, in 2003. He was charged with fraud and tax evasion and subsequently sentenced to nine years behind bars. A Moscow court later reduced the sentence to eight years.

At the time of his arrest Khodorkovsky had been funding opposition political parties and considered running for public office himself.

He claims his trial was part of a Kremlin campaign to destroy him and take the company he built from privatization deals of the 1990s. The Kremlin has denied this.

Yukos, once the country's biggest oil producer, eventually went bankrupt in 2006 as a result of a $27.5 billion back-tax bill. A Russian court also ordered Khodorkovsky and his partner to pay about $600 million in back taxes.

But in March last year, when Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev, who was also arrested in 2003 and sentenced to eight years, had only two years left on their sentences, they went on trial on new charges of embezzlement and money laundering.

If convicted, they face up to an additional 22 years in prison.

In an exclusive interview with CNN, Khodorkovsky maintained his innocence, insisting it is the charges that are fraudulent.

CNN was denied access to the former tycoon but managed to get written questions to him in his jail cell and he was able to respond.

Why have these new charges been brought against you? Do you suspect political motives?

The new charges have been brought to prevent my release from prison. They are undoubtedly politically-motivated since they have no merit whatsoever. To date, the prosecutors have failed to explain where they got the idea that all the oil produced by Yukos had been stolen. And that is exactly what I have been accused of.

Are you simply defending yourself and your former business, or is there a bigger principle at stake?

It was a painful experience for me to see my perfectly functional company laid to waste. However it is all history now. It is common knowledge today that things like a ban on businesses to finance independent opposition [parties], widespread illegal takeovers of property in Russia, and a manifold increase in corruption-motivated arrests of businessmen (their businesses are then seized), all began with the Yukos case.

Since Yukos was first seized, the cost of corruption in the [Russian] economy has grown from $30 billion to $240-300 billion. My trial is both a landmark and a symbol for this country.

Has your time in prison served any positive purpose?

At a certain point in my life I realized that I personally needed to do something to help build civil society in this country. However it was difficult for me to break free from what was a comfortable business routine, both psychologically and in terms of the public's perception of me. In that particular sense, prison has given me a chance to stop and rethink my values.

To what extent has this become a personal battle between you and Vladimir Putin?

Clearly, Putin finds me more than disagreeable. It's difficult for me to say to what extent my persecution and prosecution are based on political calculations, self-interest, or emotion. As for me, my career in business has taught me to keep my emotions under control.

What does your legal situation say about the rule of law in Russia?

There is not one serious-minded individual in Russia right now who would tell you that this trial is lawful. There is talk of whether such methods of achieving political goals are acceptable, and whether the goals are appropriate in the first place.

That the motives are political is no longer -- and hasn't been for a long time -- a subject for discussion. The legally sophisticated part of [Russian] society has also reached a consensus that charges against me are knowingly absurd. Therefore even answering a question about rule of law would be redundant.

CNN

Rochdale men jailed for iTunes gift voucher scam

Five Rochdale men have been jailed for using iTunes music gift vouchers to launder money in an internet scam.

The men used stolen credit card numbers to buy £750,000 worth of vouchers to sell at cheaper prices through eBay.

They were caught when police stopped one of the men during a search at Hull port in 2007 and seized his laptop.

It led them to orchestrator Suhail Tufail, 26, who admitted fraud charges and was jailed for five years at Manchester Crown Court.

In May 2007, Humberside Ports police stopped three men - including Mohammed Arfan Rasool and Imran Aslam - as part of a routine search when they arrived from Amsterdam.

A "suspicious" laptop belonging to Rasool was seized and examined by Greater Manchester Police's economic crime unit.

When officers examined the hard drive, along with two other computers found at his home, they found the details of more than 7,000 bank cards.

The same details were found on computers seized from Tufail.

They later discovered that many of the details had been used to fraudulently purchase iTunes gift certificates.

It emerged that Tufail developed the idea of buying the vouchers and then selling them at a reduced price to launder cash from the cards.

Det Insp Neal Colburn, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "This was a complex fraud on a large scale.

"The group thought they had a sophisticated scam to launder money, but the pro-active intervention of the police got in their way".

eBay 'delighted'

Tufail, 26, of Ashfield Road, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and possession of articles intended for use in fraud.

Rasool, 25, of Milkstone Road, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to two years and five months.

The other man who was stopped in Hull, 23-year-old Aslam, of Whitworth Road, pleaded guilty to possession of articles intended for use in fraud and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment.

Two other men, Raja Zahid Iqbal and Kibriya Ahmad, were also sentenced on Friday.

Iqbal, 21, of Milkstone Road, admitted conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to convert criminal property and was sentenced to two years and five months in prison.

Ahmad, 25, of Marland Hill Road, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and money laundering. He was sentenced two years in prison.

Three other men were sentenced to community orders for their part in the scam.

An eBay spokesperson said the company had worked closely with police to provide evidence and was "delighted" with the sentences.

"Criminal activity is not tolerated on our site and we will continue to work alongside law enforcement agencies to ensure that anyone who attempts to commit fraudulent activity on eBay won't get away with it," the added.

BBC News

Neo-Nazi Ian Davidson jailed for 10 years for making chemical weapon

White supremacist made ricin and recruited teenage son to help run Aryan Strike Force, which idolised Hitler

Martin Wainwright

A white supremacist who dismissed other extreme groups as weak and gutless was jailed for 10 years today after becoming the first Briton to be convicted for producing a chemical weapon.

Ian Davison, 42, whose Aryan Strike Force idolised Hitler and flew swastika flags on secret training days in Cumbria, was castigated by a judge for recruiting his teenage son Nicky, a part-time milkman and would-be soldier, who was given two years' detention for possessing material useful to commit acts of terror.

A sentencing hearing at Newcastle crown court heard that other alleged members of the ASF, which recruited some 350 people worldwide online, will face trial later this year. The group's antics appeared bizarre, jurors were told at an earlier trial, and Ian Davison's barrister called him a "superwimp with a fragile ego". But police were seriously concerned about their intentions and the threat they posed.

Condemning Ian Davison's "appalling" behaviour, Judge John Milford expressed surprise that The Anarchists' Cookbook and The Poor Man's James Bond, whose bombmaking advice was circulated by the pair, were still available on Amazon. Possession and circulation of such material was part of the case against Nicky Davison, 19, who was convicted last month. His father earlier pleaded guilty to producing a chemical weapon, preparing acts of terrorism, three counts of possessing material useful to commit acts of terror and possessing a prohibited weapon.

The judge said that references to the books should be removed from the website and any copies in Amazon's UK warehouses destroyed.

Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, said Ian Davison had made enough ricin to kill nine people and kept it in a jar in his kitchen for two years. It was seized in a police raid last June and is now at the government's chemical weapons centre at Porton Down in Wiltshire.

Edis said Davison had assembled easily-obtainable ingredients and followed online instructions to arm the ASF for a terror campaign. He told the court: "The purpose ... was the creation of an international Aryan group who would establish white supremacy in white countries.

"They were followers of the ideology of Adolf Hitler, who they revered, and whose work Mein Kampf was among many available on their website".

Edis said that the group had not drawn up a list of targets but the prosecution was in no doubt that the poison was made to be used. Ian Davison had discussed poisoning Muslims' water supplies with an avowed Nazi in Serbia, as well as emailing other ASF members about posting cockroaches through letterboxes of Asian restaurants and businesses to start infestations and for their closure.

Although the hatred was often focused on Muslims and ethnic minorities, the group's propaganda - fed online by Nicky Davison, often attacked "Zionist governments". Ian Davison wrote on an internet forum: "The Jew is the Aryan's sworn enemy above all".

Toby Hedworth QC, in mitigation for Ian Davison, said that a psychological report showed that he was a pathetic character who tried to impress others by talking big. He told the judge: "The more he did so, the greater esteem he appeared to be held in by these people.

"A very small amount (of ricin) was eventually produced and nothing was done with it".

Peter Carter QC, for Nicky Davison, said that the teenager was of previous good character and had been corrupted by his father. He had lost any chance of the army career he hoped for.

The group's frightening ambitions contrasted with the mundane worlds of both men in county Durham, where the ASF was financed by online sales of keyrings and mouse mats. Judge Milford told Ian Davison, of Burnopfield: "A particularly unpleasant aggravating feature of this case is that you corrupted your son." Turning to Nicky Davison, he said: "Nonetheless, you were actively involved in the website and expressed on it the same vile, racist views as your father".

Neither Davison nor his son, who lived with his mother and brother, showed any emotion as sentences were passed. They were sent down for transfer to jail and a youth detention centre.

The Guardian

Hard-rocking Tokio Hotel guitarist in sex party Viagra overdose

Tom Kaulitz, a member of German pop band Tokio Hotel, reportedly suffered a two-day erection after overdosing on Viagra for a sex party with groupies in Taiwan

The 20-year-old guitarist and twin brother of the band’s flamboyant frontman Bill told daily Bild on Friday that he bought the black-market impotency pills from a street vendor.

“I asked the seller: ‘Do I look like somebody who can’t hoist his flag any more?’ He said ‘no’ but said I should try them anyway,” he told the paper. “So I swallowed one”.

He then returned to his hotel with a couple of girls to party and proceeded to take a few more of the pills he had purchased.

“Probably too many,” Kaulitz said. “The next morning my head was aching and my vision was blurred”.

Bild reported the illicit pills also kept his manhood standing at attention for the next two days.

“It was still working for the next 48 hours, unfortunately also in situations where it wasn’t really appropriate,” he said. “The 60-year-old masseuse that I visited the next day was slightly confused”.

Tom’s brother Bill said he had little sympathy for the potentially dangerous overdose of Viagra.

“Why is he swallowing crap like that? He’s constantly horny anyway,” Bill told the paper. “I nearly called a doctor. But then I decided to let him suffer. It was Tom’s fault in the end”.

The Local DE

Girl, 16, shrugs off controversy as she ends global sail

By Jason Hanna, CNN

(CNN) -- Jessica Watson has heard the rumbling over whether she can rightfully claim she's the world's youngest person to have sailed around the globe solo, nonstop and unassisted.

She's not impressed with the controversy.

Watson, 16, is scheduled to sail into Sydney, Australia, on Saturday morning before tens of thousands of onlookers, seven months after leaving the same city on a eastward journey that saw her cross the equator, navigate South America's treacherous Cape Horn in 40-knot winds, round South Africa, and survive nasty conditions in the Southern Ocean, where her yacht was knocked over to the point where her mast hit water -- all by herself.

But a storm over whether she's bested Jesse Martin, a fellow Australian recognized in 1999 as the youngest to make the voyage at 18, came to a head on sailing news websites last week, centering not on her age, and not on whether she circumnavigated the globe, but on whether she had sailed far enough.

"If I haven't been sailing around the world, then it beats me what I've been doing out here all this time!" Watson wrote in her blog last week in response to the hubbub.

So, is she about to supplant Martin? Your answer may depend on how you define a round-the-world sail for comparisons, and whether you think a distance rule set by a record-keeping body matters since the body no longer recognizes "youngest" categories anyway.

Sailing websites such as Sail-World.com reported last week that Watson's route wasn't long enough orthodromically -- that is, by measuring the shortest distance from point to point on a route -- to hit 21,600 nautical miles, the length of the equator.

That's the minimal distance the World Sailing Speed Record Council, which certified in 1999 that Martin was the youngest to make the trip, mandates for round-the-world courses.

And to get that distance, Watson would have needed to sail father north while she was above the equator, said Rob Kothe, managing editor of Sail-World.com. Independent navigators' calculations put Watson's orthodromic distance at less than 19,000 nautical miles, according to the website.

"This had absolutely nothing to do with Jessica, the poor kid, from our point of view," Kothe, who called her achievement magnificent, said in a telephone interview this week. "We believed that the management decisions that were made were probably not the best ones for her if she was attempting to beat Jess Martin's record".

Watson's team, which declined to comment for this story, has countered the criticism two ways on her website.

First, the team said Watson isn't aiming for any WSSRC record, because the council has stopped recognizing the "youngest" category.

A May 5 statement on Watson's website nevertheless lists part of the WSSRC's rules word-for-word -- without noting they're the body's rules -- when discussing what Watson must do, including start from and return to the same point, cross all longitudinal meridians, and cross the equator. It leaves out the WSSRC's rule about 21,600 orthodromic nautical miles.

The WSSRC stopped recognizing "human condition" categories such as age or disability, partly because they could expand to the point where everyone could claim a life-status record, said John Reed, WSSRC secretary.

Second, the team said Watson already traveled more than 22,800 nautical miles as of May 9. However, it hasn't claimed the distance is orthodromic.

Sail-World.com has written that Watson "will no doubt have traveled around 23,000 miles according to her log," but log distances include tacks and gybes, or zig-zags.

Sailed distance, including these tacks and gybes, is always greater than orthodromic distance "because a yacht can rarely point directly to its next destination and needs to tack and gybe," said Reed in an e-mail that made no comment on Watson's voyage. The e-mail was part of a response affirming that Martin's 1999 route met the WSSRC's orthodromic standard.

After Watson's representative, Andrew Fraser, declined to comment about the controversy, CNN e-mailed him specific questions, including about whether critics' contentions about her orthodromic distance were wrong. He declined to answer the questions.

Kothe said for him, the issue was finished because Watson's team stopped claiming Watson will beat Martin's "record." He told The Age newspaper of Melbourne, Australia, that a sentence in the "About Jessica" section of her website -- "Jessica Watson has set her sights on beating Jesse's achievement" -- used to read "... beating Jesse's record".

Watson's website notes that Martin himself, as well as British teen Mike Perham, who finished a round-the-world, solo but assisted sail in 2009 at 17, will be in Sydney to congratulate her on Saturday, days before her 17th birthday.

"Jessica has definitely sailed around the world and she is only 16. Everyone should be proud of what she has achieved," Perham said in a May 9 statement on the website.

Guinness World Records follows the same standards as the WSSRC when considering sailing records, spokeswoman Sara Wilcox said.

Kothe, who said Watson's sailing has been admirable -- particularly in light of the knockdowns in the difficult Southern Ocean -- speculated Watson's route was chosen with time and safety in mind. He noted a September accident during training delayed her trip, and that to make a mild-weather window at Cape Horn, which came after the equator crossing, she needed to get to the cape when she did. "From a parental point of view, the route is pretty valid," he said.

Watson's trip also came as American Abby Sunderland, 16, was preparing her solo round-the-world voyage. Sunderland's bid to sail nonstop was undone last week when she stopped for repairs in South Africa.

Margaret Bowling, an Australian expedition manager who rowed with a teammate across the Atlantic Ocean about two years ago, said Watson's achievement was incredible, official record or not.

Bowling might relate in a way. She said Guinness wouldn't consider her Atlantic row because she received help for repairs, and therefore no record book will show she's the first Australian woman to have rowed an ocean.

"Officially in the record books, I might as well not have done it. But in my mind, I spent 73 days in the ocean. ... I have the same amount of satisfaction and pride as [Watson] should," Bowling, who now lives in the United Kingdom, said. "You don't cross the ocean and make it out alive and think, 'Wow, I didn't achieve something there'".

Bowling said if she were Watson, she'd "feel no shame at all in saying that she had sailed round the world, just as I have no shame in calling myself the first Australian woman to row an ocean." But, she said, the sailing community has clear guidelines as to what constitutes around-the-world, so officially no record could be had.

Still, she emphasized Watson's solo feat was amazing. "Sailing involves complex machines, so her technical knowledge is phenomenal, for her to have gotten around in one piece".

Sarah Outen, a British adventurer who rowed across the Indian Ocean alone in 2009, said the controversy takes nothing away from Watson.

"According to the rules of the [group] keeping the record, it doesn't count, but she still sailed around the world. ... The journey is still brilliant," Outen said.

She said a generic claim by Watson of being the youngest to have sailed around the world "is not a false statement in that sense".

"But then according to the rules, it doesn't match their criteria," Outen said. "It depends how deep you want to go into it.

Regardless, it's the journey and not the record that counts, Outen said.

"I'm sure she's going to go on to do more," she said. "It's incredible ... she's done something so epic, so young".

CNN