Free Republic

Fans of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur will no longer be threatened with prosecution if they chant the word "Yid" at matches, London's Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday. The "Yid Army" chant has become a feature of matches at the club's White Hart Lane stadium, which is located near one of London's largest Jewish areas, and at away matches. "Yiddo" is also regularly heard at matches involving Tottenham, whose fans argue that the terms are used as a 'badge of honor' in response to anti-Semitic behavior from rival fans rather than in a derogatory way.

A controversial Russian businessman has accused Vladimir Putin of using "dirty money" to control British companies. Boris Berezovsky, who is wanted in his own country on charges of fraud, told Sky's Jeff Randall that cash stripped from the Russian economy is being siphoned off by an international web of companies. "Putin and his cronies made absolutely dirty money and tried to invest this money all over the world including Britain." .... Mr Berezovsky claims that Moscow is using Iceland to launder "dirty money" before investing in other countries. "You remember three months ago the Russian government declared that they would...

LONDON - Russian billionaire and former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev is trying to buy London's Evening Standard newspaper, British media outlets reported Thursday. > He also is part owner of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, one of the few media outlets critical of the Russian government.

LONDON - Roman Abramovich is Russia's richest man, with an estimated fortune of more than $20 billion. But if you want to see his money, visit London. Abramovich owns the Chelsea soccer club, one of Britain's most famous. He also has bought several homes in the British capital and countryside, including a 160-hectare country estate that once belonged to the late King Hussein of Jordan. Russian businessmen have flourished under President Vladimir Putin, with the number of millionaires rising sharply every year. But despite Russia's growing economy and Putin's firm grip on the government, many of the country's wealthiest still...

Most people in Britain are now familiar with the scruffy, boyish and invariably unshaven features of Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club, and Russia's most famous billionaire. This week we learned that Mr Abramovich is one of a growing list of hyper-rich Russians. According to Forbes magazine Russia now has 60 billionaires. Unlike Mr Abramovich, most of them live in Moscow, which, if I'm not much mistaken, makes the Russian capital home to more billionaires than any other city in the world. It is quite a change for a place that 15 years ago had no millionaires, let alone...