Monday, October 1, 2012

Dodgers win, still clinging to playoff hopes

Associated Press Sports

updated 12:12 a.m. ET Sept. 30, 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles Dodgers' faint playoff hopes are still flickering, and Matt Kemp does not want to see them extinguished if he can help it.

Kemp homered twice, Joe Blanton pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning, and the desperate Dodgers climbed within two games of the second NL wild-card spot with a 3-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night.

Los Angeles' fourth straight victory, coupled with St. Louis' 10-inning loss to Washington, gave the Dodgers a much-needed boost with four games left. After this weekend, they finish up with a three-game series against NL West champion San Francisco. The defending World Series champion Cardinals close out the regular season with a three-game set at home against Central champion Cincinnati.

"Right now we have to find a way to sneak into those playoffs," Kemp said. "We're both going to be playing good teams next week, so it's going to come down to the end. We've just got to keep going out there and playing hard and see where we end up."

The loss was the Rockies' 96th, breaking the franchise record set in their inaugural 1993 season and equaled in 2005. Blanton (10-13) scattered seven hits over six-plus innings, struck out six and walked none. The Rockies got only one runner as far as third base against the right-hander, who has only two victories in 10 starts with the Dodgers since he was acquired from Philadelphia on Aug. 3 - including a 10-8 win over the Rockies on Aug. 29 at Coors Field.

"You hope when you're traded, you're put in a position to pitch in the playoffs or do all you can to get in the playoffs," Blanton said. "You just hope you get those opportunities. You never know in this game what's going to happen. Last year was a prime example of that. So as long as there's games left and you're still in it, anything could happen. That's the way you've got to treat it and try to win every game."

Ronald Belisario and Kenley Jansen each pitched a perfect inning and Brandon League did likewise in the ninth for his 15th save in 21 chances with the Dodgers and Seattle Mariners. He has converted all six opportunities with Los Angeles.

Tyler Chatwood (5-6) threw 74 pitches over four innings, allowing two runs and five hits. The 22-year-old right-hander, who began his big league career down the freeway with the Angels last season, was 4-5 with a 4.88 ERA in his 12 starts with the Rockies this season, including an 8-4 home win over the Dodgers on Aug. 28.

Kemp led off the fourth with a drive into the left field pavilion that traveled an estimated 461 feet. Hanley Ramirez singled one out later, stole second and scored on a two-out single by A.J. Ellis - his fifth consecutive game with at least one RBI after going 15 games and 44 at-bats without one.

Kemp added his 22nd homer in the eighth, an opposite-field drive to right against Josh Roenicke. It was his fifth career multihomer game and second this season, the other coming on April 14 against San Diego at Dodger Stadium.

"I'm just seeing the ball and hitting the ball, putting some good wood on mistake pitches and driving the ball. That's what I'm used to doing and what I'm capable of doing," Kemp said. "As long as I can get strikes to hit, I can be a pretty good hitter. It felt good to hit balls that hard. Hopefully I can do it the next four days."

Kemp is batting .229 with five homers and 13 RBIs in 23 games since hurting his left shoulder crashing into the center field fence at Coors Field in consecutive games last month while trying to catch triples by Josh Rutledge and Tyler Colvin.

"I feel like any other player would feel in the month of September," Kemp said. "Everybody's banged up at this time of the year, so you can't make excuses."

Colorado manager Jim Tracy, using a patchwork lineup because of injuries to Colvin, Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, Jason Giambi, Dexter Fowler, Michael Cuddyer and Eric Young Jr., had little to choose from on the bench to pinch-hit for Chatwood in the fifth with runners at the corners, two out and the Rockies trailing 2-0. So Chatwood batted for himself and grounded into a fielder's choice before Josh Outman replaced him on the mound in the bottom half.

"That's where we're at right now," first baseman Jordan Pacheco said. "We're not really in a position to do anything, so we're not going to hurt anybody anymore. It stinks when you're in that position with a chance to do something, and we haven't had many situations like that - especially in this series. So all you can do is roll with the punches."

NOTES: LHP Clayton Kershaw, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, has a league-best 2.58 ERA with one start remaining. If he stays on top, he would become the first Dodgers pitcher with back-to-back ERA titles since Sandy Koufax's career-ending five-year run from 1962-66. ... The Rockies have lost eight straight on the road and 13 of their last 14 away from Coors Field. ... Blanton was 1-4 with a 5.46 ERA in his previous 10 home starts with the Dodgers and Phillies. ... Dodgers RHP Josh Beckett, who beat the Rockies in Game 1 of the 2007 World Series while pitching for Boston, starts Sunday's series finale against LHP Jorge De La Rosa.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/49228015/ns/sports-baseball/

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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Bill and Giuliana Rancic Will Show Their Baby's Birth | Famecrawler

75686PCN Guilianna15 199x300 Giuliana Rancic: Baby Dukes Birth Will Be Televised

Bill and Giuliana Rancic.

Proud new parents are often eager to share everything with the world, from the official birth announcement to the video of baby?s first steps.

So it is with Giuliana and Bill Rancic. Ever since the birth of their son, Edward Duke, they?ve been sharing photos and talking to interviewers about the sheer joy of being parents after so many long and frustrating years.

Now they?re taking the sharing a step further. Giuliana tells the Chicago Sun-Times Sunday magazine Splash that they?ll be airing their home footage of Duke?s birth on the upcoming season of their reality show, Giuliana & Bill.

The couple had previously decided that they wanted the birth to stay personal. They told the Style Network not to send their cameras into the Denver delivery room when their gestational surrogate, Delphine, went into labor. But Giuliana and Bill did bring their own video camera to capture the miraculous moment.

And now that a month has passed, they?ve reconsidered their decision.

?This is our sixth season and people have followed our story for years,? Giuliana tells the magazine.

?To have people praying for you and supporting you and wanting the best for you and wanting you to have this baby so badly, and then to say, ?Thanks for all your prayers, thanks for your support, we?re not showing the baby.? That?s wrong.? So they gave their own footage to the producers.

But there?s lots more for Giuliana & Bill fans to see before the birth episode airs. The new season, which starts Tuesday, will also feature Giuliana?s baby shower, her coverage of the Olympics in London, the couple?s search for a larger house and their hunt for just the right nanny for little Duke.

The Rancic family has been spending time in Chicago while Bill supervises the opening of his new restaurant. Soon, they?ll be packing up again and traveling back to Los Angeles to settle into their new home.

What do you think? Are you glad Giuliana and Bill are sharing the birth video?

[Photo: via PacificCoastNews]

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 Giuliana Rancic: Baby Dukes Birth Will Be Televised

Source: http://blogs.babble.com/famecrawler/2012/09/30/giuliana-rancic-baby-dukes-birth-will-be-televised/

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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Technology designed for use by astronauts works to save trapped miners

ScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2012) ? A technology designed for use by astronauts in the hazardous environment of space has found a lifesaving use in another dangerous occupation, but this time on Earth, or rather under it: coal mining.

Paragon Space Development Corp. of Tucson, Ariz., is providing the air revitalization system it matured under a NASA Space Act Agreement to Mine Shield LLC of Lancaster, Ky., for use in its underground miner refuge chambers. These air-tight metal chambers are used by miners as lifesaving havens when trapped underground, providing air, water and food until rescued.

"This is a great example of NASA investment fostering entrepreneurial activity in other markets," said Phil McAlister, director of NASA's Commercial Spaceflight Development in Washington, D.C. "The technology was developed as part of an effort to stimulate the private sector to develop commercial space transportation concepts and enable capabilities for future commercial support of human spaceflight with U.S. taxpayer dollars and Paragon's private investment. The company then found another market for it, leading to the development of a new commercial product and service, which will help save the lives of American miners."

In 2010, NASA began to invest in the commercial sector's capability to support transport of crew to and from low Earth orbit. During this initiative through a Space Act Agreement, NASA invested approximately $1.5 million of American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 economic stimulus funds in Paragon to mature its air purifying system.

Astronaut survival in space depends on a continuous source of breathable air. Paragon improved its design, manufactured and tested an engineering development unit that controls carbon dioxide, humidity, trace contaminants, airborne particulates, air circulation and cooling. Key elements of this technology could play an important role in the life support systems for future deep space exploration missions.

"Our air revitalization system recycles the air by using a series of scrubbers, filters and catalysts that purify the air over and over again," said Taber MacCallum, chief executive officer of Paragon. "The fact that this system, which was developed for human space exploration, has other important applications here on Earth shows how NASA and space exploration energizes American innovation."

Paragon was approached by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration to see if the NASA-developed technology could be used to improve the safety and effectiveness of mine refuge chambers.

For more information about crewed commercial space transportation, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

For more information about Paragon Space Development Corp., visit: http://www.paragonsdc.com/

For more information about Mine Shield LLC, visit: http://www.mineshieldky.com/

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/uxeEcnf1KQY/120928093237.htm

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Are You Losing Ground In Affiliate Marketing? Make It Up With ...

Online marketing is helpful for companies in the promotion of services and products, and is used instead of, or in addition to, traditional marketing methods, such as television and print media. The tips presented below can be a big help if you?d like to make use of Internet marketing in your own business.

Put some banners on your header, make sure they do not look like a banner. Use banners that are links to click on to get to more content. Most people will not click banners when they see them, so this will entice them to.

You need to have good leads to get good sales. Real-time leads will unify both you and a potential customer during the moment in which this person is looking for product information. Contacting your customer as they express their need for your product gives you the best chance of selling them your product.

TIP! Make a plan for how you will market your webpage and the strategies you will use. A good way to advertise your page is to give something away, tell people about it in blogs, or put ads out at businesses.

Include your signature in all of your emails, regardless if they are business-related or not. It can also act as a ?cyber business card? of sorts. This is a great way to connect with people and seem more accessible, which will in turn boost revenue and traffic to your site.

Use popular websites to advertise your company online. Having your brand recognized can be a powerful way to increase your business success. If your page has traffic all day, the presence of your ad will be implanted in a customer?s mind.

There has to be something on your site that visitors can?t find anywhere else. Doing so will likely increase the traffic of people interested in the product. Once they have been driven to your site, they are more likely to browse around, improving your search result rank.

TIP! Services that provide email marketing are easily available and can assist you with internet marketing, but it?s always a good idea to try to learn the process yourself. It is simple to use auto responders, send bulk emails and build contact lists once your know what you?re doing.

Always stay on top of what your internet promotion competition is doing. It doesn?t matter what market you have, there is always competition.

Money is required to buy a quality domain. Chances are, you are not going to find a domain name that is the exact name of your company. You can get any domain name you want if you have over a thousand dollars to spend. You should definitely weigh the pros and cons of this investment.

If you are already using internet promotion, you know which of your products are top sellers. Next, try using these products to think of new products that might generate a similar profit. Advertising accessories for these popular items will likely further your sales. These products are virtually guaranteed to be profitable, and advertise themselves through the main product.

TIP! Make use of good quality graphics that showcase what you are selling on your website. Potential buyers will appreciate the fact that they can clearly see the products you are selling.

Check frequently for outdated information on your website. Old material is of little use in these fast paced times. So, new content is king to both casual visitors to your site and to the search engine algorithms, which determine your ranking in the listings. When readers encounter a well-maintained site with pertinent and current information, they find it encouraging.

You should take the time to look at how others respond to your content, promotions, and even your business as a whole. If you establish an event, promotion, or ambition online, look to how your visitors react on blogs and forums. Choose to incorporate future customers? advice when applicable and make people feel like their opinions are important and considered.

It can be easy to overspend on advertising. It is not wise to pay for a service that is not going to even help out your business. Consider spending money on banner and other forms of advertisement if you believe you will benefit from this investment.

TIP! Allow customers to rate and review your products, but be sure to screen those reviews for spam. Once a buyer has given feedback that illustrates the strong points and weaknesses of a product, other potential customers can make a more-informed purchasing decision.

Be sure to have customer reviews and testimonials included on your site. Oftentimes, people are interested in see what others buyers have to say about the product and enjoy seeing the experience others had. Comments from other consumers can make them feel comfortable with both your company and their purchase.

User reviews is one of the best marketing strategies to employ. Customer?s post their real experiences with your product and these can make new sales, at the same time they are increasing your presence on the Internet with more content.

Consider marketing your website as a forum or social gathering spot instead of just another business website. This should increase the traffic to your site as people are able to communicate with one another. That also allows your site to stay in the forefront of their minds. Give people graphics they can use on their websites to advertise their memberships; it?s free advertising.

TIP! Although you should feature current headlines, try to make yours stand out from the rest. You should make them engaging and interesting for people to appreciate.

Orders should include incentives for a limited time. You may offer free shipping to a limited number of shoppers, for instance, or you may give away gift-wrapping to those who make orders prior to a given date. Make sure that you highlight the end date of the offer to create a feeling of urgency.

As you can see, Web marketing has become an essential for any successful business. Web marketing can be an amazing promotional vehicle that is just as strong, or in some ways stronger, than more traditional advertising methods. You can see the benefits for yourself if you take a few of this articles suggestions and try them out with your business

TIP! Change your headlines and add relevant content often. Keep a record of how those changes affect the traffic generated on your site.

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Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/are-you-losing-ground-in-affiliate-marketing-make-it-up-with-these-tips

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Friday, September 28, 2012

Egypt tourism takes a hit from prophet protests

(AP) ? One of the world's largest cruise ships, its foreign passengers primed for onshore spending, was supposed to dock in Egypt this month. The port call, however, was scrapped because of security concerns surrounding Mideast protests against a film made in the U.S. that denounces Islam's holiest figure.

Once again, Egyptian tourism, an engine of the national economy and a flagship of the regional industry, has taken a hit. It was another setback for a business that had plummeted in parts of the Middle East and North Africa last year during the uprisings known as the Arab Spring, then moved toward recovery this year.

"Small things become like mountains," Essam Zeid, an Egyptian tour guide, said of the fallout from unrest in Egypt since authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February 2011. But he also offered a (somewhat) positive metaphor: "We always say that Egypt gets sick but never dies. Recovery is always an option."

Egypt and other Arab nations undergoing turmoil rely heavily on the labor-intensive trade and see it as a priority key to economic growth and social stability.

Travel and tourism directly contribute a big chunk of gross domestic product to some of the countries that suffered economic fallout from last year's tumult, which came not long after the global financial crisis. Egypt, for example, generals 6.7 percent of GDP from tourism and Tunisia is around the same level with 6.6 percent, according to the London-based World Tourism and Travel Council. It is among industry groups that will assess the impact from the latest upheaval, though it is too early for a comprehensive estimate of losses.

In the multi-layered Middle East, a setback for tourism in one area can mean a windfall in another. During the Arab Spring, tourists, many of them Arabs, turned away from countries in crisis and traveled to more stable places like Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, said Sana Toukan, Middle East research manager for Euromonitor International, a market research group. The UAE also drew more Chinese visitors, according to Toukan.

The latest downturn followed demonstrations in Egypt against an online film that was produced by a U.S. citizen originally from Egypt and denigrates the Prophet Muhammad. They were part of a wider explosion of anger in Muslim countries. The unrest hit near the U.S. Embassy, far from the pyramids of Giza on Cairo's outskirts, and even farther from gated Red Sea resorts, cocoons for the beach-bound vacationer.

Yet the online or TV images of flames, barricades and whooping demonstrators were a killjoy for anyone planning a getaway, even though the protests have now largely subsided. Tour guides in Egypt say tourist bookings are mostly holding, but they worry about a drop-off early next year as people tend to plan several months ahead.

Tharwat Agami, head of the chamber of tourist agencies in Luxor, home to the Valley of the Kings tombs in southern Egypt, reported up to one-quarter of tourist cancellations through October. His own company guided 17 American tourists last week, half of the group's expected number.

Royal Caribbean International took no chances. One of its vessels, Mariner of the Seas, can carry more than 3,000 passengers. It left Italy, on Sept. 15 ? with regional tension still boiling over the film ? and was to call at Alexandria on the northern Egypt Mediterranean coast three days later.

The company canceled the layover "in an abundance of caution," said Cynthia Martinez, director of global corporate communications at Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

"Royal Caribbean International continues to closely monitor the situation in Egypt," Martinez wrote in an email Tuesday to The Associated Press. "At this time, Royal Caribbean has not changed the itinerary of any upcoming sailing that includes a port call to Egypt."

Cruise ships also stayed away during the turmoil that led to Mubarak's downfall. Usually, passengers board buses for a day's outing to Cairo, where the pyramids, the medieval citadel, the mummies of the Egyptian Museum and other treasures await. It's a windfall for guides, ticket vendors and souvenir shops.

Egyptian tourism revenues fell 30 percent to $9 billion in 2011, but the industry proved as resilient as it is vulnerable. It survived the killing of 62 people, mostly foreign tourists, by Islamic militants in a 1997 attack at Luxor that seemed aimed at weakening the government by stopping the flow of tourism revenue. The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by al-Qaida pummeled tourism, as did 2005 bombings in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh.

Fueled partly by oil income, Mideast tourism is more diverse and reliant on regional customers. Expatriates and tourists splurge in the glitzy city-state of Dubai in the Persian Gulf; religious tourism is big at Islamic sites in Saudi Arabia; Oman and Jordan are angling for a piece of the medical tourism market. The popular uprisings did not affect Turkey but diverted tourist traffic to the country, now rated sixth in the world in international tourist arrivals.

Tourism prospects are a moot point in Syria, which is embroiled in a civil war, and in still-chaotic Libya, where militias roam. The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed on Sept. 11 in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi in an attack on the American consulate there.

In Tunisia, violence and looting around the U.S. Embassy during a protest against the anti-Islam film did no favors for a tourism campaign that had been titled, "All Dreams are Possible."

"It's not one picture when you look at the Middle East," said Sandra Carvao, Madrid-based communications coordinator at the World Tourism Organization, a U.N. agency. "It's a region that has suffered and has proven to bounce back in the past."

Indeed, the agency had deemed the Middle East to be the fastest growing tourism market in the world over the past decade, despite the Iraq war, the 2006 conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah and other violence. While some Gulf airlines have gone bankrupt, Carvao compared the expansion of Emirates and Etihad Airways to the rate of growth of Asia's aviation leaders.

Amid upheaval and political transition in 2011, according to the agency, international tourist arrivals in the Middle East dropped seven percent to 55.7 million, and in North Africa by nine percent to 17 million. So far this year, the numbers have climbed by nearly one percent and 10.5 percent, respectively.

Gladys Haddad, a tour guide in Cairo, said she was pleased that Egypt's new president, Mohammed Morsi, appealed to Italians to visit Egypt when he was in Rome at the height of tension over the anti-Islam film. She said early concerns that Egypt's Islamist-dominated government might scare off tourists by banning alcohol or mixed beaches have waned, at least for now.

"I don't think they're going to have like a magic stick to do things right away" to improve tourism, Zeid, the guide who is quick with a metaphor, said of Egypt's fledgling government. "We can't really evaluate their work right now. They have lots of other issues on their agenda."

One thing in their favor, immeasurably, is what lies in Egyptian sands. In its bid to revive tourism, the government this month reopened the Serapeum of Saqqara, a subterranean necropolis where bulls were believed to have been buried in giant sarcophagi. The site was closed for a decade for renovation.

One tourist who marveled at Egypt's heritage was Herodotus, the ancient Greek who wrote about Egyptian beliefs and customs, based on what he said he had observed.

According to a 19th century translation by a British scholar, he wrote: "Concerning Egypt itself, I shall extend my remarks to a great length, because there is no country that possesses so many wonders, nor any that has such a number of works which defy description."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-28-Prophet%20Film-Egypt%20Tourism/id-5aa63f910c4143879ca519b698c58e28

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Russian metals moguls settle RUSAL stake spat

LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Michael Cherney reached an 11th-hour settlement in a dispute over a billion dollar slice of aluminium giant RUSAL, shortly before they were due to give evidence in a drawn-out London court case.

The case, which had been expected to run well into 2013, was due to dwell on allegations of broken promises, criminality and mob rule while shining a light on the murky carve-up of lucrative smelters in the 'wild east' of post-Soviet Siberia.

"Mr. Deripaska announces that Mr. Cherney's litigation in London against him has been terminated," a spokesperson for Deripaska said in a brief statement. "Neither party will be making any further comment in relation to the litigation or matters raised therein."

Cherney's team released a nearly identical statement.

Cherney, born in Ukraine, raised in Uzbekistan, Jewish by creed and living in Israel since leaving Russia in 1994, alleged that metals mogul Deripaska reneged on a deal to buy him out of their joint aluminium business, RUSAL.

Well-connected Deripaska, who controls RUSAL and is a survivor of President Vladimir Putin's crackdown on oligarchs who once wielded great political power, denied having had any such business relationship with Cherney. He alleged he was the victim of a protection racket Cherney helped orchestrate - an accusation Cherney denied.

Cherney, who in 2008 won the right to bring his case against Deripaska in London's respected courts - the venue of choice for the warring Russian wealthy - was due to be cross-examined next Tuesday via video-link from Israel. An outstanding arrest warrant relating to a separate money laundering investigation prevents him from travelling to London.

Lawyers were intrigued at the last-minute deal.

"The experience in most of these cases is that they do go to trial because no one is willing to back down," said Philippa Charles, a litigation partner at law firm Mayer Brown.

"So it's interesting that the level of publicity has perhaps focused the minds of both parties on whether or not it is actually worth having their dirty linen washed in public."

THE POWER OF METAL

The Russian aluminium industry, like much of Russia's raw materials sector, came under the control of a few powerful oligarchs during the huge selloff of state assets that followed the collapse of communism and of the Soviet Union in 1991. The brutality of the business rivalry over aluminium smelters gave birth to the term 'aluminium wars'.

Cherney's case against Deripaska had overtones of a recent battle between Russian oligarchs Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich, which in August helped ensure the concept of "krysha", or roof, is well understood in the English courts.

A "krysha", in Russian gangster parlance, can be either a figure who genuinely protects, in return for payment, the interests of a business in a sometimes brutal business world or it can refer to a racketeer extorting money by intimidation. The boundary between the two can, of course, be blurred.

The case, which began in July when both sides published opening statements and lawyers laid out the details of their arguments in front of Judge Andrew Smith, hinged in part on what was agreed in a London hotel 11 year ago.

Cherney and Deripaska agreed they met at the Lanesborough Hotel on a March morning in 2001, that they signed one document and that Deripaska handed Cherney $250 million (154.1 million pounds). Everything else, even exactly when they first met each other, was disputed.

Deripaska says he made the payment to terminate a krysha arrangement with Cherney, partly because his business was now powerful enough, and his security forces strong enough, to confront criminal gangs.

Cherney says he had orally agreed a 50/50 partnership with Deripaska in 1993, which lasted until March 2001. He alleges Deripaska then agreed at the Lanesborough meeting to pay him a preliminary $250 million for his aluminium interests held by Deripaska - and also agreed to buy him out of the remainder of his stake within a few years.

MOB RULE

RUSAL, the product of a slew of takeovers and mergers mainly in Siberia, where the hydro-electric power needed to fuel hungry smelters comes cheap, has emerged as Russia's only aluminium producer. Cherney alleged a 13.2 percent stake belongs to him.

Deripaska, a former physics student who started investing in aluminium assets in 1991 who has entertained top British politicians on his 70 million pound ($114 million) yacht, says he was forced into a "krysha" after being threatened by some of the country's most powerful criminal gangs in the mid-1990s.

Stories abound about such "protection" mobs attacking the wives and relatives of those who failed to do their bidding, launching fictitious criminal proceedings, violent takeovers of businesses or simply liquidating rivals and critics.

One gang at the centre of the court case was the feared Ismailovskaya mob, alleged to have been run by Anton Malevsky, a man Deripaska says was used by Cherney to extort money before the Afghan war veteran died in a parachuting accident in 2001.

Cherney, who has never been convicted of a crime, dismissed the claims against him as "scandalous".

Deripaska also faced allegations at proceedings in Israel, the United States and Russia that he was involved in bribery, threats and even murder as he built his fortune. In separate proceedings, Germany's Stuttgart Regional Court has also linked him to Ismailovskaya. He denied the accusations.

($1 = 0.6164 British pounds)

(Writing by Kirstin Ridley, Additional reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques; Editing by Ralph Boulton and Mark Potter)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-metals-moguls-clash-london-court-123011236--finance.html

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