London already has a number of free newspapers, such as the Metro and London Lite which are distributed to commuters at rail and tube stations for their morning and evening commutes.  But Lebedev's move marks the first time that an established British newspaper has adopted the 'free' model. 

The Evening Standard currently sells around 250,000 copies each weekeday and, although the loss of sales income will be signficant, the Standard's owner hopes that by more than doubling the newspaper's circulation, the increased sales of advertising will more than offset the fall in revenue from direct sales.

In announcing the decision, Lebedev said: "An essential fabric of a free and democratic society is high quality journalism. It acts as a deterrent against corruption and is a way to highlight what is beneficial and worth celebrating.  The London Evening Standard is the first leading quality newspaper to go free and I am sure others will follow."

Almost all newspapers in England are faced with declining circulation figures, and are certain to be watching the Evening Standard's move closely.  The fortunes of the free Evening Standard are likely to also be followed closely in the United States whose tradition of city-based newspapers is also under threat as sales decline.

The Evening Standard is London's oldest continuously running newspaper, and was founded in 1827 by Charles Baldwin.

Germany's winner came in the 35th minute courtesy of Miroslav Klose.  His colleague Mesut Oezil had pounced on a Russian defensive mistake, and quickly passed the ball to Klose.  The Russian keeper, pulled out of position by the defensive howler, could do nothing, and Klose slotted the ball home from close range.

The goal was somewhat against the run of play - cheered on by more than 80,000 home fans, Russia were by far the more positive side throughout most of the game, but German goalkeeper Rene Adler was a deserved man of the match.  He was the difference between the two sides, and made a series of stunning saves to deny Russia's forwards.  He expected to become even busier after Jerome Boateng picked up a second yellow card of the match and was dismissed from the field of play.  But Germany defied expectations, and their hastily organized 10 man defence actually seemed more in control of the game than the full 11 man team had done earlier in the second half.

Although Russia continued to press forward, Arshavin and company couldn't find a way through, and once a late penalty claim was denied by the referee, it became clear that Russia would have to settle for second place in the group, and attempt to force their way into the World Cup Finals via the playoffs later this season.

Russia will travel to fifth placed Azerbaijan this week for their last qualifying match.  Although it will not affect the outcome of the group, Russia's team will want to get some additional practice ahead of their two leg playoff tie.

"The real damage to our economy was far greater than anything predicted by ourselves, the World Bank and other expert organisations," he told viewers.  He did add, though, that his government's revised prediction of a decline of 7.5% of GDP during 2009 was slightly lower than their earlier prediction of an 8% fall in GDP.

He highlighted that, unlike some other countries, and against the predictions of some analysts, Russia's banking system had survived the crisis fairly well.  "Our banking system withstood the stress, and now it is doing just fine," he told the interviewer.

Medvedev went on to again criticize Russia's over-dependence on energy resources for foreign income, calling the situation "humiliating" for Russia and noting that this over-dependence on one sector of the economy was one of the main reasons why the Russian economy as a whole had suffered during the past 12 months.  He outlined his vision for re-orienting the Russian economy, and his goal of creating a new economy and reducing Russia's reliance on energy income within 15 years.   “That is a perfectly plausible time frame in which to create a new economy, an economy that will be competitive with other major world economies. Once a significant portion of our revenue is generated by something other than energy exports, let’s say at least 30 or 40 percent of it, then we would already be living in a different economy and a different country.”

Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov announced the deal, telling reporters that  "Renault confirmed yesterday that it was prepared to invest in the development of Avtovaz, including the provision of the most advanced technologies."  

A spokesman for Renault confirmed that the assistance was not likely to come in the form of a cash injection.  Instead, she confirmed that support “could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise, and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti. The discussions are still at a very early stage.

Renault’s decision follows Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s threat last week to cut Renault’s stake in OAO AvtoVAZ if they didn’t provide further assistance to secure their investment.

Renault purchased a $1 billion dollar 25% stake in OAO Avtovaz in 2008, and has seen its value decline rapidly as the troubled Russian car manufacturer’s problems have grown to such a magnitude that it recently announced it planned to lay off more than 27,000 of it’s 100,000 strong workforce.

The Russian government had also recently provided Avtovaz with $800 million worth of state aid.

The unique experiment has come about because of the failure of Setanta, an Irish sports broadcaster that had previously owned the rights to show the Ukraine v England game on English television.  Unable to sell on the rights to another British television company, Kentaro, the company that now owns the rights to the game, decided that its best chance of recouping its expenses and making a profit was to sell access to the game online.

They'll be streaming the game live on Saturday evening to a maximum of 1 million subscribers, who will pay a fee ranging from between £4.99 and £11.99, depending on how close to the start of the game they book their virtual tickets.

The move has predictably caused outrage among some English football fans, as there is a strong belief in the country that important sporting events, such as those involving the national football team, should be broadcast on free to air tv.

Nonetheless, sales for the game seem to be brisk so far, and a number of websites have set up articles such as this guide explaining how to watch England vs Ukraine free.

Saturday also sees a critical qualifying match for the hopes of Russia's national football team.  Russia take on Germany on the artificial grass of Moscow's Luzhniki stadium, knowing that only victory in their last two matches will guarantee their qualification for next summer's World Cup in South Africa.  Germany need only three points from their remaining two games to secure qualification, but the hope in Moscow is that a braying home crowd, and the unusual artificial turf, will help Russia to the victory that they so desperately need.

The visit was shrouded in secrecy - Israeli press were told at the time that Netanyahu was in Moscow that he was actually visiting a secret military establishment in Israel.  Instead, he and Uzi Arad, national security adviser, met with both Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

A source close to the Russian defence minister told press that "Netanyahu came with a list and concrete evidence showing that Russians are helping the Iranians to develop a bomb."

Many officials in Israel believe that the vast number of Russian scientists supporting Iran's nuclear project means that Iran has at least Russia's tacit support, but others, including American analysts, tend to think that, although there are many Russian scientists working for Iran, they are doing so on a freelance basis, without the support of their government.

The news comes hot on the heels of Iran's admission that it has developed a secret nuclear enrichment plant at its Qom military base, and Iranian agreement to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to visit the plant.

In order to secure jobs of workers at AvtoVAZ, the Russian government had provided the company with 25 billion roubles (800 million dollars) of state aid, but had ensured that Renault-Nissan's 25% stake in the company, bought for around $1 billion in 2008, remained the same.  It is estimated that the company needs approximately $1 billion of further investment in the coming year.

"Now either they continue participating in financing the company or we will need to agree with them on which stakes each party has," Putin told government ministers, according to a report by the Interfax news agency.  He made no mention, however, of whether this renegotiation would also affect the stake held by investment bank Troika Dialog, who also hold a 25% stake.

Putin's comments were welcomed in Russia, but met with concern by international analysts, who are worried that it could undermine the confidence of foreign investors.

Last month AvtoVAZ confirmed that it was to shed 27,600 jobs - approximately a quarter of its workforce - in a desperate bid to stay afloat.  The announcement came soon after the company reported annual losses of 35 billion roubles ($1.16 billion).

Update 8 October 2009:  Renault have announced that they will provide aid to Avtovaz, but that this aid will not necessarily take the form of a cash injection.

Laliberte, dubbed the first clown in space, made the two day trip to the space station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft alongside Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev and U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams.

Laliberte will spend 10 days in total on this mission, at a rumoured cost of $35 million, and, on October 9 plans to lead the first 'poetic social mission in space'.  The 120 minute poetic social mission will feature a number of celebrities including Hollywood stars Matthew McConaughey and Salma Hayek, and former US Vice President Al Gore, and will take place in 14 cities across the globe, as well as in the International Space Station.  The mission will be broadcast live by global webcast.

Fittingly for a clown, it didn't take long after his arrival for Laliberte to don a red nose and begin clowning around on camera.  "I'm adapting pretty good," he told reporters.  "But I ain't staying six months."

Video courtesy of Russia Today.

The Court ruled that Russia's grounds for banning Scientology - that it had not existed in the country prior to fifteen years ago - were unconstitutional.  In it's ruling it confirmed that:

"In the light of the foregoing considerations, the Court finds that the interference with the applicants' rights to freedom of religion and association cannot be said to have been "necessary in a democratic society". There has therefore been a violation of Article 9 of the Convention, interpreted in the light of Article 11".

A Church spokesman told media: "This decision not only confirms the rights of Churches of Scientology in Russia, but sets another important precedent to protect the rights of all other religious communities in Europe."  The Church of Scientology has been refused recognition as a religion in many European countries, including Germany, although it is not banned from existing as an organisation.

The Church of Scientology was founded in 1953 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, and is thought to have between eight and fifteen members worldwide.

It took just six minutes for CSKA to take the lead, a 25 yard shot from Moscow's rising star, midfielder Alan Dzagoev blasting into the back of the net.   CSKA took the initiative from then on, incisive attacking causing the Besiktas defense problems throughout the remainder of the first half.

The second half saw Besiktas come out with renewed resolve however, and their relaxed attacking play forced CSKA onto the back foot.  It came as something of a surprise, therefore, to see Milos Krasic fire home a second goal from 15 yards to take the home team two goals clear.

Besikstas continued pressing throughout the rest of the game, but they couldn't find a way past some resolute Russian defending until Ekrem Dag popped up with a consolation goal well into injury time.

The win leaves CSKA in third place in the group, tied with German team Wolfsburg, but three points behind leaders Manchester United, who travel to Moscow in three weeks time for what will undoubtedly be a stern test of the English champions' resolve.