Citywire's Best of the Web

On the same day that a high profile Russian trial revealed a lot of things about its justice system that Vladimir Putin would rather you didn't know about, unpleasant rumblings from its business sector.

AIM-listed oil business Sibir energy reportedly lent a cash-strapped oligarch investor $325 million. And forgot to tell the board.The Guardian's Nils Pratley, whose metaphorical gaze is as forensic as the one on his picture-byline is piercing, unpicks the story.

Mind you, if the last 18 months has taught us anything, it is that western business practices give us little room to sneer at others. The Wall Street Journal reports that Bank of America chairman and chief executive Kenneth Lewis has been subpoeanad by New York state on allegations that he withheld info from investors.

It's the details that really make a story. As proof, I offer to you the revelation that the financial sector's latest boogeyman, Allen Stanford, used to live in a castle in Florida, says the Deal Book Blog. Well, he was a Knight.

Taking a page from the Granuiads book on fun infographics telling a story better than a thousand words, the BBC has produced the Credit Crunch in Pictures. And very pretty it is as well.

Microsoft has announced plans to take on Apple with a series of branded stores recreating the Microsoft experience. So we should expect frequent crashes, random problems and completely arbitary, inconsistent results then? From ABC.

And finally... less stiletto satire, more a hobnail boot of humour, but the Daily Mash's take on Brown meeting the hope is as funny as we have come to expect from the site.