SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #633 (0), Friday, December 29, 2000
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TITLE: Year of a President Full of Surprises
AUTHOR: By Sarah Karush
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: What a difference a year makes - or does it?


As Russia marches into 2001, it has a vigorous president, a restructured parliament and a new/old anthem. The dealmaker who a year ago stage-managed political life has recast himself as a dissident and gone into exile. A once-powerful opposition force is now a Kremlin ally, while two historically warring liberal factions have begun a courtship dance.

But while some of the actors may have changed roles and the orchestra has struck up a Stalin-era tune, the tragicomic plot remains essentially the same. Little has been done to stamp out corruption or to strengthen the legal system. 

Many regional bosses continue to have unchecked power, though a handful, including St. Petersburg Gov. Vla dimir Yakovlev, have warmed to the president like lap-dogs. Nevertheless, the much ballyhooed Kremlin campaign to rein govenors in has faltered. Mean while, the conflict in Chechnya rages on breaking both the president's promise to keep it short in duration and body bags. The death toll inches up daily.

In his first year in the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin has consolidated power, creating the conditions necessary to make big changes in the way the country is run. But, despite radical talk and a wealth of legislative initiatives, he has been slow to upset the status quo. 

His main project - restoring federal control over the country's 89 regions - was weighed down with concessions to the governors by the time it made its way through parliament.

Some had higher hopes for Putin. State Duma Deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov said he was disappointed that the new president did not take advantage of his broad support, loyal parliament and an economy boosted by high oil prices to push through real reforms in areas like land ownership, the military and labor law.

"I'm afraid that there will not be such favorable conditions next year," said Ryzhkov, who was booted from the pro-Putin Unity faction this summer because his views did not always conform to those of the party leadership. "He wasted these favorable conditions on virtual victories."

The year began with an early presidential campaign, forced by Boris Yeltsin's surprise resignation on New Year's Eve.

Yeltsin had given his chosen successor a head start by quitting at a time when Prime Minister Putin's approval rating was soaring - thanks to his tough rhetoric on Chechnya and his image as a hands-on, no-nonsense leader.

Condensed into 2 1/2 months, a quarter of the time usually allocated for presidential elections, the race felt like a symbolic effort from the beginning. Even as he declared his candidacy, Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky said nobody could even hope to beat Putin. 

As acting president, Putin said he did not intend to campaign. That didn't stop him from taking a whirlwind tour of the regions - including a ride into Chechnya on a fighter jet - and the support of apocryphal opinion polls that placed him far beynd his opposition. 

Ultimately, voters got a sense of Putin's personality, but not his politics: He refused to reveal his platform, saying only that he favored a strong state. Candidate Putin was a convenient blank slate - a palempsist on which liberals, nationalists and communists could find faint writing on the wall.

The only intrigue in the race was whether Putin would be able to win in the first round or be forced into a run-off. His ultimate first-round victory, with 53 percent of the vote, came at a price. An investigation by The Moscow Times - The St. Petersburg Times sister paper - revealed widespread fraud in the March 26 election. Were it not for creative vote-tallying, ballot-box stuffing and bullying by local bosses, Putin would not have won in the first round. 



BATTLING THE GOVERNORS

The first-round victory was seen as a broad mandate for Putin to restructure the government and pursue reforms.


After his inauguration in May, Putin set about strengthening the "vertical line of power" - his term for centralized authority over the 89 far-flung and independent-minded regions. His first move was to carve the country into seven federal districts and appoint a representative to each one to help him keep an eye on the governors.

The presidential representatives have Putin's ear, but no legal authority. Other measures against the governors seemed to have more teeth. 

Within three months, the Kremlin shepherded a federal reform package through parliament, including a law that created a mechanism by which local leaders who did not toe the federal line and governed ccording to their own rules could be fired. 

But so far, Putin has not used this powerful new weapon. Instead, he has opted to change federal laws to accommodate the governors. In November the Duma passed a bill in the first reading that would give some of the most controversial regional bosses the right to run for a third term, something strictly prohibited in the current law.

The Kremlin's new levers have also failed to prevent regional mismanagement. As winter began in the Far East, tens of thousands of people had no heat. Only after weeks of protests and visits by Moscow delegations did officials begin to address the problem. But 4,500 people in Primorye are still without heat in their homes, Interfax reported last week.

Some predict the Kremlin may begin to take more action in the regions a year from now - by jailing its least favorite governors. Another law in the package deprives governors of their seats in the Federation Council and the immunity from prosecution that comes with them. 

But aside from stripping them of their immunity, it is unclear what the law accomplishes, since it allows them to appoint their representatives to the chamber. Governors worried about losing their bully pulpit in the capital needn't be concerned: They will be able to gather regularly in the new State Council, advising the president on key issues.

"The federal reform in many ways did not live up to expectations," said Vladimir Pribylovsky, head of the Panorama think tank.



CRACKDOWN ON THE PRESS

At the beginning of the year, the latest war in Chechnya was already five months old. Eager to keep the correct spin on the war in the run-up to the election, Kremlin officials told the media they had an obligation to support the war effort and not to give air time to the rebels. They backed up the threat by temporarily excluding privately owned NTV - the only national station to offer somewhat critical reporting on the war - out of the military press pool.


More ominously, Radio Liberty reporter Andrei Babitsky was detained in late January. He was held incommunicado, traded to masked men who Moscow officials said were Chechen rebels and finally allowed to escape after five weeks in captivity. 

For many who were still giving the new administration the benefit of the doubt on press freedom, the spring's events erased all illusions. In May, the offices of Media-MOST, NTV's parent company, were raided. A month later, Media-MOST owner Vladimir Gusinsky was arrested. After three nights in jail, he was released, but the government's battle for control of his empire has continued. 

This month, Spanish authorities arrested Gusinsky, who has been living abroad, on an Interpol warrant. NTV director Yevgeny Kiselyov has warned that the Kremlin has a plan to liquidate the station on New Year's Eve.

Gusinsky's case, meanwhile, has been dismissed by a Moscow court, signaling the case may be reaching an end. But Russian prosecutors say they will appeal the decision (see story, page 3). 

The Media-MOST fight has outraged liberals - even those, such as Irina Khakamada and Boris Nemtsov, who had supported Putin. For some critics, it has confirmed fears that Putin's KGB past would catch up with the country.

For one thing, they point to the government's information security doctrine, adopted in September. Journalists fear that the doctrine and its emphasis on the "security threat" of misinformation and foreign influence in the media may serve as justification for more attacks on the non-state press. 

Many liberals are also disturbed by the rise of KGB and military officers to top posts in Putin's administration.

"We are moving away from our basic values, away from the Constitution, in which rights and freedoms are the top priority, toward the state and state interests," said Duma Deputy Sergei Yushenkov. "We are seeing a return to the 'bright past.'"



DIVORCING THE FAMILY

One question on analysts' minds a year ago was what Putin would do about "the Family," the group of Kremlin insiders thought to be effectively running the country. When Putin was appointed prime minister in August 1999, he was considered a member of the Family and his appointment a product of its influence.


But Putin has distanced himself from tycoon Boris Berezovsky, the man who for most people came to symbolize the Family's backroom influence. 

Berezovsky, who says he bankrolled the campaign of the Unity party in last year's Duma elections - a party widely viewed as pro-Kremlin paste-up job created to give Putin the legitimacy of party backing - says he is being persecuted by the regime he helped create. Like Gusinsky, Berezovsky remains abroad and says he has been pressured to give up his stake in government-controlled ORT television. Prosecutors have resumed their investigation into alleged corruption at Aeroflot and have sought to question Berezovsky in the case.

Despite these steps, Putin has been unable or unwilling to shake the Family's influence completely. He reappointed Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, who is considered close to the Family. Ustinov has used his powers selectively to target fire-brand media mogul Gusinsky. But he has closed the Mabetex corruption case, a case that touched the interests of Yeltsin and those close to him. Additionally, Family member Alexander Voloshin remains Putin's chief of staff, and Mikhail Kasyanov, another Family friend, is prime minister.

Still, when it comes to influence over the president, the Family faces competition from two groups - economic liberals and so-called chekisty, former security officers and military men. 

Rumors have been circulating about Kasyanov's imminent replacement. Voloshin reportedly clashed with Putin over the adoption of the Soviet-era anthem. Some analysts think an eventual break with the Family is inevitable.



A TEFLON PRESIDENT

Putin's high approval ratings have barely budged since his election. According to a poll taken this week by the All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion, or VTsIOM, 68 percent of Russians approve of his performance as president. The age-old formula of "good tsar, bad boyars" seems to be at work; only 38 percent approve of the government's performance. 


The polls themselves are open to doubt however, as considerable evidence suggests that Putin's astounding popularity ratings - especially during th election - were inflated. 

The probable fiction of Putin's poll-based popularity does not suggest that this year has not seen its fair share of bad news. 

In Chechnya, for instance, an average of 200 servicemen a month lost their lives from October 1999 to October 2000. New casualties are reported almost every day.

"At the end of the year, the country is no longer counting its dead," Yavlinsky said in an interview on NTV last week. "The country is no longer paying attention to the hundreds of people who are dying weekly, monthly, in the North Caucasus."

Even Putin's slow response to the tragic sinking of the Kursk submarine this summer has failed to damage his reputation. His initial decision to continue his vacation and his reluctance to accept international offers for help earned him scathing criticism in the media but failed to damage his approval rating in the long term.

"He was able to wiggle out of the situation," Pribylovsky said.

Politically, 2000 was Putin's year, and the country's major parties have struggled to redefine themselves in the new era. The Communists, who not too long ago were leading an impeachment drive against Yeltsin, have seen their familiar nationalist rhetoric taken over by Putin. In response, they have cozied up to the new administration, forming strategic alliances with pro-government factions in the Duma.

"The Communist Party has opted to take a reserved line in relation to Putin," Communist leader Gennady Zyu ganov said this month at the party's congress. "Let him try to prove that his intentions are serious."

The Union of Right Forces, or SPS, which supported Putin during the election, has been distressed by the attack on NTV. Still, the party continues to sit on the fence, saying it is not yet clear which direction Putin will take. 

But in a sign that they have reservations about the new order, SPS leaders have started building a coalition with Yabloko, the only party planted firmly in the opposition. Mortal enemies in the Yeltsin era, the two liberal factions have been pushed into each other's arms.

Perhaps Putin's most striking achievement this year was to drive his enemies either off the field or onto his team. But to many, trumpetting such an achievement is only damning Putin with faint praise. 

"The political class is weak," Ryzhkov said. "It wasn't very hard to do."

TITLE: An Artist With Unlikely Admirers
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: One day in early 1971, a dissident artist and sculptor named Mikhail Shemyakin received a summons from one of the offices of the KGB for a chat. 


During this meeting, he was advised by a KGB general to accept a permanent exit visa, rather than be remanded to the Soviet state's meat-grinder system of psychiatric wards and labor camps - a system of which Shemyakin had already had first-hand experience. 

"We have observed your work very closely and we take your artistry very seriously," the general told Shemyakin, "and our conclusion is that those folks over at the Union of Artists won't give you or your work any chance of survival."

At the time, the government-run Union of Artists was the first and last word in what artwork was displayed - or cast into oblivion. 

The general - who was secretly an admirer and collector of Shemyakin's work all those 30 years ago - said: "Russia will change, and we will welcome you, undefeated, back."

The general was right: Shemyakin, 57, is back in black - literally - wearing his trademark black clothes and hat, and with a raft of projects and sculptural commissions in Moscow.

And in St. Petersburg, his production of The Nutcracker is already in rehearsals at the Mariinsky Theater. It is due to premiere in February. 

Shemyakin first made his artistic comeback in his home country with the installation of the famous Peter the Great sculpture at the Saints Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg in 1991, and with the Metaphysical Sphinxes, unveiled in 1995, that brood across the Neva river from Kresty Prison as a monument to victims of political repression. 

But now, the accolades are pouring in - especially from another ex-KGB officer, President Vladimir Putin.

To date, Putin has arranged sponsorship for the unveiling of Shemyakin's bronze monument "Children Victims of Adults' Vices," in Moscow this June. 

Putin also gave Shemyakin a warm welcome from the Russian state upon his recent return, as well as the gift of the Shemyakin Art Center in the heart of the capital, which is due to open next year. 

"I don't want the place to be a museum," said Shemyakin, in his characteristically laconic manner.

"I need to breathe life into what is now just a dead and abandoned movie theater building."

Shemyakin also received a roomy studio in St. Petersburg through Putin's sponsorship. The kap-remont for Shemyakin's studio - which will also be paid for by the checkbooks of Putin and his friends - will be finished in September. 

"Those young KGB guys who were sent to remove my works from exhibitions told me, quite openly, that they would rather be taking down the sparkless Socialist Realist stuff," he said, recalling the days when his work was unofficially feted by the men in black Volgas. 

The agents, however, "didn't have much of a choice" but to tote his work away.

Now, it would seem, they are taking his art away - after buying it, of course - as something of a badge of secret-agent taste. 

This new arrangement for Shemyakin - who spent the past 30 years of his exile in Paris and New York -may seem paradoxical. 

But this more human face of the KGB, and the high quotient of ex-spy interest in his art, is one the artist takes in stride. After all, the secret police saved him from certain artistic oblivion within the confines of the Union of Artists. 

"The KGB just rescued me from short shrift of the Union," he said. "I'm grateful."

Nonetheless, he knows and deplores the lives that the KGB destroyed. But he is quick to add that, as often as not, it was other painters, writers, musicians and members of the intelligentsia that ratted you out. 

Today, Shemyakin says the boundaries in Russia between love and the Judas Kiss are foggier than when he was exiled. 

"It used to be so easy to distinguish, back in the Soviet times. But not anymore." he said. "Every time I am back from Russia [in the West], I wash my hands for a few days as I really have no idea what kind of people I was shaking hands with." 

While awaiting the completion of his St. Petersburg studio, Shemyakin is deep into the rehearsals of his version of The Nutcracker, which looks set to be a stark contrast to the more innocent and saccharine performance tradition of the ballet. 

He will be at once directing the performance, designing the costumes and sets, and writing the libretto. He will also be working with Mariinsky conductor Valery Gergiev, choreographer Kirill Simonov and the Mariinsky's top-flight dancers. 

For an artist who is used to running a one-man show, this kind of collaboration might appear to be ill-fated. Shemyakin, however, was given carte blanche by Gergiev.

"If I was only asked to do the sets or costumes I wouldn't have bothered," he said.

"I receive quite a lot of proposals to do sets, and refuse them all: It is not my job. But with The Nutcracker, I am offering a concept."

And that concept, said Shemyakin, will focus on the mystical vision of the German-born Nutcracker author, Ernst Hoffmann. 

"I have seen multiple versions of this story, from Japan to Bratislava, and strangely enough Hoffmann's spirit is missing. I am going to do the story justice and bring it in.

"The show will be nothing like the current, psychologically obsolete, bourgeois version where Masha is so sweet, her parents so kind, children so playful and so on."

Gergiev will add an additional challenge to the dancers in Shemyakin's version of The Nutcracker - he apparently intends to restore Tchaikovsky's original quick tempos, which years ago were slowed down for the sake of the complaining, and straining, ballerinas. 

"Gergiev has turned The Nutcracker into a revolution, into a symphony," Shemyakin said.

TITLE: Tree 'Betrays' Travelling Deputy
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalyev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Just when you thought things couldn't get any more confused at the Legislative Assembly, with the City Charter tangled in court and federal powers threatening to disband the lawmakers, something else that could threaten the foundations of Russian power has emerged - a spy scandal. 


The evidence in the case? A 10-meter-high German-style Christmas tree stranding in front of the Pribaliyskaya Hotel. The alleged culprit? Yabloko lawmaker Vitaly Kalinin, head of the assembly's legislation committee and collector of several thousand frequent-flier miles to Germany, who oversaw the making of a local yolka in the Teutonic fashion. 

"When I went to Germany last year on business trips, I witnessed how they do their trees," said Kalinin. 

"It's not just one fir tree, but one made of many small ones and it looks gorgeous," he beamed in an interview this week. 

But the New Year's spirit was dashed almost immediately, as Andrei Korchagin, a lawmaker with the Our City faction, thrashed out a memo to assembly Speaker Sergei Tarasov, resurrecting the ghost of convicted - and pardoned - American businessman Edmond Pope, who was found guilty of espionage for seeking what his supporters have said was openly available information on a high-speed Russian torpedo. 

In his memo, Korchagin said he was worried that the German authorities might construe Kalinin's frequent business trips, with their apparent emphasis on horticulture, as spying. 

Korchagin complained of Kalinin's braggartly assertions about his knowledge of German Christmas trees.

"I know how to make such trees from my experience in the German capital," Korchagin quoted Kalinin as saying. The letter, dated Dec. 20, and obtained by The St. Petersburg Times, further argued that "the respectable lawmaker V.A. Kalinin, head of the legislation committee, could repeat the unfortunate fate of Edmond Pope."

Korchagin's plea continues by asking Tarasov to take "all administrative measures" to avoid a situation where Kalinin would fall into the hands of the German secret police - not necessarily for Kalinin's own well-being, which in a German jail could substantially improve, but because "Russia lacks any [alleged German spies] for which we could exchange Kalinin."

What precisely brings Kalinin to Germany with such frequency is unknown. Also unknown is why his travels are covered by the accounts of the Legislative Assembly. According to the press office, the trips involve educational projects for Eastern European lawmakers. 

Equally mysterious is Korchagin's concern for the fate of his college, Kalinin. 

The answer, as it turned out was simpler than thought.

"It was practical joke," said Korchagin in an interview Wednesday. 

Speaker Tarasov said he has no further plans to follow up on Korchagin's letter.

"I receive many letters from him and I know this lawmaker has a good sense of humor," Tarasov said in an interview on Thursday.

Kalinin in his turn said his opponent is not serious enough.

"I know the level of Korchagin's competence, so that's why I won't comment on this situation," he said in an interview on Wednesday.

TITLE: Women Ready To Party on the Inside
AUTHOR: By Masha Kaminskaya
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: A prisoner's life may offer little to enjoy and a lot to endure. But if there is anything that can make an isolated convict feel a part of the outside world, it is New Year's Eve and its traditional festivities. 


Such seems to be the feeling among the inmates of Women's Penitentiary No. 2 in the small village of Sablino, an hour's drive south of St. Petersburg, where preparations to greet the new millennium are going full steam. 

"Life doesn't end when one is imprisoned," said vice warden Tamara Kozyreva, who runs the counseling program in the penitentiary, in her office.

"There's long been a tradition of celebrating the New Year here. Of course, because of certain limitations, it is somewhat different [in prison], but we have everything that's essential to the holiday."

A penitentiary of this type - several bleak buildings surrounded by a tall fence - is not all one might expect. Granted relative freedom of movement, inmates can be seen walking around the snow-covered settlement in couples. A few women work cheerfully in a local club, decorating the barn-like building with streamers and foil paper and eagerly showing off a big, bright sphere to be placed on top of a Christmas tree.

The sphere, they say, they made themselves - as is the case with other decoration that are present here - a broken school globe coated with pieces of mirror. 

A local hairdresser waits for inmates to come for a special holiday cut. Meanwhile, some are decorating New Year's trees that have been bought by the penitentiary's administration, and sprucing up the walls of their living quarters. These are dilapidated rooms, which are divided up grouping the inmates according to their working activities, and packed with bunk beds and small, rickety tables.

Garlands of threads and small bits of medical cotton hang from the ceiling for want of more orthodox decoration. The walls of the dimly lit corridor are covered with "whose-room-is-cleanest" competition lists and duty schedules. A routine check of prisoners has just been completed.

In fact, the penitentiary has more the atmosphere of a commune, with its members wearing the kind of clothes you could see anywhere, willing to talk and not in the least aggressive. Ko zy re va, a former kindergarten teacher, jokes with them and calls them by their first names. Despite the general shabbiness, the beat of radio music makes the place almost home-like - if you forget the sharp stench of cat pee, and the isolation cells where inmates can be sent for breaking the rules.

"We will certainly change our daily schedule on New Year's Eve," said Va le ry Belotserkovsky, the head of the penitentiary. "The inmates will be allowed to stay up all night - but [we] will be especially on our guard, as usual at times like this."

According to Kozyreva, who has worked in the penitentiary for 27 years, conflicts are rare here, and escape attempts almost unheard of. She calls the penitentiary "a village behind barbed wire, where there is everything one needs."

Formerly, the prisoners were what she calls "more cultural" - economic and political crimes were the usual reasons why women ended up here.

Now, with more and more young girls committing crimes - out of the roughly 950 women, there are 213 under 25 years of age, convicted mostly for drug dealing, burglaries and thefts - the administration had even to set up a primary school to teach the rudiments of education, as a preparatory step to the training school that teaches sewing, and the clothing factory.

There is a hospital to treat drug addicts - who far outnumber the alcoholics - and 32 women inmates live in a separate ward for those with HIV.

Natalya Nazarova, who is 23, got here for drug dealing, partly to earn money to support her younger sister and niece, partly to help out her boyfriend. Here, she went on a job-finding course provided by the penitentiary's administration and is hoping to work as a shop assistant when she is released in two years' time. "It's my first New Year here - this time last year I was in detention prison. It's much different, more cheerful here: friends, visitors ..." she said.

According to Kozyreva, the penitentiary has a festive concert planned, with a show based on the traditional story with Ded Moroz played by a woman convict.

Unlike previous years, no popular artists are expected to visit the penitentiary, which has just enough money to get by. As many things here, the disco and other equipment at the club are long overdue for repairs. But they can afford a special New Year's menu, with pastries, steaks and salads, thanks to food sent from the homes of relatives and friends.

"No matter [how young or immature some inmates are], we have to give full credit to their creativity and imagination," said Kozyreva. "Women and jail are incompatible. Most get here because they had no money to live on. But a woman remains a woman even behind bars." 

In the kitchen of the club, which serves also as canteen, 42-year-old Algima Voloitene is on duty drawing up the New Year's menu. A mother of six children, who are now in their maternal grandmother's charge, she got two years for stealing 12 kilograms of potatoes from the field of a collective farm. Voloitene is frightened by the thought of "going back," with no prospect of finding a job to feed her children. 

"If only we could live here with our families, we wouldn't go anywhere at all," said Voloitene.

As a special - and perhaps the most important - surprise, the women's families and kids are expected to come to a local cafe, which is also run by convicts. One of the mothers, who is waiting to see her three grown-up children and grandchildren, is 54-year-old Natalya Luri, a soft-spoken woman with an intelligent face, who was sentenced to five years for murdering her husband.

"Of course, I couldn't have expected to go to jail at my age," said Luri, who had for 30 years put up with her husband's drunken behavior before she killed him. Her friends and family have given her full support. "But it's been really hard to get used to living here, and I'd rather be at home. Especially on New Year's Eve."

But many inmates, even those who are still young, pretty and educated - however basically - find it harder to face the prospect of life on the outside than several years behind bars.

Tatyana Lisiyenkova, 27, who has been four years in prison for theft, was due out on Thursday. She said she was afraid to go, though she wants to see her family and begin a new life, but she feels more festive here at New Year than she used to at home. 

"I have so many friends here," she said. "What will I see at home on Dec. 31, except for everyone drinking themselves to death? Even though they'll be raising a toast with a cup of tea in here, I'd be able to see and talk to my friends."

"I've changed a lot here, I've read books from the library and learned a lot. I can play the piano a little, so I could perform here in the club. Who would listen to me play on stage outside?"

She had no choice, however. "Go and check your release papers," smiled Kozyreva. "And don't ever let me see you again."

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Mir Back in Touch

MOSCOW (AP) - Mission Control has regained a firm hold on the Mir space station after a sudden loss of radio contact, Russian officials said Wednesday, allaying fears of an uncontrolled plunge by the aging orbiter. 

Space officials blamed their 20-hour loss of contact, which started Monday night, on an unexplained power loss. But after the link with the station was restored Tuesday, they said there was no need to send a rescue crew or speed up Mir's descent, scheduled for early next year. 

According to current plans, the Mir is to crash into the Pacific 900 to 1,200 miles east of Australia on Feb. 27-28. Space officials said



Businessman Murdered

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Local businessman Gennady Tulasov, who managed Stek, a local gaming and gambling firm, was shot to death on Wednesday, Interfax reported. 

According to the Prosecutor's Office, Tulasov was found dead at about 10 a.m. with a head injury on a staircase of a residential building located on 7 Dunaisky Prospect in the Moskovsky district, Interfax reported. The body was found by his driver, who said he had heard screams from the the staircase.

Gennady Ryabov, a spokesman for the City Prosecutor's Office, said investigators think the killer may have escaped via a roof-top apartment, Interfax said. For now, investigators will be looking into Tulasov's business activities to discern a motive for the crime, Interfax quoted Ryabov as saying. 

The Stek company was also involved in business activities on the local fuel market, the Interfax report said. 



Russia Loses Satellites 

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian ground controllers lost contact with six small satellites Thursday after they were blasted into space from a far northern launch pad, a Russian space official said.

Contact was lost shortly after lift-off, a spokesman for the Plesetsk Far North launch facility said. 

It was the second failure of a satellite launch from the site in two months: An American communications satellite, Quickbird 1, failed to make contact with ground controllers and was lost soon after blastoff from Plesetsk on Nov. 21. A preliminary investigation suggested ground controllers at Plesetsk were not to blame, Russian officials said. 

Controllers believe the group of tiny satellites failed to separate from the rocket's third stage, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing unnamed sources at the Plesetsk far north cosmodrome. The tiny satellites were intended for both military and civilian use, Russian news reports said earlier.

The satellites may have fallen in the Bering Strait, which separates Russia from Alaska in the far northern Pacific Ocean, the report said. 

The Russian Aerospace Agency and the Strategic Missile Forces would not comment on the report. 

Russia's satellite network has deteriorated since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union owing to lack of funding. But in recent months, the pace of defense-related satellite launches has increased. 



Putin Signs Budget

MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin signed Russia's 2001 federal budget on Wednesday - the first zero-deficit budget passed in Russia since the 1991 Soviet collapse and one of the first passed before the beginning of a new fiscal year. 

The budget is the first for Putin, who became president last year. It envisions $40 billion in revenues and spending, well above last year's budget of about $28 billion. Under former president Boris Yeltsin, the budget was often delayed by bitter wrangling between the Kremlin and its Communist opponents in the Duma over dividing up the country's meager resources. 

The budget sailed through both houses of parliament despite objections that the spending plan was too stringent.

TITLE: FSB Accuses Researcher Of Espionage Activities
AUTHOR: By Anna Dolgov
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: KALUGA, Russia - A Russian court on Tuesday opened the espionage trial of a Russian researcher whose family maintains his only crime was reading between the lines of military publications. 


After Tuesday's hearing, the judges agreed to adjourn proceedings until Jan. 9 so defendant Igor Sutyagin, an analyst from the respected Russian think tank, the Institute for USA and Canada studies, could carefully review the charges. 

The trial is the latest in a spate of espionage trials that human rights activists say signals a witch hunt for independent thinkers and a revival of the vast powers of Russia's secret services. 

The Federal Security Service, of FSB which initiated the case, says it is cracking down on spies who it says infiltrated Russia amid the lawlessness that followed the Soviet collapse. 

The closed-door trial took place in a run-down courthouse in Kaluga, the regional center of Sutyagin's home province southwest of Moscow. 

It came three weeks after American businessman Edmond Pope was sentenced to 20 years in prison for espionage. Pope was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin on Dec. 14 and has returned to the United States. 

The FSB, the main successor to the KGB, claims that Sutyagin gave classified information on Russia's military to other countries. The indictment says that he was enlisted to spy for the United States when he attended a scientific conference in Great Britain in early 1998, his lawyer Vladimir Vasiltsov said. 

The USA and Canada Institute has no access to government secrets, and Sutyagin maintains that he only worked with open sources - analyzing and piecing together separate bits of information. 

"He would spread newspaper clippings around on the floor, on the couch, on his desk, everywhere - and crawl between them," said Sutyagin's wife, Irina Manannikova.

"This would go on for days - and something would be born that way.'' 

The powers of Russia's special services had been trimmed under ex-president Boris Yeltsin. But many analysts say that the agencies have started to reclaim their ground since Putin, a 16-year veteran of the KGB, came to power. 

In addition to the Pope case, two former naval officers-turned-Russian environmental researchers - former naval officer and St. Petersburg resident Alexander Nikitin and Grigory Pasko, a military jounalist in the Far East - were tried for treason and espionage for reporting on environmental pollution that was the fault of the Russian Navy. 

"All these cases seemed to have been produced from the same template," said Sutyagin's father, Vyacheslav. "The election of Putin may have served as a signal to start instilling fear."

Files in Sutyagin's study at his home hold scores of newspaper clippings, mostly from the official military daily Krasnaya Zvezda, with some passages underlined in red. 

Sutyagin subscribed to several periodicals - a fact that seemed suspicious to investigators who searched his apartment at the time of his arrest in October 1999. 

"They actually asked: By what right do you subscribe to 15 periodicals at a time?" said the researcher's father. 

Sutyagin, 35, spent 14 months in jail awaiting trial. But he received the first details of the charges against him only in an indictment filed on Dec. 15, according to his lawyer. 

The U.S. State Department has so far refused to comment on the case this week.

TITLE: Moscow Court Backs Gusinsky
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW - A Moscow court dismissed a fraud case against media magnate Vladimir Gusinsky this week, boosting the vocal Kremlin critic in his battle against extradition from Spain.


Russian prosecutors Tuesday said they would appeal the decision before a 10-day deadline expires on Jan. 3, Itar-Tass reported.

Prosecutors want Gusinsky to return to Russia and face interrogation over fraud, allegedly carried out by Media-MOST, Gusinsky's massive empire that is the parent company of NTV national television. 

Gusinsky and his supporters claim that criminal cases against the founder of NTV, Russia's only independent nationwide television network, are part of a Kremlin campaign designed to muzzle critics.

NTV has been broadly critical of the war in Chechnya - now in its 15th month - and has attacked President Vladimir Putin.

Gusinsky's lawyers welcomed Tuesday's decision but were cautious about its immediate impact.

"This is an important decision that shows that the Gusinsky case is unfounded," his lawyer Pavel Astakhov said by telephone.

"In fact, the court has recognized that Gusinsky is being investigated under a fabricated case," he said.

Gusinsky was detained by Spanish police last month on an international arrest warrant.

But last Friday he posted a $5.5 million bail to secure release from prison pending a final decision on his extradition case. He must remain in Spain until then.

Domingo Plazas, one of a team of lawyers defending the media magnate said Gusinsky himself was in good spirits.

Plazas said the decision showed the fraud case against his client was "absolutely politicized."

In Moscow, Dmitry Ostalsky, spokes man for Gusinsky's Media-MOST holding company, said he was delighted with Tuesday's ruling.

"It shows that the charges brought against Gusinsky do not hold water, and that Spanish justice has simply been misled."

Gusinsky, a 48-year-old former theater director, has been embroiled in legal battles with the judicial authorities in Russia since the spring.

In May, armed tax police in masks raided Media-MOST's headquarters and Gusinsky spent three days in a Moscow jail the following month on fraud charges that were later quietly dropped.

The businessman, who is also head of Russia's Jewish Congress, later said he was released after he agreed to sell his media group to Gazprom, Russia's natural gas monopoly in which the state is the largest shareholder.

But he later reneged on the deal which he said had been orchestrated by a government minister, sparking a fresh wave of court action against his beleaguered business.

Last month Gusinsky lost his position as the biggest shareholder in NTV - the most influential information source outside Kremlin control - when he handed a large block of shares to Gazprom to pay off a $211 million loan.

In addition, a large chunk of NTV shares are pledged to Gazprom as collateral for a loan that comes due next year.

Deutsche Bank is helping find a foreign buyer for a stake in NTV. A source close to the deal said on Tuesday that Gusinsky hoped to revive the planned sale of 25 percent of the station in January.



Additional reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary in Madrid.

TITLE: City Shipyard Hovercraft Is 1st Delivery to NATO State
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Last week St. Petersburg's Almaz shipyards delivered the first of two enormous Zubr hovercraft it has contracted to build for the Greek armed forces under a deal arranged by Ros vooru zhe niye, the Russian state agency responsible for arms sales abroad.


While the $100 million price tag for the contract, which was signed in January 2000, makes the delivery impressive enough, it is even more significant as Ros voo ru zhe niye says that it represents the first delivery of a Russian-made warship to a NATO member country.

In fact, this was the first time one of the craft had been sold abroad at all.

Alexander Osin kin, head designer at the Central Sea Design Bureau in St. Petersburg, where Zubr was designed 10 years ago, says that the vessel's abilities make it unique.

"For example, the United States and Great Britain also have hovercraft, but the Zubr is much quicker with a maximum speed of 110 kilometers an hour and is superior in relation to many technical parameters," Osinkin said.

"The Zubr can clear land obstacles 1.6 meters high while other craft of this type can clear less than a meter," Osinkin said. "It can also carry three tanks - at 50 tons each - or 10 armored troop-carriers, while the American Landing Craft Air Cushion vessels can carry only one tank and a maximum weight one-quarter that which the Zubr can haul," he said. 

The Zubr weighs 540 tons, is 57 meters long and 22.5 meters wide.

Anatoly Pavlov, a consultant at the St. Petersburg office of Ros voo ru zhe niye, said that the fact that a NATO member country bought the ship from Russia rather than from other producers could become a precedent and proves the high quality of the Zubr.

And Valery Che repovsky, technical director at Almaz, said that the sale presented no security problems. "We've sold other navy ships to Northern Af ri ca, Algeria, India, and some other countries, but never to a NATO country," he said. "This is a very profitable contract for Russia, especially since there is nothing secret about the vessel."

Cherepovsky said that the vessel delivered last week had been serving in the Russian Navy since 1994 and had just been overhauled and modified. The second ship called for in the contract will be new and is due to be finished in June 2001. Construction on the ship began this May. A group of Greek inspectors will remain in St. Petersburg to oversee the construction of the second craft.

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: ADRs for PTS

(Reuters) - Russian regional telecoms firm St. Petersburg Telephone Network (PTS) plans to issue American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) in the first half of 2001, the company said on Tuesday.

It said in a statement that JP Morgan would act as the depositary bank, while Clifford Chance Punder CIS would be the legal adviser for the planned issue of Level One ADRs.

"The issue of this derivative market instrument can be regarded as a preparatory stage for an issue of Level Three Receipts," St. Petersburg Telephone said in a statement.

The issuer must meet tougher financial reporting standards for Level Three than for Level One ADRs.



Putin Slams Banks

MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia needs to reform its moribund banks, and criticized the Central Bank for its failure to develop the banking system.

"I would not say that our banking system is functioning properly and that the Central Bank has done its best to develop the banking system," Putin told a meeting of regional leaders, according to the Interfax news agency.

Economists have said that Russia's unreformed banking system is still stunting the growth of financial markets more than two years after the 1998 financial collapse.

But so far the government has moved slowly to revamp the banking system. It has infused more cash into insolvent but politically connected banks rather than liquidating them - a practice that has been criticized by the World Bank.



Palladium Price Climbs

LONDON (Reuters) - Palladium put in a healthy performance Wednesday when European markets reopened after the long weekend, shooting to new highs, while aluminum also spiked higher, although both fell back at the close.

Key autocatalyst component palladium hit a fresh all-time high of $972 a troy ounce at the London morning fix on fears of possible supply disruptions out of Russia. The metal was seen heading for $1,000 before year-end despite assurances that Russian contracts were being prepeared to ensure prompt new year shipments, traders said.

TITLE: U.S. Consumers Growing Doubtful
AUTHOR: By Lisa Singhania
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: NEW YORK - U.S. consumer confidence in December dropped to its lowest level in two years, an indication that consumer spending will continue to slow and hinting at future troubles for the economy, an industry group said Thursday.


The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell to 128.3, slightly below analysts' expectations. It was the third straight month of decline for the index and a drop-off from the revised 132.6 reported in November.

"This latest decline in consumer confidence suggests that consumer spending will cool further as we enter 2001," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. "While the overall index continues to signal economic growth, albeit at a slower pace, the continued decline in expectations is somewhat disconcerting.

"If expectations continue on this downward trend, a more severe slowdown may be on the horizon," Franco added.

The Conference Board index, based on a monthly survey of some 5,000 U.S. households, is considered a key indicator because consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of the nation's economic activity. The index compares results to its base year, 1985, when it stood at 100.

In a separate report, the Labor Department said new claims for state unemployment insurance fell sharply last week but still hovered at a level suggesting that employers' appetite for workers is waning a bit.

In addition, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday that sales of previously occupied homes rose by 4.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.22 million, spurred on by cheaper mortgage rates. That was the highest level since a rate of 5.28 million in August.

The markets were slightly higher following the release of the reports, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 2 points to 10,805 and the NASDAQ composite index, which is on track for its worst year ever, up 17 points to 2,556.

Consumer confidence has fallen sharply since the index recorded 142.5 in September. The last time the index fell below 128.3 was in December 1998, when it measured 126.7, Franco said.

TITLE: European Markets Buoyed Despite Vodafone's Weakness
AUTHOR: By Sophie Walker and Emily Kaiser
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON - Holiday-thinned European markets padded gains on Thursday afternoon as last-minute portfolio polishing boosted a handful of technology and drugs stocks.


A 2 percent drop in Europe's biggest stock Vodafone Group kept the rebound in check and pulled the telecoms sector down 1.3 percent as investors weighed the impact of possible legal action against mobile-phone companies brought by brain-tumor victims in the United States.

The Times newspaper said Peter Angelos, a U.S. lawyer who recently helped win $4.2 billion in damages from the tobacco industry, planned to launch 10 claims against handset makers, mobile-network operators and fixed-line phone companies.

The news comes amid continued concerns that radiation from mobile phones could cause brain tumors, although research has failed to find any conclusive link.

France Telecom, Telefonica, British Telecommunications and Deutsche Telekom were all among the weakest blue-chip stocks.

Despite the lawsuit worries, handset makers such as Alcatel and Ericsson were some of Europe's best performers, pushing the technology sector up 1.2 percent as fund managers loaded up on year-end bargains.

The U.S. NASDAQ bolstered tech sentiment, shrugging off early weakness to gain 0.8 percent by late afternoon even though a U.S. investment bank lowered revenue targets for top tech names including IBM. The Dow Jones industrial average, of which IBM is a component, tacked on 0.35 percent.

The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300 index nudged ahead 0.58 percent while the blue-chip DJ Euro Stoxx 50 gained 1.06 percent.

Overall, it was another choppy session with volumes thinned by an absence of investors and a dearth of corporate news. With many European markets closing early ahead of the New Year's weekend, volumes were expected to remain thin on Friday.

"Most people will want to get away early on Friday and those that are around are just tidying up the books," said fund manager Tim Stevenson, head of the European equity team at Henderson Investors.

Although technology was one of Europe's strongest sectors on Thursday, market watchers said any tech advance would probably be limited at least for the present.

"It doesn't really make sense to build up a position in this sector now. Most people will hold off until January," said Commerzbank strategist Achim Matzke.

While Europe enjoyed robust holiday sales, U.S. retailers have been under pressure amid signs of slower demand. That contrast has bolstered ideas that Europe's economy would slow less dramatically than that of the U.S. and helped support the resurgent euro.

By late afternoon the single currency stood around $0.926, just below Wednesday's five-month highs around $0.9340.

TITLE: Cell-Phone Makers Face Fresh Suits
AUTHOR: By Richard Baum
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON - Mobile-phone companies are facing fresh legal action from brain tumor victims in the United States, a newspaper reported on Thursday.


Britain's Times newspaper said Peter Angelos, a U.S. lawyer who recently helped win $4.2 billion in damages from the tobacco industry, was planning to launch 10 claims against handset manufacturers, mobile-network operators and fixed-line phone companies.

Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile operator, will be named in nearly all of the actions, the newspaper said. Verizon Wireless is owned by British mobile-phone operator Vodafone Group Plc and Verizon Communications, the biggest U.S. local phone company.

The news comes amid continued concern among some mobile phone users that radiation from handsets could cause brain tumors, despite research that has failed to find any link.

Vodafone spokesperson Mike Caldwell said he didn't know of any cases that named Vodafone directly, but it would defend itself vigorously if necessary.

"The mobile-phone industry is not the tobacco industry," he told BBC Radio.

Vodafone, which owns 45 percent of Verizon, said U.K. government-sponsored research published this year gave mobile phones a clean bill of health.

A U.S. study published this month concluded there did not appear to be any link, though it said more research was needed into the impact of long-term use of mobiles.

The study by the American Health Foundation was funded in part by a research group established by the cellular telephone industry. The sector put more than $28 million into a blind escrow account for the group to finance research.

Angelos' office in Baltimore did not return repeated calls for comment. Spokesmen for Verizon and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, a trade group, said they would not comment on possible litigation.

A Maryland neurologist filed an $800 million lawsuit against Motorola in August as well as eight other telecommunications companies and organizations. He claimed that his use of cell phones caused a malignant brain tumor.

TITLE: Clinton Points to Bright Future for Budget
AUTHOR: By Jesse J. Holland
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WASHINGTON - U.S. President Bill Clinton on Thursday projected that the country will enjoy a $1.9 trillion budget surplus over the next decade. He said the $300 billion increase over the last estimate last summer means the U.S. government could be free of publicly held debt in less than a decade.


"If we took that budget and committed the entire surplus to reducing the debt, we can make America debt-free by 2009," Clinton said.

The government debt is $5.6 trillion, including $3.6 trillion held by the public.

In recent years, Clinton has proposed setting aside on part of the annual surpluses for debt reduction, devoting the remainder to a combination of tax cuts and spending increases.

President-elect Bush has proposed devoting $1.3 trillion of the projected surpluses to across-the-board tax cuts.

Clinton declined to pass judgment on Bush's proposals, but said there are "huge economic benefits" of following "a long-term responsible budget policy."

White House officials said the projected surpluses are based on the assumption there will be no tax cuts. That seems unlikely with Bush's victory and support for several tax cuts last year among Democrats in Congress even though Clinton vetoed them.

The projected $1.9 trillion surplus excludes projected surpluses in Social Security and Medicare funds, which Bush has agreed will be needed later to deal with aging baby boomers and should not be tapped to cut taxes.

The fiscal 2001 budget surplus was projected at $256 billion, White House officials said. The fiscal 2000 surplus was a record $237 billion, officials said, which capped three straight years of budget surpluses.

This would be the first time the country has had four straight budget surpluses since 1930, officials said.

Clinton contrasted the federal government's budget situation to when he came in office and there was a $290 billion deficit. "Interest rates were high, growth was low and the confidence of the American people was shaken," he said.

The increase in the surplus, which does not include the Social Security or the Medicare surplus, would mark the ninth straight year in which the government's bottom line has improved, a first.

In June, Clinton projected a 10-year surplus of $1.87 trillion. The new figure was $300 billion higher.

"These are conservative numbers," Clinton said at a White House news conference.

Over that same 10-year period, the surplus for Social Security is expected to grow to $2.5 trillion while the Medicare surplus is expected to grow to $532 billion, said Jack Lew, the White House budget director.

TITLE: 2001 Budget Signed Into Law by Putin
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin signed Russia's 2001 federal budget on Wednesday - the first zero-deficit budget passed in Russia since the 1991 Soviet collapse and one of the first passed before the beginning of a new fiscal year.


The budget is the first for Putin, who became president nearly a year ago. It envisions $40 billion in revenues and spending, well above last year's budget, which forecast revenues of about $28 billion.

Under former president Boris Yeltsin, the budget was often held up for months by bitter wrangling between the Kremlin and its Communist opponents in the Duma over dividing up the country's meager resources. The process was eased this year because of expected high world prices for oil, a major Russian export commodity, and because a pro-Kremlin majority now controls Russia's parliament.

The budget sailed through both houses of parliament despite objections that the spending plan was too stringent. The Communists argued that the government's forecast for average oil prices was too low, and that as a result it had underestimated revenues by $5.2 billion.

TITLE: Russia's Soaring Economy a Pleasant Surprise
AUTHOR: By Igor Semenenko
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - 2000 looks set to go down in history as the year that Russia's economy finally turned the corner and picked up some steam thanks to market reforms.


For the second year in a row, industries pumped more crude and cast more steel while the government collected fatter taxes.

"It was such a soft landing after the crisis that some people forget that we were on the brink two years ago," Central Bank deputy head Tatyana Paramonova marveled after a discussion in the State Duma this week.

The economy, fueled by the petro-boom and lingering effects of the 1998 ruble devaluation, is zooming ahead at a pace of 7 percent a year. The currency has remained steady at 27 to 28 rubles to the U.S. dollar, defying even the federal budget's forecast that it would drop to 32.

Inflation, whose spurt over the summer momentarily sparked some panic in government circles, has ultimately been held in check at about 20 percent.

Tellingly, these same economic factors were in place in the middle of the 1990s when the economy contracted for six years in a row.

But the difference this year, market watchers said, is that the government's excruciating attempts to reform the market are now moving forward and bearing fruit.

"There was an incredible amount of chaos in the 1990s, but a lot of constructive change resulted from this," said Renaissance Capital president Stephen Jennings.

President Vladimir Putin's government rolled up its sleeves and drew up a broad plan for economic action. It pushed through a major overhaul of the tax system, a feat that elluded former president Boris Yeltsin's team for years.

The government also managed to rack up 300 billion rubles ($10.8 billion) more in revenues than anticipated in the budget and it took strides toward restructuring national monopolies like power giant Unified Energy Systems and gas company Gazprom.

"I'm not saying what we've got here is a bed of roses," Jennings said. "But it was better than what 99 percent of people expected a year ago."

There were some critics of the government's economic plans, the most skeptical of whom was no doubt the president's economic adviser, Andrei Illarionov.

Illarionov charges that the government has committed a number of major blunders this year by bloating its expenditures and taking an ineffective path in its talks with the Paris Club.

The government boosted expenditures by 28 percent as the economy grew 7.3 percent over the first nine months of the year, leaving little room for it to maneuver in the future, Illarionov said.

At the same time, the government let the ruble appreciate by 10 percent against the dollar in the consumer sector and by more than 20 percent in the manufacturing sector, thus undermining the competitiveness it had gained on international markets, Illarionov said.

"If we pursue the same sort of [macroeconomic] policy over the next 10 to 12 years, we will have the same price levels as in July 1998," Illarionov told Ekho Moskvy radio this month, referring to the overvalued ruble the month before the financial crisis hit.

He predicted that the economy will inevitably slowdown due to loss of competitiveness next year.

But so far, companies have been performing better than at any time since the mid-1960s.

Russian firms embarked on acquisition sprees and snapped up industrial assets from foreign owners, reversing a trend that prevailed throughout the 1990s.

Consolidation became a byword in several sectors of the economy in 2000, including metals, oil, gas and pulp and paper.

Investments and consumer demand kept growing at an accelerated pace.

"The recovery has become more broad based, as both consumer demand and investment growth have picked up significantly," Deutsche Bank said in its World Outlook report for 2001.

The market players who did not feel the effects of this year's economic recovery were the brokers.

"The main disappointment this year is that the Russian market has proved to be a hostage to the NASDAQ," said Eric Kraus, chief strategist with NIKoil.

The RTS index was climbing steadily until it hit a high of 243.9 at the end of March, inspiring a tangle of optimistic forecasts that for the most part envisioned the stock market ending the year at 250 to 300.

But for the third time in the past four years, Russian brokers may well get low marks from their clients.

The RTS index tried to storm above the 240 level several times throughout the year, with the last attempt coming on Aug. 29 when it hit 245.49.

But then stocks hiccuped and went into a spin as the hi-tech stocks driving U.S. markets took a beating.

The RTS closed Dec. 22 with a cumulative loss of 24 percent since year-start.

"It's the same as in 1997 - the markets diverged from the real economy," Kraus said.

"But that kind of divergence cannot be expected to last forever," he said. "In the past, we've seen a lot of promise, but little reality. Reformers were abandoned by political power. Now it's different."

The investment community is now looking to Putin to see what his economic agenda will be in 2001.

Several items that top the government's agenda are reform of the judicial system, the banking sector and natural monopolies.

A major effort will also be needed to revamp the country's infrastructure, which continues to suffer from a combination of Soviet thinking and contemporary policies, said Renaissance Capital's Jennings.

"There are things that the new administration is capable of doing in the next 12 to 18 months and things that it is not capable of doing," said Renaissance Capital's Jennings.

The government will in all likelihood be able to carry out its plans to cut taxes, reduce red tape and streamline its own operations, but it is unlikely to create any new institutional frameworks in the short run, Jennings said.

But the good news for investors is that there is an apparently reform-minded pilot behind the wheel.

"I continue to have a very positive view on Putin's management of the economic reform process," Kraus said.

Goldman Sachs predicted last year in a report: "Russia's second attempt at capitalism is only just beginning."

Investors at the end of 2000 are now saying that this second attempt at capitalism will without a doubt be more effective at achieving its results than the previous one embarked upon a decade ago.

TITLE: Balanced Budget Points to Russia's Financial Recovery
AUTHOR: By Alexander Sokolowski
TEXT: FOR the first time in its post-Soviet history, Russia has passed a balanced federal budget into law. On Dec. 14, the federal budget for 2001 was adopted by the State Duma, passing the crucial threshold in the budget process. A week later, the budget was approved by the Federation Council. Then, on Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin signed it. Significantly, the government pushed its draft budget through the legislature on its first attempt without having to haggle over the draft's fundamental parameters and without having to make significant spending concessions to the communists and their allies. 


In addition, much of the debate this fall in Moscow has been surprisingly similar to recent budget debates in Washington - focusing on what to do with surplus revenues. All of this stands in stark contrast to the familiar patterns of Russia's budgetary politics throughout most of the 1990s when protracted bargaining, concessions to the opposition and high deficits were the rule. 

That Russia passed a budget with no deficit this year is remarkable, given its dismal fiscal performance in the past. Just two years ago, the country teetered on the brink of financial collapse in the aftermath of the August 1998 crisis. As recently as 1994, Russia passed a budget with a deficit of about 10 percent of GDP, and Russia did not bring its actual deficit below 5 percent until just last year. 

Now Russia appears to be getting its finances in order. At first glance, it might appear that the balanced budget is the result of new, tougher, more resolute leadership from President Vladimir Putin. But this is not the case. Putin has been the fortunate beneficiary of this turnaround in budgetary politics, not its architect. He has benefited from more complex factors, the onset of which predates his presidency: favorable economic conditions, a more pliable State Duma, and the long-term effect of International Monetary Fund programs.

Putin became Russia's president just as a number of favorable economic conditions began to have palpable effects on Russia's bottom line. First, the price of oil on world markets has risen and remained high - hovering around $28 a barrel. Because so much of Russia's budget revenues comes from its petroleum exporters, this has meant a significant and sorely needed injection of cash into state coffers. This petro-windfall has provided some breathing room as the government has attempted to make ends meet. 

Second, the weak ruble - devalued in the August 1998 crisis - has allowed Russia's domestic producers to become competitive against imports and has revived some areas of domestic manufacturing contributing to growing tax revenues. 

Third, Russia appears to be emerging from its post-communist depression and is finally experiencing significant growth. The Russian economy grew by 3.5 percent of GDP in 1999 and is forecast to grow by 7 percent this year. Although Russia will not be able to sustain this rate of growth, the economy should continue to grow in 2001 at a rate of 4 percent, according to a recent IMF forecast. 

Putin was not only bequeathed the presidency, but he also inherited virtual control over the Duma. In the fall of 1999, President Boris Yeltsin's administration developed and carried out an aggressive plan to secure a more loyal Duma. Yeltsin's inner circle orchestrated the formation of the slavishly pro-presidential Unity movement and the People's Deputy group, while it destroyed the Kremlin's main rival, the Fatherland All Russia faction, in the state-run media. 

The success of Yeltsin's administration in this electoral project resulted in a near majority for pro-presidential forces in the Duma and a major shift in the political landscape. So while successive Yeltsin governments, including Putin's, generally had to haggle, promise and compromise to piece together a winning budget coalition, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov's government has proceeded calmly and confidently, refusing to bargain over the budget's key parameters. 

Finally, in achieving Russia's first balanced budget, Putin owes much to the programs of the IMF. While the IMF's record in Russia is certainly not perfect and the IMF may have inadvertently pushed Russia to adopt unrealistic budgets during the 1990s, its major role in getting Russia to commit to lower deficits and financial stabilization is undeniable. Since 1994, when Russia agreed to a major funding program with the IMF, Russia has dramatically and persistently reduced its budget deficit. 

After the August 1998 crisis, IMF lending programs to Russia have been the targets of constant, intense criticism on both sides of the Atlantic. But it was during this very period that these programs passed a crucial test, as Russia's policy-makers continued to pursue fiscally responsible policies even in the absence of imminent financial rewards from the IMF. A commitment to living within the country's means has now become a mainstream idea among Russia's political elite. Putin's administration has the past cooperation between the IMF and the Yeltsin administration to thank for this change in thinking.

As we reflect on Putin's first year in power, it may be tempting to ascribe all recent changes in policy to his leadership. But Russia's first steps toward financial stability were made possible by a more complex set of factors, set in motion before Putin's ascendance to the presidency. Nonetheless, the passage of Russia's first balanced budget emphasizes the fact that Putin now possesses a real window of opportunity to bring Russia back to long-term financial health and turn to long-overdue structural reforms. The extent to which he is able to take advantage of this opportunity will shape Russia's future economic integration with the West and define his presidency.


Alexander Sokolowski is a research fellow for the Brookings Institution. He contributed this comment to The St. Petersburg Times.

TITLE: EDITORIAL
TEXT: Our Wishes For Russia's New Year 


AS The St. Petersburg Times swept up a year's worth of back issues and catalogued the yellowing newsprint, we took time to reflect on 2000 - a tumultuous and at times disappointing year for Russia - and thought about what we wish the country as it progresses into the millennium.


Some of the wishes fall in the tough-love category, like hoping oil prices take a dive. The oil boon is the business story of 2000, but it's done little but contribute to the country's rich-get-richer tendencies and distract the powers that be from much-needed economic reforms. No surprise there, but perhaps bad news of diminished profits might might encourage better behavior: a friendlier, transparent attitude toward foreign investors and a healthier business climate overall, where Russia could shed its image of a sheister state for the role of a true international player. 

There were more practical wishes, like issuing new - low-demonination - ruble notes to avoid those irritating, line-building searches for change when your choices are bills that skip from 10 to 50 to 100 or 500 rubles. Russia has shown almost pavonine vanity in the past when it comes to revamping its currency: Let that spirit rise again, this time usefully. Give the people a selection of reasonable notes they can use so they can cease worrying about saving a belligerent cashier's collection of kopeks.

More wistful was the wish to see Lenin buried in the cold, cold ground; a wish that Tom Waits would finally visit Russia; and a wish that St. Petersburg could finally find a shovel to pound ice off sidewalks or money to improve its overburdened transport system and get the cars out of the already strained historic city center. For that matter, we wish to have a governor who would have fulfilled some of his campaign promises -like fixing the metro - and ceased his obsequious, Macbeth-like search for roles in the federal government.

Another two-tiered wish goes out to the statisticians and spin doctors who have repeatdly dubbed St. Petersburg Russia's "crime capital." We wish, on the first level, that their mouths would fill with sand. On the second level, we wish they would turn their attention to true crime capitals - like Yekaterinburg, Omsk or Vladivostok. St. Petersburg's government may have its goons, but the numbers show it still missed most of Primorye Gov. Yevgeny Nazdratenko's night courses.

Finally, a wish that President Vladimir Putin will use his considerable powers to make good on what he has promised, and what the country most desperately needs: the rule of law. Without a working system of jurisprudence to which all citizens are equally accountable and by which all are equally protected, Russia will be lost.

TITLE: Where Are the People We Really Need Now?
AUTHOR: By Yury Shchekochikhin
TEXT: I RECENTLY noticed a social phenomenon at work that hadn't attracted my attention before. It started when I was informed that a police investigator named Alexei Astafiev from the Moscow region town of Reutov had put in for early retirement. Or, to be more precise, he was "encouraged" to apply for early retirement. 


This story began in January. Readers may remember the story, which made almost all the national papers. What happened was ordinary enough. A group of drunken teenagers tried to snatch the purse of a woman standing on a train platform in the town of Reutov. The woman screamed. The police rushed to the scene and arrested the kids. In the morning, they appeared before Inspector Astafiev. Well, so what? Not a pretty story, but not a national scandal either, right?

Later that day, Astafiev's phone rang. The FSB was calling. Big brother, it seems, was interested in reading the file on the case.

"What are you talking about?" Astafiev asked incredulously. "What is there to read? What can this group of drunken hooligans possibly have to do with state security? I still haven't even figured out which ones of them will be charged and which will be called as witnesses."

"We are interested in one of them," came the reply. "The son of Valeria Filina. She is the host of a show on NTV. ..." FSB Major Andrei Ganenko pronounced the last sentence ominously, as if the conclusion to be drawn were obvious.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Astafiev responded.

"NTV and the FSB currently have rather tense relations," the major explained candidly. 

So how did I get involved? Soon thereafter Astafiev telephoned me at my office at the State Duma. I invited him to come and talk. He told me the whole story, including the telephone conversation. He also told me about the phone calls that followed. "We want this boy charged ..." "Keep his mother worrying. ..." He told me that Ganenko had showed up at the boy's mother's apartment and scared her to death. (Filina, together with the famous children's writer Eduard Uspensky, hosts a program called "Ships Have Been Sailing Into Our Harbor. ...")

Astafiev refused to hand over the file for this routine case to the FSB. "Write me an official request and send it to my commander," he told them. The request came immediately. On letterhead, with an official number and date.

"The director of the management section of the FSB, Col. I. A. Dyupai, requests that you present all investigation materials to S. A. Ganenko (Jan. 31, 2000; No. 140/UBG 3-06)."

When Astafiev showed me this document, I was a little confused. I'd never heard of Dyupai and I had no idea what the "management section" was. Maybe it was some local FSB office? Or maybe it was Moscow-district level?

A little investigation revealed that, no, this was the national FSB. Col. Dyupai works in the former fifth section, now in charge of "defending constitutional order," but formerly tasked with the fight against dissidents. 

"I felt the cold breath of those days," Astafiev said, describing his feeling as he read the document. "It was just like a return to 15 years ago ..."

At that time, in the early spring, I had no idea that Astafiev was soon to be driven out of the poor and undermanned police force of Reutov for no other reason than because he came to my office at the Duma and told me this story.

But that is exactly what happened. I am to blame. This honest soul believed that I would be able to defend him. But I couldn't. Now the investigator is unemployed.

I did some more research. It turns out that the Interior Ministry currently has about 14,000 requests for early retirement in its files. They showed them to me. I flipped through them. You can see at first glance that officers who are far from bad at their jobs in Russia's law enforcement agencies are requesting early retirement.

Now Astafiev's retirement is not a catastrophe on the national level (although those 14,000 forms probably are). But, as I said at the beginning of this essay, there is a national phenomenon at work here.

I started asking myself, what kind of people are essential now in order for Russia to develop a human and humane society? I don't just mean for it to flourish economically, but for people to live with the belief that the system works, that they will be protected, that someone is taking their needs and interests into account. What kind of people do we need so that we can create a state in which people feel - at the very level of their genes - safe?

I confess that I spent a long time thinking about this question. After all, it is related to the question that the whole country and the world has been asking for more than a year now: "Who is this Vladimir Putin who came out of nowhere and became president of this huge, great country like some cartoon hero in a child's video game?"

After all, I like the things he says and the way that he says them. Well, most of them. But who is he? You could say that he is Russia's Olympic champion, but we just don't know yet what sport he plays.

At least, that's the way I used to think. I figured that I'd eventually figure out what game he is playing. 

Gradually, though, I came to understand that this is the wrong question. The Astafiev story convinced me that the most important thing is something completely different. It is most important to look at who he has playing on his team.

Who does he think he needs today? What kind of people, with what kinds of views and feelings, are granted direct access to the president? And what kind of people are not?

For instance, we can say that people like Astafiev are not needed. But people like Kremlin Chief of Staff Alexander Voloshin, who is currently the subject of three criminal probes, are needed.

People like Press Minister Mikhail Lesin are needed. His soiled reputation for some reason does not tarnish the president. And what about Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, who has turned his office into a laughingstock? I guess Putin needs him too.

And no one seems to be paying any attention to the public scandals around the financial machinations of Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. I guess that is no problem either.

Corruption within the Interior Ministry? No problem. Putin needs these people. How about the FSB? We need them too.

Should I go on? It turns out that the president needs the very people that the rest of the country most needs to get rid of. We all trusted him to make the right choices. But he hasn't.

And I feel sorry for Astafiev. And for the rest of us.



Yury Shchekochikhin is a deputy in the Duma and deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta, where this essay first appeared.

TITLE: MARKET MATTERS
AUTHOR: Anna Shcherbakova
TEXT: A Millennium Shining Bright For Lawyers 


THE year 2000 is almost over, and by tradition it is time to look back and see what happened - in this case, in the realm of business. But I would like to steer clear of the hazardous task of naming the No. 1 personalities - politicians, economists and pop stars - and look back at the currents and forces that shaped the past 12 months.


In 2000, we witnessed several significant events, and they are all the more significant for having taken place in court - lawyers, it seems, have guaranteed employment in Russia in the next millennium.

After a long legal battle, the Moscow-based Interros holding company proved that bankruptcy cases are excellent opportunities to take over factories - in this case, the Leningrad Metal Factory, via a decision from the Supreme Arbitration Court.

LMZ is one of the nation's key engineering enterprises, a controlling block of which now belongs to Interros after years of bitter internecine fighting. Interros purchased the company's debts, and then LMZ's arbitration management initiated an issue of shares that were doled out to creditors. Energomashkorporatsiya (EMK), long an opponent of Interros and a key player in the struggles of the 1990s over LMZ, lost its influence and went to court. The crucial decision was made in December, paving the way for Interros to grab yet more of the pie.

Creditors in general may have been encouraged by Interros' experience, but last year another power appeared in the courts: private shareholders. A modest pensioner by the name of Sergei Moiseyev sued the huge telecommunications company MMT over its merger with the mighty Petersburg Telephone Network (PTS). Moiseyev had a gripe with the terms of the merger, which (in short) left private shareholders out in the cold.

Moiseyev lost - but other private shareholders, former MMT employees, followed him. And while the case is still running, the merger is frozen. Now, I have a few ideas about certain, more powerful interests standing behind Moiseyev and the band of disgruntled pensioners, but whatever the case, the voice of the small co-owners of big business made themselves heard for the first time.

Another big issue of 2000 was the increasing interest in intellectual property, as the number of cases involving the rights to famous brands snowballed. Soviet-era trademarks, such as Stolichnaya vodka, Belochka candy and Zhigulyovskoye beer, which had apparently been squeezed out of the market by the likes of Snickers, Holsten and Johnnie Walker, proved that they are alive and kicking, and ready as they were a decade ago to attract consumers.

Companies that had the foresight to register well-known brands raked in the revenues and gained a certain amount of consumer loyalty. Those who didn't are now faced with spending millions on promoting new brands. Next year, we will see even more of this kind of legal battle, concerning not only food, drink and tobacco - remember Baltika cigarettes - but cosmetics, tooth paste, and hundreds of other consumer goods.

Space does not permit a long list of the year's winners and losers, but one personal triumph was the launch of the St. Petersburg version of our newspaper. And for a quick and shameless plug: In the new millennium, we will carry on looking for a way to help you navigate the seas of business. 

Happy New Year! 


Anna Shcherbakova is the St. Petersburg bureau chief of Vedomosti.

TITLE: Mailbox
TEXT: An open letter from Chechen students studying at Grozny State University.

Vladimir Vladimirovich!

When a ship is sinking, it calls for help, sends out an SOS signal everywhere. And for us, residents of the Chechen Republic, the time has come to ring all the bells with a demand that the persecution of an entire people - an entire nation - be stopped.


Apparently, your inner circle is not letting you know the real truth about the situation in Chechnya. And the situation here is such that people are living in inhuman conditions, in conditions of persecution and tyranny. The rules of the war with Chechnya are not clear to us. Although it's clear even to a baby that this chaos is taking place with the mutual consent of representatives both of the Chechen and Russian authorities. There is no battle with the so-called bandit groups. No creation of "constitutional order" is apparent either, since absolutely innocent people are being killed and the federal forces don't spare even old people or women or children. The mass destruction of a people is taking place.

At the checkpoints, personal dignity is violated, the rights of each Chechen, and they are violated only because their nationality is Chechen. 

Almost every day clean-up operations (zachistki) take place. The Russian OMON are engaged in robbery. Men are taken from their own homes and kept in intolerable conditions. As a result, the detained are found in camps, maimed, beaten half to death (and sometimes even to death) and they are ransomed either for large amounts of money or for weapons, which are bought from the federal forces. So the Russian army has found a means to amass a fortune.

There is no peace, neither in the daytime nor at night, due to the explosions of shells and frequent exchanges of fire (which take place between the Russian OMON and soldiers). This chaos can't be called war because there is no resistance from the Chechen side, because when the forces were brought into Chechnya in September 1999 war was not declared.

The requirements of the Constitution of the Russian Federation are not being fulfilled in relation to the Chechen people. If the Russian Federation is a lawful state, then why does it not fulfill its obligations, as set forth in Article 2 of the Constitution: the acknowledgement, observance, and defense of the rights and freedoms of people and citizens? If one believes Article 69 of the Constitution, then why is the Russian state waging war against its own subject? The impossibility of realizing one's natural rights (to life, freedom, honor, and dignity, to personal inviolability, the right to social welfare equally accessible to all) is undermining the strength and patience of the Chechen people.

How long will this chaos continue? To whose advantage is this? How long is it possible to amass fortunes at the expense of the rights and sacrifices of an entire people? Finding no answers to all of these questions, we are setting forth our demands:

1. To halt the violence against the Chechen people! 

2. To sit down at the negotiation table and solve many questions related to the fate of the Chechen people, by peaceful means! 

3. To pay reparations as compensation for the damage inflicted on the Chechen republic by military action! 

4. To restore the Chechen Republic, to restore what has been destroyed! 

5. To restore the right to be regarded as a nation which is not "branded!" 

6. To stop the genocide and ecocide! 

7. To restore peace and order to the territory of the Chechen Republic!

Luisa Timagova

Grozny, and 29 others*



An open letter to Labor Minister Alexander Pochinok in response to Minister Hits Out at Labor Code's Critics," Dec. 19.

Mr. Minister,

The St. Petersburg Times on Dec. 19, 2000, quoted statements by you about trade-union organizing in the McDonald's factory in Moscow which are biased, unfair and inappropriate for a representative of the Labor Ministry.


It is clear that you have not been properly briefed about the conflict and its background. First of all, workers in the McDonald's factory formed their union for the same reason workers all over the world form unions: to improve their working conditions.

Secondly, working conditions at McDonald's are far from ideal. The McDonald's corporation is known all over the world for its disregard for workers rights in its pursuit of profit. This is evidenced by the company's minimum pay approach, extreme workload demands, repressive disciplinary policy, limitations on freedom of expression and violations of the right to join a union. 

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in many countries McDonald's has been found by the courts and state agencies to be in violation of national labor legislation. In France, restaurant managers have even been arrested for labor-code violations. The conditions described above are faced by McDonald's workers in Russia as well, where union activists and their families have even been threatened with violence. The union has been forced to exercise its lawful right to protect union members singled out for intimidation on account of union activity. This is the real picture familiar to the dozens of journalists who have written about the conflict, to experts of the State Duma, the Academy of Labor, the International Labor Organization and the international trade-union movement.

In this situation, workers at McDonald's have a right to expect support from your ministry in resolving the conflict and protecting their rights. It is regrettable that you have shown a blatant lack of understanding of the issues and a lack of competence in dealing with them.

We would like to express our hope that you will devote more consideration to examining the conflict, which has become a focus of worldwide public attention, that you will use your good offices to bring the conflict to resolution through the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement.

The IUF and its 337 affiliates in 118 countries are closely observing the developments at Moscow McDonald's and are ready to support the union members with the full range of measures at our disposal.

Ron Oswald

General Secretary

International Union of Food Workers



Dear Editor,

We are writing to express grave concern regarding the treatment of Grigory Pasko since his reporting of illegal dumping of nuclear material by the Russian Pacific Fleet. There appears to be an arbitrary application of the law in the current legal proceedings against him, motivated by the need for the Russian Navy to obtain a prosecution at all cost, rather than upholding Russian law.


The Russian Constitution states:

(Article 58) "Everyone shall be obliged to preserve nature and the environment, and care for natural wealth."

(Article 42) "Everyone shall have the right to a favorable environment, reliable information about its condition and to compensation for the damage caused to his or her health or property by ecological violations."

This is exactly what Grigory Pasko did when he published the information for which he is being prosecuted.

Grigory Pasko has won the admiration of many for fearlessly exercising his right to free speech and for his selfless reporting of this case for the benefit of most Russians. We call on the Russian authorities to cease the current trial, drop all charges and, in so doing, uphold the Russian Constitution.

Elise Holmes

Convenor,

Russia Co-group, Amnesty International 

Canberra, Australia



Dear Editor,

The photo of Liberian President Charles Taylor on page 18 of your Dec. 22 issue is astonishing.


After the UN report, the leader of this African nation has paled to such a degree that one could easily mistake him for the Peruvian spymaster, Vladimiro Montesinos.

Drew Holiner,

St. Petersburg

TITLE: film-music maestro wins a golden ram
AUTHOR: by Giulara Sadykh-zade
TEXT: Composer Leonid Desyatnikov was honored for his music to the film "Moscow," directed by Alexander Zeldovich, at the State Academic Cappella on Sunday night, as part of the third Golden Ram award ceremony, an annual event dedicated to the work of the nation's film industry that was founded by the Guild of Theater Critics and the Kinotavr movie production company.


Desyatnikov, whose compositions strike an effective balance between serious and "light" music, is equally famous in Moscow and in this city, and has always been a figure of great interest to the musical public.

He is a fashionable composer, with an aura of being "one of the crowd" about him - although after the presentation he chose to hide until all those who had wanted to congratulate him had dispersed - and is certainly one of the most sought-after composers of film music in the country. This reputation puts Desyatnikov in sharp contrast to the image of other St. Petersburg composers, most of whom scrape by on meagre incomes.

Desyatnikov composes for the kind of films that get branded as cult as soon as they have been released. "Moscow" will probably be no exception: This three-hour-long work takes a look at life in the capital through the eyes of three women and their day-to-day existence.

Trying to get any more details of the film's subject out of those who have seen it is pointless, which leads one to guess that the film is probably more about atmosphere and "look" than anything else.

A composer with a strong feeling for musical tastes, Desyatnikov's gift is to be able to represent those tastes in his film music, and much of the time he is able to give the public what it wants before it knows itself. The key to his popularity is not so much going for deep, cosmic philosophy or even for self-expression, but a successful combination of styles that blends the various ingredients into one, reworking and reharmonizing in a somewhat postmodern manner.

The music to "Moscow," for example, imitates or quotes directly innumerable artistic movements, and dips into all the most significant musical currents of the 20th century.

In producing this smorgasbord of sound, Desyatnikov is hinting at the contemporary Babel that is today's Moscow. And listening to the lucidity and elegance of his score, one is not surprised that so many directors want to work with this artist.

TITLE: photo collection tells truth about petersburgs of past
AUTHOR: by Tom Masters
TEXT: An ambitious project that is set to unfold over the next two years opened at the Peter and Paul Fortress last Friday, as the first of five volumes of photographs retrospectively documenting the life of this city throughout the last century was unveiled.


"St. Petersburg-Petrograd-Leningrad -St. Petersburg: The 20th century in photographs" is both an exhibition at the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg and the fourth book in a series produced by Limbus Press and edited by photographer Vladimir Nikitin.

"For years we have been lacking a museum that seeks to reflect the reality of everyday life in St. Petersburg, as opposed to what tourists are likely to want to see," said Nikitin, himself a major contributer to the project, at the opening of the exhibit.

"This project hopes to change that."

Both exhibits reflect St. Petersburg's contemplative mood at the turn of a century of turmoil, according ot Nikitin.

The five volumes are divided into: "Petersburg, the End of the 19th Century - the Beginning of the 20th"; "The Time of Hope - Petrograd-Leningrad in the 1920s and 1930s"; "The Unknown Blockade - Leningrad 1941-45"; "Optimism of the Memory - 1970s Leningrad," and finally "St. Petersburg, The End of the 20th century - the beginning of the 21st."

Limbus Press wanted to publish the fourth in the series first, a strange choice but one that Nikitin supported, explaining that the years of stagnation under Leonid Brezhnev today give rise to conflicting emotions - from unbridled hatred to nostalgia - and are thus highly relevant to contemporary Russia in transition.

"Nostalgia for the Brezhnev era - and at times even for Stalin - is a symptom of a frighteningly short memory," Nikitin said. "If memory can deceive, photography is at least one art form that cannot lie."

The photographs have been compiled from the archives of a large number of locally well-known photographers, and their diversity - in terms of both style and content - certainly reflects an initiative to record the century in all its guises. Stark realism and fantasy, the very personal and the very public, are juxtaposed in an attempt to depict the stuff of life.

Writers, artists, sailors, soldiers, couples and children are all here, revealing a personal perspective on the years of stagnation. The political context of the time is not neglected either, with photographs of major communist events such as May Day, and even a relatively vigorous Brezhnev greeting the citizens of Leningrad on a visit.

The exhibit will tour over the next two years, while the other four editions in the series are to be published over the same period.

TITLE: arts square fest gets 2nd-time lucky
AUTHOR: by Giulyara Sadykh-zade
TEXT: The "Arts Square" festival came into existence a year ago as a response to the Mariinsky Theater's "Stars of the White Nights." A group of young managers at the Philharmonia gave Yury Temirkanov an offer he couldn't refuse - a chance to rival Valery Gergiev on home territory by setting up a festival that was the equal in terms of artistic level and marketability of the White Nights event, and capitalizing on the Christmas and New Year festivities.


There were, however, two main problems. First, even with a highly alluring musical program, it hasn't been so easy to entice the more squeamish tourists to brave the St. Petersburg climate. After last year's financial problems, the Arts Square festival has gone to work at marketing the event, and judging by the size of the audiences, it has succeeded.

Problem number two was that the city already had a similar festival that went by the laborious title of "Christmas Encounters in the Northern Palmira," run by the Union of St. Petersburg Concert Workers, and headed by none other than Temirkanov. This was fairly easy to solve by joining the two festivals - not only did we get to hear the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, but also the Omsk Chorus and the orchestras of Krasnoyarsk and Petrozavodsk. (The idea of Christmas Encounters was to give provincial ensembles a chance to perform in St. Petersburg, an opportunity highly prized despite the tiny audiences.)

There have already been two concerts this year, notably that of pianist Yevgeny Kissin, back in town for the first time for many years. Although now 28, Kissin looks much the same as he did last time he was here. Inside, however, there have been more changes, as evinced by the first time he touched the keys for the angular opening theme of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2, giving it an almost severe rendition with a deep, sure sound but keeping the energy restrained.

The maturity of Kissin's playing, and the sureness with which he paced this complex concerto, were even a little unexpected from somebody who looks so young, but one could sense the depth of Kissin's musicianship and virtuosity.

The second half, consisting of Mahler's Symphony No. 1, was a different story, lacking in depth, thought and energy. Only in the finale did the brass manage to provoke the enthusiastic response the symphony habitually receives.

TITLE: so, what rocked, popped and fizzled in 2000?
AUTHOR: by Sergey Chernov
TEXT: Looking back at the year 2000, perhaps the most importnat musical event will go down as the worst one: the old Soviet anthem will lead Russians into the new millennium, with the majority of the population applauding and singing along.


But the most exciting music is born of the minority - and the year's more interesting and passionate sounds came from the small clubs and art-conscious venues. Even the Philharmonia and the State Hermitage Museum finally surrendered to the pop genre.

Although Lou Reed did not appear at the opening of Russia's first Andy Warhol exhibition at the Hermitage in September, as was rumored, Boris Grebenshchikov was there, celebrating in a speech the fall of another barrier dividing Russia from the rest of the world.

Grebenshchikov was his usual prolific self during the year, releasing "Pentagonal Sin" with a bunch of star friends, and "Territorium," a collection of his favorite Akvarium songs that turned out to be a success both creatively and commercially.

Bryan Ferry finally made it to St. Petersburg after two years of thinking about it, and two "get-to-know-the-city" trips. He brought his full-scale orchestra of British musicians with rock, jazz and classical backgrounds in September.

Formally part of his Slave of Love tour, Ferry's set included his 1999 album "As Time Goes By" comprising 1930s pop classics, as well as Roxy Music and Ferry hits such as "Virginia Plain" and "Do the Strand." The resulting mix sounded off-balance at times, as bass guitar and drums, which joined the band for the more rocking pieces, drowned out the softer instruments and Ferry's voice.

The Courtney Pine Band, which toured Russia courtesy of the British Council in April, gave us a fiery, spectacular show combining a variety of styles - from reggae to hip-hop - and featured musicians from the multivarious cultures that make up British music today. On a smaller scale, but no less interesting, was a workshop Pine did for local jazz players at JFC Jazz Club.

Suzanne Vega, who returned to the road after something of a hiatus, played a stripped-down set of her old songs such as "Lukas" and "Tom's Diner," and her later, less recognizable material at the Music Hall in June, performing in duo with bassist Richard Gates.

David Thomas, leader of the seminal U.S. rock band Pere Ubu, arrived in December. With Thomas known mostly to a few experts and musicians in Russia, the show was poorly attended but - given his music and poetic talent - proved to be one of the year's best.

Ray Charles, who dropped by in the course of his 70th-anniversary tour in October, gave us one of the most expensive shows of the year, leaving many true fans outside. 

Heavy metallers old and new, as well as the usual crop of aging rockers, kept on invading. In no particular order of irrelevance, we had Motorhead, Bryan Adams, Alice Cooper and Manfred Mann's Earthband. Shorter in the tooth but equally insipid were Soulfly, Biohazard, Bloodhound Gang and German techno band Scooter, who proved a commercial flop as well.

The teenage-oriented Mumii Troll continued its shameless practice of releasing endless singles featuring one new song, one live version and a few remixes. Baby-faced frontman Ilya Lagutenko was sporting a few crow's feet, wrinkles that will ultimately ruin what is now a flourishing business. Zemfira, at 25 some 10 years younger than the chief Troll, is still irritatingly omnipresent.

The Sergei Kuryokhin International Festival offered a glance at music history with Faust, Terry Riley and Keith and Julie Tippett, while the four cellists of Apocalyptica brought locals up to date with the contemporary Finnish scene.

Promoters were given two more stadiums to put their clients in, the Ice Palace and the small arena of the Yubileiny Sports Complex, but both lack a good acoustic and are hardly convenient. The 400-seater Estrada Theater, rarely used for rock, hosted Tuxedomoon and David Thomas, and turned to be more suited to music than the hockey venues.

With Russia's president decided months before the actual elections took place, and no Belgrade bombings to get one's teeth into, rock and politics didn't mix much this year. On the other hand, some acts, like Kafe, Piknik and Pushking - whose principles disappear when they smell money - played in support of Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, in a show in March thinly disguised as a memorial concert for revolutionary poet Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Alisa, whose gray-haired leader's religious beliefs have swelled to dangerous proportions, have become so Orthodox Christian that they put swastikas on their CD covers and concert posters. On arrival here in May, the band attempted to persuade journalists that the swastika is, in fact, an ancient Slavic symbol.

Siberian punk band Grazhdanskaya Oborona, which supports Eduard Limonov's National Bolshevik Party, was not allowed into Latvia, but played its first-ever stadium gig in St. Petersburg in December. Earlier this year, the band, which espouses the usual weird blend of communism and fascism, got upset when radical Communist Viktor Anpilov stripped it off of the right to represent his Russian Labor faction on the grounds that they were doing it a disservice.

This year's imposters included Creedence Clearwater Revived, a British tribute band that had nothing to do with a) the U.S. band of the same name, and b) with the bands of which the Reviveds were supposed to be former members.

The obscure Glenn Miller Orchestra U.K. was promoted as the much more famous American band - but after the scandal that followed its two much-hyped and expensive shows at the Kremlin, it cancelled its Petersburg gig. 

Finally, this newspaper was approached by the U.S. band New Frankie Goes to Hollywood - modestly omitting to mention that it has no relation to the original British Frankies, of course - saying it wished to help families of sailors who perished aboard the Kursk by releasing a single, but after being exposed chose to "pray instead."

On the club scene, the most exciting music came from the trio of Moloko, Griboyedov and Fish Fabrique. As expected, the pompous Saigon has closed its doors to live acts and now entertains the public with strip shows.

As in the last few years, local clubs were packed out by Tequilajazzz, Markscheider Kunst and - to a lesser extent - Spitfire, but Leningrad drew hundreds, with its leader Sergei Shnurov even having to start a more intimate, spin-off quartet, 3D, in order to play smaller clubs and still have air to breathe.

Leningrad's third album, "Dachniki," was released in November and is probably the most stimulating music to have emerged from the local scene on record.

The Russian-style Britpop band MultFilmy made its debut record, while ska band Dva Samaliota has returned to the limelight after several years of lineup changes, with the successful self-produced video "Podruga" - put on rotation by MTV Russia - and the release of an album that was recorded last year on the Moscow label Real Records.

On a sadder note, the year's losses started with 20-year-old Kirpichi drummer Yevgeny Nazarov, who died of heart failure in February. Ex-Akvarium flautist Andrei "Dyusha" Romanov died on stage in June, while former St. Petersburg and DDT violinist Nikita Zaitsev died of liver failure in August.

TITLE: football bar: it's all or nothing
AUTHOR: by Thomas Rymer
TEXT: What's in a name?


Well, it just seems to make sense sometimes. Create a bistro-style eatery, throw in a couple of pool tables, a banquet room, a disco and a sports bar and - it only stands to reason - you call it the Football Bar.

It's always been a sort of truism in the restaurant industry that, when you try to be all things to all people, you end up being nothing to anybody.

After having dinner at the Football Club, I can't really say whether this establishment has what it takes to buck the trend. There is much to suggest that it might, and much associated with the truism cited above to say that it probably won't.

On the positive side, the food and service do much to recommend the place. Ducking out of the cold after being sent by the big boss on an assignment to deliver a restaurant review - and fast - we two editorial types were greeted by a friendly server, who took our order for two Bochkarev draft (40 rubles each) and came back with our half-liters almost immediately.

The rest of the ordering process went just as smoothly. Our first course, a Metropol salad (90 rubles), done with fresh chicken and the ever-present mayonaise, for me, and a Shevtzak salad (90 rubles), done with mixed vegetables, egg and sausage, for my friend, were both fresh and tasty.

Being a bit of a garlic fiend, I went with the chesnochny soup next (70 rubles), and the combination of potatoes, chicken bouillon and garlic took away what was left of the chill from the street.

We hit a little bit of a bump with the main course, or more specifically, that of my co-worker. While I was still working away at my soup, our server informed us that it was going to take a little bit longer for his Tobacco chicken (220 rubles) than the cook had originally hoped. My Island chicken (160 rubles) showed up in good time, and the tender strips done in a sauce of mushrooms in cream was smooth and hit the spot.

My colleague's dinner did finally show up, and he swears that it was worth the wait. It came with the skin, which was nicely spiced - not too hot but providing enough of a snap - and the chicken, though baked, was not dry at all. Even the french fries (50 rubles) managed to stand out as good.

That all of this was accompanied by very good service - there was never more than one butt in the ashtray and our cutlery, cloth napkins and dishes were cleared and replaced with an efficiency and courtesy not always encountered in St. Petersburg's dining spots - certainly earned our appreciation.

It's just too bad that this coin has another side. My friend and I ate in the bistro-style section and, had this been the only room, it probably would have been a little more comfortable. While we did take advantage of the pool tables by shooting a quick game when we arrived, the tables would be better off in the bar and the bar would be better with its own entrance. While they were moving the tables, they could take the big photos and paintings of such sports luminaries as Anna Kournikova, Mike Tyson and Wayne Gretzky with them.

Then the disco could get its own entrance as well, leaving what the Football Bar really is - three different places. What the establishment does, it does well. The only complaint is really that they may be trying to do too much.



The Football Bar, 28 Karavannaya Ul. Open daily from noon until 3 a.m. Dinner for two with a couple of beers each, 940 rubles ($35). Major credit cards accepted. Tel. 314-84-68.

TITLE: chernov's choice
AUTHOR: - by Sergey Chernov
TEXT: New Year's Eve has always been Russians' favorite holiday, not only because it used to be the only non-politicized holiday, but also because it offered a substitute for a non-existent nightlife, as the entire city used to move around from one party to another throughout the night.


In this post-1991 era, one can now move from club to club, as most of them have chosen to have their own, very diverse parties.

Griboyedov will be open from 12:30 a.m. to the following noon. The party will feature the most of the DJs who usually spin vinyl at the place, but also some outdoor events on and around the hill under which the bunker club is located. Tickets cost 200 rubles.

Fish Fabrique, which will open at 11 p.m., will offer a party crowned by the disco/funk band Stereotip, who take the stage at two or three in the morning. "Nothing special is planned," said the club's owner, though lots of people and music is guaranteed. The cost is 150 rubles.

Moloko will host Latin band Sever Combo and improvised music outfit S.K.A., followed by an all-night disco. The night begins at 10 p.m. 150 rub.

SpartaK will celebrate New Year with a concert courtesy of Leningrad, the most in-demand band on the St. Petersburg scene. On the strength of its recent album, Leningrad is now the favorite both here and in Moscow, which has induced SpartaK to hike the price for its New Year's party up to 1,200 rubles (with a seat at a table) and 1,000 rubles (without). Support comes from Palma Break, Bubliki and Black Magic. Contests and fireworks. The party starts at 11 p.m., but Leningrad will appear some time after midnight. Tickets include drinks and food.

A newer and not so conveniently located place, called Eurasia, will throw a party featuring - most importantly - hip-hop band Kirpichi, which has recently released a strong album called "Kapitalizm OO" and is popular with the cooler section of society as never before. Latin band El Coyotas will take part too, as well as DJs Kefir and Kislovsky. Gifts for the public include Baltika beers and Masculan condoms. The place boasts a 1,000-square-meter dance floor and a 10 kilowatt P.A. The party starts at 11 p.m., and costs 150 rubles. 65 Lesnoi Pr., building 8, M: Lesnaya. Tel. 596-38-52.

The Money Honey and City Club duo will launch their parties at midnight, with the main attraction being Some Like It Hot, a special-for-the-occasion project by members of the all-male rockabilly bands Hoox and Barbulators posing as 1950s and 1960s-style "girls." Sadly, all tickets have been already sold. Check also Art Spirit, the House of Artists, Mama, PORT and Saigon as possible worthy parties.

TITLE: Wildcats Show Just What a Difference a Year Can Make
AUTHOR: By Nancy Armour
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: EVANSTON, Illinois - There were days last season when it was hard for Northwestern's basketball players to get out of bed.


They were winless in the Big Ten, with only five victories to show for six months of hard work. This wasn't why they were playing college basketball.

Fast-forward to a new season. There are still four days left in December, and Northwestern is already 7-5. That's seven victories, two more than all of last season - with one over a ranked team, to boot.

"That makes a lot of guys feel better," Tavaras Hardy said after Northwestern stunned No. 16 Southern California 63-61 Wednesday night. "A five-win season, that hurts."

Elsewhere in the Top 25, top-ranked Michigan State beat Bowling Green 85-69, No. 11 Seton Hall defeated Hartford 85-67, and No. 18 Maryland routed Chicago State 117-55.

When coach Bill Carmody arrived at Northwestern last summer to replace Kevin O'Neill, he brought a new attitude along with Princeton's patient offense. And with the Big Ten season about to start, the Wildcats can already see the difference.

They bolted to a 15-0 lead over the Trojans (9-2), and never trailed. Ben Johnson hit a baseline jumper with 1:23 left, and then sealed the victory with two free throws with eight seconds left.

Johnson finished with 13 points, eight assists and two steals. Hardy led the Wildcats with a season-high 20 points. Northwestern shot 52 percent and had 23 assists to go with 28 field goals.

"It sets a tone for what we're trying to accomplish the rest of the year," Johnson said. "It proves we're capable of playing a team like this and winning."

USC had a chance at least to send it to overtime when Brandon Granville made the front end of a one-and-one with 3.7 seconds left. He missed the second, giving the Trojans a chance at the rebound and the putback.

But Northwestern's Jason Burke grabbed the ball, and the Trojans had no choice but to foul him with 2.4 seconds left. He missed the free throw, but Brian Scalabrine's desperation heave at the buzzer wasn't even close.

David Bluthenthal, out of the starting lineup for the first time this year because he was late for practice earlier in the week, led the Trojans with 17 points in 35 minutes. Desmon Farmer, also benched for being late, finished with 12 points and five assists in 36 minutes.

The Trojans were held to just 42 percent shooting, and it didn't help that Scalabrine was playing with the stomach flu. The team's leading scorer played just 16 minutes and had six points.

USC coach Henry Bibby said starting slow has been a pattern all season.

"And it's a pattern I don't like," he said.

With Evan Eschmeyer leading them, the Wildcats went 15-14 two years ago and made the NIT. But Eschmeyer graduated, and Northwestern's fortunes went right along with him.

Playing a team of mostly freshmen and sophomores last season, the Wildcats won only one game after Dec. 18, 1999. Some players transferred, then O'Neill bolted for the NBA on Sept. 1, 2000.

"It was definitely a disappointing year," Hardy said.

But Carmody has changed all that. An assistant at Princeton under Hall of Famer Pete Carril before becoming the Tigers' head coach, he installed the patient, fluid offense that made Princeton a terror in the NCAA tournament.

The offense spreads opponents out, giving players the time to take the shots they want. If crisp passes, screens and cuts can't get them a layup, then they kick it outside for what's usually an open shot.

The Trojans missed their first six shots, finally scoring on Scalabrine's jumper with 14:44 left in the first half.

Southern California closed to 59-58 with 2:53 left on Bluthenthal's uncontested dunk and a 3-pointer, but Johnson hit his baseline jumper, and the Wildcats hung on from there.

"Everybody's got that tingling feeling in our body because we're so excited we won," said Winston Blake, who added 12 points.

Jason Richardson had 21 points and nine rebounds as top-ranked Michigan State matched its best start to win the Holiday Classic in Auburn Hills.

Michigan State also was 10-0 in 1991-92. The Spartans have now won 21 straight games, one short of the 1998-99 school record.

Charlie Bell scored 18 points, and David Thomas had 12 points and nine rebounds for Michigan State.

Brandon Pardon led Bowling Green (4-5) with 19 points, and Trent Jackson added 14.

TITLE: After Splendid Season, Faulk Wins MVP
AUTHOR: By R. B. Fallstrom
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: ST. LOUIS, Missouri - Marshall Faulk spotted the rest of the league two games and still won the NFL's Most Valuable Player award easily.


"He's the greatest player in the NFL, and that's something that's obvious to us," St. Louis Rams tight end Roland Williams said. "We're glad everybody else can see it."

Faulk was a last-minute scratch for the Panthers game in Week Nine when loose cartilage locked up in his right knee, and he underwent arthroscopic surgery the following day.

He missed the next game, and the Rams used him sparingly the two games after that, which didn't keep him from setting an NFL record with 26 touchdowns. He also topped 2,000 yards rushing and receiving for the second straight season.

The first half of the season, Faulk was probably the MVP favorite.

"I think once I got injured, the talk went away," Faulk said. "Just deciding to get it done when I did was probably the best thing I did. I guess it was just good timing on our part."

Last season, teammate Kurt Warner was the MVP.

"The guy, I felt, deserved it as much as anybody last year, and definitely deserves it this year," Warner said. "He'd get my vote every year."

Faulk, 27, received 24 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters. Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb (11) was second, followed by Tennessee running back Eddie George (8), Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon (5), Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning (1) and Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis (1).

Faulk set the NFL record with 2,429 combined yards last year. This year, he set a record with three four-TD games and totaled 2,189 yards, second behind Edgerrin James' 2,303.

In the last three games, Faulk scored 11 touchdowns and had 572 yards rushing and receiving. He saved the best for last, rushing for 220 yards and catching seven passes for 41 yards in a victory over the Saints that, combined with Chicago's upset of Detroit, put the Rams in the postseason.

"I think these last three weeks I found myself back to where I was before I got hurt," Faulk said. "I could feel the difference, I could see the difference. As that happened, my workload increased."

His game isn't just statistics. Coach Mike Martz has often complimented Faulk for his on-field awareness and leadership off the field, and he doesn't mind doing the little things.

"He does everything so well," general manager Charley Armey said. "He had three or four really big blocks in the Saints game, he picks up the blitz real well and lead blocks when he has to.

"I don't know if anybody has ever had a ballplayer that could do everything as well as he can do it."

Martz knew Faulk was different early last season, his first with the Rams. Faulk played a minor role in a victory at Cincinnati in Week 3, touching the ball 14 times for only 40 yards, but didn't need an apology.

"A player of his stature, invariably in professional sports, has this certain amount of selfishness, and that lower lip starts to hang," Martz said. "That's not Marshall at all.

"He's the most unselfish professional athlete I think I've ever been around."

Faulk, the 1999 Offensive Player of the Year, is the 14th running back to be voted MVP. He joins such Hall-of-Fame runners as Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Jim Taylor, Paul Hornung, Earl Campbell and Marcus Allen.

"There's not too many of those guys that you won't see in the Hall of Fame, or those guys that didn't [make it], got everything out of every play on every down," Faulk said. "It's good company."

TITLE: Mario Hits the Ice With Magnificent Return
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania - Owner Mario Lemieux made a rousing return after 3 1/2 years away from the ice, getting a goal and two assists to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-0 blanking of the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday.


Playing his first game since the 1997 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, the 35-year-old Lemieux did not miss a beat. He needed only 33 seconds to collect his first point and just over 30 1/2 minutes to score his first goal.

"Overall, I think it was a good performance for everybody and I'm glad it's over," Lemieux said moments after the Penguins recorded their second shutout of the season.

"That's what I had in mind, to play my first game and be successful and to play at a high level. I was a little bit surprised at how I played. My legs were strong."

Playing between Jaromir Jagr and Jan Hrdina, Lemieux logged 23 shifts totaling 20 minutes, 46 seconds. The unit combined for nine points as Jagr collected two goals and two assists and Hrdina chipped in a goal and an assist.

"That was a good test, to be able to play the whole game and feel the same way through the whole game," Lemieux said.

The largest crowd of the season - 17,148 - was in the seats early as Lemieux's familiar No. 66 was lowered from the rafters amid a standing ovation at Mellon Arena.



Dallas 3, Anaheim 1. In Dallas, Shaun Van Allen scored twice and Marty Turco made 19 saves as a late replacement for Ed Belfour as the Dallas Stars overcame the absence of Brett Hull to post a 3-1 victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.




New Jersey 2, Columbus 2. Jason Arnott tucked in the equalizing goal with 69 seconds left in regulation and the New Jersey Devils threatened in overtime before settling for a 2-2 National Hockey League draw with the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets. 

Carolina 4, New York Rangers 3. Martin Gelinas scored a pair of power-play goals before setting up Rob DiMaio's game-winner with 4:09 remaining as the Carolina Hurricanes held on for a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers in Raleigh, North Carolina.


Petr Nedved picked up two assists for New York, which is 0-7-1-0 in its past eight road games.



Minnesota 5, Detroit 3. In Detroit, Scott Pellerin scored twice as the expansion Minnesota Wild stretched their unbeaten run to four games with a 5-3 victory over the Red Wings.


Minnesota was protecting a 4-3 lead when Kirk Maltby tipped Nicklas Lidstrom's point shot past Wild goalie Manny Fernandez with 2:46 remaining.

But replays showed Maltby's stick was above the crossbar and the goal was disallowed.

Fernandez stopped all nine shots in the third period and finished with 34 saves, helping Minnesota match a team record for longest unbeaten streak. 

Sergei Fedorov had two goals and an assist for the Red Wings, who blew an early 2-0 lead and lost for just the second time in their past eight games (4-2-2-0).



Boston 5, New York Islanders 2. At Uniondale, New York, Bill Guerin scored twice and Jason Allison recorded three assists as the improving Boston Bruins opened a five-game road trip with a 5-2 victory over the injury-riddled New York Islanders.


Joe Thornton, Kyle McLaren and Sergei Samsonov also scored for the Bruins, who dominated throughout with a season-high 47 shots, including 20 in the first period.



Washington 5, Ottawa 1. At Kanata, Ontario, Peter Bondra scored four goals, including three in the second period, lifting the red-hot Washington Capitals to a 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators.


It was Bondra's first hat trick of the season and fifth career four-goal game. He had five against Tampa Bay on Feb. 5, 1994.

TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: Over the Hill?

ORLANDO (Reuters) - Grant Hill, whose arrival in Orlando this summer had Magic fans dreaming of an NBA title will undergo additional surgery on his left ankle and will miss the rest of the season.

The five-time All-Star originally had surgery on the ankle in April. The forward will likely undergo the operation next week in Baltimore and is expected to be sidelined from six to eight months while undergoing rehabilitation.

Hill was acquired by Orlando in August in a deal with Detroit for Chucky Atkins and Ben Wallace. He averaged 13.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.25 steals and 33.3 minutes in the four games this season.

The 27-year-old Hill, considered to be the best all-around small forward in the NBA, spent his entire six-year career with the Pistons before being acquired. Hill received a $92.8 million deal over seven years. It was part of a huge offseason for the Magic, who also acquired Tracy McGrady from Toronto.



O'Neal Top Vote-Getter


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers and Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs shared the Most Valuable Player Award in last year's NBA All-Star game. They could have the chance to compete for the honors again.

O'Neal remains the top vote-getter and Duncan has moved up two spots to second among forwards in Western Conference fan balloting for the 2001 All-Star Game released Wednesday.

An All-Star in seven of his first eight NBA seasons, O'Neal has 460,506 votes, well ahead of David Robinson of the Spurs, who is second among centers with 117,299 votes.

Duncan has 249,016 votes, second only to Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves (301,557) among conference forwards. Chris Webber of the Sacramento Kings is third with 248,298.

Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, the NBA's scoring leader, leads all guards with 382,299 votes. Jason Kidd of the Phoenix Suns is second with 349,395 and Gary Payton of the Seattle SuperSonics is third with 177,297.



Tycoon Sued by Sister

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The younger sister of Chicago sports tycoon Jerry Reinsdorf sued her billionaire brother on Wednesday, claiming that he reneged on a deal to pay her $10,000 a month in support because she refused to stop seeing their elderly mother.

Judith Reinsdorf, 59, seeks $5 million in damages in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, which alleges breach of contract and infliction of emotional distress.

The 64-year-old Jerry Reinsdorf, described in the lawsuit as being the managing partner of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association and the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball, is considered one of the most powerful men in professional sports. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday on the lawsuit.

Judith Reinsdorf, who lives in California and Nevada, claims her brother has been paying her $10,000 per month in support for the past 16 years, but stopped after a dispute over her visits to their now-deceased mother.



Car Shopping Banned

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Coach Peter McNamara has banned his star pupil, Australian world number 11 Mark Philippoussis, from buying any more sports cars until he wins a Grand Slam tennis tournament, a newspaper reported.

Philippoussis, 24, became an Australian hero in their Davis Cup final victory in France in 1999 but he has been unavailable for other matches including the final earlier this month in Barcelona against Spain.

Despite enormous promise, he failed to break through to win a major, reaching the 1998 United States Open final which he lost to countryman Patrick Rafter.

"Cars are out. No more cars," McNamara said on Thursday in The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"He's not allowed to buy a car unless he wins a Grand Slam - that's the deal we have. It hasn't stopped him buying motorbikes. I think we'll have to put the deal on motorbikes as well."

The newspaper said Philippoussis had already sold most of his stable of almost 20 sports cars including several Ferraris. 



Boxer Recovering

LONDON (Reuters) - British boxer Paul Ingle is showing further signs of progress almost two weeks after undergoing an operation to remove a blood clot from his brain.

But a hospital spokesman told the BBC on Wednesday it was still too early to determine whether he would make a full recovery.

Ingle was critically injured in his IBF featherweight title fight against South Africa's Mbulelo Botile on Dec. 16.

"Paul remains seriously ill but is showing signs of progress," a spokesman at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield told the BBC's online service.

"Paul is continuing to make movements but it is still too early to put any definite time-scales on recovery or next steps with his care."



Langenbrunner Injured

DALLAS (AP) - Right wing Jamie Langenbrunner of the Dallas Stars will have surgery Thursday in Minneapolis to repair a lower abdominal strain.

Langenbrunner, who has seven goals and 11 assists in 31 games this season, will miss about two months.

The Minnesota native was examined by a specialist in Minneapolis on Wednesday, and surgery was recommended for what is commonly termed a "sports hernia."



Wife Disputes Claims


MIAMI (AP) - Boris Becker's wife is opposing the tennis great's request to have her alimony and child-support case conducted in private.

Barbara Becker's attorneys filed a legal brief in Miami circuit court Wednesday asking a judge not to seal the case file. They say privacy considerations should be judged on a document-by-document basis.

Boris Becker, who has filed for divorce in Germany, wants the case kept confidential because of death and kidnapping threats against his two children, his attorneys said in court papers.

Barbara Becker's lawyers also challenged the tennis star's claim that the children would be at greater risk of injury or harm with open proceedings. The brief said Noah, 6, and Elias, 1, are always protected by security guards while in the United States.

Barbara Becker has not filed for divorce, but she has obtained a court order requiring the children to stay in South Florida.

TITLE: Report: Drug Trade Behind Colombia's Ecological Woes
AUTHOR: By Jude Webber
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: BOGOTA, Colombia - Warring leftist guerrillas and far-right paramilitaries, and the illegal drug trade in the world's top cocaine producer are causing an ecological disaster of "unsuspected proportions" in Colombia, according to an army report.


The report, titled "The scars on 'Mother Earth,"' said the rebel groups' tactic of blowing up oil pipelines had polluted the Andean nation's ecosystem with more than 2 million tons of crude oil in the last decade.

The drug trade, the report said Wednesday, contaminated the soil with 200,000 tons of chemicals a year and caused deforestation at a pace that was rapidly destroying the country's jungles.

"Guerrillas and paramilitaries have caused this ecological catastrophe which, ... if the current rate of deforestation continues, will turn half the country's jungles into pasture in 17 years," the report said, quoting Environment Ministry experts.

It said the heavily wooded regions of Amazonas, bordering Peru in the south, and Orinoquia, which borders Venezuela and Brazil in the east, were in "imminent danger."

Colombia is one of the world's five top countries in terms of water resources and biodiversity, the Environment Ministry says. No one there was available for comment on the report.

The army calculated that 9,300 square kilometers of jungle and agricultural land had been lost in the past decade.

Although a tiny proportion of Colombia's total area of about 1.1 million square kilometers, the destruction still represents "ecological damage ... of unsuspected proportions," it said.

Colombia has been riven by four decades of strife - the longest conflict in Latin America - involving the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), far-right paramilitary death squads and the army, which critics accuse of being linked to paramilitaries or turning a blind eye to their activities.

The war has claimed 35,000 lives in the past decade alone.

The United States believes the 17,000-strong FARC, Latin America's biggest rebel army, plays a dominant role in drug production.

Colombia is the source of 90 percent of the world's cocaine, with annual output of 520 tons, and it also produces six tons of heroin annually, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

Guerrillas have targeted oil, Colombia's main export, as a tactic in their war against the state, staging some 1,000 assaults on oil pipelines since 1986. The 5,000-strong ELN has been responsible for 80 percent of the assaults. The army report, citing Environment Ministry figures, said crude oil had contaminated 2,600 kilometers of river, equivalent to the total length of Colombia's two biggest rivers, the Cauca and the Magdalena, with slicks of up to 180 kilometers in length.

The report called the drug trade "one of the direct causes of the destruction of biodiversity," saying coca leaf, poppies and marijuana cultivation had caused serious deforestation.

It cited Colombia's human rights monitor's office as saying 8,500 square kilometers of jungle had been lost in the last 30 years.

Furthermore, it said some 200,000 tons a year of 28 types of chemicals used in the processing of coca leaf and poppies for cocaine and heroin were leaching into the water and soil.

TITLE: Plushenko Overcomes All Odds
AUTHOR: By Gennady Fyodorov
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW - European men's champion Yevgeny Plushenko made light of a bout of food poisoning to skate a flawless free program and retain his title at the Russian figure skating championships on Wednesday.


"I don't know how I got food poisoning but I felt really sick," said Plushenko who had led after Tuesday's short program.

Plushenko got the better of three-time world champion Alexei Yagudin in the season's first head-to-head battle with an impressive display of quadruple and triple jumps and excellent choreography.

Alexander Abt, second after the short program, finished third.

Plushenko opened with a huge quadruple toe-loop, then landed a quad-triple-double combination to receive a perfect 6.0 mark for artistic impression from five out of the nine judges. The remainder were 5.9s.

U.S.-based Yagudin was still suffering the effects of jet lag.

"I came to Moscow from America just two days before the competition and felt a bit tired at the end of the program," said Yagudin who has yet to win a Russian title despite competing in his sixth national championship.

Yagudin, skating to the music from the soundtrack of Gladiator, also opened with a quadruple toe-loop but landed only a double instead of another quad on his next jump.

"I've been second, third, fifth, second again ... I don't know what else can I do to win here finally,'' he said.

TITLE: Chinese Disco Inferno Claims Lives of 309
AUTHOR: By Andrew Browne
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: BEIJING - Faced with mounting public outrage after a Christmas-night blaze killed 309 people in a notoriously unsafe shopping center, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji Wednesday vowed "severe punishment" for those responsible.


Police were looking into arson as a possible cause of the fire that ripped through a popular dance hall packed with Christmas revelers on the top floor of the six-story building in the central city of Luoyang, a local official said.

State media said 20 suspects had been placed under close police watch.

But as grieving relatives identified the remains of their loved ones, public anger focused on the poor state of building safety highlighted by the tragedy.

Emotion was fed by gruesome witness accounts of mass suffocation in the dimly lit dance hall that lacked emergency exits, smoke detectors and water sprinklers - and which had failed a safety inspection just days earlier.

Too terrified to plunge from smashed windows onto air mattresses below, most party-goers perished in billowing smoke. Only a handful of people plucked up the courage to jump.

Television pictures showed the dance floor strewn with clothing, upturned tables and chairs, all remarkably unscathed by fire, confirming reports that victims were asphyxiated in a sudden panic.

Xinhua news agency said the building had been warned about inadequate fire-fighting systems since 1997.

It said the privately run disco was operating illegally after its license was revoked.

Zhu, clearly concerned about a backlash against official incompetence and corruption, was quoted by state television as saying "those responsible will be seriously punished."

The disaster had captured the attention of President Jiang Zemin and other top leaders, the television said.

The dead comprised 135 males and 174 females. Some media reports said women had been given free admission to the party. Six injured remained in hospital.

Long queues of relatives, many weeping hysterically, formed outside a Luoyang hotel to identify the victims from photographs. The bodies were all taken to a funeral home.

With Lunar New Year celebrations coming up next month, the Ministry of Public Security issued an urgent notice ordering all discos and dance halls operating without a license or fire-control systems to be closed immediately.

Hotels, shopping malls, hospitals and schools should be checked for fire dangers, the notice said.

In Shanghai, inspectors visited nightclubs, video game parlors and warehouses, television pictures showed. They ordered locked doors opened, tested emergency fire equipment and instructed workers to clear blocked stairwells.

State television said 20 people had been placed under "surveillance and control," meaning their movements will be monitored by police even though they have not been charged with any crime.

Among them were managers of the building and staff of a furniture shop where the blaze was thought to have broken out at around 9 p.m. Monday, according to the local official, who declined to be identified.

The official said although sparks from faulty electrical wiring might have ignited the blaze on a basement floor, "police cannot exclude the possibility of arson."

He said safety improvements were ordered to the building a week ago, but it was not clear what efforts, if any, were made to enforce the ruling. Nearby residents said exit doors were blocked by boxes of merchandise.

The official said Taiwan investors took a stake in the formerly state-owned building one month ago, and were trying to turn around its losses by giving it a facelift. The second and third floors were under renovation.

Entertainment spots have sprouted all over the country, chasing the spending money of newly rich consumers.

Even where safety regulations exist, shoddily constructed nightclubs and Karaoke bars can often get hold of an operating license by paying off local officials.

Fearing public wrath could spin out of control, authorities sought to limit news coverage of the Luoyang tragedy. Local media organizations were told they may only publish news issued by Xinhua, according to local reporters.

TITLE: Tel Aviv Bomb Blast Latest Peace Obstacle
AUTHOR: By Mark Lavie
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: JERUSALEM - An apparent bomb went off on a bus on one of Tel Aviv's busiest thoroughfares Thursday, injuring at least 11 people, police said. The blast came hours after Israel and the Palestinians differed sharply over an American peace plan.


Hours before the blast, Egypt announced the cancellation of a planned summit Thursday between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat - a setback to President Clinton's efforts to win acceptance for his peace proposals.

The explosion sent black smoke billowing into the air, and people in the crowded area scattered in panic. The area police commander, Uri Bar-Lev, said the cause of the blast was "apparently a device."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although the explosion immediately raised suspicions of a terrorist attack. Islamic militants opposed to the peace process have often staged bus bombings inside Israel.

The bus had left a station in the south of Tel Aviv and was, headed for the northern suburb of Petah Tikva on the road cutting through the main business district, filled with high-rise office towers. "Two explosions were heard," said Bar-Lev, the police commander. He said that experts checking the bus had found "one object that raises suspicion."

Eleven injured people were taken to the hospital, he said. At least two were in moderate or serious condition, said Gabi Barabash, an official at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.

During the past three months of violence, Palestinian militants claimed responsibility for two car bombings. Since late September, fighting by Israeli troops and Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem has killed nearly 350 people, most of them Palestinians.

The summit cancellation came at Israel's initiative, army and Israel radio said, and Barak associates expressed frustration over the Palestinian stance on the American plan.

Both Israel and the Palestinians expressed reservations about U.S. peace proposals. However, Israel accepted the plan as a basis for further talks, while Palestinians sharply contested it.

"If Arafat wants to be the stubborn one, then let him," cabinet minister Yuli Tamir told army radio. "He's missing a historical opportunity.... The Palestinian people will pay a heavy price for this."

Arafat met with Mubarak in Cairo on Thursday.

The proposals put forward by Clinton - outlined by sources from both sides - called for deep and painful concessions from Israel and the Palestinians alike. The Palestinians appear most opposed to requirements they scale back demands for the return of millions of refugees to their homes in Israel.

For Israel, the proposals would mean giving up sovereignty over a key Jerusalem holy site - a concession that has raised strong opposition from many Israelis. Barak's opponent in Feb. 6 elections for prime minister, right-wing leader Ariel Sharon, has said he will not honor a last-minute accord negotiated by Barak if he is elected.

TITLE: China Endorses Taiwan's Plan for Ties
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BEIJING - China indicated Thursday that it accepts Taiwan's plan to permit limited shipping between Taiwanese-controlled coastal islets and the mainland.


But Chinese officials also criticized Taiwan's failure to lift a ban on full-scale travel and trade links with the mainland.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be captured by force if necessary, and despite flourishing economic ties in recent years, Taiwan still bans direct shipping, air travel and postal connections for fear they would let its giant neighbor dominate the island.

The "mini-links," due to take effect New Year's Day, are a small step toward restoring formal contact between China and Taiwan, severed after a civil war that ended in 1949. They legalize a clandestine trade between the islands of Kinmen and Matsu and the nearby mainland. Until now, that trade has been carried on in defiance of Taiwan's ban on direct contact with its former adversary.

A top Chinese official for Taiwan affairs, speaking to Taiwanese reporters in Beijing, said the government had no objection to the links and indicated they could be considered a sign of progress.

"Better to be open than not open," said Zhou Mingwei, deputy director of the cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office, according to a reporter at the meeting.

An official responsible for Taiwan affairs in the coastal province of Fujian said Beijing would "provide assistance" for measures to make life easier for residents of Kinmen and Matsu, the state Xinhua News Agency reported. The official said Beijing would consider such contacts domestic travel and could manage them using quasi-government agencies set up to handle informal ties with Taiwan.

But the official, who was not identified, also said Taiwan "lacks sincerity and goodwill" and was merely paying lip service to demands for links with China.

Taiwanese companies, which have invested an estimated $40 billion in the mainland, complain that the restrictions add to their costs by forcing them to conduct trade and business travel through Hong Kong and other third points.

Taiwan's leaders should end all such restrictions if they "really care about the prosperity of the Taiwan compatriots and truly are sincere in improving relations," the Fujian official was quoted as saying.

TITLE: Tax Case Cited in U.S. Murders
AUTHOR: By Tim McLaughlin
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MALDEN, Massachusetts - A software engineer who allegedly gunned down seven co-workers at an Internet company near Boston methodically targeted his victims in a premeditated killing spree, prosecutors said on Wednesday.


Michael McDermott, 42, a burly man with a wild mop of hair and an untamed beard who called himself "Mucko," calmly scanned the crowded courtroom during his arraignment on seven charges of first-degree murder.

Under tight security, he was escorted into court wearing a bulletproof vest over an orange prison jumpsuit and handcuffs.

A plea of not guilty was entered for McDermott, who was ordered held in custody until another hearing on Jan. 31. He faces a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life in prison if found guilty. He is accused of killing four women and three men at the Wakefield, Massachusetts Web consulting company.

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington said his client had been under psychiatric care and was taking medication.

Investigators said they believed the rampage, among the worst workplace mass murders in state history, may have been triggered by McDermott's anger at plans by his employer, Edgewater Technology Inc., to comply with an Internal Revenue Service levy to collect back taxes from his wages.

Prosecutor Tom O'Reilly told Malden District Court Judge Paul Cavanaugh the victims were from accounting and human resources departments.

O'Reilly described how McDermott, a Navy veteran who served as an electrician on a nuclear attack submarine, allegedly executed seven of his co-workers, shooting each several times as they sat at their work stations, cowered under their desks, or tried to crawl or run away.

Before opening fire at the reception desk, McDermott reportedly said, "I need to go see human resources."

"Lying just behind the reception area lay a woman who had been shot dead as she stood. Just off to the side was the receptionist who was also shot in an apparent indication that she was trying to flee as the wounds were through her back and her head," O'Reilly said.

Down the hall, police found more bodies.

"One was underneath his desk. He had been shot numerous times. Another of the young ladies was slumped over the keyboard of her computer. She had been shot through the back. Another individual was lying next to the Xerox machine. He'd been shot through the face with a shotgun," O'Reilly said.

O'Reilly described how McDermott then used the shotgun and "blew the door off and the door handle off" a room where three people had taken refuge.

He also described how police found McDermott sitting in the reception area surrounded by his weapons after the slaughter, which took no more than "seven to eight minutes." Police responded to the scene after emergency dispatchers received a flood of telephone calls from the office complex.

Next to McDermott was a black tote bag with a minimum of four fully loaded 30-round magazines along with boxes of ammunition. Shotgun shells and ammunition for the semiautomatic revolver were also found in the bag, O'Reilly said.

McDermott's work area also held arms and ammunition. Police found a large-caliber hunting rifle, described as an "elephant gun," with a mounted scope and ammunition as well as shotgun shells in his desk and locker.

Inside his apartment in Haverhill, Massachusetts, they found bomb-making materials such as blasting caps, fuses and three gallons of nitric acid, a key ingredient in the explosive nitroglycerin, O'Reilly said.

In the weeks before the shooting, McDermott was involved in heated exchanges with human resources and accounting officials because of the IRS demand for back taxes. An Edgewater Technology employee told police that the proposed garnishment would have left McDermott with as little as $250 per pay period, police reported.

TITLE: Iverson Sparks 76ers to Victory
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: OAKLAND, California - Allen Iverson made an unexpected return after missing just one game with a partially separated shoulder and scored 29 points to push the Philadelphia 76ers to a 118-110 National Basketball Association victory over the Golden State Warriors.


"I knew I was playing before yesterday's game," Iverson said. "I wanted to sit out one. They wanted me to sit out another one before the game on Friday, but I really wanted to play. I felt like I wasn't going to hurt myself any more than I had."

After Mookie Blaylock's three-pointer got Golden State within 101-97 with 3:52 remaining, Iverson nailed a three-pointer Wednesday night.

Aaron McKie followed with four straight points to restore Philadelphia's 10-point cushion with 3:08 to play.

The Sixers made seven straight shots to end the game with Jumaine Jones' baseline jumper making it 117-107 with 28 seconds remaining.



Seattle 107, Houston 92. In Houston, Gary Payton scored 26 points and dished out 10 assists as the Seattle SuperSonics broke open a close game for a 107-92 win over the reeling Houston Rockets.


After Maurice Taylor's layup cut the Rockets' deficit to 85-84 with 8:12 to play, Seattle went on a 9-0 run. Vin Baker scored the first four points and Brent Barry the last five as the SuperSonics extended to a 10-point lead with just under six minutes to play.

Houston, which suffered its sixth straight loss, got no closer than nine points the rest of the way. 

Maurice Taylor led Houston with 20 points and 11 rebounds. 



Miami 91, Indiana 79. In Miami, Eddie Jones continued his strong play with 22 points as the Miami Heat moved a season-high two games over .500 with a 91-79 triumph over the Indiana Pacers. 


Brian Grant and Bruce Bowen had four points apiece as the Heat went on a 15-1 run in the first quarter to break an 8-8 tie. Grant finished with 15 points while Anthony Mason grabbed 12 rebounds. 

Frustration was evident for Indiana as Derrick McKey and Reggie Miller were ejected late in the game. 



New York 89, Washington 82. In Washington, Latrell Sprewell scored 25 points as the New York Knicks cruised to an 89-82 victory over the Washington Wizards.


With two minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Allan Houston found Sprewell for a dunk that gave the Knicks their biggest lead, 87-75. Washington got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Houston had 23 points and seven assists.

TITLE: Outdoor Game Garners A Very Chilly Response
AUTHOR: By Chuck Schoffner
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: PHOENIX - College basketball's first venture into the great outdoors produced its share of thrills and chills. Especially the chills.


In the cool of a desert night, the Arizona State women's program pulled off something unique when it played No. 2 Tennessee at Bank One Ballpark. The Sun Devils just couldn't quite pull off the upset.

Tennessee warmed to the challenge when threatened and got 24 points and 10 rebounds from Tamika Catchings in beating Arizona State 67-63 Wednesday night at the home of baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks.

"I'm not fully satisfied because I did want to win," Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "But I will say I'm extremely proud of my players. I think they did an awesome job in a lot of adverse conditions. They really played hard and executed the game plan. We were just a few rebounds away."

With the temperature in the mid-50s, the atmosphere at what was believed to be the first college basketball game played outdoors seemed more suited for football on a crisp, autumn night. The stadium has a retractable roof and 8,000 tons of air conditioning but no heat.

Fans wore jackets and sweatshirts and covered up with blankets. Space heaters warmed the players, though evidently not enough. Tennessee players sat hunched over with their hands inside the sleeves of their warmups. Some Arizona State reserves wore gloves.

"Even though we had those hand warmers, we kept passing them around because everyone was cold," Catchings said.

Late in the first half, the officials stopped play so a spot on the floor could be wiped off.

"It might be frost," TV announcer Paul Sunderlund cracked.

The crowd of 16,782 easily topped Arizona State's previous record of 5,272 and the Pac-10 record of 9,738 set at Oregon. Those fans saw an inspired performance by the Sun Devils (7-4), who pressed Tennessee (11-0) to the end.

Tennessee overcame 24 turnovers in its final tuneup for Saturday's showdown with No. 1 Connecticut. Kristen Clement added 12 points and five assists for the Lady Vols. Michelle Snow grabbed 14 rebounds.

"It was a unique setting and I think our basketball team had some challenges that they'll probably not face again in their entire careers," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said.

"We've turned the ball over too many times in our last three or four games, but we'll get better. And hopefully, our hands will be warmer next time."

Ahead just 33-31 early in the second half, Tennessee went on a 15-3 run that ended with 11 straight points to break away. After the Lady Vols scored three straight baskets inside, Gwen Jackson hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Clement scored on a putback to make it 48-34.

Arizona State answered with nine straight points to cut the lead to 48-43, and the Sun Devils trailed 51-45 when Amanda Levens sank two free throws after a technical foul on Summitt.

But Tennessee responded with a game-clinching surge. Catchings hit a jumper, Semeka Randall sank two free throws after stealing the ball and Catchings drove for a layup. That made it 57-45 with 3:54 left, enough of a cushion for the Lady Vols to hold on.

"They came ready to play," Catchings said. "We kind of had our ups and downs. We were very inconsistent. They came out and probably played their best game of the year."

Levens led Arizona State with 21 points. Betsy Boardman and Melody Johnson each scored 10, and Boardman had four of ASU's 14 steals.

"I think we played the way we wanted to play," Levens said. "We don't think we played over our heads by any means. It was a good battle between two great basketball teams."

Some proceeds from the game were donated to breast cancer research. Turner Thorne said she'd like to put on a similar event in the future, and Summitt said she'd be willing to come back.

"Oh sure," she said. "But we may have to close the top."

TITLE: Marshall Downs Cincinnati For 3rd Straight Bowl Win
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: PONTIAC, Michigan - Byron Leftwich threw for one touchdown and ran for another as Marshall scored 13 points in the third quarter and defeated Cincinnati, 25-14, Wednesday for their third straight Motor City Bowl triumph.


"This young football team set the tone for next season," said Marshall coach Bob Pruett. "This game shows the strength of the Mid-American Conference."

Marshall (8-5) earned the automatic bowl berth by winning the Mid-American Conference title game while Toledo (10-1), one of the most successful teams in all of college football, missed the bowl season altogether. Marshall's mediocre record even has Motor City Bowl officials considering the possibility of rescinding the automatic bid in the future.

But that was not a concern Wednesday for Marshall, which completed its late-season surge by winning for the sixth time in seven games. After losing the inaugural Motor City Bowl to Mississippi, the Herd had wins over Louisville and BYU before today's triumph.

Chad Pennington engineered the first two Motor City wins and gave way this year to Leftwich, who completed 17 of 30 passes for 221 yards.

"One guy doesn't make a football team,'' Pruett added. "We've won 58 games in five years. One or two guys don't do that and we've done it in a tough league. We belonged in this bowl, we belonged in a lot of bowls."

DeMarco McClesky had a pair of short touchdown runs for Cincinnati (7-5), which had a four-game winning streak snapped.

Marshall did its scoring early in each half, producing touchdowns on their first possession of the game and the initial two of the third quarter.

Trailing 14-9, Marshall took over at the Cincinnati 41 following a short punt early in the third quarter. Leftwich capitalized with a 30-yard pass to Nate Poole and scored two plays later on a one-yard run for a 15-14 lead.

Leftwich engineered another TD on Marshall's next drive, rushing for 15 yards and drawing a pass-interference penalty that led to a four-yard TD run by Franklin Wallace, who carried 20 times for 78 yards.