SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #873 (41), Friday, June 6, 2003
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TITLE: Markova To Run for Governor
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: St. Petersburg vice governor Anna Markova became the sole official contender to replace Governor Vladimir Yakovlev when she announced in a speech before the Legislative Assembly on Thursday that she would be a candidate in the next gubernatorial elections. And, in making her announcement, she took a not-so-veiled shot at what Smolny has labeled a dirty campaign to pressure Yakovlev and his team out of office.
 
"I will run for the office of governor position in order to offer an alternative and to preserve democracy in St. Petersburg," Markova said in the address to city lawmakers, Interfax reported.
 Although Markova is the only declared candidate for the upcoming race, the appointment of Valentina Matviyenko as presidential representative for the Northwest Region earlier this year was seen by most political analysts as a signal that she was being positioned by the Kremlin for a run at the chief spot in city government.
 In an interview with the Vedomosti business daily on Thursday, Markova said that her decision to run had been "forced" by the unofficial campaign for the governor's post already being run by Matviyenko.
 "It's obvious that, for the last two months, we have been watching an election campaign being run by one person," Markova said. "The governor is now facing pressure to resign. This is coming from the office of the president."
 Initial reactions to the announcement differed.
 Legislative Assembly Speaker Vadim Tyulpanov had a negative reaction both to the announcement and the forum in which she chose to make it, according to Interfax.
 "[Markova] can't call herself the basis for democracy in St. Petersburg because she, in particular, was the person trying to find a way to allow Yakovlev to run for a third term," Interfax quoted Tyulpanov as saying Thursday. "In its form, this announcement sounded like a deliberate provocation because, when she took the floor, she didn't address the issue that was presently under discussion at all."
 According to a report on the Fontanka.ru Web site, Tyulpanov refused to give her the floor a number of times before finally giving way after Vladimir Golman, the leader of the just-formed Party of Life faction threatened to walk out of the chamber if she wasn't allowed to speak.
 Markova said that the opposition from Tyulpanov came as no surprise and that she had even received threats in connection with her candidacy.
 "I understand that this decision puts my career, position and well being at stake," she was quoted as saying. "I understand that one order can cause people to turn away from me, for the mass media not to cover me at all."
 "I have already had threats that I could end up in a car accident or be run over by a steam roller," she added.
 Matviyenko's reaction to the announcement was also critical, calling it "not very well thought out and untimely," Interfax reported.
 Markova's current boss, Yakovlev, told journalists that "Anna Markova's words today were likely an emotional reaction to the situation surrounding the pressure on the governor to resign."
 Analysts differed on their assessment of the effect of Markova's candidacy on the gubernatorial race. Leonid Kesselman, a political analyst at the sociology department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that her announcement was meant as a strong reply to the Kremlin from Smolny.
 "The City Administration wants to show that it can compete for the position using its own resources," Kesselman said. "It's also an attempt to maintain the right appearance, as it wouldn't look good if there was only one candidate for the post."
 He also said that Markova's candidacy would be important in drawing enough attention to the vote to ensure that voter participation is high enough to make the vote official.
 "The election needs an element of intrigue in order to attract the necessary number of voters, and this situation could provide some extra fire to raise interest," Kesselman said.
 In comments televised on NTV, Roman Mogilevsky, the director of the Social Information Agency, said that the collision between the two candidates - one representing federal interests and the other the local interests - "will be very tough."
 Mogilevsky said that, should Yakovlev resign in the near future, the gubernatorial elections would be an advantage for Matviyenko, who he says has a popularity rating some 20 points higher than that of Markova.
 Although not in particularly positive situations, Markova has maintained relatively high visibility over the last couple year, serving as deputy governor and head of the City Emergency Commission. She was thrust into the public eye in dealing with the collapse of a nine-story building on Dvinskaya Ulitsa last June and also when the cargo ship Kaunas sank after colliding with the Liteiny bridge last August, blocking traffic on the Neva River.
 Markova took the vice-governor position in March 2002, after serving for three years as the head of the Frunzensky district administration, from 1999 to 2002. That appointment came after serving for 20 years in the city's police force.
 Born in then Leningrad in 1955 into a military family, her great grandfather had served as a senior officer in the tsarist military command.
 In 1978, she graduated from the Nadezhda Krupskaya State Culture Institute in Leningrad as a librarian, a job she had held during her studies, dating back to 1972. But she tired of the work quickly after graduation and, in 1979, she made an abrupt career change and joined the police force.
 She rose from the rank of lieutenant to lieutenant colonel and became chief or the Kolpino Police Department.
 According to Vladimir Anikeyev, Markova's spokesperson, she participated in police operations, excelling in marksmanship and even achieving a black belt in karate.
 At that time, Markova was portrayed by the media as an energetic woman who led the way in moving into positions that had traditionally been occupied by men. She was most often interviewed wearing her police uniform.
 In 1992, Markova graduated from the St. Petersburg Police Academy with a doctorate in law.

TITLE: Jubilee Is Over, So Whither Yakovlev?
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The city's political rumor mill has been working overtime ever since Governor Vladimir Yakovlev announced in April that he was no longer attempting to win the right to run for a third term in office.
 
But, while different versions of the governor's future have had him destined for an ambassadorial post in Beijing or Helsinki or the position of chief of the Belorussian-Russian Council, Yakovlev steadfastly maintained in the lead up to the 300th-anniversary celebrations that he would not even think about his future until the city's anniversary bash was over.
 In his first comments after the celebrations, however, Yakovlev didn't do much to clear up the situation.
 During the weekly program "Governor's Hour" on local television channel TRK Peterburg on Wednesday, Yakovlev said that he could resign of his own will, but that the decision would not depend on him alone.
 "A governor has the right to resign at any time and in different situations, but some of these decisions don't depend on the governor alone, as they can involve offers of different jobs," Yakovlev said. 
 Local politicians have been predicting that Yakovlev would resign for months and many still believe that his exit is imminent. But others are now saying that recent developments - the relative success of the 300th-anniversary celebrations in particular - may have prompted him to stick around. In particular, they say that the perception that he was being forced out of office could hurt the candidacy of Valentina Matviyenko, the presidential representative in the Northwest Region, touted by many as the Kremlin's choice for the governor's spot.
 "It looks like there is no trust between the president's side and that of the governor. Yakovlev may have been offended by some of Matviyenko's negative comments in relation to City Hall's activities," Konstantin Sukhenko, the head of the Unity faction in the Legislative Assembly, said in an interview Wednesday, "There is no desire on either side to find a common language and, also, Yakovlev has found himself in a much stronger position after the 300th anniversary came off so well."
 "It's probably the fault of certain press services that didn't do enough work in time [to create a necessary image for the governor's resignation]," he added "All of this should have been done before the celebrations."
 Matviyenko muddied the waters around the looming election on Thursday by commenting that they were further off than most analysts are predicting.
 "According to City Charter, the elections should take place in May 2004, so there's no reason to be talking about the election date," Interfax quoted Matviyenko as saying.
 But she immediately seemed to contradict herself.
 "In the event of a change in the situation , the Legislative Assembly will determine the election date according to federal legislation," she added.
 The Unity faction introduced draft legislation in April to move the gubernatorial elections ahead to correspond with elections for the State Duma, which are scheduled for December. The draft passed in first reading, but has not been discussed since.
 The Kremlin may be playing a role in the less aggressive behavior from its supporters in the assembly. During Wednesday's sitting of the assembly, the office of the presidential representative for the Northwest Region asked the Legislative Assembly not to sour its relations with City Hall. Valery Bolshakov, the Federal Inspector in the Northwest Region, asked the deputies to vote against a motion of no-confidence against Vice Governor Victor Krotov, who heads the city finance committee and is currently under investigation by the Northwest Region Prosecutor's Office.
 "Don't shake a boat that is shaking enough on its own without any further help," Bolshakov said, "Political stability has returned in the city after the celebrations. Such a decision would not be right at this time. I am expressing the point of view of the presidential representative's office."
 According to one lawmaker, Vladimir Yeryomenko, an independent and former member of the pro-Smolny United City bloc, Yakovlev's position is stronger now than it has been for a long time.
 "If the stars were positioned in [Yakovlev's] favor, it might happen that the Kremlin would freeze the situation," Yeryomenko said. "It's all a case of what would happen if the elections were held now. Official polls put Matviyenko's popularity at about 25 percent. But so-called 'closed surveys,' which tend to give the real picture, put this number at only 2 percent of support. In these conditions, the number of people voting against all candidates could scuttle the elections."
 Yeryomenko would not name the source of the survey, saying only that he saw the results last week.
 "Even [State Duma Deputy] Oksana Dmitriyeva has better support, about 8 percent," Yeryomenko said.
 The turnabout in Yakovlev's fortunes - if it really is the case - has been significant, as his star has been on the wane since the spring of 2000, shortly after Vladimir Putin was elected president.
 Putin, who, like Yakovlev, served as a deputy under former mayor Anatoly Sobchak, labeled Yakovlev a "Judas" after Yakovlev defeated his former boss in the 1996 gubernatorial elections.
 The appointment of Viktor Cherkesov as the presidential representative for the Northwest Region was seen by many, particularly in Yakovlev's administration, as a move to bring pressure to bear on the governor.
 A number of senior officials in Yakovlev's government were subject to investigations by the Northwest Region Prosecutor's Office and, after the election of a majority of pro-Kremlin deputies to the Legislative Assembly in December, Yakovlev lost such allies as Legislative Assembly Speaker Sergei Tarasov, who was replaced by the Unity faction's Vadim Tyulpanov, Yury Rydnik, the head of Balt-Uneximbank and of the pro-Smolny United City bloc in the assembly, and City Prosecutor Ivan Sydoruk. Almost lost in the shuffle of the celebrations was the ouster of Alexander Garusov, the head of the City Elections Commission, who was voted out of office by the commission in accordance with a request from Nikolai Vinichenko, who had replaced Sydoruk as head of the prosecutor's office.
 According to Yakovlev's allies, the campaign against Garusov was so severe that it resulted in his hospitalization. According to news Web site Fontanka.ru, the prosecutor's office sent a letter to the commission stating that "It is no secret that ... [he] not only has a serious drinking problem, but he drinks while he works and then walks around aggressively in the corridors of the Legislative Assembly."
 Not everyone is so sure that Yakovlev's position has become stronger.
 Legislative Assembly Speaker Tyulpanov says that everything is going according to the original plan.
 "He's waiting for the State Council meeting scheduled to take place on June 15 and 16, and will probably announce his resignation during the session," Tyulpanov said in an interview Wednesday. "I think that he has been offered a position in Moscow."
 Some sources at the assembly believes that, instead of being offered a foreign diplomatic post, Yakovlev will be appointed vice prime minister in the Russian government responsible for communal-services reform.
 "He's not really cut out for a diplomatic position, although [former Prime Minister Victor] Chernomyrdin's experience in Ukraine hasn't been bad," said Boris Vishnyevsky, a member of the Yabloko faction. "The position of vice prime minister for communal reform is not for certain, but at least Yakovlev knows this subject much better than [head of the Union of Right Forces party Boris] Nemtsov."
 Igor Mikhailov, an independent lawmaker, who was the first to jump ship from the United City bloc in when it became clear in February that the speaker's chair would be occupied by Tyulpanov, said that, whenever he does leave the governor's office, Yakovlev deserves the best position he is able to fill.
 "Yakovlev has lived and made it through so many difficult situations that he really he deserves to get any post he asks for," Mikhailov said in an interview on Wednesday. "It is also his clear to chose the most convenient time for him to resign."
 "It's because, I repeat, he deserves this."
 City Hall is currently keeping silent. While Alexander Afanasyev, the governor's spokesperson, has been ill for the last few weeks, his replacement, Vladimir Anikeyev, the Administrative Committee representative, said he has not heard anything about Yakovlev's possible resignation.
 "There is nothing [being said] about resignation or holidays. If the governor takes a holiday, he signs a special decree, but no such document has been issued. The City Hall officials are working in their usual routine; we have lots of things to be done here," Anikeyev said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

TITLE: Chubais To Sell Shares in TVS
AUTHOR: By Simon Saradzhyan
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - UES chief Anatoly Chubais announced Thursday that he is leaving the pool of TVS shareholders, which the television channel's spokesperson said may finally bring stability to "the long-suffering channel and its staff."
 
Chubais told Interfax that he will sell his stock in TVS' parent company, Shestoi Telekanal, to his ally Igor Linshits, chief of Neftyannoi Bank, and Oleg Kiselyov, director general of Media-Sotsium, which holds the channel's broadcasting license.
 Chubais and his allies control 45 percent of Shestoi Telekanal's shares. It was not clear Thursday what percentage Chubais was selling.
 Chubais cited differences among TVS shareholders as the reason behind his decision to cash out. "Unfortunately, we have failed to overcome the differences," he said.
 Chubais' groups have repeatedly locked horns with aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska and his allies - who also control a 45-percent stake in Shestoi Telekanal - over TVS, which has been harshly critical of the Kremlin and Moscow city government. The other 10 percent is held by a team of TVS journalists headed by editor Yevgeny Kiselyov.
 Chubais said the infighting has led to "extremely grave difficulties" at TVS. The channel has been plagued by poor management and cash shortages.
 Deripaska made an offer to Chubais last month either to buy his Shestoi Telekanal shares or sell his own, to leave just one group of shareholders in charge of the channel.
 TVS spokesperson Tatyana Blinova said on Thursday that it remains unclear whether the sale of shares would stabilize the situation since both Oleg Kiselyov and Linshits have been allied with Chubais.
 "Still, we hope that there finally will be stability at our long-suffering channel," Blinova said by telephone. 
 In particular, she said, TVS hopes the shareholders will now tackle the channel's financial problems, including wage arrears, and resolve a dispute with Mostelecom. The city-owned cable television operator has already blocked TVS from 1 million of its 3 million subscribers in Moscow and plans to complete the switch-off by the end of this week. Mostelecom claims it is owed $8 million in service fees.
 Oleg Kiselyov could not be reached by telephone late Thursday. Deripaska's spokesperson, Alexei Drobashenko, refused to comment.

TITLE: Amnesty Plan Gets Duma Nod
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - The State Duma approved President Vladimir Putin's amnesty plan for Chechen rebels who hand in their weapons in a crucial second reading on Wednesday, extending the disarmament deadline by one month but leaving the bill's most controversial provisions intact.
 
The Duma voted 300-2 with one abstention.
 The original bill called for amnesty for rebels who have disarmed over the past decade or who do so by Aug. 1, and the Duma extended the deadline to Sept. 1.
 The amnesty would deny pardon to rebels found to have tried to kill federal police and service personnel - a clause the Duma did not change Wednesday. Critics said that the exception would make the amnesty meaningless, because it could be used to prosecute any insurgent who has taken part in the wars in Chechnya.
 "This amnesty will not achieve the result that we would like to achieve," said Aslambek Aslakhanov, a deputy elected from Chechnya. "The idea is for members of illegal armed formations to disarm, and this will not happen. There is no mechanism for their protection."
 Aslakhanov proposed several amendments aimed to expand the amnesty, but the Duma rejected them.
 The amnesty would not cover foreigners fighting with the insurgents or Russian citizens found to have committed murder, kidnapping, rape or other grave crimes.
 The Duma also ruled Wednesday that the amnesty would not apply to those who committed acts of genocide.
 Human-rights activists have pushed for this amendment, saying that some crimes committed by service personnel against civilians could be qualified as genocide and should not be pardoned.
 The government has also long accused the rebels of committing acts of genocide against ethnic Russians in Chechnya.
 Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of the Duma's legal affairs committee, said that the courts have not yet received any cases of genocide linked to Chechnya.
 A final reading is set for Friday.

TITLE: Kadyrov Fires Chechen Cabinet, Reappoints Popov as PM
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: VLADIKAVKAZ, North Ossetia - Pro-Moscow Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov on Tuesday fired his cabinet in a move that appeared to reflect infighting among the regional officials.
 
Kadyrov issued a decree dismissing his government as well as all local administrators throughout the region. He immediately reappointed Chechnya's prime minister, Anatoly Popov, and instructed him to name candidates for cabinet posts within two weeks.
 Kadyrov has been eager to assert that he makes key personnel decisions himself and is not beholden to the Kremlin. He appointed Popov earlier this year on President Vladimir Putin's orders, according to local media reports.
 Kadyrov replaced Grozny Mayor Oleg Zhidkov with Khozh-Akhmed Arsanov, previously head of Chechnya's obscure committee for youth affairs. Zhidkov has frequently defied Kadyrov, and their bodyguards were even said to exchange fire on some occasions.
 Observers said that Kadyrov ordered the cabinet reshuffle in an apparent effort to reassert his influence in Chechnya, as rival clans vie for the Kremlin's favor.
 Chechnya is to elect a president and parliament later this winter, and Kadyrov has already voiced his intention to run.
 Popov, who was chief of the state firm responsible for rebuilding Chechnya before being appointed prime minister in February, tried to downplay the shake-up. In televised remarks, Popov said that it was a routine, technical move intended to bring the local government's structure in compliance with the Chechen constitution approved in a March referendum.
 Russian officials have presented the new constitution, which cements Chechnya's status as part of Russia and promises it an as-yet undefined degree of autonomy, as a major step toward peace. 
 In a bid further to demonstrate Moscow's desire for peace, Putin last month also proposed a bill granting limited amnesty to the rebels. The bill quickly won preliminary approval from the State Duma. 
 Sergei Manakhov, an Interior Ministry official who deals with the illegal weapons trade, said Tuesday that the authorities may also start buying weapons from Chechnya's population.
 Meanwhile, the military said Tuesday that it has found a cache containing weapons and archives of rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov in the southern village of Makhkety. Colonel Ilya Shabalkin, a spokesperson for the military, said the documents included receipts from Maskhadov's subordinates, some of them for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
 Shabalkin said that in 2000-2001, Chechen rebels received from $1 million to $2 million each month from foreign terrorist groups linked to al-Qaida.

TITLE: Sergeant Gets 2 Years for Hazing
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - A military court on Wednesday sentenced a former sergeant in the elite Presidential Regiment to two years in a disciplinary unit for hazing after one of his subordinates said he had attempted suicide because of his superior's abuse.
 
The Moscow Military Garrison Court convicted the former junior sergeant, Vladimir Shumenko, 22, of exceeding his authority and using violence.
 Prosecutors in the two-day trial said Shumenko's actions drove a soldier in the unit, Alexander Fokin, 20, to try to kill himself in January.
 The court said that Shumenko, who commanded a communications squad in the regiment, had forced Fokin to do pull-ups before lights-out several times in January and then beat him for what he considered an unsatisfactory performance, Itar-Tass reported. It said the court found that Fokin received light physical injuries and that his suicide attempt was directly linked with the abuse.
 Prosecutors had requested that the court sentence Shumenko to three years in prison, Ekho Moskvy radio reported.

TITLE: Russia Offers Afghanistan Help
AUTHOR: By Paul Ames
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MADRID, Spain - Russia is offering intelligence and other support for a NATO peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan but will not send troops to the country once occupied by the Soviet Union for 10 years, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Wednesday.
 
Meeting his NATO counterparts, Ivanov said the offer showed the increasingly close relationship between the former Cold War foes. The Soviet Union was embroiled in a costly war in Afghanistan through the 1980s before withdrawing in 1989.
 "Cooperation with NATO may take many forms, but not direct military participation," Ivanov said.
 NATO Secretary General George Robertson said the "good will shown by Russia is much appreciated" and NATO was considering the offer. NATO is scheduled on Aug. 11 to take command of a 5,000-strong peacekeeping force in the Afghan capital, Kabul, currently run by Germany and the Netherlands.
 Ivanov welcomed a commitment from the United States and other NATO allies to show what he called "military restraint" on the territory of the seven eastern-European countries scheduled to join the alliance next year.
 Russia had received assurances that plans currently under consideration by the Pentagon to replace large U.S. bases in Germany with smaller, more flexible units in countries such as Romania and Bulgaria would respect arms-control agreements with Russia, he said.
 Russia was also pleased with plans by Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Slovenia - who will join NATO in May - to sign the European arms-control treaty when it comes into force. In return, Russia agreed to stick to its pledge to withdraw troops from Moldova and Georgia. Russia was on track to remove all its troops and military equipment from Moldova by October, NATO officials said.
 In an attempt to allay Western concerns about Russian aid to Iran's nuclear industry, Ivanov insisted any nuclear fuel sent to the Bushehr nuclear plant would have to be returned to Russia after being spent in the reactor. Also, Iran must sign an International Atomic Energy Agency protocol allowing inspections of all nuclear sites at any time, he said.
 Ivanov attended the second and final day of a NATO foreign ministers meeting as part of a year-old agreement to improve ties with the alliance. Both sides stressed the rapidly developing cooperation between them in areas including counterterrorism, missile defenses, maritime rescues and planning to cope with earthquakes and other civil emergencies.
 "This level of cooperation, in the past, would have been inconceivable," Robertson said. "In today's world the NATO allies and Russia need each other more than ever."


TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Six candidates will compete for the position as head of St. Petersburg's Election Commission, Interfax reported Wednesday.
 All six hold post-graduate legal qualifications, as required by federal law, with one holding a PhD.
 The Central Election Commission has yet to name its candidate for the post, the last remaining step required by federal law for the election.
 The commission's previous head, Alexander Garusov, was forced to resign the post on May 29 after the City Prosecutor's Office filed a request that the commission "contradict a contradiction with federal legislation, which states that the heads of regional commission should have legal education."
 Garusov held a masters degree from St. Petersburg Shipping Institute, but no legal qualification.
 
 
<font size="-2"><b>New Party Registered
 </b></font>

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - A city faction of the Party of Life was registered at the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, Interfax reported Wednesday.
 The faction reunites former members of the pro-governor United City bloc, including former assembly speaker Sergei Tarasov, Vatanyar Yagya, Zoya Zaushnikova and Vladimir Golman.
 The United City bloc fell apart this spring after its head, Yury Rydnik, one of Governor Vladimir Yakovlev's closest political allies in the city, lost his seat in the assembly following an lawsuit alleging financial irregularities in his campaign for election to the chamber last December.
 The Party of Life was formed last year by Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov, a key ally of President Vladimir Putin, and includes Putin's wife, Lyudmila, among its members. The local faction said it will support Mironov-sponsored candidates for election to the State Duma.
 
 
<font size="-2"><b>Satellite Launched 
 </b></font>

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia has put a new military satellite into orbit, officials said Thursday. 
 The satellite was launched aboard a Kosmos-3M rocket that blasted off Wednesday from the northern Plesetsk Cosmodrome, the Space Forces press service said. It reached its designated orbit on schedule, the press service said. 
 Interfax reported that President Vladimir Putin's envoy to the Northwest Federal District, Valentina Matviyenko, watched the launch. She called it proof that "rumors about our space program's collapse are obviously exaggerated," Interfax reported. 
 Russian Aviation and Space Agency chief Yury Koptev said last year that about 80 percent of the country's military and civilian satellites had already served their designated lifetime.
 
 
<font size="-2"><b>Turkmenistan Assailed
 </b></font>

MOSCOW (AP) - The Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Turkmenistan's withdrawal from the countries' dual citizenship agreement was illegal, and it pledged to send a diplomatic team to help protect the rights of Russian citizens there.
 Russia considers that the 1993 agreement remains in force despite the Turkmen government's decision to terminate it, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexander Yakovenko said.
 President Vladimir Putin and Turkmen leader Saparmurat Niyazov agreed to terminate the dual citizenship agreement during a meeting in Moscow in April, but the Foreign Ministry later protested Turkmenistan's decision to abruptly cancel the agreement without waiting for Russian lawmakers to vote on its termination.
 
 
<font size="-2"><b>Compensation Deal
 </b></font>

LONDON (AP) - The families of three telecommunications engineers who were kidnapped and killed in Chechnya have reached a compensation settlement with the men's employers.
 Britons Darren Hickey, 26, and Rudi Petschi, 42, and New Zealander Stanley Shaw, 58, were sent to Chechnya in 1998 by British company Granger Telecom Ltd. to help install a radio telephone system. The men, along with a third Briton, Peter Kennedy, were kidnapped Oct. 3, 1998, and beheaded after talks failed.
 At the start of what was to be a seven-day hearing Tuesday, lawyers told Judge William Gage that the two sides had reached an agreement, which will not be made public.
 
 
<font size="-2"><b>Guard Gets 20 Years
 </b></font>

MOSCOW (AFP) - A border guard was jailed for 20 years by a military tribunal for killing five soldiers and injuring six others, RIA-Novosti reported Thursday.
 The soldier, Denis Solovyov, went on the rampage at a garrison near the border between the Karachai-Cherkess republic and Georgia last November.
 The trial jury recognized that the defendant had been subjected to ill treatment by two of his comrades.

TITLE: Illarionov Blasts Chubais Again
AUTHOR: By Lyuba Pronina
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - He gathered journalists to talk about the Group of Eight summit in France, but Andrei Illarionov rarely misses a chance to go after Anatoly Chubais in public.
 
President Vladimir Putin's outspoken economic guru lambasted Chubais and his &quot;comrades&quot; at Unified Energy Systems on Wednesday for pushing through a breakup plan for the electricity monopoly that he said will make a few rich people richer and a lot of poor people poorer.
 He said that the Chubais-backed plan, which includes auctioning off the company's prime assets only to current shareholders, will make Putin's goal of doubling the size of the economy by 2010 impossible.
 Illarionov has repeatedly called on the government, which owns 52 percent of UES, to sack Chubais, who could barely control his glee last month when the UES board finally approved a long-debated blueprint for parceling out the monopoly's assets over the remaining five years of its existence.
 &quot;It is clear ... that opponents of the revamp, including civil servants, have been dealt a crushing defeat both morally and professionally,&quot; Chubais gloated at the time, referring to Illarionov.
 &quot;The entire country will pay for the operations that the management of [UES] suggests in its strategy. Frankly speaking, it has no relation to market reform but to an oligarchs' reform directed at forging their monopoly status,&quot; Illarionov said.
 Illarionov said that the government would have to spend some $2 billion under the UES plan to buy up the shares it needs to have 75 percent ownership of the Federal Grid Co., as the law requires.
 And another $2-billion burden will be placed on the shoulders of public-sector workers next year if electricity prices are allowed to increase by 16 percent, as the Economic Development and Trade Ministry recommended, he added.
 UES spokesperson Andrei Yegorov brushed off Illarionov's comments.
 &quot;The actions of management are controlled by shareholders - the largest of which is the state - and are absolutely transparent,&quot; he said.

TITLE: CB Sees Fall in Dollar Domination
AUTHOR: By Angelina Davydova
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: A process of de-dollarization has begun in the Russian economy, according to the head of the Central Bank, Sergei Ignatiev, speaking at the 12th International Banking Congress in St. Petersburg on Thursday.
 
Commercial bank liabilities held in foreign currencies decreased from 30.5 percent to 29.2 percent of the total in April, signaling the first decrease since July 1998.
 Ignatiev also said that in 2002 the volume of foreign currency in cash brought in to Russia by commercial banks exceeded the amount they had taken out by an average of $ 1billion per month, while another $1 billion was taken out of Russia by private citizens. &quot;As a result, the volume of foreign currency in cash didn't change,&quot; he said. 
 In March and April of 2003, the total figure for dollars brought in by banks was $300 million more than the amount taken out, while private individuals showed a tendency to take out less foreign currency than in the preceding months. &quot;The volume of foreign currency held in cash is decreasing, and there's a noticeable rise in demand for rubles,&quot; Ignatiev said.
 In spite of these claims that the Russian economy is being cleaned of dollars, the real ruble rate of exchange is continuing to decrease. According to Ignatiev, after appreciating by 0.3 percent between January and the beginning of May, it declined by 2.4 percent in May. 
 &quot;The decline of the ruble is mainly due to its drastic fall against the euro, while the ruble's strengthening against the dollar has not had a significant effect,&quot; he said.
 Nevertheless, of the $650 billion dollars in cash currently circulating worldwide, 12 percent is circulating in Russia, according to US Federal Reserve System information, published in mid-May.

TITLE: Iraqi Oil Ministry Denies Cancelling Energy Deals
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: BAGHDAD - Iraq said Wednesday that it had not cancelled oil contracts with Russian companies to develop oil fields after the downfall of Saddam Hussein's government.
 
&quot;So far, the Oil Ministry has not cancelled any contract with any country, or with international oil companies,&quot; an Iraqi Oil Ministry source said.
 The source, however, said that LUKoil's contract to develop the giant West Qurna oil field had been cancelled by the former government.
 The $3.7-billion contract was held by LUKoil until mid-December, when Baghdad pulled the plug, saying that the company had failed to meet the terms of the deal by not starting development work.
 LUKoil, however, insists its contract is still valid and plans to begin work on the field &quot;soon.&quot;
 &quot;We are in consultations with the occupying power. The sanctions have been lifted; we will invest soon in Iraq,&quot; LUKoil Vice President Leonid Fedun told The St. Petersburg Times on Monday. He said that LUKoil was now in &quot;constant contact&quot; with the U.S. administration in an attempt to find a way to hold on to the field and that the company was waiting on a progress report from Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who had been negotiating with U.S. officials on behalf of LUKoil at the recent summits in St. Petersburg and Evian, France.
 Ivanov told reporters in Spain on Wednesday that he had received &quot;firm assurances&quot; from the U.S. administration that there will be &quot;no discrimination against Russian companies in Iraq,&quot; news agencies reported.
 Russian companies will take part in tenders for various economic projects in Iraq on the same conditions as Western firms, Ivanov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying on the sidelines of a Russia-NATO meeting.
 The source in the Iraqi Oil Ministry said that his ministry had not signed any new contract since the collapse of the former government &quot;except those signed with Turkey and Jordan to sell them fuel oil in return for gasoline.&quot;
 In January, Iraq awarded a contract to Russia's Stroitransgaz, an oil and gas construction company, to develop block four in Iraq's Western Desert. It also initiated contracts with Soyuzneftegaz for the 200,000 barrels-per-day Rafidain field in southern Iraq and with Tatneft for block nine in the Western Desert.
 Iraq started negotiations with Zarubezhneft, Russia's umbrella company for state holdings abroad, on the giant Bin Umar field, with estimated production of 450,000 bpd.
 
 <i>(Reuters, SPT) </i>

TITLE: Season of Content at Summer Political Summits
AUTHOR: By Mikhail Margelov
TEXT: The plethora of high-level meetings and summits that take place in May each year have become a traditional feature of the international political landscape. This year, however, these gatherings were of particular importance because of the need to smooth over the cracks caused by the Iraq crisis. And this was achieved, with even U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Jacques Chirac demonstratively burying their differences.
 
This must have come as some surprise to the vast majority of commentators and pundits, who played up the formula attributed to Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice: &quot;Punish France, ignore Germany and forgive Russia.&quot; I am very glad that the events of recent days have demonstrated that international relations differ significantly from the proverbial spats in the communal kitchen, where real or perceived insults fester for years and years.
 I fully agree with President Vladimir Putin's assessment that the Russia-U.S. summit has &quot;yet again confirmed the fact that there is no alternative to cooperation between Russian and the United States, both in terms of ensuring our domestic national agendas and in terms of cooperation for the sake of enhanced international stability and security.&quot; This is extremely important - it establishes Russia's foreign-policy priorities and recognizes that without a constructive partnership with the United States we cannot resolve any major problem today, whether it concern the structure and role of the United Nations, Russia's accession to the WTO, the situation in the Middle East or problems on the Korean Peninsula. The success of the high-level meetings and summits in St. Petersburg and Evian bear witness to the efforts of the U.S. administration to overcome the difficulties in its relations with many other countries (including its immediate partners in the anti-terrorism coalition) that resulted from its unilateral operation against Iraq.
 Now we can finally lay to rest debates about whether Russia should have adopted a Polish-style position during the Iraq crisis, or at least a Chinese-style position, so as not to damage relations with the United States too much. If one recalls the anti-American hysteria inside Russia caused by the U.S. and British military operation in Iraq, then it becomes clear that the Russian leadership essentially adopted the only sound position it could, by underscoring its views on the principles and methods for resolving international disputes while preserving the basis of its relations with the United States. Bush himself recognized this when he said that differences over Iraq had strengthened, not weakened, relations between Russia and the United States.
 The respect shown to Russia during the 300th anniversary celebrations in St. Petersburg by the leading world powers is a strong confirmation of the soundness of our country's foreign-policy course, as well as being a result of the president's unprecedented level of activity in the international arena and the personal authority he commands among world leaders. There is every reason to believe that this authority will facilitate the resolution of specific problems in Russia's relations with other countries, irrespective of the area.
 Of course, there are many such problems, despite Bush's humorous remark that, now, the most pressing problem in U.S.-Russian relations following the ratification of the nuclear-arms-reduction agreement known as the Moscow Treaty is the infamous chicken leg dispute. Although the fact that both sides managed to come to an understanding regarding the involvement of Russian companies in the postwar reconstruction in Iraq and on the issue of Iran can only be gratifying. In addition, Bush unambiguously came out in support of Moscow's efforts to bring about a settlement in Chechnya and once again promised to put pressure on Congress to revoke the Jackson-Vanik amendment.
 The main task in our bilateral relations now is to add content to the benign milieu created by the Putin-Bush relationship and to come up with specific measures to improve partnership in the areas of energy, investment and trade. Our common goal - not least through inter-parliamentary channels - is to put relatively new threats to the world such as AIDS and SARS firmly on the agenda, while not forgetting, of course, to implement agreements already reached, in particular the Moscow Treaty.
 As far as Russia-EU relations are concerned, the meetings and summits in St. Petersburg and Evian should, I think, demonstrate the futility of attempts to exploit differences between Europe and the United States. Russia's relations with the EU not only do not conflict with its relations with the United States, they are, in fact, complementary. Russia can and ought to act as a kind of &quot;integrator&quot; based on the fact that the long-term interests of our country lie in international stability and forming as broad a coalition of forces as possible to battle against terrorism and other threats to the international community. Moreover, overcoming the schism within the EU should facilitate the resolution of specific problems in Russia-EU relations - first and foremost, the issue of abolishing visa restrictions for Russian citizens.
 Russia, of course, understands the difficulties faced by the EU due to the imminent accession of new member states and the necessity to iron out differences within the EU over Iraq - which naturally distracted EU bodies from working out a balanced, common position on relations with Russia. However, we believe that now, after the most recent round of meetings and summits, there will be greater understanding and that our European partners will be able to devote more attention to their relations with Russia. An important step in the right direction is the EU's position on Chechnya, as expressed by Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who stated: &quot;The voting for the referendum combined with the granting of amnesties are important steps in this direction [i.e. toward a political solution].&quot; Simitis, who currently holds the EU presidency, emphasized that the EU would continue to support Russia's efforts to find a political solution to the problem based on &quot;peace, trust, human rights, and economic and social reconstruction.&quot;
 I think that Russia is objective in its assessment of relations with its European partners, understanding very well that the business interests of European companies lie behind the sluggishness of EU bureaucracy. Although the lack of will to resolve problems in relations with Russia - trade in nuclear materials, antidumping measures and quotas, access to markets, unfair subsidies for exporters, ongoing delays in negotiations over entry to the WTO - is not just due to bureaucracy, but also to a large extent stems from the divergent economic interests of Russia and the EU. However, the factors bringing us together are also considerable - it's not for nothing that EU countries are Russia's leading trade partners in all sectors.
 The experience of resolving our differences over transit between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia proves that if the will is there on both sides, a mutually acceptable solution can be found through compromise. This is what Putin called for when welcoming the creation of a Russia-EU Permanent Partnership Council and proposing that a program of fast-track solutions to outstanding problems be prepared for the next summit in November. And I think that he was not only addressing these comments to our European partners but also to our own bureaucrats, lawmakers and all those who are interested in Russia becoming an integral part of the &quot;Common European Space.&quot;
 And for that, first and foremost, we need to put our own house in order.
 
 <i>Mikhail Margelov, the chairperson of the Federation Council's foreign-affairs committee, contributed this comment to The St. Petersburg Times. </i>

TITLE: President Putin - I Want My Money Back
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalev
TEXT: According to President Vladimir Putin, &quot;... freedom of movement is one of the most significant rights for every person ... .&quot;
 
He made the comment in relation to opening up the visa regime between Russian and European Union countries during the EU-Russia summit held here last Saturday.
 It's frustrating to hear Putin talking about rights in relation to Europe when, as it turns out, we don't enjoy them here at home.
 I don't know if it was because they know that my refrigerator isn't working or that they wanted me to write something incredibly scathing about the jubilee, but the Federal Guard Service (FSO) wouldn't let me get to my apartment on the weekend to have dinner, because the president was busy at the time sitting down for his dinner (admittedly, a more sumptuous affair than I had planned) with the leaders of about 40 different countries on a yacht docked about two blocks from where I live.
 I hope that the person who is supposed to be the guarantor of our constitutional rights - in this case, the right of freedom of movement and free choice of place of residence (Article 27, Constitution of the Russian Federation) - had a good dinner. The fact that I missed out on mine doesn't mean that he or his guests should suffer. Right?
 The crux of the problem is that I am registered at my parents' apartment on Vasilievsky Island, not at the apartment on Galernaya Ulitsa where I actually live. I'm not alone in this situation - many people (foreigners or otherwise) are not actually registered where they live here.
 But, if the reports from Interfax over the holiday weekend are any indication, the police were applying the whole registration requirement with a vengeance. According to one report from the agency, they wouldn't even allow an ambulance through to a patient on Galernaya Ulitsa - the doctors had to go on foot, carrying all of their equipment with them.
 The FSO personnel tried to be helpful, I guess, and it was because of their sage advice that I began writing this column in the train station in Vologda, while waiting for a connection back to St. Petersburg from a jubilee weekend spent out of town - 1,200 kilometers out of town, to be exact. The FSO had told me that I should try to get by living the way the homeless do here.
 It took me a day to take the advice, however, as, on Wednesday night, a friend of mine who has connections with political circles that have dealings with the FSO had managed - after about an hour of tedious negotiations involving discussions over the radio with officials from different security structures involved in sealing off the area - to have a police officer walk me to my home and politely check my passport (at first he didn't even want to enter the apartment and only did so after I invited him, which was a nice surprise). The problem appeared to be solved.
 It wasn't. The next night the same police officer was there, but his supervisor refused to let me though. The fact that I live there was not enough for him - a piece of paper appeared to be more important. In all fairness, the news segment on NTV in which I talked with a reporter about my difficulties in simply trying to go home may not have endeared me to the chief.
 Whatever the case, the whole situation was just too absurd for me to cope with, so I went to the train station and bought a ticket on the first train out of the city, regardless of destination. I didn't have a watch, my cell phone wasn't working (my recharger being a hostage, of sorts, to the FSO) and I didn't even know exactly where I was going. All I had were my passport, bank card, toothpaste, toothbrush, hairbrush and a notebook with a pen attached.
 The railway attendants looked at me a bit strangely when I jumped off the train 26 hours later in Kotlas with no bags and wearing a light jacket. Looking at a map on the wall in the station, I got a better idea of why it was so cold out. I was in the Russian Far North. I think a real homeless person would have chosen a more comfortable destination.
 Now that I'm back in town, I have one question: Was Putin registered at the Konstantinovsky Palace for the three days he spent there? I don't think that the guarantor of the Constitution of the Russian Federation spent a single kopek of his own money while playing host and enjoying the celebrations. Meanwhile, I had to spend my own money and time for three days just to try to maintain my sanity. I also pay rent for an apartment that, for three days, I wasn't even allowed to use. If Putin wasn't registered at the palace either, then I don't see the difference. If this is the case, then I think that he, or the FSO, or the Constitutional Court - somebody - owes me something.

TITLE: noh business/show business
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: For some people, it's never to early to join the family business.
 
Rokuro Umewaka, the 56th representative of a renowned dynasty of Japanese actors, had his first Noh theater lesson when he was just 3 years old.
 Now aged 55, Umewaka was in St. Petersburg last week for the first performance in the city of the ancient Japanese performing art, ranked No. 1 on UNESCO's list of non-material cultural assets. The two performances took place on May 27 and 28 at Smolny Cathedral as part of the Year of Japan, a year-long festival of Japanese culture in Russia running through March 2004.
 Umewaka's family follows the Kanze tradition, one of several within Noh theater, a combination of dance, folk music, martial arts and drama that dates back to the 15th century. Trainee Noh actors usually live in their teacher's house to study the teacher's art, philosophy and way of life.
 In St. Petersburg, Umewaka and his troupe performed &quot;The Earth Spider,&quot; the story of a sick warrior who, together with his servants, kills a mysterious spider that covers him with its sticky threads. Umewaka, who takes the role of the spider, said that the play, like all Noh shows, has multiple philosophical meanings and can be read on many levels.
 &quot;Personally, I see the play as a story of inequality between the government and the governed,&quot; he said in an interview before the performance. &quot;The government is always stronger, and the governed will always be the victims.&quot;
 According to Umewaka, no adaptations or changes were made to accommodate Russian audiences at last week's performances.
 &quot;Everything - the acting, the music, the sets - is the same as at home,&quot; he said, adding that he feels comfortable performing in a cathedral.
 &quot;We have performed in many different places during our history, from open-air spaces to churches,&quot; he said. &quot;In fact, we don't have a typical standard interior in which we like to perform.&quot;
 Noh theater has been around for over 600 years, and troupes today have nearly 250 plays to choose from. According to actor Shigema Yamanouchi, present as a spectator at the May 27 performance, the newest of these plays is about 250 years old.
 &quot;Modern authors rarely try to write something for Noh theater, so most plays in the troupe's repertoires are very old, dating back 500 or 600 years,&quot; she said.
 Yamanouchi added that, in Japan, the popularity of Noh is rather modest, compared with that of modern Japanese or Western drama.
 &quot;Of course, younger audiences everywhere want something more dynamic and less meditative,&quot; she said. &quot;But Noh audiences are very dedicated. The circle is not particularly large, but it survives.&quot;
 The Year of Japan has already struck a chord with audiences in St. Petersburg. Smolny Cathedral was full to overcapacity for the two Noh shows, with spectators occupying not only all the available seats but also much of the floor space.
 Festival organizers said that no Noh performance had ever been seen in St. Petersburg although, several years ago, St. Petersburg State University's oriental-studies faculty held a seminar on the subject. The seminar, however, was not a public event.
 The impulse for the Year of Japan, which includes over 100 projects, emerged at a G8 meeting in summer 2002 at which both President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi were present. Organizers said that, although the festival is also running in Moscow and several cities in the Russian Far East, it is primarily seen as a 300th-anniversary to St. Petersburg, which is why most events are taking place in the city.
 More Japanese performing arts come to town later this month, with Gagaku shows from June 19 through June 26, and Kabuki theater from June 21 through June 24.
 A mix of theatrical and musical genres and styles, Gagaku, the most ancient of all Japanese performing arts, emerged about 1,300 years ago, and has since absorbed influences from China, Korea and other Asian countries. Originally, it was meant exclusively for royal audiences, and the shows have only recently been performed for the general public.
 Kabuki, a relative newcomer at just 400 years old, is different in that all roles are performed by men. St. Petersburg audiences will have the chance to see one of the most popular of all Kabuki plays, &quot;Lovers' Suicide at Sonezaki,&quot; written in 1703 - an important factor when choosing the play to perform here, organizers said - by Chikematsu Monzaemon, who is frequently referred to as the &quot;Japanese Shakespeare.&quot; The Kabuki version of the play was created in 1719, and is seen as a Japanese version of Shakespeare's &quot;Romeo and Juliet.&quot;

TITLE: b.g. now looking on the bright side
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Seminal Russian rock band Akvarium will showcase its long-awaited new album, released last month, with two concerts next week, for which the band will be augmented with a full-fledged jazz horn section for the first time.
 
Akvarium frontman and songwriter Boris Grebenshchikov says that &quot;Pesni Rybaka&quot; (&quot;Fisherman's Songs&quot;), recorded between fall 2002 and spring 2003 and released on Moscow based label CD Land on May 15, is his first album that contains no &quot;negative songs.&quot;
 Rather, he says, the album is &quot;positive,&quot; &quot;free from suffering&quot; and stems from &quot;generosity, not the lack of it,&quot; but also contains quite a lot of irony - in contrast to what he sees as the current music-industry tendency that songs have to be serious and written in minor keys to be a success in Russia now.
 &quot;It's easy to associate yourself with minor-key songs,&quot; he said in an interview last week. &quot;It makes you feel self-pity, and self-pity cancels the necessity to do something. When you feel pity for yourself, you can just sit and do nothing.&quot;
 Apart from the new-found &quot;positivism,&quot; the new album sounds less complex musically than Akvarium's previous two albums, 2001's &quot;Sestra Khaos&quot; (&quot;Sister Chaos&quot;) and 1999's &quot;Psi,&quot; named after the letter of the Greek alphabet.
 &quot;Actually, this is pure poetry, there isn't one complex chord on the entire album,&quot; said Grebenshchikov, whose songs betray the influence of Bob Dylan, while also mentioning Osama bin Laden and a whole string of computer terms.
 Some songs on &quot;Pesni Rybaka&quot; seem to revive the early 1980s Akvarium feel, although there are no members left of that classic line up in the current band, which features Boris Rubekin on keyboards, Andrei Surotdinov on violin and viola, Vladimir Kudryavtsev on guitar, Oleg Shar on percussion and Alik Potapkin on drums. Accordion and saxophone player Oleg Sakmarov quit last year. 
 &quot;Akvarium is Akvarium anyway,&quot; Grebenshchikov said. &quot;If you take ... R.E.M., you can still hear it's R.E.M. It's the same with us - you still hear that it's Akvarium. I remember I was told the same things about 'Sestra Khaos,' that it sounds like the old Akvarium. ... I think it's just natural.&quot;
 As well as jazz musicians, who added some swing to the track &quot;Utkina Zavod&quot; (&quot;Duck Creek,&quot; a place on the right bank of the Neva River in St. Petersburg's outskirts), the new album also features some Indian musicians, who add new flavors to six of the album's 10 tracks.
 &quot;The songs had been written even before any ideas of India, so it just happened that Indian musicians appeared,&quot; said Grebenshchikov, who travelled to Delhi twice to record Indian traditional instruments in a local studio. 
 &quot;We just rented a studio, and our contact simply gathered the musicians we needed,&quot; he said. &quot;They either played what was appropriate for a song, or didn't understand very well what it is about. So we had to cut some a lot, and some have been axed altogether.&quot;
 &quot;Pesni Rybaka,&quot; however, does not include all the new songs written by Grebenshchikov since &quot;Sestra Khaos.&quot;
 &quot;At least five or six songs were not included, though some have been already recorded, but they will be put aside for better times, to settle a bit,&quot; says Grebenshchikov. &quot;And there were a few more songs that could have been on the album, but we didn't record them, because there was no space for them.&quot;
 The album lasts 45 minutes, not long by today's standards, a decision that Grebenshchikov claims was deliberate. 
 &quot;The album must fit on one side of the [90-minute] cassette,&quot; he said. &quot;It's sacred, because half of Russia listens to cassettes anyway. And I remember what a headache it was when you needed to copy the remainder of the album on the other side, because it didn't fit on one. You should be human toward people.&quot;
 Rumors were circulating that Grebenshchikov would appear at the concert by Marc Almond at Onegin last month to sing a duo with the British singer, for whose forthcoming &quot;Russian&quot; album, tentatively called &quot;Heart on Snow,&quot; Grebenshchikov recorded two tracks. However, the plan didn't come off.
 &quot;[Almond] himself even told me not to come, because it was a mess there,&quot; Grebenshchikov said about the elitist restaurant/nightclub. &quot;[Album producer Andrei] Samsonov even had to go home to bring some cables.&quot;
 &quot;Somebody was too lazy to produce a [proper] PA system and, instead, there were just two small speakers, like a record player's. And there was a guitarist who had little idea what to play. But Marc stood for an hour and a half, like a hero, I was told.&quot;
 For next week's concerts, Akvarium is rehearsing with a horn section. 
 &quot;We've never played with a full-fledged horn section, it's the first time in our history,&quot; Grebenshchikov said. &quot;Once, we had four saxophones [on stage], but a saxophone, trumpet and clarinet at the same time ... we've never done that before.&quot;
 Although the new album has been a long time coming, Grebenshchikov said that Akvarium won't tour to promote it.
 &quot;After the concert, we'll be taking a long break,&quot; he said. &quot;And by autumn, I think we'll be preparing an armor-piercing program, with horns and stuff - just to see what can we do. We haven't done anything like that before.&quot;
 According to Grebenshchikov, the concerts will see Akvarium performing the new album in full, &quot;plus some old stuff, some of 'Sestra Khaos' and a couple of surprises.&quot;
 

 <i>
Akvarium plays Lensoviet Palace of Culture at 7 p.m. on June 13 and 14. Links: www.aquarium.ru </i>

TITLE: chernov's choice
TEXT: After Paul McCartney's recent visit, another dream of St. Petersburg rock fans looks set to be fullfilled this week, as veteran British band <strong>King Crimson</strong> plays the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall on Tuesday. 
 
Apart from founder Robert Fripp on guitar, King Crimson's current, sixth line-up includes Adrian Belew (guitar, lead vocals), Trey Gunn (touch guitar) and Pat Mastelotto (drums).
 King Crimson's current tour is to promote the band's latest outing, &quot;The Power To Believe.&quot; As Fripp is extremely serious about his work, there's a set of strict rules for the public.
 &quot;Please remember: absolutely NO PHOTOGRAPHY, NO RECORDING and NO SMOKING at King Crimson shows. Thank you!&quot; the band's Web site, www.king-crimson.com, states. 
 Local promoters warn that the prog-rock guru could just stop the concert and leave if he sees a single little flash in the auditorium.
 Less discerning are <strong>The Meteors</strong> who will play LDM this Saturday. The originators of psychobilly, a blend of rockabilly and punk frenzy, The Meteors will also appear at a couple of underground joints just to hang around and drink a little. Rumor has it that they will visit Front on Friday and go to Money Honey after Saturday's concert
 The Meteors played at the now-defunct SpartaK club in December 1999 and documented the historic show on the live album &quot;Psychobilly Revolution.&quot; The band's local fans are rather a rowdy breed.
 Less demanding will be a pair of concerts by German synthy-pop duo <strong>2raumwohnung</strong> at Onegin on Saturday and British DJ/electronic musician<strong> Neotropic</strong> (real name Riz Maslen), who will perform with guitarist James Everest of Minneapolis-based band Lateduster at Par.spb on Friday.
 On the local scene, <strong>Wine</strong> makes a comeback with gigs at Fish Fabrique on Friday and Moloko on Tuesday. 
 The local cult band has been inactive since November 2000, when the band's singer/guitarist and sole original member, Alexei Winer, moved abruptly to France.
 Wine - known as Vino, Winecaster and The Wine before settling on its final name - was formed in 1991, and put out two albums, &quot;Ugly&quot; (1999) and &quot;Wine Not?&quot; (2000), both tape-only releases on local label Bomba-Piter.
 &quot;Everything is foreign here, there are strangers everywhere,&quot; Winer said in a telephone interview from Paris last year. &quot;I don't belong to this place, and I am madly happy about it, because I am not a part of society.&quot;
 Finally, Tom Waits-influenced combo <strong>Billy's Band</strong> will appear on Friday at the unlikely venue of GEZ-21, or Gallery of Experimental Sound - more usually reserved for noise and industrial music - at the Free Arts Foundation at Pushkinskaya 10.
 
 <i>
- By Sergey Chernov </i>

TITLE: blimey! it's almost a real boozer
AUTHOR: By Tobin Auber
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: It was with a fair degree of excitement that I, along with an English colleague, set off for Leo's Pub, a recently opened establishment on Voznesensky Prospect that claims to be a British-style watering hole. 
 
Granted, no self-respecting English pub would dare to call itself Leo's, and true, early reports on the establishment, although very positive, came from a French member of staff - hardly someone to be trusted when it comes to deciding whether a pint has been well pulled. But nevertheless, the opening of an English pub just a few doors from the office sounded almost too good to be true, and was enough to bring out the British Bulldog in this reviewer. As it turned out, although Leo's certainly has much to recommend it, anyone in search of the intimacy and atmosphere of an English pub will probably come away disappointed.
 In fact, Leo's came clattering to the ground in a shambolic heap at the very first hurdle. Attempting to recreate the full pub experience, we arrived bang on the dot of opening time in search of a largely liquid lunch, and perhaps even - whisper it! - a bag of salt-and-vinegar crisps. Only to find that the pub was still closed. We banged away furiously on the door and then hung around for a quarter of an hour in miserable desperation, but all to no avail. Our first foray having ended in disaster, we decided to retreat to base camp in the hope of making a second assault later in the day. 
 On our return, augmented with a Canadian colleague, we found ourselves in what can perhaps best be described as a pale but passable imitation of an English pub. Flat-packed furniture, fresh from the box, spotless, freshly-painted walls, stained glass windows (including a Union Jack pattern in one), largely smoke free, Leo's lacks the intimate, worn and relaxed atmosphere of a pub, at least so far. No doubt the fact that it only recently opened goes a long way to explaining why it feels so sterile. The layout is spacious for a St. Petersburg bar, and the long, broad bar with its stools was also appreciated, though far too low for a real pub bar. If constructed in keeping with time-honored British traditions, the height of the bar should put your eyeline on a level with, er, the barmaid's chest - English pubs were not designed for the politically correct.
 First impressions, then, were disappointing, but things soon started to improve dramatically. Having spent a good few minutes snobbily whining (in an all-too-British manner) about how far Leo's is from the great British original, we were soon sampling what could easily rank as the finest pint of bitter (150 rubles, $4.90) available in the city (although the beer itself hailed from Ireland), and one of my companion's Guinness (also 150 rubles) was also up there with the city's finest. The service was fast, cheerful, bilingual and another major factor counting in Leo's favor. And the food was just about everything that bar food should be, although, heartbreakingly, there wasn't a packet of salt and vinegar in sight. 
 I went for the toasted chicken sandwich (100 rubles, $3.25), a crunchy golden delight packed with meaty chunks of chicken and fresh vegetables. My British companion, a pseudo-vegetarian, went for the cheese salad (100 rubles, $3.25) which featured camembert and parmesan and was deemed excellent, although heavy on the dill, a regular complaint in St. Petersburg's cafes and restaurants. Our Canadian colleague went for the chicken salad, another palpable hit - grilled chicken (still hot), in oil rather than mayonnaise, fresh lettuce and tomatoes. 
 For a main course I took the minute steak (200 rubles, $6.50), which was good and generously portioned, if nothing special, while our &quot;vegetarian&quot; gave this English pub the acid test by trying the fish and chips - another whacking great portion, great fish, but the batter, though tasty, was far from recalling a traditional fish-and-chip supper.
 It was the English pie (150 rubles, $4.90), however, that stole the show - succulent spiced meat with onion in a huge, golden-brown pie of pastry and potato. 
 Leo's, then, will not inspire thoughts of the White Cliffs of Dover, the spirit of Dunkirk or Agincourt, and some blue-blooded Brits may find their blood boiling at the Italian football flags behind the bar (che?), or the lack of a dartboard. For a cheeky lunchtime pint and sarny, <br> however ...
 
 <i>
Leo's Pub. 21 Vosnesensky Prospect. Tel.: 314-3925. Open daily, noon until the last customer leaves. Menu in Russian and English. Credit cards will be accepted from next week. Lunch for three, with alcohol: 1,790 rubles ($58.50). </i>

TITLE: the new antiquity of quarenghi
AUTHOR: By Darja Agapova
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Although the name of Giacomo Quarenghi is associated with dozens of buildings in St. Petersburg, most of the Italian architect's original drawings ended up in his homeland. Now, however, an exhibition at the State Hermitage Museum has put some of these drawings on display, and the results often reveal a different Quarenghi to the one that most St. Petersburgers are used to.
 
&quot;Harmony of Style in Architecture: Drawings by Giacomo Quarenghi (1744-1817) from Italian Municipal Collections&quot; brings together 130 of Quarenghi's drawings, building designs and sketches from Milan's Museo Castello Sforzeso and Bergamo's Angelo Mai 
 Quarenghi was one of the most educated architects of his day, an archeologist and antiquarian who travelled all over Italy measuring and sketching antique monuments. He studied those monuments he couldn't reach with the help of other artist's engravings, such as the prints in his copy &quot;Antiquities of Ionia,&quot; originally published in London in 1797 and now on display in the Hermitage. When Quarenghi copied these prints, he portrayed himself in his signature hat among the tombs on the island of Tortosa in Asia Minor - although he had never actually been there.
 This element of fantasy can be seen in many of the interior-design drawings on display, in which Quarenghi portrayed the environment in which he imagined his constructions. Thus, while his St. Petersburg buildings spend most of the year freezing in cold winds, the architect imagined them in a dreamy, Utopian land, set among cypress trees, waterfalls and ancient ruins. It is hard to tell now whether this trait was due more to homesickness or to the cosmopolitan demands of the Neoclassical style, which ignored differences of climate and location in the quest for artistic European union and the revival of a Golden Age of humanity.
 The exhibition is laid out in the New Hermitage's Hall of Twelve Columns, located, appropriately, next to two of Quarenghi's Neoclassical masterpieces in St. Petersburg: the Hermitage's replica of the Vatican Palace's Raphael Loggias, and the Hermitage Theater, built in semi-amphitheater form in place of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace. Quarenghi based the original design of the theater's capitals, with their dramatic masks, on models he found at Pompeii, the town near modern-day Naples buried by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
 The rediscovery of Pompeii in 1748 sparked renewed interest in Classical art and architecture, paving the way for Neoclassicism. As one of the homes of Classical antiquity, Italy was a natural place for Catherine the Great to search for an architect to transform St. Petersburg into a magnificent &quot;new Rome.&quot; Quarenghi, a native of Bergamo in northern Italy, was 36 when he signed a contract to come to Russia for three years. He ended up settling permanently.
 Catherine, Quarenghi's principal client, was delighted with him, writing in a letter that &quot;this Quarenghi is creating beautiful things for us. The whole city is filled with his buildings: the Bank, the Stock Exchange, a great number of warehouses, stores and private residences, and they are as good as can be.&quot; For his part, Quarenghi jumped at the opportunity to have imperial backing - financial as well as moral - for his work, and gave full rein to his creativity. He wrote to a friend in Italy that &quot;I have so much work that I can barely find the time to eat or sleep.&quot;
 Some of Quarenghi's fantastically beautiful architectual plans look like mysterious signs, for example, his ill-fated design for the city's original Stock Exchange. Construction work on this building, on the spit of Vasilievsky Island, was left unfinished for 14 years. Eventually, the half-built building was demolished and the current construction by French architect Toma de Tomon was built from 1805 to 1810.
 The Stock Exchange fiasco at least gave Quarenghi the consolation of having built a &quot;real&quot; Roman ruin. &quot;Harmony of Style in Architecture&quot; demonstrates that ruin is one of the ideals of Quarenghi's drawings. He makes all the objects in his drawings look old, giving them nobility and mystery as a sheen does to silver or bronze. Quarenghi's stones are worn, and grass grows through the walls.
 In contrast to his laconic buildings, Quarenghi's sketches and plans are full of wonderful peculiarities, making them fascinating to scrutinize. St. Petersburgers are used to the definition and gravity of his buildings, but the current exhibition unexpectedly shows an architect full of Mediterranean fondness and delicacy.
 Although renowned in Russia for his architecture, Quarenghi is almost unknown here as a designer of applied art. The current exhibition shows his designs for vases, bowls, candelabra and other objects, all of which, in true Neoclassical style, revive the forms of ancient ritual objects, altars, censers, sarcophagi and so on. He even manages to turn an ordinary bookcase into a depository of mystical secrecy.
 
 <i>
&quot;Harmony of Style in Architecture: Drawings by Giacomo Quarenghi (1744-1817) from Italian Municipal Collections&quot; runs at the State Hermitage Museum through June 29. </i>

TITLE: life with a literary legacy
TEXT: There was a time when Dmitry Dostoyevsky used to curse the memory of his famous great-grandfather, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the 19th-century author of such literary classics as &quot;The Brothers Karamazov&quot; and &quot;Crime and Punishment.&quot; 
 
Things are different today.
 Raised in Leningrad during the Soviet era to believe in communist ideals, Dostoyevsky says that, for much of his life, he was unable to accept many of the contentions of his ancestor's writings - specifically, that people are not always equipped to run their own lives, that they sometimes suffer breakdowns or fall into despair and, most objectionable perhaps, that they often choose to put their faith in a supreme being.
 But today, Dostoyevsky, 57, has changed his mind about his forebear, and says that the emphasis Fyodor Dostoyevsky placed on religion has more relevance in Russia than ever before. 
 &quot;The Christian philosophy of his [Fyodor Dostoyevsky's] novels has the power to rescue the country from the ideological vacuum it's stuck in,&quot; he said. &quot;Politicians talk about the absence of a national idea, but all we really need to do is turn to traditional Orthodox values like compassion, patience and charity.&quot;
 Dostoyevsky lives with his wife, Lyudmila, son Alexei and Alexei's wife and two daughters - Anna, named after Fyodor Dostoyevsky's wife, and Vera, or Faith, named in hope of a bright future for Russia - in an industrial district in the southwest of the city. He talked recently with Staff Writer </i><strong>Galina Stolyarova</strong><i> about heredity, birthrights and his great-grandfather's legacy.</i>
 

 
q:<i> If you were offered the opportunity to talk with Fyodor Dostoyevsky, what would you ask him?
 </i>a: I don't have a list of questions in mind, but of course the main theme of the conversation would be the future of Russia, its national idea and the character of its people. Just like my great-grandfather, I believe that Russia's religion is its salvation. But I think that, if he were alive today, he wouldn't be a very public figure - simply because his ideas don't fall in line with the country's politics. The mass media wouldn't give him any publicity - exactly what's happening today with Alexander Solzhenitsyn. 
 
On a more personal note, of course, there have been quite a few situations in my life when I wished he were alive and in my life. So I took his books out and read them over and over again, looking for answers to my questions.
 
 
q:<i><strong> </strong></i><i>Are you in possession of any heirlooms passed down from your great-grandfather?
 </i>a: No, unfortunately I am not. After the revolutions of 1917, the family was forced to give everything - including even the writer's personal belongings - to the state. Even Dostoyevsky's copy of the Bible, which he bequeathed to his male descendants, is not in the family. My father should have been able to pass it down to me, and I to my son Alexei, but the Bible is part of the collection of the Historical Museum in Moscow. I think that represents a disregard of the writer's last will and testament. If they did return the Bible to me, I would most likely give it right back to the museum, but it's important to me that they acknowledge my right to it.
 

 
q:<i><strong> </strong></i><i>What traits do you feel you have in common with your great-grandfather?
 </i>a:<strong> </strong>I believe in genetics and have identified a number of characteristics common to the Dostoyevsky family. I have even discovered a new gene, the gene for speed. Fyodor Mikhailovich liked speed. His wife, Anna Grigorevna, once wrote that he took coaches as often as he could, even if the distance was as short as a single block. Their son Fyodor was fond of horses and frequented hippodromes, while Fyodor Dostoyevsky's grandson, Andrei, adored motorcycle racing. I prefer automobiles and trams. My son Alexei has inherited the gene, too: He's a professional tram driver. When he's not at work, he rides his bike like crazy all over St. Petersburg, When he had his first contact with horses, he was fascinated by their strength and grace. It's the same gene at work.
 

 
q:<i> You also worked as a tram driver. How did you end up in the job?
 </i>a:<strong> </strong>I've had more than a dozen different jobs in my life and had the driving job for only eight years. But I must say it was a very special experience ... The job not only served to soothe my passion for speed, but I also loved driving through the city center, through Dostoyevsky's city, or &quot;the human ant hill&quot; as he would have called it. I could observe so many people, sort of sneak into their lives. 
 
This kind of curiosity probably represents another connection to Fyodor Mikhailovich. 
 When I read Dostoyevsky, however, I don't focus on my relationship to the writer. I'm just a dedicated reader, completely engrossed in his marvelous prose. An understanding of his ideas and his faith came to me naturally and gradually over the years, as I was confronted by what he called his &quot;damned questions.&quot; It's amazing that the older I become, the closer I feel [to him].
 
 
q: <i>How are the other members of your family getting along?
 </i>a: My only sister, Tatyana, is reliving the life of Dostoyevsky's daughter, Lyudmila, who suffered from anemia, a rare disease at the time. Tatyana also has a rare [autoimmune] illness called Bekhterev's Disease that causes her to resemble a 90-year-old, although she's only 65. She cannot move about without help, but, unfortunately, her son Nikolai is an alcoholic and cannot take proper care of her. 
 
The irony is that alcoholism is another trait common to the Dostoyevskys. Fyodor Dostoyevsky's younger brother was an alcoholic who ended up dying from the disease. 
 My wife and I cook and clean for my sister, but she requires a full-time nurse. Her illness is a major problem for the family. Speaking of heirlooms, [if we had any] we would have sold them to purchase a place for her in a private retirement home. We aren't considering a state-run home, because it would only add to her suffering. I've been knocking on a lot of doors [asking for help], including that of St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev and [former State Duma deputy and widow of late mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak] Lyudmila Narusova. But it's all been in vain.
 
 
q:<i> What, in your opinion, is Dostoyevsky's most important book?</i>
 a: Of course, it's &quot;The Brothers Karamazov.&quot; It's a sacred book for me, like a second version of the gospel. I would even say that, in that book, Dostoyevsky interpreted the gospel into a more human, more accessible language. ... I know that many people consider &quot;Crime and Punishment&quot; to be his most important work, but calling that novel the greatest detective story of all time is so superficial. It's a waste of time for readers like that to spend their time with Dostoyevsky's books. They are unable to see or understand the philosophy that exists behind the sophisticated plot.

TITLE: the word's worth
AUTHOR: By Michele A. Berdy <i>
TEXT: 300-Letiye Sankt-Peterburga:</i> <i>St. Petersburg's tercentenary circus, literally the &quot;zoo-jubilee&quot; of St. Petersburg - a pun based on reading the number &quot;3&quot; as the Russian letter &quot;Z.&quot;
 </i>
St. Petersburgers do not seem universally thrilled by the celebration of the city's 300th anniversary. For months, the city has been clogged by traffic jams, buildings have been hidden under scaffolding, and everyone has been depressed by report after report of misused funding. Last week, they had to deal with the actual celebrations, which seem designed to be enjoyed by everyone but those who actually live and work in the city. 
 No wonder they have taken to calling it the <i>zooletiye</i> - a pun based on a misreading of the number three as the letter &quot;z&quot; - the &quot;zoo-jubilee,&quot; zoo-bilee&quot; or &quot;tercentenary circus.&quot; They also call it &quot;prazdnik na tri bukvy,&quot; literally, &quot;the three-lettered holiday,&quot; or what we might call more gently in U.S. slang, &quot;the holiday from hell.&quot; (If you want to know what the three letters are, ask any Russian friend.)
 Has there ever been a city with more names? First it was St. Petersburg, then Petrograd (renamed during the first war with Germany to Russify the name) and then Leningrad.
 During Soviet times, it was often called <i>Kolybel tryokh revolyutsii</i> - the cradle of three revolutions. Now it is once again St. Petersburg. Through all these changes, a lot of residents have been happy to use the working class moniker coined in the 1920s and call it Piter, as in: <i>poyedu v Piter na prazdniki</i> (I'm going up to St. Pete for the holidays). They call themselves <i>Pitertsy</i> - <i>piterets</i> or <i>pitersky</i> for a man, <i>piterskaya</i> for a woman. If you want to be proper, you should call a man <i>Peterburzhets</i> and woman <i>Peterburzhanka</i>. But because Russian always likes to trip us up, the proper adjective is <i>peterburgsky</i>. 
 In the past, there used to be more differences between St. Petersburg Russian and Moscow Russian, mostly in accent (a French rolling of the &quot;r&quot; in the northern capital, for example) and manner of speaking, but to some extent in expressions as well. Few of these distinctions are left, but some do still exist. In St. Petersburg, you will still hear proper pronunciation and diction without the &quot;ahs&quot; (<i>akhanye</i>) that have corrupted Moscow Russian. And they don't slur their consonants: <i>konechno</i> is pronounced with a hard &quot;ch,&quot; as is <i>bulochnaya</i> and <i>korichnevy</i> (in Moscow, these words can sound like koneshno, buloshnaya, korishnevy.) 
 You may be confused, however, when your host looks at an overflowing bread basket and exclaims, &quot;Oi! Net khleba - ya zabyla ego kupit&quot; (Oh! There's no bread - I forgot to buy it). For a St. Petersburger, <i>khleb</i> only refers to black bread - white bread is called <i>bulka</i> (in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia this is a roll). 
 In St. Petersburg a cellphone (<i>mobilnik</i> in Moscow slang) is called a <i>trubka</i> (although <i>mobilnik</i> is also used), while a Muscovite <i>proezdnoi bilet</i> (mass transit pass) is a <i>kartochka</i>. In Moscow, you might tell someone, &quot;Ezzhai na avtobuse do konechnoi ostanovki - ya tebya tam vstrechu&quot; (Take the bus to the last stop and I'll meet you there). In St. Petersburg you'll be told, &quot;Ezzhai do koltsa, i ya tebya tam vstrechu&quot; (take the bus to the end stop turn-around, and I'll meet you there). When they give directions to their apartments, they often say: &quot;Podnimaisya na vtoroi etazh cherez paradnoe&quot; (climb to the second floor via the formal entrance). For some reason in St. Petersburg, &quot;formal entrance&quot; has been shifted from the masculine gender (<i>paradny podezd</i>) to a kind of generic neuter <i>paradnoe</i>. 
 
 <i>
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter. </i>

TITLE: those aliens will bite anything
AUTHOR: By A. O. Scott
PUBLISHER: New York Times Service
TEXT: The heroes of &quot;Dreamcatcher,&quot; Pete, Jonesy, Beaver and Henry, are old boyhood chums, now grown up into a posse of wisecracking bachelors, played by Timothy Olyphant, Damian Lewis, Jason Lee and Thomas Jane. The four share unusual powers of clairvoyance, thanks to their association, as children, with a supernaturally gifted retarded boy called Duddits.
 
They also share a number of cute, sarcastic catchphrases, the most useful of which, within the movie and in reference to it, is &quot;S.S.D.D.&quot; The letters stand, more or less, for Same Stuff, Different Day, which pretty well sums up a film critic's life in the late winter and early spring. The achievement of &quot;Dreamcatcher&quot; is that it manages to impact about a week's worth of stuff into about two and a quarter hours. If you think of it that way, as five or six bad movies squished together, it almost seems like a bargain.
 Since we are tiptoeing around scatological matters, I should note that one of the movies inside &quot;Dreamcatcher&quot; is a comedy of gastrointestinal distress. The malevolent space aliens that have landed in the Maine woods, you see, dispatch slithery worms, which burrow deep into human bowels only to emerge in roaring, carnivorous fury. One of these leaps from a snowbank as one of the unlucky friends is writing Duddits's name in the snow with urine, and the creature's teeth find a predictable target. 
 If this were an episode of &quot;South Park,&quot; I would be all for it, since the phantasmogorical crudity would ultimately bend toward a satire of all that is pious, high-minded and therapeutic in our culture. But &quot;Dreamcatcher,&quot; adapted from Stephen King's novel by William Goldman and Lawrence Kasdan, was directed and co-produced by Kasdan, a leading exponent of pious, high-minded and therapeutic cinema. 
 It is not necessarily surprising that he should have been drawn to science-fiction horror. His screenwriting career, which includes several &quot;Indiana Jones&quot; and &quot;Star Wars&quot; pictures, suggests an affinity for popular genres balanced alongside the taste for polite baby-boomer melodrama like &quot;The Big Chill&quot; and &quot;Grand Canyon.&quot; The wonder is that Kasdan should prove, as a horror director, to be so utterly incompetent, completely indifferent to the special discipline that fright <br> imposes. 
 I went into &quot;Dreamcatcher&quot; hoping - somewhat perversely, given the state of the world outside - for a good scare and found myself before long howling with laughter. There is so much going on, and it is all so poorly integrated, that watching the movie from start to finish is like listening to Stephen King's Greatest Hits played by an earnest but talentless tribute band. The boyhood chums united against monstrous evil recalls &quot;It,&quot; with the psychic powers of &quot;The Dead Zone&quot; and the chummy sentimentality of &quot;Stand by Me&quot; thrown in for good measure. There is a little American Indian mysticism, as in &quot;Cujo&quot; (a dreamcatcher is an Indian ritual object much prized by New Age tourists) and some troubled animals.
 And there is much more. The aliens have apparently been attacking us for some time, and one subplot takes us into an elite Army unit devoted to fighting back. It is commanded by Morgan Freeman, many of whose lines sound like desperate, half-joking pleas for understanding, directed at the audience. &quot;I'm getting old for this sort of thing,&quot; he says, looking as tired as some of us feel watching him confer his wry dignity on a project that hardly deserves it. Freeman's second in command is played by Tom Sizemore, who I kept expecting to sprout new rows of fangs and turn into a snarling, voracious space worm. 
 Because, you see, these aliens are able to change shape, in addition to spreading a highly infectious red fungus, slipping into people's colons and all the rest. One, for instance, occupies the body of Jonesy, one of the four pals, who is exiled into a secret annex of his own brain, which appears to be some kind of warehouse. Even in this metaphorical, mental world, poor Jonesy must walk with a limp, the result of a car accident early in the film. Meanwhile, the space creature inhabiting his physical form speaks in a chirpy British accent. (He even says &quot;guv'nor.&quot;) Why? Well, obviously, because these spaceships came from England. Duh.
 One thing the invaders cannot do, however, is use a crowbar to open a manhole cover, which is a good thing, because otherwise we'd all be speaking - well, English, I guess. Do not think I am spoiling anything. Everything here is so clumsily handled that the creepy sensation of dread that infuses the early moments is quickly washed away on a tide of space slime and wearying exposition. 
 Except for the stoical Jane, the four friends are twitchy and jokey in a way that's meant to be charming but that is sufficiently annoying to make you wonder which of their characters you hope to see killed off first. There are almost no women in the whole picture, which may be taken either as a sign of imaginative limitation on the part of Kasdan and King or as a testament to feminine good sense. 
 
 

 <i>
&quot;Dreamcatcher&quot; shows at Kolizei and Leningrad through June 19 and at Mirage Cinema through June 18. </i>

TITLE: Questions Remain Over Weapons in Iraq
AUTHOR: By Edith M. Lederer and Tom Raum
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: UNITED NATIONS - Chief UN inspector Hans Blix said his search teams are ready to return to Iraq to pursue new leads and try to answer outstanding questions about Saddam Hussein's programs for weapons of mass destruction - but the United States doesn't want their help.
 
Blix, who is retiring after his contract ends on June 30, will present his final report to the Security Council on Thursday. The issue of future UN inspections is almost certain to be raised - especially since U.S.-led teams have found no illegal weapons after visiting more than 230 suspected sites over the past 11 weeks.
 The failure of U.S. teams to find any nuclear, chemical or biological weapons has become a major issue in Washington, London and other international capitals since Hussein's possession of banned weapons was the main U.S. and British justification for invading Iraq.
 In his report to the council on Monday, Blix said that his teams found no evidence Iraq had chemical or biological weapons during 3 1/2 months of inspections, but they still had many questions and leads to follow-up when their searches were suspended just before the United States attacked in March.
 Blix said UN inspectors didn't have time to follow up on some late information provided by Hussein's government.
 Iraq provided 31 lists of names of people associated with its weapons programs, and Blix said that interviews &quot;might have provided significant information&quot; - including from Iraqis who helped destroy anthrax after the 1991 Gulf War.
 The Security Council, in a resolution adopted May 22 that lifted economic sanctions against Iraq and authorized the U.S.-led administration of the country, left the issue of future UN weapons inspections unclear.
 Under the 1990 resolution imposing sanctions, UN inspectors had to certify that Iraq was free of weapons of mass destruction before sanctions could be lifted. The resolution ended sanctions without that certification.
 But it reaffirmed that &quot;Iraq must meet its disarmament obligations&quot; and said that the council would discuss the inspectors' mandate later. It gives no time frame.
 In his report, Blix said that his inspectors are ready to resume work, to confirm any findings since their departure, and to continue monitoring Iraq's chemical and biological-weapons programs.
 Many council members would like to see UN inspectors return, including Britain, the closest U.S. ally, but the Bush administration has insisted it will conduct its own searches. 
 On Thursday, U.S. President George W. Bush argued that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was justified and pledged that &quot;we'll reveal the truth&quot; on Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. 
 &quot;We've made sure Iraq is not going to serve as an arsenal for terrorist groups,&quot; Bush said in a speech at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar.
 Bush noted the recent discovery in northern Iraq of what U.S. intelligence agencies say are probably each part of a mobile biological-weapons-production facility.
 No complete production system has been found. Neither trailer had any biological agent inside, nor showed any signs that they had been used to produce biological weapons.
 &quot;We're on the look. We'll reveal the truth,&quot; Bush said, without specifically promising weapons would be found. &quot;But one thing is certain: no terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime because the Iraqi regime is no more.&quot;
 U.S. and British forces have yet to find tangible evidence that Hussein had stocks of chemical and biological weapons ready to use. In a recent interview with Polish television, Bush pointed to the two trailers to say, &quot;We found the weapons of mass destruction.&quot;

TITLE: WHO Declares SARS Officially Over its Peak
AUTHOR: By Joe McDonald
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BEIJING - The SARS outbreak is &quot;over its peak&quot; throughout the world, including in the hardest-hit country, China, a World Health Organization official said Thursday.
 
A renewed outbreak in Toronto shows, however, that the world must still remain vigilant against the illness, said Henk Bekedam, the WHO representative in China.
 &quot;It's fair to say that the SARS epidemic is over its peak. We can see it globally and we can also see it in China,&quot; Bekedam told a news conference. &quot;I think that's very good news.&quot;
 He said that the outbreak in Canada's largest city showed that another epidemic could be sparked with &quot;just one missed diagnosis.&quot;
 &quot;I think the challenge now is to eliminate [SARS] as a public health threat,&quot; he said at a news conference.
 His comments came as China for a second consecutive day reported no new cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome on its mainland.
 The Health Ministry reported two new fatalities, raising the mainland death toll to 336. More than 5,000 people have been infected on China's mainland.
 In Hong Kong, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa welcomed the lifting of a travel advisory by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as proof that the territory is recovering from the virus.
 The WHO lifted its own advisory for Hong Kong, imposed in April, nearly two weeks ago.
 Hong Kong reported no new cases or deaths Thursday. The territory has suffered 284 deaths, with 1,748 people sickened.
 &quot;The announcement is a further indication that the SARS disease is contained, travel to Hong Kong is safe and life is returning to normal,&quot; Tung said.
 With Taiwan reporting just one new case, the three areas of the world worst-hit by SARS appeared on the road to recovery. The island has suffered 81 deaths, but none in the last eight days. It has nearly 700 people infected.
 Between them, they have suffered about 90 percent of the more than 8,300 infections and 775 fatalities reported in more than two dozen countries since SARS first emerged in southern China in November.
 Taiwan's latest figures spurred hopes that the WHO might lift a warning against nonessential travel to the island.
 Yet Taiwan still had some way to go since more than 200 SARS patients were still in the hospital. The WHO can only lift its travel warning when that number falls below 60.
 The WHO discussed the possibility of warning against travel to Toronto this week, but decided against it because the new cases in the Canadian city appeared under control with no spread in the general population, said WHO spokesman Dick Thompson in Geneva.
 The three new infections bring the total to 67.
 Some 987 people were in home quarantine, down from more than 5,000 the day before, while more than 200 others were being monitored for SARS-like symptoms.
 Reports of new cases have fallen steadily on China's mainland but travel warnings remain in place.

TITLE: Argentinian President To Reform Police Force
AUTHOR: By Vicente Panetta
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - In a bid to stop runaway crime, new President Nestor Kirchner on Tuesday announced one of the biggest overhauls of Argentina's federal police force in years.
 
Days into a four-year term, the president said that 80 percent of the leadership posts in the federal force would be reshuffled.
 Police chief Roberto Giacomino was among the few who will stay on as the new president confronts public outrage over carjackings, ransom kidnappings and brazen daylight robberies.
 The shake-up within the 32,000 member federal police force is the second bold act of Kirchner's one-week-old presidency.
 Last week, he purged the military high command of dozens of officers and chose an army general with close ties to his southern province of Santa Cruz to be his top military commander.
 The decisive steps appeared to be a gesture by Kirchner to make good on campaign promises to be a &quot;strong president&quot; and tough on crime in the country of 36.2 million.
 Kirchner is the first popularly elected president since Fernando De la Rua was forced to resign at the height of an economic implosion in December 2001 that saw street riots and supermarket lootings.
 Bank heists, street holdups and taxi cab robberies have made daily headlines since a recession began in 1998.

TITLE: Duncan Drives Spurs to Win in Game 1
AUTHOR: By Greg Beacham
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Check out Tim Duncan's phenomenal stat line from Game 1 of the NBA Finals: at least three celebratory muscle flexes, one screaming argument, countless words of encouragement - and the starring role in one big win for his San Antonio Spurs. 
 
The taciturn two-time MVP wanted to be a louder leader in this postseason, and the tone of his play was easy to hear Wednesday night. Duncan was vocal and enthusiastic, slapping high-fives and yelling as the Spurs easily beat the New Jersey Nets 101-89. 
 Duncan also had 32 points, 20 rebounds, seven blocked shots, six assists and three steals. He scored 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting in the second half as the Spurs took another big lead - and then held it with minimal drama, avoiding another of the come-from-ahead losses that have plagued the Spurs this spring. 
 So must the Nets deal with a less kind, less gentle Duncan as he pursues his second championship ring? He isn't telling. 
 &quot;I don't think I played any different,&quot; Duncan said. &quot;If it was, it's because of the crowd and the situation. What's not to be excited about?&quot; 
 Game 2 is Friday night. 
 The Nets hadn't lost since April 26, but their 10-game winning streak was snapped decisively in their worst loss of the postseason. San Antonio largely stopped New Jersey's fast break, and the Spurs' zone defense forced the Nets into many outside shots they couldn't make. 
 The Spurs' frontcourt dominated undersized New Jersey, with soon-to-be-retired center David Robinson getting 14 points, six rebounds and four blocks. Tony Parker even outplayed Jason Kidd, getting 16 points and five assists while Kidd went 4-for-17 from the field. 
 &quot;When they came up in the third quarter, they picked it up a level,&quot; New Jersey coach Byron Scott said. &quot;We never matched that level. We never got up until the fourth quarter and we were 15, 16 [points] down.&quot; 
 Late in the third quarter, Duncan tossed a picture-perfect lob pass behind three Nets to Stephen Jackson, who slammed it home as Duncan hopped in the air, screamed and flexed his arms. The basket capped a 15-2 run that gave San Antonio a 16-point lead - its largest of the night. 
 Duncan even berated referees Joe Crawford and Dick Bavetta after a no-call in the third quarter - another uncharacteristic moment for one of the NBA's most collected stars. 
 &quot;I don't care about my image,&quot; Duncan said. &quot;Whatever you [media] think. Write something good.&quot; 
 A year after they were swept by the Lakers, the Nets felt fortunate they weren't facing Shaquille O'Neal in the finals this season. But the Spurs already knocked out the Lakers this season - and in the finals opener, Duncan had a game that would make Shaq envious. 
 &quot;I played him as tough as possible,&quot; said Kenyon Martin, who fouled out with 21 points. &quot;I was riding him, tailing him. He just made tough shots. We executed our game plan when we had to. He just made tough shots, man.&quot; 
 New Jersey scored seven points on the first break in the first quarter, but just 10 the rest of the night. Since the Nets couldn't get their usual complement of easy baskets, their shaky half-court offense was tested - and New Jersey scored just 17 points in the third quarter, enduring three lengthy scoring droughts in the second half. 
 Parker and Duncan keyed the third-quarter rally. Moments before Duncan's 20-meter lob pass to Jackson, Parker made an elegant drive past three defenders for a difficult layup in traffic. 
 &quot;In the first half I tried to run the team, get confidence in everybody, and then in the third quarter try to be aggressive and look for my shot more,&quot; Parker said. &quot;The pressure is always there, especially when you're trying to win the championship.&quot;
 &quot;Playing against the best point guard in the league makes me want to do more and play my best.&quot;

TITLE: One Corked Bat in 77, but Sosa Still Facing Suspension
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: CHICAGO - The rest of Sammy Sosa's bats were clean, just as he promised they'd be. 
 
Now baseball officials have to decide what to do about the one that started this mess. 
 Bob Watson, baseball's vice president in charge of discipline, was to be at Wrigley Field on Thursday, conducting interviews before deciding what punishment Sosa deserves for using a corked bat Tuesday night. 
 &quot;Whatever they decide to do, I have to deal with it,&quot; Sosa said. 
 A piece of cork was found just above the handle in Sosa's bat Tuesday night when it shattered after he grounded out in the first inning of the Chicago Cubs' 3-2 victory. Sosa insists it was a mistake, saying he accidentally pulled out a bat he uses to put on home run displays for fans in batting practice. 
 Tests Wednesday appeared to support that. X-rays of 76 bats confiscated from Sosa's locker Tuesday night found no cork or illegal substances, said Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner's office. 
 &quot;Good. That makes everybody feel a lot better,&quot; Atlanta's Chipper Jones said. &quot;It doesn't take away from what happened, but it gives some validity to what Sammy was saying. If he's got one bat that got mixed in with the rest of his bats, then I believe it was an honest mistake.&quot; 
 Sosa's bats in the Hall of Fame might still be examined, Alderson said. The Hall has five of Sosa's bats, including the one he presented in mid-April, more than a week after he hit his 500th home run. 
 But the tests Wednesday went a long way toward easing people's minds. Sosa was greeted with rousing cheers when he did his traditional sprint to right field Wednesday night, and fans gave him a standing ovation when he came to the plate in the first inning. 
 One fan held up a sign that read, &quot;Still loving Sammy.&quot; 
 &quot;They know that I am an innocent person,&quot; Sosa said. &quot;When I went to right field, everybody was cheering for me. I feel very happy inside. It's something I'm never going to forget.&quot; 
 Sosa has been baseball's quintessential good guy the last five seasons, a lovable slugger with an infectious smile and a feel-good story. While Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds got the home run records, Sosa got most of the adulation. 
 And if he was trying to cheat, he said, why wouldn't he have tried to grab the bat before anyone saw it? 
 &quot;I would have come back to the plate and picked up all the pieces, don't you think?&quot; he said. &quot;I didn't pick it up. I went to the dugout. So you guys can see the difference.&quot; 
 But it doesn't mean he's off the hook. Other players who've used corked bats have been suspended for up to 10 games, and Alderson said he thinks precedent will play a part in Watson's decision. 
 On Wednesday night, Wrigley Field was all forgiving, cheering Sosa even as he went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts during a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. 
 Many of the announced crowd of 33,317 applauded him as he sprinted to his position in right field and gave him a standing ovation when he came to the plate in the first before striking out. Only a few scattered boos could be heard. 
 But right now Sosa isn't hitting much, regardless of what bat he uses. He did have a ninth-inning single Wednesday but is 3-for-20 in five games since coming off the disabled list last Friday and has struck out 11 times. 
 The Devil Rays got solid pitching from right-hander Victor Zambrano (2-3), who allowed just three hits in seven innings and struck out a career-high eight, including Sosa all three times. 
 Tampa Bay took a 4-0 lead with three in the third. Rocco Baldelli reached on a bunt single and scored on Aubrey Huff's double, one of his four hits. Shawn Estes then walked Travis Lee and Terry Shumpert to load the bases and Carl Crawford hit a two-run single. 
 The Devil Rays got their first run in the first when Anderson doubled and scored as Huff hit an infield single just off the side of the mound and Estes' throw to the plate was dropped by catcher Paul Bako for an error. 
 The Cubs got a run in the fourth on Alex Gonzalez's double and an RBI single by Moises Alou. 
 Tampa Bay's Toby Hall added a sacrifice fly in the seventh. 
 Estes (5-5) allowed eight hits and five runs in seven innings.

TITLE: Belgians Set To Meet in French Open Final
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: PARIS - Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne ended the grand slam dominance of Serena Williams on Thursday when she stunned the defending champion 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the French Open semifinals.
 
In her second grand-slam final on Saturday, Henin-Hardenne will play compatriot Kim Clijsters, who benefitted from a little luck Thursday to erase a set point and beating unseeded Russian Nadia Petrova 7-5, 6-1.
 The fourth seed achieved one of the biggest upsets in recent years to hand world No. 1 Serena her first defeat at a grand slam event since she lost to sister Venus in the 2001 U.S. Open final.
 Serena missed the 2002 Australian Open through injury but won at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open later that year before completing her collection at Melbourne Park in January.
 Before Thursday, Serena had gone 33 grand slam matches without losing. 
 But Henin-Hardenne, her classical backhand working to perfection, dominated the first set and, after conceding the second, held herself together in a nerve-plagued decider to seal an enthralling victory, serving out to love in the final game.
 Her meeting with Clijsters in the final guarantees Belgium its first ever grand slam winner.
 Clijsters was two points from the title in the 2001 final before losing to Jennifer Capriati. 
 The No. 2-seeded Clijsters struggled with an erratic forehand early and lost the first service break to trail 5-4.
 Facing set point in the next game, Clijsters hit a backhand drop shot that clipped the net, then fell on Petrova's side for a winner. 
 Consecutive backhands into the net by Petrova gave Clijsters the game to make it 5-all, and the turnabout deflated the Russian.
 She was broken again two games later to lose the set as Clijsters began to pull away, winning nine of the final 10 games. 
 &quot;I was a little bit down when she touched the let cord,&quot; Petrova said. 
 &quot;Definitely, I think those things can really turn sets around and matches around,&quot; Clijsters said.
 &quot;I was struggling a little with my forehand and not feeling the rhythm,&quot; she said. &quot;Once I broke her that first time, I felt comfortable I could do it.&quot; 
 Petrova, the first Russian female semifinalist at the French Open in 28 years, played with impressive poise at the start.
 But the net cord on set point wasn't her only missed opportunity, as she converted just one of eight break-point chances, all in the opening set. 
 Clijsters won 10 consecutive points to lead 4-1 in the second set.
 On match point she hit another backhand drop shot, and this time it didn't clip the net, landing for a clean winner. 
 
 <i>
(Reuters, AP) </i>

TITLE: Costa Makes Semis After Another Battle
AUTHOR: By Steven Wine
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: PARIS - Juan Carlos Ferrero will resist the temptation to lose the first two sets on purpose Friday when he plays comeback king Albert Costa in the semifinals of the French Open. 
 
But if Ferrero wins the first two sets, he could be in trouble. 
 Defending champion Costa erased a two-set deficit for the third time in five matches Wednesday and beat Tommy Robredo 2-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2. 
 Costa is the second player during the Open era to overcome a two-set deficit three times in a Grand Slam tournament, and the first player to win four five-set matches in a single French Open. 
 &quot;It's not a record I would have gone for, actually,&quot; the No. 9-seeded Costa said. &quot;I feel very proud, because every day I'm surprising myself.&quot; 
 Costa has played 23 sets and 227 games totaling 18 hours, 32 minutes. He needs two more victories for a second consecutive French Open championship, which would be only his second title in the past 89 tournaments. 
 &quot;He has found his confidence here,&quot; said Ferrero, Costa's friend and fellow Spaniard. &quot;Right now he's playing so good.&quot; 
 But there's hope for Ferrero in the rematch of last year's Roland Garros final. 
 The only other player to overcome a two-set deficit three times in a major event was Nicolas Escude, who did it at the 1998 Australian Open before losing in the semifinals. Three others players have won four five-set matches in a single Grand Slam tournament during the Open era, but none won the title. 
 In other words: The marathon matches wore them out. And that could happen to Costa. 
 &quot;He'll be confident,&quot; Ferrero said. &quot;But I'm not sure he'll be that fresh. After playing so many sets, nobody can be fresh.&quot; 
 The third-seeded Ferrero may be a little weary himself. Like Costa, he played for 3 hours, 29 minutes Wednesday to beat big-swinging Fernando Gonzalez 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. 
 The other semifinal Friday will offer a contrast of speed and power, with 5-foot-9 (175-centimeter) Argentine Guillermo Coria playing 6-foot-3 (190-centimeter) Dutchman Martin Verkerk. The seventh-seeded Coria upset 1999 champion Andre Agassi in the quarterfinals, and the unseeded Verkerk surprised 1998 champion Carlos Moya. 
 When Costa beat Sergio Roitman in the opening round after losing the first two sets, it was the first such comeback in the Spaniard's 10-year career. Then he did it again in the third round against Nicolas Lapentti. 
 His career record in five-set matches is 9-12, but he's 4-0 in the past two weeks. 
 &quot;I like five sets,&quot; he said. &quot;When I am two sets down, I still think I can win the match.&quot; 
 Costa said that winning the 2002 title contributes to his poise when behind. 
 &quot;I think it's worse when you've never won, because you are very anxious,&quot; he said. &quot;Now when I'm on the court, I think, `Well, I still won once, so don't get nervous, don't get anxious.&quot;' 
 Robredo, seeded 28th, had beaten two Grand Slam champions - Gustavo Kuerten and Lleyton Hewitt - and was on the verge of beating another when Costa switched tactics. He moved several steps forward to take shots earlier and shorten the rallies. 
 The strategy worked, but Costa never led until he broke to go ahead 3-2 in the final set. He won the last five games, looking much fresher than the younger Robredo at the finish. 
 &quot;What he did today - it's very difficult,&quot; Robredo said. &quot;Perhaps one day I'll be able to respond the way he does.&quot; 
 The Ferrero-Gonzalez ending was even more dramatic. The 19th-seeded Gonzalez saved five match points, four with winners, before Ferrero surprised him with a changeup serve to clinch the victory.

TITLE: Funny Cide Favorite To Win Belmont, Take Triple Crown
AUTHOR: By Richard Rosenblatt
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: NEW YORK - Funny Cide was made the even-money favorite to win the Belmont Stakes on Saturday and become the first Triple Crown champion since Affirmed in 1978. 
 
The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner will take on five challengers in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, one less than expected after Best Minister was withdrawn with a cough just before Wednesday's post position draw. 
 The six-horse field is the smallest since 1994, when Tabasco Cat won. Affirmed defeated four rivals in his Belmont victory. 
 &quot;It's a very small field this time, but anything can happen when they open up the door,&quot; Funny Cide jockey Jose Santos said. &quot;But I am confident we can win.&quot; 
 Funny Cide, trying to become the first gelding to win the Triple Crown, will leave from the No. 4 gate. But post position means little in the longest race in the series. 
 Empire Maker, the beaten favorite in the Kentucky Derby, was made the 6-5 second choice by Belmont oddsmaker Don LaPlace. The 3-year-old colt trained by Bobby Frankel skipped the Preakness and has been training well for the Belmont. 
 &quot;I'm real anxious waiting for this race,&quot; Frankel said. &quot;I think Empire Maker is dead-fit for this race. &quot;
 &quot;Funny Cide is a tough horse, though. He breaks out of the gate and he goes.&quot; 
 Dynever, winner of the Lone Star Derby and new to the Triple Crown trail, was the third choice at 5-1. Also entered were Ten Most Wanted (10-1), Scrimshaw (20-1) and Supervisor (50-1). 
 Empire Maker, who defeated Funny Cide in the Wood Memorial on April 12, drew the rail. 
 &quot;Empire Maker has probably been the favorite most of his life,&quot; regular rider Jerry Bailey said.
 &quot;So if he's the underdog it won't be by much and it won't matter once the gate opens,&quot; he said. 
 The last Belmont favorite who was even money or better was Real Quiet in 1998.
 The Derby and Preakness winner went off at 4-5 and lost his Triple Crown bid by a nose to Victory Gallop. 
 Best Minister is trained by Ken McPeek, who saddled last year's Belmont winner, Sarava, a 70-1 shot. McPeek said the colt wasn't eating well and coughed after a morning <br> gallop. 
 &quot;In this game, timing is everything, and unfortunately this is very poor timing,&quot; McPeek said.

TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: Seaman to City


n MANCHESTER, England (AP) - Longtime Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman signed a one-year contract Wednesday with Manchester City. 

Seaman, 39, spent 13 years with the Gunners, and his contract expired at the end of last season. He played 563 games, helping the team win three league titles and three FA Cups. 

I want at least one more season of guaranteed first-team football in the Premiership, and honestly feel I am as fit as I have ever been," Seaman was quoted as saying on Manchester City's Web site. 

The ponytailed Seaman has made 75 appearances for England. At Manchester City, he replaces Peter Schmeichel, who retired at the end of the season. Schmeichel is also 39.



Urlachar Re-Signs


n LAKE FOREST, Illinois (AP) - All-Pro linebacker Brian Urlacher has agreed to a new nine-year deal that will keep him with the Chicago Bears through the 2011 season. 

Terms of the deal were not immediately available. 

"This is the culmination of a lot of years of hard work," said Urlacher, the 2001 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. "I'm going to be a Bear for the rest of my career and that's exciting for me." 

Urlacher, the ninth overall pick in the 2000 draft, has 527 career tackles. He's led the Bears in stops in each of his first three seasons, averaging 175 a year. 

With 214 tackles last season, he set a franchise record, shattering the previous mark of 190 set by Hall of Famer Dick Butkus in 1972. He won rookie of the year honors in 2000. 

"Brian is very much a centerpiece of our football team, at present," Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said. "And we rewarded him accordingly." 

In addition to being Chicago's top defensive player, Urlacher has quickly become a fan favorite. He's earned Pro Bowl honors each season and was the top defensive vote-getter by fans last year. His jersey was the top seller in the NFL last season. 



New Isles Coach


n UNIONDALE, New York (AP) - Steve Stirling was introduced Wednesday as the 11th coach in New York Islanders history. He was hired Tuesday when general manager Mike Milbury dismissed Peter Laviolette. 

That decision came after weeks of discussions between Milbury and the players, who reached the playoffs in each of Laviolette's two seasons as coach. Before then, the team hadn't qualified for the postseason since 1994. But Milbury's conversations uncovered serious problems between the team and the coach. 

"Ten or 15 years ago, I may have been apprehensive," said Stirling, who coached the Islanders' AHL affiliate the past two years. "But I am at a point now in my life and my career that this is an opportunity for me to test my skills at the highest level." 

Stirling was The Hockey News' minor pro coach of the year in 2001-2002 after taking Bridgeport to the AHL finals. In two seasons he was 83-51-19-7. 

After leaving the college ranks, Stirling joined the Islanders. In six years, he has been a pro scout, an assistant coach in the NHL, and the head man in Bridgeport.



Onopko Pulls Out


n MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia defender Viktor Onopko has pulled out of Saturday's Euro 2004 Group 10 qualifier against Switzerland with a thigh injury. 

"Unfortunately, Onopko's participation in Saturday's match is out of the question," Russia coach Valery Gazzayev was quoted as saying by Russian media on Thursday. 

Onopko's withdrawal is a blow to Russia's preparations for the match in Basel as they try to rebound from defeats against Albania and Georgia in their previous Group 10 qualifiers. 

Onopko, 33, who has been the backbone of Russia's defense for the past decade, had announced his retirement from international soccer after captaining Russia at last year's World Cup finals, but was persuaded to come back a month later. 

He won a Russian record 104th cap in the 1-0 defeat by Georgia on 
April 30. 

Russia, with six points from four matches, trails Group 10 leader Switzerland by two points.