LOCAL NEWS

PUTIN SIGNS BREAKTHROUGH LAND CODE

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin signed long-awaited legislation allowing the sale of land across the country, putting an additional feather in his cap as he addressed the World Economic Forum about the country's investment climate on Monday.

The Land Code permits the sale of about 2 percent of the country's 1.7 billion hectares of land. In what is expected to provide a boost to both foreign and Russian investment, the code allows the sale of commercial land and land in cities. It also legalizes the ownership of about 40 million dacha plots.

Foreigners are treated the same as Russians in the Land Code, the only exceptions being that they will not be able to buy plots in areas close to federal borders and those important to national security.

TOWN TO HONOR FORGOTTEN LETTER

MOSCOW - The town of Ulyanovsk may have plenty of monuments and museums to its famous son, Vladimir Lenin, but a group of locals wants the town to erect a statue to another birth in its history - the seventh letter of the Russian alphabet.

NATIONAL NEWS

JORDAN, DYBAL TO ORGANIZE NTV SELL-OFF

MOSCOW - NTV general director Boris Jordan and Gazprom information supremo Alexander Dybal have been picked to lead a divided Gazprom-Media team that will see the company sell off the media outlets it seized from Media-MOST, officials said last week.

Jordan, who retained his NTV post, replaces his longtime friend Alfred Kokh as general director of Gazprom-Media, and St.

IN BRIEF

Kolyak Hit Again

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - A prominent local businessperson was seriously wounded in what appeared to be a contract hit on Sunday evening, Interfax reported Monday.

40 Years Ago, U.S. Faced Down Soviets in Berlin

On Sunday evening, Oct. 22, 1961, Allan Lightner, the chief of the U.S. Mission in Berlin, wanted to pass through Checkpoint Charlie to attend the opera in East Berlin.

Just before that evening 40 years ago, Walter Ulbricht, the chief of the Sozialistische Einheits-Partei, or SED, had returned in a rage from the 22nd Communist Party Congress in Moscow.

LOCAL BUSINESS

U.S. ATTACK FALLOUT HITS AEROFLOT

MOSCOW - National flagship carrier Aeroflot said on Monday that the worldwide slump in air travel that has resulted from the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States will translate into $15 million in lost revenues for the airline this year.

In order to reduce its costs, the airline announced that it had made cuts to its schedule as of Sunday and would reshuffle its fleet of planes beginning Thursday.

YUKOS STEPPING IN TO BOLSTER TROUBLED ENGINEERING GROUP

MOSCOW -Yukos on Monday announced its proposed rescue plan for the troubled Anglo-Norwegian engineering group Kvaerner, and reiterated its intent to purchase two subsidiaries key to the oil company's Siberian oil production.

WORLD WATCH

OPEC Seeks Help

VIENNA (Reuters) - OPEC producers struggling to persuade other exporters to help stem an oil-price slump on Monday said they had presented their case to a meeting of experts from non-OPEC producers.

But the meeting in Vienna finished without making any further headway in enlisting cooperation from the likes of Russia, Norway and Mexico for supply curbs.

OPINION

CRISIS TEACHES LESSONS IN U.S. PATRIOTISM

ON the second weekend after the mass murders at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, my wife and I headed east from Washington to spend a couple of days by the ocean. As we drove through a flat green countryside accented by coastal waters, we saw rural Maryland and Delaware answering the terrorists.

WHY NOT FINE ABSENTEE LEGISLATORS?

THE deputies of the Legislative Assembly made an attempt at constructive self-criticism this week when they discussed a draft law that would levy fines against deputies who miss assembly sessions without a valid excuse.

Chris Floyd's Global Eye

Lights Out

Let us thank YHWH (and YHWH Jr. too), praise Allah and raise hecatombs of oxen unto Zeus, that his nostrils might be filled with the savor of burning fat, all in gratitude for the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, 35 years old this year.

But we'd better scoot those oxen along double-quick, because the act - one of the most remarkable instruments of liberty ever wrung from a government - is being cast into outer darkness by none other than that divinely appointed defender of "enduring freedom," George W.

WORLD

HALLOWEEN BRINGS OUT THE CITY'S PARTY SPIRITS

Halloween will poke out its candy-coated tongue in St. Petersburg on Wednesday with a host of parties, prizes and pranks around town.

The ghost of this ancient pagan festival now manifests itself annually as a giant commercial enterprise, one that capitalizes not so much on any spirits of darkness as on the lighthearted spirit of fun.

WORLD WATCH

Climate Talks Begin

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) - Under heavy security, thousands of delegates opened a scheduled two-week conference Monday to finish the exhaustive effort of writing the rulebook limiting the human contribution to the gradual warming of the Earth.

SPORTS WATCH

Surgery for Mario

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Mario Le mi eux, bothered since training camp by a sore hip, had surgery Monday that will sideline him for up to a month.

Lemieux had arthroscopic surgery that will remove long-term wear-and-tear damage to his hip, accumulated from many years of playing hockey, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced Sunday.

The star forward, who is also the owner of the Penguins, is expected to miss three or four weeks because of the injury that first flared up during an exhibition game on Sept. 22.

Germany Replaces U.S.

LONDON (Reuters) - Germany has replaced the United States in next month's Fed Cup women's team finals, the International Tennis Federation said Monday.

SAFIN REPEAT CHAMPION IN ST. PETERSBURG

Russia's Marat Safin successfully defended his St. Petersburg Open title by defeating Germany's Rainer Schuettler on Sunday. Safin won in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a hard-fought match that lasted almost two hours at St.