LOCAL NEWS

GERMANS LEND A HELPING HAND

PAVLOVSK, Leningrad Oblast - "My main problem is that I have only two hands ... " said 20-year-old Judith Hampel from Dresden, Ger many, as she held 14 year-old Mi sha, wrapped in a thin woolen blanket, in her arms.

Despite his age, Misha looks no older than five.

MILITARY SERIOUS ABOUT QUOTAS

MOSCOW - Timur Botagov, 19, was prodded awake one morning by the barrel of a Kalashnikov machine gun. Opening his eyes, he saw two men in police uniforms grinning down at him.

NATIONAL NEWS

DEC. 12 HOLIDAY HAS THE COUNTRY PUZZLED

MOSCOW - Russia is to take the day off on Wednesday for the 8th anniversary of the first post-Soviet Constitution - a document that more than half the population has never read and in which nearly half has no confidence.

The Constitution Day holiday was first declared by former President Boris Yeltsin in 1994, to mark the December 1993 constitutional referendum that some opposition leaders, including Gennady Zyuganov's Communist Party, had accused the Kremlin of falsifying.

PUTIN VISITS GREECE, GERMANY

HANOVER, Germany - President Vladimir Putin dropped in for lunch at German Chancellor Gerhard Schroe der's "modest but comfortable" home Sunday in a demonstration of the growing rapport between the two leaders.

KREMLIN IS SATISFIED WITH BONN AFGHAN AGREEMENT

MOSCOW - Moscow has applauded the interim Afghan government approved by the UN Security Council late last week. And it is no wonder: With ethnic Tajiks, its closest allies in the anti-Taliban coalition, holding the most powerful ministerial posts, Russia stands a good chance of getting what it has long hoped for - a friendly Afghanistan.

IN BRIEF

Radar Blind

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian general said on Monday the military was "radar blind" across two-thirds of the country, and unable for long periods to track flights carrying the top leadership.

LOCAL BUSINESS

INVESTORS LOOKING TO SEND MILLIONS SOUTH

MOSCOW - Private investors who attended a two-day symposium in Mos cow last week promised to put nearly half a billion dollars into projects in southern Russia, though in all but one case the precise projects have not yet been nailed down, organizers said.

FORD LANDS LOCAL CONTRACTOR

The Ford Motor Company has signed an agreement with the Russian firm Elast-Technologies this week to provide its new $150-million automobile-production facility in Vsevolozhsk with car mats and anti-splash rubber coverings, the plant's management reported on Monday.

ALPHA SIGNS $20M LOAN DEAL

MOSCOW - Top-five commercial bank Alfa Bank is overhauling its retail system and focusing on the regions in order to increase its independence from Alfa Group - not to groom it for sale, Alfa Bank Chairperson Mikhail Fridman said Monday.

"We are trying to seriously weaken the link [between Alfa Bank and Alfa Group].

IN BRIEF

Gazprom, Sibur Swap

MOSCOW (Vedomosti) - Gaz prom plans to take Sibur shares in return for paying off the petrochemical company's debts, Gazprom First Deputy Chairperson Vitaly Savelev said at a press conference last week.

IT'S TIME TO REDO PRIVATIZATION

TWO events occurred at the end of last month that acted as echoes of a behind-the-scenes war that has been declared by the St. Petersburgers against the oligarch old guard.

First, disgraced minister Nikolai Ak syo nenko returned from vacation and went straight to a government meeting where the Railway Ministry's investment program was being discussed.

ESTONIA DESERVES KUDOS FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESSES

LITHUANIAN television is currently running a program that depicts their neighbors, the Estonians, as arrogant people who like to boast to all and sundry about how clever and successful they are.

COULD RUSSIA AFFORD TO IGNORE OPEC PLEAS?

THE current government discourse on Russia's relations with OPEC is reminiscent of the imperial double eagle, with each head spouting something in total contradiction with what its contralateral twin is saying. Much of the analytical writing on this subject is tending toward the surreal.

IMPORTERS LOOK TO DRAFT CODE TO FILL IN GAPS IN REGULATIONS

Recent investigations into the workings of the notoriously corrupt State Customs Committee has led to several top-level resignations, at least two indictments and days-long delays at key border checkpoints in the Northwest Region.

GERMAN TRADE, INVESTMENT RISE

Economic relations between Germany and Russia have come a long way since the summer of 1998 and the August financial crisis. According to Peter Muerz, Germany's deputy consul general in St. Petersburg, the relationship now is characterized by trade and investment, rather than debt.

FIRMS GRANTED SECOND LIFE ON VIENNA BOURSE

Vouchers, veksels, GKOs - the financial nightmares of the 1990s continue to haunt Russians, who for the most part see the stock market as just the latest in a long line of national pyramid schemes.

OPINION

SOME IDEAS TO IMPROVE ST. PETERSBURG TOURISM

In response to "St. Petersburg: A Great Tourist Destination?," a letter to the editor by Terry Taylor, Nov. 24.

Editor,

I read with interest and some sadness this letter. I believe that the length of the letter indicates Taylor's care and concern for Russia, and my reason for writing stems from similar care and concern.

MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT OIL AND THE ECONOMY

TODAY, with attention riveted to oil-price movements, fluctuations in the price of a barrel of oil on the London or New York commodity exchanges seriously affect the mood in Russia.

IS THIS INCOMPETENCE - OR WORSE?

Here's a story of crime, journalism and incompetence that I heard last week at a presentation by the Agency for Journalistic Investigation.

The story begins last autumn when the city was struck by a series of murders. Four people, including an elderly woman and a two-year-old boy, were brutally killed.

CHRIS FLOYD'S GLOBAL EYE

Moment by Moment

Black milk of daybreak, we drink it at evening.

- Paul Celan, "Deathfugue"

The children were walking to school.

WORLD

WORLD WATCH

Fresh Face

TOKYO (AP) - Japanese Crown Princess Masako on Saturday checked out of the palace hospital, cradling her newborn daughter in her arms and giving the public its first glimpse of the royal family's newest member.

Masako and her husband, Crown Prince Naruhito, grinned broadly as the mother held the baby, Aiko, before a bank of television cameras.

SPORTS WATCH

Looking To Stay

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - England captain David Beck ham said Monday his future lay at Man chester United.

"I want to carry on playing for Manchester United," Beckham told the Manchester Evening News.