LOCAL NEWS

HEINEKEN SEALS $400M BRAVO DEAL

Europe's biggest brewer, Dutch-based Heineken, announced on Friday that it had signed an agreement to acquire St. Petersburg's Bravo Holding for $400 million.

The purchase, which officials at Heineken said would help them move into a Russian market that still has room for growth, not only brings the European holding the popular local Bochkarev brand, but will also allow more market penetration for its own flagship label.

"With this acquisition, Heineken gains a foothold in the expanding beer market in Russia," a statement released by the firm said. "The transaction is valued at a maximum amount of $400 million, provided that volume and price targets are met in the next 12 months.

WHERE DREAMS OF OLYMPIC GOLD COME TRUE

Last year, Lyubov Nikulina, a speed-skating coach at the Olympic Reserve College for winter sports, spent 42 days on the train. Each round-trip ticket represented days away from her two sons, as she accompanied her students to competitions all over the country.

NATIONAL NEWS

SECURITY TIGHT AS BYKOV MURDER TRIAL FINALLY GETS STARTED

MOSCOW - After a yearlong investigation and three months of delays, a Moscow court on Monday opened the trial of Krasnoyarsk metals magnate Anatoly Bykov, who is charged with plotting the murder of former business associate Vilor Struganov.

The high-profile hearings opened under tight security at the Meshansky district court.

TV6 BOSS SETTLES IN LANDROVER DISPUTE

MOSCOW - TV6 General Director Yevgeny Kiselyov on Monday paid a 5,000 ruble fine and received his Landrover back from police, who seized it from him late Friday night.

IN BRIEF

High-Level Meeting

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Sergei Yastrzhembsky, assistant to President Vladimir Putin and his primary spokesperson on Chechnya, met with Governor Vladimir Yakovlev on Monday at Smolny, Interfax reported.

According to Yakovlev's spokesperson, Alexander Afanasiev, the two men discussed the upcoming 300th anniversary celebration and how it should be covered by the mass media.

LOCAL BUSINESS

DLT SHUT DOWN BY NEW ROUND OF STRUGGLE

The doors of DLT, one of the city's biggest department stores, were closed to customers on Monday, due to the latest battle in a three-year war between two management teams for control of the location.

The latest incident was sparked off when Alexander Kondratyev, the person chosen by the City Hall Property Committee (KUGI) and elected at an emergency shareholders meeting on Sept. 20 to take over management, snuck into the company's offices on Friday, accompanied by security guards and city court officials, and occupied the general director's office at Dom Leningradskoy Torgovly (DLT).

GOVERNOR'S SHIFT LIFTING PROSPECTS IN KRASNODAR

While a couple of investors can tell horror stories about their experience investing in the Krasnodar Region, the local administration says it has turned over a new leaf.

FOOD CO. OPENS UP - WAY UP

MOSCOW - Caveat emptor, but don't let the buyer say he wasn't warned.

Food giant Wimm-Bill-Dann, preparing for a planned initial public offering (IPO) Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, has opened itself up for scrutiny as required by the exchange's strict disclosure requirements.

RUSSIANS WEIGH IN WITH VIEWS ON FOREIGN BANKS

MOSCOW - Lingering memories of pyramid schemes and the 1998 financial crisis have made most people exclude banks as places to put their money, preferring instead to keep it under their mattresses.

WORLD WATCH

Duhalde Strikes Back

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - President Eduardo Duhalde took the unprecedented step Monday of suspending all court challenges to an unpopular banking freeze for 180 days, taking a drastic step to shore up the teetering financial system.

The move, outlined in an executive decree, follows a surprise Supreme Court ruling Friday declaring the banking restrictions unconstitutional and sets up a likely showdown between the three branches of government.

OPINION

TIME TO GIVE THE MEDIA A CHANCE TO THRIVE

IN 10 Georgian cities, groups of people huddled around newspaper stacks. They had scissors and glue pots. Their job was to cut out articles from all the local and national newspapers, and piece together their "ideal" newspaper.

After analysis, the results from this exercise were truly amazing.

UNITED IN THE DESIRE TO BE RE-ELECTED

SOME time last month, the Legislative Assembly became a little bit more monotone. Four factions - representing about 20 of the body's 50 deputies - merged into one, called United Russia.

Chris Floyd's Global Eye

"While draping, by a showman's trick/Their dishabille in rhetoric,/They grin a mock-religious grin/Of scorn at those of naked skin."

- Robert Graves,

"The Naked and the Nude"

It is a well-known scientific fact that an obsessive concern for "sexual purity" masks an underlying - one might even say fundamental - anxiety over one's own sexual proclivities.

WORLD

WORLD WATCH

Cambodians Vote

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia's ruling party romped toward victory in landmark local elections on Monday, but rivals said intimidation and other abuses skewed the result of what many saw as a dress-rehearsal for a 2003 general election.

Initial results from Sunday's polls suggested Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) would retain control of most of the 1,621 village communes, following the first local polls since independence in 1953.