LOCAL NEWS

LOCAL SHIPYARDS VIE FOR $1.4BLN DEAL

The government plans to reverse former Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov's decision to award a much-coveted $1.4-billion contract to build warships for China to Baltiisky Zavod and give it to rival Severnaya Verf instead, Baltiisky Zavod claimed Friday.

GERASHCHENKO BIDS FAREWELL TO CENTRAL BANK

MOSCOW - Five months shy of the end of his term, Central Bank head Viktor Gerashchenko was dismissed Friday and President Vladimir Putin asked parliament to appoint First Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Ignatyev in his place.

Convicted Borodin Will Defy Swiss Court

MOSCOW - Former Kremlin property chief Pavel Borodin will not fight a Swiss conviction for money laundering but also will not pay a $177,000 fine levied by the Geneva prosecutor who found him guilty, his lawyers said.

If he does not pay the fine, it will be deducted from the $3 million bail paid by the Russian government, according to deputy Geneva prosecutor Jean-Bernard Schmid.

NATIONAL NEWS

NOVAYA GAZETA FACING THE WALL

MOSCOW - Novaya Gazeta, known for its criticism of the Chechen conflict and its investigations into state corruption, is staring bankruptcy in the face after being slapped with a record $1.5 million judgment in two libel cases.

Novaya Gazeta journalists and free-press advocates say the newspaper is the target of a government-backed campaign to muzzle independent media.

IN BRIEF

Canada Crash Trial

MOSCOW (AP) - Prosecutors on Friday demanded the maximum five-year sentence for a former Russian diplomat to Canada accused in the death of a woman hit by the car he was driving.

LOCAL BUSINESS

AIR FORCE DECIDES ON YAKOVLEV

MOSCOW - After almost a decade of debate, the Russian Air Force has named the Yakovlev Yak-130 as its new trainer jet, rebuffing former Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov who had only the day before named the rival MiG-AT as the winner.

Recently appointed air force Commander-in-Chief Colonel-General Vladimir Mikhailov approved the decision of the government tender commission Saturday, Interfax reported.

RUSSIA MAKES PROGRESS AS NOISE ROW RUMBLES ON

MOSCOW - The government has made some headway as it scrambles to circumvent a European Union noise ban that would effectively ban two-thirds of all Russian airplanes from EU skies as of April 1.

RUSSIA HARDENS POSITION ON CHICKEN

MOSCOW - Despite the ongoing negotiation efforts of American officials on Friday, Russia hardened its position over a ban on U.S. poultry imports, ruling out any chance of lifting it until the United States meets its quality standards.

"If the Americans want to bring in their meat, they must ensure that it corresponds to our standards," Sergei Dankvert, Russia's first deputy agriculture minister, said Friday.

NEW CODE IS GOOD FOR WORKERS AND BOSSES

On Feb. 1, 2002, the regulation of employment relations in Russia was altered significantly when the long-awaited new Labor Code came into force. The code's provisions override any provisions in existing and future individual employment agreements and have an immediate effect in requiring employers to either introduce some new internal normative acts and regulations or change or remove others that already exist in order to be in compliance with Russian labor law.

OPINION

Chris Floyd's Global Eye

The rule of law is dead. Even as a fiction, a dream of human betterment - of "civilization," to use that word we hear so often on the lips of warlords and terrorists these days - the idea of law has been discarded, trashed: just so much excess baggage thrown aside in the relentless, mindless pursuit of raw power.

WORLD

FOLLOWING ONE'S BLISS TO THE BANKS OF THE NEVA

It takes a lot of courage to change your life completely - and the risks do not always pay off. But they have for British composer Peter Dyson.

By the age of 47, he had given up his job as a civil servant, divorced his wife and sold his Essex house in order to come to Russia to study with St.

WORLD WATCH

Afghanistan: End in Sight

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afgha ni stan (Reuters) - U.S. Army General Tommy Franks, in overall charge of coalition forces in Afghanistan, said Monday that "Operation Anaconda" was drawing to a close.

Gusev Free Kick Enough To See Off Zenit

MOSCOW - A late goal by CSKA winger Rolan Gusev was enough to sink Zenit on Sunday, as the Moscow side maintained its undefeated league record.

Russia international Gusev, who joined CSKA in the close season from city neighbor Dinamo, curled a free kick past Zenit keeper Vyacheslav Malafeyev with a minute remaining to give the army side nine points from its opening three matches.