LOCAL NEWS

Breath of Hope Despite Debilitating Illness

Oleg Shulga and his mother Anna get up at around 10 a.m. Anna washes her 35-year-old son, shaves him, gives him his medicine, feeds him and then they get to work.

She props him into a sitting position and opens the book he's translating on his lap. Oleg looks down and Anna leans close while Oleg whispers the translation which his mother transcribes by hand.

NATIONAL NEWS

INVESTIGATION ACCUSES WARLORD

MOSCOW - Investigators pointed the finger at a Chechen warlord of Dagestani origin as being the mastermind behind the explosion that ripped through a Victory Day parade in Dagestan, killing 42 people.

Dagestani Interior Minister Adilgirei Magomedtagirov said he had evidence that Rappani Khalilov, whom local police suspect of plotting a number of blasts in Dagestan over the past eight months, was behind the Thursday bombing and promised to personally make sure that he was brought to justice.

DEATH OF VICE GOVERNOR ADDS TO ONGOING FEUDS

City Hall deepened the tone of animosity in the ongoing feud with the Northwest Regional Prosecutor's office last week, insinuating that pressure from the prosecutor's office had hastened the death of former St.

IN BRIEF

Literary Bent

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - U.S. President George W. Bush has started reading works by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in preparation for his upcoming summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Interfax reported on Monday.

Russian foreign Minster Igor Ivanov said that during his meeting with at the beginning of May, the U.S. president told him that he was reading Dostoyevsky "to be able to understand better the St. Petersburg atmosphere," Interfax reported

"It is very pleasant to hear that a politician, despite the fact that he has many other problems, finds time to take part in our culture," Interfax quoted Ivanov as saying.

ALL CAPTURED ON CAMERA: THE LAST SHOTS OF THE PERM OMON

On March 29, 2000, an OMON detachment serving in Chechnya was ambushed by rebel forces, who killed 42 of the 49 soldiers in the column. Now, photos and video footage seen by The St.

LOCAL BUSINESS

DAGESTAN DAM PROVIDES NEW HOPE

CHIRKEI, Dagestan - "Come, look at this man-made beauty!" exclaimed Abakar Abakarov, the jovial director of the Chirkei Hydroelectric Plant, inviting visitors to the edge of the observation platform. "Mankind has never invented anything more reliable than an arch.

SLAVNEFT NAMES NEW PRESIDENT

Slavneft shareholders Monday put a former Sibneft manager - currently under federal investigation - in the president's chair of the state-controlled oil major.

'Made in China:' Will This Be the Economic Future of Japan?

China is developing into a country of high tech and low wages, while Japan is in danger of losing its last great competitive advantage over its resurgent neighbor. As James Brooke of The New York Times reports, some see Japan's future in China's shadow.

IN recent decades, Japanese companies invested to make China the "factory to the world.

OPINION

AMERICAN CONDOLENCES DEBUNK RUSSOPHOBIA

Editor,

I want to say that this American is plenty mad about the deadly blast in Kaspiisk, and we Americans are with you in this struggle against Muslim extremists.

It was disgraceful to blow up innocent people in the middle of World War II victory celebration.

GIVE PUTIN MORE CREDIT

PREDICTING how long President Vladimir Putin will be able to sustain his pro-Western foreign policy without getting much in return has become the latest growth industry among political pundits on both sides of the Atlantic.

CITY'S IMAGE THROWN INTO THE GARBAGE

THE sight of Palace Square after the Victory Day fireworks display was a sad ending to what had been a good day, and a clear comment on this city's need for about 5,000 more garbage cans.

Sure, the empty bottles, cans and wrappers covering the square and the grounds around the Hermitage can be blamed on the atmosphere of revelry and a degree of drunkenness.

PETERSBURGERS MISSING OUT ON FERRY BUSINESS

WHEN I was about 10 years old, I liked to walk on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, which was just a few hundred meters from my apartment, and see the newly constructed passenger-port building, with a big electronic schedule of arrivals and departures on the wall.

TIME RUNNING OUT FOR 'REDS'

MARCHING through Russia's streets and squares in the rituals of early May was a return to business as usual for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The party lost the lobbying muscle needed to raise money when it lost control of the State Duma's many committees.

FOOTBALL'S IMAGE BEING DRAGGED THROUGH DIRT

BAKU, Azerbaijan - Corruption, bribery, favoritism, election-fixing: For once these aren't criticisms of the Azeri government but, instead, of the country's soccer federation.

WORLD

NEPAL APPEALS FOR HELP AGAINST REBELS

KATHMANDU - Nepal, which has supplied regiments of fierce Gurkha soldiers to Britain, was looking to British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday for military aid in crushing a deadly revolt by Maoists.

Nepal's prime minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, was due to meet Blair in London to request help in putting down the six-year uprising aimed at toppling the constitutional monarchy and installing a one-party communist republic in the Himalayan kingdom.

BRITAIN INVESTIGATES ANOTHER RAIL CRASH

LONDON - Safety officials have been investigating whether vandalism or poor maintenance caused a rail crash that killed seven people and injured more than 70 in Britain last Friday.

SLOVAKS DOWN RUSSIA FOR FIRST WORLD TITLE

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia - Tens of thousands of jubilant Slovaks packed the streets of Bratislava on Sunday to welcome home the country's ice-hockey team, after its triumph in the world championships.

The capital city's main square was transformed into a sea of red, white and blue national flags as raucous fans hailed the players after Saturday's 4-3 win over Russia in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The team sprayed champagne from a stage while fire fighters hosed down the crowd to keep them cool in the sweltering heat.

The crowd singled out Slovak captain Miroslav Satan for special praise, chanting: "Satan is God." Satan's last name is pronounced Shataan.

ZENIT DREAMS DASHED AT FINAL HURDLE AS CSKA ENDS 11-YEAR CUP WAIT

MOSCOW - CSKA Moscow ended an 11-year wait for a domestic trophy when it beat Zenit 2-0 in the Russian Cup final on Sunday.

The victory was doubly sweet for CSKA, as it secured the army side a place in the UEFA Cup.