LOCAL NEWS

Soviet Dissident Ginzburg Dead at 65

PARIS - Alexander Ginzburg, a leading Soviet dissident and human rights campaigner, died Friday in Paris. He was 65.

Ginzburg was an advocate of nonviolent change who sought to embarrass the Soviet authorities by pressing them to respect their own laws. He also sought to increase external pressure on the Soviet Union to show more respect for individual rights by smuggling out information about abuses to the West so that it could be broadcast back to the Soviet people by Western radio stations.

NATIONAL NEWS

PENTACOSTAL CHURCHES FACE VISA HASSLES

MOSCOW - The Roman Catholic Church is not the only religious organization to have its foreign spiritual leaders blacklisted and barred from Russia without explanation.

Several foreigners long involved with local groups at the other end of the Christian spectrum - in the growing neo-Pentecostal, or charismatic, movement - have also had their visas revoked at the border in recent months, while dozens more have had their visa requests denied, Pentecostal leaders said.

IN BRIEF

Mirilashvili Moved

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The case of local businessperson Mikhail Mirilashvili will be handed over to the military court of the Leningrad Military District, a source within the prosecutor's office has told Interfax.

LOCAL BUSINESS

OPEC PRESIDENT GIVES RUSSIANS WARNING

MOSCOW - OPEC President Rilwanu Lukman said Friday that Russia would be foolish to think OPEC would continue to sacrifice market share to it and warned Moscow that OPEC exporters would win any price war.

OPEC hopes to see room to increase output toward the end of the year as the world economy recovers, but Lukman said that any future output cuts would be conditional on other countries, including Russia, joining in.

"The Russians would be foolish to expect us to continuously reduce our market share in order to support higher volumes for them. That would not be acceptable, certainly not in the long term, and they know that," Lukman said at a London conference.

WORLD BANK HEADS FOR THE REGIONS FOR GRASS ROOTS ADVICE

NOVOSIBIRSK, Western Siberia - After more than a decade of working with the government on programs ranging from stabilizing the nation's financial system to relocating inhabitants of entire towns in the Far North, the World Bank has decided to seek advice from an unusual source - ordinary people.

PROPOSAL SUGGESTS RETURN OF RESOURCES

MOSCOW - A working group has recommended that Russia renationalize natural resources, Interfax reported last week.

The group, composed of Russian Academy of Science members and government representatives, came up with the plan as part of an overall program to revise the federal law on natural resources.

KASYANOV SETTLES AUTO DEBATE

MOSCOW - After months of debate and fierce lobbying, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov rolled out a 10-year master plan for the car industry Thursday that restricts older foreign-built vehicles and provides for special investment zones around car plants.

KOMI REACHES DEAL WITH EXIMBANK ON FINANCING

On Friday, EximBank Vice President Eduardo Aguirre and the Komi Minister of Economic Development Ivan Stukalov signed a memorandum of understanding under which Eximbank will finance purchases of U.S. equipment by the Komi Republic.

Eximbank, a U.S. government credit agency set up to give financial support to U.

HISTORIC OIL SHIPMENT SNAGGED BY BAD DEBT

MOSCOW - The highly publicized, first-ever direct shipment of Russian crude to the United States has landed Yukos in U.S. federal court over a seven-year-old debt.

OPINION

MARKET MOVES IN EVER-DECREASING CIRCLES

THE U.S. stock market is plummeting and U.S. Democratic candidates are letting American voters know that the rich and greedy businesspeople - the friends of the Republicans - are to blame.

That might sound like today's headline, but it was also the story 70 years ago.

FORESTRY RIPENS FOR A CARVE UP

NOW that the oil and metals industries have been divvied up, the forestry industry is a prime object for carving. In terms of output volume, the sector occupies fifth place in the country's gross domestic product.

UNDUE BIG OIL DILIGENCE INFLUENCING WORLD BANK

WASHINGTON - The mission of the World Bank is reducing poverty and promoting free markets. So how does that track with showering Gosplan-sized subsidies on the oil companies?

The World Bank division that gives money to multinational corporations - yes, there is such a division - is on the verge of lending $500 million to BP Amoco so that it can expand its operations in Azerbaijan and build a pipeline from Baku to Turkey.

THE ANTI-EXTREMISM RECORD DOESN'T BODE WELL

ON June 21, President Vladimir Putin made an important symbolic gesture by awarding the Order of Courage to Tatyana Sapunova, the 28-year-old woman who was severely wounded on May 27 when a booby trap exploded while she attempted to tear down an anti-Semitic sign outside Moscow.

A SIMPLE CASE FOR BUILDING A CIVIL SOCIETY

SO here I am in Denver, surrounded by skyscrapers, big cars filled with people rushing to Mile High Stadium to see another game, fireworks, Taco Bell, Star Bucks and - the law.

I don't think that I have heard the word "law" uttered quite so often anywhere else I have been, and I'm starting to appreciate how the system here works and feel a little sorry for its Russian counterpart.

GLOBAL EYE

We do not at this time ascribe to the view that the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States were ordered - or allowed to happen-by the unelected regime now in power in Washington.

WORLD

WORLD WATCH

Bloody Monday

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) - A Catholic man was fatally shot Monday after a night of gun attacks left two others wounded in north Belfast, the most bitterly divided side of Northern Ireland's capital, police and residents said.

SPORTS WATCH

Rivaldo Moving On

MADRID, Spain (Reuters) - Barcelona agreed to rescind the contract of their World Cup-winning forward Rivaldo on Sunday, leaving the Brazilian free to leave the Catalan club as soon as he can find a new employer.