LOCAL NEWS

YAKOVLEV'S FOCUS SHIFTS TO THIRD TERM

In an interview published Monday, Vladimir Yakovlev gave the strongest indication yet that he intends to seek another term as St. Petersburg governor, stressing unfinished projects as the main impetus.

A mere two weeks after the governor's press office went out of its way to soften earlier Yakovlev statements that he was interested in a third term, the governor told Ogonyok magazine that choosing a new governor would bring an interruption in work projects begun under his tenure.

"I would like to stay on as governor. Too many projects have yet to be completed, and any change of power will bring an unavoidable break, a pause," Yakovlev said in the interview.

VANDALS HIT HEROES' GRAVEYARD

The headstones of at least 45 graves at the Serafimov Cemetery, one of the city's oldest and the resting place of many of the city's military heroes, including more than 30 who died in the Kursk nuclear-submarine accident, were vandalized on Friday night.

NATIONAL NEWS

IN BRIEF

Peace Gift

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The French government is planning to give St. Petersburg a "Lighthouse of Peace" to mark the city's 300th anniversary next year, Interfax reported Monday.

According to a press release, quoted by Interfax, from the city's Architecture and Building Committee, the monument will be up to 30 meters tall and 5 meters in diameter, and will have the word "peace" written in different languages on it.

CHECHNYA ON ROAD TO REFERENDUM

MOSCOW - The pro-Moscow Chechen administration approved on Monday a draft constitution that recognizes the republic as a "rightful region of the Russian Federation" but not a sovereign one.

LOCAL BUSINESS

CHARGES VANISH IN SIBUR CASE

MOSCOW - The trial of former Sibur President Yakov Goldovsky and Vice President Yevgeny Koshchits got off to a surprising start Wednesday, with representatives of plaintiff Sibur and its parent company Gazprom withdrawing their civil suits.

The Prosecutor General's Office, however, is pressing criminal charges that include abuse of authority, large-scale misappropriation of entrusted property, use of fake documentation and laundering illegally gained funds.

NEW ROUND OPENS IN BATTLE FOR ILIM PAPER MILL

MOSCOW - A battle for one of Russia's largest paper mills went into overdrive Monday, as No. 1 pulp producer Ilim Pulp brought in a team of top-notch Western lawyers and consultants.

BUDGET FIGURES STUMP EXPERTS

MOSCOW - Lower revenues? Higher spending? A government ploy ahead of a battle with lawmakers over the 2003 budget? All of the above?

Federal-budget watchers polled Friday offered various scenarios as to why the Finance Ministry - through an unnamed official - said it had lowered its budget-surplus forecast for 2002 by nearly two thirds, while revising expenditures up by 7 percent.

U.S. PLANS TO FUND NEW OIL, GAS STUDY IN SIBERIA

MOSCOW - The United States will fund the exploration of oil and gas fields off the Arctic coast of eastern Siberia, the first show of energy partnership with Russia since the May presidential summit, U.

NORILSK ABANDONS $800M PROJECT IN NEW CALEDONIA

MOSCOW - Norilsk Nickel said Friday it had backed out of an ambitious project to develop the Nakety-Bogota site in New Caledonia, an island off Australia's east coast famous for its nickel deposits.

"We will never commit ourselves fully to projects that cannot guarantee investment returns and that do not add to the shareholder value of the company," Leonid Rozhetskin, deputy chairperson of Norilsk's management board, was quoted by Interfax as saying.

A BLIND FAITH IN CAPITALISM IS BEING ROCKED

Today, capitalism is under attack for the first time since the fall of communism. Three reasons are mainly, and coincidentally, responsible. First, bear markets rule in the three main stock exchanges of the world.

Entering the Twilight of the Liberal Gods

WorldCom filing for bankruptcy in the last month sent a shock wave through world financial markets that has hit Russia, causing the Russian stock market to dip sharply.

To most Russians, the stock market is still a very abstract concept. The Russian market, unlike its U.S. counterpart, is hardly the engine of our capitalist system.

OPINION

LOSING FACE WITH THE MOB

THIS was the kind of dizzy scheme that could get a wise guy kicked out of the Russian mafia. Or laughed out. Smuggling, da. Extortion, da. Murder, da. Fixing figure skating, nyet.

Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, arrested last week in Italy on U.S. charges that he fixed the pairs and ice dancing in a vote-swapping deal at the Salt Lake City Olympics, is described as a Russian crime boss operating out of southern France.

THREE TERMS MIGHT NOT BE ENOUGH

WILL he run or won't he? The answer to the question of whether Governor Vladimir Yakovlev will seek a third term in office, now that the Supreme Court has said that he can, increasingly appears to be yes.

SOFT ON FRAUD, SOFT ON THE CAUSES OF FRAUD

WASHINGTON - Did you know Microsoft's U.S. tax rate for the past two years was only 1.8 percent? Russian citizens surrender 13 percent of their income to the government, and Americans around 30 percent - while Microsoft, with $21.9 billion in profits, pays next to nothing.

GLOBAL EYE

Moral Maze

Never let it be said that this column doesn't have a good word to say about the bug-eyed religious extremists who have taken over the Republican Party and poisoned America's political discourse with their frothing ignorance and Talibanic zeal for barbaric repression.

WORLD

IN BRIEF

Chen Backs Vote

BEIJING (WP) - Taiwan's president, Chen Shui-bian, said Saturday that he supported legislation for a referendum on whether the island should declare independence from China.

Chen also issued the clearest definition to date of his views of Taiwan's relations with China, fundamentally rejecting China's position that Taiwan and China belong to the same country.

SPORTS WATCH

Getting Closer

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Barry Bonds hit the 598th home run of his career, one of six by San Francisco, to help the wild card-chasing Giants to a 10-5 National League victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.