LOCAL NEWS

CITY LAWMAKERS FACING FIGHT AHEAD

Both deputies and political analysts are predicting a stormy session ahead as lawmakers return to the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday following their summer recess. The fixing of a date for upcoming elections to the assembly - tentatively set for Dec. 8 - and the campaign that follows are sure to create some fireworks, with the lingering question of Governor Vladimir Yakovlev's own desire for another term adding more intrigue to the mix over the next four months.

"The political climate is going to be that of a battle," Mikhail Amosov, Yabloko faction leader at the Legislative Assembly, said in an interview late last week.

The question of the date for the upcoming vote has already been the center of a controversy for a number of months, as lawmakers have been unable to come to an agreement.

DISASTERS ARE ALL JUST PART OF A DAY'S WORK

St. Petersburg's front line of defense against a host of disasters that strike this beautiful, but impoverished city, with its crumbling infrastructure, is its emergency rescue service.

NATIONAL NEWS

DUMA BACK TO WORK AFTER SUMMER BREAK

MOSCOW - The corridors of the State Duma - and the ritzy coffeeshops on nearby Kamergersky Pereulok - teemed with lawmakers and their staffers Monday, as parliament's lower house got back to work after its summer recess, preparing to tackle more than 500 bills before the new year.

SMOKE GONE, BUT OBLAST FIRES RAGE ON

While the weather conditions over the week-end cleared St. Petersburg of the heavy haze that hung over the city late last week, the fires that contributed to it are gaining ground in the Leningrad Oblast, leaving authorities worried about both security and finances.

IN BRIEF

Kursk Secrets Preserved

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The destruction of the bow of the sunken submarine Kursk was necessary in order to preserve secrets of its design, Interfax quoted Deputy Duma Speaker Valery Dorogin as saying Monday.

"In modern submarines, everything is secret - from the weaponry to the noise-muffling rubber [coating], all that covers the external part of the submarine," Dorogin, who is a vice admiral, was quoted as saying.

NINE DEAD, RUSHAILO HURT IN CAR CRASH

MOSCOW - A car crash on Russia's remote Kamchatka peninsula on Monday killed five people and injured nine, including a top security official, in a dramatic demonstration of the chaotic state of Russia's road traffic.

LOCAL BUSINESS

RUSSIAN STOCKS LISTED IN THE FT

MOSCOW - The Financial Times set a milestone last week for the Russian stock market by permanently adding top Russian companies to its stock index.

Fifteen of the largest Russian companies in terms of market capitalization debuted in the financial daily, along with Indian and Chinese companies.

GOVERNMENT URGES RAIL MINISTER TO DESTROY MONOPOLY

MOSCOW - The government rebuked the Railways Ministry on Friday for failing to develop a competitive market by not giving private operators equal access to the national rail network.

OPINION

SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN

IT still doesn't seem quite real. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Monica Watt was standing in a courtyard of the Gateway Plaza apartment complex in Battery Park City, just a block from the enormous towers of the World Trade Center. She was with two of her three children - Amanda, who was 5 and severely handicapped, and William, who was 2.

JAPANESE VISIT ANOTHER STEP FOR N. KOREA

JAPAN'S prime minister has scheduled an unprecedented visit to North Korea next week that could go far toward easing tensions in one of the more dangerous parts of the world.

CATASTROPHES POINT TO A BRIGHTER FUTURE

WHEN I reflect on the year that has passed since Sept. 11, 2001, two images come to mind. The first I saw on television: clouds of smoke and flame engulfing the World Trade Center. The second I saw live, and much more recently, as I returned from vacation by train: the smoke screen stretching for hundreds of kilometers around Moscow.

GLOBAL EYE

As the world prepares to mark the anniversary of one of history's great turning points, it would be remiss not to make a contribution to the sad memorials.