LOCAL NEWS

CHECHNYA 'YES' VOTE AROUSES SUSPICION

GROZNY - Turning out in record numbers, Chechens gave overwhelming support for a new constitution that the Kremlin hopes will enhance stability to Chechnya, according to preliminary results released Monday night.

With ballots from 292 of the republic's 418 polling stations counted, 96.1 percent were in favor of the constitution confirming Chechnya's status as part of Russia, the Central Election Commission said on its Web site. Only 2.6 percent voted "no."

A similarly large number of voters on Sunday approved measures paving the way for presidential and parliamentary elections, the commission said.

Turnout was 85 percent.

President Vladimir Putin said the results "surpassed all expectations" and showed the rebels have no popular support.

LENENERGO BOSS SAYS READY TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR

While no one seems willing to come right out and announce their intention to try to win the job, it appears that the race to succeed Governor Vladimir Yakovlev is starting to take shape.

New Foreigners Law Targets Minorities

MOSCOW - Millions of Russian-speaking former citizens of the Soviet Union play a key part in the Russian economy and send billions of rubles to their own republics by living and working in Russia.

For many it is a key to survival. The better-off build dachas. The poor drive trolleybuses, sell vegetables in open markets and bring in the harvest in agricultural regions.

NATIONAL NEWS

IN BRIEF

Not Welcome

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Legislative Assembly deputy Sergei Andreyev is proposing that the legislature pass an official request to President Vladimir Putin to cancel an invitation to U.S. President George W. Bush during the 300th-anniversary celebrations in May.

U.S., RUSSIA TENSION RISES OVER IRAQ WAR

MOSCOW - Washington and Moscow traded barbs over Iraq on Monday, with U.S. President George W. Bush complaining that Russian companies were selling defense equipment to Baghdad and President Vladimir Putin warning that steps must be taken to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq.

LOCAL BUSINESS

OFFICIALS AGREE ON WAR SECURITY

MOSCOW - The war in Iraq may be threatening to drive the world apart, but senior Russian officials are united on the short-term effects it will have on the domestic economy - little or none.

"We built our forecasts and our policies in such a way that the economy is currently immune from the various splashes in the world economy," said Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who is also a deputy prime minister.

GDP RISES 6.1 PERCENT IN FIRST TWO MONTHS OF YEAR

MOSCOW - The political tensions over Iraq that have driven oil prices sky high this year have also driven Russia's economy to one of its fastest rates of growth since the 1998 crisis.

UN STILL SPLIT ON IRAQ'S $40BLN

UNITED NATIONS - Security Council members decided on Friday to work through the weekend on a plan to use Iraq's $40 billion in UN-controlled oil money toward humanitarian relief during the war.

The plan, inspired by Washington and London but presented by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as his own, would put Annan in charge of a replacement for the oil-for-food program that was suspended last week ahead of the outbreak of war.

GAZPROM PROPOSAL RISKS SIDELINING BP'S GAS DEAL

MOSCOW - A Gazprom proposal to develop vast untapped reserves in East Siberia and the Far East could derail plans by BP to develop the huge Siberian Kovytka gas field - one of the crown jewels in BP's mega-merger with TNK.

OPINION

WEST SHOULDN'T UNDERESTIMATE IRAQI IDENTITY

BACK in March 1991, when much of Iraq had risen in revolt against President Saddam Hussein, posters of the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini began appearing in southern Iraqi towns, where the population is overwhelmingly Shiite. Nothing could have been more calculated to give heart palpitations to the first Bush administration, since the posters signaled that the Shiite rebels were mere cat's paws of the ruling Shiite mullahs in Tehran.

TIME TO CALM DOWN ABOUT STALIN HISTORY

AS March winds down, so does the flood of publications devoted to the 50th anniversary of Joseph Stalin's death on March 5, 1953. It comes as no surprise that fans of Generalissimo Stalin have churned out reams of praise for their idol.

Global Eye

Memory Lane

Long before Genghis W. Bush and his Boardroom Horde launched their campaign of rapine against the clapped-out Iraqi regime, there was a little incident involving hijacked planes, famous buildings and the mass slaughter of innocent people on American soil that caused a good deal of commotion at the time.

WORLD

SCIENTISTS CLOSER TO CURE FOR NEW DISEASE

HONG KONG - The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday a killer pneumonia virus had yet to be conclusively identified, but new findings have fueled hopes that the globe-trotting disease could be curbed.

Hong Kong researchers said on Saturday they had isolated the virus, found it was new, and designed the first diagnostic test, meaning patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) can be identified, and therefore treated, much faster.

ZENIT SHOCKS LOKO IN MOSCOW

Zenit continued its winning start to the season with a stunning upset 2-1 road win over defending champion Lokomotiv Moscow in the Premier League on Saturday.