LOCAL NEWS

RICE VISIT AIMS AT MENDING FENCES

MOSCOW - U.S. President George Bush's national-security adviser met with President Vladimir Putin on Monday and delivered a message from her boss saying that the United States is committed to continued partnership with Russia despite the very serious disagreements over Iraq, a senior U.

POLL SHOWS SUPPORT FOR EARLY GOVERNOR ELECTIONS

The results of a survey conducted by the Agency for Social Research last week suggest that a majority of St. Petersburg residents would support a plan to move the gubernatorial elections scheduled for next May ahead to coincide with State Duma elections this December.

NATIONAL NEWS

ROMA GET CIVIL HELP FROM NEW CENTER

In connection with International Gypsies Day on Tuesday, the St. Petersburg chapter of the Memorial human-rights organization held a round-table session to publicize the recent opening of the Northwest Center for Social and Legal Assistance to Roma.

Roma is the proper name for people commonly referred to as Gypsies or, in Russian, as tsygani.

The goal of the center, which was opened in January but hasn't been functioning at full capacity, is to help inform Roma of their civil rights in Russia, and to provide somewhere to turn for help for an ethnic group that is often the target of abuse from law-enforcement agencies and racist groups.

PARTY OF LIFE COMING OUT OF THE SHADOWS

MOSCOW - The obscure Party of Life appears to be positioning itself to play a role in national politics, with Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov and possibly Lyudmila Putina as members.

PROSECUTOR INTERESTED IN KASYANOV

MOSCOW - The Prosecutor General's Office says that it would like to question Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov over his role in a crab-fishing scam that has already netted the deputy head of the State Fisheries Committee and has ties to a murdered governor.

IN BRIEF

Sending Help

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - President Vladimir Putin appointed Deputy Interior Minister Andrei Chernenko as a deputy to Valentina Matviyenko, the recently appointed presidential envoy in the Northwestern Region, Interfax reported Monday.

LOCAL BUSINESS

NOTHING NEW IDENTIFIED IN INNOVATION

Russia may have some of the world's most talented scientists and top research institutes, but that doesn't mean it has a hi-tech economy.

In fact, according to participants at a top-level British-Russian seminar held on Thursday, the county is not using its scientific resources to their full potential.

BUSINESS VIPS HEAD FOR LONDON

LONDON - Hundreds of Russian business leaders, politicians and their bodyguards gathered Thursday to present their case to investors at a packed Russian Economic Forum, an annual investment powwow that influential Alfa Bank President Pyotr Aven jokingly said was beginning to resemble a "Partkhozaktiv," the Soviet-era conference between party leaders and enterprise directors.

Programming Teams Win Top Honors in U.S.

MOSCOW - When 14-year-old Timofei Borodin started doing algorithmic programming six years ago as an extracurricular activity in his hometown of Kostroma in central Russia, he had no idea how far the hobby would take him.

Last week Borodin became one of six Russian students to win gold medals at the Association for Computing Machinery's International Collegiate Programming Contest in Beverly Hills, California.

OPINION

GAUGING THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF WAR

"EVEN if it did not sow the decay of the whole civilized life of Europe," an ominously prescient John Maynard Keynes wrote in 1919, it was "abhorrent and detestable" to impose financial reparations on Germany after World War I.

Although untold battles lie ahead and the extent of destruction is yet to be determined, there will eventually be a postwar Iraq.

IT IS ALL ABOUT DECEIVING - AND WINNING

IN his famed book "The Art of War," Chinese general Sun Tzu wrote 2,500 years ago: "War is all deceit. If you can do something, make the enemy believe you cannot; if you are close, pretend you are far away.

Global Eye

Hell for Leather

Even as the sleek techno-wizardry of "Shock and Awe" gives way to the old-fashioned slog of "Blood and Guts" on the battlefields of Iraq, the Bush Regime's postwar plans continue apace. It's now clear that the Bushists aim to turn Iraq into an American protectorate - a supine dependency like Guam, Puerto Rico or Britain - by controlling every aspect of life in the conquered land.

WORLD

WORLD WATCH

Squids In

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - Fishermen working in Antarctic waters have made an extremely rare catch - a colossal squid with eyes as big as dinner plates and razor-sharp hooks on its tentacles, a marine researcher said Thursday.

The 150-kilogram, 5-meter-long specimen was caught in the Ross Sea, said Steve O'Shea, a research fellow with the Auckland University of Technology. He said the squid was a young female; adults are much bigger.

Going by the scientific name Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, the animal is unrelated to the smaller and more common giant squid, O'Shea said. "This animal is formidable," he told New Zealand's National Radio.

ARSENAL, MAN. U SET TO DUKE IT OUT FOR TITLE

LONDON - Arsenal and Manchester United look set for a thrilling race to the Premiership title after Newcastle United's 2-1 defeat at Everton on Sunday.

RUSSIA, FRANCE EMBARRASSED IN DAVIS CUP QUARTERFINALS

LONDON - France joined defending champion Russia in the Davis Cup doldrums on Sunday, completing a disastrous weekend for the tournament's top two seeds.

France lost 3-2 to Switzerland, and Russia crumbled 5-0 to Argentina.

The cup was unceremoniously wrenched from Russia's grip by a dogged Argentine team effort.

SPORTS WATCH

Champion Whiner I

LONDON (Reuters) - UEFA condemned Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson's attack on the Champions League quarterfinal draw as "unfortunate and silly.