LOCAL NEWS

COMMUNISTS SAY VOTE COUNT 'A SCAM'

The Communists announced on Wednesday that an alternative tally of the State Duma vote has revealed ballot stuffing that pushed the Kremlin-crafted United Russia party only a trifle higher, but was sufficient to squeeze Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces out of the Duma.

CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATES RUE DUMA

Participants in the annual Sakharov hearings, held in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, criticized the results of the elections to the State Duma and expressed their concern about human rights in Russia.

NATIONAL NEWS

MARKOVA QUESTIONED FOR ALLEGED SLANDER OF MATVIYENKO

Former vice governor Anna Markova was summoned to the city prosecutor's office this week after Governor Valentina Matviyenko filed a suit against her.

Matviyenko has accused Markova of libel and verbal insult during two television debates broadcast on local TV station TRK Petersburg in early October.

IN BRIEF

Transport Fares to Rise

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - City Hall plans to raise the price of public transport by about 15 percent on Jan.1, Interfax quoted Alexander Datsyuk, head of the transport committee, as saying Tuesday.

STAROVOITOVA MURDER TRIAL DUE THIS MONTH

More than five years after leading democratic politician Galina Starovoitova was assassinated on the stairway to her apartment a trial of those suspected of killing her is to start at the end of this month.

A criminal case to investigate the assassination was handed over to city court Nov.

FSB: AL-QAIDA BEHIND BOMB

MOSCOW - Police confirmed Wednesday that a deadly explosion outside the National Hotel on Tuesday was the work of a female suicide bomber and said they were combing the city for a suspected accomplice.

LOCAL BUSINESS

CARRIERS LOOK OVERSEAS FOR NEW REGIONAL PLANES

MOSCOW - A dearth of regional aircraft, coupled with growing passenger numbers, is forcing Russian carriers to fill the gap abroad, airline officials say.

Aeroflot is expected to announce a tender for regional aircraft and request that the government temporarily lift an import duty on foreign-built planes.

RAIDS ON YUKOS PUSH SHARES TO NEW LOW

MOSCOW - Shares in troubled oil giant Yukos slid to their lowest level in eight months on Wednesday as tax raids on affiliates continued and new charges were filed, spooking investors already worried that its takeover of rival Sibneft is doomed.

OPINION

A Funeral For Russian Democracy

I was terrified when I saw the first elections results coming from polling stations in Russia's Far East late Sunday. A few hours later my friends observing the elections raised their glasses and drank to the funeral of democracy.

It was not a joke. A funeral is exactly what happened. Last weekend the population sentenced democracy to death, giving up the right to form the country's laws and leaving this task in the hands of nationalists, fascists and autocrats.

CULTURE

SPITFIRE SPAWNS MUSICAL FAMILY

It has been four years since Spitfire, the local college-pop ska-punk seven-piece, released its last album, but the band hasn't been idle. Next week at Red Club, it will launch its new record, "Thrills & Kills," but this is only a small, albeit important, part of what the band has been doing lately.

CHERNOV'S CHOICE

The main event this week has got to be the Tequilajazzz concert at Red Club on Saturday. For the past three months the band, which turned 10 years old in September, appeared locally only a couple of times, although it has been making tour appearances more frequently.

TRY A SLICE OF SOUTHERN SLAVIC CHARM

On four separate occasions this summer, a friend and I found ourselves facing the bridge immortalized on the front of the 10-ruble note in Krasnoyarsk, at what became the ultimate crossroads of our trans-Siberian travels. Not far from that bridge, after repeatedly attempting to photograph what those who designed the currency had seen - without success - we stopped in a place called the Balkan Grill. That break from life on the road was the best meal I had all summer on my meager budget. The food was delicious, the atmosphere inviting and relaxed, the staff friendly and informative. You can imagine our enthusiasm when we found out they also run a restaurant in St.

BOOKER WINNER BEATS THE ODDS

A Russian resident of Madrid was named winner of the 2003 Open Russia Booker Prize last week for his novel, "White on Black," published by St.

EMIGRE LOOKS BACK AT SOVIET TURMOIL

Here's how the story goes: Perestroika got rolling, censorship relaxed, printing presses started pumping out everything from gutter journalism to long-silenced literature, and everyone who'd had a bone to pick about the last few decades - picked it.

Or rather, almost everyone.

THE WORD'S WORTH

Myortvaya voda: water that cannot support life.

Nearly a week after the election, I continue to be fascinated with the language of the electoral process, although I admit to having found the party slogans a little lackluster.