LOCAL NEWS

METRO STATION PROVES HAVEN FOR PICKPOCKETS

Foreign visitors to St. Petersburg should avoid the Canal Griboyedova entrance to Nevsky Prospekt metro where pickpockets work in full sight of police, a recent victim of petty theft at the station warns.

U.S. citizen Herb Blount spoke out after his wallet was stolen at the end of July and became convinced that police are colluding with thieves after a series of events he witnessed when he reported the incident.

RESIDENTS READY TO FIGHT ON

After three years of unsuccessful attempts to stop a fill-in construction project in a culturally important park, a group of St. Petersburg citizens from a nearby building says it is ready to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights with the support of Groza ('Thunderstorm') a city-wide public legal rights organization.

HOTEL CHEF SHOWS AWARD-WINNING FOOD IS SURREAL THING

The chef who will represent Russia at an international culinary competition in Canada said he found inspiration in the surrealist art of Spanish painter Salvador Dali.

Food based on Dali's nightmare colors and melting forms may not sound very appetizing, but it is the young chef's artistic philosophy which is winning him awards.

SUSPECTED KILLERS OF AFRICAN STUDENT ON TRIAL

Three young men accused of stabbing an African student to death in a racially motivated attack in February went on trial at the Voronezh regional court on Monday.

NATIONAL NEWS

IN BRIEF

Kidnappers Held

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Three suspects that allegedly kidnapped a local businessman were detained in the city last week, Interfax reported Friday quoting the police.

The businessman's wife approached the police after July 28 when a former business partner of her husband and two other men came into their apartment and demanded debts of $15,000, Interfax cited the police as saying.

CHECHEN NEWSPAPER FACES CLOSURE THREAT

An independent Chechen newspaper based in Ingushetia has been effectively shut down after its editor was summoned to the Interior Ministry in Nazran and told to stop publishing critical reports of the federal military campaign in Chechnya.

LOCAL BUSINESS

DUMA SET TO LIMIT BEER ADS

MOSCOW - The State Duma passed a bill in its second reading Saturday placing severe restrictions on beer ads that could cost media outlets millions of dollars in revenue.

The draft law bans the broadcasting of beer commercials on TV and radio between 7 a.

STATE WILL CHARGE A FEE TO TELL WHAT IT IS DOING

MOSCOW - For the first time Russian citizens are to be granted access to information about the government's work - but they will have to pay for it, according to a bill prepared by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry.

TRAIN STATION SET TO BECOME FUN

The Varshavsky station, a 19th century city train station closed for renovation in May 2001, will be turned into an enormous movie theater cum entertainment center.

Moscow-headquartered film distribution and entertainment operator Investkinoproject and St. Petersburg's largest holding company Adamant are investing a total of $40 million into the reconstruction of the station, Investkinoproject's general director Alexander Timofeyev said Monday.

WORDLY HOTELIER EXPLORES RUSSIAN HOSPITALITY

Since graduating from a hotel management school in France 35 years ago, Henri Blin has not held a single job in France.

Before he was invited to work as general manager of St.

OPINION

THE KREMLIN SHOWS ITS TRUE FACE

I have never been so concerned about the future of this country as I am today. I don't expect the government to start rounding up dissidents, a practice stopped by Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-1980s. And I don't think they'll reactivate the gulag.

There is no compelling economic or political justification for a return to a system that proved so incredibly inefficient, especially since Russia no longer has a need for slave labor.

CITY ARTISTS SHOULDN'T MEASURE THEIR WORTH IN PRIVILEGES

Today I want to talk about the recent scandal involving the St. Petersburg administration's attempt to deprive artists of the right to rent studios at reduced rates.

Chris Floyd's Global Eye

Generation Gap

America calls its soldiers who fought in World War II "the greatest generation." They are hymned by Hollywood, celebrated by publishers and politicians, hailed at every turn. And for their troubled descendants, whose military misadventures stretch from My Lai to Abu Ghraib, the clean-limbed victors of the "last good war" do indeed shine out like heroes from a lost golden age.

WORLD

SPORTS WATCH

In a Lotto Trouble?

BERLIN (Reuters) - Israel's top tennis player Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi may not be able to compete at the Athens Olympics because of a sponsorship row over whose clothes she should wear.

Smashnova-Pistolesi, the world number 17 and a winner of nine career WTA titles, is one of her country's best medal hopes at the Games starting on August 13.