A brief look at the stories making headlines in the Russian-language press

""People use shopping as therapy, reward, bribery, pastime, as an excuse to get out of the house, as a way to trawl for potential loved ones, entertainment, or even worship,"" said Paco Underhill, an anthropologist who devoted 20 years to studying people in retail environments.

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A U.S. military helicopter crashed and was destroyed outside Fallujah on Tuesday, and fighters said they shot it down with a rocket-propelled grenade.

A suspected Muslim militant and a Saudi policeman were killed Monday in a shootout in the Saudi capital Riyadh in which four policemen were also wounded.

Leaders of a tribe along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border say they are desperate to avoid bloodshed as a government deadline to turn over al-Qaida suspects draws near and the Pakistani army tightens a cordon around their mud-brick compounds.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed Israel would keep major settlements in the West Bank ""for all eternity"" before flying to Washington on Tuesday to secure U.S. approval for a unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip.

Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist who sold nuclear technology around the world, has told his interrogators that during a trip to North Korea five years ago he was taken to a secret underground nuclear plant and shown what he described as three nuclear devices, according to Asian and U.S. officials who have been briefed by the Pakistanis.

The FBI's counterterrorism effort before the Sept. 11 attacks was plagued by an inability to afford enough translators in vital languages such as Arabic and Farsi, former FBI Director Louis Freeh said Tuesday.