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

About 10 months after Jose Padilla disappeared into a naval brig in South Carolina, a Pentagon official appeared at his mother's workplace in Florida with a greeting card. When Estela Ortega Lebron saw the familiar pinched handwriting, she trembled, knowing, before even reading the card, that it was for real, the first evidence of her son's existence since he was seized by the American military in June 2002.

Shiite insurgents fired at Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov's motorcade during a brief visit to Iraq, officials said Monday. They blamed Polish media reports for divulging Parvanov's presence to the insurgents.

One U.S. soldier and eight Iraqi insurgents were killed in fierce fighting in the turbulent town of Fallujah on Monday, a U.S. military spokesman said.

Militants attacked polling sites with gunfire, grenades and bombs Monday as Indians from tropical beaches to the Himalayas voted in a crucial third election round that could decide the fate of opposition leader Sonia Gandhi and her son, first-time candidate Rahul.

Pakistan's disgraced top nuclear scientist could be murdered to prevent him from revealing that he acted under government orders when selling nuclear secrets, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said in an interview.

Pharmaceuticals maker Sanofi-Synthelabo formally announced Monday plans to create the world's third-largest pharmaceutical company after making a new, ""friendly"" bid for the Franco-German Aventis worth 55.3 billion euros ($65.4 billion).

Estee Lauder, the last great independent titan of the cosmetics industry, who convinced generations of women that her beauty creams were ""jars of hope"" in their quest for the eternal look of youth, died Saturday at her home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Her family, in announcing her death, said she was 97.

Because of surging violence, U.S.-financed contractors rebuilding Iraq are spending a quarter of their money to protect workers and insure their projects, according to American officials monitoring the work.

A Social Democrat has won the presidency over a conservative backed by right-wing firebrand Joerg Haider, giving a leftist the post of Austrian head of state for the first time in 31 years.

Angry demonstrators emptied a garbage can on the car of French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen on Sunday after he spoke in support of the anti-immigration British National Party.