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

The Match of the Giants. The Match of the Continents.

U.S. President George W. Bush said Monday that the United States was actively investigating ties between the Iranian government and al-Qaida, including intelligence unearthed by the independent Sept. 11 commission showing that Iran may have offered safe passage to terrorists who were later involved in the attacks.

A U.S. grand jury issued a subpoena to Halliburton seeking information about its Cayman Islands unit's work in Iran, where it is illegal for U.S. companies to operate, Halliburton said Monday.

Sandy Berger, former U.S. President Bill Clinton's national security adviser, is under criminal investigation by the Justice Department after highly classified terrorism documents disappeared while he was reviewing what should be turned over to the Sept. 11 commission.

The International Whaling Commission, a worldwide body dedicated to whale conservation, accused oil and gas firms on Tuesday of threatening the survival of rare whales around Sakhalin Island, as ill-tempered talks on the future of whaling continued.