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

In a series of recent speeches to the American people, U. S. President George W. Bush has sought to equate the current terrorist threat with the 20th-century menace of communist totalitarianism.

Paranoia is back in the air this season in Russia. That heady mix of suspicion, hostility and fantasy is taking various forms. The most glaring example is the legislation recently proposed in the State Duma that would essentially turn all foreign NGOs into part of the Russian bureaucracy by forcing them to reregister and restricting their funding.

In May 2004, the White House dispatched the U.S. ambassador in Germany on an unusual visit to that country's interior minister.

Chechen Vote Results ROSTOV-ON-DON -- United Russia has won the largest number of seats in Chechnya's new parliament, the Chechen election chief said Saturday. United Russia won 33 of the 58 seats up for grabs in the region's two-chamber parliament in the Nov. 27 elections. Next came the Communist Party, which won six seats in the two chambers, and the liberal Union of Right Forces, which won four seats. The remainder of the seats were divided up among independent candidates. (AP) Hostage Incident in Urals A man armed with an assault rifle surrendered to police early Friday in Yekaterinburg after freeing five hostages he had held for about two hours. Andrei Novogorodov, 29, had entered the building housing Channel Four, the city's largest television company, late Thursday, taken five employees, including two security guards, hostage and fired five shots at a closed door, Interfax reported. He was demanding a meeting with his wife, who was an employee of the station.

Yevgenia Osadchaya is beside herself with worry, wondering how her family will survive when the toxic slick flowing from China pollutes the Amur River that provides the livelihood for her family and her native Nanai people.