Prosecutors allege misuse of FEZ money
NAKHODKA - The Nakhodka's Prosecutor's Office filed a criminal case alleging misappropriation of funds in the Nakhodka Free Economic Zone Dec. 1, Interfax-Eurasia reported. According to Nakhodka Prosecutor Anatoly Bakaras, the case was initiated based on negligence, squandering and a large-scale fraud. Since the zone was created in 1991, more than 148 million rubles ($8 million) has been misappropriated, his office said.

News flash: It's possible to libel the governor
Vladivostok's Sovetsky District Court recently ruled that Federal Duma Deputy Svetlana Orlova should publish a retraction and pay a 3,000-ruble ($162) award to Primorye Gov. Yevgeny Nazdratenko because of her "libelous statements," the regional press center reported. The deputy said she was carrying out responsibilities which should have been addressed by the regional administration and that Nazdratenko is avoided by the country's leadership and top officials. Nazdratenko sued and submitted evidence disproving Orlova's allegations. Nazdratenko claimed he will transfer the money to a regional orphanage. Orlova has announced that she would run for governor in the next year's elections.

New asphalt plant will pave Chita road
An asphalt plant put in operation this week in Olginsky County will provide material for the construction and maintenance of a new federal road from Chita to Nakhodka in its Nakhodka stretch. Construction will begin next year, said Leonid Kelner, chairman of the Regional Road Committee. The plant is located five kilometers from Novonikolayevka village and will create jobs for its residents. It can produce up to 38 metric tons of asphalt or concrete per hour, which is enough to cover 50-100 meters of a two-lane road.

Ambulance workers strike
KHABAROVSK, Far East - Seven ambulance workers in the town of Amursk in the Khabarovsk region went on an indefinite hunger strike Dec. 1, demanding six months' salaries, Interfax reported. Forty hospital employees of Elban village in the region joined them the next day with the same demands. All the protesters continued to work. Medical workers in Khabarovsk were last paid for April and are owed over 260 million rubles ($14 million) in back wages, according to Izolda Marycheva, head of the Regional Health Workers' Union.

School workers launch hunger strike
KHABAROVSK, Far East - The staff of eight schools in Verkhne-Bureinsky County went on an indefinite strike for back wages Dec. 1, Interfax-Eurasia reported. About 200 teachers are protesting, which canceled classes in schools of Chegdomyn, Urgal and other towns, said Vera Kengurova, head of the Regional Education and Science Workers' Union. The teachers were last partially paid for May. The total salary debt to education workers in the region amounts to around 160 million rubles, the union said.

Cops sentenced for slaying girl

A Primorye Supreme Court assize recently sentenced two Nakhodka policemen to 15 years in jail for slaying a 14-year-old girl.

The policemen, Viktor Pronichkin, 35, and Valery Vankunchikov, 27, killed the girl identified as Svetlana F. on Oct. 25, 1996 after she refused to have sex with them at a picnic.

Experts found 231 stabs on the body of the victim.

Men kill girl with shotgun

Killers in Dalnerechensk, a town about 300 kilometers northeast of Vladivostok, killed a teenage girl Nov. 25, police said.

According to the preliminary evidence, two unidentified men broke into the girl's apartment and shot her pointblank with a shotgun. The men left the gun at the scene. Motives are unknown, police said. The girl was an 11th year student.

An investigation is underway.