No. 175 Sept 4, 1998

All eyes are on the ruble Vyacheslav Voyakin Prices are going up in local shops and markets as the ruble’s value falls. By Janina de Guzman It is dinnertime at Vladivostok's popular Pizza M restaurant and all eyes are glued to the tube. Clients strain forward, anticipating the latest statistics -- and they're not interested in rebounds or corner kicks. They're hungry for the dollar-ruble exchange rate. Crisis cuts off credit card holders from U.S. dollars By Russell Working By the time Pat Martin showed up Monday at Dalrybbank's Hotel Hyundai branch carrying her Visa card, she scarcely dared hope she could get any money.

U.S.-Russian working group meeting off By Mike Eckel Citing financial difficulties and political concerns on Sakhalin and in Russia as a whole, the Russian Far East/U.S. West Coast Ad Hoc Working Group has canceled its annual meeting to be held Sept. 28-30 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. N. Korea fires rocket over Japan By Nonna Chernyakova North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile over Japan Aug. 31, and the first stage of the rocket dropped into waters claimed as part of Russia's economic zone, 300 kilometers south of Vladivostok. Fleet denies spill is toxic missile fuel The Vladivostok Countering speculation, Pacific Fleet spokesmen denied a substance in tanks stolen from a military unit 30 kilometers from Vladivsotok was a highly toxic missile fuel component. At a press conference Aug. 27, spokesmen asserted the fuel was jet kerosene. Officials talk refugees By Janina de Guzman A plane arrives from Moscow with Iranians lacking visas. A Mozambique citizen sails into Vladivostok on a ship with no papers and no money to return. Vietnamese refugees touch ground at Far East ports, en route to the United States. What's a visa official to do? Sungari flood waters recede in Jewish oblast By Mike Eckel After two weeks of floods in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, residents of the oblast's Leninsky Region are finally being allowed to return to their homes. On the open road French biker tours world on a Yamaha By Janina de Guzman "I've got a bad sense of direction," confesses Fabrice Tulane as he pauses in the doorway, looking right, then left, unable to retrace steps made moments before. News and Crime Briefs Water supply increased by 50 percent…Up to 14 will run for mayor…Bomb wounds plant boss, kills daughter, 13…Prosecutor files case against trawler fleet…Ussurisk police seize bootleg Chinese vodka…and other news. Far East News Briefs Trade unions to protest…Fires claim 363,000 hectares…6 Americans missing…Cops nab prospectors…Kidney patients may die… [Back to the top]  [Back to Front page]  [Write to us] © copyright 1998 the Vladivostok News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed in any form.