Word: russian
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...most of the teachers are survivors of the Beslan hostage siege last September, when more than 1,100 people?many of them children?were held by terrorists loyal to Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev. At least 331 people died, including 186 children, in a chaotic rescue operation during which Russian security forces hit the school with incendiary grenades and tank shells. The fire brigade waited two hours before putting out the blaze that engulfed the gymnasium in which the hostages were being held...
...shock waves from Beslan are still felt far beyond the town. Many Russians were profoundly shaken by the television footage of dead and terribly injured children. And the Kremlin's failure to protect its people was another blow to President Vladimir Putin's image as a tough, take-charge leader. For Stanislav Kesayev, deputy speaker of the North Ossetian regional parliament and a critic of the Kremlin's handling of Beslan, the chaos surrounding the school seizure and the botched rescue attempt is symptomatic of the way Russian officials treat ordinary people as "cattle." "I teach law," says Kesayev...
...Critics of the government investigations claim that officials?both from the Kremlin and Beslan?are saying as little as possible in the hope that the controversy over the botched rescue will fade away. A federal commission of inquiry, composed of members of both houses of the Russian parliament, said last September they would need six months to complete their work. The inquiry is still limping along, with little sign that it will be finished in the near future. Prosecutors investigating the case still have not been able to identify the bodies of 11 of the 31 terrorists who died...
...Wimbledon 14 months ago, Sharapova has aced the pundits who thought she would be a one-stroke wonder, mixing a rare brand of off-court glam and on-court grit to earn the world's top spot. Remember, we have heard a story like this before. A beautiful Russian prodigy, reared at a Florida tennis factory, splashes onto the scene--and claims more magazine covers than she does trophies. But while Anna Kournikova treated tennis as if it were a pushy paparazzo, the game is Sharapova's Prince Charming...
...know what the milk will be like after this." A SPOKESWOMAN for the Russian Federal Drugs Control Service, on its gift of 40 tons of confiscated marijuana to a herd of hungry cows after their normal feed crops were destroyed by agents looking for drugs Sources: Los Angeles Times; New York Times; A.P.; Financial Times; Washington Post; Reuters