The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Moscow - Allies of President Vladimir Putin won a sweeping victory in parliamentary elections in a race European security officials condemned Monday as having fallen short of international legal requirements and representing a retreat from Russia's democratic reforms. With more than 90 per cent of the vote counted, United Russia - a pro-Putin party led by cabinet ministers - won 36.84 per cent of the vote, leaving its rivals far behind. The Communists were next, with 12.7 per cent, followed by the party of flamboyant nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky - the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia - at 11.8 per cent. Homeland, a new, apparently Kremlin-approved patriotic grouping formed to syphon votes from the Communists had nine per cent, preliminary results showed. Grand Forks, N.D. - More than a dozen searchers climbed aboard all-terrain vehicles on Monday near Alvarado, Minn., to continue the search for Dru Sjodin, the missing University of North Dakota student. They concentrated their efforts in Alvarado, about 30 kilometres north of Grand Forks, based on a tip to a website about the case. Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 50, of nearby Crookston, Minn., has been charged with kidnapping in the case. His lawyer says Rodriguez told him he had nothing to do with Sjodin's disappearance.
