This Issue:

Table of Contents

Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

Yeltsin's On The Mend. Is Russia?

Russians breathed a sigh of relief last week. Their President, Boris Yeltsin, survived heart bypass surgery with flying colors. By Friday he was holding meetings with his staff.

Yeltsin had been resting until his doctors said he was strong enough for the operation, which replaced clogged blood vessels around his heart. The vessels had been blocked in at least five places.

Before the surgery, "just working two or three hours a day was beginning to exhaust him," said Dr. Michael DeBakey, an American who helped treat Yeltsin. After the operation, Yeltsin's Russian doctors said he could "quite easily" handle his presidential duties in no more than 10 to 12 days.

While he was in the hospital, Yeltsin turned control of the government over to Russia's Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin (Chair-no-meer-din). After the surgery, Yeltsin was eager to get back to work.

Yeltsin's health is just one of the problems he has faced lately. Last Tuesday, Russian workers staged a nationwide protest. Many had not been paid for their work for months because Russia's economy is in bad shape. And last Thursday one of Yeltsin's top political opponents told a crowd of thousands that Yeltsin was "unable to govern" and should resign.

It's a good thing Yeltsin is eager to get back on the job: he has a lot of work ahead of him.

Next: Pakistan's Bhutto Gets The Boot