Russian president Boris Yeltsin has lobbied western leaders for support. A senior IMF official arrived in Moscow for talks on a multi-billion dollar package to save Russia's troubled economy from collapse. Yeltsin spoke with German chancellor Helmut Kohl, French president Jacques Chirac and British prime Minister Tony Blair in a series of calls as he attempted to secure international backing for the package, officials said on Friday. European leaders expressed support for the government's anti-crisis package, designed to end a fiscal crisis which has sent stocks plunging, interest rates spiralling and threatened the ruble, the Kremlin said.

Clinton urges Russia to wrap up IMF bailout: US president Bill Clinton urged Russian president to wrap up negotiations for an International Monetary Fund bailout and to win the Russian parliament's support. In a 20-minute telephone call on Friday, Clinton and Yeltsin also discussed efforts to limit the spread ofballistic missile technologies, a topic that White House press secretary Mike Mccurry said would figure in the two leaders' summit meeting in Moscow in early September. The US government agrees that Russia needs an IMF programme that works, one that the Russian government is both capable of implementing and that addresses the country's most pressing financial and structural problems, Mccurry said.

Brazil to ratify nuke treaties on Monday: Brazil will ratify the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) on Monday. Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso will sign the two documents in presence of United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan who is touring Latin America, a foreign ministry official said at a press conference in Brasilia. "This will add weight to Brazil's efforts for disarmament by existing nuclear powers," he said.

Sharif calls people to tighten their belts: Faced with an imminent repayment crisis and a depreciating currency,Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said that the country has to pay "some price" for becoming a nuclear power. "People have to tighten their belts to face difficulties and challenges," Sharif told newsmen in Islamabad as the Pakistani rupee collapsed to an all-time low of Rs 60 to a dollar in the open market and banks refused to accept letters of credit of Pakistani importers. "Its not the end of the world .... There is no need to worry and fear," he said after inaugurating a national population convention here.

Annan sees better cooperation with Baghdad: United Nation secretary-general Kofi Annan said that Baghdad was cooperating well with UN weapons inspectors and he hoped this `spirit' would last until the security council reviews sanctions in October. Baghdad still must turn over documentation proving it has destroyed its banned weapons, and only time will tell'' if they do so in time for the October review, Annan said in a wide-ranging news conference on Friday ahead of his trip toLatin America. Tensions are less than they were before the February agreement, and I hope that this spirit will prevail until the council has to make a major review of the sanctions in October, he said.

Indonesia closer to democracy: Indonesia moved closer to democracy on Saturday when its biggest political organisation overwhelmingly elected a reformist as its new chairman over a rival linked to former president Suharto. The victory for state secretary and cabinet minister Akbar Tanjung came at the end of a three-day special congress of the ruling Golkar Party. Akbar's election, the first of its kind in Golkar's history, will bolster the leadership of new president B J Habibie, who has promised more democracy for the world's fourth most populous nation. Akbar, who won 17 out of the 27 votes cast, is a close Habibie aide and was the President's personal choice for the party chairmanship.

Japanese PM in for tough test: Politicians took to the streets in Tokyo on the final round of campaigningon Saturday for a set of nationwide elections dominated by concerns over how to pull this country out of its worst recession in decades. At stake in the elections on Sunday are half of the 252 seats in parliament's upper house. Prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is in no danger of losing its hold on power because it enjoys a strong majority in parliament's more influential lower house. But concerns over Japan's deepening economic morass have sent Hashimoto's support ratings plunging to record lows over the past several weeks, and experts say a poor showing could be enough to force a leadership change.

US asked to pay UN dues: UN chief Kofi Annan warned that Washington's failure to pay back dues and the resulting loss of its General Assembly vote would shock Americans and make relations with the world body even more acrimonious. Secretary-general, who has lobbied US politicians, businessmen and celebrities alike to get the US to pay its dues, said on Friday that he hadrecently scaled back contacts with Washington, fearing that his intervention might worsen the situation. But quite frankly, this is an issue that is in the hands of the US,'' Annan said at a news conference. They know the rules, they know how much is required of them, they know how much they have to pay in order not to lose their vote, he added.