Undeterred Chernomyrdin picks his ministerial team
Amidst the standoff between Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the Communists-dominated lower house of Parliament, acting Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin yesterday proposed a list of ministers for approval even as chances of his own re-election appeared shaky.

NAM to condemn US attack on Sudan in draft resolution
A strong resolution condemning the US attack on Sudan will be passed by NAM during the two-day summit which begins in Durban today. For India, the bright side is that there will be no similar resolution on the US aggression on terrorist camps in Afghanistan, with which India is directly concerned.

Life after Diana's death
Life has changed a lot for Mark Saunders in the past year. Last August, he was a puffa-jacketed royal paparazzo, cameras round his neck, permanently on Diana's chase. ``It could be a rainy Monday morning, and I'd be standing on a street in Knightsbridge. Then, by 6 p.m. I'd be on a plane to the West Indies,'' he says. ``It was a laugh.''

  Sainthood for Mother Teresa will have to wait
  Vikings may have invented the pizza
  End Indo-Russian arms ties
  NAM refuses to take Pak stand on US bombings
  American Pete Sampras begins campaign in style
  Stick to free market revolution
  Yeltsin asks defiant Duma to approve his candidate
  New AIDS strain found in Africa
  Iran flexes muscle on Afghan border
  BSE joins falling world markets
  BMW scoffs at Volkswagen merger suggestion
  China urges US to ease high-tech trade curbs
  Asian markets rise up on Dow rebound
  Analysts urge buyers to wade back into stocks
  Kone boasts deepest test shaft
  La Nina rain mauls Australian cane crop
  Microsoft argues for secrecy in anti-trust testimony
  Fiji remains in drought as sugar cane crop wilts
  Asian refiners offer crude after output cuts
  South Korean refiners ease diesel offer on cutback
  US grain transportation headaches may return
  No end to Northwest strike in sight after talks
  Input error on Cbot's Project A infuriates traders
  Internet, Y2K to hike Lanka computer sales
  Daiwa, Nikko say impact of Russian bond fall minor
  Novartis more cautious on outlook
  Thailand set to ask IMF to allow more spending to shore up economy
  Revamped Asia may be Japan's salvation
  Asia frets about contagion as yen weakens
  Mandela against uncritical acceptance of markets, economic orthodoxy
  South Korea to jump-start sagging economy