US hand in WTO protests suspected
Did the United States orchestrate - or at least turn a blind eye - to the massive protests against the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Seattle to further its own agenda of imposing labour and environment standards on the Third World?

Tape case -- Sharif's confidantes grilled
Military authorities in Pakistan are interrogating three confidantes of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif for allegedly masterminding the plot to supply a taped conversation between Pervez Musharraf and his deputy to India during the Kargil crisis.

China backs Russia on Chechen crisis
In a significant development Beijing has come to Moscow's rescue by criticising the stand of the western world on the Chechen issue while lauding ``Russia's uncompromising fight against the terrorists in its own territory.''

  Maran makes case for fair trade
  Religious extremism on the rise worldwide -- UN expert
  Beijing bans condom ads on International AIDS Day
  Iran's leading reformist cleric defiant in prison
  E Timor readies to welcome home exiled anti-Indonesian campaigner
  In sanctions-hit Iraq, gold diggers eke out living from waste
  Periscope on Pakistan
  Seattle Diary
  Freer global markets ease out weak ryots
  IEA gets set for millennium bug, says back-up plan will ensure oil supplies
  Oil prices up on lower US stocks, Iraq concerns
  Platinum may tumble with Russia's freeing of export curbs -- Traders
  NTPC asset changes positive -- S&P
  BoJ vows to keep yen policy
  Euro declines below $1.01
  Protesters run riot, shut down Seattle
  Focus should be on more market access -- Maran
  Textile industry eagerly awaits China's entry
  `US may use `traitor' technology to dictate trade policies'
  WTO `doomed' to succeed, says Moore; US regrets the protests
  Protesters find a friend in President Clinton
  US investors plan New Year party after Y2K hangover