Kemwell, Australian firm tie up: The Bangalore-based Kemwell International, a 100 per cent export-oriented unit manufacturing sterile-medical gloves, will sign a joint-venture agreement with Ansell, a division of the Australia-based Pacific Dunlop. Ansell is one of the largest manufacturers of medical gloves, with manufacturing plants in Malaysia and the USA, among others.

Inflation spurts to 6.35 per cent: The annual rate of inflation increased to 6.35 per cent for the weekended May 16 from last week's 6.14 per cent. The rate of price rise stood at 5.77 per cent exactly a year ago. The spurt follows the hike in prices of fruits and vegetables, fish and mutton, maize, barley, sunflower, tinned-milk powder and rice-bran oil.

Sanctions not to hit Tarapur plants: The two US-built atomic power plants at Tarapur, which were using enriched- Uranium imported from China, will not be affected by sanctions, a spokesman for the Department of Atomic Energy has said. He said the purchase of fuel from China was a one-time deal.

Rail projects to stay on track: Minister of state for railways Ram Naik has said work on various Mumbai rail projects would stay on track even if the World bank suspends its aid to the country following the sanctions. Naik said the railway budget has earmarked Rs 150 crore for Mumbai, which will help the projects to take off.

Shares, rupee seen still volatile: The country's stock and currency markets will stay volatile this week, taking theircue from finance minister Yashwant Sinha's budget, analysts said on Sunday. Sinha presents the budget for 1998-99 on Monday against the backdrop of a widening fiscal deficit, sluggish economy and an inevitable increase in defence spending after the nuclear tests.

Rupee depreciation to help commodities' exports: Federation of Indian Export Organisations president Ramu Deora has said the rupee's record plunge against the dollar last week will boost exports of agro-products, textiles, pharmaceuticals, rice and computer software. He said the rupee would dip to 44 before the year-end.

Indian embassy official attacked in Pakistan: India said on Sunday that an official at its embassy in Islamabad had been attacked and that New Delhi had summoned Pakistan's high commissioner to register a protest. A foreign-ministry spokesman identified the official as BS Rawat, who, he said, was accosted and badly beaten up in front of his diplomatic residence.

Pak troops fire on Kashmir villages, 16killed: Pakistani troops targeted forward Indian security bases, villages and a bus along the Jammu border, killing 16 people in the state since Saturday evening, an official spokesman said on Sunday. In an another incident, 24 people, including 19 army jawans, were injured as militants detonated an improvised-explosive device, damaging an army vehicle in the state.

Pakistan tests nowhere near us, says Fernandes: Defence minister George Fernandes has said Pakistan's nuclear tests were "nowhere near" the explosions conducted by India. He said New Delhi went nuclear because "scientists did feel that the tests were needed". He said Pakistan had carried out only one test on May 28.

Left Front sweeps panchayat polls: The CPM-led Left Front has maintained its supremacy in the West Bengal panchayat election. It routed the Trinamul Congress-BJP combine, capturing nearly 26,000 of the 46,490 seats in gram panchayat,results of which were announced thus far. The ruling Front also made a clean sweepin the panchayat samiti and zilla parishad polls.