'All help to nab Veerappan'
With the Opposition criticising the delay in launching operations against Veerappan, the Centre today assured it would provide all assistance to the Governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in their bid to nab him.

India's development not a threat: China
China today said it did not perceive India's fast- paced economic growth a threat to beijing and that the two countries must work hard to develop their economy. ``China's development does not constitute any threat to any country, including India. We are confident that India's development, similarly, does not constitute a threat to China,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Ms. Zhang Qiyue, said here.

Backdoor moves to scuttle Women's Bill
Backdoor political moves are being made to scuttle the Women's Reservation Bill with the Government informally contacting representatives of Opposition parties as well as its own coalition partners to discuss the ``merits'' of the Election Commission's suggestion to amend the Representation of People Act to make it mandatory for parties to give at least one-third of all party tickets to women.

Gore appeals to Florida SC
With time clearly not on his side, the Vice- President, Mr. Al Gore, has appealed directly to the Florida Supreme Court to force another recounting of disputed votes. The Gore campaign sidestepped the Appeals Court process hoping that the seven justices of the top State court - six Democrats and one Independent, but all selected by Democratic Governors - will once again come to its relief.

Talwandi, new SGPC chief
Bibi Jagir Kaur, first woman president of a key religious body of Sikhs, was today replaced as SGPC chief, capping a controversial term that was brought to an end by the CBI's charge against her of murdering her daughter, Harpreet.

Choose between jehadis and modernity, Gujral tells Pak.
The former Prime Minister, Mr. I.K. Gujral, has drawn attention to the danger posed by Talibanisation of Pakistan to its civil society, apart from adverse effects on India and the rest of the region. Pakistan, he says, has to decide whether it wishes to be a state based on the fundamentalist prescriptions or a modern state in tune with the new economic and sociological realities, whether its policies are to be determined by the jehadis or by the modern requirements of the global economy and composite societies.