This is the latest from The Times (of London) Greg. **** Wall St. sent reeling by Russian crisis FROM BRONWEN MADDOX IN WASHINGTON AND RICHARD BEESTON IN MOSCOW WALL STREET shares suffered their second-biggest points fall last night after Russia's economic crisis deepened with the parliament's rejection of President Yeltsin's choice of Prime Minister. As President Clinton boarded Air Force One for a three-day visit to Moscow, brokers were looking aghast at the neon displays confirming that yesterday's sell-off had wiped out the market's entire rise for this year. At the close, the Dow Jones index had fallen by 512.61 points - 6.3 per cent - to 7539, taking it below the 8,000 mark for the first time since January. The Dow had nearly quadrupled from 1990 to its peak on July 17, but it has fallen by nearly 20 per cent since then. London share prices are also expected to open sharply lower today. The market was already in decline and the FTSE 100 index dropped by more than a hundred points on each of the last three days of trading. The latest alarms came in response to the growing crisis in Russia and the deepening economic turmoil in the Far East. In Moscow yesterday, deputies in the Duma voted by 251 to 94 not to endorse Viktor Chernomyrdin as Prime Minister, leaving the country rudderless at a time when crucial decisions are needed to save the near-bankrupt economy. Aleksandr Kotenkov, Mr Yeltsin's representative in parliament, said that if the politicians could not put their differences aside quickly, Russia could lurch into even greater economic chaos and trigger civil strife. "If this chaos lasts for several more weeks, it may happen that there will be neither Communists nor us," he said. "I mean a popular uprising, merciless and senseless." In the Duma - the lower house of parliament - speaker after speaker from across the political spectrum had attacked Mr Chernomyrdin's record in government. But he emerged impassive from the chamber to make clear that he had no intention of backing down and that he would again seek confirmation next week. Indeed Mr Yeltsin had resubmitted his name within hours of the vote. "This country cannot continue without a Government," Mr Chernomyrdin said. "No matter what, I must make decisions because life goes on. I will deal with this." A candidate for Prime Minister can go before the Duma three times to seek confirmation. If he is rejected on the final vote, parliament is dissolved and fresh elections held. The country endured a similar spectacle five months ago when Sergei Kiriyenko won confirmation on the last vote, mainly because deputies wanted to avoid elections. The same reasoning may apply again, except that Russia can ill afford to be without an effective Government while its economy falls apart. In particular, Russia desperately needs the next tranche of IMF loans worth $4.3 billion due in mid-September. But no money will be forthcoming until a functioning Government with a clear financial policy is in place, and although there are behind-the-scenes efforts to revive the power-sharing compromise worked out at the weekend, the rouble began to slide again as soon as word of the latest stalemate filtered out. The Duma's failure to endorse Mr Chernomyrdin also means that President Clinton arrives today empty-handed, since his repeated offers of help have been conditional on economic reform. With the Dow Jones diving as he left Washington, he described the trip as an example of one of the most important lessons every child had to learn: "We are living in a smaller and smaller world. This global society, this global economy, is real. Our economies are increasingly interconnected." Wall Street's extraordinary eight-year rise has been driven by the apparently unstoppable growth of the American economy, and the turmoil gripping more than a third of the global economy has actually helped by pushing down the cost of oil, gas and other commodities. But the markets now fear that America will not be able to insulate itself much longer. -- Gregory Schwartz Dept. of Political Science York University 4700 Keele St. Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 Canada Tel: (416) 736-5265 Fax: (416) 736-5686 Web: http://www.yorku.ca/dept/polisci