Angel >> Phoolan Devi Also known as the Bandit Queen, the 38-year-old woman had reached near mythic international status as a champion of India's lower castes before she was gunned down on a New Delhi street a week ago Wednesday. Convicted of a mass murder of upper caste villagers in 1983, whom she contends gang-raped her, she served 11 years in prison before being elected twice to India's Parliament. Married off at 11 and repeatedly abused by her husband, she fought against the officially outlawed caste system, becoming a folk hero to many and a menace to others.

Insect >> Montreal-based transnational Cambior Still denying any responsibility following a 1995 spill of 2.3 billion litres of cyanide into Guyana's Essequibo River, the company is shrugging off allegations of corporate malfeasance despite a study released Saturday fingering it as the prime suspect. An American lawyer representing 23,000 Guyanese in a $100-million suit against Cambior and its subsidiary Omai Gold Mining Ltd. is using an independent toxicology report linking the spill to illnesses suffered by Essequibo region residents. The company says it is abiding by international environmental standards, but hasn't offered any compensation or agreed to clean up the mess.