News stories by IPS Correspondents, page 20

BONN, Jan 19 (IPS) - Germany, which took a two-year seat on the Security Council beginning of the year, was "well-placed to play a major and positive role" in the United Nations (U.N.), Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said Thursday.

MEXICO CITY, Jan 19 (IPS) - Doubts about and criticism of the U.S. bail out of Mexico with guarantees for 40 billion dollars grew on Thursday, while the peso and stockmarkets continued their decline.

PRAGUE, Dic 31 (IPS) - The Czech Republic's new entrepreneurs are learning that elaborate packaging -- often a lot of it -- can mean more sales, but environmentalists are concerned that it is also leading to a bigger pile-up of waste.

NEW DELHI, Dic 31 (IPS) - SOUTH ASIAN GREEN ACTIVISTS ENTER THE NEW YEAR ON THE ROLL, HAVING GAINED THE EDGE IN THEIR CAMPAIGN AGAINST SKEWED DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES IN THE LOW-INCOME REGION.

SYDNEY, Dic 31 (IPS) - South Pacific island nations have succeeded in convincing the French to suspend underground nuclear testing in their midst for another year, but their tropical paradise faces another threat, this time from unsustained logging activities by foreign companies.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dic 31 (IPS) - The Malaysian government has repeatedly denied that work has begun on the proposed mammoth Bakun Dam, but events in the past few months tell a different story.

BONN, Dic 31 (IPS) - Germany's government is hoping to succeed in luring at least one U.N. organisation to Bonn in a bid to boost the city's image as the government prepares to shift its institutions to the new capital, Berlin, toward the year 2000.

BONN, Dic 31 (IPS) - Germany plans to build up a "new and comprehensive partnership" with Latin America and the Caribbean in 1995, a government spokesman said this week.

BONN, Dic 31 (IPS) - Alternative news and feature agencies could help Africa overcome its marginalisation by the international media, according to a report just published.

NEW DELHI, Dic 31 (IPS) - INDIA'S ECONOMIC MANAGERS, WORRIED BY CONTINUING LOW JAPANESE INVESTOR INTEREST IN THE COUNTRY DESPITE THREE YEARS OF FREE MARKET REFORMS, MAY DO WELL TO FAVOUR JAPANESE RESTAURANTS AND FREE FOOD IMPORTS.