News stories by IPS Correspondents, page 21

HONG KONG, Dic 31 (IPS) - For most of 1994, U.S. policy toward Asia has been based on mainly on developing commercial interests in the fast-growing region.

PRETORIA, Dic 31 (IPS) - THE ADVENT OF DEMOCRACY IN THE FORMER APARTHEID STATE LED MORE AND MORE SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESSES TO APPLY AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN 1994 AND PAVED THE WAY FOR BLACK- OWNED BUSINESS GROUPS TO GAIN CONTROL OF MAJOR COMPANIES.

ACCRA, Dic 30 (IPS) - DEMOCRACY APPEARS TO BE TAKING ROOT IN GHANA EVEN IF A HISTORY OF MILITARY COUPS HAS TAUGHT THE SOME 15 MILLION GHANAIANS NOT TO BE OVERLY COMPLACENT.

ABIDJAN, Dic 30 (IPS) - IMAGINE THE PRESENTATION OF A BUDGET THAT GIVES NO BREAKDOWN PER SECTOR AND FAILS TO SAY HOW MUCH THE GOVERNMENT AIMS TO RAKE IN IN THE COMING FISCAL YEAR.

LUSAKA, Dic 30 (IPS) - LONG STANDING TENSIONS BETWEEN TWO ETHNIC GROUPS IN WESTERN ZAMBIA HAVE ERUPTED INTO VIOLENCE AND RAISED FEARS OF A BLOODBATH.

LONDON, Dic 30 (IPS) - All markets have been very quiet in the Christmas holiday period with only a few days of trading this week.

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Dic 30 (IPS) - Life in the Southern Mexican state of Chiapas changed dramatically this year after the emergence of a popularly based insurgence movement last Jan.1.

BONN, Dic 30 (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.

PARIS, Dic 30 (IPS) - The hijacking last weekend of an Air France aircraft by Algerian Islamic fundamentalists has raised fears in France of more such radical actions.

LONDON, Dic 30 (IPS) - Base metal markets had a busy post- Christmas market with copper soaring through the psychologically- important 3,000 dollars a tonne barrier for three-month basis.