News stories by IPS Correspondents, page 37

MADHUBANI, INDIA, Dic 19 (IPS) - BHULI DEVI OFTEN WENT TO BED HUNGRY AFTER FEEDING HER THREE CHILDREN WITH WHATEVER SHE EARNED FROM A DAY'S GRUELLING WORK IN THE FIELDS OF SOHRAI VILLAGE'S BIGGEST LANDLORD IN THIS IMPOVERISHED NORTHERN INDIAN DISTRICT.

PRAGUE, Dic 19 (IPS) - More than two months after national elections, Slovakia finally has a new government, but its composition of extreme right wing and left wing politicians is a worrying sign to Slovakians.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dic 19 (IPS) - Mammoth power projects to fuel the furnaces of economic growth are taking shape across Asia as the region prepares to propel itself into the next century.

COLOMBO, Dic 19 (IPS) - HEAPS OF UNSIGHTLY GARBAGE DOT THIS BEAUTIFUL CAPITAL CITY PROVIDING PERIODIC EYESORES AND BREEDING GROUNDS FOR ALL MANNER OF DISEASES.

JERUSALEM, Dic 19 (IPS) - The world may be watching the tense atmosphere in Gaza and the apparent impasse at the negotiating table regarding Israeli re-deployment in the West Bank -- but for Palestinian businessman Hani Abu Dayyeh, it's business as usual.

ZAGREB, Croatia, Dic 19 (IPS) - Former United States President Jimmy Carter has begun his personal peace mission in the former Yugoslavia -- despite criticism that the Serbs may use the trip to undermine other ongoing negotiating efforts.

DUBLIN, Dic 19 (IPS) - Sinn Fein, the political voice of the IRA paramilitary grouping in Northern Ireland, held a second round of talks with the British government Monday in a renewed bid to end 25 years of violence that has claimed thousands of lives.

LONDON, Dic 19 (IPS) - A nine million dollar agricultural scheme designed to boost the grain harvests of Tibetan farmers and raise their standards of living, may have the reverse effect by turning independent farmers into landless labourers, say Tibet observers.

MANILA, Dic 19 (IPS) - Baking the world's biggest pizza may earn Nino di Stefano another slot in the Guinness Book of World Records, but the Italian chef says he is doing it mainly because he wants to help the victims of a 1991 volcanic eruption in the Philippines.

QUITO, Dic 19 (IPS) - A trade agreement between Ecuador and Chile will reduce tariffs on 403 products of mutual interest beginning Tuesday, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry announced Monday.