News stories by IPS Correspondents, page 51

GENEVA, Dic 08 (IPS) - GATT Director General Peter Sutherland officially announced Thursday that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) would come into operation on Jan 1, 1995.

SANTIAGO, Dic 08 (IPS) - Rising copper prices have caused Chile's trade surplus to nearly double in two weeks, going from 327.9 million dollars in the first 10 months of 1994 to 632.6 million by Nov. 15, according to Central Bank figures released Thursday.

PANAMA CITY, Dic 08 (IPS) - Violent clashes with U.S. soldiers once again occurred when a group of Cubans rioted in the refugee camps built on the banks of the Panama Canal by the U.S. government.

UNITED NATIONS, Dic 08 (IPS) - The special U.N. peace negotiator to Angola Thursday voiced confidence that a lasting peace would take hold in the Southern African nation, even despite two weeks of fighting following a nation-wide ceasefire.

POPTUM, Guatemala, Dic 08 (IPS) - Born to kill and self-defined as "the best combatants in Latin America and the world," the Kaibils, a Guatemalan army elite counter-insurgency squad, will be maintained as "dissuasive" forces in peace-time.

by Jorge Pina ROME, Dic 08 (IPS) - The former "iron man" of the Clean Hands political corruption investigation, Antonio di Pietro, has received a flood of proposals from the main political parties following his resignation on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS, Dic 08 (IPS) - The invitation of six central and eastern European countries to the European Union (EU) two-day summit in the south-eastern German city of Essen has caused a serious rift to develop among the 12 government leaders and heads of state.

MOSCOW, Dic 08 (IPS) - Russian free market reforms have had a severe impact on the public education system which is starved for funds, beset by falling standards, and unable to cater to the country's new commercial needs.

BONN, Dic 08 (IPS) - Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Thursday charged that this weekend's biannual European Union (EU) summit would ignore issues of particular relevance to the Third World.

MEXICO CITY, Dic 08 (IPS) - The six million documented Italian expatriates - and incalculable numbers of people of Italian heritage - suffer from a "cultural identity crisis," according to a Sicilian resident of Mexico.