News stories by IPS Correspondents, page 53

KINGSTON, Dic 01 (IPS) - In an effort to prevent their special concerns being overlooked, the members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) are seeking a refinement of the agenda and of the Summit of the Americas to be held in the U.S.city of Miami next week.

PARIS, Dic 01 (IPS) - Representatives of 42 governments reaffirmed their determination to combat AIDS during an international summit in Paris Thursday -- under the sceptical gaze of people living with the disease.

BONN, Dic 01 (IPS) - Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government got a bashing Thursday for its "failure to bring forward" the European Union (EU) during its six-month presidency which ends this month.

BRUSSELS, Dic 01 (IPS) - Delegates moved closer to closing a crucial mid-term review of the EU's Lome IV aid and trade pact for 70 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, in time for a February 1995 deadline.

GEORGETOWN, Dic 01 (IPS) - Post office officials here are hoarding the last of a precious supply of stamps featuring former U.S. football star O.J. Simpson as philatelists in North America try to wrest the prints from them.

CARACAS, Dic 01 (IPS) - Foreseen risk contracts between Venezuela Petroleum (PDVSA) and transnationals for oil exploration are to include variable privileges, and exclude state participation in the company to be created if oil is discovered.

BRIDGETOWN, Dic 01 (IPS) - African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries say they are making the most of preferential trading agreements while they still exist, while preparing themselves for the new world trading order under the GATT and then the World Trade Organisation.

WASHINGTON, Dic 01 (IPS) - With just a few hours left in a two-day debate, the U.S. Senate was poised here Thursday to approve the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) accord and guarantee U.S. ratification.

WASHINGTON, Dic 01 (IPS) - U.S. President Bill Clinton will invite Chile to join the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)currently made up of Canada, Mexico and the United Statesat the upcoming Americas Summit, according to government sources.

UNITED NATIONS, Dic 01 (IPS) - The top U.N. official for women Thursday unveiled a strategy that calls for fundamental shifts in economic, political and social power between women and men.