News stories by IPS Correspondents, page 77

PARIS, Nov 12 (IPS) - UNESCO officials say their new project to study the African slave trade is the first rigorous, multi- disciplinary assessment of the economic and cultural impact of that trade on all the continents involved.

DUSHANBE, Nov 12 (IPS) - The streets of Tajikistan's leafy capital Dushanbe had an air of quiet relief after the Central Asian republic's presidential elections passed peacefully this week.

LONDON, Nov 12 (IPS) - When the United Nations Security Council discusses the issue of renewing sanctions against Iraq on Monday for another 60 days -- it will face an altered situation.

LONDON, Nov 12 (IPS) - When the United Nations Security Council discusses the issue of renewing sanctions against Iraq on Monday for another 60 days -- it will face an altered situation.

BRIDGETOWN, Nov 12 (IPS) - At least two platoons of soldiers from the Regional Security System (RSS) were Saturday deployed to St. Kitts where drug-related murders and crime have overtaken the tiny Caribbean country in recent weeks.

CARACAS, Nov 12 (IPS) - The Venezuelan Financial Emergency Committee took control of the Andean Bank, a small regional entity unable to meet its 29.4 million dollar commitments to depositors, it was announced Saturday.

URFA, Southeast Turkey, Nov 12 (IPS) - Turkish President Suleyman Demirel opened the sluice gates this week of the two controversial 26-kms long Urfa tunnels which are part of the massive South-East Anatolia Project (GAP).

HARARE, Nov 12 (IPS) - PILLORIED BY CONSERVATIONISTS, SOUTH AFRICA HAS BACKED AWAY FROM CALLING FOR A LIFTING OF THE UN BAN ON THE IVORY TRADE.

BEIJING, Nov 12 (IPS) - The voracious appetite for oil, minerals and timber of fast-growing economies elsewhere in Asia is threatening the ecosystems of Central Asia's fragile steppes, lakes and deserts.

VIENNA, Nov 12 (IPS) - Eastern European countries should give priority to treating their waste water by using locally available technologies in order to ensure there is always a healthy supply of this precious resource, says a scientific research body.