News stories by IPS Correspondents, page 83

CAIRO, Nov 10 (IPS) - The international human rights group, Amnesty International, Thursday laid into Middle East and North African governments accusing them of harassing their local organisations and calling on them to lift alleged restrictions.

ISTANBUL, Nov 10 (IPS) - The Turkish government, under increasing international pressure to improve its human rights record, has barred activists from entering a south-eastern city where thousands of Kurdish residents are reported to have been forcibly evacuated.

COLOMBO, Nov 10 (IPS) - PRIME MINISTER CHANDRIKA KUMARATUNGA THURSDAY BECAME SRI LANKA'S FIRST WOMAN EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT, DEFEATING HER NEAREST UNITED NATIONAL PARTY (UNP) RIVAL, SRIMA DISSANAYAKE, BY AN OVERWHELMING MARGIN OF MORE THAN TWO MILLION VOTES.

KATHMANDU, Nov 10 (IPS) - BARELY A WEEK BEFORE BEFORE NEPAL'S PREMATURE MID-TERM POLLS, IT LOOKS INCREASINGLY LIKELY THAT PRIME MINISTER GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA'S POLITICAL GAMBLE WITH FRESH ELECTIONS MAY PAY OFF.

NEW DELHI, Nov 10 (IPS) - BEAMING FREE LATE NIGHT ADULT FILMS AND POPULAR HOLLYWOOD MOVIES, FOREIGN SATELLITE TELEVISION NETWORKS ARE TRYING TO GRAB A BIGGER SHARE OF THE MASSIVE VIEWERSHIP IN INDIA.

LONDON, Nov 10 (IPS) - Britain's charitable sector is undergoing a role change that removes it far from the vision of Victorian philanthropy that has long endured in the public consciousness.

LUSAKA, Nov 10 (IPS) - Zambia's sole airline, the state-run Zambia Airways, is trapped in a financial swamp and is unlikely to extricate itself.

ROME, Nov 10 (IPS) - The most violent storms in 80 years have shown no sign of letting up in northern Italy, wreaking further devastation on rich agricultural and industrial zones Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 10 (IPS) - THOUSANDS OF FORMER GUERRILLAS OF UMKHONTO WE SIZWE (MK) ARE OUT OF A JOB AND COMPLAINING OVER THE RAW DEAL THEY HAVE RECEIVED IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA THEY FOUGHT FOR.

Brazzaville, Nov 10 (IPS) - Zaire's telecommunications utility is to expand telex and telephone links with the outside world later this month in a bid to reduce the isolation suffered by the Central African nation.