News stories by IPS Correspondents, page 89

BEIJING, Nov 08 (IPS) - The voracious appetite for oil, minerals and timber of fast-growing economies elsewhere in Asia are threatening the ecosystems of Central Asia's fragile steppes, lakes and deserts.

BEIJING, Nov 08 (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.

LONDON, Nov 08 (IPS) - The victory of Imamali Rakhmonov, acting head of state and chairman of parliament, in Tajikistan's presidential election, is unlikely to resolve the political crisis besetting the Central Asian republic bordering Afghanistan.

ROME, Nov 08 (IPS) - Italy continued to be overwhelmed Tuesday by catastrophic weather in the northern region, where storms have caused devastating floods with increasing numbers of dead and missing people.

BIARRITZ, France, Nov 08 (IPS) - Foreign Minister Alain Juppe of France and 30 counterparts from African states entered a second day of talks Tuesday with the focus on a peacekeeping force for the continent.

LAGOS, Nov 08 (IPS) - THE CONDUCTOR WARDS-OFF A GROUP OF PASSENGERS TUGGING AT HIS SHIRT OVER THE DELAY IN THE MINIBUS STARTING ITS JOURNEY EAST TO PORT HARCOURT, ABOUT 700 KMS AWAY.

BONN, Nov 07 (IPS) - Five years after the Berlin Wall came down, paving the way for Germany's reunification, the country remains divided.

KINGSTON, Nov 07 (IPS) - Seventy-two year-old Dorothy Campbell (not her real name), stood silently in the queue at the social welfare office in this capital city. Like the other indigents, she was waiting patiently to collect her monthly food stamp of 2.72 dollars.

CARACAS, Nov 07 (IPS) - Venezuelan economist Francisco Vivancos warned of a possible "fourth wave" of the financial crisis as six major banks face difficulties because of government control of interest rate differentials.

WASHINGTON, Nov 07 (IPS) - The United States resumed the process of repatriating Cuban refugees from the U.S. military base in Guantanamo, Cuba when a Saturday decision by an appeals court in the U.S. state of Georgia lifted a suspension ordered on Oct. 25.