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Here are some of IPS’s most-read stories of the past week — and stories you shouldn’t go without reading:

CLIMATE CHANGE: Arctic Shelf Leaking Potent Greenhouse Gas
By Stephen Leahy
UXBRIDGE, Canada (IPS) – The frozen cap trapping billions of tonnes of methane under the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean is leaking and venting the powerful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, new research shows.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50565

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LATIN AMERICA: Women’s Rights Laws – Where’s the Enforcement?
By Humberto Márquez *
CARACAS (IPS/TerraViva) – Advanced new legislation and constitutional reforms on women’s rights are paving the way for equal opportunities for women in Latin America and the Caribbean. But application and enforcement remain a distant goal.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50560

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EUROPE: Economists Blame Germany for Mediterranean Crisis
By Julio Godoy
BERLIN (IPS) – Germany’s obsession with maintaining a trade surplus, in line with its mercantilist traditions, is one cause for the severe economic crisis that has gripped several Euro-Mediterranean countries, say economists.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50554

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U.S.: Detained Migrant Women Shackled During Childbirth
By Valeria Fernández
PHOENIX, Arizona (IPS) – When Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies raided Celia Alejandra Alvarez’s workplace and discovered her hiding place, she says they lifted her off her feet and slammed her face into a wall, causing injuries to her jaw and teeth. Later, in detention for having false documents, she says she was not given medical care.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50546

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POLITICS: Sri Lanka, Britain Spar Again Over Tigers
By Amantha Perera
COLOMBO (IPS) – Tensions between Sri Lanka and Britain may have calmed down somewhat after the civil conflict ended in this South Asian country last year, but are rising again after the government accused London of aiding the defeated Tamil Tigers to regroup internationally.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50555

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UGANDA: Pressure Mounts to Make Public Oil Agreements
By Joshua Kyalimpa
KAMPALA (IPS) – Uganda?s members of parliament (MPs) are pressurising government to make public details of oil production-sharing agreements it signed with various international oil companies.
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=50548

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MIDEAST: Piano Sounds Good in Gaza Too
By Pam Rasmussen
GAZA CITY (IPS) – At 14, Nour plays the piano, and she knows the facts around her. That the average age for marriage is 18, likely to a man found by parents, her place would be within that home, and a woman has on average 6.5 children.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50524

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LATIN AMERICA-US: Clinton Attempts Damage Control
By Mario Osava *
RIO DE JANEIRO (IPS) – The dialogue of the deaf on Iran’s nuclear programme that took place in the capital of Brazil highlights the hurdles faced by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in her attempt at forging warmer ties during her tour of six Latin American countries.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50549

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THAILAND: Migrant Worker Law Hits Hurdle as 500,000 ?Disappear?
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK (IPS) – Thailand?s labour ministry is on the hunt for half a million migrant workers from neighbouring Burma who have gone underground rather than join a new foreign workers? programme, one that some critics have described as a “confusing” initiative.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50582

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RIGHTS-SWAZILAND: Property Rights At Last for Women
By Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE (IPS) – A recent court ruling has finally given Swazi women the right to own and administer property in their own names.
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=50563

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IPS SPECIAL COVERAGE: IPS TERRAVIVA BEIJING +15
http://www.ips.org/TV/beijing15/

Fifteen years after the Beijing World Conference on Women, IPS remains committed to in-depth reporting on progress achieved and challenges facing women and girls. IPS has a long-standing editorial commitment to mainstreaming gender, which it has realised through training, editorial guidelines and targeted projects.

On the occasion of the 54th session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York (1 – 12 March), an international team of journalists will provide special coverage from New York through the IPS TerraViva Beijing+15 website.

The IPS TerraViva Beijing +15 includes analyses of the latest developments from our team in New York, as well as gender stories from the global IPS Gender Wire.

Two printed editions of IPS TerraViva will be published and distributed in New York during the CSW (1 March and 8 March). These published editions will be available for download at the IPS TerraViva Beijing +15 webpage.
http://www.ips.org/TV/beijing15/

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