Here are some of the most-read stories of the past week — and stories you shouldn’t go without reading:
India, Brazil, South Africa – the Power of Three
Paulo Jorge
JOHANNESBURG – Brazil, India and South Africa will intensify their campaign for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council when their leaders meet in the South African capital, Pretoria, on Oct. 17.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39644
IBSA – Emerging Giants
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/IBSA/index.asp
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MIDEAST: EU Quiet over Israeli Moves
David Cronin
BRUSSELS – Representatives of the European Union’s two most powerful institutions remained silent this week on new efforts by Israel to expropriate Palestinian villages, triggering accusations that the bloc’s Middle East policy suffers from double standards.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39598
POVERTY: The World Speaks Up
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/poverty/index.asp
The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is asking all people around the world to STAND UP and SPEAK OUT, to say “No!” to extreme poverty between 9pm GMT Tuesday, Oct. 16 and 9pm GMT Wednesday, Oct. 17.
ASEAN Backs Neither U.S. Nor China over Burma
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS – The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Burma is a member, is refusing to see eye-to-eye either with the United States or China on how the international community should deal with the ongoing crisis in the politically-troubled military-run country.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39555
BURMA: Buddha’s Peace Prevailed in Mandalay
Moe Yu May and Marwaan Macan-Markar
MANDALAY – When Burma?s military regime mounted an attack on unarmed Buddhist monks and civilian protestors in Rangoon, the residents of this ancient city feared similar treatment.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39610
Burma Marches On
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/burma/index.asp
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Indigenous Congress Demands Teeth for UN Declaration
Franz Chávez
LA PAZ – Indigenous leaders are holding a regional congress in Bolivia to discuss strategies to oblige governments to take on board as state policy the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 13.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39632
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CANADA: Native Way of Life Vanishing into the Clear-Cut
Am Johal
VANCOUVER – As the Ontario election draws to a close on Wednesday, a long-running land rights battle continues in the east-central Canadian province between First Nations groups and mining and logging interests that have been granted concessions to exploit the resources in a vast boreal forest known as Grassy Narrows.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39576
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COLOMBIA: The ‘Other’ Death Penalty
Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA – “It was you yourselves who killed my daddy,” snapped the 12-year-old peasant girl before walking away, leaving the soldier talking to himself. He had just entered the family’s small farmhouse in southern Colombia while the rest of the troops waited outside, and asked after “the owner.”
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39635
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GREECE: Justice Sought for Abducted Pakistanis
Apostolis Fotiadis
ATHENS – On Sep. 16, when the latest election was being held, Tzaved Aslam’s younger brother was arrested in Pakistan for the second time in a year. Formally he is again accused of trafficking but the real reason, Aslam told IPS, “is another attempt to force me to pull out from the case of the Pakistanis kidnap that took place in Athens in July 2005.”
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39589
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SOUTH AFRICA: The Poor Fly Under the Solar Water Heating Radar
Gail Jennings
CAPE TOWN – Earlier this year, IPS reported that this coastal city was debating a “first of a kind” bylaw that would make solar water heating compulsory for relatively costly new buildings, and certain renovations. What of solar water heating for less expensive structures — especially homes being built under the country’s extensive low cost housing programme.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39639
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PERU: Joining Forces to Save the Mantaro River
Milagros Salazar
LIMA – Social organisations in Peru have joined forces to save the Mantaro river, which is being killed by pesticides, untreated sewage, and the waste products dumped by the mining industry.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39574
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CHINA: Three Gorges Dam May Displace Millions More
Antoaneta Bezlova – IPS/IFEJ
BEIJING – As a trickle of environmental problems emerging from the Three Gorges dam area steadily grows into a deluge, Chinese authorities have begun weighing plans to relocate several million people to avert an ecological catastrophe.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39621
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