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

SPECIAL COVERAGE: IPS and TerraViva from Copenhagen

Will the climate change summit taking place Dec. 7-18 in Copenhagen make deals that are fair, ambitious and binding? IPS news agency has mobilised a team of 15 journalists, drawn largely from Africa, Asia and Latin America, to go to Copenhagen and find out. IPS’ independent TerraViva newspaper will produce the latest news on the conference every day in English, Spanish and French, complete with photos, videos and other multimedia content.
www.ips.org/TV/copenhagen/

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POLITICS: Neo-Cons Get Warm and Fuzzy Over “War President”
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON (IPS) – U.S. President Barack Obama’s plan for a 30,000-troop surge and a troop withdrawal timeline beginning in 18 months has caught criticism from both Democrat and Republican lawmakers.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49548

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DEVELOPMENT: Global Challenges Require Innovative Partnerships
By IPS Correspondents
NAIROBI (IPS) – The High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation kicked-off here Tuesday, with U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro calling for practical solutions and reinforced South-South and North-South partnerships to address the demands of our “deeply interconnected world.”
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49499

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U.S.: Climate Policy Derailed by Corporate Interests
By Adrianne Appel*
BOSTON (IPS/TerraViva) – As the U.S. climate delegation arrives in Copenhagen nearly empty-handed, watchdog groups back at home say they know why: a political system gone astray due to the influence of huge amounts of corporate cash.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49560

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PERU: Women Workers Forced into Informal Economy
By Maritza Asencios
LIMA (IPS) – In Peru, 51 percent of all jobs are generated by the informal economy, a sector that has a female face, as more than 60 percent of the women workers in the country are forced into informality, with only 15 percent having health coverage and a mere four percent enjoying retirement benefits.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49511

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PHILIPPINES: Maguindanao Massacre Has Some Familiar Roots – Part1
Analysis by Gabriel SanRafael
MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (IPS) – In an instant the Philippinesemerged as the world’s most dangerous place for journalists, effectivelydisplacing Iraq, which, until the massacre in an impoverished town in southernPhilippines, held that dubious distinction.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49518

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CLIMATE CHANGE: Carbon Projects Waiting to Exhale
By Cam McGrath*
CAIRO (IPS/IFEJ) – Initiatives to reduce Egypt’s greenhouse gas emissions could get a big push if world leaders and environment officials meeting in Copenhagen for climate talks that start Monday agree to maintain or enhance the carbon trading framework.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49566

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ENVIRONMENT: Tree Plantations Are Not Forests, Women Activists Say
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES (IPS) – Touted as “harvested forests,” single-crop tree plantations are fast encroaching on the native forests and grasslands of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, affecting the environment and the lives of local communities, rural women say.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49489

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Q&A: ‘Economic Growth Is Making us Poorer’
Paul Virgo interviews WILLIAM REES, creator of the ‘ecological footprint’ concept
VITERBO, Italy (IPS) – Dinner one evening when he was a kid put William Rees on track to becoming a sustainability pioneer. It was after a day at work on the family farm when he was nine or 10. He saw he had had a hand in growing everything on his plate. That brought a fascination with a connection to earth that would never leave him.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49567

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AUSTRALIA: Children, Youth Feel the Heat of the Financial Crisis
By Neena Bhandari*
SYDNEY (IPS) -Once a week lunch order from the school canteen was something Emily and Damien’schildren looked forward to, but since the global financial crisis began lastyear, little treats and outings are an absolute ‘No’.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49515

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TRADE: Trilateral Treaty of the South
By Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA (IPS) – Negotiations to form a trade alliance between countries of Africa, Asia and South America stepped up to a political level when ministers discussed the issue this week, giving the initiative a further boost.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49506

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AFRICA: Campaign to Unite Against Malaria Kicks Off
By Saaleha Bamjee-Mayet
JOHANNESBURG (IPS) – Growing up in Cameroon, Joseph-Antoine Bell and his friends used to think that by playing football they could get rid of malaria.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49513

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EARTH ALERT: TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE FOR COPENHAGEN?

Read about the forces behind climate change – but also about growing citizen awareness and new climate policies towards sustainable development.

The 15th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is set to take place in Copenhagen from Dec. 7 to 18. World leaders are expected to try to agree on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. IPS brings you the latest news from the ‘frontline’ of environment.
www.ipsnews.net/climate_change/index.asp
Newsletter ipsnews.net/_newsletter/environment.asp

Read more global news at: www.ipsnews.net/

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