William Bowles.info

The world’s indigenous peoples are making themselves heard in international arenas, and at the national level, where their growing mobilisation is translating into political muscle. But many challenges remain in the fight for recognition of all their rights.

RELIGION-TURKEY: Alevi Future Bleak Despite Equality Moves
By Daan Bauwens
ANKARA (IPS) – A political initiative to eliminate discrimination against the Alevi, Turkey’s main religious minority, risks being stymied by the Diyanet, the country’s powerful religious body that does not recognise anything but Sunni Islam.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50351

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POLITICS: U.N. Climate Chief Quits Post
By Stephen Leahy*
UXBRIDGE, Canada (Tierramerica) – Countries have largely failed to endorse the Copenhagen Climate accord by the Jan. 31 deadline. On Thursday, the key official in the United Nations climate treaty process announced his resignation.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50391

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ENVIRONMENT-HONDURAS: Forest Corruption a Major Challenge
By Thelma Mejia*
TEGUCIGALPA (Tierramerica) – The effects of climate change in Honduras have a local accomplice. Not only are forests suffering from global warming; they are also the victim of illegal logging.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50366

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CANADA: Resistance Casts Pall over 2010 Olympic Festivities
By Anthony Fenton
VANCOUVER (IPS) – The 2010 Winter Olympics opened with the largest protest convergence in the history of the Games.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50325

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CHILE: Mapuche Indians Set Up Autonomous Legal Defence Unit
By Pamela Sepúlveda
SANTIAGO (IPS) – As tensions mount in Chile’s Mapuche territories, the indigenous people have created a new legal defence body for cases involving resistance against the state, as they put little stock in the justice system for working out cases such as land disputes.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50290

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Q&A: “Sustainability Issues Are Economic Issues”
Anna Shen interviews MINDY LUBBER, president of Ceres
NEW YORK (IPS) – Fresh from a whirlwind tour of non-stop meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos and a U.N. investor summit on climate risk attended by George Soros, Al Gore, and 500 of the world’s most powerful institutional and private investors, Mindy Lubber has a full plate.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50349

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SRI LANKA: The Post-Election Road Ahead for President Rajapaksa
Analysis by Adithya Alles
COLOMBO (IPS) – Sri Lankans witnessed one of the country’s most contentious elections ever when President Mahinda Rajapaksa staved off the challenge posed by his former Army commander, Sarath Fonseka, and clinched more than 1.8 million majority votes during the Jan. 26 poll.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50247

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SIGN UP TO RECEIVE THE NEW IPS GENDERWIRE:

IPS wants to redress a huge imbalance that exists today: Only about 22 percent of the voices you hear and read in the news are women’s. You can change your perspective – Read the new IPS Gender Wire.
ipsnews.net/_newsletter/genderwire.asp

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DON’T MISS IPS EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS.

Elections, health, education, armed conflicts, corruption, laws, trade, climate change, the global financial and food crises, and natural disasters – IPS covers these frontline issues asking an often forgotten question: What does it mean for women and girls?
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp

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DON’T MISS IPS SPECIAL COVERAGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE.

Through coverage of issues like food security, extractive industries, biodiversity and climate change, IPS is giving a voice to people whose stories are seldom heard. IPS is also highlighting the various challenges they face in the globalised world: health and food insecurity, environment degradation and poverty.
http://www.ipsnews.net/environment.asp

You’ll find more IPS indigenous news and links at: ipsnews.net/new_focus/indigenous_peoples/

IPS LAUNCHES YEAR OF REPORTING ON THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM

Ten years ago the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre burst onto the world stage giving social movements and civil society the space to challenge the orthodoxies symbolised by the World Economic Forum. Visit the IPS TerraViva World Social Forum 2010 site for independent news, analysis and commentary on up to 35 WSF events that will take place on every continent in 2010. What are the continuing challenges that drive social movements, and will the WSF stay relevant and innovative? Read IPS TerraViva to find out.
http://www.ips.org/TV/wsf2010/

Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS), the world’s leading provider of information on global issues, is backed by a network of journalists in more than 150 countries. Its clients include more than 3,000 media organisations and tens of thousands of civil society groups, academics, and other users.

IPS focuses its news coverage on the events and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of peoples and nations.

Visit Inter Press Service at http://www.ipsnews.net