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Ashfaq Yusufzai the Pakistani journalist for IPS News has published an article titled ‘Remittances Soothe the Scourge of Militancy’ in which he states “A majority of the 5.5 million people living in FATA have been … affected by the decade-old militancy, which began in earnest in 2001 when U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government in Kabul, forcing the militants to cross over to Pakistan and establish sanctuaries along the 2,400-kilometre-long border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. FATA soon became infested with Taliban cells. As Pakistan emerged as a frontline state in the U.S.’ ‘war on terror’, armed forces poured into FATA in a full-scale military offensive in 2005 designed to root out the Taliban. The army offensive, coupled with the militants’ resistance, made it impossible for civilians to carry on with everyday life. Now, for the first time in years, people … are finally starting to see improvements in their lives, as remittances from a younger generation of migrants who fled the region in search of employment abroad streams into FATA, easing the financial burden of unrelenting militancy. …Abu Zar, an official at the FATA Secretariat, told IPS that the militarisation of the region has brought misery to many residents but has also fuelled a wave of migration to Gulf states like the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, which is now helping people get back on their feet. “Currently, more than 400,000 FATA residents are living and working in foreign countries”, up from less than 100,000 prior to 2005, …The younger generation has been going abroad in droves because of the prolonged insurgency”, in order to escape a sharp decline in trade, business opportunities and income in FATA, he added.” Inspired by Inter Press Service ow.ly/gwWbA image source WFSJ ow.ly/gwWb7 Remittances soothe the scourge of militancy (January 12 2013)

Ashfaq Yusufzai the Pakistani journalist for IPS News has published an article titled ‘Remittances Soothe the Scourge of Militancy’ in which he states “A majority of the 5.5 million people living in FATA have been … affected by the decade-old militancy, which began in earnest in 2001 when U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government in Kabul, forcing the militants to cross over to Pakistan and establish sanctuaries along the 2,400-kilometre-long border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. FATA soon became infested with Taliban cells. As Pakistan emerged as a frontline state in the U.S.’ ‘war on terror’, armed forces poured into FATA in a full-scale military offensive in 2005 designed to root out the Taliban. The army offensive, coupled with the militants’ resistance, made it impossible for civilians to carry on with everyday life. Now, for the first time in years, people … are finally starting to see improvements in their lives, as remittances from a younger generation of migrants who fled the region in search of employment abroad streams into FATA, easing the financial burden of unrelenting militancy. …Abu Zar, an official at the FATA Secretariat, told IPS that the militarisation of the region has brought misery to many residents but has also fuelled a wave of migration to Gulf states like the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, which is now helping people get back on their feet. “Currently, more than 400,000 FATA residents are living and working in foreign countries”, up from less than 100,000 prior to 2005, …The younger generation has been going abroad in droves because of the prolonged insurgency”, in order to escape a sharp decline in trade, business opportunities and income in FATA, he added.”

 

Inspired by Inter Press Service ow.ly/gwWbA image source WFSJ ow.ly/gwWb7

Asia is experiencing an economic slowdown (December 15 2012) Asia is experiencing an economic slowdown (December 15 2012)

Supachai Panitchpakdi the 66 year old Thai Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has published an article on IPS News titled ‘Global Rebalancing – Implications For Asia’. Panitchpakdi states “Although it remains the fastest growing region, Asia is already experiencing an economic slowdown, with gross domestic product (GDP) expected to fall… In China and other major economies in the region, however, internal rebalancing remains unfinished as private consumption should take on a greater role relative to investment. High wage growth will help to support this goal as well as helping to promote further external rebalancing. High and volatile commodity prices also present a risk to the rebalancing process for the Asian region, because they can be a drag on growth. Rising oil prices, for example, act as an immediate dampener on aggregate spending in fuel-importing countries, contracting spending more or less immediately, whereas any spending expansion from fuel-exporting countries occurs only after a lag. However the main risk continues to be concentrated in the developed economies, where the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has long been concerned that premature and excessive fiscal austerity is choking recovery and growth unnecessarily. The developing economies in Asia have played a major role stoking the engine of growth since the crisis, but this could be derailed if there continues to be a decline in consumer demand from their traditional markets in the advanced economies, and the effects of a reduction in this demand would of course have further spill-over effects if it provoked a downturn in Asian household and investment demand. … Ultimately, what is most important is that regional markets remain open, so that rising domestic demand in each country is met not only by domestic enterprises but also by those operating in other countries of the region.”

 

Inspired by IPS News ow.ly/fWkFo image source Roberto Barroso ow.ly/fWkAq

Champion of degrowth, less is much more (December 1 2012) Champion of degrowth, less is much more (December 1 2012)

Erik Assadourian the American Senior Fellow at the Worldwatch Institute where he studies cultural change, consumerism, degrowth, ecological ethics, corporate responsibility, and sustainable communities, has been profiled in an article by Malgorzata Stawecka for IPS News titled ‘For Champions of Degrowth, Less Is Much More’. Assadourian states “…intentional societal shifting is essential for a world where seven billion humans are depleting Earth’s biocapacity and threatening the collapse of key ecosystem services, like climate regulation, fisheries, pollination, and water purification, by not proactively pursuing a path of degrowth, then we accept that instead of degrowth we’ll have an uncontrolled global contraction that will lead to much more discomfort and human suffering than degrowth ever would. … The main challenge degrowth entails is the obvious one: how do we convince those with wealth and power to be willing to redistribute this to others – both within and across societies. All would benefit if that dynamic were altered … supporting efforts to create informal economic opportunities like small-scale farming and community gardening, bartering, and repair could help in creating new means for people to sustain themselves … As people worked less, they’d earn less, in turn reducing their overall luxury consumption; fewer people would fly, they’d buy smaller homes, they’d choose smaller cars or car-free lifestyles, and so on, while this would be seen negatively by some, the newfound leisure time and less-stressful lives would offset this – especially if governments also strengthened their traditional role of providing a robust set of public goods: libraries, public transit, safe drinking water, and so on. And these public goods could be funded by increased taxation of the wealthiest, which would also help reduce luxury consumption by the very segment of society having the largest ecological impact on the planet…”

 

Inspired by Malgorzata Stawecka ow.ly/fuLN7 image source Linkedin ow.ly/fuLL2

Call for Ugandans to stop eating Chimps (November 23 2012) Call for Ugandans to stop eating Chimps (November 23 2012)

Lilly Ajarova the Ugandan Executive Director of the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary providing food, veterinary care, facilities for rehabilitation for orphaned rescued chimpanzees, within a rainforest habitat of 100 acres. Once the individuals have been rehabilitated they are integrated into the main chimpanzee group and live as part of a community, as they would in the wild. Henry Wasswa in an IPS News article titled ‘Conservationists Call for Ugandans to Stop Eating Chimps’ states “Conservationists struggling to protect the remaining population of Ugandan chimpanzees have raised concerns that people around wildlife reserves in the west of the country have taken to eating the primates. “There is now an issue of eating bush meat. We did not think Ugandans were eating primate meat but we are starting to observe that monkeys and chimps are being eaten. This is scary. The threat to their survival has been growing bigger,” according to Lily Ajarova …The sanctuary, which houses 48 primates rescued from human captivity, was set up with the help of the Jane Goodall Institute and is managed by the Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust. …Currently there are only an estimated 5,000 chimpanzees in Uganda …conservationists had first noticed people eating primate meat in western Uganda two years ago, those engaging in the practice had mostly been immigrants or refugees from neighbouring DRC. It was rare for locals in this East African nation to eat primate meat, she said. “There are many other parts of the world where primate meat is eaten but this had not been happening in Uganda. We began witnessing this over time. It has been developing slowly and we ourselves only got wind of it when we were in the field two years ago”

 

Inspired by Henry Wasswa ow.ly/fmUfo image source Bornfree ow.ly/fmUdL

Ocean acid leaves mollusks naked and confused (October 26 2012) Ocean acid leaves mollusks naked and confused (October 26 2012)

Stephen Leahy the Canadian Journalist and lead international science and environment correspondent at IPS News, has published an article titled ‘Ocean Acidification Leaves Mollusks Naked and Confused’ on the effects of carbon dioxide absorbed by the oceans. “When dissolved in seawater, carbonic acid is formed and calcium carbonate, vital for the formation of the skeletons and shells of many marine organisms, becomes scarcer.” Leahy states “Climate change will ruin Chilean sea snails’ ability to sniff out and avoid their archenemy, a predatory crab  … as the oceans become more and more acidic, some fish become hyperactive and confused, and move towards their predators instead of trying to escape. …nearly 600 scientists from around the world presented their research at the Third International Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World: Ocean Acidification in Monterey, California. Researchers discovered only 10 years ago that burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas has made the oceans about 30 percent more acidic since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. One third of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from using fossil fuels has been absorbed by the oceans. When CO2 dissolves in seawater, carbonic acid is formed. This phenomenon, known as ocean acidification, reduces the availability of calcium carbonate, which interferes with the formation of the skeletons and shells of many marine organisms. The combination of greater acidity and a lower concentration of calcium carbonate in the water also has consequences for the physiological functions of numerous living beings. This is basic, undisputed ocean chemistry.”

 

Inspired by IPS News ow.ly/ezyRu image source Twitter ow.ly/ezyPH

Pushback Against Growing Islamophobia (October 23 2012) Pushback Against Growing Islamophobia (October 23 2012)

James R. Lobe the 63 year old American journalist and the Washington Bureau Chief for the Inter Press Service, best known for his criticism of U.S. foreign policy and American militarism, has published an article on the IPS News titled ‘US: Pushback Against Growing Islamophobia’. Lobe states “Faced with a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment and a well-funded campaign to promote Islamophobia, a coalition of faith and religious freedom groups said it will circulate a new pamphlet on frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Islam and U.S. Muslims to elected officials across the United States. The initiative, which coincides with the appearance in subway stations in New York City and Washington of pro-Israel ads equating the Jewish state with “civilised man” and “Jihad” with “savages”, is designed to rebut the notion that Muslims pose a threat to U.S. values and way of life. “Nothing gives weight to bigotry more than ignorance,” said Rev. Welton Gaddy, a Baptist minister who is president of the Interfaith Alliance, a grassroots organisation of leaders representing 75 faith traditions. “The FAQ enables people to be spared of an agenda-driven fear and to be done with a negative movement born of misinformation…” Gaddy was joined by Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Project of the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center which co-sponsored the new 13-page pamphlet, entitled “What is the Truth About American Muslims?” “In my view,” Haynes said in reference to the so-called “Stop Islamisation of America” (SIOA) movement that, among other things, has sponsored the subway ads, “this campaign to spread hate and fear is the most significant threat to religious freedom in America today”.”

 

Inspired by IPS News ow.ly/ezr6u image source Lobelog ow.ly/ezr23

Netizens Reject Cybercrime Act (October 17 2012) Netizens Reject Cybercrime Act (October 17 2012)

Kara Santos the Filipino writer and photographer published an article on IPS News titled ‘Filipino Netizens Reject Cybercrime Act’ claiming “A newly enacted cybercrime law in the Philippines has raised fears that not only online media but also ordinary netizens could be persecuted for exercising their freedom of expression”. Santos states “Media groups have expressed concern that the law poses a threat to press freedom and limits freedom of expression in the country. Bloggers and social media practitioners also point out that the new law allows the government to shut down websites without due process, and makes Internet users liable for simply clicking the ‘like’ button on Facebook or re-tweeting something on Twitter. …the law also broadens the coverage of libel as a content-related offense that can be committed by just about anybody using a computer. …Many Filipinos are disturbed by the fact that the man allegedly responsible for this last-minute change, which lumps online libel with cybersex and child pornography, is notorious for plagiarising blogs, and recently elicited a spate of criticism from active netizens. …investigative journalist and blogger Raissa Robles claims that Senator Vicente Sotto III pushed for the insertion into the law at the eleventh hour “Historically, in the Philippines, it is the rich and the powerful who use libel as a weapon to suppress criticisms about them. Before the Internet came along, it was easier for the rich and the powerful to control criticisms. All they needed to do was buy a stake in newspapers, TV and radio. Or sue them. Now they have realised that the Web is beyond their control.”

 

Inspired by IPS News ow.ly/emsMy image source Facebook ow.ly/emsGS

Matthew Cardinale the American founder and News Editor of Atlanta Progressive News has published an article on IPS News titled ‘Targeting Right-Wing Extremism, Citizens Challenge Corporate Ties’. In the article Cardinale states “A coalition of advocacy groups is targeting corporate support for the right-wing Heartland Institute after the organisation took out a controversial billboard in Chicago comparing people who believe in global warming to a serial killer and mass murderer. …The coalition includes such organisations as 350.org, Forecast the Facts, Greenpeace, the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, and Sum of Us. …Over the last two months, the coalition has been successful in convincing some eleven companies to withdraw their support for Heartland Institute, including Allied World Assurance, the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, BB&T, Diageo, Eli Lilly, General Motors, PepsiCo, RenaissanceRe, State Farm, USAA and XL Group. …[Brad Johnson, campaign manager for Forecast the Facts, states] “The main thing we’re upset by is the corporate sponsorship of the Heartland Institute’s extreme climate denial. The billboards are just the latest example of the Heartland Institute’s attacks on science and the science of climate change and people who believe in reality, that’s why…corporations like Pfizer and Comcast need to cut their ties with the group”.

Inspired by IPS News ow.ly/brZzT image source Facebook ow.ly/brZvY

Abderrahim El Ouali the Moroccan social writer on political and environmental issues has published an article on IPS News stating that Morocco is still divided over marriage of minors. In the article, El Ouali states “The widespread practice of marrying minors continues to be one of the most incendiary legal and political issues in Morocco today, causing open confrontations between hard-line Islamists and moderates throughout the country. …30,000 minor girls are married every year – roughly 10 percent of the 300,000 marriages recorded… A campaign to gather one million signatures to forbid the marriage of minors is already in progress, sparked by the death of Amina Filali, a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide after being forced to marry her rapist. …Sheik Mohamed El Maghrawi, a well-known Moroccan Muslim scholar, published a Fatwa reiterating families’ right to marry off their daughters over the age of nine. His position provoked a major scandal but the scholar suffered no consequences. …El Maghrawi even expressed his attachment to his position, “based on the Quran and the words of the Prophet ” according to him. However, opposition to this particular reading of Sharia’a law has become widespread. “All the laws that go against the dignity of women must be amended or even abolished “, said the president of the Chamber of Councilors in Moroccan parliament.”

 

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