GUOVDAGEAIDNU -- I´d like to take the short time allocated to me here to remind all of us that the partnership between Arctic governments and Indigenous Peoples is strong, unique, and fruitful, said Patricia A.L. Cochran, Chair of Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples Secretariat and Chair of Inuit Circumpolar Council.

BRUSSELS -- The Welsh language, which dates back to the 6th century, got a major boost Thursday when the European Union formally recognized it as a minority tongue.

HUMLA -- While the new Maoist government has dramatically increased the outlay for education in the annual budget to meet the goal of Education for All (EFA) by 2015, a visit to remote, mountainous Limi village in mid-western Nepal shows that the goal will be hard to reach.

BANGKOK -- On top of 60 years of military occupation, the Karen people of Burma are now facing severe impairment of their environmental and cultural foundations, say activists.

GUOVDAGEAIDNU -- This year’s second SAO Meeting in the Arctic Council will be held in one of the most important Saami villages, Guovdageaidnu, in the northernmost part of Norway. The meeting will start Wednesday.

Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma has foreshadowed a massive backlash in remote Aboriginal communities if the Northern Territory government proceeds with plans to effectively scrap bilingual education.

ADELAIDE -- An Indigenous community worker and a paralympic gold medallist will be among South Australia´s representatives at the Australian of the Year awards in January.

NATIONAL -- A new minority government in New Zealand will be sworn in this week after John Key, prime minister-elect and leader of the conservative National Party, signed power-sharing agreements with three other parties.

WELLINGTON -- The room in which we signed our Relationship Agreement with the National Party (Matangireia) is rich with the markers of nationhood. Signing with the National Party Hon Tariana Turia, Co-leader of the Maori Party

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) -- Canada´s environment minister agreed on Friday to host a round-table meeting to address what environmentalists charge is overhunting of polar bears in the Arctic region straddling Canada and Greenland.

A small tribe of Indians in Paraguay who have had virtually no contact with the outside world won a legal battle this week when rights groups stopped a Brazilian company from continuing to bulldoze the forest to clear land for cattle ranches, reports CNN

Schools in rural Alaska have long been plagued with an epidemic of high teacher turnover. One plausible solution, some are concluding, is to fight the need to import teachers by training the community’s own.

TORONTO -- The Ontario government has extended the consultation process in making changes to the Mining Act.

TORONTO -- While the Chiefs of Ontario welcome the
extension of the Ontario Mining Act consultation period to January 15, 2009,they remind the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines that First Nation communities must have substantive input in the revisions to the mining act.

LIMA -- In the past two decades Latin America has made advances in signing international and national instruments that recognise and protect the rights of indigenous peoples. The problem is that these laws are not always heeded by governments, and the lack of enforcement has fuelled protests.

Closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia will remain a pipedream unless workable and legitimate governance arrangements are created in Aboriginal communities, a book argues.

GUOVDAGEAIDNU -- Gáldu Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has produced a manual in both Sami and Norwegian on ILO Convention no. 169 concerning indigenous and tribal peoples. Click below to see our new ILO manuals.

OTTAWA -- Native leaders and health experts from 60 countries will meet Thursday in Toronto to craft a global plan to cut alarming tuberculosis rates among the poor.

SEATTLE, Washington -- Working for sustainable development in Kenya, which ranks 148th out of 177 countries on the United Nations development index, is a daunting task. The country not only has a 6.1 percent rate of HIV/AIDS infection among its 37 million people, but nearly 60 percent of Kenyans live on less than two dollars a day.

The Australian Alps region, the nation´s most spectacular mountain landscapes, is to be placed on the National Heritage List, the country´s highest heritage honour.

LIJIANG -- The ancient Tea and Horse Caravan Road has come back to life. On top of sturdy short-legged horses, dark-skinned men wrapped in furs are making their arduous way up the narrow paths of the silver-clad Dragon Jade Snow Mountain.

CENTRAL KALAHARI -- Kalahari Bushmen who were evicted from their land by the government of Botswana’s former President Festus Mogae today condemned African billionaire Mo Ibrahim and his Foundation for giving Mogae their ‘Achievement In Africa Leadership Award’

NATIONAL -- Labour leader Phil Goff says the Maori Party is going against what Maori voters wanted by negotiating with the National Party.

WASHINGTON -- Frozen crystals packed with concentrated natural gas and buried 2,000 feet below the permafrost on Alaska´s North Slope could become the next major domestic energy source, an assessment released Wednesday by the U.S. Geological Survey found.

BOSTON -- The Antarctic holds the world’s largest amount of fresh water in its icy grip, and it is most certainly warming as a result of greenhouse gases, say new scientific studies.

New Zealand´s Maori Party struck a deal Wednesday to support the new center-right government, but Prime Minister John Key refused to say whether he would honor their demands that he safeguard indigenous rights.

AUSTRALIA -- One of the most influential politicians in Queensland has lodged a petition with parliament calling for a Royal Commission into the events surrounding the 2004 death in custody of a Palm Island man, and for pardons to be issued to all Aboriginal people convicted over the subsequent uprising.

TORONTO -- The legendary Buffy Sainte-Marie, roots rockers Eagle and Hawk and country star Crystal Shawanda are just a few of the top names confirmed to perform at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards gala, taking place Friday, November 28th at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

TEL AVIV -- The Israeli government has begun to actively promote voluntary army service for Israeli Arabs. The Knesset, the Israeli parliament, is meanwhile considering plans to make civil service compulsory for all Israeli citizens, including Israeli Arabs.

ARCTIC -- Inuit representatives concerned about Arctic sovereignty and other issues affecting the North plan to draft a declaration on the rights of Arctic peoples that they will present to the United Nations.