The Week with IPS 1/24

	Impoverished Cambodians For Sale Michelle Tolson Many Cambodian women arrive in South Korea or China for marriage, only to find themselves being chosen as mistresses, say labour rights activists. While young Cambodian men, who travel to Thailand to work on fishing boats, often fall prey to drug abuse. Loss of land, debt, poor pay and high ... MORE > >
	Saving Cameroonians from Ill Health Monde Kingsley Nfor The Cameroonian government has begun a crackdown on illegal medical facilities and plans to shut down more than 524 medical training centres and 600 private clinics operating unlawfully in this Central African nation. “We are starting activities to bring order to the medical sector that has gone ... MORE > >
	Dammed Rivers Create Hardship for Brazil’s Native Peoples Mario Osava The Itaparica hydroelectric power plant occupied land belonging to the Pankararu indigenous people, but while others were compensated, they were not. They have lost land and access to the São Francisco river, charge native leaders in Paulo Afonso, a city in northeastern Brazil. “We can no longer ... MORE > >
	Drugs Displace Maize on Mexico’s Small Farms Emilio Godoy As the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) passes its 20-year milestone, Mexico is seeing the displacement of traditional crops like maize by marihuana and opium poppy as a result of falling prices for the country’s most important agricultural product. After NAFTA came into force between ... MORE > >
	Syrian Spillover Deepens Lebanese Divide Shelly Kittleson In northern Lebanon’s largest city, Tripoli, Syria Street cuts through neighbourhoods that back opposite sides of the war raging in Syria, 30 km away. Clashes between them resumed this weekend after a cross-border rocket attack. The frontline of the Jabal Mohsen area, overlooking the rival Bab ... MORE > >
	Voluntary Fracking Certification Kicks Off in U.S. Carey L. Biron A controversial new certification process that could cover a significant portion of the U.S. oil-and-gas “fracking” industry began accepting applications on Tuesday, indicating the formal start of an initiative that has the backing of some key industry players and some environmentalists – but by no ... MORE > >
	Living in Limbo: A Day at Haiti's Gaston Margron Tent Camp Milo Milfort Four years after the a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti, there are still about 300 internally displaced person (IDP) camps mostly scattered around the capital region. Correspondents Jane Regan and Milo Milfort visited Gaston Margron camp on the southern edge of Port-au-Prince, home to an estimated 800 ... MORE > >
	Playing Cricket, Praying for Peace Ashfaq Yusufzai Afghanistan is rediscovering the joy of cricket. It is seen as a tool of progress, a means of entertainment, and a way to wean youth away from violence in a country that has been ravaged by conflict for more than 30 years. Afghanistan will join Asia's four Test playing nations - India, Pakistan, ... MORE > >
	Four Years After Haiti's Earthquake, Still Waiting for a Roof Jane Regan and Milo Milfort Mimose Gérard sits in her tent at Gaston Margron camp, surrounded by large bags filled with plastic bottles. She earns just pennies for each, but that’s better than nothing. “I’ve lived in the camp since Jan. 13, 2010, when I was set up with a tent. It's been a painful existence," she tells IPS. ... MORE > >
	Land Cleared for Reforms in Taiwan Dennis Engbarth The Taiwan farmers victory in a landmark court case in a years-long battle has delivered a shock to government officials and given a morale boost to citizen campaigns. The win followed a bitter resistance campaign against expropriation of farmland that has already cost two lives. The verdict ... MORE > >
	Small Projects, Big Changes in Climate Risk in Honduran Slums Thelma Mejía For some 250,000 shantytown-dwellers in the Honduran capital, fear of dying or losing their home due to a landslide or other weather-related event has been reduced, thanks to a global warming mitigation plan that has carried out small infrastructure works in 180 ecologically and socially vulnerable ... MORE > >
	Africa’s Billions that the Poor Won’t Touch Jeffrey Moyo and Miriam Gathigah With its two-trillion-dollar economy, recent discoveries of billions of dollars worth of minerals and oil, and the number of investment opportunities it has to offer global players, Africa is slowly shedding its image as a development burden. “While global direct investment has shown some ... MORE > >