The Week With IPS 10/23

2014/10/24	Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter
	Asia: So Close and Yet So Far From Polio Eradication IPS Correspondents The goal is an ambitious one – to deliver a polio-free world by 2018. Towards this end, the multi-sector Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is bringing out the big guns, sparing no expense to ensure that “every last child” is immunised against the crippling disease. Home to 1.8 billion ... MORE > >
	Kashmir Flood Carries Away Humble Dreams Athar Parvaiz Rafiqa Kazim and her husband Kazim Ali had a simple dream – to live a modest life, educate their four children and repay the bank-loan that the couple took out to sustain their small business. Until early last month, their plan was moving along steadily but now Kazim says they have “hit a ... MORE > >
	Halting Progress: Ending Violence against Women Ravi Kanth Devarakonda As Juan Evo Morales Ayma, popularly known as 'Evo', celebrates his victory for a third term as Bolivia’s president on a platform of “anti-imperialism” and radical socio-economic policies, he can also claim credit for ushering in far-reaching social reforms such as the Bolivian “Law against ... MORE > >
	Añelo, from Forgotten Town to Capital of Argentina’s Shale Fuel Boom Fabiana Frayssinet This small town in southern Argentina is nearly a century old, but the unconventional fossil fuel boom is forcing it to basically start over, from scratch. The wave of outsiders drawn by the shale fuel fever has pushed the town to its limits, while the plan to turn it into a “sustainable city of ... MORE > >
U.S. Contractors Convicted in 2007 Blackwater Baghdad Traffic Massacre Jim Lobe A federal jury here Wednesday convicted one former Blackwater contractor of murder and three of his colleagues of voluntary manslaughter in the deadly shootings of 14 unarmed civilians killed in Baghdad’s Nisour Square seven years ago. The judge in the case ordered the men detained pending ... MORE > >
	U.S. Destroys Its Own Weapons in Enemy Hands Thalif Deen When the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) captured a treasure trove of U.S. weapons from fleeing Iraqi soldiers last month, one of the rebel leaders with a morbid sense of humour was quoted as saying rather sarcastically: "We hope the Americans would honour their agreements and service ... MORE > >
	OPINION: Europe is Positioning Itself Outside the International Race Roberto Savio The new European Commission looks more like an experiment in balancing opposite forces than an institution that is run by some kind of governance. It will probably end up being paralysed by internal conflicts, which is the last thing it needs. During the Commission presided over by José Manuel ... MORE > >
	Israel Planning Mass Expulsion of Bedouins from West Bank Mel Frykberg Thirty-year-old Naifa Youssef and 50 other members of her Bedouin community live a precarious life, eking out a hand-to-mouth existence alongside the main road which links Jerusalem with the Dead Sea and the ancient city of Jericho. Home for this community, east of Jerusalem, comprises a ... MORE > >
	Family Farmers – Forward to the Future Gloria Schiavi "Who is more concerned than the rural family with regards to preservation of natural resources for future generations?" Pope Francis posed the question in a message read by Archbishop Luigi Travaglino, Permanent Observer of the Holy See for the celebration of World Food Day on Oct. 16 at the ... MORE > >
	Mexico’s Cocktail of Political and Narco-Violence and Poverty Daniela Pastrana The images filled the front pages of Mexico’s newspapers: 61 half-dressed state policemen kneeling, with their hands tied, in the main square of the town of Tepatepec in the central state of Hidalgo, while local residents threatened to burn them alive. It was Feb. 19, 2000. The reason the ... MORE > >
	Writing the Final Chapter on AIDS Miriam Gathigah Although AIDS has defied science by killing millions of people throughout Africa in the last three decades, HIV experts now believe that they have found the magic numbers to end AIDS as a public health threat in 15 years. The magic numbers are 90-90-90 and are informed by growing clinical ... MORE > >