The Week with IPS 1/16

	Papal Visit Rekindles Hopes in Former War Zone Amantha Perera Jessi Jogeswaran, a 20-year-old woman from Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna district, waited over six hours with 18 friends in the sweltering heat just to get a glimpse of Pope Francis on Jan. 14. The much-anticipated Papal visit brought well over a million people out into the streets to hear the ... MORE > >
	In Sri Lanka Cartoonists Aren’t Killed – They’re Disappeared Kanya D'Almeida Scenes from the brutal shooting of 12 journalists with the French satirical weekly ‘Charlie Hebdo’ have monopolised headlines worldwide ever since two men opened fire in the magazine’s Paris office on Jan. 7. Millions have marched in the streets against what is widely being billed as an attack ... MORE > >
	OPINION: For the Good of Humanity – Towards a Culture of Caring Andrew MacMillan About a week ago my wife was taken to hospital and diagnosed with pneumonia. She was promptly treated with antibiotics and, wonderfully, is now on the mend. What has struck me about this experience is not so much the high professionalism of the health workers or their up-to-date hospital ... MORE > >
	More Than Half of Africa's Arable Land ‘Too Damaged’ for Food Production Busani Bafana A report published last month by the Montpellier Panel - an eminent group of agriculture, ecology and trade experts from Africa and Europe - says about 65 percent of Africa's arable land is too damaged to sustain viable food production. The report, "No Ordinary Matter: conserving, restoring and ... MORE > >
	European Citizens Call for Increased Aid to Developing World Thalif Deen An overwhelming majority of citizens in the 28-member European Union (EU) - which has been hamstrung by a spreading economic recession, a fall in oil prices and a decline of its common currency, the Euro - has expressed strong support for development cooperation and increased aid to developing ... MORE > >
	Oil, An Invasive Water Species in the Carnival Capital Mario Osava "We ran down to the beach and found a black tide, whose waves didn’t make the sound of water, but the slurp of a thick paste,” said Alexandre Anderson, describing the oil spill in Guanabara bay in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro which turned him into an activist and leader among the local ... MORE > >
	OPINION: The Paris Killings – A Fatal Trap for Europe Roberto Savio It is sad to see how a continent that was one cradle of civilisation is running blindly into a trap, the trap of a holy war with Islam – and that six Muslim terrorists were sufficient to bring that about. It is time to get out of the comprehensible “We are All Charlie Hebdo” wave, to look into ... MORE > >
	St. Vincent Embarks on Renewable Energy Path Kenton X. Chance For decades, the fertile slopes of La Soufriere volcano, which occupies the northern third of this 344-kilometre-square island, has produced illegally grown marijuana that fuels the local underground economy, and the trade in that illicit drug across the eastern Caribbean. But now the ... MORE > >
	Women ‘Sewing’ a Bright Future in Northern Pakistan Ashfaq Yusufzai At 46, Naseema Nashad is starting her life over, not out of choice but out of necessity. The Afghan woman was just 25 years old when Taliban militants stormed Kabul and her family was forced to flee to neighbouring Pakistan to escape what they knew would be a brutal regime. “My father stayed ... MORE > >
	Video Games, Poverty and Conflict in Bab Al-Tabbaneh Oriol Andrés Gallart “People get used to war. During the last battle, children were still coming to play. Can you imagine, a seven-year-old boy running through the bullets just to play video games,” says Mohammad Darwish, a calm man with a curled beard framing his face. Sitting behind the counter of his cybercafé, ... MORE > >