The Week with IPS 4/10

2015/4/10	Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter
	Plunging Oil Prices Won’t Kill Vaca Muerta Fabiana Frayssinet Despite the precipitous fall in global oil prices, Argentina has continued to follow its strategy of producing unconventional shale oil, although in the short term there could be problems attracting the foreign investment needed to exploit the Vaca Muerta shale deposit. The uncertainty has come ... MORE > >
	Opinion: Moment of Truth for the Nobel Peace Prize Fredrik S. Heffermehl and Tomas Magnusson The Nobel Peace Prize is about to bow out to critics. As of Jan. 1, the Oslo-based Norwegian Nobel Committee that selects the winners has a new secretary, Olav Njølstad, who announced that “changes loom” in a recent interview. However, Njølstad added, the changes “will not be dramatic”, making ... MORE > >
	In Bangladesh, Gender Equality Comes on the Airwaves Naimul Haq Judging by how often they make headlines, one might be tempted to believe that women in Bangladesh don’t play a major role in this country’s affairs. A recent media monitoring survey by the non-governmental organisation Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha (BNPS) revealed that out of 3,361 news items ... MORE > >
	'Cli-fi' to Heat Up Literature Course in India Dan Bloom University lecture halls in North America are no strangers to the ''cli-fi" genre of climate-themed novels and movies, but now India is getting into the act as well, thanks to the pioneering work of Professor T. Ravichandran of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) in Uttar ... MORE > >
	Land Seizures Speeding Up, Leaving Africans Homeless and Landless Jeffrey Moyo There is a new scramble for Africa, with ordinary people facing displacement by the affluent and the powerful as huge tracts of land on the continent are grabbed by a minority, rights activists here say. “Our forefathers cried foul during colonialism when their land was grabbed by colonialists ... MORE > >
	Women Still Struggling to Gain Equal Foothold in Nepal Renu Kshetry Kali Sunar, 25, a resident of the Dumpada village in the remote Humla District in Far-West Nepal, lives a life that mirrors millions of her contemporaries. From the minute she rises early in the morning until she finally rests her head at night, this rural woman’s chief concern is how to meet ... MORE > >
	Israeli Forces Target Journalists in West Bank Mel Frykberg It is becoming increasingly risky to cover clashes and protests between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters in the West Bank as the number of journalists injured, in what appears to be deliberate targeting by Israeli security forces, continues to rise. During the last 12 months, ... MORE > >
	Taking Child Workers Out of El Salvador’s Sugar Cane Fields Edgardo Ayala and Claudia Ávalos The participation of children and teenagers in the sugar cane harvest, a dangerous agricultural activity, will soon be a thing of the past in El Salvador, where the practice drew international attention 10 years ago. “Before, when I was a kid, my brothers would take me along to help them cut ... MORE > >
	Environmental Terrorism Cripples Palestinian Farmers Mel Frykberg “Exactly which olive trees do you want to see? The Israeli settlers have cut down thousands. Can you be more specific?” asked the taxi driver, telling IPS that he wished to remain anonymous. About a week ago, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Mezad, in the southern West Bank near ... MORE > >
	Recycling Revives Art of Glass-Blowing in Lebanon Oriol Andrés Gallart In the Khalife workshop, in the southern coastal village of Sarafand, four men stand beside an oven, fixed in concentration despite the oppressive temperature. Blowing through a long tube, one of the group carefully shapes white-hot melted glass into a small ball, while two others coax it into the ... MORE > >
	Civil Society and Politics March for Negev Bedouin Recognition Silvia Boarini There was a symbolic dimension to a recent four-day march from the periphery of Israel to the corridors of power in Jerusalem to seek recognition for Bedouin villages. The march, which began in the unrecognised Bedouin village of Wadi Al Nam in the Negev desert in southern Israel, ended on Mar. ... MORE > >
	Effective War Crimes Inquiry Could Heal Sri Lanka’s Old Wounds Amantha Perera Jessi Joygeswaran seems like your typical 23-year-old young woman. She has an infectious smile and laughs a lot when she talks. Like many other young women anywhere in the world, her life is full of dreams. “I want to go to university, I want to do a good job,” she tells IPS. She seems sure that ... MORE > >
	Deforestation in the Amazon Aggravates Brazil’s Energy Crisis Mario Osava In Brazil water and electricity go together, and two years of scant rainfall have left tens of millions of people on the verge of water and power rationing, boosting arguments for the need to fight deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Two-thirds of Brazil’s electricity comes from dammed ... MORE > >