The Week With IPS 6/25

2015/6/25	Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter
	Heat Wave Picking Off Pakistan’s Urban Poor Zofeen Ebrahim Over 950 people have perished in just five days. The morgues, already filled to capacity, are piling up with bodies, and in over-crowded hospitals the threat of further deaths hangs in the air. Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, home to over 23 million people, is gasping in the grip of a dreadful ... MORE > >
	Security Council Action on Gaza War Crimes a Non-Starter Thalif Deen When a U.N. panel released a 217-page report accusing both Israel and Hamas of possible war crimes committed during the 50-day conflict in Gaza last July, the chances of Security Council action were remote because of the traditional U.S. commitment to stand by Israel – right or wrong, mostly ... MORE > >
	Costa Rican Women Try to Pull Legal Therapeutic Abortion Out of Limbo Diego Arguedas Ortiz The lack of clear regulations and guidelines on therapeutic abortion in Costa Rica means women depend on the interpretation of doctors with regard to the circumstances under which the procedure can be legally practiced. Article 121 of Costa Rica’s penal code stipulates that abortion is only ... MORE > >
	Grenada Rebuilds Barrier Reefs Desmond Brown The Eastern Caribbean nation of Grenada is following the example of its bigger neighbours Belize and Jamaica in taking action to restore coral reefs, which serve as frontline barriers against storm waves. Coral reefs also play an extremely important role in the Caribbean tourism economy, as well ... MORE > >
	On Kenya’s Coast, a Struggle for the Sacred Miriam Gathigah Travel into the heart of Kenya’s southern Coast Province, nearly 500 km from the capital city of Nairobi, and you will come across one of the planet’s most curious World Heritage Sites: the remains of several fortified villages, revered by the indigenous Mijikenda people as the sacred abodes of ... MORE > >
	Studying and Working Poses New Challenges for Argentina’s Youth Fabiana Frayssinet Until not too long ago, youngsters in Argentina faced a choice: whether to study or drop out and go to work. But now most children and adolescents in Argentina who work also continue to study – a change that poses new challenges for combating school dropout, repetition and truancy, as well as the ... MORE > >
	Critics of World Bank-Funded Projects in the Line of Fire Kanya D'Almeida For an entire month beginning in February 2015, a group of between 40 and 50 residents of the Durgapur Village in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand would gather at the site of a hydroelectric power project being carried out by the state-owned Tehri Hydro Development Corporation ... MORE > >
	Take Good News on Afghanistan’s Reconstruction With a ‘Grain of Salt’ Kanya D'Almeida Since 2002, a year after it invaded Afghanistan, the United States has poured over 100 billion dollars into developing and rebuilding this country of just over 30 million people. This sum is in addition to the trillions spent on U.S. military operations, to say nothing of the deaths of 2,000 ... MORE > >
	Amazon Dam also Brings Health Infrastructure for Local Population Mario Osava Extensive public health infrastructure and the eradication of malaria will be the most important legacy of the construction of the Belo Monte hydropower dam in Brazil’s Amazon jungle for the population affected by the megaproject. In the six municipalities in the area of the dam, where an action ... MORE > >
	U.N. Takes First Step Towards Treaty to Curb Lawlessness in High Seas Thalif Deen The 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution Friday aimed at drafting a legally binding international treaty for the conservation of marine biodiversity and to govern the mostly lawless high seas beyond national jurisdiction. The resolution was the result of more than nine years of ... MORE > >