IPS Update

	Local Communities Forced to Pay Salaries of DRC Army and Rebels  Taylor Toeka Kakala  On the way to his fields, Denise Mambo, a resident of Kitshanga, North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, stops at a rope laid across his path. “No one is allowed to go past this rope without paying the ‘lala salama’,” a Congolese army (FARDC) sergeant known only by the nickname ... MORE > >
	Latin American Breeze to Sweep Vatican  Marcela Valente  The selection of a Latin American pope, who is known for his austere lifestyle and his work with the poor, has created a stir among Catholics in the region, who are confident that Pope Francis will help bolster the Vatican’s tarnished reputation. To the surprise even of Argentine cardinals, the ... MORE > >
	Cameroonian Farmers Find Justice in Fair Fruit  Monde Kingsley Nfor  The fruit farmers in Njombe, a small town in the coastal Littoral Region of Cameroon, learned a life lesson about “making lemonade out of lemons” - or rather “dried fruit out of fruit” when their land was taken from them by the government and leased to an international farming company. In 1998, ... MORE > >
	Afghanistan Faces “Massive Economic Constriction” after U.S. Withdrawal  Richard Sale  Next year’s drawdown of U.S. forces and decline in U.S. aid will leave in its wake an Afghan political system lacking legitimacy and stability, according to interviews with Afghanistan experts, news reports and congressional studies. Despite receiving tens of billions of dollars in U.S. funding, ... MORE > >
	Native Women Bring Solar Energy to Chile's Atacama Desert  Marianela Jarroud  Three indigenous communities from the Chilean highlands have just received solar panels, which will be set up and maintained by unlikely solar engineers: five native women who travelled halfway around the world to India and overcame language and other barriers to bring photovoltaic energy to their ... MORE > >
	Young Spaniards Exiled by Unemployment  Inés Benítez  “They wanted to hire me, and that was something that hadn’t ever happened to me before,” says Marta Seror, a 25-year-old college graduate from Spain who is now working in an outsourcing company in Poland. Her story is similar to those of thousands of young people who are leaving crisis-stricken ... MORE > >
	From Brazil’s Family Farm to the School Lunchroom Table  Fabiana Frayssinet  Separating Maria Gomes Morais’ farm and a school in Rio de Janeiro are fields, hills and dirt roads that are impassable when it rains. But a school meal programme has forged a path linking the fresh produce harvested by small farmers like her with the need to provide nourishment to 45 million ... MORE > >
	At Home, and Not at Home  Zak Brophy  The influx of hundreds of thousands of war-weary refugees from Syria to Lebanon is putting an almost unbearable strain on many of the communities that have taken them into their homes. A domestic economic crisis compounded by the arrival of such large numbers of refugees is weighing heavily on many ... MORE > >
	Canada Losing Its Seasons  Stephen Leahy  "Canada is not a country, it's winter," Canadians say with pride. But the nation's long, fearsome winters will live only in memory and song for Canadian children born this decade. Winters are already significantly warmer and shorter than just 30 years ago. The temperature regimes and plant life ... MORE > >
	Fukushima Running Out of Workers  Suvendrini Kakuchi  Japan has promised to scrap the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors that faced the world’s worst nuclear accident. But Hiroyuki Watanabe, councillor in Iwaki City located 30 kilometres from the accident site, greets such intentions on the second anniversary of the disaster on Monday with ... MORE > >
Read more IPS reporting here.