IPS August 1 2013

2013/8/1	Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter
	Report Finds Pattern of Inequity in Development Aid  Lydia Lim  Despite global efforts to provide development aid, the world’s poorest are getting poorer, says a new report by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD). “What we found through the research with people living in poverty is that overall, the most marginalised and the poorest ...MORE > >
	World's Poorest Nations Slowly Mending  Thalif Deen  The number of "least developed countries" (LDCs), which rose from the original 24 back in 1971 to the current 49, is beginning to shrink - haltingly. So far, three countries - Botswana, Cape Verde and the Maldives - have "graduated" from LDCs to the status of developing countries.3 And as ...MORE > >
	Colombian Town Says ‘No’ to Gold Mine  Constanza Vieira  People in a farming town in central Colombia voted overwhelmingly against global corporation AngloGold Ashanti’s La Colosa gold mine. In a popular vote on Sunday, whose results are binding, 99 percent of the 2,995 people in the municipality of Piedras who cast ballots – out of a total of 5,105 ... MORE > >
	OP-ED: If You Build It, They Will Go Around It  Peter Costantini  Puzzled by the immigration debate in the United States? Remember the Maginot Line. That formidable French system of fortifications was built in the 1930s by André Maginot, the French minister of war, to guard against invasion from the east. Unfortunately, the Nazi blitzkrieg did an end run ...MORE > >
	Police Scramble to Adapt as Human Trafficking Goes Mobile  Lucy Westcott  In the second half of June, law enforcement in Chişinău, Moldova’s capital city, received an email from a parent telling them their child had been kidnapped. A mixed group of police and prosecutors, they had to trace the email back to the kidnapper, a skill that is becoming essential in an ...MORE > >
	Technology and Innovation Aim at Greater Food Security  Cydney Hargis  In the face of global climate change and currency devaluation, improved strategies are being used to combat high international poverty and malnutrition rates, and to increase global food security. The administrator of the the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Dr. Rajiv Shah, ...MORE > >
	Will Prayers Save Farmers in the Land of the Gods?  Malini Shankar  Over a month after flash floods in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand in north India left 1,000 dead and 6,000 missing, the government has yet to release a full agricultural impact assessment, sparking fears about the extent of damage to the region’s farmland. Questions remain as to how soon ...MORE > >
	U.S. and EU Frustrate Peasants’ Rights Declaration  Gustavo Capdevila  Staunch opposition by the U.S. delegation and, to one extent or another, by European countries has blocked the approval this year of a draft multilateral declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, which is backed by the developing world. Bolivian diplomat ... MORE > >
	U.N. Struggles to Reach Displaced in South Sudan  Roger Hamilton-Martin  Following fighting in the South Sudan state of Jonglei , the United Nations is trying to coordinate a humanitarian effort to help tens of thousands of people who have fled to the bush. The World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an operation to provide food for those who have escaped the ... MORE > >
	Nepal Moves to Curb Child Labour  Mallika Aryal  Last December, Pradeep Dongol, child protection officer at the Kathmandu-based Children and Women in Social Service and Human Rights (CWISH), received an urgent call from one of the NGO’s many offices in Nepal’s sprawling capital city. Dongol rushed over to find an 11-year-old girl in the care ... MORE > >
	Kenyan Spring Failing to Blossom  Miriam Gathigah  Kenyan police are said to be investigating the rise of a group dubbed the March 4th Movement (M4M), which aims to make Kenya ungovernable by recruiting youths to take part in protests, similar to those that saw Egyptians overthrow their president. But politicians and analysts here say they do not ...MORE > >
Read more IPS reporting on Poverty & MDGs here.