IPS 29thMarch

	Q&A: Portugal Neglects Undocumented Immigrants with AIDS  Mario Queiroz  In 1996, Luís Mendão was shocked to learn that he had contracted HIV/AIDS, and that the infection was advanced because of the late diagnosis. Racing against time, he began to put his affairs in order and to get ready to face his death. However, after a year of treatment, he felt better and ... MORE > >
	“Merchants of Death” Fly Under the Radar of U.N. Arms Trade Treaty  George Gao  Viktor Bout earned a few monikers in his heyday: “Merchant of Death”, “Sanctions Buster” and “Lord of War”. He’s the poster boy for illicit arms brokers – a guild of shadowy intermediaries who link arms suppliers to their end users. While Bout sits in a jail in the southern U.S. state of ... MORE > >
Iranian People Caught in Crossfire of Dueling Messages  Farideh Farhi  Since Barack Obama became president of the United States, messages marking the Iranian New Year – Norouz - celebrated at the onset of spring have become yearly affairs. So have responses given by Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from the city of Mashhad where he makes a yearly pilgrimage to ... MORE > >
	PERU: Stepping Up Protection for Native Groups in Voluntary Isolation  Milagros Salazar  In the dense Amazon rainforest of Peru, there are five reserves inhabited by indigenous groups who have chosen to remain totally or partially isolated from the rest of society. But these areas are not officially demarcated as indigenous lands, and only one is protected with a control post. The ... MORE > >
	Ranchers Try to Drive Tsimané Indians Off Their Land  Rafael Acuña Coaquira  “We can’t take any more abuse,” Carmelo Tayo, the head of this small Tsimané indigenous village, says sadly. The community has lived for decades on land in Bolivia’s Amazon jungle that outsiders are now trying to gain control of. The Tsimané or Chimané people, one of the few native groups whose ... MORE > >
	Zimbabwe’s Railroads Riding to Extinction  Jeffrey Moyo  Zimbabwe’s rail transport system may be nearing extinction if the government does not take drastic action to solve the series of operational challenges that have made commuter and goods train services rare here. “The railway services are certainly in crisis because they have to keep paying about ... MORE > >
	India Playing Risky Games at Nuclear Parks  Ranjit Devraj  Bhagwat Singh Gohil frets for the future of his bountiful orchards in Mithi Virdi village in western Gujarat state’s coastal district Bhavnagar. “After contending with droughts, rough seas and earthquakes we are staring at the possibility of a man-made disaster in the shape of a nuclear power ... MORE > >
	Net Tightens Around Fishing in Egypt  Cam McGrath  For Egypt’s commercial marine fishermen, making a living has never been more dangerous. Egyptian crews driven further afield in search of fish have faced pirate attacks, spent months in dingy foreign prisons, and come under fire from coast guard vessels. Dozens of fishermen have been held for ... MORE > >
	Obama Visit Settles It a Little for Israel  Pierre Klochendler  On his visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories, U.S. President Barack Obama laid out his vision for a revival of the long-stalled peace talks. Yet, it was clear from his statements that a settlement freeze is no longer an immediate requirement. And, he carefully avoided mentioning the ... MORE > >
	Discord Now Strikes Male Bands in Kashmir  Athar Parvaiz  The girl band in Kashmir was silenced; the male bands are running into fears of another kind of silence. After tourist arrivals started picking up a couple of years back, 27-year-old Aamir Ahmad put off renovation plans for his home and began to polish up the instruments in his music studio. New ... MORE > >
	Pope Francis Raises Hopes for an Ecological Church  Marcela Valente  The new pope’s choice of the name Francis, to honour the Catholic Church’s patron saint of animals and the environment, has awakened the hopes of ecologists and others who are concerned about rampant consumerism and the deterioration of the planet. In 1979, then Pope John Paul II proclaimed St. ... MORE > >
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