Political and Economic Turmoil Threaten Women’s Progress

As UN Women celebrated its first birthday, its executive director Michelle Bachelet stressed that political upheveal and shrinking budgets are no excuse to push back the hard-won gains made by the women's movement globally.

Once a Food Chain, Now a Corporate Supply Chain – Part 2

While Indian retailers are losing sleep over the possible entrance of multinationals like Walmart into the dense South Asian consumer market, very little thought has been given to the Indian small farmer, who stands to lose even more at the hands of the world's biggest commercial food retailer.

Occupy DC Protesters Stay Put Amid Eviction Threats

Two days after some 400 people were arrested during a protest organised by Occupy Oakland on the U.S. west coast, members of Occupy DC say they have no plans to leave despite the threat of police action.

PORTUGAL: Going Underground in Hard Times

The underground economy in Portugal is booming thanks to the steep increases in taxation and prices demanded by a "troika" of international creditors to address the country's economic crisis.

ICELAND: Recovering Dubiously From the Crash

Three years ago, thousands of Icelanders were standing outside Iceland’s parliament building chanting "incompetent government" in an attempt to bring down the conservative government that had been seen as responsible for the collapse of the country’s banking system.

ZIMBABWE: To Yuan or Not to Yuan, That is the Question

From downtown shops that stock cheap clothing and shoes that fall apart after one wear, to mining concessions in platinum, gold and diamonds - the Chinese finger is now in virtually every Zimbabwean pie.

U.S.: “Money Isn’t Speech, Corporations Aren’t People”

In most mainstream media the words "corruption" and "election fraud" accompany images of makeshift polling stations manned by armed guards in Burma or burning tires beside tattered ballot boxes in South Sudan – the insidiousness of stolen elections and a crumbling democracy is very seldom associated with the United States.

U.S.: A Credit Union to Bail Out People, Not Big Banks

Occupy activists from Wall Street to San Francisco's financial district have dramatised their anger with big financial institutions by blocking JP Morgan Chase Bank doorways, dancing atop Wells Fargo counters, pitching a tent in a Bank of America lobby, hanging banners across Citibank windows, and accompanying the actions with the now-familiar chant "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out."

U.N. Predicts One Billionth Tourist Arrival in 2012

The United Nations, which commemorated the birth of the world's seven billionth baby last October, is predicting the arrival of the one billionth tourist later this year - perhaps in Europe, the United States, South America or Asia.

GREECE: Austerity Plan Breaches Last Line of Defence of Greek Workers

As the Eurozone falls deeper into its sovereign debt crisis, the labour movement in Greece is being cudgelled to its knees by an austerity programme that has so far failed to bring any positive change for the crumbling Mediterranean country.

Woe Betide the Return of the Zimbabwean Dollar

Tinashe Zuze’s story is a typical one of Zimbabwe’s professionals who have shunned formal employment. Instead of working for someone else, Zuze left his job as a bank teller and entered into the world of "wheeling and dealing" in illegal foreign currency.

DEVELOPMENT: Little Tobin, Less Robin

Europe’s apparent failure to forge broad agreement on introducing a financial transactions tax marks the latest setback for organisations counting on a similar worldwide fee to fund development aid in austere times.

HUNGARY: Civil Society Steps in as Opposition

The massive overhaul of Hungary’s political system by the conservative Fidesz party is raising fears the country’s days as a liberal democracy may be numbered. With opposition parties powerless, it is civil society that has awakened to support a more participatory democracy.

DEVELOPMENT: France Steps Forward With Robin Hood Tax

The decision by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to push ahead with a financial transactions tax (FTT) may be a political ploy ahead of elections, but it has the approval of many non-governmental organisations, even as support lags elsewhere.

EUROPE: Berlin Urged to End Austerity Measures

Bolstered by Germany’s strong economy, Berlin has become the unofficial capital of the battered European monetary union.

A Second-Term U.N. Chief Says His Convictions Remain the Same

As Ban Ki-moon launched his second-five-year term as U.N. secretary-general last week, the international community remained focused on a rash of unresolved political problems: war crimes charges in Libya and Syria, human rights violations and civilian killings in Bahrain and Yemen, continued Israeli political repression in the occupied territories, and the threat of a new nuclear weapon state in the Middle East.

U.S.: A Movement Evolves to Occupy the Future

With its encampments mostly destroyed, the nascent Occupy Movement in thousands of communities across the U.S. and dozens more around the world has not faded away.

ZIMBABWE: Chinese Become Unwelcome Guests

Alec Marembo has built his family fortune making bricks in Dzivarasekwa, a sprawling high-density suburb north of the capital of Zimbabwe. But due to the economic crisis of the last decade, his fortune started crumbling. Although he could break even when the downturn started, he finally gave in to competition from the Chinese.

NIGERIA: Police Crack Down on Fuel Protests

Police fired tear gas and beat protesters to force them out of a square they had occupied in an overnight sit-in in Nigeria's northern city of Kano as part of demonstrations over soaring fuel prices, an organiser said.

ZIMBABWE: Microcredit Aggravates ‘January Disease’

Thomas Dlakama has experienced what he calls "January disease" all his working life. This phenomenon afflicts millions in Zimbabwe, and its symptoms include an empty purse, rising blood pressure among irascible breadwinners, and a general inexplicable hope of manna from heaven.

Facing Budget Cuts, U.N. Readies for Austerity in 2012-13

Weighed down by a 260-million-dollar cut in its budget for 2012-2013, the United Nations is bracing itself for a major austerity drive, including possible layoffs, salary freezes, reduction in official travel and drastic cuts in printed documents.