TRADE-BRAZIL: Commodities Rule in Exports to China

China took over from the United States as Brazil's top market in 2009, indicating a qualitative change for exports from the South American giant, which is increasingly dependent on sales of commodities and food.

DEVELOPMENT: EU Countries Set to Break Promises

Promises made by the European Union (EU) on increasing aid to poor countries will be broken this year, according to new data.

ECONOMY-EUROPE: Fear of Mediterranean Contagion Grows

The deep economic, fiscal, and trade crises of several Mediterranean countries in the euro zone that is threatening monetary stability in Europe with the possibility of contagion spreading to developing countries, say studies.

DEVELOPMENT-ASIA: ‘Poverty Still Has a Woman’s Face’

Women and poverty still share an uncomfortable spot on the development matrix of countries across Asia-Pacific that are struggling to end deprivation, according to the newly launched third joint report of the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

CENTRAL AMERICA: Women Eke Out a Living in Informal Economy

"I've been working in the streets since I was a girl. My parents didn't send me to school, so it's really hard for me to find a job," says Carol Orozco, 31, who forms part of the veritable army of vendors hawking their wares on the streets of Central America.

SOUTH PACIFIC: ‘Poverty Measures Need Support of Rich Nations’

Social protection programmes could help alleviate poverty in the Pacific Islands region, but without the help of developed countries, they will not materialise, said an economic expert in this capital of Fiji.

ENERGY: Nuclear Does Not Make Economic Sense Say Studies

The enormous technical and financial risks involved in the construction and operation of new nuclear power plants make them prohibitive for private investors, rebutting the thesis of a renaissance in nuclear energy, say several independent European studies.

FINANCE: Fighting Off Looters in the Ruins

Reckless greed on Wall Street is a dog-bites-man story. Still, the renewed feeding frenzy of the alpha dogs of finance in the embers of the bonfire of their own vanities has inspired amazement and disgust across the political spectrum.

DEVELOPMENT: Crisis Could Open Doors for Change, Says UNCTAD

As the financial crisis continued to threaten world economies last year, the White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel famously declared: "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

EUROPE: Poland’s Pension Cuts – Cue for Former Eastern Bloc

Poland’s pension cuts on tens of thousands of former communist functionaries and secret police officers are adding fillip to campaigns in other East European states for similar legislation.

PHILIPPINES: Street Kids Learn to Save in Times of Crisis

Since he dropped out of elementary school, 17-year old Cenen has been making a living for himself driving a borrowed motorised sidecar in the crowded streets of Binondo, a bustling business district in Manila, capital of the Philippines.

PHILIPPINES: Economic Recovery Unfelt by Urban Poor – NGOs

Every day, 60-year old Felisa scavenges for garbage around the bustling streets of Manila, the urban capital of the Philippines.

DEVELOPMENT: Asia to Lead Global Economic Recovery, Says U.N.

The United Nations is predicting that the world's developing nations will recover faster than industrial countries - even as they both try to struggle out of the post-2007 global financial crisis.

U.S.: Obama Downplays Foreign Policy Agenda in Major Speech

In laying out his priorities for the coming year before a joint session of Congress and millions of viewers Wednesday night, U.S. President Barack Obama made it clear that the focus of administration would be, more than anything else, on domestic issues – and the vital mission of job creation in particular.

MIDEAST: Clean Energy Faces Tough Financial Climate

Renewable energy projects in the Middle East could be scaled back or scuttled unless fresh sources of financing are found.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Crisis Could Usher In Another World

In the societies of the future, young people may not start to work until the age of 25, there will be lifelong education for everyone, with university graduation as the starting point rather than the end goal, while working hours could be reduced to 12 hours a week for all.

LABOUR: North America’s Long Winter of Discontent

In the wake of a blizzard of economic hardship across North America, native land of the financial crash of 2008 and ensuing Great Recession, the shapes of other possible worlds are emerging from the drifts. Some are frozen and dystopian, but others may harbour green shoots of hope.

ECONOMY-EUROPE: Czechs Bank on Cooperatives for Revival

The Czech Republic’s strong heritage of cooperative movements, dating from the interwar period, is serving as inspiration for new initiatives in the post-communist era and acting as "harbingers of a new global economic system".

RECESSION AND RECOVERY: Diamonds Are for the Poor – Part 3

Diamonds haven't been among the first concerns at the World Social Forum these last 10 years. But through the recession and the still tottering recovery, a new sparkle in that business is pointing the way to a brighter world that is also better in a WSF sort of way.

RECESSION AND RECOVERY: Cities Going One Way, Nations Another – Part 2

Some signs are emerging of a new trend shown up by the recession: local governments (and the people) are going one way, national ones another.

RECESSION AND RECOVERY: The Lucky Are Unemployed – Part 1

The agreed, if dubious, solution to the financial crisis was to get people and governments - in the richer countries - to borrow more in order to spend more. What is not in doubt is the growing numbers of people who will be able to neither borrow nor spend.