BRAZIL: Women Workers Determined to Ride the Wave of Mechanisation

"She's crazy" said most of the husbands and other family members of the 34 women who decided to become operators of sugarcane harvesters in the southern Brazilian state of São Paulo, attracted by the opportunity of better pay and encouraged by the growing mechanisation of the industry.

Death Sentence Looms for Filipino Drug Mules in China

Time is running short for three Filipino workers in China. Ramon Credo, Elizabeth Batain and Sally Villanueva - who were convicted of smuggling heroin in 2008 - are set to be executed by lethal injection Mar. 30.

New Yorkers Rage Against the Cuts

In the shadow of towering colonial-style office buildings of the world's most powerful financial district, a crowd over 5,000-strong amassed outside Manhattan's City Hall Thursday, chanting "The people united will never be defeated!"

Foreign Labourers Targeted Throughout Bahrain

As protests in Bahrain continue, increasingly migrant workers are being victimised in violent hate crimes.

PAKISTAN: And Then There Was Light

Hasan Ibrahim’s tea stall is the busiest place in the sleepy, sand-dune covered village of Sholani, proof of the economic and social change the arrival of electricity has ushered in.

Women in Garment Factories Help Cambodia Out of Poverty

Cambodia’s rise out of poverty continues to depend on the nimble fingers of young women like Khiev Chren.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Alternative Tourism Seeks to Overcome Obstacles

Most of the countries of Central America are lagging behind the rest of the tourist destinations in Latin America, despite their impressive natural and archaeological treasures. To turn this situation around, the area is increasingly focusing on alternatives like rural tourism.

KENYA: Women Hold the Key to Rural Prosperity

John Kyalo Mulwa couldn't support his family from his six hectare farm, so he quit farming to open a bar. But he turned the land - and decision-making on it - over to his wife. Turns out she's a better farmer than he ever was.

UGANDA: Bicycles at the Heart of Empowerment Scheme for Rural Women

The bicycle has become a symbol of hope for hundreds of women in Uganda who have been trained in repairing one of life’s favorite transport modes.

Manufacturing in Africa Can be Profitable – And Developmental

Investing in adding value to raw materials is crucial for the development of the African continent.

Swazi Government Challenged

Swaziland's autocratic government is facing a growing challenge as a sharp decline in customs revenue forces budget cuts. Thousands of protesters brought the Swazi capital of Mbabane to a standstill Friday as they took to the streets to oppose imminent salary cuts to civil service wages - and demand changes to the country's government.

Cambodia Struggles to Stem Domestic Worker Abuse

Cambodia’s fledgling domestic worker export industry continues to come under scrutiny amid allegations that women have been forcibly detained in privately run training centres.

LATIN AMERICA: Brick-Making Industry Confronts Its Climate Impacts

Wearing rolled up trousers and a spattered shirt, Carlos Frías mixes mud, water and manure to prepare a row of red bricks.

BANGLADESH-LIBYA: Garment Industry Pledges to Employ Evacuated Labourers

Bangladesh's garment factories and overseas recruiting agencies have pledged to employ a substantial number of Bangladeshi expatriates returning from politically volatile Libya, following the violent crackdown on opposition forces by Muammar Gaddafi's regime there.

ARGENTINA: Rural Slavery at Time of Record Earnings

Crowded into precarious mud-floored dorms or sheet-metal trailers or forced to live in tents of plastic sheeting, with neither piped water nor electricity, after working 14-hour days: these are the harsh conditions faced by hundreds of thousands of rural workers in Argentina despite bumper crops and record earnings for agribusiness.

MEXICO: Cooperatives Offer an Alternative

After years of decline, the cooperative movement in Mexico is reviving as a relatively safe haven from the shocks of the neoliberal free- market model of production and the financial and food crises that have affected the country.

TRADE: Chic Carpets Link Mozambique, Denmark and, Soon, Brazil

In two rooms in a small Mozambican coastal town, 70 women are cutting, weaving and packaging fabric carpets destined for eclectic design and homeware stores in Denmark and, soon, Brazil and South Africa.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Non-Tariff Trade Barriers Springing Up

Despite regional initiatives that even include the eventual possibility of a ‘‘Cape- to-Cairo’’ free trade area, protectionist impulses have caused non-tariff barriers to spring up across Southern Africa.

U.S.: Tears and Anger after Wisconsin Passes Anti-Union Bill

Emotions are running high at the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin after Republican senators passed a revised version of a budget repair bill that will take away public workers' collective bargaining rights in an ad hoc session Wednesday night.

Public Debate on the Shape of Socialism in Cuba

The absence of more open social policies and real citizen participation are some of the concerns being debated in the run-up to the Sixth Congress of the ruling Cuban Communist Party (PCC) in April.

WOMEN’S DAY: Without Grassroots, the Tree Will Not Stand

Women from grassroots organisations all across the globe arrived in New York this week for a five-day summit dedicated to bolstering female and community- based representation at all levels of political decision making.