FILM: Music for a New Abolitionist Movement

Musician Justin Dillon had been reading about human trafficking before he went on tour to Eastern Europe. In Russia, his young female translator told him about offers she was receiving to move west for jobs that seemed too good to be true - and with no paperwork to back them up.

Brazil: World Leader in Recycling Aluminium Cans

For the last nine years Brazil has led the world in recycling aluminium cans, of which it reuses 96.5 percent, and it now has a strong chance of reaching the 100 percent mark.

TRADE: Africa Might Ditch Asian Rice if Prices Increase

Thailand and other major rice exporting countries are at risk of losing Africa as an important trading partner if they raise their rice prices. Half of the 10 million tons of rice exported by Thailand last year went to Africa. Nigeria, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa were among the main buyers of rice in Africa.

CUBA: Government Set to Cut Inflated Payrolls

Cuban President Raúl Castro announced a series of measures to gradually reduce the "considerably bulky" payrolls in the government sector, with excess estimated at around one-fifth of the economically active population.

MEXICO: Craftswomen Weave a Better Future Out of Recycled Garbage

Women's laughter fills the rectangular room on the ground floor of a building that houses a school for 250 local children, on the southern edge of Mexico City's sprawling metropolitan area.

U.S.: Controversy Highlights Plight of Black, and White, Farmers

The controversial firing of an African-American federal government employee over comments misconstrued to be racist has refocused attention on the plight of black farmers in the U.S. South.

Haitian Immigrant Street Peddlers Try to Get a Leg Up

Gaston Dorelus has little education, no vocational training, no extrinsic qualifications to make his way through life any easier.

GREECE: Society Begins to Crack Under Harsh Measures

Every working day, more than a hundred people crowd around the entrance of the merchant and passenger boats' reconstruction industry, well known as 'The Zone', in the southern suburb of Attiki.

MIGRATION-ECUADOR: Cubans Find Door Half Open – Part 1

Carlos sold his house, Juana got a divorce so she could remarry and obtain resident status, and Pedro bought a "letter of invitation" with 10 years of savings... These sorts of stories are common amongst Cubans anxious to make a new life in Ecuador.

JAPAN: Rising Wages Won’t Scare Investors Away from China

Common business wisdom would have it that rising wages are bad news for foreign investors, but analysts here say that workers’ clamour for higher pay in Japanese factories in China will not send them packing from that country anytime soon.

PERU: Adios, Doe Run

Peruvian President Alan García confirmed Wednesday that the permit of the U.S. mining and metallurgical company Doe Run to operate a major smelter complex was being cancelled because the firm missed the deadline for proving that it had the necessary financing to restart operations and complete an environmental cleanup.

MIGRATION-PORTUGAL: On the Football Pitch, Everyone Is Equal

Football functions on so many levels. It can be big business, moving astronomical quantities of cash, with obscene salaries for owners, coaches and star players. And it can be a widely played sport, found in every park, street or vacant lot. And it can be the common ground for multicultural coexistence.

VENEZUELA: Chronic Oil Leaks Sully Lake Maracaibo, Livelihoods

Dark oil slicks are spreading from the middle of Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo towards the shores -- the wetlands, mangroves, beaches and docks. Oil is permeating fishing nets, coating the garbage dumped into the water, killing off wildlife and driving away residents and tourists.

MALAWI: Government Money-Saving Measure Costs Traders Dearly

The Malawian government’s new cost-cutting prohibition on the hosting of conferences, training sessions and workshops on the shores of Lake Malawi has hit small-scale merchants who ply their trade on the roadsides and beaches of the fresh-water lake.

ECONOMY: Latin America Grows Despite Global Uncertainties

More fixed capital investment to improve competition, greater added value to exported goods and services, and tax reforms to finance social policies are some of the challenges Latin America and the Caribbean face in the uncertain global economic panorama.

JAPAN: Critics Want Law on Foreign Trainees Scrapped, not Revised

The Japanese government may have revised the country’s laws in response to complaints that its system of hiring foreign trainees at lower wages is exploitative, but calls remain for the latter to be scrapped altogether.

US: Women Fight More Than Fire in the FDNY

Leaning back in a squeaking plastic chair, one leg crossed over the other, the lieutenant is at once relaxed and commanding. She smiles often, absent- mindedly running her hands through short brown hair before speaking. Her words are thoughtful, her manner candid.

Window of Opportunity For Sahel Rapidly Closing

Over the past six months, the levels of food insecurity and malnutrition in the Sahel belt of West Africa have increased at alarming rates, putting over 10 million people at risk across the region - particularly in Niger and Chad.

Sustainable Aquaculture Picks Up Steam

As farmed fish consumption catches up on wild, a search for sustainable aquaculture picks up steam.

RIGHTS-CHINA: Migrants Are Badly Needed, But Get Little Support

Thirty-six-year-old Luo Fusheng left his hometown in China’s Jiangxi province a decade ago to look for work to help support his family. Unskilled and with limited education, Luo eventually ended up in the factory city of Shenzhen, more than 700 kilometres to the south, where he now works as a security guard.

ZIMBABWE: Veggies Dried and Tasted

A resurgence of interest in dried traditional vegetables has opened up a market opportunity for women entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo.