BRAZIL: Reality of Militias Is Fiercer than Fiction

When state legislator Marcelo Freixo received death threats for combating militias made up of off-duty police in Rio de Janeiro, his real life took on the form of the character portraying himself in the Brazilian Oscar hopeful "Tropa de Elite 2".

OP-ED: Better Aid Means Better Development

Oxfam and major aid donors of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (the DAC) are often on opposite sides of the fence. Today though, we are on the same side —making sure that effective aid lifts people out of poverty.

EcoMobility Gaining Ground, Step by Step

Berlin is a big capital city of a country famed for making excellent automobiles, but it can no longer afford roads and is now moving people by transit, bike and especially through walking.

LIBYA: Visitors Could be Saviours

"A crossroads of history, continents and ancient empires; a place where history comes alive through the extraordinary monuments on its shores", reads a well- known tourist guidebook about Libya. It’s all still there, but the tourists aren’t there to see it.

/CORRECTED REPEAT*/U.S.: Occupy Movement Divides Civil Rights Activists

While some veterans of the Civil Rights Movement have joined forces with the Occupy Movement, other civil rights advocates, some of a new generation, have been more critical, even as the city government's response to the movement reached new levels.

U.S. Halts UNESCO Funding After Palestinian Vote

The administration of President Barack Obama announced Monday that it would immediately cut U.S. funding for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, just hours after UNESCO's governing board voted overwhelmingly to grant Palestine full membership.

U.S.: Latinos Call for Immigration Reform, Not Record Deportations

In his campaign, President Barack Obama promised to make comprehensive immigration reform a top priority – a pledge mainly directed at Latino voters.

INDIA: Kashmir’s Fence Eats Crops

Touseef Bhat’s seven-acre farm in this scenic alpine valley of Bandipora district has an incongruous feature – an electrified barbed wire fence running through it.

U.S.: Who is the 99 Percent? – Part 2

While the Occupy movements sweeping the U.S. have become almost synonymous with democracy, consensus-based processes, human microphones and other symbols of unity, many populations in the country have felt isolated by the language and tactics of the movement.

WEST AFRICA: Niger River under Pressure from Dams

Several major new dams are being constructed on the Niger River. It's a positive sign of growing investment in agriculture and energy, but it also has some observers worried.

Libya’s “Other” Victims

Suleyman and Rasool have come to the University of Bani Walid, in western Libya. If they are lucky they might find some chemistry notes and, perhaps, a computer that works. Unfortunately it is not likely, since NATO reduced the campus to rubble.

CENTRAL AMERICA: No Right to Housing for Millions of Slum Dwellers

"The governments of Central America outline a number of requisites for access to housing, and people don't have the money to meet them," says Roly Escobar, an activist with a Guatemalan movement of slum dwellers fighting for the right to decent housing.

AFRICA: Regulating the Rush for Land

The adoption of international guidelines to regulate so-called land grabs has been pushed to next year after negotiators failed to agree on conditions for large-scale land investments and enforcement.

EGYPT: First Woman Candidate Begins Campaign

When post-revolution Egypt holds presidential elections next year, Buthaina Kamel is set to become the first woman in the country's modern history to run for the highest office. Although she knows her chances of winning are slim to none, she says she's doing it out of principle.

JAPAN: Wall Street Protest Finds Strong Echoes

Inspired by the ongoing Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in the United States, thousands of Japanese youth and workers, dissatisfied with growing unemployment and harsh working conditions in the world’s third largest economy, have taken to the streets to demand stable jobs and government reforms.

MIDEAST: Virtually, There Are No Borders

Israeli entrepreneurs dream of a region without borders. Given their country's remoteness from its vicinity, that's a natural need. It's a dream also nurtured by their Palestinian counterparts, and a national necessity given their own encirclement by Israel. That's where high-tech comes into play...

Sri Lankan Rights Abuses Obstruct Trade Efforts with Canada

Despite the crossfire of Canadian accusations of human rights violations by Sri Lanka at the end of its civil war and Colombo's corresponding counter-claims, the economically battered South Asian country aims to bolster its trading relationship with Canada and increase foreign direct investment.

PAKISTAN: Singing Against the Taliban

"In the last few years, I have sung more than a dozen songs against the Taliban," award-wining singer Khyal Muhammad tells IPS. "I got threatening messages on the mobile phone. But I will continue to sing because it gives me strength."

MEXICO: Wixaritari Indians Fight Mining in Sacred Desert Site

Some 200 Wixáritari or Huichol men, women and children travelled 20 hours from western Mexico to the capital to defend their sacred ceremonial sites from silver mining.

U.S.: As It Renews, Oakland Occupation Honours Injured Protester

Several dozen tents popped back up Thursday afternoon at Oakland's Oscar Grant Plaza as people played music and shared hugs. But as darkness fell, a sombre mood overtook the nearby corner of 14th Street and Broadway, where friends and supporters of Scott Olsen lit candles and spoke quietly.

U.S.: Who is the 99 Percent? – Part 1

Barely a month after the first group of protesters set up its encampment in Zuccotti Park in New York City, the phrase "We are the 99 percent" has already become legendary.