The metamorphosis of Beijing's urban landscape is so shattering that maps become obsolete in a matter of days. The old hutongs, traditional districts with ground floor houses, are being swept aside by skyscrapers and their inhabitants face an enforced ...
In Mali, drought is a familiar and regular feature of daily life. The country's northern half is an arid desert, sparsely populated and currently in a state of secession following a rebellion by Tuareg fighters aligned with Ansar Dine, an islamist ...
After the fall of the Soviet Union, its enormous fishing fleet - ships and crews - were abandoned in different ports around the world. The largest chunk of the fleet ended up in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. The ships. often ...
The leftward shift sweeping Latin America represents the most significant economic and social development in the region since a wave of leftist and populist governments were overthrown in the 1970s. Since 1998, eight states have elected leftist leaders ...
A boy tenderly cradles his younger sibling. A minibus driver leans on his window and watches the world go by. A man has his toenails clipped in the street. Women pay the equivalent of four cents to walk across a wooden bridge, avoiding the piles of ...
One of the many consequences of the war in Iraq is the creation of the world's biggest refugee crisis. There are an estimated four million displaced Iraqis, two million of whom are refugees mainly in neighbouring middle eastern countries. Of those who ...
They visit diners at a prodigious rate, but rarely stop to eat. They breeze through small towns - the high school, the country store, the town hall, perhaps the church or the gun shop - at times literally following in each other's footsteps. Everywhere ...
To understand the changes in India's economy and society, Jacob Silberberg decided to look at what its people eat. As a consumer culture takes hold and the nation's eating habits are transformed, the agricultural and food industries are changing in ...
Lucha Libre - Spanish for 'Free Fight' - is a style of wrestling which started in Mexico in 1933. It is a spectacular conflagration of art, sport and theatre. The luchadors, dressed in leotards and often distinguished by their superhero-style masks, ...
Harlot Fevah, Kitty Twister, Pussy Venom, Malicen Thunderland, Anna WrecksYa, General Lee Feisty, Triple Deck-Her. These are the pseudonyms adopted by some of the girls from the Boston Derby Dames, a team who compete in an all-female roller derby league ...
Welcome to 'Naija', or better still, '9ja'. This is what the followers of Nigeria's ever-growing hip hop community call their country, which now has one of the largest rap industries in the world. With strong connections to American music brought back by...
Bologna's Lowlands are changing rapidly. During the last twenty years, the so called Bassa ('Lowlands') has experienced a population growth never seen before in its long history. During this period, the population has doubled and its identity is ...
In 2002, peace broke out in Sri Lanka after two decades of conflict between government and secessionist rebels. 250,000 displaced people returned to their homes in the contested north of the island and another 750,000 were expected to follow. Clearing ...
A voice from the radio counts down: Neung! Song! Sam! A huge reverberating explosion shakes the ground and echoes off the surrounding mountains followed by a rush of air. A 1000lb guided bomb has just exploded nearby. The two hundred people of Phanop, a ...
Lebanon's civil war, which wracked the country from 1975 until 1990, and Hezbollah's war with Israel in 2006 have left the country with a deadly legacy of unexploded munitions, especially cluster bombs, and landmines. The Mines Advisory Group (MAG), ...
In Honduras, somebody dies a violent death every 74 minutes. The country has a murder rate more than four times that of Mexico, notorious for its mass abductions, summary executions and brutal intimidation by drug gangs. According to a UN Office of ...