Economy
Photojournalist Shiho Fukada discusses Japan's disposable workers—those who are easily fired and have to live without a social safety net.
Dandora, Nairobi's overflowing and mismanaged dump site, could be closed or relocated, leaving many scavengers without food or a source of livelihood.
Shiho Fukada documents the lives of disposable workers in Japan in stories that illustrate the global unemployment crisis and the growing gap between rich and poor that has provoked much turmoil.
Job creation is one of the biggest challenges Japan faces. A government labor center in Osaka has little to offer unemployed day workers other than mopping the floor at the center.
Kazakhstan is placing bets on making Aktau a transportation hub—planning a massive expansion and setting up an economic zone with low tax rates. The U.S. will be key to jumpstarting this development.
Farmers in Ivory Coast are finding that rubber trees produce more and last longer than cocoa. Will rubber replace cocoa as the country's primary crop?
Ivory Coast produces 40 percent of the world's cocoa, but cocoa has been a bittersweet crop for the country.
The production of chocolate has long been linked with strife and bloodshed; the 2011 political fighting in the Ivory Coast was the latest chapter in cocoa's violent history.
Short waiting periods and high availability of young children have made Ethiopia an international adoption hot spot. Babies have become a major "export" but corruption is rampant.
About 6,000 people have come to depend on the 30-acre Dandora dump for their livelihood and income. But their needs are at odds with nearby residents who want the toxic waste gone.
Nairobi's Dandora Municipal Dump Site is the only location for waste in Kenya's capital. Disease and pollution from the dump spill into the households of nearly a million people.
The 2010 Ivory Coast presidential election resulted in deep political divisions and five months of war. The political divisions remain, along with high unemployment and deepening frustration.
When CAFTA was first proposed, Nicaragua's Sandinistas called it a "Yankee" trick to dominate the region. Since embracing it, Nicaragua has outperformed other countries in economic growth.