by Valérie Labonne, France 24, France - With the rise in fixed expenses such as rent, public transport, electricity and healthcare, French people on small salaries are having difficulty making ends meet. Twelve to fifteen million of them, who live just above the poverty line of 954 euros per month, are struggling by the end of the month.
by Najla Abdurrahman, Al Jazeera, Qatar - The killing of Mostafa Ahamdi Roshan is a prime example of the impunity characteristic of US foreign policy.
by Catherine Soi, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Six months since famine was declared in Somalia, the Puntland region is struggling to cope with an influx of refugees.
by Leela Jacinto, France 24, France - Two years ago, Nigerian security officials thought they had killed Imam Abubakar Shekau. But the leader of the Boko Haram Islamist group is alive and has released a new video threatening the Nigerian state.
by Charlotte Boitiaux, France 24, France - Less than six months ahead of the presidential and legislative elections, France’s far-right National Front is on a mission to gain respectability among the Jewish electorate despite its traditionally anti-Jewish stance.
by Jillian York, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Motivations for arresting bloggers differ between countries but the goal is always to silence "threatening" voices.
by Laura Kyle, Al Jazeera, Qatar - North Korean leader was as revered inside the "Hermit Kingdom" as he was reviled abroad.
by Prena Suri, Al Jazeera, Qatar - As world leaders debate solutions at the UN climate change conference in Durban, a college in the Indian state of Rajasthan is teaching communities how to harness solar energy.
by Nushin Arbabzadah, PBS, USA - It seemed to me that honor killings were a method of male-on-male peer pressure -- women served as tools by which to control a man's standing and reputation.
by Ségolène Allemandou, France 24, France - France’s ruling UMP party is toughening its stance on immigration ahead of next year’s elections. By straying into the territory of the far right National Front, French Interior Minister Claude Gueant is playing a risky game.
by Jennifer Robinson, Al Jazeera, Qatar - It's time for the US to re-examine the consequences of its dehumanising, deadly attacks in Pakistan.
by Rachel Holman, France 24, France - Inspired by the tens of thousands that have ‘liked’ far-right political groups such as France’s National Front party online, a new study published Monday examined who exactly are the supporters of Europe’s increasingly popular nationalist factions.
by Fionnuala Sweeney, CNN, USA - Reporters often encounter danger on the job. Call it survival journalism – the fine line some journalists walk between reporting the truth and not getting killed. Four female reporters were recently honored for courage in journalism by the International Women's Media Foundation.
by Phyllis Bennis, Al Jazeera, Qatar - The deal has been discussed since Shalit was captured in 2006, now the time has come for 1028 families to be reunited.
by Kate Taunton, Al Jazeera English, Qatar - How two activists are challenging Indian society and transforming trafficked girls into the leaders of tomorrow.
by Rachel Holman, France 24, France - Anti-discrimination organisations and advocacy groups are gathering for a massive rally in the heart of Paris Monday to remember the victims of a deadly police crackdown against Algerian protesters in Paris fifty years ago.
by Ali Moore, Lateline, Australia - Iranian actor Marzieh Vafamehr is facing 90 lashes and a year in jail for appearing in an Australian movie criticising Iran's repression of the arts.
by Mairead Dundas, France 24, France - Every day, maternal health innovations are improving the chances that babies will survive to see the light of day. This week we take a look at some of the revolutionary research techniques being used to give the next generation the best chance at life.
by Sophie Pilgrim, France 24, France - Apple removed an iPhone app naming Jewish celebrities from its French store Wednesday, following legal threats from conservative Jewish activists. The app’s creator, who is Jewish himself, says it’s time for French Jews to come out of the closet.
by Sumayya Ismail, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Environmental rights groups say internationally backed carbon capture schemes distract from real climate justice needs.
by Jacki Ochs, Link TV, USA - In the wake of the September 11 attacks, New Yorkers from all walks of life felt compelled to overcome their sense of powerlessness by volunteering to help out in the recovery effort. They brought in supplies, set up relief stations, and for ten months fed and cared for the recovery workers. Many deep and unexpected -- even unlikely -- relationships developed out of this.
by Beth Murphy, Link TV, USA - Susan Retik and Patti Quigley are two ordinary soccer moms living in the affluent suburbs of Boston until tragedy strikes. Rather than turning inwards, grief compels these women to focus on the country where the terrorists who took their husbands' lives were trained: Afghanistan.
by Ellie Bernstein, Link TV, USA - Tells the story of an FBI sting operation that took place in Albany, New York during the winter, spring and summer of 2004. The complex operation was designed to entrap Yassin Aref, 37 (a refugee from Kurdistan in northern Iraq) and Mohammed Mosharref Hossain, 51, a United States citizen and an immigrant from Bangladesh.
by Mya Guarnieri, Al Jazeera, Qatar - A plan to downgrade Arabic's status as an official language underscores broader tensions within Israel.
by Sophie Pilgrim, France 24, France - After designer handbags, perfumes and tablet computers, the latest global success story to fall victim to Chinese counterfeiting is French wine.
by Sophie Shevardnadze, RT, Russia - “Obviously, democratic development should come first and foremost from within the countries,” argued the recently-appointed envoy. “We consistently proceed from the assumption that there should be no such thing, as some countries are expected to live up to more democratic standards than others.”
by Helen Percival, France 24, France - Pope Benedict XVI landed in Madrid on Thursday for World Youth Day, hours after clashes broke out between police and demonstrators angered by the cost of hosting the lavish event at a time of austerity.
by Juliana Ruhfus, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Thousands of women deceived by promises of regular jobs in Europe being forced to work as prostitutes.
by Alexandra Deniau and Francois Renaut, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Despite the recent revolution, thousands of Tunisians are risking their lives in search of a new life in Europe.
by Leela Jacinto, France 24, France - The food crisis in East Africa has seen a renewed drive for urgent international aid – as it has in the past. But while humanitarian assistance can provide short-term relief, it does not address Somalia’s long-term malaise.
by Tendai Marima, Al Jazeera, Qatar - As reprisals continue between rival forces, Alassane Ouattara needs to guarantee justice for all Ivorians.
by Rachel Holman, France 24, French - After a week-long trip to Washington D.C. to study how the US handles ethnic diversity, a group of 10 French minority leaders have come home with a message: it’s time for France to compile statistics on its increasingly diverse population.
by Lamis Andoni, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Both pan-Arabist and Islamist governments have failed to embrace diversity and pluralism - to their own detriment.
by Manuela Picq, Al Jazeera, Qatar - In Ecuador, protesting for the rights of the Earth and trying to preserve natural resources may make you a "terrorist".
by Sue Turton, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Have Muammar Gadaffi's forces used rape as a weapon to suppress Libya's uprising?
by Alexia Kefalas, France 24, France - The wealthy Greek Orthodox Church is under pressure to do more to help the country while it struggles through a debilitating financial crisis.
by Julie Upton, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D., ESPN, USA - While gluten is safe for most, it's no picnic for the 3 million -- or one in 133 -- people with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder. For people with this hereditary condition, gluten triggers inflammation and damage in the small intestine. That blocks absorption of nutrients, leading to anemia, osteoporosis and other problems.
by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, USA - Playwright Eve Ensler and Congolese activist Christine Schuler Deschryver on gender violence in Congo.
by Adeline Percept, France 24, France - Young Spaniards have been driven to despair and disgust in the face of a never-ending financial crisis. They are angry at what they view as ‘corrupt’ bankers and politicians and call themselves the ‘Indignados’. With their outrage they took over Madrid’s enormous Puerta del Sol and set up camp, staging a sit-in the size of a village.
by Rebecca Fordham, Al Jazeera, Qatar - UNICEF workshops in Libya help to educate about the dangers of "explosive remnants of war" that remain deadly.
by Elena Ostroumova, RT, Russia - Having their personal information traced and being arrested in their own homes is a new reality for the Belarusian opposition who dare to express their views on popular social networking sites.
by Hugh Macleod and Annasofie Flamand, Al Jazeera, Qatar - The mutilation and death in custody of a 13-year-old child has sparked further furious protests in Syrian city of Daraa.
by Porya Mohajer Soltani, Press TV, Iran - Being ‘impartial’ towards Palestine goes for the whole BBC family, even BBC Arabic.
by Dorothy Parvaz, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Most of the our days were spent listening to the sounds of young men being brutally interrogated – sometimes tied up in stress positions until it sounded like their bones were cracking, as we saw from our bathroom window (a bathroom with no running water, except for one tap in a sink filled with roughly 10 cm of sewage).
by Kelly Crowe and Melanie Glanz, CBC News, Canada - For weeks, hospitals and pharmacists across Canada and in the U.S. have struggled to cope with spot shortages for about five chemotherapy drugs.
by Laura Flanders, Grit TV, USA - "One of the main excuses of the US occupation is now gone. The struggle for independence, democracy, and freedom should get easier, but it won't. Not without an end to occupation."
by Noura Erakat, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Sealing coastal territory undermines past diplomacy - and siege is likely to be broken by post-revolution Egypt.
by Leila Hudson and Johann Chacko, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Bin Laden's discovery in a wealthy suburb of Abbottabad raises questions over US military funding to Pakistan.
by Rawya Rageh, Al Jazeera, Qatar - As Egypt tries to forge a new political future, Coptic Christians aim to move out of the political shadows.
by Yuliya Tymoshenko, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Twenty-five years on, the Chernobyl disaster has more to do with secrecy than nuclear safety, politician argues.
