Carrefour, HAITI, Jan 20 (IPS) - Mimose Gérard sits in her tent at Gaston Margron camp, surrounded by large bags filled with plastic bottles. She earns just pennies for each, but that's better than nothing.

ROSEAU, Dominica, Jan 20 (IPS) - Caribbean countries, struggling to emerge from a slump in exports and falling tourist arrivals brought on by the worldwide economic crisis that began five years ago, have one more thing to worry about in 2014.

DOLLO ADO, Ethiopia, Jan 20 (IPS) - Yohamin Kesete, 32, and her six children live in Dollo Ado, a pastoralist community in Ethiopia's drought-stricken Somali Region. But this is not where you will always find them.

GENEVA, Jan 20 (IPS) - At the Ninth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), held in Bali Dec. 3-7, a series of decisions was adopted aimed at streamlining trade, allowing developing countries more options for providing food security, boosting least developed countries' trade, and bolstering development in general.

TAIPEI, Jan 20 (IPS) - The Taiwan farmers victory in a landmark court victory in a years-long battle has delivered a shock to government officials and given a morale boost to citizen campaigns.

SINGAPORE, Jan 19 (IPS) - Street demonstrations in the Thai capital reflect the disillusionment of growing middle classes across Asia that see multi-party democracy as a playground for the corrupt rather than a process that elects lawmakers to serve society and the nation.

MANILA, Jan 18 (IPS) - In a move that promises to further raise geopolitical tensions in the region, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a high-profile visit to the Yasukuni Shrine associated with 14 Class-A war criminals and dedicated to 2.5 million soldiers from the Japanese Imperial era.

GENEVA, Jan 18 (IPS) - The future of the complex armed conflict in Syria, which involves religious and ethnic factors as well as pressures from neighbouring countries and the strategic interests of global powers, will begin to take shape next week at a conference known as "Geneva 2."

TEGUCIGALPA, Jan 18 (IPS) - For some 250,000 shantytown-dwellers in the Honduran capital, fear of dying or losing their home due to a landslide or other weather-related event has been reduced, thanks to a global warming mitigation plan that has carried out small infrastructure works in 180 ecologically and socially vulnerable neighbourhoods.

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (IPS) - In a highly anticipated speech on Friday, President Barack Obama introduced a series of reforms that will place new limits and safeguards on U.S. intelligence gathering, including additional protections for foreign nationals overseas.