News stories by Fabiana Frayssinet, page 24

Basic services that are collapsing or non-existent, overcrowding, pollution: these are big-city problems that are compounded in developing countries by poverty and inequality.

The 'favelas' or shanty towns of Brazil are a uniform red ochre, the colour of unplastered brick walls. But two visual artists from the Netherlands want to paint them every colour under the sun, a facelift intended to showcase the colourful soul of these poverty-stricken neighbourhoods.

A United Nations report published ahead of the Fifth World Urban Forum in Brazil says the proportion of the population of this country living in 'favelas' or shantytowns was reduced 16 percent between 2000 and 2010.

Perfectly in tune, in spite of the off-key world of Terra Encantada ('Enchanted Land'), a shanty town in this Brazilian city, the guitars of Daniel Sant'Anna's orchestra strike up the 'Ode to Joy', played by children and teenagers who are looking for a way forward in their lives.

The birthplace of the World Social Forum (WSF), conceived as an alternative to international meetings pursuing free-market economics, Brazil is on its way to becoming a major economic power, analysts say. The question is, what kind of model will it adopt to avoid the behaviour it has previously criticised?

Climate change, associated with a four-fold increase in natural disasters in the last decade, and the growth of world population, which is expected to reach nine billion by 2050, pose new challenges for aid initiatives like those of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

The traditional campaign for a Christmas without Hunger in Brazil is in its 17th year. But in spite of ongoing programmes, food insecurity still affects 15 million people in South America's giant, according to official figures.

A black community in the southern Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro is trying to maintain its cultural heritage on 287 hectares granted to it by the government in 1999 as part of reparations to the descendants of slaves.

With the possible participation of three high-profile women candidates in Brazil's 2010 presidential elections, the irruption of gender issues in the campaign in Latin America's largest democracy seems inevitable.

Janaína*, who lives in Jacarezinho, one of the most violent 'favelas' or shantytowns in this Brazilian city, describes the control that the 'movement' — the local drug mafia — exercises over the neighbourhood and local residents.