News stories by Ida Karlsson

STOCKHOLM, Mar 11 (IPS) - There has been a significant increase in arms exports from the United States and France, according to a new report. The flow of arms to the Middle East has increased, with Saudi Arabia being the world's largest importer.

BRUSSELS, May 16 (IPS) - The European Union plans to deploy 10 000 armed border guards by 2027 to patrol its land and sea borders. The force will have the power to use armed force on the EU's external borders.

STOCKHOLM, Feb 11 (IPS) - "Why didn't they stop us? Probably they were not aware of the scope of the operation. The money was transferred through so many different channels. We were clever, " Birgitta Karlström Dorph says. Between 1982 and 1988 she was on a secret mission in South Africa.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Jan 23 (IPS) - Long before Joy Daniels became the manager of a travel company she was cleaning rooms at a guesthouse. But after joining a Fair Trade-certified business, a place that valued its staff, in a few years she was soon promoted to manager. 

MUMBAI, Nov 22 (IPS) - Jahhavi Kshsarter pulls out on to the Western Express Highway, careful to avoid the swarm of cars, lorries and motorbikes zipping past. She is one of 65 women employed by an all-female taxi company in Mumbai.

STOCKHOLM, Mar 20 (IPS) - Despite the LuxLeaks scandal, the number of secret tax deals is skyrocketing. Such deals between companies and governments across Europe increased by almost 50 percent the year after the scandal broke.

CALI, Colombia, Dec 06 (IPS) - A global food watchdog works around the clock to preserve crop biodiversity, with a seed bank deep in the Colombian countryside holding the largest collection of beans and cassava in the world and storing crops that could avert devastating problems.

BRUSSELS, Sep 04 (IPS) - With the United Nations' post-2015 development agenda currently under discussion, civil society actors in Europe are calling for a firmer stance on human rights and gender equality, including control of assets by women.

BRUSSELS, Aug 06 (IPS) - The world's largest international policing organisation Interpol is being used by governments to track down political opponents and human right campaigners, an IPS investigation reveals.

BRUSSELS, Jul 17 (IPS) - Hundreds of European vessels are scrapped under hazardous conditions in South Asia every year. European parliamentarians have approved a new regulation to tackle the problem - but critics say it will have very limited impact.