Behind the vintage taxi is one of Havana’s new Japanese-made co-operative buses. And behind that – the city’s iconic Capitolio, also being renovated.Photo: All photos in the Big Story are by Vanessa Baird unless otherwise stated.

A new Cuba in the making

The communist island is opening up for business. Vanessa Baird begins an investigation into what's going on - and what it means.

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NI 476 - Cuba - October, 2014
Ko au te awa kote awa ko au.
I am the river, and the river is me.Maori proverb

An indivisible and living whole, from the mountains to the sea

A New Zealand river has been granted unprecedented legal rights after a century of Maori pressure. Jen Wilton reports.

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NI 475 - Gold trouble - September, 2014
No friend of the poor? Mother Teresa once said they should ‘accept their lot’.AP Photo/Bikas Das

How Mother Teresa is torturing Kolkata

S Bedford exposes horrific negligence at a Missionaries of Charity centre in India – and asks when the order will be brought to book.

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NI 475 - Gold trouble - September, 2014
Dominic Bugatto

Bunker economics

Phillip Pilkington on the delusion of worshipping the gold standard.

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NI 475 - Gold trouble - September, 2014
Precious blue: water is a treasured resource, but under threat from proposed mining, in the author’s northern Californian community.Jane Theobald

View from the ridge

Jewellery designer Jane Theobald's meditation on the true price of the shiny stuff.

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NI 475 - Gold trouble - September, 2014
Dazzle or bust: a billboard model for a jewellery shop advertises the buckling-under-gold bridal look aimed for the status conscious, while the street market outside bustles with more humdrum wares, in Chennai, India.Randy Olson/©National Geographic Image Collection /Alamy

A tale of two Indias

How sinking cash into gold is rocking the country's economy and deepening the wealth divide, by Jaideep Hardikar.

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NI 475 - Gold trouble - September, 2014
Sleep soft: a memorial for baby Andini, who died after suffering an extensive skin rash, in Buyat Bay, Indonesia. Locals accuse the Newmont gold&mining corporation of contaminating the bay with heavy metals. Many children have been born with birth defects here.Earthworks

The myth of ethical gold

Certification schemes notwithstanding, clean gold is a bit of a scam, says Stephanie Boyd.

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NI 475 - Gold trouble - September, 2014
Community activist Rosa Sara HuamánPhoto by Roxana Olivera

Churning up the cloud forest

Roxana Olivera on a Peruvian community's struggles to defend its rights against a mining corporation's dirty tricks.

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NI 475 - Gold trouble - September, 2014
Gold production in tonnes, 2011 1

Gold - the facts

Where does it come from? Who buys it? What do they do with it? What do they do with it? And the impacts of it.

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NI 475 - Gold trouble - September, 2014
Hey, big spender! China’s first gold vending machine – it dispenses coins and bars – landed in busy Wangfujing Street, Beijing, in 2011. Each withdrawal is capped at a million yuan (about US$162,000) worth of gold. Imagechina/Corbis

Stop the gold rush

Richard Swift argues that our appetite for the shiny metal is both pointless and dangerous.

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NI 475 - Gold trouble - September, 2014
A youngster sits outside the headquarters of the Movement for Liberty and Equality of Haitians for Brotherhood (MOLEGHAF) in Fort National, Port-au-Prince. The grassroots group has been vocal in its criticism of the country’s UN mission.Photo: Brian Fitzpatrick and Michael Norby

‘We’re fighting for a change’

The TV cameras have long departed, but four years after the earthquake, Haiti remains a country in crisis. Brian Fitzpatrick and Michael Norby report from Port-au-Prince on how hunger and violence rule the roost in a situation nearing boiling point.

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NI 474 - Feminism fights back - July, 2014
‘No to fascism!’ Provocative and emotive posters and images have become commonplace in Ukraine’s propaganda assault.Photo: Alexander Ermochenko/AP/Press Association Images

When propaganda rules

Powerful, persuasive words and images in Ukraine’s information war have led to casualties of truth on all sides. Lily Hyde observes how, as Crimea and East Ukraine break away, a war of words turns lethal.

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NI 474 - Feminism fights back - July, 2014

Feminist book club

Bloggers, activists and artists share their favourite books.

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NI 474 - Feminism fights back - July, 2014
Rihanna antidote: Odaymara Cuesta from lesbian Cuban rap duo Las Krudas.

Virtuous woman or raunchy sexpot?

Ikamara Larasi dismantles one-sided caricatures of black women in pop culture.

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NI 474 - Feminism fights back - July, 2014
Illustration: Lulu Kitololo/Asilia

Women on the edge of time

What can different generations of feminists learn from one another? Leading Indian grassroots activist and author, 68-year-old Kamla Bhasin, connects with 16-year-old Londoner Lilinaz Evans, co-founder of the Twitter Youth Feminist Army. Facilitated by Hannah Pool.

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NI 474 - Feminism fights back - July, 2014
Illustration: Kathryn Corlett

When rights go wrong

From empowerment-lite to love-jihad, Rahila Gupta explores the perils of hijacked feminist agendas.

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NI 474 - Feminism fights back - July, 2014
Shaking off the shame around vaginas: The Shoreditch Sisters Women’s Institute display their vulva quilt in London. Photo: Shoreditch Sisters WI

Mitts off my muff

Nimko Ali is a brave, straight-talking, Somali British woman, who is revitalizing the campaign against female genital mutilation (FGM).

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NI 474 - Feminism fights back - July, 2014
The Gender Inequality Index is a composite measure that reflects inequality, reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market.

Feminism - The Facts

Facts for feminists - the twists and turns along the road to equality.

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NI 474 - Feminism fights back - July, 2014
Girls strike a pose for an advert for GoldieBox. One of the companies bucking the gendered toy divide, it makes engineering toys for girls. Photo: Nick UT/AP/Press Association Images

Is there a feminist spring?

Women’s rights has got its mojo back – and not a minute too soon. Hazel Healy takes stock of the challenges ahead.

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NI 474 - Feminism fights back - July, 2014

Articles in this category displayed as a table:

Article title From magazine Publication date
Cuba October, 2014
Gold trouble September, 2014
Gold trouble September, 2014
Gold trouble September, 2014
Gold trouble September, 2014
Gold trouble September, 2014
Gold trouble September, 2014
Gold trouble September, 2014
Gold trouble September, 2014
Gold trouble September, 2014
Gold trouble September, 2014
Feminism fights back July, 2014
Feminism fights back July, 2014
Feminism fights back July, 2014
Feminism fights back July, 2014
Feminism fights back July, 2014
Feminism fights back July, 2014
Feminism fights back July, 2014
Feminism fights back July, 2014
Feminism fights back July, 2014
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