Valdenor Freitas came to Sao Paulo 20 years ago to seek his fortune but like many youngsters new to a metropolis he found himself cold and hungry in a run down neighbourhood on the edge of town, with no running water, no electricity and no public transport.

The world is reeling. It all started in 2008 with the subprime crisis in the US, which spared no corner of the globe, followed by the fall of the PIGS economies. Later, when the world was waking up to the recovery call, the Middle East fell into turmoil and a tsunami struck Japan. To add to the fire, S&P downgraded the US’s credit rating from AAA to AA+.

When Sam White and Sorin Grama of Promethean Power Systems...

Reporting is no longer limited to writers and broadcasters with years of professional journalism experience. Ordinary citizens, or citizen journalists, can report on events as they see them so that we can read about them as they happen. They shoot pictures of events they deem newsworthy and share them with their friends, who share them with their friends—and the cycle goes on.

Food, shelter, and clothing are the three most basic human...