Philip Reeves

Friday marks the start of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. We set out to discover if Brazil's tradition of wild street parties and lavish costume parades is actually a form of collective therapy.

Amid the parties and celebrations of Rio de Janeiro's carnival lie the political satire and protest. To see this, you just need to look at the costumes.

More than 2 million people dance and drink, day and night, for Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. All that pleasure involves quite a bit of pain. Ask the samba superathletes in 7-inch heels.

Brazilians in a southern state are stockpiling food after a surge of lootings and killings. With the police on strike, army troops are patrolling the streets, and most shops are shut.

The imprisonment of former billionaire Eike Batista on corruption charges is fueling much schadenfreude in Brazil. Social media memes proliferate imagining life behind bars for the famously flamboyant and extravagant entrepreneur.

Fallen commodities magnate Eike Batista has returned to Brazil to face charges. Prosecutors say Batista, once one of the world's richest people, was a player in a $100 million laundering/bribery ring.

The soccer team of Chapeco, Brazil lost most of its members in an air crash last year. The team recently returned to the field for the first time in an emotional moment for the game's fans.

Judge Teori Zavascki was a pivotal player in the huge Petrobras corruption scandal involving politicians and business executives. The government has called for three days of national mourning.

If you like to travel and need a unique gift, try Manaus international airport, which is in the middle of the Amazon Rain Forest. It has what may be the world's only airport fish shop.

This week's prison riot in the Amazon jungle city of Manaus was shocking for its brutality — nearly 60 inmates were killed — many beheaded. Prison violence is not uncommon in Brazil.

When new to a big, international city, what's the best way to meet people? In Rio de Janeiro, it involves sitting on a low-slung wall.

New Year's at Rio's Copacabana beach is billed as the world's biggest open-air party. Revelers wear white, and at the stroke of midnight, walk into the ocean and jump over seven waves for good luck.

Brazil ends 2016 reeling from a massive corruption scandal and the impeachment of its president. We consider the shaky footing on which the interim president seeks to lead the country into 2017.

Over the nearly thousand mile journey down the middle of Pakistan, we've been meeting NPR's Philip Reeves' fellow travelers, and learning about their hopes and fears at this stage in history.

He mostly ignored this region on the campaign trail, but the president-elect will find much to worry about. War, terrorism, corruption, tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors — it's all there.

Sophisticated criminals prey on the poor, luring them with false promises of lucrative jobs before depriving them of their organs. The "kidney mafias" benefit from powerful political connections.

Barricades are up and Pakistan's capital Islamabad is in lockdown as opposition leader and former cricket star Imran Khan and the government face off again.

The green-eyed Afghan girl, famous from the photo taken by Steve McCurry for National Geographic, has been arrested in Pakistan for having a fake ID card. She's been living as a refugee in Pakistan.

More than 60 people were killed and over 100 injured in an attack on a police academy in the Pakistani city of Quetta.

The assault occurred on a police training academy in the Pakistani city of Quetta, near the border with Afghanistan. Blame is leveled at an Islamist Sunni group with links to al-Qaida.