Philip Reeves

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.

Pakistan's Supreme Court has delayed hearing the blasphemy case of a woman sentenced to death in 2010 for insulting the prophet Muhammad. Liberal activists are calling for her release.

A respected Pakistani journalist is forbidden from traveling outside the country as punishment for writing a story about tensions between the military and the elected government.

The flare-up in the Indian-Pakistan conflict is spilling over into the world of entertainment. Pakistan's cinema owners are refusing to screen Bollywood movies, despite their huge popularity.

The government says new laws could be passed within weeks. Will they work? The celebrity murdered by her brother last month was from a traditional farming community where there's deep skepticism.

A high-profile honor killing has led to calls for stronger laws. But a gang-rape victim who's spent 14 years fighting for justice says laws are undercut by ages-old feudal traditions against women.

The famed qawwali singer Amjad Sabri was shot down last month in Karachi, Pakistan, apparently by the Taliban. The vocalist's family is pledging to keep his home a refuge of, and for, music.

A group of women held a vigil in Islamabad Monday to protest the murder of Qandeel Baloch by her brother in a so-called "honor killing." Baloch was famous for her social media postings.

Thousands attended a state funeral on Saturday for Edhi, who created a huge network of social services to help those whom the government failed, including orphans, abused women, the old and destitute.

NPR's Philip Reeves remembers Zabihullah Tamanna, a brave Afghan journalist who brought compassion to his work. Tamanna was killed along with NPR photojournalist David Gilkey in Afghanistan on Sunday.

With a shaky government at the helm, Afghanistan confronts a tanking economy, a widening war with the Taliban, rampant corruption and the departure of thousands seeking a better life abroad.