Highlights from our News Service

INSP's 'big freeze' report  in Street Sense, Washington DC.

Our report about deaths amongst homeless people as a result of the extreme cold weather got picked up widely in the US. European street paper editors contributed to the piece, with the worst casualties reported from Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.Street papers Street Roots (Portland),Street Sense (Washington), Street Wise (Chicago) and Homeward Street Journal (Sacramento) ran the story. In Europe, the piece also got republished from Germany to Portugal.

Stories about the Roma community are of interest not only to European street papers, but also to readers in Japan. The Big Issue Japan republished two remarkable stories from colleague paper Fifityfifty in Germany. After making a portrait of their Roma vendor Maria, editor Hubert Ostendorff made the journey back to Romania to see Maria's roots. His report from Eastern Romania, together with Maria's vendor profile, featured on the pages of The Big Issue Japan in January.

Also on the INSP News Service this month was a special report from India. The world's largest democracy is reaching milestone after milestone, from record-breaking economic growth to the recent eradication of polio. Our editor Danielle Batist reported from IT capital Bangalore, where millions still struggle to share in the success. The pieces got picked up by street papers as well as mainstream press outlets in the UK and Eastern Europe.