Ted Aljibe / AFP - Getty Images

Residents rest under an uprooted tree used as temporary shelter in New Bataan, Compostela province on December 12, 2012 nearly one week after the southern part of the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Bopha. The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has climbed above 900 with hundreds more missing, many of them tuna fishermen feared lost at sea, the government said on December 11. Read the full story.

Erik De Castro / Reuters

A man looks for his relatives from lists of missing persons more than one week after Typhoon Bopha hit New Bataan, southern Philippines December 12, 2012.

Erik De Castro / Reuters

A girl and other typhoon victims search for recyclable materials from among the debris at the ruins of a house in the coastal town of Cateel, that was devastated during last Tuesday's Typhoon Bopha in Davao Oriental, southern Philippines on Wednesday.

What makes a nation, other than its people? Is it the flag, the passport, the currency, the anthem? Or is it something more complex and harder to pin down?

In seeking to illustrate the latest in a series of Reuters special reports on the growing pains of South Sudan, photographer Adriane Ohanesian gathered a selection of objects. 

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Photo illustrations, clockwise from top left: A South Sudanese passport; A South Sudanese five pound note; A motorcycle license plate from the new nation's Eastern Equatoria State; A copy of South Sudan's national anthem handwritten by Gabriel Arnest, one of its three composers.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Photo illustrations, clockwise from top left: The South Sudan national soccer team's jersey; A bottle of White Bull beer, produced in Juba; A tote bag with the slogan 'I heart Juba'; A car air freshener showing the seal of South Sudan.

Reuters reports — Not all new countries are really new. Some are born almost fully formed; others have to start from nothing.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

The flag of South Sudan.

That difference is crucial to a new nation's chances of success.

More than half the youngest nations in the world were born or reborn after the collapse of communism in Europe and had existed as independent states as far back as the Middle Ages. Most regained independence with established institutions — courts, banks, police forces, schools — and skilled people to run them.

Interactive: Key measures on the world's newest countries

South Sudan, which gained full independence last year, is at the other end of the spectrum. When it won a measure of autonomy from Sudan in 2005, its roster of organized, national institutions began and ended with its army.

"In the case of South Sudan, you don't reconstruct, you don't rebuild, you start from scratch," Hilde Johnson, the U.N. Secretary General's Special representative for South Sudan, told Reuters. Read the full story.

Related content: 

• Blood and oil tinge South Sudan's first birthday
• 120 doctors for 8 million people: South Sudan's health-care gap
• Slideshow: South Sudan declares independence
• More images from South Sudan on PhotoBlog

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Egyptian activists carry the coffin of Gaber Salah, an activist who died overnight after he was critically injured in clashes with police last week, during his funeral in Tahrir Square on Nov. 26.

Hussein Tallal / AP

Egyptians carry the body of Gaber Salah during his funeral procession in Cairo on Nov. 26.

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Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

A mourner wearing chains attends the funeral of youth activist Gaber Salah.

Khaled Elfiqi / EPA

Egyptian protesters react during the funeral of Gaber Salah.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

A masked protester during clashes with police in Tahrir Square on Nov. 26.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Mourners attend the funeral of activist Gaber Salah in Cairo.

Ahmed Abdel Fattah / AP

The tents of activists in Tahrir Square on Nov. 26.

Related content:

• Egypt's Morsi holds crisis talks over power grab
• PhotoBlog: 'Get out!' Egypt protesters demand downfall of Morsi regime
• More than 60 injured in Egypt clashes

Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

Bangladeshi Muslims offer prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan at the National Mosque of Bangladesh, Baitul Mukarram in Dhaka on Aug. 17, 2012 ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival.

Andrew Biraj / Reuters

A Muslim worshipper cries as he prays in front of the national mosque on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Dhaka, Bangladesh Aug.17.

Aamir Qureshi / AFP - Getty Images

Pakistani Muslims offer Jummat-ul-Vida, last Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan at the grand Faisal Mosque in Islamabad on Aug. 17.

Abir Sultan / EPA

Israeli border police officers on duty stand by as female Palestinian worshippers cross from the Kalandia checkpoint outside Ramallah into Jerusalem to attend the last Friday prayer of Ramadan in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Aug. 17.

Muslim devotees took part in the last Friday prayers ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival marking the end of the month of Ramadan. The three-day festival, which begins after the sighting of a new crescent moon, marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, during which devout Muslims abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk. 

Millions make a crowded (sometimes dangerous) journey home for Eid al-Fitr

More photos from Ramadan on PhotoBlog

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A soldier in South Sudan's SPLA army looks up at warplanes as he lies on the ground to take cover beside a road during an air strike by the Sudanese air force in Rubkona, near Bentiu, South Sudan, on April 23, 2012.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A woman runs along a road during an air strike by the Sudanese air force in Rubkona on April 23, 2012.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Smoke rises after the Sudanese air force fired a missile during an air strike in Rubkona on April 23, 2012.

Reuters reports — Sudanese warplanes carried out air strikes on South Sudan on Monday, killing three people near a southern oil town, residents and military officials said, three days after South Sudan pulled out of a disputed oil field.

A Reuters reporter at the scene, outside the oil town of Bentiu, said he saw a fighter aircraft drop two bombs near a river bridge between Bentiu and the neighboring town of Rubkona. 

Sudan leader says he will teach independent South a 'final lesson by force'

Weeks of border fighting between the two neighbors have brought the former civil war foes closer to a full-blown war than at any time since the South seceded in July. Read more.

Video: George Clooney calls crisis in Sudan 'real disaster'

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A soldier in South Sudan's SPLA army walks in a market destroyed in an air strike by the Sudanese air force in Rubkona on April 23, 2012.

Michael Onyiego / AP

A South Sudanese soldier has a bullet removed from his leg in the Rubkona Military Hospital on April 22, 2012.

Mahesh Kumar A / AP

An Indian Pharmacologist examines the reaction of cytotoxic drugs on a mouse inside a containment facility of the Research and Development Centre of Natco Pharma Ltd. in Hyderabad, India, on March 13. India effectively ended Bayer's monopoly on a patented cancer drug Monday, licensing a much cheaper generic under a unique law aimed at keeping costs affordable. In a decision likely to upset Western pharmaceuticals, the patent office approved Natco Pharma Ltd.'s application to produce the kidney and liver cancer treatment sorefinib.

Mahesh Kumar A / AP

An Indian Pharmacologist removes mice from cages to study the reaction of cytotoxic drugs, inside a containment facility of the Research and Development Centre of Natco Pharma Ltd. in Hyderabad, India, on March 13.

Reuters -- India's move to strip German drugmaker Bayer of its exclusive rights to a cancer drug has set a precedent that could extend to other treatments, including modern HIV/AIDS drugs, in a major blow to global pharmaceutical firms, experts say.

On Monday, the Indian Patent Office effectively ended Bayer's monopoly for its Nexavar drug and issued its first-ever compulsory license allowing local generic maker Natco Pharma to make and sell the drug cheaply in India.

It is only the second time a nation has issued a compulsory license for a cancer drug after Thailand did so on four drugs between 2006 and 2008, also on affordability grounds. Thailand also issued licenses for HIV/AIDS and heart disease treatments.

Krishnendu Halder / Reuters

A pharmacologist checks the toxic reaction on a swiss albino inside the bio safety cabinet at Natco Research Center in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, on March 13. India's move to strip German drugmaker Bayer of its exclusive rights to a cancer drug has set a precedent that could extend to other treatments, including modern HIV/AIDS drugs, in a major blow to global pharmaceutical firms, experts say. On Monday, the Indian Patent Office effectively ended Bayer's monopoly for its Nexavar drug and issued its first-ever compulsory license allowing local generic maker Natco Pharma to make and sell the drug cheaply in India.

"This could well be the first of many compulsory rulings here," said Gopakumar G. Nair, head of patent law firm Gopakumar Nair Associates and former president of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association.

"Global pharmaceutical manufacturers are likely to be worried as a result ... given that the wording in India's Patent Act that had been amended from 'reasonably priced' to 'reasonably affordable priced' has come into play now."

Read the full story.

Mahesh Kumar A / AP

An Indian scientist works inside a laboratory of the Research and Development Centre of Natco Pharma Ltd. in Hyderabad, India, on March 13.

Andy Wong / AP

Tan Liang, a resident of Beijing, prepares to take readings on a PM2.5 detector outside his residential compound in Beijing, China, on Dec. 3, 2011.

The Associated Press reports from BEIJING:

Armed with a device that looks like an old transistor radio, some Beijing residents are recording pollution levels and posting them online. It's an act that borders on subversion.

The government keeps secret all data on the fine particles that shroud China's capital in a health-threatening smog most days. But as they grow more prosperous, Chinese are demanding the right to know what the government does not tell them: just how polluted their city is.

"If people know what their air is like, they are more likely to take action," said Wang Qiuxia, a researcher at local environment group Green Beagle, who shows interested residents how to test pollution on a locally made monitoring machine. Continue reading.

Andy Wong / AP

Tan Liang carries a PM2.5 detector towards a garbage-burning facility located near his residential compound in Beijing on Dec. 3, 2011.

Andy Wong / AP

Wang Qiuxia, right, a volunteer from an environmental group, teaches Cheng Jing, left, how to operate the PM2.5 detector in Beijing on Dec. 7, 2011.

Related content:

• China begins to admit 'fog' is really smog
• A smog by any other name
• More world news stories

John Ray, NBC News writes:

So, we've all seen and heard plenty of the Arab spring, stretching now into a bloody summer in Syria and Libya.
But maybe even more surprising is the sudden emergence of what inevitably will be called the Israeli awakening.

Nadav Neuhaus

Israeli Gilad Peled participates in a demonstration for socioeconomic change in Tel Aviv on Saturday, July 30. Peled is working two jobs and his wife just lost her job. They have a young girl and they can't pay all of their bills each month. Peled says he is fed up that politicians have forgotten who elected them to parliament and he says it's about time that they start working for the people and not the other way around.

Out of almost nowhere, a grassroots campaign has sprung up to challenge the nation's leaders.

What's more; it has nothing to do with the peace process, with Palestinians or West Bank settlements.

In fact, it's even bringing Arabs and Jews together. They share a common enemy. The soaring cost of living.

On Saturday, organizers are promising the 'mother or all demonstrations' to surpass the 150,000 strong protest that took to the streets last week.

That’s a remarkable figure in a country of just 7 million.

Nadav Neuhaus

Two weeks into Israel's housing protest, demonstrations are sweeping the country. More than 150,000 people took part in protests nationwide calling for socioeconomic change and demanding social justice.

Dairy farmers, army reservists, taxi drivers, even parents planning a "stroller protest" - all have played a part in demonstrations so far.

They have a long list of demands; action on rising rent, fuel, food and power costs. Tax breaks for the less well off; free schooling and changes to health system.

Israel is a heavily taxed nation; people are asking what they get for their money.

Part of the answer is the huge cost of security, a fact not lost on anyone.

"The sense here that we're living in a war zone, traumatized by terror  - it's like we're not allowed to talk about 'small' issues, day-to-day stuff," one of the organizers, Stav Shaffir, a 26-year-old masters student, told the Guardian newspaper.

"But security also means education, health, housing. We don't want to be controlled by fear."

With opinion polls showing 90 percent public support the protests, Israelis seem to have found something to agree on.

Nadav Neuhaus

A protester uses a laptop In Tel Aviv's weeks-old tent encampment.

In Japan, more than 270,000 cars were ruined in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. For the msnbc.com team reporting on the recovery in the Kesennuma area, the sheer number of ruined vehicles has been surprising. Multimedia producer Jim Seida captured a surround image of dozens of ruined cars neatly stacked for disposal. Explore them in the panoramic image below.

The cars will go to good use. They plan to scrap them and use the steel for rebuilding.

 Nahoko Yamada who is working with the msnbc.com team reports the following:

The number of cars that were washed away by tsunami totals 270,000 units in three affected prefectures, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on April 16. That's 7 percent of total registered cars in those areas. The hardest hit areas were Fukushima and Miyagi, with over 100,000 trashed cars each.

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Cars are stacked atop one another in Saichi, outside Kesennuma, Japan, Monday, June 6, 2011.

See our slideshow of images from the earthquake, tsunami and the ensuing devastation here.

Yasushi Kanno / The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP

An elderly man is carried by a Self-Defense Force member in the tsunami-torn Natori city, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, on Saturday morning, March 12, one day after strong earthquakes hit the area.

Kyodo News / AP

People wait for rescue on the rooftop of a ruined building tangled with tsunami-drifted debris in Rikuzentakada, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday morning, March 12, after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday.

Kyodo News / AP

A man walks outside a two-story house, with its first floor structure was destroyed by tsunami, in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan on Saturday morning, March 12, after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday.

Kyodo News / AP

A woman who was left inside a building is rescued Saturday, March 12, after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday.

Kyodo News / AP

A local resident walks through debris in Rikuzentakata, Iwate, northern Japan on Saturday morning, March 12 after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday.

Kyodo / Reuters

A man looks out over an area swept by a tsunami following an earthquake in Sendai City, northeastern Japan on March 12. Japan confronted devastation along its northeastern coast on Saturday, with fires raging and parts of some cities under water after a massive earthquake and tsunami that likely killed thousands.