TRADE: Audit Calls for Reform of World Bank Advocacy

Hefty investments by the World Bank to promote cross-border trade have fallen short of their stated mission of alleviating poverty and have been overly focused on opening developing countries' markets, the Bank's own watchdog says.

POLITICS: Israel Lobby Dictates U.S. Policy, Study Charges

The pro-Israel lobby in the United States has manipulated Washington's policies in the Middle East to the point where it is the U.S. that does most of the fighting, dying and rebuilding while Israel reaps most of the security benefits, argues a new study by two U.S. scholars.

ENVIRONMENT: Saving Wildlife Also Saves Humans

Saving pandas, gorillas or tigers, often portrayed by critics of conservation as a trivial pursuit compared to the many other problems facing humanity, not only stops endangered species from going extinct but also helps reduce poverty and improves the lives of local communities in many parts of the world, says a new report by a leading environmental group.

POLITICS-US: Flurry of Protectionist Bills Follows Ports Flap

U.S. Congressional leaders are pressing ahead with new legislation that would give the secretary of defence and the U.S. intelligence agencies the right to oversee acquisitions of certain U.S. assets, and the Congress access to confidential business information surrounding such deals.

TRADE: Poorest Nations Hit Hardest by WTO Agenda, Study Finds

Developing nations are likely to end up being net losers under the current global trade agenda because they do not have the agricultural or industrial capability to compete with the United States, Japan, Europe or even China, the expected winners, a new study says.

FINANCE-PERU: Pipeline Rupture Prompts “Overdue” Audit

Recent measures announced by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to correct persistent gas leaks from a controversial pipeline in the Amazon rainforest that has ruptured five times since its inception in 2004 do not go far enough to help protect the highly valuable bio-diverse area, watchdog groups say.

TRADE: U.S. Firms Fear Blowback on Ports Debacle

U.S. lawmakers who killed a deal that would have transferred management of terminals in six U.S. ports to an Arab company say they will forge ahead with legislation targeting foreign ownership of critical U.S sectors.

TRADE: Doha Deal Won’t Come Cheap, Activists Warn

Six leading economic powers will meet in London this weekend to try to jumpstart long-stalled global trade talks, amid opposing appeals from anti-poverty advocates who say a deal would worsen conditions in developing countries and business lobbies promoting the benefits of market access.

FINANCE-PERU: New Spill Intensifies Battle Over Leaky Pipeline

An independent research group and the company building one of Latin America's most ambitious gas pipelines are butting heads over claims that the company used shoddy materials and unqualified staff for a Peruvian pipeline in one of the world's most richly bio-diverse areas.

FINANCE: Bank Rejects Rapid Review of Controversial Pipeline

The main public investor in a controversial gas pipeline in Peru's Amazon rainforest that has ruptured four times already appears adamant not to bow to pressure from green groups demanding a full investigation after a study asserted that the pipeline is shoddily built and likely to break again.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Rainforest Thrown Open to Illicit Logging

The link between the political elite and logging companies operating in Papua New Guinea (PNG), home to world's third largest remaining rainforest, is responsible for the failure of sustainable timber production there and the rapid exhaustion of its pristine forests, a new report says.

FINANCE: Bank Rejects Rapid Review of Controversial Pipeline

The main public investor in a controversial gas pipeline in Peru's Amazon rainforest that has ruptured four times already appears adamant not to bow to pressure from green groups demanding a full investigation after a study asserted that the pipeline is shoddily built and likely to break again.

FINANCE: Activists Concerned over Singapore’s “Caning” Threat

Concern is brewing among advocacy groups and civil society organisations that monitor the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, a staple of protests during the annual meetings of the two organisations, after Singapore threatened a crackdown on some of their activities.

FINANCE: Shoddy Work Plagues Major Peru Gas Project

A controversial gas pipeline in Peru touted by its financial backers as a global development model is marred by shoddy construction work that has damaged the region's fragile ecosystems and harmed the local indigenous people, according to an independent audit to be released next week.

FINANCE: World Bank’s New Social Standards Slippery to Enforce

Companies that borrow from the World Bank's private sector arm will be required to comply with a new set of environmental, labour and social guidelines that the lender says will make businesses more accountable, but which watchdog groups have already decried as lax and vague.

POLITICS-US: Rumsfeld Declares War on Bad Press

Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld has signaled that he plans to intensify a campaign to influence global media coverage of the United States, a move that is likely to heighten the debate over press freedom and propaganda-free reporting.

POLITICS-US: Rumsfeld Declares War on Bad Press

Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld has signaled that he plans to intensify a campaign to influence global media coverage of the United States, a move that is likely to heighten the debate over press freedom and propaganda-free reporting.

FINANCE: U.S. Free Traders Retreat on UAE Ports Deal

In a replay of congressional efforts last year that foiled a bid by a Chinese company to buy a U.S. oil firm, a group of hawkish U.S. lawmakers, citing national security concerns, are trying to block a deal that gives a major Arab company control over a British firm that runs some U.S. ports.

FINANCE: IMF Slow to Adapt Despite Dwindling Clout

Both critics and supporters of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), once the preeminent institution of the multilateral financial system created by world's most powerful nations, agree that the Fund is facing a legitimacy crisis that threatens its future.

CORRUPTION: World Bank Slammed for Retreating on Whistleblower Protections

The world's largest development agency, the World Bank, should end a culture of intimidating its whistleblowers and adopt smoother mechanisms for reporting wrongdoing within the institution, says an internal report leaked Friday by a watchdog group.

TRADE-US: Record Deficit Reflects Failed Policies, Critics Say

The U.S. trade deficit with the world has reached an all-time high, setting new record levels with China, Japan, Europe and oil-exporting nations, the U.S. the Commerce Department's said Friday, even as some U.S. senators slammed China as the biggest contributor to the deficit.