FINANCE: Paris Club Offers Nigeria Debt Relief – For a Price

The Paris Club of bilateral creditors said Thursday it would drop 18 billion of the 30 billion dollars in debt owed by Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, if the nation met certain conditions, including paying arrears up front.

TRADE: Saudi-U.S. Pact Eases Israeli Boycott

The United States and Saudi Arabia have concluded a trade deal that will help Riyadh join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), further open Saudi markets to U.S. goods, and partially lift the kingdom's decades-long boycott of the Israeli economy.

EGYPT: Public Assets Sold at Bargain Prices, Critics Complain

Egypt has some real deals these days. For example, a historic hotel built on its own island in the Nile River not far from the country's fabulous ancient pharaonic monuments was recently sold for less than three million dollars, although local real estate experts value it at closer to 10 million.

POLITICS-EGYPT: Choose the Crescent or Be Fined

The residents of Kafr Shaaban, a tiny village in northeastern Egypt, were abruptly roused Wednesday evening by a voice roaring through loudspeakers mounted on the high minarets of the town's mosques.

POLITICS-EGYPT: Judges Get “Conditional” Approval to Watch Vote

Thousands of Egyptian judges who had threatened not to monitor the country's first-ever contested presidential elections if a fair vote was not guaranteed said this week that they will supervise the balloting after all, but called on the U.S-backed government of Pres. Hosni Mubarak to meet certain demands.

OIL: Multinationals Feel Pain of Soaring Crude Prices

Dozens of U.S. industry leaders say rising oil prices have dimmed the economic forecast and made their firms vulnerable, at a time when international oil companies are earning record profits.

TRADE: NAFTA Tribunal Backs MTBE Ban

A three-member trade tribunal has dismissed a 970-million dollar claim filed by a Canadian company that challenged U.S. regulations banning the use of the gasoline additive MTBE.

TRADE: Can CAFTA Counter Chinese Textile Boom?

A trade deal between the United States and six Latin American nations was sold to lawmakers on the false premise that it would benefit U.S. textile workers and curb the flow of cheap imports from China, a leading pro-labour group said Wednesday.

POLITICS: Church Targets Five Firms Aiding Israeli Occupation

The U.S. branch of a global church seeking to pressure corporations whose actions support the Israeli military's occupation of Palestinian land has named five multinational corporations to be the target of its divestment efforts.

POLITICS: G8 Debt Relief Could Lead to New Borrowing

Anti-debt campaigners leaked a document Tuesday showing that the World Bank is considering extending additional loans to countries eligible for a widely-publicised debt cancellation plan by the world's richest nations, a scheme that they say would defeat the purpose of the write-off.

POLITICS-US: CAFTA Squeaker Shows Anxiety over Free Trade

The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed legislation early Thursday to implement a controversial trade deal between the United States and six Latin American nations, but opponents say the slim win reflects a growing distrust of "free trade" in the United States.

TRADE-U.S.: CAFTA Meets its Final Test

The U.S. House of Representatives will decide the fate of the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) this week in what many analysts predict will be a very close vote, prompting a spate of intensified lobbying by opponents and advocates of the deal, including President George W. Bush.

TRADE-US: CAFTA Meets its Final Test

The U.S. House of Representatives will decide the fate of the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) this week in what many analysts predict will be a very close vote, prompting a spate of intensified lobbying by opponents and advocates of the deal, including Pres. George W. Bush.

DEVELOPMENT: The Race to Run Latin America’s Biggest Bank

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is expected to name a new president on Jul. 27 as competition for the job intensifies between five member nations and the U.S.-backed candidate, who appears to be the favourite to win.

YEMEN: 13 Dead in Riots Over World Bank-Backed Price Hikes

At least 13 people were killed Wednesday in the Middle Eastern nation of Yemen in massive protests against fuel price increases that came as part of an economic reform programme promoted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

YEMEN: 13 Dead in Riots Over World Bank-Backed Price Hikes

At least 13 people were killed Wednesday in the Middle Eastern nation of Yemen in massive protests against fuel price increases that came as part of an economic reform programme promoted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

POLITICS-US: War on Terror Leaves Foreign Aid Largely Intact

Funding for the U.S. war on terror has not diverted money from other bilateral foreign aid programmes or anti-poverty plans in Africa or Latin America, but the new funds most likely came from cuts in aid to politically important countries like Israel and Egypt, a U.S. think tank says in a new report.

FINANCE: More World Bank Loans Don’t Equal Less Poverty – Groups

World Bank lending to developing countries rose last year by 2.2 billion dollars to 22.3 billion dollars on the back of renewed borrowing from middle-income countries, the Bank said Thursday.

TRADE: US Public Backs Tougher Labour Standards for CAFTA

A majority of the U.S. people say they would support a controversial trade deal between the United States and six Latin American nations if its labour provisions are amended to allow greater protection of U.S. workers and better standards for Latin workers, a new poll found Monday.

FINANCE: China Oil Bid Tests U.S. Free Market Rhetoric

An unsolicited bid by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Co. (CNOOC) to buy Unocal, a major U.S. oil company, has put Washington's free market rhetoric to the test, with disappointing results, some analysts say.

POLITICS-US: What 800 Million Buys on Capitol Hill

U.S. drug companies spent more than 800 million dollars over the past seven years in campaign donations and lobbying that have produced favourable laws and tens of billions of dollars in extra profits, according to a Washington-based watchdog group.