DEVELOPMENT: U.S. Urged to Reduce Foreign Aid Focus on Security

Dozens of humanitarian and advocacy groups called Friday for a drastic overhaul of U.S. foreign aid policy and warned that Washington increasingly views foreign assistance as a tool for national security, which is creating an expanded role for the military in delivering aid overseas.

POLITICS: Bush Cronies Hit Jackpot in Iraq, Afghanistan

Some 70 U.S. companies with good connections to the Bush administration have won at least eight billion dollars worth of reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past two years, an independent research group said Thursday.

POLITICS: U.S. Set to Block World Bank Aid to Iran

U.S. officials have vowed to continue to fight World Bank assistance for Iran in a bid to derail funding for the country's alleged nuclear weapons programme and to penalise Tehran for its confrontational policies towards the United States and Israel.

IRAQ: U.S. Says ‘Missing’ Money in Iraqi Hands, Critics Still Wary

The U.S. Treasury Department says hundreds of millions of dollars in seized Iraqi assets previously unaccounted for by the U.S.-led occupying force in Iraq were used to pay the country's civil servants, hire a police force and buy security equipment.

IRAQ: Donors Wary of Washington

The United States' bid to get international donors to bankroll the occupation and reconstruction of Iraq might be derailed by Washington's own alliance with corporations and its continuing unilateral foreign policy.

IRAQ: Donors Wary of Washington

The United States' bid to get international donors to bankroll the occupation and reconstruction of Iraq might be derailed by Washington's own alliance with corporations and its continuing unilateral foreign policy.

POLITICS: Activists Trace Roots of Bolivian Turmoil to IMF

Current unrest in Bolivia over an unpopular gas pipeline has deeper roots in public anger over free market policies imposed by the IMF and the World Bank, which have impoverished more Bolivians and deepened inequality in Latin America's poorest nation, say analysts here.

RIGHTS-U.S.: School Relents on Muslim Headscarf

Eleven-year-old Nashala Hearn thought she would never be able to return to her school. But on Wednesday, she was in class with her friends - the third time she has rejoined them since school started this year. And she was very happy.

DEVELOPMENT: Chad Inaugurates Giant Pipeline as Activists Mourn

International and local civil society groups are warning that Friday's symbolic inauguration of a massive oil pipeline in Chad could lead to a worsening of social and economic conditions in the country while strengthening its corrupt ruling oligarchy.

TRADE: Eco-Friendly Coffee Finds Favour With Big Business

The World Bank endorsed Thursday a worldwide push for the use of eco-friendly brands of coffee that guarantee fair prices and social conditions for poor growers in developing countries as one way out of a record slump in coffee prices.

RIGHTS: U.S. Muslims Warn of New Government Crackdown

Muslims in the United States say that the way they are now being treated here qualifies them to be characters in Arthur Miller's famous novel, 'The Crucible', a classic story of innocent villagers accused of crimes and sins they did not commit.

RIGHTS: U.S. Muslims Warn of New Government Crackdown

Muslims in the United States say that the way they are now being treated here qualifies them to be characters in Arthur Miller's famous novel, 'The Crucible', a classic story of innocent villagers accused of crimes and sins they did not commit.

POLITICS: Watchdog Group Ranks Cleanest and Dirtiest Gov’ts

Corruption is not only rampant in developing nations but in many rich nations as well, says a watchdog group that monitors corruption among civil servants and politicians across the globe.

ECONOMY: Critics Question World Bank Calls for More Deregulation

In an effort to convince developing countries to adopt further deregulation of their economies, the World Bank said Tuesday its research found that countries with the least regulation have the highest levels of business and are more likely to grow far faster than those which regulate heavily.

DEVELOPMENT: Donors Asked for Billions to Rebuild Iraq

The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations said Friday that Iraq will need some 36 billion dollars for reconstruction and infrastructure over the coming four years, some of which is expected to come from sales of Iraqi oil.

DEVELOPMENT: Donors Asked for Billions to Rebuild Iraq

The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations said Friday that Iraq will need some 36 billion dollars for reconstruction and infrastructure over the coming four years, some of which is expected to come from sales of Iraqi oil.

DEVELOPMENT: Georgia Oil Pipeline Hurting Local Investment – Group

The proposed route of a controversial oil pipeline in Georgia that could have World Bank support is scaring away investors in the country's pivotal mineral water industry, threatening to cripple the local economy, documents released by protest groups show.

EGYPT: U.S. Mideast Policy Backfires Inside Ally – Report

The U.S. occupation of Iraq and the administration's backing of Israel have undercut Washington's self-styled goal of promoting democracy in the Middle East, says a new study of Egypt, the Arab world's largest country.

TRADE: Bush’s Bilateral Agenda Swims Against the Current

The U.S. administration's newly-minted post-Cancun doctrine favouring bilateral and regional trade deals rather than multilateral pacts is already banging into opposition both at home and abroad.

DEVELOPMENT: IMF, Bank Also Promote Unfair Trade, Say Activists

Groups that campaigned against the failed World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks earlier this month are warning developing nations of ''hidden culprits'' in the unjust global trading system that they successfully opposed in Cancun..

DEVELOPMENT: World Bank Backpedals on Environment, Groups Charge

Activists are accusing the World Bank of sacrificing environmental and social balance in poor nations by funding large projects like dams, power plants and pipelines as part of its new strategy to back ''high-risk, high-reward'' projects.