ECONOMICS: Mideast Leaders Eager to Greet World Economic Elite

The global business forum that helped to introduce a major faction of the Iraqi opposition to the world's economic elite will gather in an extraordinary meeting in the Middle East on Saturday to discuss doing business in Iraq and throughout the troubled region.

AFRICA: Economic Elite Rank Corruption, Ignore Own Role – Critics

A leading global business group has issued a ''corruption index'' for African countries, but corporate governance watchdogs say the World Economic Forum (WEF) ignored the role that its members play in corrupting poor countries.

DEVELOPMENT: Multinationals Walk Out on Controversial Ugandan Dam

Two European firms building the controversial Bujagali hydro-electric power plant in Uganda have stopped work on the project amid talk of financial difficulties for the main contractor, U.S. energy giant AES Corp, corruption probes and complaints from Uganda that the project is highly overvalued.

ENVIRONMENT: Activist Resigns as McDonald’s Takes ‘Green’ Seat

The recent appointment of fast food giant McDonald's to the advisory board of an environmental group has drawn accusations of ''green washing'' from environmentalists and led one board member to resign in protest. But both the company and the group strongly deny the accusations.

ENVIRONMENT: Activist Resigns as McDonald’s Takes ‘Green’ Seat

The recent appointment of fast food giant McDonald's to the advisory board of an environmental group has drawn accusations of ''green washing'' from environmentalists and led one board member to resign in protest. But both the company and the group strongly deny the accusations.

ECONOMICS: Enron Used U.S. Government to Bully Developing Nations

Defunct energy giant Enron used the U.S. government to coerce the World Bank and poor nations to grant concessions and resolve its investment problems, according to documents and correspondence released by the Treasury Department.

FINANCE: Unions Urge World Bank to Stop Pushing Private Pensions

International labour unions are urging the World Bank, one of the world's largest development agencies, to stop pushing private pension plans on millions of workers and employees worldwide because the schemes do not deliver jobs and other promises.

DEVELOPMENT-U.S.: Aid Promises Misleading – Report

The Bush administration's loudly trumpeted recent announcements of development aid hikes coupled with more money to fight HIV/AIDS globally do not match budgetary realities and may translate into far smaller increases than anticipated, say two economic think tanks.

IRAQ: Civil Society Lags as Economic Gurus March on Mideast

As international financial institutions (IFIs) race to carry economic initiatives to the Middle East, groups that monitor the spread of corporate globalisation are at risk of falling behind, raising concerns that the region could end up an unmonitored corporate playfield.

TRADE: U.S. WTO Dispute Could Bend Poor Nations to GMOs – Groups

The U.S. decision to confront a European Union (EU) de facto ban on genetically modified (GM) food might knock down the world's main resistance to the controversial process and scare developing countries into opening their doors to GM crops, say analysts here.

TRADE: IMF, World Bank Join Forces with WTO

Attempts by global financial institutions to synchronise their policies on developing nations threaten to further entrench a one-sided approach to development, fuel instability and widen the gap between the world's rich and poor, watchdog organisations warned Monday.

TRADE: IMF, World Bank Join Forces with WTO

Attempts by global financial institutions to synchronise their policies on developing nations threaten to further entrench a one-sided approach to development, fuel instability and widen the gap between the world's rich and poor, watchdogs of the organisations warned Monday.

TRADE: ‘Prize’ Deal for Mideast Might Not be Free – Analysts

A free trade deal for the Middle East announced here Friday would occur too slowly and is likely to cost the region significantly, say analysts.

IRAQ: U.S. Again Flouts World Opinion by Lifting Sanctions – Group

The U.S. administration's unilateral lifting of some economic sanctions on Iraq might provide much needed humanitarian aid, but it also serves as a warning to reluctant states that Washington is again prepared to act alone if the global community does not follow its lead, says a think tank here.

POLITICS: Rich Nations Continue to Wield Power in Global Bodies

Officials of global organisations and rich nations rarely admit it but civil society groups and developing countries say the sad fact has not changed: multilateral bodies meant to help create a global community are in fact undemocratic.

POLITICS: Rich Nations Continue to Wield Power in Global Bodies

Officials of global organisations and rich nations rarely admit it but civil society groups and developing countries say the sad fact has not changed: multilateral bodies meant to help create a global community are in fact undemocratic.

IRAQ: Groups Wary of WEF ‘Cooperation’ Meeting in Jordan

An ''extraordinary'' meeting called by a leading global business group to discuss the business future of the Middle East is being greeted by activists here and in the region as an attempt to divide the spoils of war and usurp the role of the United Nations.

IRAQ: Washington Taps Free Market Alumni to Run Economy

The Bush administration is aggressively appointing a series of former private sector executives to run the Iraqi economy, prompting warnings that it will impose failed free market policies on Baghdad and open the oil-rich nation further to U.S. business interests.

DEVELOPMENT: Sri Lankan Activist Fails to Sway IMF, Bank

When Sri Lankan Sarath Fernando failed to stop his government from presenting a controversial economic roadmap to the World Bank and International Monetary (IMF) that would further "liberalise" the economy in return for loans, he decided to take his case to the two institutions themselves here last week.

ENVIRONMENT-U.S.: Industry Must Pay Toxic Chemical Clean-up – Poll

Eight out of 10 U.S. citizens want their government to phase out the use of certain toxic chemicals, replace them with non-polluting alternatives and force corporate polluters, not taxpayers, to pay for the clean-up, say the results of a poll by environmental groups here.

FINANCE: IMF and World Bank Fire Development Blanks at Meetings

Despite launching their semi-annual get together asserting that they are not political bodies, last weekend revealed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank are prone to manipulation by their richest members, a weakness that can have the effect of sidelining pressing development issues.