FINANCE-US: Cost of Terror War Hits 430 Billion

Washington's self-styled "global war on terror" has cost the country at least 430 billion dollars over the past five years in military and diplomatic efforts, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the watchdog arm of the U.S. Congress.

MIDEAST: In U.S., Not All Casualties Are Equal

Numerous U.S. groups, intellectuals, politicians and media outlets are mobilising in the United States to back Israel in its ongoing assault on neighbouring Lebanon with one main idea to promote - that Israel is always the victim.

MIDEAST: In U.S., Not All Casualties Are Equal

Numerous U.S. groups, intellectuals, politicians and media outlets are mobilising in the United States to back Israel in its ongoing assault on neighbouring Lebanon with one main idea to promote - that Israel is always the victim.

/REPEAT/EDUCATION: More Schools, but Many Children Aren’t Learning

World Bank investments in education may be sending more children to school across the world, but the quality of learning is poor and many children are not gaining better skills as originally hoped, the Bank's own watchdog says.

G8: Busy Agenda but Few Decisions Expected

Leaders of the eight most industrialised nations will gather this weekend in St. Petersburg, Russia with energy security, the critical state of global trade talks, infectious diseases, education and other vital issues for the world economy on their agenda.

FINANCE: Washington Defends Banking Surveillance

A senior U.S. official has vehemently defended a recently uncovered U.S. programme that tracks suspected terrorist financing and which sparked controversy over privacy rights and freedom of the press, saying that the disclosure was harmful to his country's anti-terror efforts.

FINANCE: Banks Adopt Fortified Green Principles

Dozens of commercial banks and lenders, including global heavyweights like Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Standard Chartered, signed an updated set of environmental and social safeguards on Thursday that binds them to shoulder more responsible lending in the future.

D.R. CONGO: Minerals Flow Abroad, Misery Remains

International companies and local elites in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are pocketing revenues from copper and cobalt production instead of sharing it with local communities or spending it to reduce poverty, a watchdog group charged Wednesday.

TRADE: U.S., Oman Pact Nixes Israel Boycott

The U.S. Congress is likely to approve a free trade agreement that includes strong foreign policy components with Oman, one of Washington's closest allies in the Middle East, despite protests over the Arab country's record on labour standards, human rights and the environment.

OIL: U.S. Looks to Canada to Undercut OPEC

Faster development of Canadian oil is another way the United States can lessen its reliance on energy sources from Middle Eastern or Latin American countries now deemed unfriendly to the U.S., according to a new congressional study.

TRADE: Poorest Nations Warned Against Aid Traps

A much-touted "development package" offered recently to the world's least developed countries is "rife with tricks" and could be far more limited than originally publicised because the United States maintains the right to deny the promised duty-free access to some of those countries' most important exports, a new study says.

FINANCE: At 50, Is the Paris Club a Colonial Relic?

In a recent statement on the 50th anniversary of the Paris Club, a powerful creditors' cartel based in France, anti-debt groups described the club's policies toward borrowing nations as "medieval". But some say the word "colonial" is equally fitting.

DRC: Group Seeks Tighter Leash on Diamond Trade

The international community should help the new government in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) tighten its surveillance of the diamond mining industry to lift the poor nation out of corruption and conflict, long associated with trade in the precious gem, a rights group said Thursday.

POLITICS: Caterpillar Pressured Over “Weaponised Bulldozers”

The parents of a U.S. peace activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer built by the global machinery giant Caterpillar confronted the company Wednesday for the first time and urged shareholders at its annual meeting to end sales of "weaponised bulldozers to Israel".

TRADE: African Nations Wary of Closer Embrace with U.S.

A chorus of U.S. officials is signaling that Washington wants to turn a controversial programme giving poor African nations partial access to U.S. markets into a full-fledged free trade agreement that would open Africa's economy to U.S. corporations.

FINANCE: In Search of New Clients, Latin Bank Eyes Poor

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) unveiled a five-year plan Tuesday to invest at least three billion dollars in loans to Latin America that would cater to millions of marginalised low-income consumers whom the Bank sees as a potentially lucrative market for international and local businesses.

TRADE-U.S./KOREA: Bigger Than NAFTA, Just as Controversial

The United States and South Korea kick-started the first round of talks in Washington Monday toward a bilateral free trade agreement amid cheers from business groups and denunciations from labour groups and farmers from both nations.

CORRUPTION: World Bank Weighs Risks of Anti-Graft Drive

A leaked document from the World Bank reveals officials struggling with how to implement stronger anti-corruption measures in Bank projects without creating hurdles to the institution's lending and influence.

POLITICS: U.S. Shuts Eyes to Abuses of Key Ally, Egypt

The George W. Bush administration has called on the U.S. Congress to keep annual aid to Egypt of nearly two billion dollars intact for the next fiscal year, despite a massive crackdown on pro-democracy activists and suppression of political dissent in the country.

FINANCE: Despite Debt Relief, Poor Nations Back In the Red

A new report by the self-auditing arm of the World Bank has painted a grim picture of the results of a decade-long plan by the Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to give the world's poorest nations debt relief.

ARGENTINA/URUGUAY: Paper Plant Row Extends to French Bank

An unprecedented dispute between Argentina and Uruguay over two massive paper pulp factories has now spilled over to Calyon, the French private bank assisting with the financing of one of the plants, after green groups accused the lender of breaching a pledge it made to protect the environment.