Smaller Nations Fear Marginalisation by Elite G20

The 27-member Global Governance Group (3G) is challenging the politically and economically powerful G20 not to marginalise the interests of small and medium-sized countries or undermine the United Nations in key decision-making.

Finding Lessons of Solidarity in Auto Industry Shake-Up

As thousands of people from around the world prepare to converge in Detroit, where expectations are high for the Jun. 22-26 U.S. Social Forum, activists and auto workers hope the meet will be an opportunity to chart a sustainable future for an industry that provides 1.7 million U.S. jobs.

UNDP Unveils Agenda to Spur Anti-Poverty Goals

After an economic assessment of some 50 countries, the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) has come up with a "concrete action agenda" to accelerate progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

MALAYSIA: Planned Subsidy Cut Draws Fire, Seen to Hurt the Poor

The government’s proposal to remove and rationalise subsidies on essential goods and services continues to provoke a storm of criticism from ordinary Malaysians.

Portugal Looks to Former Colonies for Lifeline in Crisis

First Angola, and now Brazil, Portugal's two largest former colonial possessions, are extending a helping hand to the battered Portuguese economy.

TRADE-NEPAL: Himalayan Nation’s Garment Industry in Tatters

These days, First Vice-President of the Garment Association (GAN) of Nepal Udaya Raj Pandey is mostly seen at the National Campus rather than the GAN office that he once frequented almost every day.

ROMANIA: Trade Unions Warn Against Unjustified Pay Cuts

Romania’s trade unions have warned that a series of protests against drastic cuts in pensions and salaries would turn into full-fledged general strikes by month-end unless the government heeded to the needs of ordinary people.

South America on Guard Against Europe’s Economic Woes

Although the European Union's financial bailout of Greece to avoid contagion of the crisis to other eurozone countries has had positive effects, South America is not ruling out collateral damage, especially from austerity measures demanded from Spain and Portugal and being considered for other EU countries.

ECONOMY-BALKANS: ‘How Did We Become So Poor?’

Almost two decades after Yugoslavia fell apart, the majority of the defunct socialist country’s people are insecure and uncertain for their future with the booming economy and rapid development that capitalism promised remaining a pipe dream.

GREECE: Turks Bearing Gifts

The first visit in six years of a Turkish prime minister to Greece has been widely hailed as a historical rapprochement after a long period of mutual bitterness.

ICELAND: Int’l Arrest Warrant Against Top Bank Official

Vigorously pursuing those allegedly responsible for Iceland’s 2008 financial crisis, investigators have got issued an international arrest warrant against Sigurdur Einarsson, chairman of the board of governors of the failed Kaupthing Bank.

Mediterranean Bailout – German Virtue or Necessity?

Under pressure from its European Union (EU) peers and confronted with the undeniable realities of the Greek financial collapse, the German government has finally given up its resistance to a multinational bailout programme for the Mediterranean EU member states.

Portugal Looking More Like Greece

Portugal is caught in the crossfire between credit rating agencies and international financial speculators who see this country as offering an excellent opportunity to turn a quick profit.

ECONOMY-GREECE: Convulsions Follow EU Shock Therapy

The firebombing of a bank by demonstrators protesting against severe austerity measures, which killed two women and a man, appears to Greeks as a sign of social deterioration arising from their country’s financial crisis.

U.S. States Consider Starting Their Own Banks

At least eight U.S. states are considering proposals to start state-run banks in the wake of an economic crisis where many private banks ceased or greatly decreased their lending, literally shrinking the money pool available in state economies.

DEVELOPMENT-SRI LANKA: Garment Woes Dampen Labour Day

Though the global economic crisis has eased in most of Asia, latest reports about falling demand for garments in markets like Europe and the United States have become a new source of concern to Sri Lanka’s troubled garment labour force.

Portugal Faces Carve-Up by Financial Speculators

Worrying economic indicators and gloomy forecasts by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are rapidly making Portugal a magnet for international speculative capital.

Crisis Trapping Millions More in Poverty

The global economic crisis is projected to hamper progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and will directly impact MDGs related to hunger, child and maternal health, gender equality, access to clean water and disease control, according to a report released Friday by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Developing Countries Leading Economic Rebound

Led by growth in developing countries, the global economy is rebounding more quickly than expected, according to the latest 'World Economic Outlook' (WEO) released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) here Wednesday.

IMF Backs Flat Tax to Defray Bailouts

Political momentum for a levy against the world's largest banks to repay governments for the cost of bank rescue packages during the global financial crisis has gained momentum with the leak of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report which calls for a set of taxes against the financial industry.

New Face of U.S. Foreclosures – The Unemployed

Giselle Jiles could be the new face of foreclosure. The 52-year-old financial planner has owned her home in Oakland's Laurel District for 12 years. She did not buy an expensive home that was beyond her means and she did not sign up for a predatory adjustable rate mortgage that was reset at an unsustainably expensive rate.