Globalisation

COMMUNICATION: Egyptian Poor Find Virtual Wealth

By Cam McGrath
In a small, unadorned room young Egyptians complete homework assignments on PCs and browse the Internet oblivious of the incessant din of car horns, scratchy music and calls to prayer from a nearby mosque.

ECONOMY: WTO Chief Reassures U.S. on Benefits of Free Trade

By Emad Mekay
The chief of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) defended the body's role in the global economy Thursday, and argued for free trade in the United States, a country witnessing an unprecedented debate over the "export" of U.S. jobs overseas.

ASIA: Amid Bird Flu, Questions Linger on Global Alert System

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Although countries hit by bird flu appear to be more open with reports about the lethal virus, a concern that took wing at the outbreak of the disease - the weakness in current global systems for alerting the world to new viruses - remains relevant.

EGYPT: Nascent Activism Scores Rare Win

By Emad Mekay
In a rare show of resistance against commercial interests, a newly formed group of anti-corporate globalisation activists in Egypt has forced two of the world's largest mobile phone companies to back down on recent prices hikes.

POLITICS: Southeast Asia Most Globalised Developing Region

By Jim Lobe
For the third year in a row, Ireland rates as the world most ''globalised'' nation, followed by Singapore, Switzerland and the Netherlands, according to the fourth annual edition of 'Foreign Policy' magazine's 'Globalisation Index', released here Tuesday.

POPULATION-MALI: An Ever-Growing Diaspora

By Almahady Cissé
It's a common sight in the Malian capital: large groups of young people queuing in front of the French and American consulates with one objective in mind - to obtain an immigration visa.

ECONOMY-U.S.: Job Creation Tough Work for Bush

By Emad Mekay
The wealth gap between the rich and poor and the sluggish job market in the United State are looming as major problems for President George W. Bush as he campaigns for another term in office, analysts here say.

ECONOMY-INDONESIA: Workers Protest amid Privatisation Scandals

By IPS Correspondents
Employees of state-owned companies have taken to the country's highways and high courts to protest layoffs and the sale of national enterprises to foreign investors.

DEVELOPMENT: Political Obstacles Slow Path to Goals

By Julio Godoy
Lack of political will at the power centres is emerging as the major obstacle to the millennium development goals, leading experts say.

LABOUR: Wal-Mart Model Misuses Women – Report

By Jim Lobe
Led by U.S.-based Wal-Mart, the world's giant retailers are demanding more and faster production from suppliers, which in turn are bypassing the rights of their workers, most of them women, says a new report by development agency Oxfam.

BURMA: For Women, Going across Border to China Means No Return

By IPS Correspondents
Nandar lives in a small, messy room in an apartment building that doubles as a brothel in this Chinese town across the border from Burma. She is not a sex worker - not yet anyway.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: The Displaced Ask, Where Is the State?

By Gustavo Capdevila
What is most astonishing about Colombia is the poverty, particularly among Afro-Colombians and Indians, abandoned by the state and displaced by the armed conflict in the Choco region, near the Panama border, says a United Nations official.

RIGHTS-VIETNAM: Efforts Aim to Boost Jobs for Disabled Workers

By IPS Correspondents
''I could not believe my ears when friends told me that I had been offered a job at a foreign-invested company,'' 24-year-old Tran Thi Thu said, her voice choked with emotion even though the happy event happened two years earlier.

DEVELOPMENT: Globalisation Should Pick Up Hunger Tab

By Gustavo Capdevila
The globalisation process generates more than enough resources to finance programmes to fight hunger and poverty, states the initiative announced here Friday by Brazil's president, with backing from other countries and the United Nations.

MIGRATION: U.N. Chief, NGOs Urge Europe to Open Doors

By IPS Correspondents
U.N. head Kofi Annan has urged European states to find ways to better manage migration so it benefits migrants as well as sender countries and receiving states.

ECONOMY: U.S. Ban on Outsourcing Smacks of Unfair Policies – India

By Ranjit Devraj
While a new U.S. federal law banning the outsourcing of government contracts will not seriously hurt Indian companies, it will certainly affect trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), warn political and business leaders here.

TRADE: Reforming WTO Still a Distant Goal

By Emad Mekay
Consensus on how to reform the embattled World Trade Organisation (WTO) will not be easy to achieve, if a survey of experts is any indicator.

DAVOS FORUM: Farm Trade Unnerves Even the Most Stolid

By Gustavo Capdevila
The inequality of international farm trade, of all the problems afflicting the developing countries, is apparently the only one capable of shaking up the more than 2,000 business executives, financiers, government leaders and economists participating in the World Economic Forum this week.

LABOUR-SOUTH AFRICA: German and South African Unions Strengthen Ties

By Moyiga Nduru
"We live in one world. Not in the first, second, third, fifth or sixth world," Michael Sommer, head of the Confederation of German Trade Unions, said in South Africa this week.

U.S.: Support Ebbs for Trade and Farm Subsidies – Poll

By Emad Mekay
Most people in the United States disapprove of their country's trade policy and want leaders to beef up measures to cushion trade's negative effects on workers and the environment, a new survey showed Thursday.

POLITICS: Small Island States Hope to Resurface on World Stage

By IPS Correspondents
The world's small island developing countries are preparing to launch sustainable development for a second time.
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