U.S.: Salt Giants “Locked out” Rivals in Ohio, Probe Finds

When the price of salt in Ohio skyrocketed 236 percent in the winter of 2008, Ted Strickland, the governor of the state, asked the state inspector general to figure out why. Investigators quickly found that two government contractors – Cargill and Morton Salt – were responsible for this sudden price increase.

GUATEMALA: New Law Hits Drug Cartels, Corrupt Officials Where They Hurt

A new law that will allow Guatemalan courts to seize goods and assets obtained through illegal activities, including drug trafficking and corruption, is being hailed as the new hope in fighting organised crime.

GUATEMALA: Women Make Inroads in Key Positions of Power

Guatemala, it seems, is trying out a new image. As of this month, women are at the helm of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Comptroller General's Office, winning their posts on merit, in what local activists are calling an important step in women's access to political power -- though "there is a long way to go."

WIKILEAKS: Africa Offers Easy Uranium

Wikileaks cables have revealed a disturbing development in the African uranium mining industry: abysmal safety and security standards in the mines, nuclear research centres, and border customs are enabling international companies to exploit the mines and smuggle dangerous radioactive material across continents.

PERU: Wikileaks Cables Reveal Two-Faced Politics by US

"It’s not surprising for the United States to cooperate with military or government officials in Peru about which it has information linking them to serious crimes," said activist Ricardo Soberón, referring to contradictions revealed in cables released by the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.

GUATEMALA: Allegations Taint Anti-Corruption Commission’s Efforts

With accusations now being levelled against the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), the effort to clean up corruption in this Central American nation has become a legal knot that will be difficult to untangle.

Of Wikileaks, Whistleblowers and Whipping Boys

As pro- and anti-Wikileaks forces draw their battle lines, and Wikileaks' impresario Julian Assange marks time in storied, overcrowded and very Victorian Wandsworth Prison in southwest London, a group of his supporters are taking a different tack.

India Bleeding Through Illegal Transfers

A new report suggesting that illegal transfers of funds into accounts abroad by India’s corrupt politicians, officials and businessmen average 19.3 billion dollars a year could turn out to be a "gross underestimate", watchdogs warn.

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: “Sanctions Are Hurting the Right People”

The word "sanctions" was among the first five words mentioned to the new European Union (EU) ambassador to Zimbabwe Aldo Dell Ariccia when he first arrived and met with government officials in Zimbabwe a few months ago.

INDIA: Now the ‘Mother of All Scams’

As India is rocked by a series of billion-dollar scams, the question on everybody's mind is whether the perpetrators will go scot-free in what has been described as a low-risk, high-gain activity in this country.

KOSOVO: Dragging Corruption Into the Net

Kosovo youths looking to address issues treated as taboo by mainstream media are taking increasingly to online activism. The new platform is being used particularly to fight high-level corruption.

Foreclosure Mess Reveals Longstanding Problems

The discovery of apparent massive fraud in mortgage and foreclosure documents has called into question millions of pending foreclosures in the U.S. Several banks have enacted partial or complete moratoriums until the issues can be resolved.

U.S. Slides on Corruption Index

Iraq and Afghanistan rank near rock-bottom in an index of corruption in 178 countries that found that nearly three- quarters of the countries surveyed showed serious corruption problems.

MALAWI: While the President Flies, the People Queue for Fuel

A public spat has developed between the Malawian government and organisations in the small south-eastern African country over foreign exchange being "wasted" on foreign trips undertaken by President Bingu wa Mutharika. The consequence has been repeated fuel shortages, organisations say.

Senate Urges Pentagon to Rein in Afghan Contractors

Failures in vetting, training and supervising Defence Department private security contractors are putting U.S. and coalition troops as well as Afghan civilians at risk and unwittingly aiding Afghan militants by hiring security contractors provided by the Taliban and by warlords, warns a new report released last week by the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee.

MEXICO-U.S.: Visas No Guarantee for Migrant Worker Rights

Mexican Alberto Rivero joined the ranks of seasonal workers in the United States in 2005, and for the last three years he has had to pay all the expenses associated with his visa, transportation and housing, although the law states that these are the responsibility of his U.S. employer.

WATER-ZAMBIA: Vanished Funds Mean Fields Stay Dry

The M’cheleka Irrigation Scheme was meant to answer water and food security challenges in the Chadiza district of Zambia's Eastern Province. But ten years after the completion of the dam wall, only six families are benefiting from the water.

MEXICO: Freedom of Information Laws a Model; Not So the Practice

Mexico has suffered a setback in terms of government transparency and access to public information, according to Thomas Blanton and Kate Doyle, experts with the Washington-based National Security Archive (NSA).

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Tax Could be The Way Out of Aid Dependence

Many African countries struggle with debt and finding money for national budgets because they fail to recognise taxation as a sustainable source of funding. Moreover, multinational companies are too easily given tax breaks while siphoning off money through illegal tax evasion.

AFRICA: Women Traders Confronting Sexual Harassment at Borders

Harassment and sexual exploitation by border officials seeking bribes constitute the biggest obstacles for female informal cross-border traders in Africa, according to a United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) research study.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Paying for Social Protection

Despite the Southern Africa region sustaining an annual growth rate of six percent, the U.N. Summit on the Millennium Development Goals will hear that the majority of Southern Africans remain among the poorest people in the world.