COLOMBIA: Vote-Buying and Front Men

During Sunday's legislative elections in Colombia - in which rightwing President Álvaro Uribe's allies were the big winners - polling stations in one-third of the country's municipalities were at risk of violence, corruption or fraud, according to the ombudsman's office and election observers, who reported vote-buying and pressure on voters.

AFRICA: Corruption Carries High Cost, World Bank Says

Poverty is on the rise in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and various forms of corruption threaten to undermine the impact of investments made to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the continent, said the World Bank in a report released Monday on Africa's development.

FINANCE: Self-Policing of Extractive Industries a “Dismal” Failure

An international initiative that seeks to reform how governments profit from their natural resources should not reduce its existing standards of membership solely because candidate countries have been reluctant or incapable of meeting them, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.

UGANDA: Pressure Mounts to Make Public Oil Agreements

Uganda’s members of parliament (MPs) are pressurising government to make public details of oil production-sharing agreements it signed with various international oil companies.

U.S.: Blackwater’s Migraines Multiply

Legal headaches are growing exponentially for the security firm formerly known as Blackwater – once the darling of the military-industrial community.

EUROPE: Tax Evasion Rampant Despite Treaties With Tax Havens

New cases of tax evasion in several European countries are showing the limits of the informal agreements reached between the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and tax havens such as Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.

MIDEAST: Dubai Hit Exposes Hamas’s Weaknesses

Hamas has closed ranks and is licking its wounds following the Jan. 20 assassination in Dubai of one of its top operatives, Mahmoud Al Mabhouh. It is alleged that one of its own was responsible for providing the hit team with vital logistical information.

Q&A: “It’s Not Easy to Fight Impunity”

Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom said he intends to extend the mandate of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), in this interview with IPS during a three-day visit to the United States.

DEVELOPMENT: Free Hungry Mouths of Red Tape

Developing countries must tone down the booming voice bureaucrats have in policies and target corruption if commitments to defeat hunger are to be turned into action, leaders and experts at a United Nations meeting said Wednesday.

POLITICS-TOGO: First Female Presidential Candidate

Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson, head of the opposition Democratic Convention of African Peoples party, is Togo's first female presidential candidate. But she has withdrawn from the electoral process.

ENVIRONMENT-HONDURAS: Forest Corruption a Major Challenge

The effects of climate change in Honduras have a local accomplice. Not only are forests suffering from global warming; they are also the victim of illegal logging.

MIDEAST: Scandals, Assassination Plan Rock Palestinian Authority

The Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah is fighting a tidal wave of fresh allegations, including sexual harassment, an internal power struggle and embezzlement.

U.S.: Mandated Oversight Missing in Afghan Contracts

Lack of oversight of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) contractors in Afghanistan is not a new story.

IRAQ: Govt Expels Former Blackwater Contractors

The Iraqi government has ordered hundreds of private security contractors who previously worked for Blackwater Worldwide or its subsidiaries to leave the country within seven days or risk arrest for visa violations, Iraq's interior minister said Wednesday.

ETHIOPIA: Dam Critics Won’t Go Away

Ethiopia is building a 240-metre high dam on the Omo River that is intended to end the country's electricity shortage and supply power to neighbouring countries. Not everyone's happy.

CORRUPTION: U.S. Banks Abetting Corrupt Regimes, Probe Finds

The global bank HSBC may be running offshore accounts for central banks. According to a U.S. Senate investigation, an HSBC subsidiary in London called HSBC Equator Bank had a sister bank in the Bahamas.

IRAQ: Allegations of Fraud Scheme at Agility of Kuwait – Part 2

The Sultan family of Kuwait runs a variety of businesses alleged to be at the heart of a scheme to overcharge the U.S. military by as much as a billion dollars over the last seven years. The company is currently scheduled to face criminal arraignment on Feb. 8 in Atlanta, Georgia.

MIDEAST: Corrupt Arab Regimes – Who is to Blame?

The Mideast continues to be plagued by autocratic Arab regimes where human rights, democracy and freedom of speech are a pipe dream for the average citizen. But who is to blame and what can be done to amend this situation?

IRAQ: Agility Attempts to Vault Fraud Charges – Part 1

Agility, a Kuwait-based multi-billion-dollar logistics company spawned by the U.S. invasion of Iraq, is scheduled be arraigned on Feb. 8 on criminal charges of overbilling U.S. taxpayers for food supply contracts in the Iraq war zone that were worth more than 8.5 billion dollars.

BURMA: Ethnic Women Expose Opium Fields in Junta Strongholds

A report exposing the spreading opium fields in the north-eastern corner of the military-ruled Burma has brought to light an equally revealing story. It was produced by a team of ethnic women who risked their lives to document the heroin-filled world they inhabit.

AFGHANISTAN: Officials’ Optimism on Economy Belies Deep Poverty

Afghanistan may be one of the poorest countries in the world, but official figures do not quite paint a picture of a country deep in the throes of poverty and underdevelopment.