GHANA: Report Warns of ‘Resource Curse’ Ahead of Oil Boom

The recent discovery of oil in Ghana could undermine its democratic development, warns the international aid agency Oxfam America and the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) in Ghana.

CARIBBEAN: Bank Scandals Add to Region’s Economic Woes

Caribbean leaders emerged from a one-day special summit on Wednesday night to announce new mechanisms to deal with some of the problems plaguing the region's financial sectors, occasioned not only by the ongoing global crisis, but by several homegrown scandals as well.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Donation Scam Setback for Main Opposition Party

The arrest of a top aide to opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa on Tuesday, for allegedly accepting illegal political donations, could not have come at a worse moment for his Democratic Party Japan (DPJ).

CORRUPTION-US: How Wall Street Paid For Its Own Funeral

A new report says that Wall Street has only itself to blame for the misguided deregulation that led to the current deepening financial crisis.

ENVIRONMENT: Bulgaria Going Down a Slippery Slope

The World Ski Cup for women last weekend was organised in Bulgaria at a ski resort whose development is partially illegal, and which is damaging a world heritage site.

BOTSWANA: High Profile Trial Could Open Can of Worms

The high profile trial of former Debswana Managing Director, Louis Goodwill Nchindo, could open a can of worms about the shady activities of senior government officials in Botswana, officially Africa's least corrupt country.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Goa Agitated by Shady Real Estate Deals

Simmering resentment against major, concrete development in rural Goa - famous for its exotic beaches and idyllic rural countryside - has now exploded in violent agitations against corrupt local administrations.

POLITICS: Two Kenyas, Two Dreams: Which Do We Want?

Kenya's civil society has rebuffed efforts by its embattled government to restore its tattered image in the wake of waning public confidence in the state. Their major grievance is that the country's problems, including high level graft, are the result of a culture of impunity that has engulfed the nation's top officials and politicians.

Q&A: Fighting "the Dark Side of Globalised Society" *

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón, known for prosecuting alleged tyrants, terrorists and perpetrators of corruption, believes that progress toward a global justice system began in 1996, with the trials in Madrid of Argentine and Chilean torturers, and especially with the arrest of Augusto Pinochet in October 1998.

ZAMBIA: Corruption in Water Sector Makes Clean Water A Pipedream

In his address to the National Assembly on Jan. 30, Zambia's finance and national planning minister, Situmbeko Musokotwene, allocated additional resources to the water sector, with the specific aim of preventing the spread of waterborne diseases. But Zambians have heard such promises before.

AFRICA: Yet Another Case of Graft Involving French Arms Trade

Three days ago, Jean-Charles Marchiani, a former member of the French secret services, was released from the Paris prison of La Santé where he had been serving time since May 2008. Last year, a tribunal in Paris found Marchiani guilty of influence peddling and other corruption charges involving African countries.

IRAQ: Still Homeless in Baghdad

"We only want a normal life," says Um Qasim, sitting in a bombed out building in Baghdad. She and others around have been saying that for years.

CORRUPTION-PERU: Parliament Investigates PetroTech Sale

At the government's request, the Peruvian parliament has set up a commission to investigate alleged irregularities in the sale of Petro Tech Peruana (PTP) to Ecopetrol, the Colombian state oil company, and the South Korean National Oil Corporation (KNOC). But opposition politicians are sceptical of the outcome and have refused to participate.

PHILIPPINES: Media Has Key Role in Fighting Corruption

When administrative officer Bryan Baylon discovered irregularities in the state-run hospital that employed him he first tried resolving them by informing his supervisors and proposing measures to curb corrupt practices.

FRANCE: New Claims About Corrupt Relations with African Dictators

The possibility that French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner might have misused his public position in France to boost his profitable private business with prominent African dictators arises at a time when the local authorities are dealing with numerous corruption affairs.

SRI LANKA: ‘Govt Targets Media Under Civil War Cover’

Sri Lanka's ruling establishment has become increasingly intolerant towards the island country's independent media, even as President Mahinda Rajapakse's government steps up its military offensive against separatist Tamil militants in the north.

CAMBODIA: Chevron Silent on Bribery Allegations

U.S. energy giant Chevron is under fire for failing to disclose the amount of money it allegedly paid to secure rights to drill for offshore oil in corruption-ridden Cambodia.

/EXCLUSIVE/FINANCE: How One Fund’s Profits Ended Up in the Caymans

President Barack Obama said he would crack down on firms that use offshore centres to evade taxes. He could begin with a New York subsidiary of one of the world's largest private banks, which used a Cayman Islands company to shift its profits.

RIGHTS-PHILIPPINES: Poor Suffer Most From Corruption

Apo Aguila, a computer programmer, moved to Singapore in 2005, frustrated with the news that Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had allegedly cheated in the 2004 presidential election.

POLITICS-PARAGUAY: Twenty Years of Transition

Paraguayan society is marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of former dictator Alfredo Stroessner (1954-1989) amid uncertainty surrounding the loss of power of the Colorado Party, which ruled the country for 61 years.

FINANCE: Most Citizens Kept in Dark on Govt Spending

The vast majority of the world's governments effectively deny citizens basic information they need to understand how public monies are being spent, according to a new report released here Sunday by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), a Washington-based project that works with civil society groups to promote government transparency and improve accountability.