POLITICS-KENYA: Combative Balloting for Speaker

After weeks of the opposition accusing the government of rigging the Dec. 27 presidential elections in favour of the incumbent Mwai Kibaki, the two sides met Tuesday in the House to choose a speaker to steer the business of Kenya’s tenth parliament.

POLITICS-US: Pentagon and Contractors One Happy Family?

A Pentagon office that claims to monitor terrorist threats to U.S. military bases in North America has just awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a company that employs a top aide to former U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld. That aide, Stephen Cambone, helped create the very office that issued the contract.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Rampant Crime Turns Main Election Issue

As election fever grips the country, with polls widely expected mid-March, the country's seemingly unstoppable escalation in violent crime is turning into the main plank of the opposition's campaign.

SWAZILAND: Income Rating Hobbles Aid Effort

Amanda Dube is literally ‘dirt poor’. Fierce bush fires ravaged Swaziland for months in 2007, and repeatedly swept over the hilly area of Mliba where she lives. Fires burned the trees and vegetation on the small sloping plot where the widowed mother of three attempts to scratch out a maize crop.

Q&A: &#39The Date for Kosovo Independence Is Set&#39

Every passing day brings more pressure on the two million people of Kosovo over the future of the province. Demonstrations on the streets of Pristina and Mitrovica, for and against independence respectively, are strong indication of the social unrest in anticipation of a decision.

SLOVAKIA: Government-Media War Escalates

In the midst of a war between government and the media, a new and controversial press bill will force media outlets to publish anyone's reactions to articles considered offensive.

RIGHTS-BURMA: Lobby Says Gem Boycott Is Working

Rights advocates are renewing calls for consumers and merchants to shun Burmese gems in the run up to the military government's latest auction of precious stones, saying evidence shows Western boycotts are beginning to bite.

Q&A: ‘I Need the Support of the People To Get the Big Fish’

Since assuming office last September, Sierra Leone’s new president, Ernest Bai Koroma has publicly vowed to fight corruption. Koroma recently appointed Abdul Tejan Cole as the Anti Corruption Commissioner.

ECONOMY-BANGLADESH: Stagnating Under ‘Clean’ Interim Government

Bangladesh's military-backed interim government faced hard challenges on the political and economic fronts as it stepped into its second year on the weekend.

HEALTH: World Bank, India Confront Corruption

Indian health projects are under the microscope following revelations of fraud and corruption in five ventures backed and overseen by the World Bank.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Corruption Returns to Haunt Government

Former deputy prime minister Jiri Cunek intends to return to his post in spite of public rejection of the alleged corruption scandals involving him.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Election Year Fraught With Multiple Troubles

Malaysia enters what is widely expected to be an election year with its ruling coalition looking its frailest in recent times. Economic grievances, inter-religious disputes and unfulfilled pledges have spawned growing disillusionment with the administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi that could erode popular support for the ruling coalition.

POLITICS: Bhutto’s Killing May Threaten Pakistan’s Stability

The assassination of Pakistan's opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto threatens to de-stabilise a country which the United States describes as a trusted ally and a frontline fighter in the global war on terrorism.

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Mexico Fails Anti-Drug Test

A decade of efforts by Mexico to eliminate, or at least significantly curb, drug trafficking and consumption has led to nothing but failure.

RIGHTS-US: Legal Community Condemns Destruction of CIA Tapes

A former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ethics adviser has joined leading members of the U.S. legal community in calling on Congress to investigate the destruction of tape recordings of interrogations carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

SLOVAKIA: Governance Gets Ever Messier

The disputes within Slovakia's governing coalition have almost caused the government's collapse. Additional trouble can be expected, but the powerful Prime Minister's extraordinary popularity and the weakness of the opposition are holding the coalition together.

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: Mbeki – 1,505 Votes. Zuma – 2,329 Votes

It was, metaphorically speaking, dirty and very bloody. But the campaign leading up to the national conference of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in Polekwane, north-east South Africa - where Jacob Zuma was elected president of the party, Tuesday - was democracy in its rawest form.

IRAQ: Not Even the Hajj is Free of Corruption

Many Iraqis are angry that the government seems to be picking favourites for the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

RIGHTS-MALAYSIA: Internal Security Act Flung at Peaceful Protestors

An old fear, not felt since the dictatorial Mahathir Mohamad retired as prime minister in 2003, has returned - fear of arrest without trial and indefinite incarceration without being charged.

DEVELOPMENT-TANZANIA: Tackling Corruption Through Song

Wailing into the microphone and feigning an exaggerated limp, singer Tominem pleaded with corruption-weary Tanzanians in the audience to assert their rights when fighting graft.

ECONOMY: The Bitter Taste of Cocoa in Cote d&#39Ivoire

Hacking his way through the lush forest with a machete, his rubber boots sinking into the moist earth, Lambert Kwame surveys the plot of land that his family has worked for over 30 years, harvesting cocoa.