EGYPT: Political Fatwas Draw Fire

Egypt's ruling party often accuses its Islamist opponents of exploiting religion to achieve political ends. But in the wake of several controversial fatwas - religious edicts - issued by the grand imam of the influential Al-Azhar Islamic establishment, critics are now accusing the state of playing the religion card.

FINANCE: Caribbean Banks Feel Heat From USA Patriot Act

Speaking to a hushed room of Caribbean executives, a Florida-based banker recently detailed how tough U.S. banking laws have become since the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks and how easy it is now for U.S. authorities to penalise regional banks if they knowingly or unknowingly help to launder money for narco-trafficking and terrorism financing.

ECUADOR: No Dial Tone, No Contract

The possible cancellation of the mobile telephone operating licence granted by Ecuador to Porta Celular, a company indirectly owned by Mexican multi-millionaire Carlos Slim, could set a precedent in Latin America.

RELIGION-BALKANS: Bishop May Be Retried For Sexual Abuse

The Supreme Court of Serbia recently announced that a local court in the southern city of Nis did not play strictly by legal rules when it pronounced a bishop of the influential Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) innocent in a sexual abuse case brought by four young men last year.

MEXICO: Ex Crackhead Cop Says God Can Heal Addicts

Miguel Fernández was a police officer in the Mexican capital who used and sold cocaine and crack for 18 years in collusion with his superiors and colleagues. Now he runs a small rehabilitation centre for addicts, where the Bible and God’s healing power are the treatment of choice.

ENERGY-CONGO: Extracting Honesty for an Extractive Resource

As 2007 draws to a close, citizens of Congo can look back on another year in which the challenge of introducing greater accountability into the Central African country's opaque and corrupt oil sector loomed large.

POLITICS-US: Rights Concerns Cloud Regional Anti-Drug Plan

A 1.4-billion-dollar U.S. aid package to Mexico and Central American states aimed at combating drug trafficking and organised crime could backfire, the chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a hearing Wednesday.

IRAQ: Corruption Adds to Baquba&#39s Problems

Facing violence, unemployment and poverty, the capital city of Iraq's volatile Diyala province now finds itself confronting also corruption.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: ‘Mass Rally Wake Up Call to Gov’t’

The biggest public protest in a decade that saw over 30,000 people braving riot police and tear gas on the weekend demanding fraud-free elections was no less than a public cry for real democratic change, say observers.

TRADE: Rights Group Urges Burmese Gem Ban

Human rights advocates have urged the United States and other countries to ban imports of gems from Burma, saying the trade helps to finance military rule and abuses in the country, also known as Myanmar.

LATIN AMERICA: Homegrown Anti-Corruption Measures

An anti-corruption programme being designed by the Ecuadorian government of Rafael Correa could serve as a model in Latin America, where many countries are plagued by this social ill, which acts as a curb on development and even as a threat to political stability.

LABOUR-IRAN: Sugar Industry Strikes Bespeak Bitter Conditions

Labour protests and strikes, though firmly suppressed in Iran, are gaining momentum as failure to manage the frail economic structure pushes more and more state-owned factories and private enterprises into bankruptcy.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Corruption Catches Anti-Roma Minister

Two corruption scandals were too much for Jiri Cunek, the conservative minister who gained fame and power for his uncompromising views on the Roma.

MEXICO: Politicians Make Hay With Flood Aid

In the southeastern Mexican state of Tabasco, hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by unprecedented flooding are queuing for up to six hours to collect food and water, a large part of which has been donated by ordinary Mexicans, but which is being used by some authorities and politicians to their own advantage.

AFGHANISTAN: Police Academy Duties Faze US Troops

Like other troops, the Sep.11, 2001 attacks against the United States inspired Sgt. First Class Darryl Cheatham to join the military. The South Carolina native had already served 10 years in the army before returning to civilian life, but patriotism lured him back into uniform.

MEDIA-FIJI: Court Strikes Blow For Right to Information

Civil society organisations in Fiji have welcomed a High Court decision giving the media the right to publish a confidential audit report commissioned by the state pension fund.

HONDURAS: The Fight to Put Forestry Law in Action

The battle that broke out decades ago in Honduras over illegal logging has now shifted to establishing the legal framework for the new Forestry Law: Protected Areas and Wildlife, long delayed in Congress.

GUATEMALA: Journalists Face Threats Over Report on Candidate

"Where are you? Hurry up, we’re waiting for you!" barked the voice on the telephone. Guatemalan journalist Enrique Castañeda had just finished writing an investigative article on rightwing presidential candidate Otto Pérez’s alleged links with organised crime, and this was the first phonecall he received.

HONDURAS: Death Threat Prompts Reporter to Flee Country

The news director of the Radio Cadena Voces (RCV) radio station, Dagoberto Rodríguez, fled Honduras Thursday after the police warned him that he could be killed by "sicarios" (paid gunmen) in the next 72 hours.

MEXICO-US: Anti-Drug Plan Shrouded in Suspicion

Doubt, mistrust and political friction have arisen over the so-called Merida Initiative, negotiated virtually in secret by the governments of Mexico and the United States. Although it is being touted as an anti-drug assistance programme, it also includes measures for tighter border security and action against terrorism.

POLITICS-BANGLADESH: Judiciary Freed From Gov&#39t But Doubts Linger

While Bangladesh’s judiciary has been freed from the corrosive influence of the bureaucracy and the political establishment, it remains to be seen how the momentous change will work to dispense real justice to the people.