POLITICS: Washington Passes World Bank Torch

The World Bank's board of directors confirmed Robert Zoellick Monday as the lender's next president, under a World War II-era tacit agreement that gives Washington the privilege of filling the institution's top job.

BRAZIL: Journalist Wages Solitary Battle in Amazon

Death threats, physical assaults and 32 lawsuits - this is what freelance journalist Lucio Flavio Pinto has faced as a result of the one-man battle he is waging in this northern Brazilian city, the main gateway to the Amazon jungle.

CORRUPTION: Chirac’s Immunity Is Over, But…

For the last six years, the date Jun. 16, 2007 was the most awaited day by many in France. It was the day that ended immunity for former president Jacques Chirac from pending corruption cases over his 12-year mandate as head of state.

POLITICS-THAILAND: Return From Exile or Face Arrest Thaksin Told

Deposed Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra has been ordered back to Thailand from self-exile to hear formal charges of concealing assets in a family property company or face arrest.

FINANCE: Bias Seen in Int’l Dispute Arbiters

A little known entity closely affiliated with the World Bank that mediates disputes between sovereign nations and foreign investors appears to be skewed toward corporations in Northern countries, according to an IPS review of pending cases and other independent analyses of the tribunals.

LABOUR-MALAYSIA: Death of a Migrant Worker

He died a lonely death in a budget hotel room in downtown George Town earlier this month, far away from home. The death went unreported in the local media and unnoticed by most Malaysians.

CHINA: Child Labour Scandal Exposes Gross Corruption

An unfolding national scandal on the large-scale abuse of child labourers in the brick kiln industry raises questions on the adequacy of planned labour laws that are supposed to take on sweatshops and protect workers' rights.

BALKANS: Smokescreen on Crime Lifts

State involvement in organised crime through the 1990s stands exposed following the arrest of 11 persons in a giant cigarette smuggling operation.

THAILAND: Death Threat to Thaksin Thickens Political Plot

A chat room on a popular Thai-language website is drawing visitors over a troubling question: Will ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra be assassinated when he returns home?

IRAQ: Report Calls on U.N. to End “Complicity of Silence”

The U.S. Coalition is the principal cause of Iraq's current woes, charges a report released Wednesday by the Global Policy Forum (GPF), a New York-based watchdog group.

POLITICS: Democracy Recession in South-east Asia

The coup in Thailand, extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, limitations on religious freedom in Malaysia - South-east Asian democracies are not exactly flourishing these days.

ENVIRONMENT-RWANDA: Unhappy Ending of a Welcome Return

The return in 1996 of over a million Rwandans who had fled their country in the wake of genocide two years earlier, fearing persecution at the hands of Tutsi rebels who took control of Rwanda, was greeted with relief in many quarters.

RIGHTS-CHILE: Fujimori – One Step Closer to Extradition to Peru

Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori should be extradited to his country to be tried on charges of corruption and human rights abuses, according to a report presented Thursday by Chilean Supreme Court prosecutor Mónica Maldonado.

DRUGS-MEXICO: Police Caught Between Low Wages, Threats and Bribes

"If they (drug traffickers) offer you 500 dollars a day, well it's pretty tempting, and if you say no, they kill you. So we're in a pretty tough position, huh?" says Alejandro, who took a month-long course to become a police officer in Mexico and has supported himself that way for the past eight years, earning 460 dollars a month.

ENVIRONMENT-CAMBODIA: Denuded by Corruption, Plunder, Impunity

‘'If (they) come to Cambodia, I will hit them until their heads are broken,'' says a government official from the South-east Asian country in a local newspaper report on Tuesday.

BULGARIA: Eye on Justice as New Political Star Emerges

Justice Minister Georgi Petkanov announced he will resign after the weekend because of health reasons, saying "work at the ministry is extremely hard." Meanwhile, a rising politician who has staked a claim as an anti-crime crusader is making his way towards the prime minister's chair.

INDIA: Legal System in the Dock

The reputation of India's judiciary, considered overbearing and democratically unaccountable by many, has taken a knock with the publication of a report by Transparency International (TI) called the "Global Corruption Report 2007".

HEALTH-CHINA: Dead Serious on Food and Drug Safety

China has confirmed the seriousness of recent international scares about rampant fraud and counterfeiting in its booming economy in a most dramatic way - by sentencing to death the country's former top drug regulator.

NIGERIA: Rights Activists Await Break With Past

The return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999 after years of military dictatorship has not brought an end to extra-judicial killings; rather, the number may have doubled in what is now often a daily occurrence, says the Civil Liberties Organisation - a human rights group based in the financial hub of Lagos.

POLITICS-PHILIPPINES: Opposition Senate Won&#39t Cramp Arroyo&#39s Style

Although the official tally of votes cast for the senatorial election has still to be completed, two weeks after the May 14 elections, the latest round shows that eight candidates from the opposition party are inside the winning circle of 12.

IRAQ: From Worse to Worst?

More than four months after the launch of the U.S. government's new Iraq strategy aimed at curbing violence in this war-torn country, the situation here shows no clear signs of improvement. Indeed, a recent report by a British think tank warns that Iraq is a "failure" on the verge of "collapse and fragmentation."