TRANSPORT-EL SALVADOR: Your Money or Your Life

Bus drivers and conductors are being targeted by extortionists and murderers in El Salvador. Lack of security, which also afflicts other trades, has become a profitable business opportunity for criminals and police alike.

CORRUPTION: Bulgaria Begins a Brave Fight

Still "on probation" from Brussels, Bulgaria is taking bold steps to persuade the European Union that it is efficient in getting rid of corruption and organised crime.

DEVELOPMENT-TANZANIA: High Growth Still to Benefit the Poor

Just more than a year after Jakaya Kikwete was elected president of Tanzania his name was mentioned in the halls at the Africa Union (AU) summit in January in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as the possible new chairperson of the AU.

FINANCE: Rich Nations Prodded on “Illegitimate” Lending

Industrialised countries that knowingly lent billions of dollars in "irresponsible" debts to corrupt and dictatorial regimes in poor nations should cancel the debts and reconsider their harmful policies, a new study says.

CORRUPTION: Bank’s Graft Crusade Exaggerated, Critics Say

Publicising a self-styled crusade against corruption, the World Bank says it is successfully stepping up its campaign against graft, probing more than 400 cases over the last two years alone and barring dozens of companies and individuals from future World Bank contracts. But critics doubt the scope of the claims.

BANGLADESH: Army-backed Arrests Worry Rights Groups

The detention of over a dozen high-profile politicians by the military-backed interim government in Bangladesh, on Sunday, has raised a storm of protests by rights groups and the country's two main political parties.

NIGERIA: Elites Squander Delta’s Oil Wealth, Report Says

Official corruption in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta is robbing the local population of basic health and educational services, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

CORRUPTION: More U.S. Money Wasted in Iraq, Audit Finds

Dozens of millions of dollars originally slated for the reconstruction and security of Iraq have been squandered on luxury items like an Olympic-sized swimming pool, VIP trailers, and buildings that were never or rarely used, a U.S. government watchdog says.

ECONOMY-IRAN: Shia-Sunni Split – Factor in Annual Budget

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has submitted to Iranian parliament a budget bill for the fiscal year starting Mar. 21 that factors in the possibility of falling oil prices to "neutralise the plots of the enemies" of Iran, already under United Nations sanctions.

POLITICS: S’pore Breaks ‘ASEAN Code’ by Hosting Thaksin

By hosting ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the Singapore government has violated an unwritten code followed by ASEAN countries not to entertain opposition figures or political dissidents from member states.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Debt the Illegitimate Legacy of Africa’s Dictators

As the World Social Forum (WSF) draws to a close in the Kenyan capital Thursday, calls on international finance institutions to cancel debts owed to them by poor countries have grown ever louder.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Political ‘Anarchy’ Comes to an End

It took nearly eight months for the Czechs to come out with a government, and once they did the media has baptized it as "a political farce" and a "freak show".

CAMBODIA: Cracking the Whip on Poachers

A regional wildlife body is aiming to spread its net wide to trap poachers and illegal loggers, now that a section of Cambodia's nature crime investigators have been armed with new legal tools.

POLITICS: As NGOs Multiply, Study Urges More Public Scrutiny

Just after the coastal regions of South and Southeast Asia were devastated by a disastrous tsunami in December 2004, hundreds of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) descended on Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives armed with relief supplies - and good intentions.

DEVELOPMENT-TANZANIA: Sachs Says It Is Possible to Meet MDGs

World renowned economist and director of the United Nations (UN) Millennium Project, Jeffrey Sachs, is a harbinger of good news. During his visit to Nairobi, capital of Kenya, in mid-January he emphasised that it was still possible to meet the MDGs before 2015.

DEVELOPMENT: Business ‘Ignores’ Human Rights

From Iraq to Nigeria, multinational corporations are ignoring human rights, entrenching a culture of abuse and impunity that is difficult to eradicate, a leading anti-apartheid activist warns.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: The Importance of Giving the WSF an African Flavour

This year will mark the first occasion on which an African country, Kenya, is serving as sole host of the World Social Forum (WSF) - a gathering which had its beginnings in the Brazilian town of Porto Alegre seven years ago.

MEXICO: Unprecedented Anti-Drug Trafficking Offensive

Military and police forces were deployed in two states in Mexico, and are soon to move into at least one more. They are carrying out an unprecedented operation against drug traffickers caught up in fierce violence over internal turf disputes. But the opposition fears that it may only be for publicity purposes.

POLITICS: U.N. Fraud Cases Quietly Fizzling Out

When the United Nations launched a probe into "misconduct and mismanagement" in U.N. procurement last January, it moved against eight staffers who were temporarily suspended - "on special leave with pay" - pending investigations.

RUSSIA: Privatisation to Preserve the Past

Russian authorities are considering a proposal for privatisation of monuments so they could be preserved better to attract tourists.

BURMA: Defiant Public Blitzes Junta with Letters

A handwritten letter to a military dictator may sound like an ineffective and risky way of conveying defiance especially in this Internet age, where e-mails, blogs and websites have combined to threaten political authority in a number of countries.