BRAZIL: Book Takes Dark Journey into World of Police Corruption

Amancio, a military police officer in Rio de Janeiro, was severely wounded in the back by an automatic rifle fired by a drug trafficker, according to official reports. But he was actually hit by "friendly fire" in the stomach, he told a friend just before he died in the hospital.

FINANCE-US: Cost of Terror War Hits 430 Billion

Washington's self-styled "global war on terror" has cost the country at least 430 billion dollars over the past five years in military and diplomatic efforts, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the watchdog arm of the U.S. Congress.

G8 SUMMIT: NGO Approval Tinged With Dissatisfaction

Satisfaction mingled with disappointment as civil society organisations analysed the outcome of the G8 summit that concluded Monday in St Petersburg.

THAILAND: Unending Political Crisis Fuels Talk of Army Coup

Thirteen years after Thailand saw the back of its last military dictator, there is growing speculation in some political quarters that the country may be ripe for another round of military rule.

POLITICS-KENYA: State Targeting Ministers’ Lifestyle

The Kenyan government's directive to have senior officials return luxury cars to cut costs may have been good news to tax payers, but lack of transparency and accountability could undermine the exercise.

POLITICS: UN to Spend a Million Dollars Rooting Out Fraud

The United Nations, which is trying to root out corruption in its procurement services, is spending over a million dollars on legal and consultancy fees in an ongoing investigation which has so far offered little or no productive results.

D.R. CONGO: Minerals Flow Abroad, Misery Remains

International companies and local elites in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are pocketing revenues from copper and cobalt production instead of sharing it with local communities or spending it to reduce poverty, a watchdog group charged Wednesday.

YEMEN: Breath of Principle in Presidential Race

The leading opposition candidate for presidential elections due September is a man of principle - and that is what the parties hope will speak for itself.

POLITICS-CAMEROON: NGOs Endorse Code of Conduct to Promote Transparency

Cameroonian civil societies have welcomed the first global accountability charter that leading international campaigners have publicly endorsed in Glasgow, Scotland, to govern the way non-governmental organisations (NGOs) do business.

THAILAND: Luck’s Out for Thaksin

Will Thailand's caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra see his long run of luck continue? That question looms large after a ruling this week by the Election Commission against Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai- TRT) party.

POLITICS-TAIWAN: Corruption Scandals Betray Democracy at Work

Ever since strongly pro-independence Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian took office in 2000, Beijing's leaders have hoped he would be miraculously unseated by an angry public at home -a public they believe to be dissatisfied with his domestic policies and worried about his provocative attitude towards Beijing.

CUBA: Corruption Crack-Down Aims High

The "war on corruption" declared by President Fidel Castro late last year has shaken the uppermost reaches of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), with a 12-year prison sentence recently handed down to a former member of the country's top government body.

INDONESIA: Military Business Interests Fuel Abuses

Until the Indonesian military is barred from pursuing its own business interests, civilian control over its activities will be limited, and human rights will suffer as a result, according to a major new report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Private Hydel Project on Naramda River Halted

Once again, the government has been compelled to suspend work on the Maheshwar dam over the Narmada River in central India.

CHINA: Rough Climes for Green Activists

When earlier this spring two of China's environmental advocates were feted internationally with prominent awards and cited by Time magazine as among the most influential people in the world, it marked the coming of age for China's nascent green movement.

MALAYSIA: Courts on Trial – Again

The spotlight is once again on the Malaysian judiciary, which was previously accused of pandering to political masters.

CAMBODIA: World Bank Freezes Funds to Protest Corruption

If the Cambodian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen was hoping to drag its feet on cracking down on entrenched corruption in the country, then the World Bank is casting itself as a stumbling block.

DEATH PENALTY: Public Seeks Blood for Corrupt Chinese Officials

When Liu Zhixiang was given a suspended death sentence in April for a long list of crimes that included hiring an assassin, bribery and embezzling some 40 million yuan (5 million U.S. dollar), it sparked indignant letters of protest from ordinary people and legal scholars alike.

ENVIRONMENT DAY: Conflict, Environmental Degradation Scar Kenya’s Drylands

Garissa district, in Kenya's arid and semi-arid North Eastern Province (NEP), is to host national events marking World Environment Day (Jun. 5), which this year focuses on safeguarding drylands, and those who inhabit them.

CORRUPTION: World Bank Weighs Risks of Anti-Graft Drive

A leaked document from the World Bank reveals officials struggling with how to implement stronger anti-corruption measures in Bank projects without creating hurdles to the institution's lending and influence.

CORRUPTION-KENYA: A New Anti-Graft Plan, Amidst Old Scandals

A new plan to address corruption in Kenya has been adopted in the East African country - this as government continues to be criticised for overseeing widespread graft.