RUSSIA: Corruption Admitted, Not Ended

Corruption is not new, but President Vladimir Putin admitting it is. Eradication, however, is still some way off.

MALAYSIA: Brutality on Protesters, Throwback to Mahathir Era

After the brutal suppression of weekend demonstrations in the Malaysian capital, against hikes in fuel oil and electricity prices, stunned civil society groups are revising a view that there would be more room for dissent under Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's administration.

INDONESIA: Malaysia Pitches In with Quake Relief

Indonesia's closest neighbour Malaysia, which is host to some two million Indonesian migrant workers, half of them undocumented, has been rushing food, tent, doctors, nurses and medicines to earthquake hit Java.

INDIA: Stock Market Crash Blamed on Global Integration

On an unprecedented roll for two years, India's stock markets nosedived this past fortnight with investors - nervous after losing more than 100 billion dollars in wealth- refusing to heed Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram's advice to ''stay invested''.

MALAYSIA: Provincial Polls, Wake Up Call for Badawi

Malaysia's ruling National Front coalition won the elections, last week, in timber and oil-rich Sarawak - the country's biggest state and also one of the poorest - but it is a coalition of opposition parties, led by charismatic opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim, that is celebrating.

CORRUPTION: New Anti-Bribery Accord May Not Suffice

The international NGO campaign ECA-Watch has welcomed the decision of the 30-nation club of rich nations to deter bribery in export credits, but regretted that it does not go the whole hog..

AUSTRALIA: ‘Debt Relief, Better Than Aid’

'Jubilee Australia', the faith lobby, called Tuesday for debt relief to be extended to 66 countries and made a strong case for cancelling the debts of Indonesia, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

POLITICS: U.N. Staffers Subject to New Ethical Guidelines

The U.N. Secretariat, which faces ongoing charges of mismanagement and corruption, will provide advice and guidance to staff members on ethics and public morality.

POLITICS-KENYA: Where Are the Bright Young Things?

In an isolated village in Kenya's western Siaya district, near Lake Victoria, 75-year-old William Onyango gazes at a faded newspaper clipping pinned to the wall of his dank, makeshift store.

MALAYSIA: Water Falls Under WTO Regime?

Malaysian activists have expressed concern that two bills before parliament could pave the way for giant transnational corporations to corner significant stakes in the country's domestic water sector.

SUDAN: For Vendors, It’s a Case of Struggle – and Struggle Again

Suzie Bernardo arrives at the market in the centre of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, at dawn, after a long bus ride from a remote slum. There she erects her portable charcoal stove, and sets out tea glasses clouded with fingerprints, and jars of tea, coffee and sugar.

CORRUPTION: The Enron-isation of Afghanistan?

"Contractors in Afghanistan are making big money for bad work" - that is the conclusion reached in a new report from CorpWatch written by an Afghan-American journalist who returned to her native country to examine the progress of reconstruction.

THAILAND: Constitutional Crisis Lingers On

Had these been normal times, Thailand's newly- elected parliament would have commenced work this week. But that is far from being the case and no one is prepared to hazard a guess on when the uncertainty will end.

CORRUPTION: EU Fails to Bring Transparency

A proposed new EU watchdog on lobbying will fail to deliver transparency in decision-making, civil society groups say.

INDIA: Rural Job Guarantee Scheme Passes Muster

An unusual ‘padyatra' or march by members of some 165 civil society groups from across India has just concluded in this dry, treeless district of northwestern Rajasthan state.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: Of Information Bills, and Schools on Bars

As preparations to mark World Press Freedom Day (May 3) in Kenya move into high gear, calls for government to pass a freedom of information bill are intensifying.

DEVELOPMENT: It Will Take Ethical Leadership

A new Global Integrity Alliance (GIA) has been proposed to support coalitions of leaders from different sectors of society committed to integrity in public life.

VIETNAM: Commissars Sidestep Corruption Issue

''Nothing new as usual,'' said Nguyen Van Minh as he disgustedly flung down his copy of the ‘Tuoi Tre' newspaper which carried the final results of the 10th congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) this week.

NEPAL: King Bows to the People

Nepal's capital was light-hearted again Tuesday. From the hundreds of thousands who marched, danced and sang on the roads, to the store-keepers idly chatting before open shops, to the pedestrians speaking on mobile phones nimbly side-stepping potholes, relief and normality were in the air hours after the king bowed to ‘people power' rather than face a protest headed for the palace gates.

FINANCE: Rich Nations Use IMF-World Bank Meet to Advance Own Agenda

Developing nations left the weekend's joint meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) with few gains, while the rich countries that dominate the boards of the two lenders managed to shape the agenda almost entirely to serve their own interests, say analysts here.

POLITICS-AFRICA: Tough Questions for Former Heads of State

A public discussion with eleven former African leaders attending an African Presidential Roundtable, crowned the two-day event held at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg recently.