WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: Unique Awards Highlight Corporate Irresponsibility

As the world's business and political elite continue their annual meeting in this Swiss alpine resort, civil society representatives have singled out four transnationals as the most socially irresponsible on the planet, and presented them with the Public Eye on Davos Award.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: Corporations in Search of Paradise – Fiscal, That Is

All of the rhetoric about corporations' social responsibility, promoted in the international arena and adopted by the World Economic Forum (WEF), suffers from a structural flaw because it pays little attention to corporate tax evasion, say activists.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: U.N. Vows to Track Massive Aid Spending

With billions of dollars pouring into emergency relief funds and post-tsunami reconstruction projects, the United Nations has pledged not only to police itself but also to ensure that aid money is not diverted to the pockets of corrupt officials or individuals, whether in governments or non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Corruption Threatens Quality of Indian Mercy

India is a country notorious for middlemen who specialise in siphoning away development funds. And voluntary agencies are struggling to ensure that the deluge of monetary aid pouring in for the survivors of the Asian tsunami actually reach the ones most in need.

POLITICS-AFRICA: A Challenging Road Ahead for the Peer Review Mechanism

Since the African Peer Review Mechanism was launched about two years ago, less than half of the African Union’s 53-member states have acceded to the process – designed to improve governance on the continent.

CORRUPTION-KENYA: Calls for Government to Put Its Money Where Its Mouth Is

For Kenyan authorities, 2005 promises to be a "crunch year" as far as tackling the country's pervasive corruption is concerned.

DEVELOPMENT: World Bank Chief to Exit with a Mixed Legacy

World Bank President James Wolfensohn says he will not seek a third term at the helm of one of the world's most important financial institutions, as Bank watchers say he is leaving a mixed legacy marred by a series of failures and disappointments for the world's fight against poverty.

HEALTH: Intimidation, Politics and Drug Industry Cripple U.S. Medicine

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is supposed to safeguard the nation's medical products, drawing upon the substantive expertise of its drug scientists in vigilant dedication to the public's health, that is not the case today.

CHALLENGES 2004-2005: Risks Posed by South America’s Growing Ties to China

While the United States has its gaze trained elsewhere, China has been nudging its way into South America.

ENERGY-GABON: Calls for Fair Division of a Diminishing Pie

An oil rich nation, where a minority is accused of benefiting disproportionately from mineral wealth...Clashes between police and the inhabitants of oil-producing areas that result in deaths...A scene from Nigeria? No - Ndolou, in south-western Gabon.

POLITICS: Kofi Annan Receives a Vote of Confidence From His Home Continent

In recent weeks, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been the subject of heated debate in the United States and Europe – this after he was accused of oversight in his handling of the Iraq oil-for-food programme between 1996 and 2003. Allegations of conflict of interest in the Annan family concerning the initiative have also been made.

POLITICS-MOZAMBIQUE: Electoral Victory at Hand for Frelimo – But Apathy Rules

It would come as no surprise to find that Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo party has put champagne bottles on ice. Preliminary results from general elections held earlier this month (Dec. 1 and 2) show that its presidential candidate, Armando Guebuza, has taken a comfortable lead in the poll.

CORRUPTION: The French Find it on All Floors

A suspended prison sentence handed out to former French prime minister Alain Juppe is one of several corruption cases plaguing French politics and business.

BRAZIL: The War on Corruption

Corruption - and not drug trafficking, as many believe - is the largest source of "dirty money" in Brazil, accounting for 70 percent of laundered funds, according to some specialists.

ENVIRONMENT: Donors Overlooking Cambodia’s Forests – Global Witness

The World Bank might have castigated Cambodia for not doing enough to curb illegal logging and the misuse of state resources by the rich and powerful, but a leading environmental monitor says this is a case of doing too little, too late.

CORRUPTION: Few See a Clean Way Out

Not many people around the world seem to believe that corruption can be contained let alone eradicated, experts said after a major international survey.

CORRUPTION: U.N. Failing to Practise ‘Good Governance’

The United Nations, which extols the virtues of ''good governance,'' is not practising what it preaches, say U.N. diplomats, long-time observers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

CORRUPTION: Graft Trial Reaches High Into South African Government

International Anti-Corruption Day, held Thursday, may well have struck a particular chord with South Africans this year. The country is currently witnessing a high-profile corruption case, which is being held in the eastern port city of Durban.

CORRUPTION: Mishandled Money Plagued U.S.-Ruled Iraq

U.S. management of the Iraqi economy was plagued by irregularities, corruption, failures and mishandling of billions of dollars, according to analysts and multiple recent audits.

CORRUPTION: Russian Business Joins With U.S. NGO to Fight Back

The popular image of Russia in the West today is of a land of post-Soviet oligarchs, oil company billionaires languishing in jail, President Vladimir Putin ruthlessly centralising his power by replacing provincial governors, civil liberties being abused, and, of course, the 10-year war in Chechnya with the resulting unthinkable murder of hundreds of children in Beslan.

CORRUPTION: No Free Lunch for Cambodia, Say Fed-Up Donors

While the international donor community still has Cambodia's well-being at heart, it is showing little sympathy for the rampant corruption in that battle-scarred country. For graft, according to reports, has robbed the poor of basic services.