SPORTS-CHINA: Corruption Ruining Soccer Games

China's failure to attain the status of a football superpower is quickly becoming a national scandal and may prompt reforms of a sporting system long dominated by central control and driven by the Communist Party's exhortations to win sporting glory for the state.

CORRUPTION: Security Council States to Blame for Oil-for-Food

The United States, which has accused the United Nations of condoning bribery and corruption in the now defunct oil-for-food programme in Iraq, has not itself been ethical, says a former senior U.N. official who once headed the humanitarian project in Baghdad.

CORRUPTION-KENYA: A Hard Nut to Crack

The government of President Mwai Kibaki is under pressure to make public the wealth of its officials as part of its commitment to fight corruption in Kenya.

FINANCE: Toothless Fight Against Money Laundering

The fight against money laundering for terrorism is making little headway, and could be diverting attention from organised and corporate crime, experts say.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Prodigal Son Returns to his Power Base

Anwar Ibrahim, the prodigal son of Malaysian politics, has this advice to opposition leaders who campaigned for his release from jail: ''Move with the times to ensure your political survival.''

CORRUPTION-EUROPE: Communism Leaves a Long Hangover

Lack of government action has left former communist states in Eastern Europe struggling to shake off a culture of corruption, experts say.

POLITICS-KENYA: Slow Progress in War on Graft

Concerned about the slow progress in the war on corruption in Kenya, the United Nations has urged the government of Mwai Kibaki to double its efforts to contain the vice.

POLITICS-CAMEROON: Another Seven Years for the “Absentee Captain”

A distinct sense of "déjà vu" surrounds the announcement this week of results for Cameroon’s presidential poll, held Oct. 11.

CENTRAL AMERICA: The High Cost of Corruption

Corruption is one of the main obstacles to development in Central America, according to experts commenting on the recent series of scandals involving top-ranking officials in the region.

SIERRA LEONE: Doubts About the Effectiveness of Anti-Corruption Institutions

Corruption. The word has a particular resonance in Sierra Leone, where endemic graft helped lay the ground for a brutal civil war that raged for much of the 1990s.

CORRUPTION-KENYA: A Ray of Hope in the Fight Against Graft

Kenya pulled off what some might view as an unexpected feat this week by improving its standing in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index.

LATIN AMERICA: Long List of Ex-Presidents Face Corruption Charges – Report

Never before has such a large number of former and current presidents faced corruption charges in Latin America, a region with serious graft problems, according to the new Transparency International report released Wednesday.

CORRUPTION: Honesty Skids on Oil

Oil-producing countries are among the most corrupt, a new survey by Transparency International shows.

CORRUPTION-MALAYSIA: Ceiling Collapses on Public Works Minister

Cracks on a highway overpass, a serious fungal problem in a newly opened hospital building, a defective multi-storey building, shoddily built school computer labs, design flaws and landslides along major highways - suddenly Malaysia's usually lacklustre Parliament has come alive, as fingers start pointing at those responsible for these fiascos.

ECONOMY-BENIN: Cotton Firm Treads a Tortuous Path to Privatisation

The privatisation of state-owned enterprises is often fraught with difficulties – witness developments at Benin’s National Society for Agricultural Advancement (Société nationale pour la promotion agricole, SONAPRA), a cotton-processing firm.

ECONOMY-NIGERIA: Rebel Leader – Voice for the Masses, or Skilled Opportunist?

"The Nigerian government cannot protect all the oil pipelines in the Niger delta. If somebody says that they can protect all the pipelines that criss-cross the Niger delta, the person is a liar or maybe he does not know...the area," says Alhaji Mujahid Dokubu-Asari, leader of the rebel Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force.

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: Deputy President Not on Trial. Really?

A high-profile court case in South Africa is putting the deputy president firmly in the spotlight - even though he is not the one on trial.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Paramilitaries Extend Their Tentacles

Local secretariats of finance, roads and health - "that's where the money is, that's where the show is run," a member of a paramilitary militia in Colombia can be heard saying in the taped telephone conversation.

CORRUPTION-LATAM: Cheated Savers Despair Over Slow Pace of Justice

Suicides and stress-related health problems strew the path of the tens of thousands of depositors in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay who are trying to recover at least part of the savings they lost two years ago in a flood of bank runs, fraudulent bank activity and financial collapse.

CORRUPTION: OAS Chief’s Resignation – Passing Damage, Lasting Shame

The resignation of Organisation of American States (OAS) secretary-general Miguel Angel Rodríguez and an international warrant issued for his arrest on corruption charges will bring only passing damages, but lasting shame, to the regional body and Costa Rica, say analysts.

CORRUPTION: Whistleblowers Recognised At Last

The whistleblowers in a major Kenyan corruption scandal were presented the Transparency International Integrity Awards in Nairobi Saturday.