U.N. Faces Threat of Irrelevancy Amid Big Power Politics

The 192-member General Assembly began its 65th session under a perceived new threat: that the United Nations is being overshadowed by a more powerful body, the G20.

Civil Society Watchdogs Crucial in New Global Order

Six hundred delegates from more than 80 countries flocked to Montreal Aug. 20-23 for the CIVICUS World Assembly in search of innovative ways to approach global challenges like poverty and climate change.

Chile Threatens to Split South Unity in World Body

The Group of 77 (G77) has historically maintained a united front, vociferously protecting the economic interests of developing countries at the United Nations.

POLITICS: U.S. Had the Last Word, But China Was the Winner at G20

U.S. President Barack Obama may have squeezed in the last word as the G20 summit wrapped up recently in Toronto, but it was China that came away looking like the summit’s winner.

Free Ride for Oil and Coal Industry May Be Over

Every day, governments give away an estimated two billion dollars of taxpayer money to the fossil fuel industry. This unmatched largesse to a highly profitable sector by countries verging on bankruptcy or unable to feed large numbers of their own people is "complete madness", according to many experts.

As Canada’s Democracy Trembles, a New Global Architecture Emerges

Nearly 600 people were arrested as global leaders and elites met behind a fortified perimetre during the G8 and G20 Summits in Huntsville and Toronto this weekend.

Activists Slam G8’s Aid Shell Game

The G8 bloc of wealthy nations promised five billion dollars Saturday for health and nutrition programmes that benefit women and children in developing countries.

G20: China May Not Play Saviour

Against a backdrop of rising expectations that it holds the key to global economic recovery, China has sent a subtle signal that its economic health is frail and that external pressure to revalue its currency will cause more damage than good.

Time to Give Wall Street the Axe, Say Progressive Groups

As heads of state from the Group of 20 (G20) most developed and economically powerful emerging nations meet in Toronto, Canada this weekend, some activists at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit are urging a more realistic look at the roots of the global economic crisis - and an end to the free-wheeling capitalist model embodied by Wall Street.

WORLD: Inviting Africans to G8 Meeting “Is Just Window-Dressing”

Questions are being asked about whether the Group of Eight invitation to seven African states to attend its summit in Ontario, Canada, reflects its concern about the litany of unmet promises dating from its 2005 Gleneagles meeting -- or whether it merely amounts to another bout of window-dressing.

Chinese Currency Concession Eases Pressure Ahead of Summit

China's central bank announced Saturday that it would give the Chinese Yuan (RMB) flexibility to gradually rise in value against the U.S. dollar in a move that was welcomed by Washington and designed to appease global leaders at this weekend's G20 meeting in Toronto.

Smaller Nations Fear Marginalisation by Elite G20

The 27-member Global Governance Group (3G) is challenging the politically and economically powerful G20 not to marginalise the interests of small and medium-sized countries or undermine the United Nations in key decision-making.

ECONOMY: “G20 Meeting Should Address Plight of Poorest States”

The Group of 20 should show its concern about those that the global economic crisis "is leaving behind" by putting the plight of least developed countries on the agenda at its meeting later this month.

RIGHTS: ‘G20 Must Lead on Justice’

Amnesty International is calling on the G20 to lead the world out of a crisis in justice, after the band of major industrialised and emerging nations has led a fair bit of the world out of economic recession, to some extent.

WORLD: “Poor Countries Should Have a Seat at G20 Table”

The global economic crisis highlighted the necessity of transforming global economic governance. But least developed countries (LDCs) have little voice in this process. It is time they are allowed a seat at the meetings of the Group of 20 industrialised and emerging economies.

Crisis Trapping Millions More in Poverty

The global economic crisis is projected to hamper progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and will directly impact MDGs related to hunger, child and maternal health, gender equality, access to clean water and disease control, according to a report released Friday by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Zoellick Sees End of “Third World”

The 2009 global financial crisis marked the definitive end of longstanding paradigms of the global economy and development, such as the "Third World" and "North-South", according to World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

Q&A: South Korea a Key Convention Centre in Asia

The Republic of Korea (ROK), one of the fastest growing industrial nations and the world's 13th largest economy, has not only survived the global financial crisis but is also gearing up to play a key role in the international arena.

POLITICS: G20 Big Powers Under Scrutiny by Smaller Nations

When the G20, representing some of world's politically and economically powerful developing and industrial nations, suddenly gained a higher profile with the onset of the global financial crisis two years ago, there was apprehension the group would sooner or later try to upstage the United Nations and its key decision-making role.

CHINA: Postscript to Obama Visit: When Beijing Blinked

The jury is still out on what Beijing and Washington achieved during President Barack Obama's first state visit to China last week. But one trait has emerged more strongly than anything else.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Dark Clouds Gathering Over Copenhagen

It has been a bad week for the climate change summit in Copenhagen next month. During the week the last meeting in the formal round of pre- Copenhagen talks collapsed in Barcelona. Then, meeting here on the weekend, the G20 finance ministers put the seal on that failure by failing to agree a financial package.