KYRGYZSTAN: Opposition Runs Separate Parliament

A nation of five million, Kyrgyzstan has ended up with two parliaments: the official one, and the second that many consider the more legitimate one.

VENEZUELA: Gov’t Celebrates British Ruling Against Exxon

Venezuela celebrated, as a triumph for countries of the developing South, Tuesday’s ruling in its favour by a British court in a legal dispute with U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil, which overturned an earlier court order to freeze around 12 billion dollars in Venezuelan assets.

BULGARIA: Steel Plant Privatisation Fails to Deliver

The steel plant at Kremikovtzi, the pride of Bulgaria in its socialist days, is nearing collapse after privatisation failed to deliver.

ECONOMY: Save the Market from Market Forces

Neo-liberalism is slowly fading away. That is, if we define neo-liberalism as an ideology that steadily wants to reduce and belittle the role of government, and promote ever freer markets.

ENERGY-MEXICO: PEMEX in Death Throes Amid Political Squabbling

Mexico’s state oil company, PEMEX, is broke, and the country’s crude oil reserves will run out in less than 10 years. But although local politicians agree on the diagnosis, few are proposing solutions, while recriminations, by contrast, are flying thick and fast.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Mumbai Marches on Against Globalisation

There was grim determination on the faces of the 500-strong crowd that marched through the streets of this western port city for the World Social Forum’s Global Day of Action on Saturday.

DEVELOPMENT-MALAYSIA: Civil Society Stalls Eight Billion Dollar Project

Civil society groups here are mulling their next move after having stalled a massive, private project to build close to 40 high-rise towers on a precious green lung on this land-scarce Malaysian island.

GREECE: Defending Nationalism In The Air

The European Commission (EC) announced a formal investigation Dec. 20 into complaints that the Greek state is illegally subsidising its national air carrier.

EUROPE: Call to Keep Water Clean of Privatisation

Water supply could increasingly be managed by private firms once a new European Union treaty enters into force, experts warned Monday.

BALKANS: Serbs Wait For Free Wealth

Going by official media, the Kosovo dispute seems to top the nation's agenda. But Serbs have their mind more on visions of free wealth that they believe will be theirs, after the Law on Free Distribution of Shares came into force last week.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Election Year Fraught With Multiple Troubles

Malaysia enters what is widely expected to be an election year with its ruling coalition looking its frailest in recent times. Economic grievances, inter-religious disputes and unfulfilled pledges have spawned growing disillusionment with the administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi that could erode popular support for the ruling coalition.

PAKISTAN: Rail Accidents – More Than Nuts and Bolts

While authorities have attributed the Dec. 19 railway tragedy to a possible rail fracture from cold weather, experts say the issue is not about nuts and bolts but a reflection of overall transport policy.

BRAZIL: Auction of Oil Blocks in the Crossfire

Foreign and national companies bid Tuesday for oil exploration rights in Brazil in an auction opposed by social movements, which are demanding the reinstatement of the state-run Petrobras’s monopoly over the country’s oil and natural gas reserves.

ECUADOR: No Dial Tone, No Contract

The possible cancellation of the mobile telephone operating licence granted by Ecuador to Porta Celular, a company indirectly owned by Mexican multi-millionaire Carlos Slim, could set a precedent in Latin America.

PHILIPPINES: Water Privatisation – Boon or MNC Conspiracy?

Supporters call it a model for the future. But critics say it is a conspiracy by multilateral financial institutions to privatise water supplies and open the floodgates for multinational corporations (MNCs) to reap profits from Asia's poor.

PERU-IRAQ: A Year in Hell for 1,000 Dollars a Month

Former Peruvian noncommissioned army officer Norman Alfonso Solano is happy because he has once again been recruited to work as a private security guard in one of the most dangerous places in the world: Iraq.

ASIA: Water Services – Fee or Free?

Access to safe water may be touted as a human right, but inadequate supplies, crumbling water systems and the galloping needs of growing populations are forcing experts, government utilities and funding agencies to ponder over devising sustainable water service networks in Asia’s teeming cities.

CHILE: Mega Dams, Mega Impacts, Mega Half-Truths

An organisation in the Aysén region in the south of Chile which opposes the building of five hydroelectric stations on two large rivers has made a documentary film about the reactions of communities affected by dams and power lines in Chile and Argentina.

FRANCE: Sarkozy Hedges Free Market With Gov’t Control

Following nearly two years of squabbling, this month France’s national gas utility, Gaz de France, finally agreed to team up with the Franco-Belgian utility Suez, to create an energy behemoth with some 72 billion euros in revenue.

BRAZIL: Plebiscite Against Privatisation of Mining Giant

Ten years after the much-criticised privatisation of the Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), Brazil’s largest mining company, some 200 civil society organisations are attempting to undo the process, which is also facing a number of court challenges.

BALKANS: Privatisations Pick Up in Kosovo, Privately

"The Kosovo Trust Agency is now preparing to privatise one of the most remarkable properties remaining in south-eastern Europe - the Dragash Sarrprodhimi socially owned enterprise. Sharrprodhimi offers over 22,000 hectares of largely untouched land...with excellent potential for tourist industry development."