DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Law Needed to Get Private Firms to Hire Dalits

With the public sector shrinking under the impact of economic reforms, India’s communist-backed coalition government is set on legislation to encourage private enterprises to reserve jobs for Dalits (the broken), or people at the bottom of Hinduism's notorious social hierarchy.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Private Hydel Project on Naramda River Halted

Once again, the government has been compelled to suspend work on the Maheshwar dam over the Narmada River in central India.

MALAYSIA: Transparency Missing in Free Trade Deal With US

While millions of Malaysians are engrossed with the World Cup, civil society groups are raising the alarm over a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States as negotiations get underway here on Monday.

INDIA: Fuel Price Hike Widens Rifts in Coalition Gov’t

A nine percent hike in India's already high fuel prices, effected this week, has brought out serious rifts within the ruling, Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) establishment.

ARGENTINA: Another War Over Water

Fed up with poor water quality, rate hikes and a lack of investment in expanding infrastructure, residents, union members and environmentalists in the Argentine province of Córdoba have forced a multinational corporation to withdraw from the business, and are now demanding that the state play a part in a new public water company.

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.

VIETNAM: ‘Casino Trading’ Heats Up Fledgling Bourse

These days, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Loc, a college student, leaves home early so that she can indulge in a supremely capitalist activity - speculating in the stock market.

BOLIVIA: The Story Behind Gas Nationalisation

"If you agree, sign the decree!" Bolivian President Evo Morales told his ministers on the morning of May 1, as he got ready to announce the renationalisation of an industry that will move 200 billion dollars over the next two decades in South America's poorest country.

BRAZIL: Nationalisation in Bolivia Ignites ‘Sub-Imperialist’ Public Opinion

Bolivia's nationalisation of its energy resources has triggered a public outcry in Brazil, demanding that the government take a stronger stance to "defend national interests" - undeterred by the fact that these particular interests happen to be located in other countries.

INDIA: High Salaries Can Reverse Brain Drain

Talent hunters from the big global names in business and finance, who regularly scout India's top business schools, are suddenly finding themselves competing with local companies, ready to match the top dollar salaries.

MONGOLIA: Street Vends Stave Off Liberalisation Wolf

Janchiv Dolgor (not her real name), an alert and elegant mother of five, lost her job at a state-run garment factory in the Mongolian capital, following its privatisation.

INDIA: Communism’s ‘Last Bastion’ Votes Red Again

India's West Bengal state, called the world's last bastion of popular communism, is preparing to usher into power its seventh consecutive leftist government, this week.

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.

ENERGY: Neighbours Recognise Bolivia’s ‘Sovereign’ Right to Nationalise Gas

The presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela confirmed their interest in moving together towards regional energy integration, in a summit held Thursday in the northeastern Argentine province of Misiones to discuss the impact of the Bolivian government's decision to reassert state control over the country's energy resources.

ENERGY-SPAIN: Calm, Rational Dialogue with Bolivia

Bolivia's nationalisation of its energy resources goes well beyond domestic political, economic or business considerations, raising major international issues, as seen by the reactions from Spain and other countries whose companies are affected.

ENERGY-BOLIVIA: Morales Plays Hardball

Passersby continued to gawk with surprise Tuesday at signs tacked up at the petrol stations run by Brazilian oil giant Petrobras in Bolivia. The signs read "nationalised" and bore the logo of the badly weakened Bolivian state-owned oil company YPFB.

ENERGY-CHILE: Environmentalists Demand Changes as Crisis Looms

Chile's new government is attempting to forestall a possible energy deficit caused by cuts in the supply of natural gas from Argentina, sky-high oil prices and low rainfall forecasts for this year. But environmentalists are critical of the strategy being adopted.

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.

MALAYSIA: Aussie Consultant in Health Plan Spooks Civil Society

Civil society groups here are eager to meet the newly- appointed Australian consultant who has been tasked with drawing up a blueprint for a new national health-financing scheme.

ECONOMY-ARGENTINA: De-Privatisation Purely Pragmatic, Say Observers

Although the Argentine government of Néstor Kirchner has re-established state ownership of four originally public companies that were privatised in the 1990s, observers say this does not imply an express policy towards "de-privatisation", but rather an attempt to regain control over public services that have fallen into a critical state.

WATER-LATIN AMERICA: Suez Packs Its Bags and Won’t Be Back

The French water company Suez, the favorite villain of anti-privatisation activists, has entered the final stretch of its withdrawal from Argentina and Bolivia, where it has been packing for quite a while. And it could be a long time before it returns to Latin America.