CORRUPTION-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Poverty Fuels Corporate Bribery

Corporations stand accused of breeding corruption in Southern Africa as they pursue lucrative government contracts.

ENERGY-NIGERIA: Crude Oil Theft Costs Millions of Dollars

Nigeria lost 6.1 million barrels of crude oil, worth about 151 million U.S. dollars, to theft during the first quarter of this year, government officials say.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: U.S. Pullback Brakes Momentum, Experts Say

Washington's removal of U.S. marines from Monrovia to ships offshore will hurt the recovery of war-weary Liberia in both real and symbolic ways, say humanitarian and political experts.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Leaders Appeal for Talks Not War

If Africa is to advance economically and socially, sincere dialoguing must replace armed conflict, strikes and dirty politics, delegates at a heads of state summit held in Swaziland this week agreed.

CORRUPTION-NIGERIA: Time Up for Dishonest Police Officers

The dismissal of 34 police officers in Lagos at the weekend shows the seriousness of the new inspector general of police, Tafa Balogun in fighting corruption and redeeming the image of the force, say observers.

CORRUPTION: Murky Business in Oil

Transparency is not one of oil's properties; corruption seems to rise to its surface wherever it is found. Is oil intrinsically dirty?

POLITICS-ZAMBIA: Anti-Corruption Campaign Moves into High Gear

As Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa's anti-corruption moves into high gear, he himself has been accused of several charges of corruption - not in court though, but in the supreme lawmaking body - the national assembly.

AUSTRALIA: Pacific Nations Wary about Overhaul of Islands Forum

A major shake-up of regional security, aid and development programmes is likely after the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Auckland over the weekend, now that regional heavyweight Australia has gotten its way in having a national lead the key Pacific grouping.

POLITICS-NIGERIA: Benin Border Reopens

Economic activities have returned to Seme, a town on the border with the Republic of Benin, which was closed a week ago over cross-border crimes including armed robbery, fuel smuggling and human trafficking.

Special Series/ARGENTINA: Water and Sewage Privatisation Gone Sour

Ten years after the privatisation of the sewage and water systems in the Argentine capital, many areas of the greater Buenos Aires have not yet been connected to the water and sewer mains, and services have not improved, despite the fact that rates have doubled.

LATIN AMERICA: Women Scale the Hierarchies of Justice

Women do not yet represent 50 percent of the ranks of Latin America's judicial systems, but many of the trials that are in the media spotlight - those involving major corruption scandals or human rights violations - are in the hands of female judges and prosecutors.

PARAGUAY: Emergencies and Expectations Await New President

Paraguay's president-elect, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, will be sworn in Friday to the highest office weighed down by the country's economic crisis, endemic corruption and widespread poverty. Even though his Colorado Party has governed uninterrupted since 1947, the Paraguayan people are expecting change.

HEALTH-INDIA: Death Penalty Prescribed for Makers of Fake Medicine

The death penalty again hangs over the denizens of Bhagirath Palace, a sprawling mediaeval structure in the old quarter of the Indian capital, once infamous for political intrigue and now home to the buccaneers who run a sizeable chunk of the world's industry for spurious pharmaceutical drugs.

POLITICS: US Relief Groups Urge Bush to Deploy Forces in Liberia

U.S. relief and development agencies continue to urge President George W. Bush to immediately deploy more soldiers to Monrovia to make Liberia's capital city secure for the delivery of "desperately needed'' humanitarian aid, a possibility that is under discussion, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

POLITICS: What Is a Neo-Conservative Anyway?

With all the attention paid to neo-conservatives in the global media today, one would think that a standard definition of the term would exist. Yet, despite their now being credited with a virtual takeover of U.S. foreign policy under President George W. Bush, a common understanding of 'neo-cons' remains elusive.

EDUCATION-NEPAL: Backlog in Teachers’ Appointment Exposes Weaknesses

Picture these statistics: More than 68 percent of the 170,389 students who took this year's secondary-level leaving examinations in Nepal failed them. Likewise, there are some 40,000 vacancies in the public schools across this Himalayan kingdom.

RIGHTS-BENIN: Civil Society Seeks Release of a Popular Lawyer

The detention of a popular lawyer for 'insulting a judge' has sparked a wave of protest and indignation within the civil society in Benin.

POLITICS-INDIA: Law to Clean up Election Spending Impresses Few

While India's Parliament made legal this week the funding of political parties by private corporations and individuals, few believe that this would make a dent on the country's vast parallel economy that survives on political patronage.

CORRUPTION-SOUTH AFRICA: Inquiry Unlikely to Affect Next Year’s Elections

South African deputy president Jacob Zuma is a returnee, like President Thabo Mbeki. He was born in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa's most populous province and one that remains firmly in the hands of Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a self-proclaimed Zulu aristocrat who heads the Inkatha Freedom Party.

POLITICS: Peacekeepers Tread Carefully in Liberian Capital

West African peacekeepers, who deployed in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, this week, say they will start to enforce a cease-fire and clear the way for humanitarian aid soon.

HEALTH-NIGERIA: New Efforts to Fight Fake Drugs

The death of two children, administered with cardiac stimulant, after successful heart operations in the eastern Nigerian city of Enugu has exposed the dangers that fake and adulterated drugs pose to patients.