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GRNlive correspondent Simon Roughneen in Jakarta says:

Indonesia’s speaker of Parliament stepped down this week after being accused of trying to cajole Freeport — the American mining giant that has a huge copper & gold mine in Indonesia, to give him a 20% stake worth nearly $2bn -- in exchange for him helping to extend Freeport's contract to keep operating one of the world’s biggest mines - a controversial project in Indonesian-run Papua. The speaker was recorded s...

GRNlive correspondents are in Washington and Beijing

AFP via NDTV: US President Barack Obama spoke to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Tuesday, stressing his commitment to reach an investment treaty that could redefine bilateral trade ties. Obama "reiterated his commitment to pursue a high-standard and comprehensive bilateral inves...

GRN correspondents are in Kiev. 

Bloomberg - Ukraine’s military repelled a wave of rebel assaults on Donetsk Airport yesterday, rushing in new troops and ammunition to the battle zone as the government prepares for a visit by neighboring Poland’s prime minister. Pro-Russian separatists used artillery, mortars and small arms fire in ...

GRNlive correspondents are in Hong Kong and Beijing

Reuters: A member of China's central bank's advisory body warned on Wednesday that Beijing will punish Hong Kong if pro-democracy protests that have paralyzed parts of the Chinese-controlled financial center for a month are allowed to continue. Joseph Yam, executive vice presi...

GRNlive correspondents are in Sao Paulo

Bloomberg: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said in her re-election victory speech two nights ago that she would implement “great changes” quickly. Investors are reminding her just how urgent that task is. They drove the real down 1.9 percent and pushed stocks down as much as 6.2 percent, showing their co...

GRNlive correspondent Frederick Bernas is in Sao Paulo and Bruce Douglas is in Rio de Janeiro

The Telegraph: Follow latest news, pictures, videos and analysis from the countdown to Brazil World Cup 2014 as the tournament continues..."Franz Beckenbauer is cancelling his trip to the World Cup in Brazil in the light of Fifa suspending him for 90 days over the inve...

GRNlive correspondents are across Brazil and Dalibor Dobric is in Zagreb

BBC: The referee who awarded Brazil a controversial penalty should not be officiating at the World Cup, says Croatia defender Dejan Lovren. The hosts won the opening game 3-1, but with the score at 1-1 with 20 minutes left, Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura judged Lovren to have pulled down striker Fred, despite minimal contact. N...

GRNlive correspondent Frederick Bernas watched the opening ceremony with people ejected from their homes to make way for the stadium

The Guardian: Anyone who tuned in to the World Cup's opening ceremony hoping to learn precisely what a World Cup opening ceremony is for would have come away slightly disappointed. Unlike, say, Olympic opening ceremonies they are not supposed to be any kind of reflection on the host country. Indeed, such parochialism would be downright frowned upon by toda...

GRNlive correspondents Andrew Chant and Andrew Drummond are in Bangkok

Wall Street Journal: Thailand’s military junta extended its campaign to win hearts and minds Thursday by trying to negotiate a last-minute deal with private TV companies and the telecoms regulator to enable all 64 World Cup soccer matches to be shown on free television. The move, which is in line with the junta...

GRNlive correspondent Frederick Bernas is in Sao Paulo and Bruce Douglas is in Rio de Janeiro

Reuters: Simmering civil tension and the stench of corruption threatens to sully Brazil's global soccer party when the World Cup kicks off on Thursday against a backdrop of protests, unrest and alleged political graft. What was to be a soccer celebration is in danger of being hijacked by...