In Transparency International's just-released 2009 survey of world corruption, Afghanistan was only one step above the bottom rung,ranking 179th out of 180 countries surveyed.

VOA: standard.2009.11.17

President Umaru Yar'Adua has come under pressure to step up his anti-graft drive in one of the world's most tainted countries since he came to power in 2007.

VOA: standard.2009.04.18

"It's a long awaited step." Paul Salem,who heads the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center, thinks that President Obama's trip to Cairo is likely to have positive reverberations across the Arab world.

VOA: standard.2009.05.09

Steven Russell, director of Massachusetts General Hospital's Diabetes Unit and co-author of the study, the next step is for researchers to develop a portable system about the size of a cellular telephone.

VOA: standard.2010.04.15

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the new treaty is also a major step in the goal of "resetting" the U.S.-Russia relationship, which includes efforts to deal with nuclear proliferation and terrorism.

VOA: standard.2010.03.26

So that's to be expected. And we're going to continue with our efforts to achieve an early re-launch of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians because we believe that's an essential step toward achieving the comprehensive peace to which I earlier referred."

VOA: standard.2009.10.08

But in a press appearance here, she said the resolution of the standoff - with the reinstatement of the country's deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry - was a resolution by the Pakistanis themselves and a hopeful first step toward broader dialogue.

VOA: standard.2009.03.16