IRAQ: No Timeline for Political Transition

Continued differences among the five members of the United Nations Security Council blocked an accord on Iraq's political future during a meeting here Saturday, hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

COMMUNICATIONS: Half the World on the Outside Looking In

Preparations for the U.N.-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) - with its ambitious objective of providing all peoples of the world with access to communication technologies - will enter their final phase Monday overshadowed by difficulties, admit the officials involved.

WTO-CANCUN: Green Agenda Hidden in Investment Talks

Although "green" issues will be most noted for their absence at the WTO ministerial conference in Cancun this week, conservationist groups fear that talks will be initiated on new regulations for international investment, which could challenge the existing trade rules that protect the environment.

DISARMAMENT: Civil Society Participation Makes a Difference – Expert

Multilateral disarmament efforts struck dissonant chords Tuesday when two annual reports were presented, one with good news on landmine eradication, the other with bad news on nuclear weapons.

Investment: The Hidden Green Agenda at WTO's Cancun Meet?

Conservationists fear that the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, Sep. 10-14 in the Mexican resort city of Cancun, will launch negotiations on rules that could undermine environmental policies.

WTO-CANCUN: Farm Trade Clash Will Be Decisive – UNCTAD

The rapid response of 20 developing countries to the agricultural trade reform plan put forth by the United States and European Union is among the most notable events in the lead-up to the WTO Ministerial Conference in Mexico next week, says a United Nations trade official.

WTO-CANCUN: Thorny Trade Issues Put Off Until Ministerial Meet

Preparations for the WTO ministerial conference next month in Mexico concluded Wednesday in a climate of dissent, marked by the developing countries' dissatisfaction with the draft declaration to be presented to the world's trade ministers.

WTO-CANCUN: Route to Accord Laid Out, Construction Another Matter

The general lines are drawn for the negotiations to take place among the WTO's 146 member states next month in Cancun, Mexico. But pending is the difficult task to unite the behind putting together an agreement, say sources close to the trade talks.

WTO-CANCUN: Transnationals Urge Flexibility from Rich Nations

An organisation of transnational corporate executives urged the United States, European Union and Japan to cede to some of the demands of developing countries - particularly in regards to agriculture and drugs patents - in order to jump-start the WTO trade liberalisation talks.

WTO-CANCUN: Transnationals Urge Flexibility from Rich Nations

An organisation of transnational corporate executives urged the United States, European Union and Japan to cede to some of the demands of developing countries - particularly in regards to agriculture and drugs patents - in order to jump-start the WTO trade liberalisation talks.

WTO-CANCUN: South Presents ‘Radical’ Plan to Reform Farm Trade

The proposal by developing countries for unblocking negotiations on farm trade at the upcoming World Trade Organisation ministerial conference in the Mexican city of Cancun is reviving the North-South debate.

WTO-CANCUN: South Seeks Life Buoy for Farm Trade Talks

A group of developing countries is discussing an initiative that could be the last chance for averting failure of agricultural trade negotiations at the WTO ministerial conference next month in the Mexican resort city of Cancun.

TRADE: Asia the Engine Behind South-South Growth

Trade between developing countries was the driving force behind the growth in international trade in general over the past decade, but the phenomenon was largely concentrated in Asia, according to a new World Trade Organisation (WTO) report.

TRADE: Rich Countries Stake Bets on Industry

The trade leaders of the industrialised world hinted Tuesday at their strategy for the upcoming WTO ministerial conference in Mexico by requesting dramatic tariff cuts for non-agricultural imports. Developing countries are wondering what this will mean for farm trade.

TRADE: A Month from Cancun, WTO and Critics Rev Their Engines

International trade negotiations this week enter the final stretch before the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, with the first signs of progress in the otherwise troubled agricultural talks and announcements of new mobilisations by groups opposed to the multilateral trade system itself.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Holes in UN Text on Corporate Responsibilities

The oil companies that were shipping fuel aboard the tanker 'Prestige', which sank last November off the northwest Spanish coast, are responsible for the consequences of the disaster, including those that involve the local population's human rights.

/Int’l Day of Indigenous People/RIGHTS: UN Indigenous Body Granted Another Year of Existence

The United Nations has extended through 2004 the mandate of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, an entity that some industrialised countries are trying to quash.

TRADE: EU’s Sugar Subsidies in a Jam

The European Union is upset with the request that Australia, Brazil and Thailand filed at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for a dispute settlement panel to determine whether EU sugar production and export subsidies are legal under existing trade treaties.

DEVELOPMENT: Another Two ‘Lost Years’ for Poorest Countries

The 49 poorest countries in the world benefited little or not at all in the first two years of a 10-year action plan promoted by the United Nations to help them overcome economic and social stagnation, according to the diagnosis of an international forum on development held here this week.

DEVELOPMENT: ‘Humanitarian Ethic’ Lacking in Disaster Aid

Politics and the media spotlight have contributed toward shifting humanitarian aid to "high profile" disaster areas at the expense of more "invisible" suffering, charges the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in its annual World Disasters Report, released here Thursday.

TRADE: Health Problems Afflict WTO on Way to Cancun

Poor countries' access to low-cost medicines has become, alongside farm trade, a make-or-break issue in what has been dubbed the Doha Round of negotiations, under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).