TRADE: Merchandise Trade Up, Despite Oil Price Impacts

The "soft landing" of the United States economy and the deceleration in Western Europe due to rising oil prices have led to predictions that international merchandise trade will expand by just under seven percent in 2001.

TRADE: Anti-WTO Campaign to Centre on Services

The protests announced for next week in Nice, France, during the European Union (EU) summit, may serve as a preview of future campaigns against globalisation and trade liberalisation.

HEALTH: No Complacency in Anti-AIDS Efforts, Warns UN

International health authorities warned on Tuesday that there is no reason to adopt a complacent attitude towards HIV/AIDS, even though this year's report on the epidemic shows signs that it is levelling off in some countries.

HEALTH: No Complacency in Anti-AIDS Efforts, Warns UN

International health authorities warned on Tuesday that there is no reason to adopt a complacent attitude towards HIV/AIDS, even though this year's report on the epidemic shows signs that it is levelling off in some countries.

RIGHTS-MIDEAST: UN Report Calls for Int’l Presence in Israel

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, said Monday that every effort must be made to assess the "feasibility of establishing an international monitoring presence" in the Palestinian territories and Israel, which have been hard hit by two months of violence.

TRADE: Civil Society Groups Spark Power Battle within WTO

The member nations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), with the exception of the United States, ruled that the institution's Appellate Body overstepped its mandate by inviting non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to participate in legal proceedings.

ENVIRONMENT: Loss of Native Languages Threatens Biodiversity

The survival of the world's biological wealth is closely tied to the resilience of traditional cultures and native languages, says a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) study released Thursday.

ENVIRONMENT-KOSOVO: UN Counsels Caution at Depleted Uranium Sites

United Nations scientists investigating the effects of depleted uranium used in Kosovo during the 1999 war have called for precautions in handling ammunition that can still be found at numerous attack sites.

LABOUR: ILO Censures Myanmar Despite Asian Opposition

The executive body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) had to wend its way through a complicated debate, and the resistance of Asian nations, to open the way for sanctions against Myanmar (Burma) for its widespread use of forced labour.

COMMUNICATION: Internet Has No Room for ‘.health’ Specialisation

The World Health Organisation (WHO) expressed displeasure Friday with the rejection of its bid to create an Internet domain known as ".health," the United Nations agency's attempt to ensure the quality of medical information on the web.

TRADE: Accord on Drug Patents Leaves Manoeuvring Room

Patent protection laws in developing countries can respond to national health policy and serve the needs of the poor without violating international commitments, says a new report on intellectual property rights.

AGRICULTURE-TRADE: Cairns WTO Proposal Demands Market Access

Agriculture has long been the "ugly duckling" in the process of international trade liberalisation as the sector has been largely excluded from market access measures that readily benefit industry and services.

AGRICULTURE-TRADE: Cairns WTO Proposal Demands Market Access

Agriculture has long been the "ugly duckling" in the process of international trade liberalisation as the sector has been largely excluded from market access measures that readily benefit industry and services.

TRADE: Talks Move Forward on China’s Inclusion in WTO

Multilateral negotiations for including China in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) made progress during sessions this week due to Beijing's greater "flexibility," said the trade official in charge of following that country's accession process.

/REPEAT/TRADE: Talks Move Forward on China’s Inclusion in WTO

Multilateral negotiations for including China in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) made progress during sessions this week due to Beijing's greater "flexibility," said the trade official in charge of following that country's accession process.

DEVELOPMENT: Indigenous Peoples Defend Traditional Knowledge

Indigenous representatives charge that international patent and copyright laws are "inappropriate" for protecting their systems of traditional knowledge, and that such private rights inherently conflict with native beliefs on "rights to use, and obligations to respect, the natural world."

DEVELOPMENT-UN: It’s Hard to Be Young in Post-Communist Era

The transition from communism to the market economy opened up social and economic opportunities for the youth of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, but disease, school drop-out rates and unemployment are on the rise, says a report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) released Wednesday.

POPULATION: International Migration to Continue for Generations

The world phenomenon of migration, which currently involves 150 million people, will continue to increase at least in the middle term, and some specialists forecast that the process will only begin to slow after several more generations.

TRADE: WTO Gives Brazil’s Liberalisation its Seal of Approval

Brazil's progress report on the liberalisation of its economy won the approval of most of World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries, but not of the United States.

RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: UN Questions Presence of Ex-Torturers on Active Duty

The fact that former repressive military personnel continue among Argentina's active duty forces came under sharp questioning by a top human rights forum at the United Nations, which, nonetheless, reported there have been "many advances" since the end of the South American country's last dictatorship (1976-1983).

POLITICS-MIDEAST: UN Human Rights Commission Condemns Israel

The Arab nations were able to convince the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to approve - though by a narrow margin - a resolution condemning Israel for the violent incidents of the last three weeks in the Palestinian territories.