G8: Health Over Intellectual Property Rights, Says G5

The Group of Eight industrialised countries suffered a setback Friday in its plan to strengthen intellectual property rights through "promoting innovation - protecting innovation" when the five developing world's leaders - China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico - forced a key change in the final statement.

G8: Poverty Reduction and Climate Change Inextricably Linked, Say Activists

In the final hours before this week's Group of Eight (G8) summit gets underway in Germany, activists have underscored the need for progress with both climate change and poverty alleviation - key items on the meeting's agenda - for there to be real improvement in Africa's living conditions.

INDIA/BRAZIL: New Power Alliance

Brazil and India are together sending out a clear message to the rest of the world - do not ignore us when it comes to discussing and resolving important issues such as global warming, peaceful uses of nuclear energy, bio-fuels, farm subsidies and United Nations reforms.

DEVELOPMENT: G8 Makes Room at Table for Emerging Five

The five strongest developing countries - Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa - will have a place at the Group of Eight summit of the richest countries Jun. 6-8 in Heiligendamm, Germany, both as partners and as competitors of the industrialised world.

G8-AFRICA: Farm Subsidies a Taboo Subject?

In the preparations for this year's summit of the Group of Eight most industrialised countries, to take place Jun. 6-8 in the Baltic seaside resort of Heiligendamm, Germany, aid for Africa has topped the agenda. But the farm subsidy factor is likely to be avoided in the debate.

TRADE-KENYA: A Sugar Sector in Search of Muscle

Kenya is in talks with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) about extending a period of preferential treatment given to the country's sugar sector four years ago. This is in response to fears that local producers will not be able to survive open competition from their counterparts in the trade bloc when the period ends in March 2008.

TRADE: Rich Sideline Poor Countries’ Concerns in WTO Talks

As fresh attempts are made to clinch an agreement in the stalled Doha trade negotiations, industrialised countries have launched a concerted drive to set aside core concerns of the developing countries, say trade ministers and diplomats.

HEALTH-THAILAND: Holding Big Pharma’s Feet to the Fire

For nearly a week the advertising pages of Thai and English-language dailies have been the stage for debates on Thailand's decision to break patents on anti-AIDS drugs in the interest of public health.

Q&A: “We’re Living in a World of Global Economic Apartheid”

Less than a fortnight remains before the seventh annual World Assembly of CIVICUS - the World Alliance for Citizen Participation. This Johannesburg-based body brings together non-governmental organisations from across the spectrum to strengthen civil society, notably where its activities are under threat.

HEALTH: Thailand Turns Giant Pharma Killer

By standing up to pressure from ‘big pharma' over cheap anti-AIDS drugs, Thailand may have created an opening in global trade rules that will permit developing countries to more readily break patents in times of public health emergencies.

TRADE-AFRICA: Where Are the EPA Impact Assessments?

Civil society organisations in southern and eastern Africa have urged John Kaputin, the secretary general of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states, to insist that assessments be done to evaluate the potential effects of the European Union's proposed economic partnership agreements (EPAs).

LABOUR-MALAYSIA: Migrant Worker’s Death Exposes Slave-like Conditions

The shocking torture and death of an Indian national allegedly at the hands of his employers here has highlighted the lack of protection and support networks for migrant workers in this country.

CLIMATE CHANGE: ‘A Problem of Lifestyles’

An eleventh hour intervention by the Indian delegation at a major U.N. climate change conference here pushed to centre stage the need for a dramatic shift in lifestyles rather than dependence on green-friendly technology for solutions to global warming.

ENERGY-CENTRAL ASIA: Wrangling Over Pipelines Wrecks Early Prospects

A combination of East-West geopolitical rivalries and haggling between former Soviet republics is delaying the construction of a series of oil and gas pipelines that could help alleviate the world's future energy supply concerns.

INDIA: Trillion Dollar Economy Status – Mixed Blessing

India's emergence as the 12th country in the world with a trillion-dollar economy could prove to be a mixed blessing. There are fears that it could slow down the growth of this country's computer software and information technology (IT)-enabled services as well as the export of textiles and garments.

JAPAN: Making Overtures in Central Asia

Japan was slow to realise the strategic importance of Central Asia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it took Tokyo three years to open embassies in the region. Several more years passed before prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto inaugurated a new "Silk Road" diplomacy.

MAY DAY-KENYA: Export Processing Zones Still a Bone of Contention

With working conditions around the world set to be placed in the spotlight on May Day (May 1), Emily Mugo has an axe to grind about her place of employment - in one of Kenya's Export Processing Zones (EPZs).

POLITICS: Caribbean Aims to Cash in on Face Time with Bush

On Jun. 20, Caribbean leaders will sit down with George W. Bush for the first full summit meeting with a U.S. president in a decade, and from all indications, they have a plethora of issues to put on the table, chief among them trade and disaster preparedness.

MAY DAY-MALAYSIA: New Law Targets Traffickers, Not Victims

Malaysia has tabled a tough new anti-human trafficking bill that punishes offenders with up to 20 years in prison, but rights activists, who had fought for such a law for a decade, say the bill's success depends heavily on effective enforcement.

CHINA: Headed for Trade Wars With US

Intensifying trade tensions between China and the United States are becoming increasingly politically charged, officials and businessmen here say, raising fears that the two countries may be heading towards a trade war.

LABOUR-INDIA: Worker-Turned-Owners Revive Failing Tea Estates

Faced with unemployment in their failing tea estates, about two years ago, tea pluckers in the rolling highlands of this southern state responded by forming cooperatives to buy out their former employers Tata Tea and turn the gardens into profitable enterprises.