TRADE: High Stakes in Attack on Indian Patent Law

As a legal battle launched by the Swiss pharmaceuticals multinational Novartis against India's patents law warms up, health activists are gearing up to mount a campaign against drug monopolies and the people's right to medicines at affordable prices.

HEALTH-THAILAND: Junta Defends Cheap Generic Drugs

Thailand's military-appointed government appears set to insist on the right of a developing country to save the lives of its people rather than protect the profits of Western pharmaceutical corporations.

HEALTH-INDIA: Anger Grows at Novartis’ Bid to Hog Cancer Drug

A public outcry has followed the challenge offered by Novartis AG in the Madras High Court to the Indian Patents Act as violating international trade laws and restricting the Swiss pharmaceutical giant's trade.

HEALTH-INDIA: Patients Before Patents, Groups Urge

A quarter of a million people from over 150 countries don't think a multinational drug company should seek to overturn a provision of India's patent law that permits the manufacture of low-cost life-saving drugs for the world's poor.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: G33 Pushes Trade Powers on Farm Issues

Developing countries led by Indonesia, India, and China issued a strong message to the World Economic Forum under way here that they will not allow attempts to dilute the agricultural negotiations in the Doha Round of trade talks by certain industrialised countries, especially the United States.

CHINA: Regaining the Innovative Initiative

Celebrated as the inventor of development milestones such as the compass and printing, China is aspiring to become a global player in science and technology in the 21st century, casting off decades of neglect of academia and political persecution of intellectuals.

ECONOMY-MAURITIUS: Globalisation “Gobbles Up the Plankton”

‘‘How much do you open, at what pace, and what measures do you take as a government to help local enterprises to restructure?’’

DEVELOPMENT: Latin America Has Tips for ASEAN Charter

Over the last two months, South America and South-East Asia have taken huge steps forward towards creating two distinct regional blocs. But the contrasting principles in their respective blueprints for integration reflect the different political and economic philosophies driving the integration plans.

EUROPE: What Comes First, Chicken or Africa?

Europeans love chicken breast. That leaves the question what you do with the legs. The current answer is to freeze them and ship them to Africa, where they sell at a price far cheaper than fresh local chicken.

LABOUR: US Unions Oppose Free Trade With Malaysia

Trade unions from the United States have joined forces with their Malaysian counterparts to strongly oppose ongoing negotiations for bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) until workers’ concerns are first addressed.

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: IT Hub Can Handle Gigabytes, Not Dog Bites

When a pack of stray dogs tore to pieces the eight-year-old daughter of a construction worker, it showed up the social inequalities and other paradoxes of this global information technology (IT) hub.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: The Importance of Giving the WSF an African Flavour

This year will mark the first occasion on which an African country, Kenya, is serving as sole host of the World Social Forum (WSF) - a gathering which had its beginnings in the Brazilian town of Porto Alegre seven years ago.

POLITICS-CHINA: Playing Honest Broker to Iran, Israel

Amid sensational reports that Israel might be prepared to use nuclear tactical strikes to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, China has been cast in the uncustomary role of Middle East conflicts negotiator over the last two weeks, hosting leaders from both nations.

LABOUR-UAE: Worker Friendly Laws Make a Difference

Faced with criticism by international rights organisations, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has introduced a series of measures that are beginning to transform the oil-rich country's labour climate.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: From the Burkinabe Countryside to Italian Tomato Fields

For Mady Daboné, Europe beckons. "Staying here...is misery," the 30-year-old from the village of Begdo in eastern Burkina Faso told IPS, adding that several of his friends were already abroad. "I have about twenty of them in Italy and Spain. They have all done well, even though they suffered at the beginning."

ENVIRONMENT-ASIA: China Turns Mekong Into Oil-Shipping Route

As energy hungry China turns the ecologically fragile Mekong river into an oil-shipping route, green activists and environmentalists in South-east Asia worry that spillages could destroy the livelihoods of millions of people residing along the lower reaches of the region's largest waterway.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: On the Eve of the Nairobi Gathering, a Glance Back

Almost a year ago, IPS interviewed a cross-section of people in Mali to gauge expectations for the African leg of the 2006 World Social Forum (WSF), held in Bamako. Certain interviewees were sceptical about whether the meeting could effect political and economic change; others proved more hopeful. So, were their expectations realised?

DEVELOPMENT-BURKINA FASO: Price Snags for Cotton Farmers

Some call it "white gold"; but, the ever-falling price of cotton means that this nickname may end up being more ironic than complimentary. In Burkina Faso cotton producers are, for the first time, facing the prospect of a third consecutive drop in the price of the commodity.

HEALTH: Asian Govts Push Generic Drugs

In moves that are winning them praise, two South-east Asian governments - in Thailand and the Philippines - appear determined to push ahead with plans to provide cheaper generic drugs even if they incur the wrath of pharmaceutical giants.

TRADE: Progress Towards South-South Tariff Cuts

A preliminary understanding reached by a bloc of 43 developing nations has opened the prospect of making significant cuts in trade tariffs among countries of the South.

SOUTH PACIFIC: Western Sanctions Make Fiji Turn to China, Asia

Sanctions imposed on Fiji by Western countries following the overthrow, last week, of the democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase may push the country's new military leaders towards its Asian neighbours, particularly a willing China, for support.