SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS: Massive March Takes Aim at FTAA, Bush

Tens of thousands of demonstrators from throughout the Americas marched through the streets of this eastern Argentine resort Friday to protest the presence of U.S. President George W. Bush and reject the push for a hemisphere-wide free trade area, a point of contention in the fourth Summit of the Americas.

HEALTH: World Bank Gets Cold Feet on Bird Flu Drug Patent

Suddenly, in the face of a possible global pandemic of bird flu, the World Bank is developing signs of cold feet. It is choosing to distance itself from the role it has carved out over decades as an advocate of policies to ''help'' developing countries.

TRADE: Voices of Dissent from the South

The WTO negotiations on the touchy question of agriculture have hit a new snag as groupings of developing countries have come forward to demand that the issues of central importance to them be addressed in any agreements reached.

AMERICAS: Counter-Summit Celebrates Rollback of US Influence

Activists taking part in this week's civil society gathering parallel to the fourth Summit of the Americas, which opens Friday in Argentina, are already celebrating what they see as a rolling back of U.S. influence over the hemispheric agenda.

TRADE: Business Groups Lobby to Resurrect FTAA

Dozens of business groups from throughout the Americas are urging regional governments to adopt economic and trade reforms to give a boost to upcoming World Trade Organisation talks and a stalled regional free trade agreement.

AMERICAS: Differences on Free Trade Threaten Consensus at Summit

As this week's fourth Summit of the Americas looms, the divergence of the governments' positions on the issue of free trade is jeopardising the hoped-for consensus.

TRADE: EU Offer on Subsidies ‘Inadequate’

Development groups say the latest EU offer on cutting tariffs and subsidies is inadequate.

DEVELOPMENT: ‘Days of Italian Cooperation’ Are Here

The 'days of Italian cooperation' are here, or they should be, going by an international conference on reaching the Millennium Development Goals.

HEALTH: Generic Drugs Only Answer to Bird Flu in Asia

Despite concerns raised by leading medical researchers, an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting next week on a potential avian influenza pandemic is unlikely to discuss the need to accelerate production by generic manufacturers of crucial anti-viral drugs.

ECONOMY: US Keeps Vietnam Waiting at WTO Door

Vietnam's attempts to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been blocked by what the country's negotiators say are unacceptable new demands by Washington that the socialist country change the way its economy works, more than it already has.

DEVELOPMENT: World Bank Chief Says Africa Is First Priority

Less than six months into his job at the helm of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz has announced that tackling poverty and deprivations in Africa is going to be the World Bank's top priority.

HEALTH: Bird Flu Brings Out Double Standards on Drug Patents

With hardly a hint of shame, voices from the Western world's political establishment are exhibiting a view that seems to say that the lives of people in the developed world matter more than those that populate the South.

TRADE: All Eyes on the EU

The Doha Round of multilateral trade talks in the WTO have found themselves once again in a deadlock, which has been nearly unanimously blamed this time around on the European Union's disinclination to eliminate the barriers blocking access to its markets by farm products from other countries.

TRADE: EU Under Fire Over Doha

The European Union has come under fire for threatening the progress of the Doha round of international trade talks.

RUSSIA: No Rush Towards WTO

Russia seems in no hurry to join the WTO at the start of a two-day meeting of the World Economic Forum here Monday.

TRADE: Campaign Against WTO Ministerial Conference Kicks Off

Protests against the upcoming WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong, by civil society groups from around the world, began Saturday in this Swiss city with a demonstration that lambasted the trade liberalisation process led by the global body.

TRADE: Illusion of Progress in the WTO

In the state of immobility that has been holding up the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks for nearly four years, any tiny vibration like the one felt in this week's negotiations in the WTO is interpreted as a sign of movement, said a Latin American delegate.

TRADE-US: Farm Subsidies Offer Called a “Shell Game”

If U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Rob Portman thought that his proposal to cut the ceiling on some government farm subsidies by 60 percent over five years would be greeted favourably by civil society, development and family farm groups, he is sure to be disappointed.

TRADE: G20 Jumps into Agricultural Reform Debate

The WTO multilateral trade talks have moved into a decisive new phase now that all three international trade heavyweights have entered the ring: the European Union, the United States, and the Group of 20 (G20) developing countries.

TRADE: Anti-WTO Protesters Back on the Streets

Civil society groups will be taking to the streets beginning this week, staging demonstrations around the world in the run-up to the December WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong.

KENYA: “In a Situation Like This, Who Cares About Human Rights?”

Behind a dilapidated store in a dusty field at Athi River, an export processing zone (EPZ) on the outskirts of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, a group of textile factory workers has gathered for a mid-afternoon break. The heat is searing, and the hastily purchased cool drinks quench thirsts.