Trade : Panel set over Chinese AD duties on Japanese steel tubes    (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Friday agreed to establish a panel, at the request of Japan, to examine Chinese measures imposing anti-dumping (AD) duties on high-performance stainless steel seamless tubes (HP-SSST) from Japan.

Finance : Further reflections from a reforming Indian central banker    (PRIV)
(Andrew Cornford, Geneva)
Yaga Venugopal Reddy, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during the critical period, 2003-2008, is widely given credit not only for the RBI's skilful management of India's external payments during this period but also for presiding over the introduction of reforms of the country's financial regulation of which some actually anticipated parts of the international financial reform agenda subsequently promoted by the Financial Stability Board in response to the current financial crisis.

United States : Obama narrows scope of terror war    (PRIV)
(IPS, Washington)
Responding to growing criticism by human rights groups and foreign governments, US President Barack Obama Thursday announced potentially significant shifts in what his predecessor called the "global war on terror".

Iran : US Congress moves toward full trade embargo    (PRIV)
(IPS, Washington)
The US Congress moved closer here on 22 May to imposing a full trade embargo against Iran and pledged its support to Israel if it felt compelled to attack Tehran's nuclear programme in self-defence.

United Nations : Gender equality, women's rights and empowerment    (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
Hardly a day goes by without a news story on some violation of women's rights. In recent months, appalling incidents of violence against women and girls, from Delhi to Johannesburg to Cleveland, have sparked public outrage and demands to tackle these horrific abuses.

Palestine : Gazans dying to enter Israel    (PRIV)
(IPS, Ramallah)
Israel's crippling blockade of the coastal territory of Gaza is pushing desperate young Palestinians to ever more extreme measures in the search for livelihoods, despite an agreement granting Gazans greater access to their agricultural land.