Agriculture : G33 states current stand on SP and SSM (PRIV)
(Martin Khor, Geneva)
The positions of the G33 and a group of agriculture exporters led by the US are still far apart, and perhaps even further apart than before, on the issue of the number and treatment of special products (SP) that developing countries can have in the agriculture outcome of the Doha negotiations at the WTO.

Health : Congress members urge USTR to honour health commitments (PRIV)
(Riaz K Tayob, Geneva)
In a letter to the United States Trade Representative, 27 members of the US Congress have asked the USTR to honour the US commitment under the 2001 WTO Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health and to pay close attention to public health and access to medicines issues as it conducts the annual "Special 301" review of the global state of intellectual property rights protection and enforcement.

Development : Family planning gets mere sliver of aid pie (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
The United Nations warns that a sharp decline in international funding for reproductive health is threatening global efforts to reduce poverty, improve health and empower women worldwide.

Iraq : Stuck! (PRIV)
(IPS, Washington)
"Tell me how this ends," Gen. David Petraeus, then commander of the 101st Airborne Division, asked a Washington Post reporter during the "liberation" of Iraq almost exactly five years ago.

Health : Vaccine therapies need boost - scientists (PRIV)
(IPS, Sydney)
While millions of children's lives have been saved as a result of a successful worldwide campaign to boost vaccination programmes, governments across the world are failing in following through on their commitments to health aid and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).