Trade : Preparations begin for services "signalling" conference (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
Preparations for a "signalling" conference aimed at moving forward the services negotiations in the WTO began on Monday with members participating in these preparations meeting this week for a round of bilateral meetings.

Development : UN bodies under fire for food crisis (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
As the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) readies for a summit of world leaders next month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday defended the Rome-based UN agency, which has come under fire for its failure to help meet the growing challenges of hunger worldwide.

Development : World Bank, IFC seek investors in off-grid Africa (PRIV)
(IPS, Washington)
An international campaign to bring modern lighting to one-fourth of Africa's people enters a new phase this week with talks to draw investors to markets beyond the reach of the continent's outdated power grid.

United States : Washington cool on new Israel-Syria talks (PRIV)
(IPS, Washington)
Amid regional fears of a summer war between Israel and Syria, the two countries may in fact be inching closer to a deal. Not even President George W. Bush's recent disclosures to Congress, intended to prove Syrian-North Korean nuclear cooperation, appear able to dent the resolve for peace, or at the very least, a reduction in tensions.

United States : "Bio-terror" case falls apart (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
After a four-year legal battle, a US federal judge has dismissed all charges against an avant-garde artist who public officials condemned as a bio-terrorist in a case that critics are calling "a persecution, not a prosecution".

Europe : The newspaper world suffers another blow (PRIV)
(IPS, Paris)
The financial crisis in the French newspaper Le Monde, that led to an unprecedented two-day strike in mid-April, is a symptom of a growing crisis in the print media in France, and in several other European countries.

Ecuador : New constitution addresses demand for "plurinational" state (PRIV)
(IPS, Quito)
Ecuador's new constitution, which a constituent assembly expects to finish drafting by mid-June, establishes a united "plurinational" state, recognising equality along with ethnic diversity, as agreed between the government and indigenous organisations.