Health : Concerns over EU-India FTA's impact on access to drugs    (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
Serious concerns have been voiced by non-governmental organizations this week over the negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the 27-member European Union and India, which if signed, "could further compromise access to life-saving medicines" in India and elsewhere in the developing world.

United Nations : Sri Lanka garners support against UN probe    (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
Sri Lanka, which won a gruelling decades-long battle against one of the world's most ferocious terrorist organisations last May, has scored a diplomatic victory in its ongoing war of words with the United Nations.

Somalia : US should accept Islamist authority, says report    (PRIV)
(IPS, Washington)
The United States should accept an "Islamist authority" in Somalia as part of a "constructive disengagement" strategy for the war-torn country, according to a new report released here by the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) on 10 March.

Iraq : Women miss Saddam    (PRIV)
(IPS, Baghdad)
Under Saddam Hussein, women in government got a year's maternity leave; that is now cut to six months. Under the Personal Status Law in force since July 14, 1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi women had most of the rights that Western women do.

Middle East : Building settlements, not peace    (PRIV)
(IPS, Jerusalem)
"The best laid-schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley" (Scottish for "going wrong").

Ecuador : Native leaders call for anti-government protests    (PRIV)
(IPS, Quito)
"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." The words of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill after the 1942 defeat of Germany's forces in Africa are an apt description of the situation between the government of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE).